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- By RFE/RL
Death Toll In Libya Rises Amid Fierce Crackdown
At least 104 people have died in Libya since the outbreak of protests against President Muammar Qaddafi on February 16, according to Human Rights Watch. Some estimates put the death toll closer to 200.
Reports of the escalating death toll coincided with unconfirmed witness accounts of troops firing on demonstrators with machine guns and large-caliber weapons in Benghazi, Libya's second city on Saturday, killing at least 20.
"Dozens were killed ... We are in the midst of a massacre here," Reuters quoted a witness as saying. The man said he had helped take victims to hospital in Benghazi.
Snipers are said to have shot from the roofs of buildings, prompting scenes of chaos and panic among demonstrators, some of whom fought back. Troops reportedly withdrew to a government compound in the center of Benghazi, around 1,000 from the capital Tripoli, from where, witnesses said, they fired on mourners burying those killed in previous demonstrations.
No More Blood
Medical staff at a local hospital are reported to have run out of blood and supplies after 150 casualties from Saturday's shootings had been admitted. The BBC reported that 22 of the injured had died.
The accounts are hard to verify because Libya is effectively closed to the international media. But graphic video footage apparently showing the bloody and panicked aftermath of shootings during street disturbances has been posted on YouTube:
The fierce crackdown follows the worst outbreak of unrest in Gaddafi's 42-year rule. The president's opponents have used social media to call for popular protests inspired by those that unseated long-serving leaders in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.
Separate footage on YouTube purportedly shows an anti-government rally in Benghazi on February 17, in which crowds can be heard chanting anti-regime slogans, including "We want freedom and social justice".
Muslim Leaders: Stop The Killing
Despite the death toll, demonstrators were reported to have gathered again on Sunday at a court building in Benghazi, AP reported, citing witnesses.
The bloodshed prompted about 50 Libyan Muslim religious leaders to issue an appeal, for the security forces to stop the killing.
"This is an urgent appeal from religious scholars (faqihs and Sufi sheikhs), intellectuals, and clan elders from Tripoli, Bani Walid, Zintan, Jadu, Msalata, Misrata, Zawiah, and other towns and villages of the western area," the appeal said, according to Reuters. "We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in any way, to recognize that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him)... Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!"
Most of the unrest has centered on Benghazi and nearby areas. In contrast, there have been few reports of disturbances in Tripoli, although social networks sites referred to minor clashes there and in Nalut, to the west.
Some analysts have suggested that a nationwide revolt of the type that convulsed Egypt and Tunisia is unlikely in Libya because Qaddafi’s regime has been able to use the country's oil wealth to ease social problems.
written by Robert Tait with contributions from agency reports
More News
- By Andriy Kuzakov and
- Current Time
Russian Forces Intensify Attacks Near Pokrovsk As Cease-Fire Talks Begin In Riyadh
As Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet for cease-fire discussions with US officials in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Moscow's troops are intensifying their attacks on Kyiv's positions on the front line near the city of Pokrovsk, Ukrainian soldiers in the area told Current Time.
“There are 200-300 explosions per day, all coming in our direction,” said Ukrainian servicemen Serhiy, standing at the bottom of a muddy trench.
“They're trying to advance on our positions -- but we're holding them back.”
“They have plenty of manpower,” said Dmytro, another soldier. “If we didn't cover the infantry positions, they would advance without any trouble.”
The Ukrainian troops showed little optimism about the Riyadh talks, comparing them to efforts in previous years to broker cease-fires in Ukraine.
“I don't believe it,” says Yevhen. “This is a repeat of 2014 when they negotiated a cease-fire. It's all just to pull in troops and strengthen their positions.”
Residents in the nearby town of Rodynske, just 5 kilometers from Pokrovsk, are also feeling the full effects of war.
As a Current Time crew were filming a report in the area, the town was targeted by a drone attack.
“As soon as something starts, we crawl into the cellar at night, and that's it,” says local resident Vitaliy.
“It was so loud that people's windows were blown out by the blast,” says Natalya, who also lives in Rodynske.
“The most important thing is peace -- for all of this to stop."
Tate Brothers Check In At Police Station To Comply With Romanian Legal Measures
Facing multiple charges of sex trafficking and exploitation in the United States and Romania, controversial Internet personalities Andrew and Tristan Tate have appeared at a police station in a suburb of Bucharest to fulfill their monthly judicial obligations, where they again denied all charges against them.
The brothers arrived in Voluntari, just outside the Romanian capital, shortly after 10 a.m. in a black Mercedes accompanied by five men believed to be bodyguards. They used the occasion to once again proclaim their innocence, dismiss the media, and attack what they describe as "the Matrix" -- a system they claim is out to silence them.
As per a Romanian court order, the Tate brothers must report to police each month as part of judicial supervision measures in two criminal cases.
Prosecutors in Romania accuse the British-American siblings of recruiting women and coercing them into creating online pornographic content for profit -- a case brought to public attention in August 2024 by Romania's Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT). The brothers have denied all charges.
The Tate brothers' legal troubles also extend to the United States and Britain where there are similar outstanding cases against them.
In 2023, Andrew and Tristan Tate were indicted by a federal grand jury in the United States.
US prosecutors charged the brothers with multiple crimes, including sex trafficking, obstruction of justice, and operating an international criminal enterprise aimed at exploiting women.
According to the indictment, the Tates allegedly used manipulation, coercion, and emotional abuse to force victims into creating sexually explicit material distributed for profit.
The US Justice Department described the brothers as central figures in a "global scheme" targeting vulnerable individuals, often under the pretense of romantic relationships or promises of wealth and fame.
The scheme allegedly involved manipulation, coercion, and emotional abuse to force victims into creating sexually explicit material distributed for profit.
In the United Kingdom, four women have filed a civil suit against Andrew Tate, accusing him of rape and coercive control.
Speaking to reporters outside the Voluntari Police Station, Andrew Tate dismissed the Romanian and US cases as baseless attacks.
"I'm happy to be back in Romania -- I live here and I love it," he said, asserting that he's not under investigation in Florida, where he was visiting after leaving Romania earlier this month.
Just days after their arrival, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced an active criminal investigation into the brothers, saying Florida has “zero tolerance for people who abuse women and girls.”
The Tates also addressed the release of Adolescence, a four-part Netflix miniseries that explores the murder of a teenage girl by a 13-year-old boy -- allegedly influenced by the "hypermasculine," "incel"-driven ideology promoted by the Tate brothers online.
Incels are members of an online community of young men who consider themselves unable to be sexually attractive to women and are typically associated with views that are hostile toward women and men who are sexually active.
The Tates have a significant online presence, where they often share controversial views on masculinity and relationships. Andrew dismissed the series, calling it "another Matrix story made by Netflix."
- By RFE/RL
US Court Set To Hear Radio Free Europe Case Against USAGM Over 'Harmful' Cuts
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A hearing is set to take place in a US court on March 24 in the lawsuit filed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty against the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) “to avoid irreparable harm” to the broadcaster over the withholding of its Congress-approved grant as part of the agency’s efforts to terminate RFE/RL’s funding.
The US District Court for the District of Columbia will hear arguments from both sides in the case starting at 2 p.m. local time.
RFE/RL is demanding that the USAGM, which supervises US government-backed broadcasters such as RFE/RL and Voice of America (VOA), release $7.5 million to RFE/RL that covers the period from March 1 to March 15, the day the USAGM said funding from the Congress-approved grant for RFE/RL had been terminated.
The lawsuit argues that denying access to funds appropriated by Congress for RFE/RL violates federal laws and the US Constitution, which gives Congress the ultimate authority over federal spending. It also asks the court to grant a temporary restraining order (TRO) to release the March funds to limit damaging the broadcaster.
RFE/RL's legal moves also seek the remainder of the grant funds due for the full 2025 budget year, which ends on September 30. A preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for mid-April for that balance.
“Terminating our freelance contracts and furloughing our employees will significantly impede our ability to deliver uncensored news in the 23 countries we serve,” RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said in a filing to the court outlining the impact the withholding of funds has had on the company.
RFE/RL's court filing adds: “The Court should grant the modest TRO that RFE/RL has requested to avoid irreparable harm before the preliminary injunction motion can even be heard.”
The USAGM said in its filing that the District Court is the wrong venue for the case and that Congress had imbued USAGM “with broad discretion to oversee its grantees; even if this Court had jurisdiction to grant the Plaintiff’s request to override USAGM’s judgment, it would not be in the public interest to do so.”
'A Ray Of Light' Through 'The Darkness Of Lies'
The threat to the broadcaster’s funding has sparked a wave of support from the audiences in the 27 languages and 23 countries it broadcasts in.
From Iran to Belarus, Afghanistan to Russia, Pakistan to Ukraine: Readers and listeners praised RFE/RL journalists for their brave, impartial, and honest reporting on the front lines of war and in some of the world’s most repressive political and media landscapes -- and expressed concern that it could vanish.
“Sometimes you were like a ray of light that broke through the darkness of lies,” Oleh Prozorov, a reader from Ukraine, wrote on Facebook while thanking RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service for its “protection of political freedoms.”
The directive to terminate funding came hours after an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump called for the reduction of seven agencies -- including the USAGM -- to “the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
RFE/RL’s grant was terminated in a letter, which was signed by Kari Lake, who listed her title as senior adviser to the (USAGM) acting CEO with authorities delegated by the acting CEO. The letter stated that “the award no longer effectuates agency priorities.” It gave no further explanation.
Trump's Clashes With USAGM
Lake has been nominated by Trump to take over as head of Voice of America, though her nomination must still be approved by the International Broadcasting Advisory Board (IBAB).
The members of the IBAB, an consultancy body established by Congress to oversee the activities of the USAGM, were removed from their positions by the US administration in January and have not been replaced.
While USAGM and Voice of America are federal agencies, RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit corporation, chartered in the U.S. state of Delaware. Though funded by Congress through grants, RFE/RL staff are not U.S. federal government employees.
Trump, who has taken several moves to slash government spending since taking office for a second term in January, clashed with the USAGM over editorial independence and the direction of programming during his first term.
He has reiterated those concerns since retaking office. Supporters of the broadcasters say they are an important arm of US diplomacy.
“It is vital that Congress protect USAGM, ensure the safety of its affiliate journalists, and reaffirm the US government’s commitment to a free and independent media at home and abroad,” a group of 28 press freedom and journalist groups from around the world wrote in a letter to US lawmakers on March 19.
Will The EU Step Up?
With the future of RFE/RL uncertain, European Union politicians have been looking into the possibility of supporting the broadcaster.
The USAGM is an independent US government agency that oversees the broadcasting of news and information in more than 60 languages to over 400 million people each week.
The total budget request for the USAGM for fiscal year 2025 was $950 million to fund all of its operations and capital investments.
This includes media outlets such as RFE/RL, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio Marti), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Open Technology Fund.
The 2025 budget request for RFE/RL itself was about $153 million, according to USAGM documents.
- By RFE/RL
Mass Protests Continue Across Turkey After Erdogan Rival Imamoglu Arrested
Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in Istanbul and other cities across Turkey for a fifth night on March 23, after the main political rival to the country’s strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was formally arrested and charged with corruption.
Police officers were seen using tear gas, rubber bullets, and water cannons against the protestors, who were waving Turkish flags and pro-opposition banners. There were also reports of clashes between police and demonstrators.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul, was due to be selected in a vote on March 23 as the opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) candidate for Turkey’s next presidential election, which is currently scheduled for 2028.
But Imamoglu, 54, and dozens of others, including politicians, journalists, and entrepreneurs were detained as a part of a corruption investigation on March 19.
The popular mayor was formally arrested on March 23 and charged with "establishing and managing a criminal organization, taking bribes, extortion,” and other crimes.
The mayor -- who is a member of the CHP, the main opposition against Erdogan's ruling alliance -- has denied the allegations against him, describing them as “unimaginable accusations and slanders.”
"I will never bow," Imamoglu wrote on X before his arrest.
Imamoglu’s detention is widely seen as a politically motivated act to remove him from the presidential race. But the government insists the country's courts are independent entities.
Imamoglu's wife, Dilek Kaya Imamoglu, addressed the protesters outside Istanbul city hall in the evening on March 23, telling the large crowds that the "injustice" her husband has faced has "struck a chord with every conscience.”
The arrest of Imamoglu and others has further intensified political tensions and sparked protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in at least 55 provinces to express support for him.
Police have detained 1,133 people across the country since the start of protests five days ago, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on March 24.
He added that 123 police officers had been injured during the protests and that the government would not allow what he described as "terrorizing of the streets.”
The Journalists' Union of Turkey said, nine journalists who covered the demonstrations were among those detained by police. It was not immediately clear why the reporters were detained.
Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, who is also a member of the CHP, told reporters on March 23 that jailing his colleague was a disgrace for the judicial system.
Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the CHP, slammed Imamoglu's detention as an "attempted coup against our next president."
Several European countries have voiced concern over the developments in Istanbul, saying they feared the consequences for democracy over the move.
“The arrest of the mayor is deeply concerning,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, told reporters in Brussels.
“Turkey must uphold the democratic values, especially the rights of elected officials.”
Imamoglu tops Erdogan in some opinion polls. Erdogan has reached his two-term limit as president after having earlier served as the country's prime minister.
If he seeks to run again, as expected, he must either call an early election or change the constitution.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
US Negotiators Meet Russians In Saudi Arabia After 'Meaningful' Talks With Ukraine
US and Russian officials are holding talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at reaching a partial cease-fire in Ukraine to end the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.
The hours-long negotiations on March 24 came a day after separate talks between the US and Ukraine which Kyiv called "productive."
US and Russian representatives met late into the evening for hours at talks were expected to address details of a pause in long-range attacks by both Russia and Ukraine against energy facilities and civilian infrastructure as well as a halt on attacks in the Black Sea.
Russian and Ukrainian diplomats were not planning to meet directly. Instead, they are expected to each meet separately with the US team, in what one US official said would be “shuttle diplomacy.”
In a sign of how tricky the conditions are around the talks, a Russian air attack on March 24 damaged a school and a hospital in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, wounding at least 74 people, including more than a dozen children.
The US team was reportedly being led by Andrew Peek, a senior director at the White House National Security Council, and Michael Anton, a senior State Department official.
Russia was represented by Grigory Karasin, a longtime former deputy foreign minister who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia's upper parliament chamber, and Sergei Beseda, adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service, according to Russian state media.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the negotiations between Moscow and Washington were focused on technical issues, including the security of commercial shipping in the Black Sea region.
In Washington, US President Donald Trump told reporters broadly that the talks in Saudi Arabia were touching on issues including territory in Ukraine, where Russia occupies about one-fifth of the country, and about the possibility of the United States controlling the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is Europe's largest and is held by Russia.
"We're talking about territory right now. We're talking about lines of demarcation. Talking about a power plant ownership. Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant...because we have the expertise," Trump said.
He also said the United States and Ukraine would "soon" sign an agreement on joint development of Ukraine's rare-earth minerals and other resources.
'Constructive And Meaningful Talks'
US officials did not immediately comment about the talks with Ukraine on March 23. But Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the session had been "constructive and meaningful."
“The discussion was productive and focused -- we addressed key points including energy," Umerov said in a Facebook post.
“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s goal is to secure a just and lasting peace for our country and our people -- and, by extension, for all of Europe. We are working to make that goal a reality.”
The talks in Saudi Arabia marked a milestone in US-led efforts to bring about a cease-fire in the Ukraine war. Previously, there have been breaks of a day or more between different rounds of bilateral talks. Having everyone in the same place could speed things up.
But despite the proximity of the talks in time and place, there were few expectations a major breakthrough.
Zelenskyy, speaking on March 23, said in televised remarks that "our team is working in a completely constructive manner.”
“The conversation is quite useful -- the work of the delegations is continuing."
"But no matter what we say to our partners today, we need to get [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes. Whoever brought this war must take it back," Zelenskyy added.
Still, US officials voiced optimism ahead of the Saudi meetings.
"I think that you're going to see in Saudi Arabia on Monday some real progress,” US envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on March 22.
The view from Kyiv and Moscow has been more sober.
"The maximum result is a pause. But this is still unknown, because the negotiations could drag on for a month or two,” political analyst Serhiy Taran told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service.
“I think the most that can be imagined is that, perhaps, some technical details about the cease-fire will be worked out. And they will then be taken back to Kyiv, Moscow, and Washington in the form of proposals,” he said.
Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko expressed doubt that Putin would actually observe the conditions of any potential cease-fire.
"He follows his usual model," he told RFE/RL.
"He says one thing and does something completely different. One telling example was he'd allegedly ordered an end to strikes on energy infrastructure and an hour later he started an intensive bombing of Ukrainian civil facilities."
"Unfortunately, the United States may still be under the illusion that you can make an agreement with Putin," he added. "They may need more time to realize he doesn't respect agreements."
In Russia, where RFE/RL has been declared an undesirable organization and is effectively banned, it was Peskov who doused cold water on any hopes of a quick deal.
"One shouldn't get one's hopes high. Very serious, thorough work is ahead. We will have to delve into the details," he said in an interview on state TV on March 23.
“We're only [at] the beginning of this road," he added.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of playing for time and feigning interest in ending the war, and many analysts say Russia wants to drag out any peace process in the hopes of gaining as many concessions as it can.
Russian political scientist Ivan Preobrazhensky was skeptical of the prospects for peace anytime soon.
"This attempt to reach a cease-fire agreement [lacks any proper framework] and is hanging by a thread." he told Current Time. "It looks weaker, not stronger. The negotiations aren't getting more straightforward with the sides trying to overcome obstacles and reach common ground. On the contrary, they're becoming more complicated, which reduces the chances of a deal."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X on March 24 that the March 24 attack on Sumy, in which several high-rise residential blocks in the city center were also damaged, showed Moscow's talk of peace ring "hollow."
"Moscow speaks of peace while carrying out brutal strikes on densely populated residential areas in major Ukrainian cities," he wrote.
"A few hours ago, another horrific Russian bombing of Sumy's city center injured dozens civilians, including many children. Instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians," Sybihasaid, adding that "any diplomacy with Moscow must be backed up by firepower, sanctions, and pressure."
Some observers say the mode of shuttle diplomacy could end up being a similar to that used for Gaza cease-fire negotiations, which took months before a deal was clinched. That agreement, meanwhile, appears to have since collapsed.
Trump has been the most persistently optimistic on talks so far. But his hopes for quick progress have been repeatedly knocked back.
A plan agreed with Ukraine for a 30-day general cease-fire was stonewalled by Putin. Instead, after a phone call with Putin, Trump said they’d agreed to a pause on attacks on infrastructure.
But the Kremlin narrowed the focus further, saying that the deal only concerned energy infrastructure -- which its forces subsequently attacked anyway. Ukraine hopes to clear this up in Saudi Arabia by bringing a list of what Russia must agree not to target.
There was similar confusion after Trump’s talks with Zelenskyy. While US officials were speaking of a new plan for US ownership of Ukrainian nuclear plants, as a form of security guarantee for Ukraine, Zelenskyy made it clear these plants were state property that belonged to all Ukrainians.
Meanwhile, a bilateral deal on Ukraine’s rare Earth minerals was again said to be nearly ready. But there is still no clarity on when the document – itself apparently dealing more in aspiration than detail – will be signed.
Going into the talks in Saudi Arabia, there is another focus.
Witkoff, the US envoy, said there would be progress on “a Black Sea cease-fire, on ships between both countries. And from that, you'll naturally gravitate into a full-on shooting cease-fire."
Witkoff also said he was confident that Putin wanted peace, something that Ukraine and European countries do not believe.
As the faltering diplomatic process has edged forward, both Ukraine and Russia reported shooting down a barrage of drones from the opposition side on March 24.
Kyiv said that Russia launched 99 drones at Ukraine overnight, of which 57 were shot down by Ukraine’s air defense systems and 36 were lost from radar.
The remaining drones caused damage in at least five regions of Ukraine, authorities said. At least four people were wounded as the drones struck residential buildings in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhya regions, local authorities said.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on March 24 that Russia downed 227 Ukrainian drones overnight.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Ray Furlong, RFE/RL's Ukrainian and Russian Services, and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
5-Year-Old Child Killed In Latest Russian Attacks On Ukraine
Russian forces launched a drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, killing three people -- including a 5-year-old child -- and injuring 10 others, according to the city administration.
Among the dead were a father and his young daughter. The youngest casualty was 11 months old.
The air raid alarm lasted for more than five hours, the city administration said.
Natalya, a Kyiv resident, told RFE/RL that her apartment had been hit by an "enormous" blast shortly after midnight on March 23.
"Everything was shaking," she said. "I was thrown from the room into the hallway by the shock wave with glass shards flying. Thank God the curtains were drawn -- that saved us from cuts."
Although her family survived the explosion, she said it had been "very, very hard" for the children.
"They kept crying the whole night," she said. "I couldn't calm them down."
Ukrainian police said drone debris fell across several districts of Kyiv, damaging buildings in the Podilskiy and Dniprovskiy districts. Cars were damaged in the Shevchenkivskiy district and an industrial zone in the Holosiyivskiy district was also hit by falling debris.
Ukraine’s state emergency service also reported fires caused by the strikes, saying a blaze broke out on the upper floors of a nine-story building in Diniprovskiy and spread to the roof. One woman died and 27 people were evacuated.
RFE/RL correspondent Olha Armianyshyna said the Red Cross were at the scene, adding that the neighborhood was “still being cleaned up” the following morning and that “a distinct smell of burning” hung in the air.
Another fire was reported on the 20th floor of a 25-story residential building in Podolskiy.
Ukraine’s air force said on March 23 that 147 Shahed drones and drone decoys had been used in the overnight attack on the country. The assault affected multiple regions -- including Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Donetsk -- according to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on March 23 that Russian troops had struck training sites for drone operators and the infrastructure of Ukrainian military airfields.
The ministry also said it destroyed 29 Ukrainian drones overnight, and claimed that Russian forces had captured the village of Sribnoye, near Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, according to the Interfax news agency.
Meanwhile, inside Russia, the acting governor of the Rostov region said a drone strike killed one person traveling in a car on the Morozovsk-Tsimlyansk highway. Acting Governor Yury Slyusar said an apartment building was also hit in the city, although there were no casualties.
In a separate development, the Ukrainian General Staff said its forces had killed or wounded nearly 1,500 Russian troops over the last 24 hours and destroyed nine tanks.
Reports of battlefield strikes cannot immediately be independently verified.
The ongoing fighting comes even as the rest of the world discussed a potential cease-fire and a day after a family of three died in attacks in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya region.
The latest wave of strikes is part of a sharp escalation by both Russia and Ukraine in drone warfare, which has followed cease-fire negotiations between Ukraine, the United States and Russia.
The Russian attacks have employed drones, missiles and glide bombs, and followed a pledge made by President Vladimir Putin in a March 18 phone call with the White House to halt strikes on energy infrastructure. Hours after that two-hour talk with US President Donald Trump, Russian drones hit Ukrainian energy and water supply facilities, along with schools and hospitals.
Moscow has denied allegations of deliberately striking civilian targets in Ukraine throughout the war, even though repeated attacks on hospitals, schools, energy facilities, and residential buildings have been documented throughout the conflict.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, RFE/RL's Russian Service, Reuters, AP, and Interfax
Uncertainty Clouds The Future Of Thousands Of Afghans Seeking US Migration
For over three years, Syed Abdul Samad Muzoon, a middle-aged former Afghan security official, has lived with his wife and their teenage daughter in Pakistan to pursue immigration to the United States.
During Washington’s nearly two-decade-long war in Afghanistan, he worked for the Afghan security forces in sensitive roles, he said, helping the US war effort.
Yet, there is still no clarity on whether they will ever be able to make a fresh start in the United States because of new curbs on immigration.
In January, hundreds of Afghans cleared for resettlement in the United States were prevented from traveling to the country after President Donald Trump immediately suspended Washington’s refugee program and foreign aid after assuming office on January 20.
On February 18, Reuters reported that the State Department's program to manage Afghan resettlement in the United States will be shut down in April.
Media reports suggest that the Trump administration could impose a new travel ban to bar the entry of people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which would close all pathways for Afghans to move to the United States.
The State Department, however, disputes this. “There is no list,” Tammy Bruce, its spokesperson, told journalists on March 17.
Trump has been elected twice on an anti-immigration platform. In a Gallup poll from 2024, a majority of Americans (55 percent) said that they believed there should be less immigration to the United States.
Since the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021, Washington has helped some 200,000 Afghans resettle.
But Muzoon and many more Afghans might never have a chance to begin a new life in the United States. Tens of thousands of them have been living in Pakistan, Qatar, Albania, and other countries for years as they wait for a final decision on their refugee and immigration cases. Fearing retribution by the Taliban, many are fearful of returning to Afghanistan.
'Extreme Predicament'
Advocacy groups estimate that up to 200,000 more Afghans may be eligible for US immigration. Meanwhile, after reviewing government documents, CBS reported that more than 40,000 Afghans who have already been cleared to leave the country are now stranded.
“I and other Afghan refugees here are in an extreme predicament,” Muzoon said.
Since late 2023, Pakistan has expelled more than 800,000 Afghans, and in the capital, Islamabad, Afghans face constant harassment and police brutality.
Muzoon and 20,000 more Afghans in Islamabad now fear repatriation to Afghanistan after the Pakistani government announced it would forcefully deport some 1.5 million documented and undocumented Afghans if they fail to leave by the end of this month.
“I am suffering from the uncertainty and the seemingly endless wait for our cases,” he said.
Muzoon said threats to his life and family prompted him to flee Afghanistan soon after the Taliban seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021, as it toppled the pro-western Afghan republic.
He is among more than half a million Afghans, mostly educated professionals and officials who were integral to running the Afghan republic, who fled the Taliban’s takeover.
Most feared being persecuted for working with the US-led international forces in Afghanistan. Others were senior officials in the Afghan government or worked in the civil society sector.
Three years on, those still waiting for a decision on their US immigration are stuck.
“We are living in extreme despair,” said Maiwand Alami Afghan. He leads an informal association of Afghan refugees in Islamabad.
'Hanging By A Thread'
He said most families in Islamabad sold their properties and belongings in Afghanistan, but that money is now running out.
“Most of us are hanging by a thread,” he said.
Afghan said he had worked for US-funded development projects, which, he fears, makes it impossible for him to return to Afghanistan because the Taliban have persecuted some Afghans associated with the US presence in the country.
“We will still be refugees in our own country, because we don’t have a house, job, or any prospects to earn a livelihood,” he said.
Washington, however, does not look like it will be welcoming any more migrants. During his election campaign, President Trump promised stricter controls on immigration.
In his speech to Congress on March 4, Trump said his administration “has launched the most sweeping border and immigration crackdown in American history.”
Steps taken by Trump after taking office have effectively blocked or suspended the two primary routes for Afghans to immigrate to the United States.
Under the Special Immigration Visa (SIV), Afghans who worked directly for the US government, such as embassy staff or translators for its forces, qualify for relocation. Afghans granted visas under this program can still relocate to the US without financial assistance from Washington, according to Afghans seeking relocation under the program.
“Those who have assisted us and worked with us, that’s been a policy and a dynamic that we’ve worked on from certainly even the previous administration, working to try to get that happening,” said Bruce, the State Department spokesperson.
The refugee program, which enabled former Afghan government officials, lawmakers, and civil society figures to immigrate to the US, is suspended for the next couple of months.
However, the suspension of the State Department's Afghan resettlement program has rattled Americans involved in or supporting the initiative.
“Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty,” said Shawn VanDiver, head of the Afghan Evacuation Association, a coalition of US veterans and advocacy groups that support Afghan resettlement.
'Nothing But Problems And Worries'
VanDiver is now lobbying the US Congress to remove the “complete stop” Trump’s executive orders have put on Afghan resettlement. He says that Congress had authorized Afghan resettlement through December 2027.
“President Trump needs to listen to the voices,” he said, pointing to the bipartisan support in Congress, veterans and service members, who want the immigration of Afghans to continue.
In a statement on March 18, the Afghan Evacuation Association said the ambiguity surrounding the immigration of Afghans “is unnecessary and cruel”. It called on Washington to provide “clear and unequivocal answers” to its wartime Afghan allies.
In media statements and letters, scores of lawmakers have urged President Trump to “fully restore humanitarian and refugee protections for our Afghan allies.”
Several courts across the United States are hearing cases regarding refugee and foreign aid suspensions. Some have issued injunctions against Trump’s executive orders.
A State Department spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “At this time, no decisions have been made” about its Afghan relocation program.
The spokesman said the department is “considering” the future of its Afghan relocation program, officially called Enduring Welcome and the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE).
The spokesperson noted that it “continues to provide life-sustaining support to Afghan allies and partners previously relocated to our overseas case-processing platforms.”
In Islamabad, Muzoon has little understanding of how his future will unfold amid the domestic US wrangling over the fate of Afghans seeking immigration to the country.
He hopes to avoid being deported back to Afghanistan. He wants to move to the United States to send his daughter to school, treat his wife’s depression, and seek some treatment for his heart ailment.
“I have nothing but problems and worries,” he said.
- By RFE/RL
Istanbul Mayor, Erdogan Rival Jailed Ahead Of Likely Presidential Nomination
A Turkish court has ordered Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu jailed pending trial on graft charges, local media reported -- a move that is likely to intensify the largest wave of protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government in over a decade.
The move comes as Imamoglu was expected to be selected as the opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) 2028 presidential candidate in a ballot on March 23.
The court’s decision on March 23 to formally charge and incarcerate Imamoglu, widely seen as Erdogan’s main political rival, follows days of mounting criticism from Turkey’s main opposition party, European leaders, and tens of thousands of protesters who say the actions against him are politically motivated and undemocratic.
Imamoglu, 54, and at least 20 others were jailed as part of one of two corruption investigations launched against him last week, according to the court.
In a separate terror-related case involving alleged links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the court opted to release Imamoglu under judicial supervision, a decision which could prevent the government from appointing a trustee to oversee Istanbul’s municipal leadership.
The mayor -- who is a member of the CHP, the main opposition against Erdogan's ruling alliance -- has denied all the allegations against him, describing them as “unimaginable accusations and slanders.”
The decision to jail Imamoglu on March 23 came a day after thousands of his supporters protested in front of the city’s courthouse where he was undergoing hours of questioning over the allegations of corruption and links to terror groups.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency says the Istanbul mayor is among nearly 100 people, including businessmen and journalists, for whom arrest warrants have been issued. The charges run the gamut from leading a criminal organization and extortion to bribery and illegally accessing personal data.
The arrest of Imamoglu and others has further intensified political tensions and sparked protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in several cities to express support for him.
Police used tear gas and pepper spray to disperse protesters on March 22 as the crowd in Istanbul tossed firecrackers and other objects at security personnel.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya wrote on social media that more than 340 people had been detained in protests in major cities.
“There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation,” he said, naming the cities, which included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Canakkale, Eskisehir, Konya, and Edirne.
However, Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavas, who is also a member of the CHP, told reporters on March 23 that jailing his colleague was a disgrace for the judicial system.
Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the CHP, slammed Imamoglu's detention as an "attempted coup against our next president."
Several European countries have voiced concern over the developments in Istanbul, saying they feared the consequences for democracy over the move.
“The arrest of the mayor is deeply concerning,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, told reporters in Brussels.
“Turkey must uphold the democratic values, especially the rights of elected officials.”
Many critics have said the arrest is driven by political calculations and that it is an attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and challenger to Erdogan in the next presidential race.
The government rejects the accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated, insisting that the country's courts are independent entities.
Imamoglu tops Erdogan in some opinion polls. The next election is technically scheduled for 2028. However, Erdogan has reached his two-term limit as president after having earlier served as the country's prime minister.
If he seeks to run again, as expected, he must either call an early election or change the constitution.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
Russian-Occupied Ukrainian Regions Key To Ending War, Says US Envoy Steve Witkoff
US envoy Steve Witkoff said the resolving the status of the Ukrainian territories currently occupied by Russia is key to ending the war in Ukraine as he appeared to move away from Washington's long-standing position rejecting Moscow's annexation of the regions.
In a wide-ranging interview with U.S. conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, Witkoff said negotiations over the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, and Crimea regions of Ukraine would likely determine how the conflict is settled.
Russia has said part of the reason it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was to "protect" Russian speakers in the eastern regions.
Many experts disagree with that assessment, saying Russian imperial ambitions underpin the conflict.
"That's the elephant in the room," he said. "When that gets settled, we're having a very, very positive conversation."
Seven months after the start of the invasion, the Kremlin declared the four eastern Ukrainian regions annexed and a part of Russia after a referendum vote that the Kremlin professed was an expression of voters' true will.
The vote came even though the regions are only partially occupied by Russian forces, governed by Russian-installed proxy administrators, and the fact that several million potential voters from the region were displaced and unable to cast ballots.
Shortly after the vote, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned Russia's proclaimed annexation of the regions, while then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken repeated Washington's position that the United States would never recognize the "sham" referendums.
Trump and his team have repeatedly said that Ukraine will have to make concessions on land to secure a peace deal to end the more than three-year-old war. Russia currently controls about 20 percent of Ukraine, including large chunks of the four regions.
Witkoff appeared to move away from the position of the Biden administration and the international community at large, telling Carlson that "there have been referendums [organized by Moscow] where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule."
"The question is, will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories?"
Kyiv has consistently rejected Russian claims to have annexed the Ukrainian territories as well as the referendums.
“There are constitutional issues within Ukraine as to what they can concede to with regard to giving up territory,” Witkoff added.
“Can [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy survive politically if he acknowledges this?”
Many in Ukraine reacted angrily to the suggestion that the Moscow-run votes in occupied territories could be considered legitimate.
Kostyantyn Reutskiy, journalist, human rights activist, and former executive director of the East SOS Ukrainian charitable organization, said, "We, the residents of the Ukrainian east and Crimea, saw with our own eyes how this [the Moscow-controlled vote] happened.”
“It had nothing to do with the expression of the people's will," he added. "A tiny part of the local population took part in these so-called referendums, and in fact it was a performance to legalize Russia's decisions on annexation, occupation, and gaining control over part of the territory of a sovereign state.”
Kostyantyn Batozskiy, who now heads the Azov Development Agency and in 2014 observed the beginning of Russian aggression in Donetsk, said, "I saw with my own eyes how staged, implausible, and orchestrated [the vote was] on the part of Russia."
"In Donetsk -- which has a population of millions – there were not enough so-called ‘polling stations’ and those that were there -- anyone could come, take as many ballots as they wanted, and go from one polling station to another,” Batozskiy added.
Dainiel Fried, a longtime US diplomat and former ambassador to Poland, wrote on X that Witkoff's "credulous acceptance of Putin’s good will & Kremlin claims about Ukraine damage the US position going into the next talks with Russia. Blindness = weakness. "
"Mike Waltz & Marco Rubio won’t say anything publicly, but probably get this," he added, referring to the US national-security adviser and secretary of state.
In recent months, Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine may be unable to regain all its Russian-occupied territories by force, but he has stressed that Kyiv will not recognize any part of Ukraine as Russian.'
Witkoff, who has been actively involved in diplomatic efforts concerning the conflict in Ukraine, said that he remains hopeful after the recent round of high-level contacts, including US President Donald Trump's telephone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy.
“I am very, very optimistic that we're going to be able to bring the two sides together,” he said.
Witkoff has been actively involved in diplomatic efforts concerning the conflict in Ukraine, traveling to Russia last week to meet with Putin.
The two spoke for a few hours. Witkoff said his message to Putin was that he and Trump “were going to be two great leaders figuring out this conflict.”
Separately, Witkoff said it was important to end Putin’s political isolation to halt the conflict. Western leaders had cut off contact with the Russian president shortly after the start of the war in February 2022.
“How would we settle a conflict with someone who is the head of a major nuclear power unless we establish trust and good feelings with one another,” Witkoff said.
He said that, at their meeting, Putin handed him a portrait of Trump he had made by a top artist. He also said Putin told him he went to pray for Trump after he was almost killed by an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July 2024 while campaigning for the presidency.
- By RFE/RL
VOA Sues Overseer USAGM To Restore Operations After Trump Order
A group that includes six Voice of America (VOA) journalists has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration and other officials accusing them of illegally shutting down several publicly funded broadcasters.
The lawsuit, filed on March 21 in the Southern District of New York, charges that the Trump administration has taken “a chainsaw” approach to the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) through an executive order signed a week earlier.
The order gutted seven federal agencies, including USAGM, telling them to “reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.”
Hours later, VOA staff were put on administrative leave and its premises shut.
Many media rights watchdogs and analysts have said the decision halting the operations of VOA and other publicly funded broadcasters will embolden authoritarians around the globe with the loss of “a critical lifeline” of information for their populations.
“What is happening to the VOA Journalists is not just the chilling of First Amendment speech; it is a government shutdown of journalism, a prior restraint that kills content before it can be created,” the filing says.
USAGM Acting Director Victor Morales and Special Adviser Kari Lake, are named in the lawsuit, which says the Trump administration’s moves to close the USAGM violated the First Amendment rights of VOA’s employees.
It also asks for the court to restore USAGM-grantee news outlets and that funding for grantees, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA) and the Middle Eastern Broadcast Network (MBN), resume. Those outlets had their grants terminated the same day as VOA was shuttered.
“Defendants have violated all of these laws by closing USAGM and ceasing altogether the business of gathering and disseminating news and opinion via VOA and its sister service Radio y Television Marti, as well as its grantee-affiliates RFE/RL, RFA, and MBN. Defendants’ actions are unconstitutional and unlawful; they must cease immediately,” the complaint says.
'Tragic Attack On Democracy'
In addition to the six VOA journalists, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), The NewsGuild-CWA, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
David Seide, senior counsel at the Government Accountability Project (GAP), a nonpartisan civil rights defense and whistle-blower protection organization that is representing the VOA journalists in the case, called the administration’s moves “another tragic attack on democracy.”
"Over eight decades, VOA and its sister organizations have been renowned, evidenced by the over 400 million viewers, listeners, and readers who tune in every day," he said. "That reputation is now in tatters. Our lawsuit is intended to stop the bleeding.”
Lake, a vocal Trump supporter, did not respond immediately to the news, but around the same time as it was published, she wrote in a post on X that when The Washington Post, The New York Times, NPR, CBS, and 60 Minutes reached out for interviews this week, she declined.
“I do not do interviews with disreputable ‘news’ outlets,” she wrote.
Many Republicans, including Trump and Lake, have alleged that VOA and the other broadcasters are infected by left-wing propaganda, an accusation its operators say isn’t supported by the facts.
RFE/RL on March 18 filed a suit against the USAGM, Lake, and Morales, to block their attempt to terminate RFE/RL’s federal grant, which provides the broadcaster with funds to operate.
The complaint argues that denying the funds Congress has appropriated for RFE/RL violates federal laws and the US Constitution, which gives Congress exclusive authority over federal spending.
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
"This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America's adversaries," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said.
"We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature," he added.
Andrew Tate Returns To Romania To Fight Human Trafficking Charges
Internet influencer Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have returned to Romania from the United States where they are accused of human trafficking and other crimes.
"We've come here to prove our innocence because we deserve our day in court," Andrew Tate told reporters on March 22 outside his house in the town of Voluntari, near Bucharest.
The two brothers, who have British and American passports, face charges in Romania that include human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group. Andrew Tate is also accused of rape.
According to prosecutors, they recruited several women and forced them to produce pornographic content, from which they earned large sums of money. Both have strongly denied the charges.
5 Things To Know About The Tate Brothers
Case In Romania: Andrew Tate, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are dual U.S.-U.K. citizens. They were arrested in December 2022 and indicted with two Romanian women on charges that include human trafficking and sexual misconduct. In December, a Bucharest court ruled the case couldn’t proceed due to legal and procedural irregularities but it remained open, alongside a separate case against them.
Infamy And Fame: Former kickboxers turned influencers, the brothers gained notoriety for Andrew’s controversial views and self-proclaimed misogyny. He has 10.7 million followers on X (formerly Twitter) but was banned from platforms like Facebook and TikTok for hate speech.
Support For Trump: During the 2024 U.S. presidential election, the Tates endorsed Donald Trump, and they have ties to his administration. One of Andrew’s lawyers, Paul Ingrassia, was recently appointed White House liaison for the Department of Justice.
A Sudden Departure: The Tates left Romania after Foreign Minister Emil Hurezeanu’s said that a U.S. official in Trump’s administration showed interest in their case at the Munich Security Conference. He denied any political pressure. The Tates have rejected all the charges they are facing, with Andrew claiming a political conspiracy against him.
Charges In Britain: Pending the resolution of their Romanian case, Britain is also seeking the extradition of the Tates in connection with rape and human trafficking allegations. Andrew also faces a civil lawsuit from four British women alleging sexual violence.
Although they are under "judicial control," meaning they must regularly report to authorities, Romania lifted a travel ban in February that had kept them from leaving the country. On February 27, the brothers traveled to Florida.
Now that they are back in Romania, the two have been summoned to a police station in Voluntari on March 24, an obligation they must comply with, according to judicial control procedures.
"We got our passports back. We live in Romania, we love Romania. We will never leave Romania. We have a house in Romania, we have Romanian children," Andrew Tate said, according to Ştirileprotv.
He insisted that the two, investigated in Romania for forming an organized criminal group, human trafficking, including minors, rape, and money laundering, "should never have gone to prison" and that "our assets should not have been confiscated" and that "our names should not have been slandered."
In December, a Romanian appeals court ruled that the trafficking case against the Tates could not go to trial because of several legal and procedural irregularities from the prosecutors. The case has since been returned to the prosecutors and remains open.
Andrew Tate, 38, told reporters on March 22 that he and Tristan, 36, had come back to Romania "to clear our names and exonerate ourselves."
Before arriving in Voluntari, he wrote on his X account, which has nearly 10.8 million followers, that he spent $185,000 just to sign a paper in Romania. "Innocent men don't run," he wrote in the post, accompanied by a photo of him and his brother on a private plane.
Often described as the "king of toxic masculinity," Andrew Tate -- a former kickboxer and reality TV star -- found global notoriety through controversial online videos promoting hypermasculinity. He has since built a multimillion-dollar brand targeting "alpha males."
In addition to the charges they face in Romania, the brothers are also under investigation in the United Kingdom over allegations of rape and human trafficking.
In the United States, the Tate brothers face a civil lawsuit filed by a woman who says they coerced her into sex work and defamed her after she gave evidence to Romanian prosecutors.
The brothers also face tax evasion charges in the United Kingdom.
They have denied those accusations as well.
- By RFE/RL
UN Children's Agency Calls On Taliban To Lift Ban On Girls' Education
The UN children’s agency has urged Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government to immediately lift a ban on girls' education beyond primary school, saying that if the ban continues until 2030 more than 4 million girls will have been deprived of their right to education.
Afghanistan's ban on girls' secondary education "continues to harm the future of millions of Afghan girls," UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement on March 22. “The consequences for these girls -- and for Afghanistan -- are catastrophic.”
The appeal by UNICEF comes as a new school year began in Afghanistan, where girls beyond sixth grade have been deprived of their right to education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
The Taliban justifies the ban, saying the education of girls beyond the sixth grade doesn't comply with their interpretation of Shari’a law.
Russell called for all girls to be allowed to return to school.
“Afghanistan is the only country in the world that bans female secondary and higher education,” Russell said in the statement, adding that if the rights of young girls continue to be denied, “the repercussions will last for generations.”
She pointed out that the ban negatively impacts the health system, the economy, and the future of the nation.
“With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health,” she said.
The consequences of the ban will affect the number of female doctors and midwives, and this in turn will leave women and girls without crucial medical care.
UNICEF projects an estimated 1,600 additional maternal deaths and over 3,500 infant deaths because of the situation.
The Taliban has allowed limited exceptions to the ban in the health and education sectors, but these jobs come with severe restrictions and the number of women in the workforce continues to fall, according to the United Nations.
Pakistan hosted a global conference in January at which Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the state of women’s and girls' rights in Afghanistan as gender apartheid.
Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders not to "legitimize" the Taliban-led government and instead to "raise their voices" and "use [their] power" against the militant group's curbs on women and girls' education.
"Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings. They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification," Yousafzai told the gathering in Islamabad.
With reporting by AP
- By RFE/RL
American Glezmann Returns Home After 2-Year Detention In Afghanistan
George Glezmann, an American who was released from detention in Afghanistan on March 20, has arrived in the United States and been reunited with his wife, a State Department spokesperson said.
Spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on March 21 that Ryan Corbett, another former American prisoner in Afghanistan who had been held in the same cell as Glezmann, was in a welcoming party for Glezmann at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington.
"After a brief ceremony, George and [his wife] Aleksandra flew to another location in the United States to rest and recover," Bruce told reporters at a regular State Department news briefing.
Glezmann, 66, was released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.
Former US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said on X that he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials in Kabul on March 20.
"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.
Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.
“I feel like born again,” Glezmann said on Fox News after arriving at Joint Base Andrews. “I’m just thankful. I’ve got no word to express my gratitude for my liberty for my freedom.”
Glezmann also thanked President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and others who helped free him, he said on Fox News, recalling how he was abducted in the streets of Kabul and thrown "into a dungeon with no windows no nothing."
Boehler told Fox News he expects to see more Americans released.
“The Taliban understand that there is a new sheriff in town. That president Trump is that new sheriff and that’s why you are seeing something like this," he said.
One of the other US citizens being held in Afghanistan is Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held since 2022.
Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.
Rubio called Glezmann's release "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.
"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.
The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.
Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.
Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.
16th Person In Serbian Train Station Disaster Dies As Protesters Seek Explanation For 'Sonic Scare'
A teen injured in the collapse of a roof at a train station in Serbia has died, becoming the 16th victim in the disaster that has pushed the prime minister out of office and sparked massive demonstrations against President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.
The Military Medical Academy (VMA) in Belgrade said the 18-year-old, one of three people rescued from the rubble, succumbed to injuries they suffered when the canopy of the Novi Sad train station collapsed in November.
"Despite all the treatment measures...the patient succumbed to complex injuries and resulting complications," the hospital said, identifying the victim only by the initials V.C.
Demonstrators have flooded streets across the country to protest against the roof collapse, which they say is tied to government corruption and mismanagement.
The announcement of the 16th victim of the collapse comes as questions linger over how student demonstrators in Belgrade last week were dispersed after a disturbing audio incident disrupted the protest.
Serbian authorities, facing the largest protests in Vucic's 10-year reign, have rejected accusations that an "audio cannon" was used against protesters, saying they're ready to invite the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and its Russian equivalent to investigate amid speculation that police might have used either Russian or American-made equipment on the crowd.
However, those at the March 15 protest are demanding an explanation as to what caused mass panic to break out out as a crowd of thousands stood in silence to honor the victims of the Novi Sad railway station disaster.
"Suddenly, a very strange sound erupted—it was unfamiliar to me, and to everyone around. The atmosphere turned ghostly and terrifying," Tatjana Rosic, who was among the demonstrators, told RFE/RL.
"It felt like a stampede of horses was coming toward me. I lost consciousness for a moment."
A coalition of non-governmental organizations said it had received testimony from more than 3,000 people describing the event, with most reporting intense fear, panic, and shock induced by an unknown source.
They added that common symptoms experienced during the incident included rapid heartbeat, trembling, disorientation, and loss of control. Others described headaches, ear pressure, ringing, nausea, vomiting, a sense of intense cranial pressure, and heat spreading through the body.
Serbian police, military, and top government officials have also denied that sonic weapons were used during the protest, with Interior Minister Ivica Dacic saying the country doesn't possess such instruments and even naming specific models manufactured by California-based Genasys, as well as Russian-made devices produced by Russia's state-owned radio-electronic industry firm Ruselectronics.
Two days later, however, photos emerged showing a Serbian police vehicle equipped with a device resembling a Genasys-made LRAD system, while opposition politician Marinika Tepic told a press conference that the Interior Ministry may have bought as many as seven LRAD 450XL devices, which she described as "sound cannons."
The LRAD 450XL was not one of the models mentioned by Dacic, who later confirmed that Serbian police do possess LRAD-450XL and LRAD-100X models, which broadcast powerful warning tones and for public safety, law enforcement, maritime, and defense applications.
But Dacic insisted that the devices are used strictly for crowd communication and emergency warnings, not for dispersal or intimidation.
Contacted by RFE/RL, Patrick Wilcken, a researcher at Amnesty International, described LRAD systems as “a long-range acoustic device, essentially an extremely loud speaker that emits sounds over 150 decibels.”
Originally developed around two decades ago for military communication, "its most controversial use [today] is in law enforcement,” Wilcken said.
But manufacturer Genasys has now had its own say on the March 15 incident, and it has not brought any clarity to the discussion.
“The video and audio evidence we have seen and heard so far does not indicate that an LRAD was used during the incident on 15 March in Belgrade,” the company said.
Russian Strikes Cut Power In Odesa During Visit By Czech President Petr Pavel
Russian drone strikes targeted civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, leaving at least three people injured and several districts of the city battling power cuts while Czech President Petr Pavel was visiting for talks with officials.
The head of the Odesa region's military administration Oleh Kiper reported on March 21 that minors were among the three known injured in the strikes that sparked fires in various parts of the city.
The ASTRA Telegram channel, citing information in local media, said an apartment building, a shopping center, a store, and several businesses were among civilian infrastructure facilities hit in Odesa.
The strikes resulted in power outages in at least three districts of the city, according to the DTEK electricity company.
“This is yet another reminder to the entire world: the war continues, and Ukraine continues to fight,” Kiper wrote on Telegram.
A 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy infrastructure in the Russia-Ukraine war was agreed on March 18 at talks between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
But since the Trump-Putin talks, Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of breaking the limited agreement and it appears to have had little impact on the course of the war.
Russia accused Kyiv on March 21 of blowing up a major gas pumping and measuring station in Russia's Kursk region near the border with Ukraine in what it called "an act of terrorism."
Russian and Ukrainian delegations are expected to meet separately with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week, though face-to-face meetings between the two are not expected to be held.
Hurting Odesa has been a priority for Russia in its three-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow looks to obstruct Kyiv's maritime access.
While Russia's hopes of reaching the strategic port with conventional forces faded in the first year of the war, it has continued to target it with regular strikes.
Strikes on January 31 damaged buildings on the UNESCO World Heritage list in Odesa's storied city center, including the Hotel Bristol, a luxury hotel built at the end of the 19th century.
Ukraine's Prosecutor-General's Office said Russian armed forces used ballistic missiles in that attack.
In a post on X on March 20, Pavel said Odesa "has been resisting Russian aggression since the beginning of the war.”
“The Czech Republic is sending aid here in the form of combat vehicles, drones, protective vests, and mobile jamming devices that protect residents from drone attacks, as well as medical equipment, such as ventilators and hospital beds," Pavel said.
Pavel met with Kiper, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba, and other Ukrainian officials to discuss cooperation.
Russian attacks late on March 21 killed two people in Zaporizhzhya, the regional Governor Ivan Fedorov said, adding that the attack caused three fires. Pictures posted on social media showed rescuers searching in the rubble and apartment blocks and homes with windows and facades badly damaged.
Two other people were killed on March 21 in the Sumy region on Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia when Russian forces dropped at least six guided bombs on the village of Krasnopillia, prosecutors said.
In eastern Donetsk region, prosecutors said Russian forces had dropped three bombs on the town of Kostyantynivka, killing one person.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on March 21 that Kyiv was continuing to hold talks with the United States about a minerals deal.
“Ukraine was even ready to sign the agreement in Jeddah,” Heorhiy Tykhyy, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said, referring to the March 11 talks between US and Ukrainian representatives in Saudi Arabia.
Tykhyy said that US officials at that time requested additional consultations in Washington about the deal.
Trump said on March 20 that the United States would sign the minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine shortly.
- By RFE/RL
2 Men Convicted In New York For Plotting To Kill Iranian Dissident Journalist
Two men identified by prosecutors as members of the Russian mob have been convicted in New York City for plotting to kill Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad in a murder-for-hire scheme financed by Iran's government.
The verdict was returned on March 20, ending a two-week trial that included testimony about how Iran targeted Alinejad, 48, for her online campaigns encouraging Iranian women to defy Iran’s law requiring women to cover their hair in public.
Prosecutors said Iranian intelligence officials first plotted in 2020 and 2021 to kidnap Alinejad and move her to Iran to silence her criticism of the government. When that failed, Iran offered $500,000 for her to be killed, prosecutors said.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Lockard told the jury on March 19 that the “Iranian government” had set the award to “fund the plan to silence” Alinejad.
Alinejad called the verdict “a powerful gift from the American government” to the people of Iran because it shows that justice is beginning to be served.
“I am relieved that after nearly three years, the men who plotted to kill me have been found guilty. But make no mistake, the real masterminds of this crime are still in power in Iran,” she told The Associated Press. “Right now, I am bombarded with emotions. I have cried. I have laughed. I have even danced.”
Leslie R. Backschies, who heads the FBI's New York office, said the verdicts show that the “Iranian government's shameless conduct and attempt to violate our laws and assassinate a critic of their human rights atrocities will not be tolerated.”
Prosecutors said the convicted men, Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, were members of the Russian mob. Defense lawyers argued at trial that their clients were innocent and evidence was flawed.
“We respect the jury's verdict, but plan on filing an appeal on Mr. Omarov's behalf,” Elena Fast, an attorney for Omarov, was quoted by the AP as saying in an e-mail. A lawyer for Amirov did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment on the verdict.
In court on March 19 his lawyer, Michael Martin, said there was no doubt "Iran targeted Alinejad, but his client was not part of any plot."
Alinejad testified last week that she came to the United States in 2009 after she was banned from covering Iran's disputed presidential election and after the newspaper where she worked was shut down.
After establishing herself in New York City, she built an online audience of millions and launched a campaign that told Iranian women to send photos and videos of themselves exposing their hair when the morality police were not around.
She ultimately inspired women to take to the streets in Iran on Wednesdays to peacefully protest, leading the government to arrest hundreds of women. The crackdown only caused her following to grow.
Prosecutors said that by 2022, the Iranian government enlisted organized crime figures to kill Alinejad.
Khalid Mehdiyev, a former member of the Russian mob, testified that he was hired as the hitman.
Mehdiyev, who cooperated with prosecutors after pleading guilty to multiple crimes, said he bought an AK-47 to kill Alinejad in July 2022, but the plan was foiled when his car was stopped by police and the gun was found. Mehdiyev, like Amirov and Omarov, are citizens of Azerbaijan.
American officials have accused Iran of backing several assassination plots in the United States, including one against President Donald Trump during his presidential campaign last year.
In a separate case, US prosecutors in 2022 charged a man in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) with plotting to kill former US national-security adviser John Bolton. Tehran has denied being behind any such plots.
The plots came after Iranian officials vowed to exact revenge against Trump and others over the 2020 drone strike that killed prominent IRGC General Qassem Soleimani.
With reporting by AP
- By RFE/RL
Trump Says Ukraine, US To Sign Minerals Deal Soon
US President Donald Trump says the United States soon will sign a minerals and natural resources deal with Ukraine as negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to end the war continue.
Trump told reporters at the White House on March 20 that his efforts to achieve a peace deal for the country were going "pretty well" after his talks this week with the leaders of the warring countries.
"We're doing very well with regard to Ukraine and Russia. And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths with Ukraine," Trump said.
As Trump made the comments, Russian forces attacked civilian infrastructure in Odesa, causing damage and injuring three people, including a girl, the regional governor said.
"The enemy massively attacked Odesa and the region with strike drones,” Governor Oleh Kiper said. “There is damage to civilian infrastructure, including a residential high-rise building, a shopping center, and shops," he wrote on Telegram.
Kiper said large fires broke out in three locations as a result of the attack.
There also was a report from the Kursk region of Russia saying that Ukrainian forces attacked the gas distribution station in Sudzha. The independent media outlet Sota published a photo on Telegram showing a large fireball.
A Ukrainian military Telegram channel posted the same photo, citing media reports about "a successful strike on the Sudzha gas transport system through which the enemy used to transport gas to Europe."
There was no official word on the incident from Ukrainian government officials. Moscow also did not report the incident.
The station was the only point through which Russian gas had passed on its way to Europe until Ukraine declined to extend a transit agreement in January.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier on March 20 ordered Ukrainians in Ukraine's occupied territories to get a Russian passport by September 10 or leave. The ultimatum applies to Ukrainians in occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya, Tymofiy Mylovanov, Ukraine's former economy minister, said on X.
Trump this week held separate talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr.
Those talks fell short of securing a full 30-day cease-fire but resulted in Putin agreeing to stop Russian attacks on energy infrastructure for 30 days. Zelenskiy said after his talks with Trump that he would also accept such a pause.
"We would love to see that (war) come to an end, and I think we're doing pretty well in that regard," Trump said.
Ukraine and the United States earlier this month agreed to conclude a comprehensive agreement for developing Ukraine's critical mineral resources. Efforts to seal the deal fell apart on February 28 after a heated exchange between Trump and Zelenskiy at the White House.
Trump and Zelenskiy agreed on March 19 to work together to end Russia's war with Ukraine in a phone call that the White House described as a "fantastic."
It was unclear if the terms of the minerals deal have changed. An earlier version did not include the security guarantees that Zelenskyy has insisted upon.
It also envisaged the Ukrainian government contributing 50 percent of the proceeds for sales of state-owned natural resources to a U.S.-Ukraine managed reconstruction investment fund.
Trump on March 20 also signed an executive order to boost US domestic production of lithium and other minerals critical to the production of batteries for electric cars and electronics.
The order also directs federal agencies to create a list of US mining projects that can be quickly approved as well as which federal lands could be used for minerals processing.
With reporting by Reuters
American Glezmann Released By Taliban After Visit To Kabul By Senior US Official
US citizen George Glezmann has been released from detention in Kabul following the first visit by a senior US official to Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in the wake of the withdrawal of international troops from the war-torn country in August 2021.
Former U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said in a post on X that after he and Adam Boehler, a senior adviser at the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, met with Taliban officials on March 20, the 66-year-old Glezmann was "on his way home to his family."
"We succeeded in obtaining the release of an American citizen, George Glezmann, after two years in detention in Kabul. The Taliban government agreed to free him as a goodwill gesture to [President Donald Trump] and the American people," Khalilzad said.
Details of the negotiations were not revealed. The United States, like most countries, does not recognize the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.
No mention was made of another US citizen being held by the Taliban, George Mahmood Habibi, who also has been held in Afghanistan since 2022.
Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken into custody by Taliban authorities while on a tourist visit to Afghanistan in December 2022 and had been deemed wrongfully detained by the US government.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed the release, calling it "a positive and constructive step" that was aided by officials in Qatar, which has often hosted negotiations between Washington and the Taliban.
"It is also a reminder that other Americans are still detained in Afghanistan," he added.
The release comes two months after two other Americans held in Afghanistan were exchanged for a Taliban man imprisoned for life in California on drug and terrorism charges.
Ryan Corbett and William McKenty were swapped for Khan Mohammed, who was sentenced to two life terms in 2008 and was incarcerated in a US prison.
Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022.
North Macedonia Holds Funerals For Victims Of Nightclub Fire Tragedy
North Macedonia was in deep mourning on March 20 as funerals were held in several towns and the capital, Skopje, for victims of a nightclub fire that left 59 people dead and sparked anti-corruption protests.
Grief and shock have gripped the Balkan country since the fire at the Pulse nightclub in the town of Kocani on the night March 16, which was caused by a pyrotechnics accident during a hip-hop concert.
The youngest of the fire’s victims was just 16, while the oldest was 48. Three other victims were 17.
The government is yet to release a full list of names of the victims.
Apart from Kocani, around 80 kilometers east of Skopje, funerals were held in Stip, Cesinovo-Oblesevo, and Skopje, and some smaller towns.
'All Of Macedonia Is Crying'
Reporters for RFE/RL’s Balkan Service witnessed citizens form long lines in city squares to light candles and pay tribute to the deceased.
In Kocani, shops were shuttered, roads were closed, and residents appeared to be still reeling from the tragedy.
Authorities, who have come under pressure following the tragedy, published a protocol for the media and for the public attending the ceremonies, where hundreds of mostly black-clad mourners gathered.
Residents of Kocani, Skopje, and other North Macedonian cities staged protests in the aftermath of the disaster, demanding an end to the corruption that they say makes buildings across the country unfit for purpose.
"We expect our institutions to start working properly. We are overwhelmed. Ordinary people are suffering. Today Kocani is crying. All of Macedonia is crying," one protester told RFE/RL at a protest on March 18.
Protesters labeled the civic initiative “Who’s Next.”
Police said 15 people were detained in connection with the fire, while Kocani authorities confirmed the nightclub was operating without a license.
More than 170 people were forced to seek treatment in hospitals in North Macedonia and abroad after suffering injuries in the blaze.
Health Minister Arben Taravari said on March 20 that of the 20 people previously stated as being in critical condition, 10 were still in a serious condition, but no longer faced a threat to their lives.
Foreign Minister Timco Mucunski in recent days has visited victims recuperating in Greece, Bulgaria, and Croatia, where he met with counterparts and thanked them for their support.
“I am here as a representative of a state grieving for 59 lost lives. At this moment, there are no appropriate words that can be spoken,” Mucunski told journalists in front of a medical clinic in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, on March 20.
Zelenskyy Says Ukraine To Send Team For Talks With US In Saudi Arabia Next Week
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a delegation from Kyiv will hold talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia next week amid intense diplomatic efforts to bring an end to Europe's largest and deadliest conflict since World War II.
During a visit to Norway on March 20, Zelenskyy said Ukraine would prepare a list of buildings and facilities to make clear what it considers to be civilian infrastructure after Kyiv and Moscow agreed to a partial cease-fire.
During a phone call with US President Donald Trump on March 18, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, only to violate it hours later.
"I don't want to have a different understanding of what the parties would agree to," Zelenskyy said, adding the Ukrainian delegation would not hold face-to-face talks with a Russian group of officials who will also be in Saudi Arabia on March 24.
Trump and Zelenskyy spoke on March 19 to discuss the outcome of the US president's call a day earlier with Putin. Trump sought to get the Kremlin leader to agree to a 30-day cease-fire after having secured Zelenskyy's backing on condition that Russia do the same.
Putin rejected a full cease-fire but accepted a halt in strikes on Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure, according to a US readout of the call.
During his call with Zelenskyy, Trump promised to look into acquiring more Patriot air-defense missile systems for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy agreed not to target Russian energy assets for 30 days.
Ukraine has struggled to protect its cities from Russian attacks due to a lack of air defense, and Zelenskyy wrote that another wave of strikes overnight showed Putin's comments were just "propaganda."
"Russian strikes on Ukraine do not stop, despite their propaganda claims. Every day and every night, nearly a hundred or more drones are launched, along with ongoing missile attacks. With each such launch, the Russians expose to the world their true attitude towards peace," Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X on March 20.
Ukraine's air force said on March 20 that its air defenses shot down 75 out of 171 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack, with 63 other drones redirected from their targets with the use of electronic warfare.
Ukraine's National Police said that at least 10 people were injured in an overnight air attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskiy, including four children.
The strike damaged residential buildings and private homes. Several of the injured were hospitalized after receiving emergency medical care.
Russia, meanwhile, said that it had downed 132 Ukrainian drones overnight, with authorities in the Saratov region confirming that an airfield close to the town of Engels, which hosts a strategic bomber base, had been set on fire.
Ukraine's military confirmed it had launched an attack against the base.
Russia's aviation authority Rosaviatsia also said arrivals and departures at the Samara and Saratov airports had been temporarily suspended.
Zelenskyy arrived in Norway as the intensity of peace talks continues to gain momentum.
"Norway supports Ukraine in its fight to defend itself and is contributing to the effort to achieve a lasting, just peace in the country. I look forward to constructive discussions on how Norway can best provide assistance to Ukraine in both the short term and the long term," Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Store said at a press conference with Zelenskyy.
Trump suggested during his call with Zelenskyy that the United States take ownership of Ukraine's power plants as he seeks to bridge a wide divide between Moscow and Kyiv and secure a full cease-fire.
Trump told Zelenskyy that US ownership of Ukraine's electrical supply and nuclear power plants "would be the best protection for that infrastructure," according to a White House readout of the March 19 call.
The proposal reflects Trump's belief that US ownership of Ukrainian assets would effectively serve as a security guarantee for the embattled country because Russia would presumably refrain from targeting them out of fear of escalation with the United States.
Zelenskyy said he and Trump discussed the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine during the phone call. He said he told Trump that Kyiv would be ready to discuss US involvement in modernizing and investing in the plant if it is returned to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, however, on March 20 dismissed the idea that the plant could be owned by the US, adding that the critical facility is officially a property of the Ukrainian people.
"If it's not under Ukrainian control, it wouldn't work for anybody. It's illegal [...] If the Americans want to take it from Russia, invest in it, and modernize it -- that's a different question," he told journalists in Norway.
Kyiv's demand for security guarantees lies at the heart of the shuttle diplomacy between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States to secure a peace deal. Zelenskyy wants any final peace deal to include Western security guarantees for Ukraine to deter Russia from invading again, but Trump has so far refused to commit the United States to the country's defense.
Zelenskyy Has 'Positive' Contact With Trump
Trump has made ending the war in Ukraine, which has killed or wounded more than a million people, a top priority for his administration.
However, Moscow and Kyiv remain so far apart on key issues -- such as land exchanges and security guarantees for Ukraine -- that the Trump administration will need to use various carrots and sticks if it hopes to bring them together.
In a social media post, Trump said the goal of his call with Zelenskyy was "to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs."
Putin has agreed to continue talks with the United States toward achieving a full cease-fire. US negotiators will meet with Ukrainian and Russian counterparts in the coming days to work on extending the partial cease-fire to the Black Sea.
In a show of good faith by both sides, Russia and Ukraine on March 19 each swapped 175 prisoners in one of the largest exchanges of the war.
Experts say that Putin has not given up on his goals of subjugating Ukraine and will seek to drag out the talks while his forces have the advantage on the battlefield. Russia wants to fully control the four regions of Ukraine it claims to have annexed in 2022. It would fall short of that goal were it to agree to a full-cease fire now.
Trump has threatened to impose tough sanctions and tariffs on Russia if it obstructs the path toward peace deal, but experts question whether the US president would come down hard on Russia considering he values his relationship with Putin.
“Trump has shown that he can pressure Zelenskyy. Is he willing and able to pressure Putin? If not, then what is he going to do? Putin is making it clear that he’s not changing his goals,” Mark Katz, a Russia expert and professor emeritus of government and politics at George Mason University, told RFE/RL.
Russia has regularly targeted Ukraine's power infrastructure with missiles and drones in an attempt to break the will of the Ukrainian people by denying them light and heat in the winter.
Ukraine has often retaliated against the strikes on its power system by targeting Russian oil assets, such as refineries and storage facilities. Russia's war machine is heavily dependent on oil export revenues, which account for about a third of federal budget revenues.
Residents of Kyiv told RFE/RL that they did not put much faith in the agreement between Washington and Moscow.
Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to send a team for further cease-fire discussions with the United States, while reiterating Kyiv will not recognize Russian sovereignty over any occupied Ukrainian territory -- a condition for any peace agreement that Putin has voiced several times.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
- By RFE/RL
Imamoglu, Rival To Turkey's Erdogan, Detained In Istanbul
Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has been detained by Turkish authorities days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition candidate running in the 2028 presidential election, a move the European Union called "deeply concerning."
Imamoglu, who is widely seen as a key rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained at his home early on March 19. His party said the move showed how strong a candidate he would be if he were to run against Erdogan.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency says the Istanbul mayor is among nearly 100 people, including businessmen and journalists, whose arrest warrants have been issued. The charges run the gamut from leading a criminal organization and extortion to bribery and illegally accessing personal data.
Prosecutors specifically accused Imamoglu of being "the leader of a criminal organization" who allegedly extorted businessmen and laundered money.
Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), slammed Imamoglu's detention as an "attempted coup against our next president."
Several European countries voiced concern over the developments in Istanbul, saying they feared the consequences on democracy over the move.
“The arrest of the mayor is deeply concerning,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, told reporters in Brussels.
“Turkey must uphold the democratic values, especially the rights of elected officials.”
Erdogan, the nation's premier leader since 2003, has been accused of rolling back democracy, jailing opponents, independently launching foreign interventions, and has crossed swords with EU member states, and deepened ties with Putin.
"Erdogan in Turkey is using all the tactics employed by authoritarians to maintain his power. For example, before elections, he eliminates opposition leaders or strong potential rivals by imprisoning them or removing them in some way. These are well-known tactics, in fact," Ilhan Uzgel, a CHP deputy chairman, told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service.
The CHP is scheduled to hold its presidential candidate selection on March 23, and Imamoglu is the only person running.
Imamoglu posted a video on social media early on March 19 vowing to "continue fighting against" Erdogan.
"Those who are trying to usurp the will of our nation have involved my dear police officers," he said, appearing to suggest he was about to be placed in custody.
"We are facing great tyranny. But I want you to know that I will not give up," he added.
Netblocks, which monitors the connectivity of Web services, said Turkey had restricted access to multiple social media platforms following Imamoglu's detention. The blocked platforms include X, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
It has been a difficult week for Imamoglu. On March 17, his alma mater Istanbul University invalidated his diploma, alleging irregularities when he transferred from a university in Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus in 1990.
A university degree is a prerequisite for running in elections in Turkey, which is why Imamoglu's supporters argue the decision to nullify his diploma is politically motivated. The Istanbul mayor himself said the move was illegal, charging the university did not have the authority for the annulment.
"This is not about me. This is about our future. No matter the challenges we face, we will not waver. We will not allow democracy to be undermined. We will not allow the will of the people to be overruled," he wrote on X after the annulment of his diploma.
Imamoglu secured a second term as Istanbul's mayor last year, marking a significant victory for his CHP party in local elections. The party also won key cities like Ankara, dealing a historic blow to Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.
This marked the first time since Erdogan's rise to power 22 years ago that his party lost nationwide elections.
The defeat was particularly personal for Erdogan, who began his political career as Istanbul's mayor.
Trump Suggests US Ownership Of Ukrainian Power Plants After Russia Launches New Strikes Despite Pledge
President Donald Trump suggested during a call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy that the United States take ownership of Ukraine's power plants as he seeks to bridge a wide divide between Moscow and Kyiv and secure a full cease-fire in Europe's largest war in decades.
Trump told Zelenskyy that US ownership of Ukraine's electrical supply and nuclear power plants "would be the best protection for that infrastructure," according to a White House readout of the March 19 call, which preceded another night of Moscow and Kyiv exchanging drone strikes and hostilities on the battlefield.
The proposal reflects Trump's belief that US ownership of Ukrainian assets would effectively serve as a security guarantee for the embattled country because Russia would presumably refrain from targeting them out of fear of escalation with the United States.
Zelenskyy told reporters in an online briefing on March 19 that he and Trump discussed the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine during the phone call. He said he told Trump that Kyiv would be ready to discuss US involvement in modernizing and investing in the plant if it is returned to Ukraine.
Kyiv's demand for security guarantees lies at the heart of the shuttle diplomacy between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States to secure a peace deal. Zelenskyy wants any final peace deal to include Western security guarantees for Ukraine to deter Russia from invading again, but Trump has so far refused to commit the United States to the country's defense.
During the call, which the White House described as "fantastic," Trump promised to look into acquiring more Patriot anti-air missile systems for Ukraine, while Zelenskyy agreed not to target Russian energy assets for 30 days.
Ukraine has struggled to protect its cities from Russian attacks due to a lack of air defense.
Early on March 20, Ukraine's air force said that its air defenses shot down 75 out of 171 drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack, with 63 other drones redirected from their targets with use of electronic warfare.
Ukraine's National Police said that at least 10n people were injured in an overnight air attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskiy, including four children.
The strike damaged residential buildings and private homes. Several of the injured were hospitalized after receiving emergency medical care.
Russia said that it had downed 132 Ukrainian drones overnight, with authorities in the Saratov region confirming that an airfield close to the town of Engels, which hosts a strategic bomber base, had been set on fire.
Russia's aviation authority Rosaviatsia said arrivals and departures at the Samara and Saratov airports had been temporarily suspended.
Zelenskyy Has 'Positive' Contact With Trump
Zelenskyy described his first official contact with the US president since a disastrous meeting in front of the press on February 27, as "substantive and positive."
But Ukrainian political analyst Petro Oleshchuk told Current Time that it is not clear whether the idea of US ownership of Ukrainian energy assets is something to take seriously or just another "innovative idea" on the part of Trump.
"On the other hand this is perhaps a further development of the idea that was earlier proposed in the context of critical rare earths," said Oleshchuk, referring to the Trump-proposed deal over access to Ukrainian critical minerals that Zelenskyy left without signing during that visit to Washington.
"It is clear Trump and his circle are looking for profitable things in Ukraine in order to justify for themselves and their partners the need for a US presence in Ukraine. But Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant is currently controlled by Russia. And it is hard to imagine how Trump is going to persuade Russia to get out of there," said Oleshchuk.
Trump has made ending the war in Ukraine, which has killed or wounded more than a million people, a top priority for his administration.
However, Moscow and Kyiv remain so far apart on key issues -- such as land exchanges and security guarantees for Ukraine -- that the Trump administration will need to use various carrots and sticks if it hopes to bring them together.
In a social media post, Trump said the goal of his call with Zelenskyy was "to align both Russia and Ukraine in terms of their requests and needs."
So far, Trump has mainly leaned on Ukraine, temporarily halting military assistance until Zelenskyy agreed last week to a 30-day unconditional cease-fire. Putin rejected the cease-fire proposal during a March 18 call with the US president, settling instead for a temporary halt in energy and infrastructure strikes, the first de-escalation step of the war. Zelenskyy subsequently reciprocated.
Putin agreed to continue talks with the United States toward achieving a full cease-fire. US negotiators will meet with Ukrainian and Russian counterparts in the coming days to work on extending the partial cease-fire to the Black Sea.
Experts say that Putin has not given up on his goals of subjugating Ukraine and will seek to drag out the talks while his forces have the advantage on the battlefield. Russia wants to fully control the four regions of Ukraine it claims to have annexed in 2022. It would fall short of that goal were it to agree to a full-cease fire now.
Trump has threatened to impose tough sanctions and tariffs on Russia if it obstructs the path toward peace deal, but experts question whether the US president would come down hard on Russia considering he values his relationship with Putin.
“Trump has shown that he can pressure Zelenskyy. Is he willing and able to pressure Putin? If not, then what is he going to do? Putin is making it clear that he’s not changing his goals,” Mark Katz, a Russia expert and professor emeritus of government and politics at George Mason University, told RFE/RL.
Putin's Promise
Shortly after Putin agreed not to target Ukrainian energy facilities and infrastructure during the partial cease-fire period, Russia stuck two hospitals and a railway power station, injuring several people.
Russia has regularly targeted Ukraine's power infrastructure with missiles and drones in an attempt to break the will of the Ukrainian people by denying them light and heat in the winter.
Zelenskyy said earlier that Russia had launched 150 drones at targets that also included energy facilities in the hours that followed the call between Trump and Putin.
Russian troops late on March 19 carried out massive air strikes on Kupyansk that damaged critical infrastructure and caused fires at civilian structures, according to Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov.
Residents of Kyiv told RFE/RL that they did not put much faith in the agreement between Washington and Moscow.
Luke Coffey, an analyst at the Hudson Institute, called Putin's concession on energy infrastructure strikes "the bare minimum" he could offer Trump.
"With warmer weather in Ukraine, Putin likely would have scaled back strikes on energy regardless," he said in a tweet, adding that the Kremlin leader "remains the primary obstacle to peace."
The Kremlin's readout from the talks suggested the scope of their agreement was limited to a pause in strikes on energy infrastructure, while the wording of the White House's statement differed slightly, referring to an "energy and infrastructure cease-fire."
"There must be checks over Putin's words. And the United States could lead that monitoring.... We will write up a list of buildings and structures hit by Russian drones and missiles. If the Russians stop targeting our buildings, we will stop our strikes on Russian territories," Zelenskyy said.
"There is a long path to reach first the cease-fire, and then a long-term peace," he added.
The Kremlin has claimed that it halted any targeting of Ukrainian energy facilities immediately after the call with Trump, and instead accused Kyiv of launching attacks on equipment near one of its pipelines in spite of the agreement.
Ukrainian drones struck an oil depot in Russia's Krasnodar region overnight, igniting a fire and damaging a pipeline connecting storage tanks, Russian emergency officials confirmed, adding that there were no casualties.
Ukraine has often retaliated against the strikes on its power system by targeting Russian oil assets, such as refineries and storage facilities. Russia's war machine is heavily dependent on oil export revenues, which account for about a third of federal budget revenues.
For this reason, argued Oleschuk, the analyst, adhering to the agreement prohibiting such strikes might handicap Kyiv just as much as it does Moscow.
"People here say that the “sanctions of the drones” are often working more effectively against Russia’s oil and gas industry than the sanctions of the Western partners," Oleschuk told Current Time.
While Trump described his call with Putin as "very good and productive," Zelenskyy expressed disappointment with the outcome, saying it showed Putin isn't interested in peace and was determined "to drag out the war."
US envoy Steve Witkoff told Fox News on March 18 that fresh talks with Russia on the Ukraine war will now take place on March 23 in Jeddah.
"The devil is in the details. We've got a team going to Saudi Arabia, led by our national-security adviser and our secretary of state, and I think, you know, we've got to figure out those details," Witkoff said.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready to send a team for further cease-fire discussions with the United States, while reiterating Kyiv will not recognize Russian sovereignty over any occupied Ukrainian territory -- a condition for any peace agreement that Putin has voiced several times.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
- By RFE/RL
Radio Free Europe Sues Overseer USAGM To Block Termination Of Federal Grant
WASHINGTON -- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)said it has sued the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), along with USAGM officials Kari Lake and Victor Morales, to block their attempt to terminate RFE/RL’s federal grant, which provides the broadcaster with funds to operate.
The complaint, filed on March 18, argues that denying the funds Congress has appropriated for RFE/RL violates federal laws and the US Constitution, which gives Congress exclusive authority over federal spending.
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
"This is not the time to cede terrain to the propaganda and censorship of America's adversaries," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said.
"We believe the law is on our side and that the celebration of our demise by despots around the world is premature," he added.
Morales is acting CEO of USAGM, while Lake is a senior adviser to Morales.
Word of the suit comes as European Union politicians said they are continuing their push into possible support for RFE/RL after the US government moved to cut the Prague-based broadcaster's funding amid concerns its closure would be a blow to pro-democracy media.
Czech European Affairs Minister Martin Dvorak told reporters in Brussels that several nations have supported the initiative so far but that the bloc must act quickly as "it would be a big mistake to let this institution die."
"We must initiate some interest and meet with commissioners and some states. At this point, that initiative has been supported by seven other nations, and after we make the initiative public at the General Affairs Council, more countries will join us," Dvorak said, adding the issue needs to be resolved in a matter of "several weeks."
At the initiative of the Czech Republic, a meeting of foreign ministers from the bloc's 27 members on March 17 addressed the issue with the future of RFE/RL unclear due to the cutting of its Congress-approved funding by the administration of President Donald Trump over the weekend.
EU Countries Voice Support Of RFE/RL
While Dvorak said he did not want to reveal the names of the countries that have voiced their support for the move, diplomatic sources told RFE/RL that Germany, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, and the three Baltic nations are among those who support the initiative.
In a show of solidarity and support, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement on March 19 that it is "deeply concerned" by the U.S. government’s move to end funding for RFE/RL and "close down an important source of reliable news in multiple languages for many millions of people."
“We stand in solidarity with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and hundreds of journalists at risk – and also with their audiences who depend on their independent reporting and broadcasting,” said Liz Corbin, director of news at the EBU.
“For many years, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has contributed valuable content and context to the Eurovision News Exchange from some of the most difficult places for news media to work. In the face of propaganda, censorship and manipulation, every outlet that serves the public good with trusted information must be protected and properly funded.”
RFE/RL's Cold War History
Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski has also voiced support for RFE/RL, recalling how his father listened to the station as well as the Voice of America broadcaster during the Cold War.
"It's how we learned the basic facts about our own countries because communist propaganda was so tightly controlled," he told reporters. "And these institutions continue to do similar work for autocracies today."
Trump signed an executive order late on March 14 that aims to reduce seven federal agencies -- including USAGM, which oversees RFE/RL and other federal broadcasters.
The order, which also targets agencies that deal with homelessness, labor disputes, and community development, gave the heads of each governmental entity named seven days to submit a report confirming full compliance.
Hours after the executive order was published, a letter from USAGM said the Congress-approved grant that funds RFE/RL had been terminated.
RFE/RL chief Capus said canceling the grant agreement would be "a massive gift to America's enemies," a point that was echoed by many media rights watchdogs, democracy advocates, and politicians.
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is an important source of independent and fact-based news. We echo Czechia's call for joint EU support to make sure RFE/RL can continue its operations - promoting democratic values and press freedom, and countering foreign information manipulation," Caspar Veldkamp, foreign minister of the Netherlands, said in a social media post on March 19.
'Critical Lifeline'
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said: "The Trump administration's latest effort to dismantle entities established and funded by Congress that provide accurate, unbiased information to hundreds of millions of people in countries where press freedom is under attack undermines the US commitment to democracy."
“If President Trump gets his way, those who depend on US-supported independent media as alternatives to Chinese and Kremlin run media outlets and those living under authoritarian regimes will lose a critical lifeline."
The USAGM is an independent US government agency that oversees the broadcasting of news and information in almost 50 languages to some 361 million people each week.
The total budget request for the USAGM for fiscal year 2025 was $950 million to fund all of its operations and capital investments.
This includes media outlets such as RFE/RL, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio Marti), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Open Technology Fund.
The 2025 budget request for RFE/RL itself was about $153 million, according to USAGM documents.
RFE/RL operates in 23 countries and 27 languages across Central and Eastern Europe, the Near East, and Central Asia.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak
- By RFE/RL
Judge Bars DOGE From Further Dismantling Of USAID, Says Move Likely Unconstitutional
A US federal judge ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) likely violated the Constitution when it attempted to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and it ordered DOGE to cease further action against the agency.
US District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland, in a preliminary ruling, ordered President Donald Trump's adviser Elon Musk and the agency he leads to restore access to USAID's computer systems for its direct and contract employees -- including thousands who had been placed on leave in late February.
The ruling was in response to a suit filed by current and former USAID employees who claimed Musk and DOGE had no authority to close down the congressionally mandated entity, created in 1961.
"Today’s decision is an important victory against Elon Musk and his DOGE attack on USAID, the US government, and the Constitution,” said Norm Eisen, head of the State Democracy Defenders Fund and a lawyer representing the 26 anonymous plaintiffs in the suit.
The White House blasted the court decision.
"Rogue judges are subverting the will of the American people in their attempts to stop President Trump from carrying out his agenda," spokeswoman Anna Kelly said.
"The Trump administration will appeal this miscarriage of justice and fight back against all activist judges intruding on the separation of powers."
In comments to Fox News, Trump confirmed that he plans to appeal the ruling.
Chuang said there was evidence that Musk exercised significant authority legally reserved for an organization's officer while serving in a continuing government position.
The White House contends that Musk was not in a government position but only serving as an adviser to Trump.
Chuang also found that Musk and DOGE lacked authorization by Congress to take steps toward dismantling the agency.
"There is no statute that authorizes the Executive Branch to shut down USAID," he wrote
USAID is the primary US government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. It operates in more than 100 countries, distributing billions of dollars in foreign aid annually, and employs about 10,000 people around the globe.
The Trump administration has criticized USAID programs as inefficient and misaligned with U.S. interests, arguing that some of the agency’s functions could be handled by the State Department. Critics also contend that certain social and cultural programs funded by USAID do not align with its core mission.
Since 2022, USAID has provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in humanitarian aid, development assistance, and direct budget support. Ukraine's crucial agriculture sector has been a key beneficiary. USAID said that, since 2022, it helped a third of Ukrainian farmers and provided them with seeds, fertilizer, and financing.
Democratic members of Congress have challenged the Trump administration's attempt to fold USAID into the State Department, a move that calls into question funding for aid programs around the world, including billions of dollars in development aid to Ukraine.
A recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) said USAID in fiscal year 2023 managed more than $40 billion in combined appropriations to support projects in around 130 countries. The top three recipients of aid were Ukraine, Ethiopia, and Jordan. Afghanistan is also one of the top 10 recipients of USAID funding.
With reporting by AP and Reuters
Hungary Bans Annual Pride March
BUDAPEST -- Hungary's parliament has passed an amendment that will ban the annual LGBT Pride march on the grounds that it could be considered "harmful to children."
The amendment to the country's assembly law was fast-tracked through parliament by the ruling right-wing Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban and passed with 136 votes in favor, 27 against, and no abstentions.
The amendment explicitly prohibits assemblies that violate the prohibition set out in the Child Protection Act, that "promotes and displays deviations from the gender identity corresponding to the sex at birth, gender change, and homosexuality."
Hungary’s annual Pride march, which is part of the Budapest Pride Festival, usually takes place on the first Saturday of July.
The newly amended law will target not only the organizers of Pride gatherings but also participants.
Under the amended law, violators could face misdemeanor charges and fines of up to 200,000 forints (around $540). The amendment also authorizes the use of facial-recognition systems to identify participants at prohibited rallies.
During the debate in parliament, Fidesz deputies, which have a majority in the National Assembly, argued the amendment would protect children's interests and was necessary to prevent potential abuse.
Organizers Say Pride Will Still Take Place
The amendment follows a statement Orban made in February suggesting the organizers of Pride should not bother preparing this year's parade and calling it "a waste of money and time." Several officials from the ruling party, which has been in power since 2010, also called for banning the Pride parade altogether.
In response to the parliamentary amendment, Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who is in opposition to Fidesz, declared on Facebook that "Pride will happen! It may even be bigger than ever."
He emphasized that Budapest will protect those who stand up for "their self-esteem, their community, for freedom, and for the power of love."
The session in parliament was disturbed by protests from deputies from the center-left Momentum party, who filled the chamber with red, white, and green smoke -- the colors of the Hungarian flag -- played the Soviet anthem and distributed photo-montages that depicted depicting Orban and Putin embracing.
Despite the ban, however, Pride organizers have said they are still planning to go ahead with the march.
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