Romania's coalition government on September 2 sent to parliament for final approval a draft law enabling the donation of a Patriot missile-defense system to Ukraine. Bucharest said in June that it would donate one of its two operational Patriot systems to Ukraine on condition that allies replace it with a similar air-defense system. Romania, a NATO member since 2004, shares a 650-kilometer border with Ukraine and has had Russian drone fragments stray into its territory repeatedly as Moscow attacks Ukrainian ports just across the Danube River border. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Romanian Service, click here.

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has pardoned hundreds of convicts to mark the country's Independence Day, which was celebrated on September 1. State media reported that 159 prisoners were released outright, while 303 individuals were released on parole and the prison terms of 60 convicts were shortened. Among those affected were 19 foreigners, 56 women, 25 men of 60 years or older, and 233 "young" people, including one younger than 18. Twenty-seven of those pardoned were serving terms for involvement with banned groups. Mirziyoev’s last mass amnesty, which involved 426 people, was announced in April to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, click here.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Mongolia to either deny entry or arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is set to visit that country on September 3. Putin is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which Mongolia joined in 2003, for the unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. “Mongolia would be defying its international obligations as an ICC member if it allows [Putin] to visit without arresting him,” Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at HRW, said in a press release issued on September 2. The Kremlin said on August 30 that it had “no worries” about the trip, adding that Russia has “a wonderful dialogue with our friends from Mongolia.”

BESLAN, Russia -- The city of Beslan in Russia's North Caucasus region of North Ossetia is marking the 20th anniversary of one of the worst terror attacks in Russian history.

Local residents marched on September 1 in the yard of School No. 1 in Beslan, holding portraits of loved ones they lost 20 years ago in a massacre that unfolded after Chechen and Ingush Islamic extremists seized the elementary school and took more than 1,200 people hostage.

The procession was part of three days of "Silence and Mourning" in remembrance of the siege, which turned deadly when Russian forces stormed the school on September 3, 2004, resulting in a standoff that left 334 people dead, including 186 children.

Mourners on September 1 laid flowers in the ruins of the school's sports hall, where hostages were held for three days by some three dozen militants demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from then-breakaway region of Chechnya.

WATCH: This is an untold story about what happened after the 2004 massacre in Beslan. Music teacher Dina Kargiyeva lost her 11-year-old daughter in the chaos. At first, Kargiyeva did not want to live. Later, she tried in vitro fertilization and a surrogate mother but both failed. Finally, aged 44, she adopted a girl who was her salvation.

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After Beslan: A Mother's Path To 'Salvation' After The Torment Of A Lost Child

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Regional officials, residents, and members of the Mothers of Beslan NGO were among those attending the commemoration.

North Ossetian Governor Sergei Menyailo said on Telegram that he handed to the Vladikavkaz and Alania Diocese an icon of the Holy Bethlehem Infants, which he received as a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to North Ossetia last month.

The major commemoration events are scheduled for September 3, the anniversary of the day Russian forces stormed the school.

In 2006, a Russian parliamentary commission blamed the hostage-takers for the high death toll and exonerated Russian security forces.

But the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2017 ruled that Russia must pay nearly 3 million euros ($3,313,740) to the relatives of the Beslan victims, saying that Russian authorities failed to protect the schoolchildren, teachers, and parents.

The ECHR also said Russia had not done enough to prevent the attack, despite having information that such an act was in the works.

Kazakhstan will hold a referendum on October 6 on whether to build a nuclear power plant, President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev announced on September 2.

Toqaev has argued the project is needed to diversify energy sources in Kazakhstan, which has abundant oil and natural gas reserves. It is also the world’s leading producer of uranium, used to fuel nuclear power plants.

SEE ALSO:

Amid Government Push, Russia Looms Large Over Kazakh Nuclear Power Debate

Kazakh Energy Minister Almassadam Satkaliyev has said the construction of a nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan is the only way to meet a rising domestic power demand and carbon-neutrality goals.

Currently, Kazakhstan gets about 80 percent of its energy from coal-fired plants and another 15 percent is generated by hydropower, while the rest comes from renewable energy resources.

A single Russian nuclear power reactor operated from 1972 to 1999, generating electricity and desalinating water.

No exact site for the future nuclear power plant has been announced, although two have been mentioned as likely: at Ulken near Lake Balkash and at Kurchatov.

It’s also unclear who would build the plant. In 2023, the Kazakh Energy Ministry said Russia’s Rosatom was one of four contractors whose reactors were under consideration for the plant, with EDF of France, the China National Nuclear Corporation, and South Korea's Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power the other three.

The project has been met by much opposition. In recent weeks, several activists known for their stance against the nuclear power station's construction have been prevented from attending public debates on the issue.

Nuclear-power-related projects have been a controversial issue in Kazakhstan, where the environment was severely impacted by operations at the Soviet-era Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991 and the Baikonur spaceport, which is still being operated by Russia.

The ruling party of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is set to retain its majority in parliament after preliminary election results were released on September 2. Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party won 68 seats of the 125 seats in the parliament, the Central Electoral Commission announced. It had 69 seats in the outgoing parliament. Other seats went to parties that back the government. Just over 2 million people voted in the September 1 elections, putting turnout at 37.3 percent. Instances of vote tampering were reported. It was the second snap election since Azerbaijan staged a lightning offensive a year ago to recapture the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. To read the original report by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service, click here.

Russia launched drones and cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv early on September 2, with falling debris injuring at least two people while sparking fires and damaging homes and infrastructure, the city’s mayor said.

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.

A boiler at a Kyiv water plant was partially damaged, as was the entrance to a subway station also serving as a bomb shelter in the Svyatoshynkskiy district, according to Vitaliy Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv.

At least two people were injured in the attack, Klitschko said, adding that emergency services were dispatched to several districts where debris fell from destroyed missiles.

“There will be an answer for everything. The enemy will feel it,” Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential office, wrote on his Telegram page following the attack.

Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's city military administration, said over 10 cruise missiles, about 10 ballistic missiles, and a drone fired by Russia at the Ukrainian capital and its suburbs were destroyed by Ukraine's air defenses.

Air-raid alerts went out across Ukraine for nearly two hours before the air force declared the skies clear early on September 2. Neighboring NATO member Poland activated Polish and allied aircraft to keep its airspace safe during the attacks, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, two drones hit a residential building and a school, Ukrainian media reported. No casualties were reported in that attack.

The barrage comes a day after Russia’s military reported intercepting and destroying 158 Ukrainian drones targeting multiple Russian regions in what was described as one of the biggest Ukrainian attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

It also comes weeks after Ukrainian forces' incursion into Russia's Kursk region, which Moscow's forces have struggled to push back so far and to which the Kremlin has vowed to respond.

With reporting from Reuters and AP

Thousands of protesters rallied in central Belgrade on September 1 against what they said were actions by the Serbian government to crack down on environmental activists opposed to an EU-backed lithium mine planned in the country. The protesters gathered in front of state-controlled Radio Television of Serbia’s (RTS) headquarters demanding that the network inform the public of the environmental issues related to the mine. Protesters oppose a lithium mining project set to be launched by the Anglo-Australian metals and mining giant Rio Tinto in Jadar in western Serbia over fears that it will pollute water and land resources in a country that already suffers from significant environmental degradation. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Balkan Service, click here.

The bodies of 17 dead were recovered on September 1 amid the wreckage of a civilian Mi-8 helicopter that disappeared the previous day in Russia’s Kamchatka region with 22 on board. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said all 22 -- 19 passengers and three crew -- were presumed dead. The state-run TASS news agency said the helicopter crashed into a hill. Officials said the helicopter belonged to the Vityaz-Aero airline, which has been engaged in passenger and tourist transportation for 15 years. Authorities said a criminal investigation into possible safety violations was under way. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

The deadly May 19 crash of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was due to "complex climatic and atmospheric conditions," including heavy fog, the "final" report issued by a special commission said on September 1. The report by the general staff of the armed forces ruled out the possibility of the helicopter being targeted with "offensive and defense systems, electronic warfare, and the creation of magnetic fields and lasers." An August 22 report by the semiofficial Fars news agency said the helicopter had been "overweight," but the general staff rejected that claim and did not mention the weight issue in its latest report. Raisi and seven others were killed when the helicopter crashed on its way to the city of Tabriz on May 19 in heavy fog as it crossed a mountainous and forested area. To read the original report by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Pakistan’s military said on August 31 that four people -- including an army officer -- who had been abducted by insurgents three days earlier had been freed and were “safe at home.” In a brief statement, officials did not release full details but said their “safe and unconditional” release was “secured due to a role played by tribal elders and local notables.” Lieutenant Colonel Khalid Ameer was abducted on August 28 while in a mosque after attending his father's funeral, according to local police. Three members of his family were also seized in an action claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan militants. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here.

PRAGUE -- Azerbaijan’s deputy minister for renewable energy has expressed surprise at the emergency weekend suspension of operations at a nuclear plant in neighboring Armenia and hinted at concerns over “certain technologies that Armenians are using currently.”

Deputy Minister Elnur Soltanov warned in the comments to RFE/RL on September 1 that “nuclear plants in the neighborhood” might not be up to world standards and “it’s not just Armenia that will suffer” in the event of an accident.

The comments follow the emergency shutdown and temporary disconnection from the grid of Caucasus neighbor Armenia’s only functioning nuclear reactor, at Metsamor, after a lightning strike late on August 30. The facility was put back online the next day.

SEE ALSO:

Armenian Nuclear Plant Reconnected To Grid After Lightning Strike Shuts Down Facility

Soltanov was speaking to RFE/RL on the sidelines of the Globsec security conference in Prague early on September 1.

Approached as he left a panel discussion on navigating climate change and the upcoming UN climate conference, COP29, which his country is hosting in November, Soltanov was initially unclear what “crisis” he was being asked about.

Informed that neighboring "Armenia's only nuclear power plant suffered a safety-related shutdown" about 36 hours earlier, he said, “Really? I have no idea. Oh my God.”

Soltanov continued to discuss the COP29 cooperation including “mutual support” that resulted in the lifting of Armenia’s veto on Baku hosting the event.

Then he argued the importance of nuclear technology in the climate fight as “sine qua non” to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

“But it has to be secure. It has to be safe. It should be answering the global standards,” Soltanov said.

“Because we know what happened in certain technologies that Armenians are using currently. So in that sense, yes. Anything that is constructively contributing to the process, pushing the situation to the world standards, which we believe that may not be the case with the nuclear plants in the neighborhoods, would be very great.”

“Because…it's not just Armenia that will suffer, right?” Soltanov said. “Everybody will suffer, and the consequences could be dire for everybody.”

Armenia’s only nuclear power plant is located 36 kilometers from the capital, Yerevan, and is less than 100 kilometers from Azerbaijani territory.

The plant’s initial Soviet-era construction with VVER-440 plant technology with no secondary containment building and with technology designed to withstand quakes of limited magnitude was controversial in a region regarded as heavily earthquake-prone.

Both of Metsamor’s reactors were closed in the late 1990s but Armenia reopened one of them in 1995 as energy demand grew.

SEE ALSO:

As Peace Negotiations Advance, Armenia And Azerbaijan Are Going It Alone

Longtime bitter foes Armenia and Azerbaijan are currently locked in tough discussions around a possible peace treaty following Azerbaijan’s decisive operation to retake Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas controlled for decades by Yerevan-backed ethnic Armenians.

Soltanov has been deputy energy minister since 2018 responsible for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

He was also appointed chief executive officer for the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP29, which Baku will host in mid-November.

Voting has concluded in Azerbaijan’s first parliamentary elections since it reclaimed full control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, with reports of irregularities taking place at polling stations in the highly controlled electoral process.

The balloting offered Azerbaijan's 6 million-plus voters limited alternatives to loyalists of President Ilham Aliyev and came early in a fifth term built for decades on petro-wealth and carefully choreographed elections.

Although the outcome was never in doubt, one exit poll showed the ruling party winning 63 of 125 seats, down from 69 in the current legislature, the Milli Mejlis parliament, which is dominated by Aliyev’s New Azerbaijan party. Most of the rest belong to small pro-government parties or independents.

RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service said instances of alleged vote tampering were being reported. It posted several videos that appeared to show the same voters casting ballots more than once.

WATCH: A Woman In Baku Appears To Vote Twice (RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)

When asked by RFE/RL whether he had voted twice as it appeared in a video, a man in the Neftchala region refused to answer. A member of the election commission denied that a person had voted twice.

A woman in Baku and one in Sumgait were also filmed apparently voting twice. The woman filmed in Sumgait gave her name as Shahnaz Mammadova and indicated to RFE/RL that she had voted at two different voting stations and said she was sent by people from her work office.

An RFE/RL correspondent also filmed what appeared to be two people entering a single voting booth at the same time in the city of Sumgait.

An hour before polls closed, election officials reported a turnout of 33.8 percent.

The national election commission said 50 organizations would conduct observer missions. The largest observer contingent, from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is scheduled to present its preliminary assessment of the election on September 2.

The Musavat party, the major opposition grouping, put forward 34 candidates for the election but only 25 of them were registered. The Republican Alternative opposition party has 12 candidates. The leading opposition Azerbaijan Popular Front Party (AXCP) is staying away from "the government's masquerade of a fraudulent election" for the seventh straight time.

SEE ALSO:

Azerbaijan's Second Snap Vote Since Karabakh Victory Could Further Signal Democratic Dead-End  

Aliyev was himself reelected to another seven-year term in a snap poll in February that was widely deemed to have been unfair and flawed.

Western observers have consistently criticized elections cementing Aliyev's reign as undemocratic, and Azerbaijani votes stretching back to 2003 and as recently as 2020 have been marred by violence.

Aliyev has sought a boost in popular support following Azerbaijan's victory over ethnic-Armenian separatist forces in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region in September 2023 in a lightning offensive.

Baku has been negotiating with Yerevan on a peace treaty looking to end decades of violence in the region.

With reporting by Reuters

Ukrainian officials said dozens of people were injured when Russian missiles struck a shopping and entertainment complex in the battered northeastern city of Kharkiv, while authorities in Moscow reported damage to industrial sites following a massive drone strike on the Russian capital.

After the Kharkiv strike on September 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again pleaded with allies to allow his forces to deploy Western-provided missiles deeper across the border to reduce Russia’s ability to strike at Ukrainian civilian sites.

“Russia terrorizes Kharkiv again. Strikes on civilian infrastructure,” he wrote on Telegram.

“All the necessary forces of the world must be involved in order to stop this terror. This does not require extraordinary forces, but sufficient courage of the leaders -- courage to give Ukraine everything it needs for protection.”

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Russian Missiles Rupture Gas Pipe, Wound Dozens In Kharkiv

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The barrage comes just days after Ukraine's energy infrastructure was targeted by over 200 Russian drones and missiles in one of the biggest such attacks. On September 1, Ukraine reported more Russian attacks in its eastern and southeastern regions.

It is also nearly a month since Ukraine went on the offensive in Russia's Kursk region, even as Russian troops are reported to be making advances in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region.

Kyiv is urging Washington to lift restrictions on using allied-supplied weapons to strike deep inside Russia. Ukraine argues such strikes would greatly impede Moscow’ s ability to continue its attacks on Ukraine.

Senior officials from Zelenskiy's administration were in Washington last week, appealing to the United States for what Zelenskiy called, "capabilities to truly and fully" protect the country.

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.

The Russian Defense Ministry, quoted by the state-run TASS news agency, said 158 drones had been destroyed by the country’s air-defense systems. The ministry said on Telegram that the highest number -- 122 -- were downed over the regions of Kursk, Bryansk, Voronezh and Belgorod, which border Ukraine.

It was not possible to independently confirm the Russian reports.

In his Telegram post, Zelenskiy did not confirm the drone attacks directly but said that “it is only fair that Ukrainians can respond to Russian terror exactly as necessary to stop it. Every day and every night our cities and villages are under enemy attack."

Early on September 1, loud blasts were reported near the Konakovo Power Station in the Tver region, one of the largest regional energy producers, according to the Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to Russia’s security services.

Five drones were destroyed over the Tver region, according to Igor Rudenya, the regional governor. He did not mention possible damage.

A Ukraine-launched drone was destroyed near the Moscow Oil Refinery, said the Russian capital's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin. There was no damage or threat to the refinery's production process, he said.

The refinery is owned by Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom.

Ukraine also allegedly attempted to strike the Kashira Power Plant in the Moscow region with three drones, Mikhail Shuvalov, the head of the Kashira city district said on Telegram. There was no fire, damage or casualties as a result of the attack, he said.

"Electricity is being supplied without problems," Shuvalov said.

At least nine drones were destroyed in Moscow and in the surrounding region, Sobyanin said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the head of Russia’s Belgorod region near the border, claimed that 11 people were injured, including two children, by Ukrainian shelling.

Some 26 Ukraine-launched drones were destroyed over the border region of Bryansk in Russia's southwest, the region's governor, Aleksandr Bogomaz, said on Telegram.

More than 10 drones were destroyed over the Voronezh region and several were downed over the Kursk, Lipetsk, Ryazan and Tula regions, the governors of these regions said, according to Reuters.

No injuries or damage were reported as a result of the attacks. Russia rarely discloses the full extent of damage caused by Ukrainian air attacks.

In Ukraine overnight, eight drones were shot down out of 11 launched by Russia, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.

One person was killed and four wounded in shelling in the Sumy region, local officials said, while in Kharkiv 13 people were wounded in intermittent shelling during the day, according to regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

The Armenian Nuclear Power Plant (ANPP) was reconnected to the grid on August 31 after being shut down a day earlier following a lightning strike, authorities said. The plant in Metsamor -- about 30 kilometers west of the capital, Yerevan -- was hit late on August 30 by the lightning strike, forcing its disconnection from the national grid. The Soviet-built plant, which features two reactors, generates 35-40 percent of Armenia’s electricity. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, click here.

Estonia and Latvia commemorated the 30th anniversary of the withdrawal of Russian troops from the two Baltic states with various events on August 31. In the Estonian capital, Tallinn, President Alar Karis, and in the Latvian capital, Riga, his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkrvics highlighted the symbolic, political, and legal significance of the events three decades ago. Both heads of state emphasized that without the troop withdrawal, neither genuine independence nor the path to the 2004 accession to the European Union and NATO defense alliance would have been possible. With the troop withdrawal, half a century of Russian military presence in the Baltics came to an end, a year after Russian forces had already withdrawn from Lithuania.

Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi has expressed confidence that Moldovan authorities and society can ensure smooth and democratic elections despite fears of Russian meddling when voters go to the polls in three months to pick a president and weigh in on EU aspirations.

Senior Moldovan officials have repeatedly accused Moscow of hybrid and other attempts to undermine the pro-Western government in Chisinau -- including through covert operations and influence campaigns -- since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in early 2022.

Reform-minded President Maia Sandu is running for reelection on October 20 in a vote that will coincide with a referendum asking Moldovans if they want the pursuit of EU membership enshrined in the constitution.

“We are confident…like in previous elections, when we've had challenges, but we've always had democratic elections,” Popsoi told RFE/RL at the Globsec security conference in Prague on August 31, after acknowledging the perceived risk from Russian and pro-Russian elements.

“And democratic standards for elections are sacrosanct in Moldova,” he added.

The United States, in particular, has warned of alleged Russian plans to use disinformation to interfere in the October voting to derail Moldova’s significant progress on reforms.

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Moldova lies between Ukraine and Romania and has been riven for decades by a pro-Russian breakaway leadership in its Transdniester region, where Russia maintains hundreds of troops at a former Soviet weapons depot.

“We are working with our electorate, campaigning, explaining, the risks and the threats that Moldova faces in a democratic environment, in a competitive democratic space, which unfortunately the pro-Russian candidates would not be able to enjoy in Russia,” Popsoi said.

Moldovan authorities initially banned a party founded by fugitive businessman Ihan Shor, a 37-year-old entrepreneur convicted in Moldova of masterminding the theft in 2014 of around $1 billion in banking assets who has since resettled in Russia.

SEE ALSO:

In Fugitive Oligarch's Long Shadow, Free Trips Recruit Hundreds Of Young Moldovans To Love Russia

But critics have also suggested that pro-Russian parties are trying to unseat Sandu and her allies but also use the threat of unrest to destabilize the vote.

“Of course there might be attempts, but as long as there is a democratic election, our citizens have learned through many iterations to accept the outcomes of elections,” Popsoi said. “You may not like it, but it's a democratic election.”

U.S. officials have said the election will be "historic and pivotal" for the country of around 3 million people.

“We are optimistic that our citizens, by and large the majority, know to make the difference between right and wrong,” Popsoi said. “And those that may be full victims to certain instrumentalizations by the Kremlin will not be large enough to cause any significant troubles.”

PRAGUE -- Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani has defended her country’s right to protect its sovereignty in line with its constitution but acknowledged that the success and sustainability of those efforts depend on better cooperation with allies.

Kosovar authorities have increasingly imposed central authority over aspects of daily life in the north of the Balkan country where many Serbs, who are a majority locally, are resisting recognition of Kosovo’s independence, which was declared by its ethnic Albanian majority in 2008.

The moves have drawn blunt criticism from partly recognized Kosovo’s Western partners as being uncoordinated and unilateral and potentially harmful to decadelong international efforts to help normalize Serbian-Kosovar relations.

Speaking to RFE/RL’s Kosovo Service at the Globsec security conference in Prague on August 31, Osmani cautioned against allowing "any dark force, any state that has malicious intentions toward Kosovo and the region, to create division between us and our allies.”

She was responding to criticism from the United States, the European Union, and Britain, Germany, and France over Kosovar security forces’ closure on August 30 of five so-called “parallel” facilities in majority-Serb municipalities.

“The situation in the north of Kosovo is very challenging, because according to the 2013 agreement, which requires all illegal structures to be dismantled, [those illegal structures] have been strengthened by [Serbian President Aleksandar] Vucic in this decade and have turned into mafia groups that challenge security and sovereignty but also the very lives of citizens living in the north of the country.”

Neighboring Serbia -- along with Russia, China, and a few EU member states -- does not recognize Kosovo’s sovereignty and continues to encourage Kosovar Serbs’ reliance on Belgrade for shadow institutions that Pristina calls illegal.

Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti’s government has called the shuttered facilities a violation of the country’s constitution and laws, an accusation that echoes recent crackdowns on the use of Serbian dinars and Serbian postal and bank outlets by the tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs in the area.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien this week urged Kurti once again to stop “uncoordinated actions that negatively affect our partnership.”

SEE ALSO:

News Analysis: Kosovo Further Alienates Minority Serbs, Straining Status As 'Reliable Partner'

Washington has been among Pristina’s strongest allies since independence but has signaled increasing frustration with the Kurti government’s actions over the past 18 months, when violence has erupted that has pitted Serbs against Kosovar authorities and sometimes NATO KFOR peacekeepers.

"This separation, in the long term, costs Kosovo a lot,” Osmani told RFE/RL. “Kosovo has the opportunity to be successful in extending its sovereignty, together with its allies. More communication, more consultation, more coordination is required."

Serbian and others’ refusal to recognize Kosovo’s statehood costs Pristina deeply and blocks its integration into international institutions.

But a failure to resolve the impasse through the mediated dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina is also hindering Serbia’s EU accession efforts -- a point Vucic reiterated on August 31 was “a very difficult issue for us.”

Ukraine's Kharkiv and Donetsk regions continued to be hit by deadly strikes from Russia, even as Kyiv’s defense chief traveled to the Pentagon to maintain pressure on Washington to loosen restrictions on the use of U.S.-made long-range weapons and allow strikes deeper into Russia to stop Moscow from “killing our citizens.”

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.

Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said on August 31 that a Russian guided bomb attack on a residential building killed two people and injured 10 others -- including children -- in the village of Cherkaska Lozova.

"Two women were killed. One was removed from the rubble, the other died in an ambulance," he said.

A day earlier, Synyehubov reported that at least seven people were killed and nearly 100 injured -- including at least 22 children -- when a Russian strike on Kharkiv hit a high-rise residential building and playground.

In the Donetsk region, five people were killed by Russian shelling on August 31 in Chasiv Yar, according to Vadym Filashkin, the head of the Donetsk regional government.

“Chasiv Yar -- is a city in which normal life has been impossible for more than two years. Don't turn yourself into a Russian target! Evacuate!” he wrote on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on August 31 that its forces had captured the settlement of Verezamske, in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, part of incremental gains claimed by Moscow’s forces at a time when Ukrainian troops are operating in Russia's Kursk region following their surprise cross-border attack on August 6.

The reports could not immediately be confirmed.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, visiting the Pentagon, told CNN that the U.S. administration is still considering Kyiv’s request to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons to hit deeper inside Russia, saying he has presented a list of proposed targets to senior U.S. officials.

“We have explained what kind of capabilities we need to protect our citizens against the Russian terror that Russians are causing us, so I hope we were heard,” Umerov said in the August 30 interview.

Umerov, who met on August 30 with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, told CNN that “we are showing that the airfields that they are using to hit our cities are within the range of deep strikes.”

“They’re killing our citizens. That’s why we want to deter them, we want to stop them, we don’t want [to] allow their aviation to come closer to our borders to bomb the cities,” he said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pressed the United States and other allies to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), saying the use of such weapons would allow Kyiv to strike sites inside Russia used by the Kremlin to launch attacks against civilian areas in Ukraine.

On August 26, he called on Ukraine's global allies to take "decisive action" after Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv and other cities across the country that damaged vital utilities.

The United States and other allies of Ukraine have placed restrictions on the use of the weapons over concerns that it could escalate the war.

Washington has signaled it has given its approval to Kyiv to strike over the border in response to Russian attacks into Ukraine but has resisted further loosening of restrictions.

“You’ve heard us say that the Ukrainians can use U.S. security assistance to defend themselves from cross-border attacks, in other words counterfire,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said this week.

“But as it relates to long-range strike, deep strikes into Russia, our policy has not changed,” he added.

SEE ALSO:

Zelenskiy Dismisses Ukraine's Air Force Chief After Crash Of F-16

Umerov also said the recent dismissal of Air Force chief Mykola Oleshchuk was “not related” to the crash of an F-16 fighter jet and was more related to a “rotation” of leadership.

“I would probably say that this is a rotation. These are two separate questions...at this stage, I would not link them," Umerov said.

"We are analyzing what happened [in regard to the crash]. We have also opened this case to our partners so that they can also analyze it and investigate it with us," he added.

Zelensky dismissed Oleshchuk from his post as commander of the Air Force on August 30, a move that came after Ukraine lost the first F-16 fighter jet provided by Western partners. The pilot was killed in the crash.

With reporting by Reuters

The United Nations said it will continue to engage with all parties in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, even after the hard-line rulers issued a “distressing” new morality law that severely bans women’s activities in public.

“We have been very vocal on the decision to further make women’s presence almost disappear in Afghanistan,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a news conference in New York on August 31.

“In terms of the contacts with the de facto authorities...we will continue to engage with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban.”

"We have always done so following our mandate. And I would say impartially and in good faith, always upholding the norms of the UN, pushing the messages of human rights and equality. And we will continue our work as mandated by the Security Council,” he added.

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said on August 25 that the laws presented a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future.

The laws expand the "already intolerable restrictions” on the rights of women and girls -- with “even the sound of a female voice” in public deemed a violation of morality laws.

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Afghanistan Slides Into 'Ever More Hellish Conditions' After New Morality Law Enacted

The Taliban has attempted to police the public appearances and behavior of millions of Afghans, especially women, since seizing power in 2021.

Enforcement of the extremist group’s rules governing morality, including its strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society, was sporadic and uneven across the country.

But on August 21, the hard-line Islamist group formally codified into law its long set of draconian restrictions, triggering fear among Afghans of stricter enforcement.

The Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice imposes severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women. The law also enforces constraints on men.

Taliban leaders say the laws are based on their interpretation of Shari'a law.

SEE ALSO:

The Azadi Briefing: Afghan Clerics Are Opposing Taliban Bans On Female Education

Several leading Afghan clerics have come out publicly to oppose the latest restrictions.

Mawlawi Abdul Sami Ghaznavi, said it was the Taliban’s "responsibility to create favorable conditions for women's education."

On August 27, the UN Human Commission on Human Rights demanded that the "repressive law be immediately repealed."

"This is utterly intolerable," it said.

"We call on the de facto authorities to immediately repeal this legislation, which is in clear violation of Afghanistan’s obligations under international human rights law."

With reporting by AP

The White House rejected a Pentagon proposal to send U.S. specialist contractors to Ukraine to help maintain F-16 fighters and other Western military equipment over security concerns, unidentified U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal. The WSJ said the U.S. intelligence community considered the plan too risky as Russian could "target American contractors in Ukraine." Instead, the report said, U.S. officials hope responsibilities for servicing the F-16s will be taken up by European nations. At the end of July, Ukraine received six of the 80 F-16 fighters it had been promised, but without civilian technicians. On August 26, a U.S.-made F-16 crashed, killing the pilot, Ukraine’s military said. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

PRAGUE -- Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic predicted on August 31 that his Balkan nation of under a million people will join the European Union within the next five years.

He also told the audience at the Globsec security conference in the Czech capital that he had spoken with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen the previous day and suggested she agrees.

Von der Leyen addressed the same forum in Prague on August 30.

“Now I truly believe, and I think that she also believes, that Montenegro can and will become [an EU] member state during her mandate,” Milatovic said.

Von der Leyen was recently approved for a second five-year stint as president of the EU’s executive arm, which should keep her in the post into the latter half of 2029.

SEE ALSO:

Montenegro Has 'Broken The Ice' In EU Accession Talks, PM Says 

She has not publicly commented on any discussions this week with Milatovic.

Speaking on a separate panel on August 31, the EU special representative for the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak, said Montenegro's goal of accession in 2028 was "realistic."

Montenegro has been an EU candidate country since 2010 and has long been regarded as a front-runner for the first wave of bloc expansion since Croatia joined in 2013.

Momentum waned for years over enlargement despite Balkan enthusiasm as the bloc grappled with its own internal problems, but it has publicly increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began early in 2022.

Milatovic, 37, a former finance minister elected president in early 2023, suggested at a panel discussion beside Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that “size matters” in terms of the bloc’s ability to absorb new members and Montenegro is the smallest of the Western Balkan aspirants.

But, describing himself as an “optimist” and Vucic a “pessimist” on EU enlargement, he also said Montenegro had been using the euro and aligning its foreign and security policies with the European Union for decades and been a NATO member since 2017.

Montenegro is the region’s only EU aspirant to have opened all of its negotiating chapters with the European Union, Milatovic said, although he acknowledged it had closed just three.

But Milatovic added that his country had passed key barometers on rule of law and “there is a hope that by the end of the year we will be able to close a few new chapters.”

PRAGUE -- Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic denied having close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and repeatedly batted back the notion that his EU candidate country was a “Trojan horse” for Moscow despite its refusal to join European sanctions since Russia invaded Ukraine and other differences with the bloc.

Speaking at the Globsec conference in Prague on August 31, Vucic said he hadn’t met or spoken to Putin in at least the two and a half years since Russian troops rolled across the Ukrainian border in February 2022.

“There are no ‘both sides,’” Vucic said. “We are on the EU path. Yes, we have traditionally very good ties -- and we are not hiding it and I’m not ashamed of that -- with Russia; it has always been the case between Serbs and Russians.”

He said that, while he’d recently had a “great” conversation with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who was also in Prague this week, “Nobody in Europe agrees with me on this issue, but everybody in Europe understands my position.”

He added that he thinks Serbia has implemented its growth and reform agenda “better than anyone else.”

Serbia and Turkey are the only EU candidate countries that have avoided imposing sanctions on Russia.

SEE ALSO:

EU Criticizes Claims of Intelligence Cooperation Between Belgrade and Moscow

Serbian officials, particularly current Vice Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, have maintained close ties with Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine.

Alongside his Montenegrin counterpart in Prague, President Jakov Milatovic, Vucic called on his EU partners to show more trust in Serbia's intention to join.

He said the process depends not on Serbia's relations with Russia but primarily on normalizing relations with Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008. Belgrade does not recognize its former province’s sovereignty.

“Yes, we are on [an] EU path, and the biggest problem for Serbia…is our relationship with Pristina,” Vucic said. “It’s not all this stuff on Ukraine, because all these big political decisionmakers, they know everything.”

“It’s all about this, and this is a very difficult issue for us; everybody knows it,” Vucic said.

Kosovo and Serbia have been negotiating normalization since 2011 through the Brussels dialogue, supervised by the EU.

“The goal is to establish mutual trust between Serbia and the EU, not to view Serbia as a Russian ‘Trojan horse,’” Vucic said.

Vucic disagreed with Milatovic regarding the EU perspective. Milatovic took an “optimistic position,” predicting that Montenegro could become an EU member by 2029, while Vucic said Serbian integration would not be possible before 2030.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan -- Members of a Facebook group that opposes expensive recycling fees imposed by the Kazakh government, especially those on cars and other vehicles, have had their accounts on the platform either removed or restricted, the group said, attributing the moves to government pressure.

Activists with the No To Recycling Fees (Nyetutilsboru) group authored a petition earlier this year calling for recycling fees on imported goods to be lowered to nominal rates, forcing a public hearing and a government review of the policy after the petition gained more than 50,000 signatures.

While the group has questioned all recycling fees, it is especially concerned about those imposed on cars and agricultural vehicles. The activists say that the charges have artificially inflated the cost of vehicles sold in Kazakhstan, benefiting only a small group of automakers whose factories they argue are not internationally competitive.

Kazakhstan's government cut recycling fees in half and effectively liquidated the private company set up to collect them in 2022, but they are still high by global standards, often amounting to thousands of dollars per vehicle.

After the July 15 hearing, Kazakhstan's Industry Ministry ruled to keep recycling fees on goods such as cars at their current levels, dismissing the group's arguments as baseless.

No To Recycling Fees activists have said that they would continue their campaign.

But they now complain that multiple administrators of their Facebook group have been forced to restore accounts or create new ones in recent weeks, while Facebook has sent the group repeated warnings over the content of their posts.

Administrator Vladimir Kim said on August 28 that he and four other administrators had lost access to their Facebook accounts over alleged copyright infringements.

"The Facebook office in [Kazakhstan] is simply following the authorities' orders," Kim wrote from a new account that he created this month.

Both Facebook and Instagram are owned by Meta, which did not respond to a request for comment.

A representative of the Culture and Information Ministry contacted by RFE/RL on August 29 denied any role in the removal and restriction of accounts related to the group.

Kazakhstan has a special agreement with Facebook that allows the government to remove content it deems "harmful."

Under the agreement, authorities in Kazakhstan can access Facebook's internal content-reporting system.

The joint agreement between Kazakhstan and Meta Platforms, reached in 2021, came after Astana threatened to block the social media giant's millions of local users. It is the first of its kind in Central Asia.

Iran’s police force has fired the police commander in the city of Lahijan shortly after the death in custody of Mohammad Mirmusavi.

In announcement issued late on August 30, the national police command said the Lahijan commander was dismissed for “lack of sufficient supervision over the performance and behavior of employees.”

Earlier, rights activists published a video of Mirmusavi’s lifeless body and alleged that he had died “due to a severe beating.”

The August 30 police statement said officials were awaiting a final report on the “cause of the death of this citizen.”

A police statement earlier on August 30 said local police in the city in the northern Gilan Province had exhibited a “lack of anger control” in handling Mirmusavi. A police station commander and several officers were reportedly suspended.

Mirmusavi was arrested on August 24 after being involved in a fight. The Norway-based Kurdish rights group Hengaw said on August 28 that Mirmusavi died the day of his arrest, but it was not known whether his body had been handed over to relatives.

The incident occurred shortly before the second anniversary of the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in September 2022. Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died after being detained by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Her death sparked national outrage and a wave of anti-government protests.

SEE ALSO:

Iranian Protester Dies After Being Told 'You'll Never Leave Prison Alive'

Javad Ruhi, who was involved in the Amini protests, died in custody under unclear circumstances in September 2023. Ruhi’s supporters said he had been told he would “never leave prison alive.”

Following Ruhi’s death, Amnesty International called for those responsible to be “criminally investigated and held to account,” adding that his “death in custody again exposes the Iranian authorities’ assault on the right to life.”