News
- By AP
Pakistani Court Denies Bail For Imprisoned Ex-PM Khan And His Wife
A Pakistani court on September 30 denied a bail application by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in a graft case, their lawyer said. It's another blow to the popular opposition leader, who has been in prison for more than a year after being convicted on multiple charges. Khan has been embroiled in more than 150 cases since 2022, when he was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in parliament after several political allies deserted him. He has accused the military and his archenemy and current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of ousting him under a U.S. plot, charges which they have denied.
- By RFE/RL
U.S. Must Prepare For 'Long-Term' Confrontation With Russia, Commission Says
WASHINGTON -- The United States must prepare for a “long-term” confrontation with Russia that won’t end when authoritarian President Vladimir Putin departs from the political scene, according to a new report by a bipartisan commission.
Ukraine’s defeat of Russia on the battlefield is critical to winning that confrontation, and Washington should do all it can to ensure Kyiv is victorious, the U.S. Helsinki Commission stated in its September 30 report.
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 commission, which was set up in 1975 to monitor human rights in the Soviet bloc, is composed of 18 lawmakers evenly split between the House of Representatives and Senate as well as three representatives of the executive branch.
“There will be no hope for a peaceful and stable Russia while it remains engaged in war and occupation of its neighbors,” the commission said in the report.
“Ukraine defeating the Russian invaders is a necessary, but not sufficient, step towards not only forcing Russia into significant reflection and reform, but also towards uprooting Russian influence and countering Russian aggression more broadly.”
The commission’s report comes as the future of U.S. military support for Kyiv in its nearly three-year defensive war against Russia is uncertain with a wing of the Republican party, led by presidential candidate Donald Trump, questioning the significant financial commitment.
Congress has allocated $175 billion to support Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, with the majority of the funding spent at home for weapons production and other goods and services. Ukraine would need another large U.S. aid package early next year if it hopes to drive Russian forces from its territory.
Trump, who claims to have a good relationship with Putin, has said he will quickly negotiate an end to the war if elected president. With Russia controlling nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, any deal now would likely force Kyiv to make territorial concessions. And without a U.S. or NATO security guarantee, there would be no assurance that Putin wouldn’t invade again.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, backs aid to Ukraine but it is unclear how much further she is willing to go than her current boss, President Joe Biden. His administration has been criticized by Ukrainian supporters for slow-rolling military aid to Kyiv, giving it enough to survive but not enough to win.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy traveled to the White House last week to present his "victory plan" to Biden and request permission to strike military targets deep inside Russia with U.S. missiles. The White House did not announce any change in policy following the meeting.
The bipartisan report, led by Helsinki Commission Chairman Joe Wilson (Republican-South Carolina), can be seen as an exhortation for whichever party wins the presidency and controls the House of Representatives and Senate next year to continue aid.
Wilson is among those Republicans, including Senators Jim Risch of Idaho and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who are ardent Ukraine supporters.
Putin, who has been Russia’s preeminent leader for nearly a quarter century, has tried to justify his invasion by claiming that Ukraine has historically belonged to Russia. At the same time, he is attempting to rebuild the Kremlin’s sphere of influence in the former Soviet space. He has installed people in power in Russia that share his view to ensure his policies continue beyond his time in office.
“Until Russia can reckon with its imperial history and present, cease using repression and corruption as tools of power, and build governing institutions that are grounded in respect for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, Russia cannot be a responsible international actor. We need to be prepared to contest Russia for the long term,” the Helsinki report said.
- By AP
Belarus Pressures Pardoned Political Prisoners, Rights Groups Say
Belarusian human rights activists accused the country's government on September 30 of pressuring political prisoners who have been pardoned by authoritarian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and forcing them to cooperate with authorities. During the past three months, Lukashenka has pardoned 115 activists who were convicted for taking part in protests against his rule. Those pardoned were a small fraction of more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, according to the Vyasna human rights center. They include the group’s founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski. Vyasna and other rights groups, including BYSOL, said those amnestied were barred from leaving the country and forced to take part in propaganda videos.
- By AP
Man Accused Of Attempting To Assassinate Trump Pleads Not Guilty
A man who authorities say spent 12 hours camped outside Donald Trump's golf course before the U.S. Secret Service spotted him with a rifle pleaded not guilty on September 30 to federal charges, including attempted assassination. Ryan Wesley Routh, who was known as an active supporter of Ukraine’s military in its defense against Russia’s invasion, appeared briefly in the federal court in West Palm Beach days after a grand jury handed down a five-count indictment stemming from what appears to have been the second attempt on Trump's life since July. Routh has been arrested over 100 times – many of which were because of traffic violations – and his travels to Ukraine and Taiwan show that he’s able slip across borders.
- By RFE/RL and
- RFE/RL's Radio Farda
Israel Moves Closer To Ground Offensive In Lebanon, Despite Biden Opposition
Israel appeared to move closer to launching a ground offensive against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, while U.S. President Joe Biden forcefully said he opposed such a move by the close U.S. ally, as events in the Middle East threatened to spin out of control.
"The next stage in the war against Hezbollah will begin soon," Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on September 30, as the U.S. State Department reported that Israeli special forces had launched small ground raids against Hezbollah and sealed off communities along its northern border.
"We will use all the means that may be required -- your forces, other forces, from the air, from the sea, and on land," Gallant told his troops.
"The elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is an important step, but it is not the final one."
Israel killed longtime nemesis Nasrallah on September 27 as it launched a series of massive air strikes in and around Beirut and southern Lebanon that has also claimed the lives of multiple Hezbollah leaders and other members of sanctioned militant groups.
Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, while the European Union blacklists its armed wing but not its political party. Hezbollah’s political party has seats in the Lebanese parliament.
In a televised address, Naim Qassem, deputy director of Hezbollah -- an Iran-backed militant group and political party that controls much of southern Lebanon -- claimed that his fighters were "ready if Israel decides to enter by land."
A Lebanese official told the AFP news agency that Lebanon had moved the soldiers of its small national army from regions near the Israeli border to avoid any conflict in the event of a ground offensive by Tel Aviv.
Meanwhile, when asked whether he was comfortable with Israel launching a ground operation in Lebanon, Biden told reporters that “I'm comfortable with them stopping. We should have a cease-fire now.”
Later, as tensions mounted, the White House said in a statement that Washington believes the way to get an Israel-Lebanon cease-fire is to have a diplomatic resolution.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, speaking from Beirut, also urged Israel "to refrain from any ground incursion and to cease fire." He also called on Hezbollah "to do the same and to refrain from any action likely to lead to regional destabilization."
Israeli attacks in Lebanon and in Yemen against Iran-backed Huthi rebels and claims by Tehran-allied Hezbollah militants that they had fired into Israel with its new "nour missile" – which observers say might be a ballistic missile – led to increased fears on September 30 that there could be an all-out war in the Middle East.
Late on September 30, an Israeli air strike hit Beirut's southern suburbs, creating large explosions after Israel's military had warned civilians to leave three specific buildings that would be targeted in the densely populated neighborhood.
Separately, Iran said it will not deploy forces to Lebanon or the Gaza Strip to fight Israel amid the intensified attacks against the Hezbollah in Lebanon.
"There is no need to send extra or volunteer forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said on September 30, saying Lebanon and fighters in the Palestinian territories "have the capability and strength to defend themselves against the aggression."
Kanani's statement came as Qassem said in a video message that a replacement for Nasrallah will be chosen "sooner, rather than later."
In the message, he said the selection will be made within the regular mechanisms of Hezbollah. He gave no further details.
Nasrallah was killed last week in an Israeli air strike on the southern command center of Hezbollah.
Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian visited the Hezbollah office in Tehran on September 30 "to pay tribute" to Nasrallah, according to the government's website.
Israel's air strikes continued on September 30, including a hit on central Beirut, the first in nearly a year of escalating conflict with Hezbollah, that began after another Iran-supported group designated as a terrorist organization, Hamas, launched an operation into Israel that killed some 1,200 people, with another 250 taken hostage back to the Gaza Strip.
Israel's military has also widened its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups, striking the Yemeni port city of Hodeida, which is held by Tehran-allied Huthi rebels, even as it intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon.
The losses suffered by Hezbollah appear to be the heaviest since Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps helped create the militant group in 1982 to blunt an Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Nasrallah joined Hezbollah to fight in that conflict, and in 1992 became its leader, building the group into Lebanon's most powerful military and political force.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Navalny May Have Been Poisoned To Death In Prison, Investigative Group Says
Russian opposition politician and outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny, who died in prison in February, might have been poisoned, the Insider investigative group said, citing official documents that appear to have been edited to conform with the state's contention he died from cardiac issues.
According to a report by the Insider, published on September 29, the group obtained two variants of official documents on the decision not to launch a probe into Navalny's death in February in the remote Polar Wolf prison in the Arctic district of Yamalo-Nenets where he was serving a lengthy sentence on what he and his supporters said were politically motivated charges.
Both documents were issued on July 26, 2024, and the text in one, the Insider said, appears to have been amended and now complies with the official explanation for the anti-corruption crusader's death.
Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has said that her husband "in the last minutes of his life, complained of having a sharp pain in his stomach," while Navalny's associates have said he was killed in prison most likely on the Kremlin's command, which the Kremlin has vehemently denied.
One of the documents -- most likely to have been initially issued according to the Insider -- says that on February 16 Navalny "started complaining about sharp pains in his abdomen area, an impulsive rejection of his stomach's contents started, he began having convulsions and lost consciousness."
A second, apparently edited document, does not list the symptoms described in the initial document.
The official autopsy report said that hypertension and other diseases caused a heartbeat disorder which led to Navalny's death.
"The official cause of death -- heart rhythm disturbance -- would not explain the symptoms we see in the (first) report: sharp abdominal pain, vomiting and convulsions. It is unlikely that such symptoms can be explained by anything other than poisoning," according to resuscitation specialist Aleksandr Polupan, who treated Navalny in an Omsk hospital after he was poisoned with a Novichok-style nerve agent in 2020.
"The short time interval between the abdominal pain and convulsions suggests that it could have been, for example, an organophosphorus substance (a class of substances that Novichok belongs to), but only if it was applied internally, not topically," he added, which other doctors from various medical specialties interviewed by The Insider agreed with.
In 2020, Navalny was poisoned with a Novichok-like nerve agent but survived after he was airlifted to Germany and treated there. Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin of ordering his poisoning then, but the Kremlin has denied that.
The Insider did not specify how and from whom its journalists had obtained the documents.
Russian officials have yet to comment on the report.
After Navalny's death, officials refused to hand the body over to his mother for more than a week, prompting accusations from his supporters that officials were trying to hide evidence of his murder.
Controversy has continued to swirl with Navalny's former associate Ivan Zhdanov saying on September 3 that the refusal by the prosecutor's office in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District to launch a probe into Navalny's death was illegal.
The district’s authorities said at the time of death that a probe had been launched, though there was never a report and no findings were released.
The Insider said "other facts" also support the use of a toxic substance in Navalny's death.
"The authorities did not release the body for a long time and did not allow an alternative examination of the biomaterials. However, only now has the fact of poisoning been documented," it said.
Moscow Court Hands Life Sentence To Man For Attempted Murder Of Pro-Kremlin Writer
A Moscow court on September 30 sentenced a man to life in prison after finding him guilty of attempting to murder pro-Kremlin writer and political activist Zakhar Prilepin. The Second Western Military District Court ruled that Aleksandr Permyakov will serve the first five years of his term in a cell-like penitentiary and the rest of his term in a special regime prison. Permyakov was also ordered to pay 700,000 rubles ($7,600) fine. Prilepin was wounded in a car bombing in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on May 6 last year. His driver died in the explosion, while Prilepin sustained unspecified injuries. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.
Exiled Belarus Opposition Hails Lithuanian Appeal To ICC On Lukashenka
Belarus's opposition in exile has welcomed Lithuania's plan to ask the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes against humanity by Aleksandr Lukashenka's regime, saying the process could bring international accountability and hope to Lukashenka's victims.
Lithuania's Justice Ministry announced on September 30 that it was referring the "situation in Belarus" to the ICC, listing a litany of alleged crimes against the population by the regime that include persecution, deportations, torture, and "other inhumane acts."
"We are grateful to the Lithuanian government for the principled decision and action," the United Transitional Cabinet, an exile opposition group formed in 2022 and led by former presidential challenger Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said in a statement.
"For hundreds of thousands of victims, for all victims of repression, this gives hope. Hope for justice, hope that crimes will not go unpunished."
The ICC confirmed that it received Lithuania’s referral and said it would “examine the request within” and to determine “if there is a reasonable basis to proceed with the opening of an investigation.“
Tsikhanouskaya, who fled to Lithuania amid a brutal crackdown after the disputed 2020 presidential election claimed by Lukashenka, added, "The guilty should be brought to international responsibility, the repression should be stopped."
Lukashenka's forces jailed and intimidated the opposition and sympathizers and are thought to have jailed thousands of Belarusians amid the ongoing clampdown on dissent.
Western governments have refused to recognize Lukashenka's authority, and the former communist-era leader has increasingly relied on Russian President Vladimir Putin to keep his tight grip on power in his country of 9 million.
In its appeal to the ICC, Vilnius accuses Lukashenka's regime of a campaign that includes: "serious deprivation of fundamental rights; arbitrary detention, prosecution, and conviction; serious unlawful violence; unlawful killings; sexual violence; physical and mental harm; torture, inhuman and degrading treatment; intimidation and harassment; forced labour; and enforced disappearance among several others."
Lithuania has been a leader in the pursuit of international justice and accountability stemming from Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine with Minsk's help, from the ICC to appeals to Eurjust and Kyiv's genocide case against Moscow before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
A request by Vilnius in 2022 prompted the ICC to open proceedings over Russia and Belarus's aggression against Ukraine.
The ICC has since issued multiple warrants, including against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children's rights, as well as Russian military commanders and others.
Signatories to the ICC's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, are bound to detain suspects for whom the court has issued an arrest warrant if they set foot on their soil, but the court has no enforcement mechanism.
Rights groups have previously urged the ICC to investigate Belarus and Russia over the fate of Ukrainian children they say have been forcibly taken to Belarus during Russia's 31-month-old full-scale invasion and are being "reeducated" to turn against their homeland.
"Belarusian democratic forces call on the countries participating in the Rome Statute to support the efforts of the Lithuanian side and the common aspiration of all Belarusians -- to ensure justice for hundreds of thousands of victims and bring Lukashenka and his accomplices to justice for the crimes he committed and continues to commit," the United Transitional Cabinet said.
Taliban Arrests Suspects In Deaths Of 3 Foreign Tourists
Afghanistan's Taliban-led government has announced the arrest of several alleged members of a regional branch of Islamic State who are suspected of killing three foreign tourists in Bamiyan in May and involvement in a mid-September attack on compliance officials in Kabul.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on X on September 30 that the unspecified number of suspected Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) members includes one Tajik national.
He alleged that the Tajik national had come from neighboring Pakistan to carry out attacks in Afghanistan and said other IS-K fighters are in hiding in the Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces of Pakistan with support from certain intelligence agencies. He did not provide evidence.
Islamabad has rejected past accusations that it provides shelter to militants.
Mujahid added that Taliban operations had forced IS-K militants out of Afghanistan, their former base.
The September 12 attack on employees of the High Directorate of Supervision and Prosecution of Decrees and Edicts -- which took over duties from the former UN-backed government's attorney-general's office -- resulted in six deaths and 13 injuries, according to the Taliban.
The Afghan Prosecutors Association said at least 16 prosecutors were killed.
The May 17 attack on a group of tourists at a market in the central Bamiyan Province killed three foreigners and an Afghan, and injured seven others, according to Taliban officials at the time.
An anonymous Taliban source, however, put the number of dead at eight in comments to RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Radio Azadi could not confirm that account.
Spain later confirmed that some of its nationals had been "murdered" in the attack, and simultaneous reports cited injured citizens from Australia, Norway, and Lithuania.
Four suspects were said to have been detained at the scene.
Bamiyan has remained a tourist destination despite a previous Taliban leadership's destruction in 2001 of two massive sixth-century Buddha statues to prosecute the hard-line fundamentalist group's extreme ban on idolatry.
Afghan Journalists' Group Slams 10-Year Sentences Given To Reporters
The Afghanistan Journalists' Support Organization (AJSO) has expressed concern at the 10-year prison sentences reportedly given to two reporters by a Taliban military court after their arrest in Kabul two months ago. The AJSO, a support nonprofit established by media professionals and German academics, said the court sentenced Mohammad Arif Hijran and Ahmed Kamran to prison immediately after their detention on July 16. It said they were convicted of reporting on and taking photographs of ceremonies to mark Ashura, an Islamic day of commemoration. The AJSO condemned the sentences and called on the international community to put pressure on Afghanistan's Taliban-led government to release the men. Government officials have not commented on the claims. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, click here.
- By RFE/RL
72-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Pleads Guilty In Moscow To Fighting For Ukraine
Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old U.S. citizen, has pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of mercenary activity for receiving money to fight for Ukraine against invading Russian forces, Russian state-run media reported, which his family members immediately questioned.
"Yes, I agree with the indictment," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Hubbard as saying in the courtroom during the hearing on September 30.
Prosecutors have alleged that Hubbard signed a contract with a Ukrainian territorial defense unit in the town of Izyum as Russia launched its ongoing invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The prosecution said Hubbard agreed to fight for Ukraine for $1,000 a month and allegedly received training, weapons, and ammunition.
Hubbard was detained by Russian soldiers on April 2, 2022.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has not commented on the situation due to what it called privacy restrictions.
Last week, the same court placed Hubbard, a native of Michigan, in pretrial detention until at least March 26, 2025.
Hubbard's previous pretrial restrictions remain unknown as there were no reports or official statements about his arrest or how he ended up in Moscow.
Hubbard's sister, Patricia Fox, and another relative expressed doubts on the man's reported confession, telling Reuters that he was pro-Russian and could not take up arms to fight against Russians, especially at his age.
"He is so nonmilitary. He never had a gun, owned a gun, done any of that...He's more of a pacifist," Patricia Fox told Reuters by phone, adding that she talked to her brother last time in September 2021.
Fox confirmed earlier reports by Russian media, saying that Hubbard moved to Ukraine in 2014 and lived there for a time with a Ukrainian woman. She added that Hubbard split with his girlfriend and moved to the town of Izyum in Ukraine's eastern region of Kharkiv, where he stayed alone.
Fox also said that in late May 2022, three months after Russia launched its ongoing full-scale aggression against Ukraine, she saw a video distributed by a YouTube channel with just over 100 subscribers, on which she recognized her brother, saying he witnessed Ukrainian armed forces "shelling Izyum for propaganda purposes and to create panic among local residents."
In the video, Hubbard answers questions by a person not seen on camera, saying that he understands why Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine and expresses hope that the war will end soon.
It was not clear in what circumstances and where the video was taken.
Moscow has been accused of targeting U.S. citizens by detaining them on trumped-up charges to later use as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes in the United States and other Western nations.
At least 10 U.S. citizens, including Hubbard, remain behind bars in Russia after a prisoner swap on August 1 involving 16 people that Moscow agreed to free in exchange for eight Russians convicted of crimes and serving prison terms in the United States and Europe.
U.S. citizens RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were among those released by Russia.
With reporting by RIA Novosti and Reuters
Zelenskiy Stresses Need For Battlefield Gains Ahead Of Next Ramstein Meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy once again acknowledged the "very, very difficult” situation his military is facing after his air defenses were forced to destroy multiple waves of Russian drones targeting the capital, while his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, used a state holiday to repeat a pledge to achieve his aims in Ukraine.
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.
Following a meeting on September 30 with top commanders, Zelenskiy said that "reports on each of our frontline sectors, our capabilities, our future capabilities and our specific tasks: The situation is very, very difficult.
“Everything that can be done this autumn, everything that we can achieve must be achieved," he said in his nightly video address.
Zelenskiy stressed the importance of the upcoming Ukraine Defense Contract Meeting at the U.S. Ramstein Air Base in Germany and stressed the need to make gains ahead of the gathering to assure Western allies of Ukraine’s ability to make battlefield gains.
“It depends on everyone in the Ukrainian team. Now we have to work as hard as we can before Ramstein,” he added, referring to the scheduled October 12 meeting.
On the battlefield, Serhiy Popko, the head of the military administration in Kyiv, said there had been no damage after "waves" of incoming attack drones were destroyed over the course of a five-hour air alert in the city that began around 1 a.m. local time on September 30. It was the 10th Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital this month.
The Kyiv regionwide military administration commander, Ruslan Kravchenko, said later that debris from destroyed drones fell in six districts but caused no casualties and only minor damage.
Ukrainian military authorities said four people had died and 37 more had been injured by Russian air strikes over the past 24 hours in the Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhya regions.
They said Russia launched 73 attack drones and three missiles overnight in all, and that Ukrainian air defenses downed 67 of the drones and one of the missiles.
In Russia, Putin vowed to achieve his goals in Ukraine in a September 30 video message to coincide with the anniversary of his unilateral declaration in 2022 purporting to annex four Ukrainian regions partly controlled by Russian troops.
The United Nations has passed multiple resolutions confirming Ukraine's territory and sovereignty since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched its support of separatists in eastern Ukraine eight years before the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
"The truth is on our side," Putin said in the message. "All goals set will be achieved."
The Russian government on September 30 announced plans to increase defense spending by some 30 percent in 2025 as the long war in Ukraine -- initially anticipated by the Kremlin to be a short, swift, and victorious invasion -- has dragged on for 31 months.
A draft budget indicated that Russia plans to raise defense spending next year to 13.5 trillion rubles ($145 billion), diverting more resources to the war in Ukraine even as the country’s economy continues to stagger in the face of Western sanctions.
Putin also signed a decree on a regular fall recruitment of males for mandatory military service, with some 133,000 men aged 18-30 expected to join Russia’s forces. Putin has been reluctant to announce extra, irregular mobilizations, fearing a mass exodus of men to other countries similar to what happened following his decree in September 2022 in the early months of the war.
Unprecedented Western military and other support for Ukraine has continued despite fears of "Ukraine fatigue" among backers and Moscow's persistent efforts to undermine European unity.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha traveled on September 30 to Budapest to attempt to bolster support in Hungary, which despite being a NATO and EU member, has been reluctant to back Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the only EU leader to have maintained close ties with Putin following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has not provided military assistance.
During a news conference, Sybiha pushed back on remarks by counterpart Peter Szijjarto, who stated Hungary would support any initiative that would achieve peace in Ukraine, a worrisome stance for Kyiv, which has flatly rejected any initiatives by Moscow that would require it to surrender sovereign territory to Russia.
Sybiha said he hoped Budapest would continue to support "Ukrainian initiatives," which hold that Russia must remove all troops from Ukraine.
Ukrainian defenders have prevented Russian forces from fully capturing the four regions in Putin's September 2022 annexation declaration: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya.
In August, Ukrainian troops launched a cross-border incursion into Russia's western Kursk region in what Kyiv has said is an effort to gain a better foothold for peace talks and to bring the war home to Russians.
After the initial wave of drone attacks on September 30, air defense forces were against put into action in the Kyiv region shortly before 9 a.m.
The Ukrainian military administrator in the southern port city of Kherson said Russia appears to have been targeting critical infrastructure there overnight, damaging a gas pipeline, an administrative building, and residential buildings.
- By Austin Malloy and
- Andy Heil
Kickl's Far-Right Freedom Party Wins Historic Austrian Vote
VIENNA -- The anti-immigrant Freedom Party has outperformed polls to win national elections in Austria in a historic showing that underscores far-right gains in Europe but could still leave it in opposition with more mainstream parties battling to keep it out of government.
Supporters on election night in the Austrian capital cheered the Freedom Party’s 29 percent support from the country's 6 million eligible voters, placing it nearly three percentage points ahead of Prime Minister Karl Nehammer’s ruling People’s Party at 26.5 percent and eight points ahead of the opposition Social Democrats at 21 percent.
"Now it's time for a change, in my opinion," Lorenz, a social worker, told RFE/RL in Vienna after ballots were cast on September 29. "And I wish to act more nationally. Because the EU....yeah, we got so many illegal immigrants and that's a problem."
But no single party will hold a majority in the the 183-seat lower house of parliament, the National Council, and talks to form a government are likely to drag out for weeks or months.
Most major parties have vowed to avoid any coalition with the Freedom Party, which became the first far-right party to win an Austrian election since World War II.
Nehammer has specified that his conservative People's Party won't bring the Freedom Party's fiery 55-year-old leader Herbert Kickl into government, but he hasn't ruled out a deal to govern alongside it.
Despite the party's leading spot in polls for most of the past two years, Kickl remains among the country's least popular national politicians.
The Freedom Party's Fortress Austria, Fortress Of Freedom platform also contains a number of perceived pro-business steps that could roughly align with the People's Party, which has governed in coalition with the Greens since 2020.
President Alexander Van der Bellen, a former Greens party member who has expressed misgivings publicly about the Freedom Party, grants the mandate to form the next government.
Van der Bellen said after results were announced that he would ensure any government adheres to the "foundations of our liberal democracy."
Critics of the Freedom Party accuse it of xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism, and say its nationalist and anti-Muslim proposals undermine social cohesion.
They say its Euroskepticism threatens Austria's outsized role in the European Union and its pro-Moscow bias endangers the West's efforts to help Ukraine fight off Russia's unprovoked invasion.
The Freedom Party was formed in the 1950s by former Nazis, and it has promised to roll back asylum and immigration policies, including "remigrating" foreigners out of the country and ending reunification policies with immigrants already in Austria.
"I'm sad and I'm disappointed, because it's not a good sign that the far-right party has such good results," Karin, a teacher, told RFE/RL in Vienna late on election night. "It's not good for democracy, it's not good for the country, it's not good for Europe."
Detailed vote tallies are likely to paint a picture of rural voters powering a good deal of the Freedom Party's success.
Stepan, a waiter and student, told RFE/RL in Vienna that he wished the People's Party had fared better in the vote.
"I think in Austria we have a big difference between countryside and cities in the votes," he said. "And yes, the countryside this time won somehow."
The Freedom Party and many of its right-wing populist counterparts surging in European popularity have resisted support for the defense of Ukraine and sanctions that target Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Freedom Party victory comes after Dutch elections last November saw Geert Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom score a surprise victory that also marked a postwar first.
That was followed by major gains for right-wing populist parties in national elections to the European Parliament in June.
Then the political left and center were forced to cooperate to ultimately deny Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally a victory after a first-round surge in French snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron.
In Germany this month, the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany made major gains in state voting.
Pakistani Police, Pro-Hezbollah Protesters Clash In Karachi
Police and pro-Hezbollah protesters clashed in the streets of Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, after demonstrators attempted to access the U.S. Consulate on September 29. Police fired tear gas after protesters threw stones and attempted to cross barriers. The Shi'ite Muslim-led protesters were angered by the Israeli killing of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon two days earlier. Police said 17 people were injured in clashes. Organizers told RFE/RL about 20 protesters had been arrested. The United States, a close ally of Israel, has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Pakistan condemned Israel's attacks in Lebanon, saying they showed "disregard for international law." To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here.
- By RFE/RL
Russian PM Mishustin To Travel To Iran For Meeting With Pezeshkian
Amid growing tensions in the Middle East, the Kremlin announced that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin will travel to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian on September 30. Moscow has expressed vocal condemnation of Israel's attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Western governments have accused Tehran of providing Russia with weapons, particularly deadly drones, to use in its war against Ukraine. Despite holding the title of prime minister, Mishustin has little actual power in a Russia dominated by President Vladimir Putin, although the trip could be viewed by some as a show of support for Iran amid rising Middle East tensions. The Kremlin also said Mishustin will attend a meeting of the Eurasian Economic Forum in Yerevan on October 1. The group consists of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan. and Russia.
7 Shot Dead In Pakistan's Balochistan
Seven people were shot dead on September 28 in Pakistan’s southwestern region of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is home to the country’s Baluch ethnic minority. Officials said the victims were laborers from Punjab Province. Poverty-ridden Balochistan has been the scene of a low-level insurgency and brutal army crackdown for years, which has led to massive street protests in the region. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. A radical group known as the Baloch Liberation Army has waged an insurgency for decades against the Pakistani state, carrying out mostly small-scale attacks against government forces and others from outside the region, often targeting the Punjabi community. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal, click here.
Romania On Red Alert Again Over Flooding Threat
Romanian water-management authorities put two eastern regions on the highest flood alert and ordered evacuations, and put the rest of the country on elevated watch as heavy rain and winds approached on September 29.
Officials warned that risks were increased due to clogged waterways and other damage from deadly floodwaters that hit Romania and much of Central Europe earlier this month as Storm Boris inundated low-lying areas.
Romania's northeastern Galati and Vaslui counties on the Danube River were again major areas of concern as the new storms were predicted for this week, with red alerts called for those two counties and along the Barlad, Prut, and Siret rivers.
The National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management (INHGA) alerts are to remain in effect until early on October 1.
"No one stays in the risk areas," the Galati city council announced. "All mayors who have risk areas must evacuate people there. We must not have any more loss of human lives."
The council ordered that schools and other buildings outside at-risk areas be prepared to accommodate evacuees.
"The situation is worse than last time," said Costel Fotea, president of the Galati County council. "The waterways are clogged in many areas, the ditches have not been completely unclogged, and the amounts of water announced by the meteorologists are very high."
Meteorologists predicted the most intense rainfall would hit on September 29.
The flooding from Storm Boris killed six people in Galati and damaged thousands of homes there.
Twenty more people were killed in all, including in the Czech Republic, Poland, and elsewhere.
Ukrainian Drones Reach Deeper Into Russia As Biden Says Kyiv 'Will Win This War'
Ukraine's military reported that heavy fighting continued on September 29 following a night of air strikes that included penetration deeper inside Russia by Kyiv's drone arsenal, while U.S. President Joe Biden declared on social media that "Ukraine will win this war."
In its evening briefing, Ukraine's General Staff said that "the Russian invaders are continuing to storm positions of the Ukrainian defenders [with] the occupiers actively attacking in the [strategically important] Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions."
It added that "about 20 settlements in Chernihiv, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions were affected by [Russian] artillery and mortar shelling."
The update came after Ukraine reported multiple injuries from overnight Russian drone attacks in a handful of regions, while Russian defense officials claimed to have shot down 125 Ukrainian drones in the latest reflection of Kyiv's increasing efforts to take the 2 1/2-year-old war to Russian territory.
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 governor of Russia's southwestern region of Belgorod said one man had died in the town of Shebekino, near the Ukrainian border.
Russia's Defense Ministry suggested Ukrainian cross-border attacks were increasingly focused on its Volgograd region, to the east of the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion in July that is thought to have captured around 1,300 square kilometers of Russian territory.
One of the attacks in Volgograd was reportedly near a major ammunition warehouse in Kotluban that has previously been targeted, but it was unclear if there was any damage.
On the diplomatic front, Biden posted on social media videos of counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy's recent visit to the White House and stated the "Ukraine will win this war."
"And the United States will continue to stand beside them every step of the way," Biden added.
Ukraine's military meanwhile said its air defenses had shot down 15 of 22 Russian attack drones detected in at least four regions of the country overnight, and said five more of those drones were thwarted by other "countermeasures."
The head of the Ukrainian military administration in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya, Ivan Fedorov, said high-rise buildings and private homes had been struck overnight and "there may be people under the rubble."
“Fourteen people were wounded in Zaporizhzhya today after a Russian strike. Debris removal has been continuing all day and two people were rescued from the rubble,” he wrote on Telegram.
WATCH: Ukrainian rescuers extricated a woman from an apartment building hit by Russian bombing in Zaporizhzhya on September 29.
Zaporizhzhya has recently seen near-daily destruction and injuries from air strikes.
"About a hundred glide bombs are being launched by Russia against Ukraine every day. This is a constant reminder to all our partners who can help that we need more range for Ukraine, we need more air defense for Ukraine, we need more sanctions against Russia," Fedorov said.
The area hosts Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, which has been under Russian occupation since early in the 31-month-old full-scale invasion.
On September 28, Ukrainian officials said Supreme Court justice Leonid Loboyko was killed in a Russian attack on his vehicle while he was delivering humanitarian aid to residents of a village in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
The Ukrainian General Staff said around one-quarter of the 165 combat clashes in the past 24 hours took place in the region around Pokrovsk, the strategic frontline city in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region where Russia is said to have been advancing in recent months.
RFE/RL cannot independently confirm reports by either side of battlefield developments or casualties in many areas of the heaviest fighting.
- By RFE/RL
Israel Extends Attacks To Huthis In Yemen As Fears Of All-Out War Rise
Israel's military widened its attacks on Iran-backed militant groups, striking the Yemeni port city of Hodeida that is held by Tehran-allied Huthi rebels, even as it intensified air strikes on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut and elsewhere in Lebanon, raising fears among global leaders of an all-out Middle East war.
"In a large-scale air operation today, dozens of air-force aircraft, including fighter jets, refueling planes, and reconnaissance aircraft, attacked military-use targets of the Huthi terrorist regime in the Ras Issa and Hodeida areas of Yemen," military spokesman Captain David Avraham told AFP on September 29.
The military said the air strikes targeted a Huthi-operated power plant and seaport used to import oil and to allegedly receive Iranian weapons. Israel has previously attacked the port, most recently in July.
Yemen has endured a civil war since 2014, when Huthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene in support of the internationally recognized government and leading to a massive humanitarian disaster in the country of some 40 million people on the southern Arabian Peninsula.
The vast majority of humanitarian aid arrives through Hodeida's deep-water port, although much of that has been disrupted since the Huthis seized the facility.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on September 29 that Israel would strike at foes no matter the distance.
Yemen's Huthi rebels, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in Gaza are considered to be Iranian proxies in the region. The Huthi rebels have been targeting ships in the Persian Gulf and launching missiles toward Israel over the past year, claiming it is in support of Hamas fighters in Gaza.
Hezbollah and Hamas have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States. The European Union also designates Hamas as a terrorist organization, as it does Hezbollah's armed wing but not its political party.
Israel's continued aerial attacks on Lebanon and now in Yemen come amid mounting calls from the United Nations and major powers – including close ally Washington -- for an easing of hostilities.
France announced that Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot had arrived in Beirut late on September 29 after Barrot spoke by phone with caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Paris also called for "an immediate halt to Israeli strikes in Lebanon."
Mikati said in a televised speech earlier in the day that Lebanon had "no option but the diplomatic option."
U.S. President Joe Biden on September 29 told reporters that he would soon being speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, although he didn't give a date.
Asked if an all-out war in the Middle East could still be prevented, he said: "It has to be. We really have to avoid it."
U.S. national-security spokesman John Kirby earlier warned that all-out war would not help Israel safely return people to their homes in the north of the country near the Lebanese border, where many thousands have been evacuated.
"An all-out war with Hezbollah, certainly with Iran, is not the way to do that. If you want to get those folks back home safely and sustainably, we believe that a diplomatic path is the right course," Kirby told CNN.
Kirby also said Washington was talking to Israeli leaders about what the best next measures in Lebanon might be and reiterated that U.S. support for Israel’s security was "iron-clad."
But he added that "we have made no bones about the fact that we don't necessarily see the tactical execution the same way that they do in terms of protection [of civilians]."
Iran has vowed a response for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a massive Israeli air strike in Beirut on September 27 and has signaled continuing support for groups confronting Israel, but it is also seeking an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Israel's defense forces said on September 29 that they had conducted a "precise strike" on Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold.
Mikati has warned that the fighting could be displacing as many as 1 million Lebanese civilians.
Hezbollah confirmed that Israel's attacks killed the seventh of its leaders to die since mid-September, when Nabil Kaouk died on September 28.
Hezbollah also confirmed Israel's earlier assertion that another of its senior commanders, southern forces commander Ali Karaki, had died in the strike that killed Nasrallah.
WATCH: Police in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, fired tear gas and warning shots after protesters rallying against the death of Hassan Nasrallah threw stones and tried to cross barriers blocking access to the U.S. Consulate.
In response to the Israeli assault on Lebanon, Hezbollah has intensified its strikes on Israel, firing several hundred missiles a day, causing some injuries and property damage, although most have been intercepted by Israeli defense systems.
Netanyahu described the assassination of Nasrallah as a necessary move toward "changing the balance of power in the region for years to come."
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was quoted by the official Fars news agency as saying in New York that "Everyone should be aware that the situation is extremely explosive, and that everything is possible...even war." He said that "this horrible crime...will not go unanswered."
But with analysts expressing doubt about Tehran's willingness to risk a direct conflict with Israel or its ally the United States, he also signaled a diplomatic push. "The diplomatic apparatus will also use all its political, diplomatic, legal, and international capacities to pursue the criminals and their supporters," Araqchi said.
UN Security Council permanent members the United States and China urged de-escalation, while Russia warned of "fraught" and "dramatic" consequences for the region.
In his first statement since Israeli forces and Hezbollah confirmed the death of Nasrallah in massive air strikes in Beirut, Netanyahu said "Nasrallah was not a terrorist, he was the terrorist."
AFP and Reuters, both citing sources, reported on September 29 that Nasrallah's body had been recovered in Lebanon but that no date had been set for a funeral.
The Lebanese escalation comes as Israel's war in Gaza nears the one-year mark since U.S.- and EU-designated terrorist group Hamas launched a cross-border attack that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, many of them civilians.
There are fears of a rapidly expanding conflict that could include an Israeli ground offensive in Lebanon and eventually draw Iran and the United States directly into the fighting.
Israeli officials have said that a ground invasion of Lebanon is among their potential options.
Iranian media reported that Israel's September 27 attacks in Beirut had also killed a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
On September 28, Iran's mission to the United Nations reportedly called in a letter for an emergency meeting of the 15-member Security Council.
Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani is said to have accused Israel of committing "a flagrant act of terrorist aggression against residential areas in Beirut, using U.S.-supplied thousand-pound bunker busters."
On September 29, official media quoted the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, as pledging ongoing Iranian support for groups that "resist" Israel.
"We will not hesitate to go to any level in order to help the resistance," Qalibaf said, adding an accusation that the United States was "complicit" and "has to accept the repercussions."
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely concerned" by the "dramatic escalation" in Lebanon. "This cycle of violence must stop now, and all sides must step back from the brink," Guterres said in a statement. "The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war."
Security Council member Russia has condemned the killing of Nasrallah as "yet another political assassination" that is "fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East."
On September 29, China's Foreign Ministry urged all parties, but especially Israel, to act to de-escalate the situation.
Pope Francis appealed to all parties involved in the ongoing violence "to cease fire immediately in Lebanon, in Gaza, in the rest of Palestine, and in Israel."
With reporting by Reuters and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Biden Cites Hezbollah 'Reign Of Terror'; UN Expresses 'Grave Concern' At Nasrallah's Death
U.S. President Joe Biden, in his first comments since the Israeli killing of the leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, said the death of Hassan Nasrallah helped bring a "measure of justice" to the group's many victims over a four-year "reign of terror," while Tehran and many of its allies condemned the Israeli attacks.
In a statement released by the White House on September 28, Biden said Nasrallah's "death from an Israeli air strike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."
"The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Huthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups. Just yesterday, I directed my secretary of defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war."
Hezbollah and Hamas have been designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.
"Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means," Biden said, referring to the war between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip brought on by Hamas fighters' October 7 deadly assaults inside Israel.
Separately, Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the Democratic candidate to compete against Republican Donald Trump for the presidency in the November 5 election, said that diplomacy remained the "best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability" in the region.
"Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands," she said, adding that "I have an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel."
"I will always support Israel's right to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Huthis."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, said he was "gravely concerned" by the "dramatic escalation" seen in Lebanon over the past 24 hours.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric added that Guterres believes “this cycle of violence must stop now. The people of Lebanon, the people of Israel, as well as the wider region, cannot afford an all-out war.”
Moscow condemned the killing of Nasrallah, with the Foreign Ministry labeling it "yet another political assassination."
"This forceful action is fraught with even greater dramatic consequences for Lebanon and the entire Middle East," it said.
Other comments:
IRAQ -- Prime Minister Muhammad Shi'a al-Sudani condemned the killing, calling it a "crime" and a "shameful attack" that "shows the Zionist entity has crossed all the red lines."
TURKEY -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Israeli attacks were a part of what he characterized as an Israeli policy of "genocide, occupation, and invasion." He urged the UN Security Council and other bodies to stop Israel.
IRAN -- Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslims "to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah with whatever means they have and assist them in confronting the...wicked regime [of Israel]."
"The fate of this region will be determined by the forces of resistance, with Hezbollah at the forefront," he said
Khamenei also declared five days of mourning in Iran in light of Nasrallah's killing.
BRITAIN -- Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he had spoken with the Lebanese prime minister and that "we agreed on the need for an immediate cease-fire to bring an end to the bloodshed. A diplomatic solution is the only way to restore security and stability for the Lebanese and Israeli people."
FRANCE -- Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for an immediate halt to Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. He also called on Hezbollah and Iran to refrain from any action that could destablize the region further.
GERMANY -- Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called the situation in the Middle East "extremely dangerous" and expressed clear criticism of the Israel action.
"There is a risk of destabilizing the whole of Lebanon. And that is in no way in Israel's security interest," she told German radio.
She added that Germany, together with the United States, France, and several Arab states, on September 26 had demanded a 21-day cease-fire in the region and for a diplomatic solution to be achieved.
"The opposite has now happened. And now with the recent reports, it must be said clearly: The military logic, that is one thing, in view of the destruction of Hezbollah terrorists. But the security logic is another," she said.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY -- Leader Mahmud Abbasy offered condolences to Hezbollah over Nasrallah and also "offered his deep condolences to the Lebanese government and the brotherly Lebanese people, on the martyrdom of the civilian victims who fell as a result of the brutal Israeli aggression."
CHINA -- Foreign Minister Wang Yi condemned the escalation between Israel and the Hezbollah militia in his UN General Assembly speech.
"Fighting has started in Lebanon again, but might cannot replace justice," Wang said without explicitly mentioning Israel.
"Palestine's long-held aspiration to establish an independent state should not be shunned anymore, and the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people should not be ignored anymore," Wang said.
"China has always been a staunch supporter of the just cause of the Palestinian people to regain their legitimate national rights, and a staunch supporter of Palestine's full UN membership, we have recently helped to bring about breakthroughs in intra-Palestine reconciliation," Wang said.
SYRIA -- Hezbollah ally Syria condemned Israel's killing of Nasrallah and said that Israel "confirms through this despicable aggression, once again...its barbarism and wanton disregard for all international standards and laws."
With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP
- By AP
States Bordering Belarus, Russia Seek EU Funds For Massive Defense Line
NATO members Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland will seek European Union funding to build a network of bunkers, barriers, distribution lines, and military warehouses along their borders with Russia and Belarus, Estonian officials said on September 28. The three Baltic countries initially announced the plan for a "Baltic defense line" in January. In May, Poland announced a similar project called the "Eastern Shield" designed to strengthen its borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and with Belarus. "The need for a defense line stems from the security situation and supports NATO's new forward defense concept," Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said.
Russian Mathematician, Recognized As Political Prisoner, Destined For High-Security Prison
Azat Miftakhov, recognized as a political prisoner by the human rights organization Memorial, will soon be transferred to a high-security prison, his support group said on September 28. Miftakhov is being held at a detention center in Kamyshlov in the Sverdlovsk region, but the action would move him to a harsher type of prison facility. A court in Yekaterinburg on March 28 sentenced the mathematician to four years in prison on a charge of justifying terrorism, which he and his supporters reject. Miftakhov, 31, was arrested in September 2023 immediately after he served almost six years for his alleged involvement in an arson attack against the offices of the ruling United Russia party, charges he also rejects. Human rights group OVD-Info reported that Miftakhov wasn't being allowed to call his relatives. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Idel.Realities, click here.
Russian Drone Strike Kills Top Ukrainian Judge After 9 Die In Hospital Attack
A Russian air strike on a private vehicle in the Kharkiv region killed a 61-year-old judge of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, local officials said on September 28, while two strikes on a hospital in the border region of Sumy killed at least nine people and injured 12.
The Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office on September 28 said a Russian drone hit a black sedan being used to distribute humanitarian aid, killing the driver and severely injuring three women passengers.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
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The driver was identified as Leonid Loboyko, a judge in the Cassation Criminal Division of Ukraine’s Supreme Court.
"The victim of the cynical attack was a judge of the Supreme Court, who was delivering humanitarian aid to local residents," the prosecutor’s office said.
“The staff of the Supreme Court expresses its sincere condolences to the family and friends of Leonid…sharing their grief and pain from this irreparable loss,” the court said on its Facebook page.
"In the hearts of all who knew Leonid Loboyko, the memory of him as kind, wise, and sympathetic person will forever remain."
Separately, Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synyehubov said an air strike killed three people and injured at least three more in the village of Slatyne, about 25 kilometers north of Kharkiv city, with other officials saying Russian forces had fired KAB glide bombs in the attack.
"The enemy hit civilian infrastructure, damaged an educational institution, shops," Synyehubov wrote on Telegram.
Earlier, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said Russia on September 28 launched two strikes on a hospital in the border region of Sumy, killing at least nine people and injuring 12.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the Sumy strike, saying that Russia was "waging war on hospitals." He said on X that Ukrainian rescuers were "doing everything possible to provide our people with the help they need."
Klymenko initially put the death toll at six, including a police officer.
"As a result of the first strike, one person died and several floors of the hospital were destroyed," Klymenko said on Telegram, adding that while rescuers were evacuating the patients and staff, Russia launched a second strike.
Klymenko said it was the second day in a row that Ukrainian police lost personnel. "In Kryviy Rih, the search continues at the site of yesterday's attack on a police building. According to available information, one more employee may be under the rubble," he said.
Earlier, Ukraine's air force said its air defenses shot down 69 of 73 drones launched by Russia at Ukrainian regions early on September 28.
Russia also fired two ballistic and two cruise missiles at targets inside Ukraine, the air force said, adding that the two cruise missiles were downed.
Kyiv's military administration said separately that 15 incoming drones were shot down on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, with debris falling in one of the city districts.
"As a result, a nonresidential building was damaged. No information on casualties was received," the administration said in a message on Telegram.
The latest round of Russian attacks came a day after Zelenskiy met with Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump amid tensions over what critics call the ex-president's pro-Russian stance.
Zelenskiy, in a Fox News interview broadcast on September 28, said he received "very direct information" from Trump that if he won the November presidential election, he would support Kyiv in its war with Russia.
"I don't know what will be after elections and who will be the president...But I've got from Donald Trump very direct information that he will be on our side, that he will support Ukraine," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy, who also met with Trump's November rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, and current President Joe Biden during his U.S. trip, said, "I don't want to be involved to the election period.... I don't want to lose one or another part of Americans."
Following his meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Trump repeated his claim that he would be able to rapidly end the war.
"I think if we win [in November], I think we're going to get it resolved very quickly," he said. Trump did not elaborate on his strategy to end the conflict.
Prior to the meeting, U.S. media had speculated the session might not take place after Trump took offense to Zelenskiy's comments in a magazine interview that stated Trump "doesn't really know how to stop the war."
Zelenskiy presented Biden and Harris his "victory plan," a strategy to end the war about which little detail is known.
The United States, Ukraine's main supporter, and Western allies have given Kyiv billions of dollars in military aid and other assistance while also slapping several rounds of sanctions on Moscow.
With reporting by Reuters
Moldova Accuses Moscow In Wave Of Vandalism In Capital Ahead Of Vote
Several buildings of state and public institutions have been vandalized over the past two days in Moldova's capital, Chisinau, with police voicing suspicion that Russia is behind the incidents.
Moldova is holding a presidential election and a referendum on joining the European Union next month -- two crucial votes that could cement the former Soviet republic's path to the West.
Early on September 28, the Moldovan public radio and television building and the Supreme Court building were spray-painted, police said, adding that they had identified a circle of suspects.
The previous night, on September 27, the government building and the building of the Ministry for Labor and Social Protection were vandalized. Moldovan police detained two young men suspected of being behind the attacks.
Police later said the two claimed they had been recruited to vandalize state institutions "with the aim of destabiling Moldova."
Pro-Western President Maia Sandu will run for reelection on October 20, the same day a referendum on joining the EU has been scheduled.
Under the U.S.-educated Sandu, Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, has firmly turned itself toward the West, despite decades of post-Soviet Russian influence. Chisinau firmly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has joined EU sanctions against Moscow.
It has also accepted tens of thousands of Ukrainian refugees. Earlier this year, Moldova opened accession talks with the EU after securing an invitation from the 27-member bloc in 2022.
Moldovan police said in a statement that authorities had detained several people who had been trained in Russia to "attack several state institutions."
One of those detained said he was responsible for finding young men who would then be "sent to Moscow for training," police said in the statement.
In Moscow, those recruited had been trained on "how to ignite protests and destabilization in Chisinau."
They were then informed about the actions they would have to perpetrate in Moldova, the police said, adding that they would have been paid 500 euros ($560) per month for their actions.
Police said that the group that traveled to Moscow for training numbered 20 people, 13 of whom have already been identified.
Earlier this week, Moldova's intelligence service, the SIS, banned several Russian news sites suspected of spreading Russian propaganda.
- By Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Reportedly Moved To Secure Location Under Heightened Security
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location inside Iran with heightened security measures in place, two regional officials briefed by Tehran told Reuters. The sources said Iran was in constant contact with Lebanon's Hezbollah and other regional proxy groups to determine the next step after Israel announced that it had killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a strike on south Beirut on September 27.
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