Iran's President Masud Pezeshkian will attend the upcoming BRICS summit in Russia, state media cited Tehran's ambassador in Moscow as saying on September 15, amid tensions with the West over military cooperation between the two countries. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and cooperation between Moscow and Tehran threatened wider European security. The United States, Germany, Britain, and France imposed new sanctions on Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran did not deliver any ballistic missiles to Russia and that sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the three European countries against Iran were not a solution. Iran's ambassador in Russia, Kazem Jalali, reportedly confirmed that Pezeshkian will attend the summit of the BRICS group of major emerging economies, scheduled to be held in Kazan, Russia, on October 22-24.

Sources close to the family of the late Iranian-Kurdish student Mahsa Amini have told Radio Farda on September 15 that security forces "have surrounded their home" in Saghez and prevented them from leaving the house as the second anniversary passed of her death in custody.

A source said Amini's father, Amjad Amini, received a call from Iran's Intelligence Ministry earlier in the day telling the family not to leave their house.

The caller reportedly said Amjad Amini and his wife would be arrested if they went outside.

The source also told Radio Farda that they could hear helicopters flying over Saghez.

The 22-year-old Amini's death after reports of beating and abuse when she was detained by morality police over an alleged dress-code violation sparked massive nationwide protests over official abuses and the country's treatment of women.

SEE ALSO:

'Women, Life, Freedom': Iran's Protest Movement Magnifies Defiance, Camaraderie 2 Years On

Amjad Amini told Radio Farda last week that the family had the right to mark the anniversary and was hoping to do so if allowed by authorities.

Over the past two days, reports have said several members of the families of those killed in the state crackdown on the protests have been also arrested.

There have also been reports of activists and families of those killed being summoned by authorities, especially in Iran's Kurdistan.

Following Amini's death after days reportedly in a coma in September 2022, vans carrying the police force notorious for its strong-armed enforcement of the "hijab law" temporarily disappeared from the streets as protesters across Iran staged daily demonstrations for months.

The authorities claimed she had died due to medical problems, but her family and witnesses at the scene of her arrest said she was beaten by police and died as a result of her injuries.

The anger gave rise to a movement that came to be known as "Women, Life, Freedom" that Iranians say has left an indelible mark of public defiance on the country and observers say has presented one of the biggest threats to the Islamic government since the 1979 revolution.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has again urged the United States and other allies to "promptly implement" agreements on weapons and other supplies to help Ukraine fight Russia's invasion, underscoring Western debates on the extent and current restrictions on military aid to Kyiv.

In a new video message late on September 14, he said "it is critically important that all states, and especially the United States, really promptly implement the agreements reached with Ukraine."

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

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"It should be felt at the front," Zelenskiy said. "Every delay with military packages has its own negative consequence at the front. Every really timely, fast delivery has a positive impact."

As unprecedented international military supply efforts continue to Ukraine, NATO has faced escalating calls among some members to rescind limits on Western-supplied weapons and supply more advanced weaponry.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces, an argument that has found some support among NATO officials.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on September 13 to discuss whether to approve Kyiv's request to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia but did not announce any shift.

Britain is reportedly nearing a decision on possibly letting Ukraine use its Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on September 14 that Biden is "determined to use the four months [he has left in office] to put Ukraine in the best possible position to prevail."

SEE ALSO:

Calls Grow For NATO Members To Help Ukraine Shoot Down Russian Drones And Missiles

Threats voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and, more recently by former President Dmitry Medvedev -- who on September 14 suggested a nuclear strike on the Ukrainian capital could turn that city of some 2 million residents into a "gray spot" on the map -- have seemingly sought to ratchet up Moscow's discouragement of Western support for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy said later on September 14 that he had spoken with a delegation of U.S. Congress members and "informed [them] about the current situation and prospects."

Debate has sharpened since Ukrainian forces' surprise incursion into the Kursk region of Russia over paths to bolster Kyiv's position ahead of potential cease-fire talks.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Closer To Long-Range Strike Permission As Biden, Starmer Meet

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal last week pressed for a second major international peace summit that he said he hoped could attract at least 150 countries, following up on a similar event hosted by Switzerland in June.

In a fresh wave of Russian attacks overnight on September 14-15, Ukrainian authorities said a married couple had been killed in the southern Odesa region.

Ukraine's military said that the country's air defenses had shot down 10 of 14 attack drones that Russia launched. It also said two Iskander ballistic missiles and a guided air missile, the latter of which was shot down, had targeted Odesa.

Zelenskiy has said Russia had fired roughly 30 missiles, more than 800 guided bombs, and nearly 300 attack drones at Ukraine in the past week.

Calls have also mounted among some NATO members for the alliance to do more to ward off Russian missiles and attack drones like those that members Romania and Latvia say have recently violated their airspace amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine is not part of NATO but the alliance said in July that post-Soviet country was on an "irreversible path" to membership.

Residents and authorities continue to battle heavy rainfall and floodwaters throughout Central Europe on September 15 after officials in Romania said at least four people there had died and two more were missing, while in Poland one person drowned and in the Czech Republic four people were missing.

The historic rains forced first responders into action in low-lying parts of Romania, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Poland, where residents were being evacuated after a dam at Miedzygorze overflowed creating what local authorities said was a "critical" situation.

In Romania, around 20 municipalities in eight Romanian counties were severely affected by the flooding.

Thousands of homes were damaged and tens of thousands were affected or being evacuated.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced temporary shelters for people endangered by the floodwaters during a visit to one of the northernmost affected counties, Galati, on September 14. He said saving lives was officials' first priority.

The head of the county council in Galati, Costel Fotea, said early on September 15 that more than 20,000 residents in at least 24 communities had been severely affected in that county alone.

Fotea said engineers would be spreading out to begin assessing the condition of bridges and roads, many of which are damaged or closed.

Romania's National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management has issued a code-red advisory for Galati and Vaslui counties as rescuers including from the army used boats and other ways to try to reach trapped residents, some of them forced to flee to rooftops.

The red-, orange-, and yellow-code advisories in Romania were to extend at least through midday on September 15.

Floodwaters in some areas were 3 meters deep.

Meanwhile the water-management authority in Wroclaw in southwestern Poland said the situation was critical after a nearly 30-meter-high dam in the Klodzko Valley on the Polish border with the Czech Republic was breached, forcing evacuations.

In Austria, dozens of municipalities were declared disaster zones.

The waters were swollen of the Kamp and Kremps rivers in Austria that flow into the Danube on its way to the Black Sea via the territory or borders of Hungary and Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia, and Romania and Bulgaria, and Moldova and Ukraine.

One person was reported killed in Poland and four people were missing in the Czech Republic early on September 15.

Around 250,000 households were without power.

In the Czech capital, Prague, authorities put flood prevention measures in place.

More heavy rains were forecast for Austria, the Czech Republic, southern Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

Forecasters had said more than one-third of the average annual rainfall of some areas could fall by September 15, with strong winds further complicating the situation.

With reporting by dpa

International watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to promote human rights when he "makes history" this week as the first German chancellor to attend a summit in Central Asia with all five of that post-Soviet region's presidents.

Scholz's three-day trip starts in Uzbekistan on September 15 and continues in Kazakhstan on September 16-17 for the second meeting of the Central Asia-plus-Germany format that was launched a year ago in Berlin.

"The German government cannot pretend closer ties with Central Asia are possible without a significant improvement in human rights in the region," HRW said. "The upcoming summit offers a chance to make this clear."

In its statement, HRW cited persistent rights issues across the region including the "suppression of the rights to protest and express opinions, including online, jailing of activists, torture in detention, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity for abusive security forces, and a lack of free and fair elections."

It argued that "little or no progress is possible on the many topics the six leaders highlighted as common priorities" a year ago.

Germany has long been interested in boosting energy relations with Central Asia, but Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has further encouraged Germany and other European nations to look elsewhere for energy and mineral imports.

This week's summit with the Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek heads of state is expected to focus heavily on energy along with broader economic and development talks.

The leaders are also expected to discuss international sanctions on Russia.

Scholz is scheduled to meet with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev on his first stop in Tashkent to sign a migration deal that could enable skilled Uzbek workers to travel to Germany and lay out repatriation terms.

In the Kazakh capital, Astana, Scholz should meet with President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.

Kazakhstan, the largest and wealthiest of the five regional states, has been accused of failing to adequately ensure compliance with sanctions on Russia.

But energy cooperation has been on the rise with Kazakhstan.

Crude oil from Kazakhstan began flowing last year through the 4,000-kilometer Druzhba pipeline from Russia's southern Tatarstan republic through Belarus and Poland to Germany, as part of a pivot to make up for lower supplies of Russian oil.

Scholz hailed that step as the start of "a completely new direction in bilateral cooperation" with Kazakhstan, which also lies on huge reserves of natural gas.

In June, international rights groups urged Central Asian governments to take specific steps to end "widespread" torture of detainees and political prisoners in the region.

Such groups allege that Kazakhstan is among the worst offenders.

HRW last month demanded that Kazakhstan stop limiting freedom of expression and end its persecution of comedians, citing the jailing of 31-year-old stand-up comic Aleksandr Merkul.

U.S. President Joe Biden will use his remaining months in office to strengthen Ukraine, national-security adviser Jake Sullivan said on September 14. Biden withdrew from the U.S. presidential election in July and will leave office in January. Sullivan said he is "determined to use the four months to put Ukraine in the best possible position to prevail." Speaking virtually to a conference in Kyiv, he said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "has said that ultimately this war has to end through negotiations, and we need them to be strong in those negotiations," adding that Biden will meet with Zelenskiy at the next UN General Assembly in late September.

Military aid provided to Russia by North Korea is the most damaging for Ukraine, intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on September 14 at a conference in Kyiv. "Our biggest problem from all these allies of Russia is from North Korea. Because with the volume of military products that they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting," Budanov said. His remarks came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen ties with Russia. Kyiv has been monitoring arms deliveries from Pyongyang to Moscow and feels their effect on the battlefield. "There is a direct correlation. They are supplying huge volumes of artillery ammunition, which is critical," Budanov said.

PRAGUE -- The chairman of the NATO Military Committee said the question of whether to allow Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with Western-made long-range missiles is a "political discussion" but, from a military standpoint, would be within Ukraine's legal right.

Dutch Navy Admiral Rob Bauer told RFE/RL in an interview on September 14 that the lifting of the restriction is not a question that NATO is discussing, but in his opinion as military leader the answer would be yes.

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"In accordance with the UN charter and in accordance with the law of armed conflict, if you are attacked by a nation, then you are allowed to defend yourself," Bauer said. "That defense doesn't stop at your borders. You are allowed to actually attack the enemy on its own territory."

Bauer spoke with RFE/RL as the NATO Military Committee -- the alliance's highest military authority -- met in Prague for a two-day conference to discuss strategic developments within the alliance in light of decisions made during the NATO summit in July.

The meeting took place a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer met U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss whether to approve Kyiv's request to use long-range missiles against targets in Russia.

Bauer said the threats voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and former President Dmitry Medvedev in response to those discussions showed their frustration over how the war is going 2 1/2 years after Russia launched it.

"If I think it's primarily a proof of how frustrated they are because Russia has not achieved any of their strategic goals in Ukraine," Bauer said.

SEE ALSO:

Russia's Medvedev Threatens Nuke Strike Would Turn Kyiv Into 'Gray Spot' On The Map

Putin said earlier this week that the West would be "at war" with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike with Western-made long-range missiles, while Medvedev said on September 14 that Russia could destroy Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, with non-nuclear weapons if the West lifted its restrictions.

Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of the country's security council, also said Moscow could resort to nuclear weapons.

Bauer said the threats must be taken seriously, but what NATO and the other allies of Ukraine are doing "is within the UN charter, within the international law. And we will continue doing so."

In his speech to the conference, Bauer praised the Ukrainian military for proving to the world that there is "nothing they cannot do" and only need the support from their allies to achieve their goals.

"And they will have it -- not only now, not only for the duration of the war, but also in the decades to follow," Bauer said in comments to the conference.

SEE ALSO:

NATO Strongly Backs Ukraine's 'Irreversible Path' To Membership, Outlines Plans To Make Alliance Stronger

NATO allies led by the United States have donated tens of billions of dollars of military equipment to help Ukraine fight the war, and Bauer said Ukraine's forces are growing "more and more interoperable" by the day with NATO forces, moving the country closer to NATO membership.

"One day, we will stand side by side under the NATO banner," he said. "Ukraine deserves our unrelenting support, not only because of who they are as a people but also because of who we are as NATO."

Bauer also said NATO needs need a much larger defense-industry production capacity and it must be better coordinated to increase deterrence.

"The more we ramp up our deterrence, the better chance we have of protecting the freedoms that we hold dear and preventing war from ever entering our soil," he said.

Army Lieutenant General Karel Rehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, also commented on the war in Ukraine, saying it is a matter of survival for Ukraine and a fight for the principles of democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity that NATO exists to defend.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Closer To Long-Range Strike Permission As Biden, Starmer Meet

"It is imperative that we -- at the top of our militaries -- provide all necessary assistance to Ukraine, be it in the form of training or supplying weapons and other military equipment," Rehka said in an address to the conference on September 14. "By supporting Ukraine, we are also strengthening our unity and containing the Russian threat."

Both Bauer and Rehka agreed on the need for greater defense expenditures, with Rehka saying, "It is evident that 2 percent of GDP on defense spending will not be enough."

Rehka also warned that threats from Russia come not only on the conventional battlefield but also in the form of hybrid tactics, cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, and kinetic acts of violence.

"All these actions are designed to sow fear and undermine the unity of our societies. We must, therefore, take a broad approach…that integrates our conventional military capabilities with robust cyberdefenses and strong civil-military cooperation."

The foreign ministers of the Group of the Seven countries on September 14 condemned "in the strongest terms" Iran's export and Russia's procurement of Iranian ballistic missiles. "Iran must immediately cease all support to Russia's illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine and halt such transfers of ballistic missiles, UAVs and related technology, which constitute a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as European and international security more broadly," the G7 foreign ministers said in a statement issued from their meeting in Rome. The G7 members -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States -- are the world's leading industrialized countries.

Iran's foreign minister said Tehran is open to diplomacy to solve disputes but not "threats and pressure," state media reported on September 14 after the United States and three European countries imposed new sanctions, including measures against Iran Air. Abbas Araqchi's comments came a day after the EU's foreign policy chief said the bloc is considering similar sanctions in reaction to reports Tehran supplied Russia with ballistic missiles in its war against Ukraine. Araqchi said Iran continues "on its own path with strength, although we have always been open to talks to resolve disputes" but dialogue should be "based on mutual respect, not on threats and pressure," according to state news agency IRNA. Araqchi on September 11 denied Tehran had delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia, adding sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States Germany, Britain, and France would not solve any problems between them.

At least five people died and more than 20 others were injured on September 14 when a bus ran off the road and plunged into a ravine in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan Province, local officials told RFE/RL. The bus was on its way from Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, when it crashed in the Danasar area of Sherani district. The head of the hospital in Zhob district, Akhtar Muhammad, told RFE/RL that injured people and bodies were brought to the hospital. A local official said speed was the cause of accident. The provincial government expressed regret over the accident and ordered an investigation. Serious road accidents are common in Pakistan mainly due to speed, poor roads, and poorly maintained vehicles.

Russian officials have threatened that a possible decision by the West to allow Kyiv to use donated weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory would result in a major escalation of its war against Ukraine that could include the use of nuclear weapons.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, warned on September 14 that Kyiv could be turned into a "gray melted spot" if restrictions against Ukraine's use of Western weapons were loosened.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Kyiv has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces.

The idea has gained traction in recent weeks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr made his case, with some European leaders taking up the argument for giving Ukraine longer-range capabilities and Britain reportedly nearing a decision to let Ukraine use its Storm Shadow missiles against Russian territory.

U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer were expected on September 13 to discuss the issue during their talks in Washington.

However, the White House made no mention of the topic in its statement following Biden's meeting with Starmer.

The statement said only that the two leaders had discussed a range of issues and "reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia's aggression."

In an apparent reference to the meeting, Medvedev wrote on September 14 that "the Anglo-Saxon imbeciles" do not want to admit that there is an end to Russia's "patience" and that experts who have suggested Russia could resort to using nuclear weapons against Ukraine would be proven correct if that patience is exhausted.

"What do Western leaders and their political establishments, playing at war, think our country's reaction to probable missile strikes 'deep into the territory [of Russia]' would be?" wrote Medvedev, who has frequently used his position to voice threats against Kyiv and the West since Russia's unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Medvedev said a nuclear conflict is a "very bad story with a very difficult outcome," claiming that is why Russia has not decided to use "nonstrategic or strategic" nukes to this point. However, he said, if it came to that there would be a "giant gray melted spot" on the site of Kyiv, which called the "mother city of Russia."

SEE ALSO:

Biden, Starmer Reaffirm Support For Ukraine But Weapons Restrictions Remain In Place

Such rhetoric has increased from Moscow as Zelenskiy has increasingly lobbied for greater strike capabilities against Russian territory.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 12 said any change in policy that would allow Western weapons to be used for long-range strikes would mean the NATO alliance would be "at war" with Russia.

"If that's the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will make the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said.

In June, Putin threatened to send long-range weapons -- in what he called an "asymmetrical" response -- to areas of the world in a position to strike countries supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Russia has also said it is amending its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons, with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov saying on September 1 that the move was "connected with the escalation course of our Western adversaries."

• RFE/RL

Recent media reports claim Russia has received Fath-360 missile systems from Iran, along with hundreds of missiles. Here is what that weapon system looks like, and how it could influence the war in Ukraine.

On September 14, Ryabkov claimed the decision to grant Ukraine permission to conduct long-range strikes against Russia had already been made by the West, and that Moscow is "ready for everything" and would "respond to the fullest."

On September 14, State Duma deputy Andrei Kolesnik suggested Russia detonate a nuclear weapon on its own territory to remind the West of the threat posed by Russia's nuclear arsenal.

"We shouldn't relax. We need to carry out a nuclear explosion somewhere, at some testing ground," Kolesnik was quoted as saying in an interview with the online newspaper Lenta.ru. "Nuclear tests are currently banned here, but maybe people should see what all this actually leads to."

Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote in response to the comments coming out of Moscow that "the loud horror stories of Putin's regime only testify to his fear that his terror may come to an end."

"Strong decisions are needed," Yermak wrote on Telegram on September 14. "Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities from which it originates."

Permission to conduct longer-range strikes, he said, "would speed up the solution" and would not allow "Russian terror" to "spread to other countries of the world."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on September 14 confirmed that an exchange of prisoners of war had taken place between Ukraine and Russia involving 103 prisoners on each side.

Zelenskiy posted photos of the released prisoners on Telegram, saying the group included defenders of the Kyiv, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kharkiv regions along with soldiers who fought in Mariupol and other soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces, the national guard, border guard, and police force.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

"Thank you to our exchange team for such good news for Ukraine," he said.

Of the 103 Ukrainians who returned home, 38 are members of the Ukrainian National Guard, eight belong to the country's border guard, four are police officers, and one is a rescuer, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

"Most of them are defenders of Mariupol and Azovstal," Klymenko said, referring to the steel mill in Mariupol that was the scene of a siege in 2022.

Russia said earlier on September 14 that it had swapped 103 Ukrainian POWs in exchange for an equal number of captured Russian soldiers in the third such swap since Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia.

Nearly 50 Ukrainian POWs were released from Russian custody on September 13 in exchange for an unknown number of Russian soldiers.

On the battlefield, Russian forces continued their offensive in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

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Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin said on September 14 that four civilians were killed and seven wounded after Russian forces carried out more than 20 separate strikes, prompting the evacuation of more than 900 people.

As Russian forces continue their advance on Pokrovsk, an important logistics and supply hub for Ukrainian troops on the front lines in eastern Ukraine, regional authorities have repeatedly said the area is not safe for civilians.

More than 130 clashes were reported by the Ukrainian military, most of them either in the direction of Pokrovsk or 50 kilometers southeast of that city near Kurakhove, which is home to a large power station.

In the southern Kherson region, a civilian died from injuries sustained in Russian shelling, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. The 60-year-old man, who was seriously injured in an attack on September 14, died in the hospital despite doctors doing "everything possible to save his life," Prokudin said.

In the Odesa region, a married couple in their 60s was killed and a 65-year-old woman was injured in a Russian missile attack, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. Residential buildings and commercial buildings in the suburbs of Odesa also were damaged in the strike, he said.

On September 14, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had captured the village of Zhelanne Pershe, just 20 kilometers northeast of Kurakhov.

SEE ALSO:

Ukraine Closer To Long-Range Strike Permission As Biden, Starmer Meet

Russia also continued to target areas across Ukraine with drone strikes, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying on September 14 that more than 70 drones had been shot down.

Regional authorities in the Black Sea region of Odesa reported significant damage to several buildings near the regional capital as well as to grain storage facilities.

The heavy fighting comes as Russia continues its efforts to push Ukrainian forces out of its territory. Ukraine has taken control of more than 1,300 square kilometers of territory in Russia’s southwestern Kursk region following a surprise incursion in late August.

Observers suggest the incursion could distract Russian forces from their offensive in eastern Ukraine, while Zelenskiy has said it could give Kyiv more leverage in possible future peace talks and in collecting captured Russian troops for prisoner exchanges.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the Kursk and Belgorod regions were targeted by an attack on September 14. The ministry said 19 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over the two regions.

Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said at least five people had been injured in the attack on the Belgorod region. Gladkov said several grenades hit a section of road between Belgorod and Shebekino, injuring four people and damaging several vehicles.

A woman was reportedly injured in a separate incident in a nearby village when a drone struck a private house. The information could not be independently verified.

With reporting by AP and dpa

At least four people have died and hundreds of others had to be evacuated in eastern Romania after massive flooding inundated roads and low-lying areas.

Galati and Vaslui counties in the Moldova region of eastern Romania were especially hard-hit on September 14 by flooding that followed heavy rain the day before. The counties were under a code-red flood advisory as rescuers tried to reach people, including some stranded on rooftops.

Many roads have been closed throughout the two counties, where floodwaters reached heights of 3 meters in some locations due to the rainfall. Authorities said two women and two men died as a result of the floods. A fifth body was found, but authorities determined that the person had been dead for two days and had not died as a result of the weather.

Emergency authorities released video showing teams of rescuers evacuating people using lifeboats and carrying elderly people to safety. A military helicopter was also deployed to help with the search-and-rescue missions.

The Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) said 12 communities in Galati County suffered major damage from the storm and approximately 300 residents had to be evacuated. About 5,000 households were affected.

In Vaslui County, 40 people were evacuated from five communities, and several households were flooded or damaged by high winds.

The IGSU also said at least three major highways and 10 smaller roads were affected.

More than 300 firefighters, police, and pilots have helped in the rescue effort, and the IGSU said four shelters are being set up in Galați. Each will have a capacity of approximately 200 people. Shelters also will be set up in Vaslui and Iasi counties so that people can be evacuated as a precaution if the situation requires, the IGSU said.

Authorities in Galati County will have to find accommodations for more than 800 people who can no longer live in their homes.

With reporting by AP

Iran has sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' aerospace division, the state-run IRNA news agency reported on September 14. The report said the Chamran-1 satellite has a weight of 60 kilograms and successfully reached a 550-kilometer orbit in space. In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket. The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.

NATO could have done more to arm Ukraine to try to prevent Russia's invasion in 2022, the outgoing head of the Western military alliance said in an interview released on September 14. "Now we provide military stuff to a war -- then we could have provided military stuff to prevent the war," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the German weekly newspaper FAS. Stoltenberg pointed to alliance’s reluctance to provide weapons that Kyiv had asked for before Russia's full-scale invasion because of fears that tensions with Russia would escalate. Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, will step down in October from his role at NATO.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen ties with Russia as he held talks with visiting security chief Sergei Shoigu, state media reported on September 14. Western powers have accused cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of sanctions over the more than 30-month war in Ukraine. North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, with President Vladimir Putin making a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with Kim. Kim "affirmed that his government would further expand cooperation and collaboration" with Russia based on the agreement.

The US State Department on Friday said it had approved the sale of dozens of F-35 fighter jets to its NATO ally Romania, a deal worth $7.2 billion. The contract, which must still be approved by the U.S. Congress, covers Bucharest's purchase of 32 F-35A aircraft and related equipment produced by the U.S. aerospace and defense giant Lockheed Martin. The contract announcement comes as Ukrainian pilots began training this week at a special center in Romania on F-16s, U.S.-made fighter jets that Washington has approved Kyiv to use to repel Russia's invasion.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed their "unwavering support" for Ukraine at a meeting on September 13, according to a White House statement on the talks that didn't mention the topic of loosening restrictions on Kyiv's use of donated long-range weapons deeper inside Russian territory.

Meeting amid signs that Ukraine's allies are growing more receptive to loosening restrictions on the use of the long-range weapons to allow it to hit targets deep inside Russia, Starmer was expected to press Biden on the issue.

But a White House statement afterward failed to mention the topic and instead mentioned several global topics along with a pledge of continued support for Ukraine.

"The leaders had an in-depth discussion on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest. They reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend against Russia’s aggression," the statement said.

The only other mention of the war in Ukraine was an expression of "deep concern about Iran and North Korea’s provision of lethal weapons to Russia and the People’s Republic of China’s support to Russia’s defense industrial base."

The United States has restricted the use of the weapons over concerns that allowing Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia could cause an escalation in the war and possibly prompt Russia to use a nuclear weapon.

Hours ahead of the talks, White House national-security spokesman John Kirby looked to tamp down speculation of a lifting of the restrictions, saying the United States was not planning to announce any new policy with regard to the issue.

The Biden-Starmer meeting came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a tour of Europe in which he heard repeated appeals from Ukraine and its allies to lift the restrictions.

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He said at the conclusion of the trip that he would relay the comments to Biden, noting that in the past the United States has adapted its policies to fit the situation on the battlefield.

Biden in May altered U.S. policy to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-donated missiles into Russia to defend itself against a major Russian offensive that included missile and drone barrages fired from Russian territory.

But he maintained a limit on the distance the U.S. missiles could strike, meaning Ukraine could only hit targets in regions close to the border.

The Guardian newspaper, quoting government sources, reported on September 12 that London had already given Ukraine permission to use its Storm Shadow missile for strikes deep into Russian territory. Other British media, however, reported that the United Kingdom might require Washington's permission first because the weaponry contains U.S.-made components.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 12 warned against any change in policy that would allow Western weapons to be used for long-range strikes on his country's territory, saying it would mean that the NATO alliance of which the United States and Britain are members, would be "at war" with Russia.

"If that's the case, then taking into account the change of nature of the conflict, we will make the appropriate decisions based on the threats that we will face," Putin said.

Putin claimed that the Ukrainian military would only be able to carry out such strikes when using data from NATO satellites and that only military personnel of NATO "can carry out flight tasks for these missile systems."

When asked about the Russian president's warning, Biden said before meeting Starmer that "I don't think much about Vladimir Putin."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on September 13 reiterated Berlin's refusal to send long-range missiles to Ukraine, telling a news conference that Germany "has made a clear decision about what we will do and what we will not do. This decision will not change."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently ramped up his calls for Kyiv's Western partners to loosen restrictions on donated weapons.

Zelenskiy has argued that longer-range capability is needed to allow Ukraine to better defend itself against attacks as Russia has moved its long-range weaponry beyond Ukraine's reach.

Russia has also made significant territorial gains on the ground in Ukraine's east amid an ongoing offensive. It has also begun a counterattack to retake Russian territory overrun by Ukraine following a surprise incursion into Russia, the first since World War II.

Zelenskiy said on September 13 that the counterattack in Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine took more than 1,300 square kilometers of territory in the space of a few weeks, was expected but had so far seen “no serious success.”

The Ukrainian president also said at a conference in Kyiv that the situation around the strategic eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which Russian forces aim to capture as they advance in the Donetsk region, remained difficult but was stabilizing.

Zelenskiy said that he plans to present a “victory plan” to end the war with Russia to Biden later this month.

"[It] can pave the way for a reliable peace -- for the full implementation of the peace formula," he said at a conference organized by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation charity.

In recent weeks, Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine has no intention of holding the Russian territory it controls as a result of the incursion launched in August. However, he said it gave Ukraine leverage for future negotiations and that captured Russian soldiers were valuable in exchanges for Ukrainian troops captured by Russia.

During the conference, Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed the full support from its allies in order to be in a strong position to negotiate with Russia, and repeated his calls for the West to help Ukraine carry out long-range strikes into Russia.

Starmer and Biden also reiterated their "ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, the urgent need for a ceasefire deal that will free the hostages and enable increased relief in Gaza, and the need for Israel to do more to protect civilians and address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," the White House said.

The two leaders also had an "in-depth discussion" on a range of foreign policy issues of mutual interest, including attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Iran-backed Huthi rebels, environmental issues, and economic ties, the White House said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on September 13 laid out a long list of demands that he said must be met in order to make progress in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Vucic said the demands include local elections in northern Kosovo, an area populated largely by ethnic Serbs, where tensions have remained high since Kosovo shut down several Serbia-backed parallel institutions at the end of August.

Speaking at a news conference, Vucic named several other demands, including the return of ethnic Serbs to the police force and the judiciary and the withdrawal of Kosovo's special police forces from the north.

Vucic also announced that the Serbian parliament would adopt a decision declaring illegal all bodies and institutions established in Kosovo since the former Serbian province's declaration of independence.

Serbia has not recognized Kosovo's independence, which it declared in 2008. Russia and China are among the other countries that do not recognize it.

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The situation in northern Kosovo has been volatile for months. The latest escalation in tensions occurred after the Kosovar authorities closed the parallel Serbian institutions, which Serbs consider unconstitutional and illegal. Vucic said the move cost 5,880 people their jobs and halted 25 administrative services for Serbs.

Vucic said Serbia also is demanding to “return to what has been agreed and achieved so far in the dialogue” between Belgrade and Pristina, which has been mediated by the European Union since 2011.

“What we are demanding is respect of European norms and dialogue,” Vucic said. “We do not want war.”

Vucic’s demand for "free and democratic" local elections in northern Kosovo would include the participation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe under the supervision of the European Union.

The demand for the return of Serbs to the regional directorate of the Kosovar police force in the north should take place in accordance with the Brussels Agreement, he said.

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Asked about a recently announced indictment of Milan Radoicic and 44 other individuals in connection with an armed attack in Banjska last year, Vucic said that Serbian authorities are conducting their own investigation. Radoicic, the fugitive former vice president of the Serbian List party accused of leading and organizing the attack, is believed to be in Serbia.

Prosecutor Naim Abazi said those indicted had different roles within their criminal group "ranging from organizing and directing terrorist activities to financing and money laundering."

Vucic said that, for Serbia, the Banjska case "is by no means terrorism."

Shortly before Vucic spoke, Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti said that Serbia decided to repeat threats and ultimatums to Kosovo instead of repenting for the crimes it committed during the past.

The Serbian government's approach toward Kosovo is "very depressing," but Kosovo is not afraid of threats, Kurti said on Facebook.

With reporting by AP

The controversial documentary Russians At War, about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, was to be unveiled to North American audiences on September 13, but the Toronto International Film Festival paused the screenings after receiving "significant threats." Since it was first shown in Venice earlier this month it has sparked outrage in Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Festival organizers in Toronto initially refused to drop the film, but after protesters and diplomats called on them them to do so, they issued a statement saying they had been "made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety," and given the "severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned."

WASHINGTON -- The United States on September 13 said the Russian news outlet RT is taking orders directly from the Kremlin and working with Russian military intelligence to spread disinformation around the world to undermine democracies.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has gathered new evidence that exposes cooperation between RT and four other subsidiaries of the Rossia Segodnya media group, and it intends to warn other countries of the threat of the disinformation.

In addition to RT, Rossia Segodnya operates RIA Novosti, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik, but the announcement on September 13 focused largely on RT. The outlet, formerly known as Russia Today, has previously been sanctioned for its work to allegedly spread Kremlin propaganda and disinformation.

It was the focus of an announcement last week by the U.S. Justice Department, which warned Americans about Russia’s attempts to influence the 2024 presidential election. The State Department and Treasury Department also issued warnings last week about Rossia Segodnya and its subsidiaries and announced sanctions, but Blinken and other officials who briefed reporters at the State Department on September 13 said they wanted to stress the global nature of their warnings.

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“The actions we are exposing today and the actions we exposed last week do not incorporate the full scope of Russia’s effort to undermine democracies -- far from it,” Blinken said. “Russian disinformation to subvert and polarize freedom-loving societies extends to every part of the world.”

He said the State Department will launch a diplomatic campaign to share the evidence that the United States has uncovered on RT’s expanded capabilities and urge other countries to act.

Britain and Canada will join the United States in launching the campaign to rally allies and partners around the world to address “the threat posed by RT and other machinery of Russian disinformation and covert influence,” he said.

Each government will decide on its own how to respond, but Washington will urge every ally and partner “to start by treating RT’s activities as they do other intelligence activities by Russia within their borders,” Blinken said.

n addition to the diplomatic campaign, the United States announced new sanctions on three entities and two individuals for operating Russia’s covert global influence operations, Blinken said.

Blinken warned in particular about Russia’s attempts to influence the upcoming presidential election in Moldova.

He said RT and its employees for years have coordinated directly with the Kremlin to support Russian government efforts to influence previous elections, and its efforts this year likely will be aimed at causing protests to turn violent, he said.

“We believe RT will almost certainly leverage its expanded capabilities to coordinate with Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of Moldova’s upcoming election,” he said.

Blinken also described what he said is a large online crowd-funding program in Russia to provide support and military equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. The operation aims to fund such things as sniper rifles, night-vision equipment, drones, radio equipment, and diesel generators.

“The program is out in the open, but what is hidden is that the program is administered by the leaders of RT,” he said.

A Russian missile strike on a civilian ship transporting Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea has drawn sharp condemnation from NATO and raised concerns in Romania about the status of shipping on the Black Sea.

NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah expressed the alliance’s reaction on September 13, just over a day after the missile struck the vessel.

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"There is no justification for such attacks. Yesterday's strike shows once again the reckless nature of Russia's war," Dakhlallah said, speaking in Brussels.

Romanian authorities said the ship was in the maritime economic zone of Romania, a NATO member, when it was hit at around 11 p.m. local time on September 11. The vessel was transporting grain from Chernomorsk, Ukraine, to Istanbul when it was struck, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Ukrainian officials said the ship's cargo was bound for Egypt.

Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov, on the security situation in the Black Sea area after the attack.

Tilvar reiterated Bucharest’s “firm condemnation of the unjustified attacks” by Russia against civilian port infrastructure on the Danube near the border with Romania, the Romanian Defense Ministry quoted him as saying.

"Unfortunately, as a result of the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, the Black Sea is no longer an area of cooperation, but a theater of war,” Tilvar said, according to a ministry statement on September 12.

He added that Romania “condemns in the strongest terms the Russian aggression against the Ukrainian people, unprovoked and illegal, especially the attacks on the Ukrainian population and civil infrastructure.”

Tilvar and Umerov also discussed Romania’s effort to support Ukraine’s military and the coordination of multinational assistance projects.

Umerov called the discussion "fruitful,” saying the main topic was air defense against Russian missiles and drones.

"Ukraine will soon receive a new Patriot air-defense system from our Romanian partners. There will also be more F-16s in Ukrainian skies. A group of pilots are already being trained in Romania," he added.

Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminița Odobescu to discuss Romania’s donation of Patriot missile system to Ukraine.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken thanked Odobescu for fulfilling Romania's commitment and for its “continued leadership in the defense of regional security.”

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- A hotel in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, has canceled its agreement with a group opposing the government's plan to construct a nuclear power station to host a gathering next week.

Vadim Ni, a founding member of the group AES Kerek Emes (We Don't Need Nuclear Power Plants), told RFE/RL on September 13 that the hotel, run by U.S.-based Hilton Hotels & Resorts, canceled the deal three days before the event was to take place on September 16.

"This morning, after I sent invitations to media outlets to the event, the hotel administration called me and said the agreement was annulled due to -- what they said -- the hotel's closure," Ni said, adding that most likely the hotel canceled the gathering of about 50 people due to pressure imposed by people linked to the government or supporters of the idea to construct a nuclear power plant.

Ni also said his group is searching for an alternative site for the gathering.

The hotel's manager, who introduced herself as Aleksandra, refused to comment on the decision to cancel the event.

Kazakh authorities said last week that a nationwide referendum on the possible construction of a nuclear power plant will be held on October 6.

On September 12, the Kazakh Prosecutor-General's Office said four individuals and two companies were fined for holding opinion polls on the issue because they failed to inform the authorities about their intention to conduct the opinion polls.

Ni and several other activists announced the creation of their group on September 10.

The activists said that if a nuclear plant is constructed in partnership with a foreign country -- four companies are currently on the short list -- Kazakhstan could lose some of its sovereignty.

China's CNNC, South Korea's KHNP, France's EDF, and Russia's Rosatom have been named in media reports as possible partners.

Kazakh officials have avoided commenting directly, saying the decision would be made after the referendum.

Shortly before launching its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia proposed that its Rosatom nuclear agency be Kazakhstan's main partner in such a project.

Many Kazakhs publicly reject the idea of Rosatom's involvement, citing the legacy of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and Russia's occupation of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Ukraine as examples of Moscow's attitude toward nuclear safety.

Many in Kazakhstan expect the referendum to succeed, given the country's tightly controlled political environment.

But the push to build a new nuclear facility has been met by significant opposition, despite apparent efforts to silence dissent on the issue. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against the project have been prevented from attending public debates on the matter.

Belarusian activist Hanna Auchynnikava told the Vyasna rights group on September 13 that she fled Belarus without travel documents after being charged with facilitating extremist activities because she sent parcels to political prisoners Zmitser Dashkevich and Svyatoslav Udod.

Auchynnikava was detained on January 23, after which police searched her home and confiscated personal items, including her passport.

She then spent three days in custody. Investigators told her that, because she sent parcels to people convicted on extremism charges, she may be convicted on similar charges as well.

On January 26, Auchynnikava was released and police returned her belongings, except for her passport. She was ordered to remain in Minsk as investigations continued.

In mid-March, Auchynnikava's family members left Belarus and shortly after that she managed to leave the country despite having no passport.

She did not say how she managed to get out of the country, or where she is now located other than to say she is in a European Union member along with her family and is trying to obtain legal status to reside there.

Meanwhile, on September 13, a court in the southeastern city of Mazyr started the trial of activist Paval Kebets on a charge of publicly insulting authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

A day earlier, a court in the western Brest district handed sentences to 11 local residents over their participation in mass rallies in 2020 protesting against the official results of a presidential election that declared Lukashenka had won amid opposition claims the balloting was rigged.

The activists were found guilty of taking part in activities that blatantly disrupted social order and received sentences ranging between suspended two-year terms and 18 months in prison.

Thousands were detained during nationwide protests and there were credible reports of torture and ill-treatment by security forces. Several people died during the crackdown.

Many of Belarus's opposition leaders have been arrested or forced to leave the country, while Lukashenka has refused to negotiate with the opposition.

The United States, the EU, and several other countries have refused to acknowledge Lukashenka as the winner of the vote and imposed several rounds of sanctions on him and his regime, citing election fraud and the police crackdown.