Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 13 that 49 Ukrainians were released from Russian custody and returned home as part of another prisoner swap. "[Representatives] of the Ukrainian armed forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and civilians are among those released," Zelenskiy said on Telegram. Leniye Umerova, who was arrested in Crimea after she came to visit her sick father, soldiers who defended the Azovstal metallurgic plant in Mariupol, and noted military physician and Hero of Ukraine laureate Viktor Ivchuk were among the prisoners returning, Zelenskiy added. Russia has yet to provide details of the swap. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

The European Union has condemned the recent alleged transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia and is considering new sanctions against Tehran in response.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on September 13 that Brussels had "repeatedly strongly cautioned Iran against transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia," which has worked to boost its depleted arsenal as it continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The bloc, Borrell said, would "respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners" and was considering ways to target Iran's already heavily sanctioned aviation sector.

The comments came after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that the weapons received by Russia could be used in the war against Ukraine within weeks. In a joint statement issued on September 10, Britain, France, and Germany called the transfers "an escalation by both Iran and Russia" and "a direct threat to European security."

A diplomatic source on September 13 said that the French Foreign Ministry had summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in the country over the alleged transfers of short-range missiles, which Tehran has denied.

The three countries also announced they had canceled air-service agreements with Iran that would restrict flights by an Iranian air carrier to Europe.

In response, the Iranian government separately summoned the envoys of Britain, France, Germany, as well as the Netherlands. Iran's official IRNA news agency reported that the Iranian Foreign Ministry told the envoys that the accusations were part of Western hostility against Iran and that the actions would "be met with an appropriate response from the Islamic republic."

Iranian weapon transfers to Russia have been a contentious issue since Russia launched its unprovoked, all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Iranian suicide drones, both those manufactured in Iran and increasingly copies made in Russia using Iranian blueprints, have proven to be a deadly boost to Russia's strike capabilities throughout the war.

Russia has also pounded Ukrainian infrastructure and cities with ballistic missiles, depleting its stockpiles of such weapons even as it has greatly boosted its domestic production. Moscow has been accused of turning to North Korea and Iran to boost supplies of drones, missiles, and other munitions.

Iran has denied providing Russia with Shahed drones, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and said that any suicide and more advanced combat drones sent to Moscow were transferred before the war in Ukraine began.

Russia and Iran, two major oil and gas producers under heavy sanctions from the West and the UN, have significantly strengthened their political and business ties in recent years. The two have worked out barter deals that circumvent sanctions that restrict their petroleum revenue and get around punitive measures that have effectively cut them off from the international banking system.

The sharing of technology and know-how has raised concerns that Tehran could bolster its controversial nuclear program, while Russia could feed its war effort against Ukraine.

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How Would Iran Benefit From Exporting Ballistic Missiles To Russia?

The fears were heightened last year following reports that Iran was considering exporting ballistic missiles to Russia, and the expiration in October of UN Security Council sanctions designed to thwart Iran's development of ballistic missiles and which barred its sale of such weapons.

Britain, France, and Germany have maintained their sanctions intended to restrict Iran's nuclear development and possible delivery systems such as missiles, and the United States has imposed new sanctions targeting individuals in both Russia and Iran in an effort to penalize Iranian efforts to buy or sell technology related to its drone and missile programs.

However, both Russia and Iran said following the expiration of the UN sanctions last year that no obstacles remained to their defense cooperation and potential trade of military technology and weapons.

In August, a new report said Iran was preparing to export Fath-360 and Ababil close-range missiles. Last week, satellite imagery reportedly showed a Russian cargo ship suspected of carrying Iranian ballistic missiles docked at a Russian port on the Caspian Sea on September 4.

The U.S. Treasury department on September 10 assessed that the Russian Defense Ministry had used the Port Olya 3 ship to "transport CRBMs from Iran to Russia."

The development has added urgency to Ukraine's appeals to its Western partners to allow it to use donated weaponry to strike deeper into Russian territory.

India's NDTV television on September 12 quoted the country's Foreign Ministry as saying that 45 Indian nationals had been discharged from the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine after they were tricked into enlisting. The ministry added that some 50 Indian citizens remained in the Russian military in Ukraine. In July, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in Moscow that Indian nationals fighting with Russian forces in Ukraine would return home soon. Several Indian men have been killed in Ukraine fighting for Russia. To read the original story by Current Time Service, click here.

Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on September 13 that opposition politician Azimbek Beknazarov was detained a day earlier on suspicion of having been involved in money laundering. Bekanazarov's son told RFE/RL on September 12 that his father was detained on unspecified charges after the UKMK summoned him for questioning. Beknazarov, 68, was among 27 activists acquitted in June of charges of "calling for mass unrest" and "plotting the seizure of power" in a high-profile case related to a deal that saw Kyrgyzstan hand over a disputed reservoir to Uzbekistan last year. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The Russian streaming service Yandex Music has blocked the new album by the rap group Kasta, which is known for its opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Those looking to stream the album -- Novinki zarubezhnogo repa (News Of The Foreign Rap) -- on Yandex Music's site receive a message saying it "is inaccessible due to the request of Roskomnadzor," the state media watchdog. The album was released on September 6. Four days later, the pro-Kremlin Veterans of Russia group demanded that the rappers be declared "foreign agents" and investigated for financing Ukraine's armed forces. The group left Russia in 2022. To read the original story by RFE/RL's North.Realities, click here.

A jury in Florida has convicted four civil rights activists of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents as part of a secret initiative by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to influence U.S. politics.

The September 12 conviction of the four activists in a federal court in Tampa followed a trial that revealed details of a seven-year Russian effort to sow division within the United States by backing marginal political groups.

The activists found guilty include African People's Socialist Party founder Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain Jr., who face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction. They were acquitted of the more serious charge of acting as Russian agents.

"The most important thing is they were unable to convict us of working for anybody except Black people," Yeshitela said following the verdict.

Text messages entered as evidence in the case and first reported by RFE/RL revealed conversations between a Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian national who coordinated with the activists, and his FSB handlers.

The communications also detailed interactions between Ionov and a fringe U.S. group advocating for the secession of California from the United States.

Prosecutors had charged that the activists knowingly worked with Ionov and by extension the FSB officers; Ionov paid for at least one of them to travel to Moscow in 2015 for a conference planned by Ionov's organization, the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

Evidence entered in the case by U.S. prosecutors included images and video footage of Ionov and Yeshitela, 82, meeting in Russia.

Prosecutors said Yeshitela told his fellow activists that Ionov would only provide backing for efforts that would support Russia's attempts to "undermin[e] the U.S." and that Ionov was utilizing "forces inside of the U.S. to s[o]w division inside the U.S."

Yeshitela's attorney, Ade Griffin, said in closing arguments in the Florida case that Ionov did not control the activists, saying his client was "not for sale."

Ionov also allegedly advised the group on wording for protest signs; according to the indictment, he also paid $3,000 to several activists for them to travel to San Francisco to protest at the headquarters of Meta, Facebook's parent company, after it restricted pro-Russian posts about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

According to prosecutors, Romain messaged Ionov after the demonstration: "This is great! That was fun! Who [sic] we attacking next? With more time I can get a bigger crowd."

A sentencing date has not been set in the case.

The Justice Department said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the case.

With reporting by the Tampa Bay Times and the Associated Press

The European Union on September 13 removed Violetta Prigozhina, the 85-year-old mother of the late leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, along with several other Russians from its sanctions list.

The European Union has imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 2,300 people and entities since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The EU's move to remove Prigozhina from the sanctions list was based on a decision by the EU General Court made in March 2023.

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The EU's second-highest court ruled at the time that Prigozhina's inclusion was based only on her family connection with Prigozhin, which the court said was insufficient proof she was complicit in her son's role in the Ukraine war.

The EU, the court said then, placed Prigozhina on the sanctions list on the grounds that she was the owner of Concord Management and Consulting LLC, part of the Concord group founded and owned until 2019 by her son, and also owned other business interests with links to her son.

The court also said it had established that Prigozhina, although owning shares in Concord, has not been the owner of the company since 2017. The EU also failed to prove that Prigozhina owned other ventures linked to her son when the sanctions were adopted.

Prigozhina was added to the EU's Ukraine sanctions list on February 23, 2022, one day before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with members of the Russian government, banks, businesspeople, and lawmakers.

Prigozhin, long a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, died along with nine other people in a mysterious plane crash in August 2023, two months after he announced a rebellion as the head of the Wagner Group, a private army that played a major role in Russia's advance into Ukraine.

The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office on September 13 declared the Poland-based Belsat TV channel, which broadcasts in Belarusian, an "undesirable organization." In a statement, the office accused Belsat of broadcasting "pro-Western" programs, "distributing lies" about the war in Ukraine, and cooperating with people designated as "foreign agents" in Russia. Belarusian authorities declared Belsat an extremist organization and banned it in 2021. The TV channel covered the months of unprecedented protests in Belarus against the official results of the August 2020 presidential election that pronounced authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka the winner despite opposition claims the vote was rigged. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on September 13 accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision had been made to withdraw their accreditation. Russian state TV quoted an FSB official as saying that they will be expelled. The FSB claimed that it received documents indicating that they were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office "whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country," and that they were involved in "intelligence-gathering and subversive activities." The move comes two days after the United States and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, and as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.

A regional branch of the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in central Afghanistan targeting Shi'ite pilgrims.

The Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) group on September 12 published images showing the massacred pilgrims, believed to belong to the Hazara minority persecuted by the Sunni IS-K.

Hadi Rahimi Zada, a former council member in Daykundi Province, where the killings took place, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi that 14 people were killed by unidentified gunmen in the attack.

Some other local sources told Radio Azadi that the killings were carried out by armed men on motorcycles.

A resident of Daykundi Province who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns said that the group targeted had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala in Iraq, a Shi'ite holy site.

"Their relatives had returned to Firouzkoh from Karbala. These people were going to welcome them. Four people attacked them and 14 people were killed," the source said. "They were all young men, and five others were injured."

Abdul Matin Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban's Interior Ministry confirmed the attack in Daykundi Province, saying on September 12 that further details would be announced.

The IS-K has carried out numerous attacks since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, often targeting Taliban officials, foreign nationals, and the Shi'ite Hazara community.

The IS-K was founded in Afghanistan in 2014 as a regional branch of the Islamic State extremist group that aims to expand throughout South and Central Asia. Khorasan refers to a historical region that comprised parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia.

U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are set to meet amid signs they are growing more receptive to loosening restrictions on Ukraine’s use of donated long-range weapons, as Moscow issued stern warnings against granting Kyiv the capability to strike deeper into Russian territory.

The contentious issue is expected to be a main topic of discussion when Biden and Starmer meet in Washington on September 13, a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a tour of Europe in which he heard repeated appeals from Ukraine and its allies to lift the restrictions.

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Biden in May altered U.S. policy to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-donated missiles into Russia to defend itself against a major Russian offensive that included missile and drone barrages fired from Russian territory. But Biden maintained a limit on the distance the U.S. missiles could strike, meaning Ukraine could only hit targets in regions close to the border.

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

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

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

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

On September 13, the chairman of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, accused NATO of already being party to the all-out war that began with Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin accused NATO of helping Ukraine determine strategies, choosing Russian targets, and even of giving Kyiv orders.

"The United States, Germany, Britain, and France are discussing the possibility of strikes (by Ukraine) using long-range weapons on the territory of our country," Volodin wrote on Telegram. "This is nothing but an attempt to camouflage and conceal their direct participation in military action."

"In fact, the United States and its allies are actually trying to give themselves permission to carry out acts of aggression with missiles against Russia," claimed Volodin, a close Putin ally.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has recently ramped up his calls for Kyiv's Western partners to loosen restrictions on donated weapons. Zelenskiy has argued that longer-range capability is needed to allow Ukraine to better defend itself against attacks as Russia has moved its long-range weaponry beyond Ukraine's reach.

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

On the last day of Blinken's European tour in Poland on September 12, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the U.S. secretary of state that Ukraine needed better capabilities to defend itself because Moscow "is committing war crimes by attacking civilian targets."

“Missiles that hit these civilian targets are fired from bomber aircraft from over the territory of Russia. These bombers take off from airfields on Russia’s territory," Sikorski said. "A victim of aggression has the right to defend itself."

SEE ALSO:

Polish Leaders Urge Blinken To Lift Limits On Ukraine's Use Of Long-Range Weapons

Other European leaders have made similar comments.

Blinken said at a news conference in Warsaw that "as what Russia's doing has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we've adapted," reiterating comments he made on September 11 in Kyiv.

He said one the purposes of his visit to Ukraine was "to hear from our Ukrainian partners what they believe they need now to deal with the current battlefield, including in eastern Ukraine and other parts of the country," Blinken said.

"I can tell you that as we go forward we will do exactly what we have already done, which is we will adjust as necessary...in order to defend against Russian aggression," Blinken said.

The leadership of the Orthodox Church in North Macedonia on September 12 expressed support for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), which has been banned in Ukraine under a law signed last month by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Support for the UOC was discussed at a regular session of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Macedonian Orthodox Church - Ohrid Archdiocese (MOC - OA) at which several other issues and events related to church life were discussed, the MOC- OA said in a statement.

"The Synod paid particular attention to the situation with the sister Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which was administratively abolished by the Ukrainian parliament…and thus millions of believers…are denied the basic right of religious affiliation, professing one's faith, and performing religious services," the MOC-OA said.

The synod also expressed support for the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the metropolitan of Kyiv and all of Ukraine, bishops, and all the church’s faithful, saying it was praying that “the all-merciful Lord will give them the strength to persevere and overcome these trials."

Zelenskiy signed legislation into law on August 24 banning religious organizations linked to the Russian Orthodox Church from operating in Ukraine.

SEE ALSO:

Zelenskiy Signs Law Banning Russian Orthodox Church In Ukraine

The law states that no religious organization operating on Ukrainian territory may have an administrative center in Russia, including the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The church that is recognized in Ukraine is the similarly named Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

Ukraine has been trying to distance itself from the Russian church since 2014, but efforts intensified after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially split from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2022, but Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly accused its priests of remaining loyal to Russia.

SEE ALSO:

Live Briefing: Russia Invades Ukraine

The Russian invasion has been supported by the leader of the Orthodox Church in Russia, Patriarch Kirill, a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The MOC-OA was recognized in May 2022 by the decision of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul, led by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. The Serbian Orthodox Church subsequently recognized its independence.

Since its restoration in 1967, the MOC-OA had previously been internationally isolated and unrecognized by the Orthodox world.

Four Black rights activists were convicted in the United States on September 12 on charges of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents, the Justice Department said. A jury in Florida found them not guilty of the more serious charge of acting as agents of a foreign government. The four face maximum sentences of five years in prison, the department said. Among the four are Omali Yeshitela, 82, founder of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement, and Augustus Romain Jr., 38, leader of a spinoff group Black Hammer. Prosecutors said the four carried out a number of actions in the United States between 2015 and 2022 on behalf of the Russian government and received money and support from Aleksandr Ionov, president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. Ionov used the activists to promote Russian views on politics, the Ukraine war, and other issues, they said.

Taliban authorities confirmed on September 12 that civilians had been shot dead that day in an attack in central Afghanistan but provided no further details. "Unknown gunmen have opened fire and have killed the civilians," Abdul Matin Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban's Interior Ministry told the AFP news agency, adding that further details on the attack in Daykundi Province would be announced later. Local sources told RFE/RL that unidentified armed men on motorbikes shot dead at least 12 Hazara civilians at the border of Afghanistan’s Ghor and Daykundi provinces. The sources spoke with RFE/RL on condition of anonymity for security reasons. A source in the province who spoke with AFP said 14 people were killed and at least four wounded. The source said a group had gathered to welcome pilgrims returning from Karbala in Iraq, a Shi’ite holy site. The Islamic State extremist group claimed responsibility for the attack.

The U.S. State Department on September 12 imposed sanctions on a Chinese research institute and several companies it said have been involved in supplying Pakistan's ballistic missile program. The Beijing Research Institute of Automation for Machine Building Industry worked with Pakistan to procure equipment for testing rocket motors for the Shaheen-3 and Ababeel systems and potentially for larger systems, the State Department said in a statement. The action also targeted the China-based firms Hubei Huachangda Intelligent Equipment Company, Universal Enterprise, and Xi'an Longde Technology Development Company, the Pakistan-based Innovative Equipment, and a Chinese national for knowingly transferring restricted missile technology. A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Beijing “firmly opposes unilateral sanctions.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Army has reduced the footprint of its command posts and increased the speed with which they can be set up and taken down as it implements key lessons learned from the war in Ukraine, its chief said.

The army is also boosting investments in drone and electronic warfare as those technologies play an ever-greater role on the battlefield in Ukraine, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth told a conference organized by the Stimson Center in Washington on September 12.

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The pervasive use of drones in warfare has made it very difficult for militaries to conceal themselves and that has forced the army to disperse troops and assets, she said.

Army command posts at training centers in the United States and Germany may now have just a few soldiers and two Humvees with a cluster of antennas located at a distance. Prior to the Ukraine war, the number of troops and vehicles would have been larger with the antennas nearby.

“That is a huge change and it is driven by what we have seen in Ukraine. There is nowhere to hide,” she said. “We have to disperse. We have to be more mobile.”

The command posts can now be set up and taken down within 15 minutes, she said.

Speed is important because surveillance drones can identify and locate enemy command-and-control centers. The information is instantly relayed to artillery units that can then fire precision missiles.

Wormuth said the army is also reducing its electronic footprint in light of the war in Ukraine. Electronic signals emitted by devices such as Fitbits and mobile phones can be picked up by opposing forces and used to identify their location.

“We’ve really been working on getting that signature as tight as possible,” she said.

Wormuth said the army will be making a “significant” investment in drone and counter-drone technology as well as electronic warfare in next year’s budget, adding the reallocation of funding is “a direct result of what we are seeing in Ukraine.”

She said the cycle of drone and counter-drone technology is evolving rapidly and that the U.S. Army has learned important lessons about their uses on the battlefield from Ukrainian soldiers, including using 3D printing to attach payloads.

Amid debate in the United States about whether to continue supporting Ukraine with weapons, Wormuth said a Russian victory would undermine U.S. security.

“If other countries see us let Ukraine be consumed [by Russia], it may make them more opportunistic, more adventurous in ways that are very detrimental to the United States.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on September 12 concluded a European tour in Poland, where he heard more appeals for a change in Washington's policy restricting the use of Western-supplied weaponry for long-range strikes inside Russia.

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Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski argued that Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons against Russia in self-defense because Moscow "is committing war crimes by attacking civilian targets."

“Missiles that hit these civilian targets are fired from bomber aircraft from over the territory of Russia. These bombers take off from airfields on Russia’s territory,” Sikorski said. “A victim of aggression has the right to defend itself.”

Blinken traveled to Warsaw to meet with Sikorski, Polish President Andrzej Duda, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk after spending a day in Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during which the two diplomats pledged to bring the Ukrainian requests to their leaders.

U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are to meet in the United States on September 13 amid signs both Washington and London are growing more receptive to changing the policy on long-range weapons.

“As what Russia’s doing has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we’ve adapted,” Blinken said at a news conference in Warsaw, reiterating a statement he made in the Ukrainian capital.

"One of the purposes of my visit to Kyiv yesterday was to hear from our Ukrainian partners what they believe they need now to deal with the current battlefield, including in eastern Ukraine and other parts of the country," Blinken said.

“I can tell you that as we go forward we will do exactly what we have already done, which is we will adjust as necessary…in order to defend against Russian aggression," Blinken said.

Biden in May altered the policy to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defense, but he has maintained a limit on the distance they can be fired.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has voiced his request for that restriction be lifted multiple times.

One of the key requests from Kyiv is to use U.S.-produced Army Tactical Missile Systems, known by the acronym ATACMS. But the Pentagon has said they wouldn't be the answer to the main threat Ukraine faces from glide bombs, which are being fired from more than 300 kilometers away -- beyond the ATACMS reach.

Biden and Starmer will talk about the issue when they meet in Washington, Blinken said, prompting speculation that an announcement on a change in the policy could come out of the meeting.

But Senator Chris Coons (Democrat-Delaware) told U.S. broadcaster MSNBC on September 12 that an announcement was more likely to come when Zelenskiy visits the United States later this month for the UN General Assembly.

Earlier on September 12, a British newspaper reported that London has already given Ukraine the green light to use its Storm Shadow missiles for long-range strikes deep into Russian territory. The Guardian quoted unidentified government sources as saying a decision had been made behind closed doors. British officials have not confirmed the report.

• RFE/RL

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

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a warning about a change in the policy, saying on September 12 that if the West allows Kyiv to use longer-range weapons to strike Russian targets it would mean NATO would be "at war" with Russia.

"This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict," Putin told a state television reporter. "It would mean that NATO countries, the U.S., European countries, are at war with Russia," he added.

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

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

With reporting by AP and dpa

The French Embassy in Azerbaijan on September 12 condemned the imprisonment in the South Caucasus nation of French citizen Theo Clerk over the painting of graffiti on metro trains in Baku. The embassy's statement stressed that two co-defendants in the case, who are citizens of other nations, were fined but not jailed on the same charges. Two days earlier, a Baku court sentenced Clerk to three years in prison on charges of hooliganism and damaging property. An Australian and a citizen of New Zealand were ordered to pay 6,800 manats ($4,000) each on the same charges. Azerbaijani-French relations have been tense lately over Paris's pro-Armenian position regarding Nagorno-Karabakh. To read the original story by Current Time, click here.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has condemned an attack that killed three of its workers who were distributing aid in the frontline Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Ukrainian presidential officials said earlier that Russian forces had attacked Red Cross vehicles in an artillery strike that also wounded two other Red Cross workers.

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"Another Russian war crime. Today, the occupier attacked vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross humanitarian mission in the Donetsk region," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on X, formerly Twitter. "In this war, everything is absolutely clear -- Russia sows evil, Ukraine defends life."

Miryjana Spoljaric, the president of the ICRC, condemned the attack in a statement on September 12 which confirmed that three of the organization's workers had been killed by shelling that hit the site of a planned frontline aid distribution point in the Donetsk region.

"I condemn attacks on Red Cross personnel in the strongest terms," Spoljaric said on X. "It's unconscionable that shelling would hit an aid distribution site. Our hearts are broken today as we mourn the loss of our colleagues and care for the injured. This tragedy unleashes a wave of grief all too familiar to those who have lost loved ones in armed conflict."

The statement added that ICRC teams are regularly present in the Donetsk region, and their vehicles are marked with the Red Cross emblem.

Photos released by local police showed a truck with the ICRC emblem on its side engulfed in flames.

Earlier on September 12, Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin reported that three people were killed and two injured in the village of Virolyubivka in the Kostyantynivka district.

"The village came under artillery fire this morning. One of the shells hit the territory of the enterprise where people were. A truck with humanitarian aid and a car were destroyed," he said.

ICRC employees had brought fuel briquettes to residents for heating before winter. They were unloading the aid when the attack happened, the Prosecutor-General's Office said later on Telegram.

One of the two employees who were injured in the strike is in serious condition, the Prosecutor-General's Office added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 12 that Ukraine anticipated the recent Russian military attacks that have taken place in the Kursk region.

"The Russians have begun counteroffensive actions. This is according to our Ukrainian plan," Zelenskiy told a news conference in Kyiv with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda.

The comment was Zelenskiy’s first since Russia began attacks this week on Ukrainian forces in Kursk more than a month after Kyiv's surprise incursion into the region.

Pro-Moscow war bloggers and Ukrainian military analysts said on September 11 that Russian forces had begun attacking the western flank of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region and had retaken some territory.

The same information has been shared by the Rybar channel, which is connected to the Russian Defense Ministry, and a Russian commander fighting in Kursk claimed that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements.

SEE ALSO:

Russian Forces Reportedly Attack Ukrainian Troops In Kursk, Claim Recapture Of Some Villages

Ukrainian forces began their incursion into Kursk in early August, a move that was believed to be aimed at diverting Moscow's forces from the eastern Donbas region and at taking the fight to the Russians.

Kyiv claims to have seized control of more than 1,200 square kilometers of Russian territory, and according to Ukraine’s top military commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, Moscow has transferred tens of thousands of troops to the region.

While Ukrainian forces made rapid gains at the start of the incursion, the situation around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, which Russia has been seeking to take for weeks, remains perilous.

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At the news conference with Nauseda, Zelenskiy reiterated earlier assertions that Ukraine had also noticed a buildup of forces across Ukraine’s border with Belarus.

"We have seen it for a long time -- this process is under control," he said.

His comments came as Russian shelling killed three Ukrainians working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and injured two others in a village in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

Russian forces also knocked out power and water to a rail hub in northern Ukraine and severed water supplies to Pokrovsk. Donetsk's regional governor said a filtering station had stopped working because of heavy fighting, and it would be impossible to fix soon. He renewed calls for civilians to flee the town.

To the north in the Sumy region, the city of Konotop, a rail hub that Kyiv used as a staging ground for its cross-border incursion, reported heavy damage from an overnight Russian drone attack.

Local officials said at least 14 people had been hurt in the attack, which "significantly" damaged energy infrastructure and cut electricity to the settlement.

With reporting by Reuters

The Almaty regional court on September 12 canceled a lower court's decision to grant an early release to Kazakh businessman Muratkhan Toqmadi, who was sentenced in 2018 to a lengthy prison term for his alleged involvement in the killing of banker Erzhan Tatishev.

It was announced last month that Toqmadi was supposed to be released on August 10. However, the late banker's relatives filed an appeal against the court's decision to grant an early release to Toqmadi.

In March 2022, Toqmadi called on President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev to review his case after he retracted his testimony against Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive outspoken critic of Kazakhstan's government and former banker.

In his open letter to Toqaev, Toqmadi said he confessed to the killing of Tatishev on a hunting trip in 2004 and falsely testified in 2018 that he killed Tatishev at the behest of Ablyazov because he was tortured and faced psychological pressure imposed on him by the National Security Committee.

Tatishev at the time was the head of TuranAlem bank, which was later renamed BTA. After Tatishev's death, which was ruled an accident at the time, Ablyazov became the bank's chief. He has been living abroad since 2009.

Toqmadi’s letter to Toqaev came after deadly unrest in January that resulted in the removal of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and his clan from the political scene.

In February 2018, Toqmadi, who was initially sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison for extortion and illegal firearms possession, entered a guilty plea at the murder trial, which ended with him being sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison.

In November that year, Ablyazov was tried in absentia, convicted of murder based on Toqmadi's testimony, and sentenced to life in prison.

In a separate trial in absentia that ended in 2017, Ablyazov was convicted of embezzlement, abuse of office, and organizing a criminal group and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Ablyazov has denied all the charges, saying they are politically motivated.

With reporting by Vlast.kz

Kyrgyz opposition politician Azimbek Beknazarov was detained on September 12 after the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) summoned him for questioning, his son told RFE/RL. Ruslan Beknazarov added that the reason of his father's detention is unknown. The UKMK has yet to officially announce the detention. Beknazarov, 68, was among 27 activists acquitted of charges of "calls for mass disorders" and "plotting the seizure of power" in a high-profile case related to a deal that saw Kyrgyzstan hand over a disputed reservoir to Uzbekistan last year. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

The family of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian-Kurdish woman whose death while in police custody in 2022 sparked the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement, hopes to mark her second death anniversary -- if allowed by Iranian authorities.

In a message sent to RFE/RL's Radio Farda on September 12, Amjad Amini said they were going to mark the occasion at the cemetery where his daughter is buried in response to calls from people wanting to pay tribute.

"We, the family of Mahsa Jina Amini, like all the grieving families across Iran, wish to exercise our right to hold a traditional and religious ceremony in memory of our beloved, marking the anniversary of her passing," he said in an audio message.

Amini said last year they were unable to hold a public gathering because the authorities blocked access to the Aichi cemetery in Saqqez, Kurdistan Province, where his daughter is buried.

"If such restrictions are not imposed this year, the anniversary ceremony will take place on September 15, in response to the many requests we have received from the honorable and dear people," he added.

Last year, Amini was briefly detained on his daughter's death anniversary and the whole family were barred from leaving home.

The 22-year-old died on September 16, 2022. However, because the leap year is marked on different dates on the Iranian and Gregorian calendars, the anniversary this year falls on September 15.

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Amini was arrested in Tehran on September 13, 2022, while visiting the Iranian capital with her family. She was detained by Iran's "morality police" for allegedly improperly wearing her hijab, or head scarf. Within hours of her detention, she was hospitalized in a coma and died on September 16.

The protests that followed lasted for months, spreading from city to city and drawing men and women into the streets. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights estimates more than 500 protesters were killed as the authorities cracked down on the unrest.

At least 10 men have been executed in relation to the protests for alleged involvement in attacks on security forces during the demonstrations.

Ahead of the anniversary of Amini's death last year, the authorities stepped up pressure against family members of those killed, including through arrests, summons for questioning, and warnings against them holding memorial events in honor of Amini or their loved ones.

BAKU -- The Nasimi district court in Baku has set September 19 as the trial date for the chairman of the opposition Popular Front Party of Azerbaijan (AXCP), Ali Karimli, who is being prosecuted on a charge of slander.

Last month, Karimli was informed that a probe had been launched against him on the basis of a lawsuit filed by Aydin Aliyev, who was expelled from the AXCP in 2019, but had his membership restored by a court decision.

If found guilty, Karimli may face up to six months in prison.

Shortly after the court pronounced its decision on September 12, Karimli accused the court of implementing a "political order" by accepting the lawsuit.

Azerbaijani rights groups and opposition activists say the police have tried to force several opposition politicians, journalists, and activists to testify against Karimli since 2013.

"The authorities were then reasonable enough not to launch a probe against me, but now the regime seems to feel complete impunity, ignoring calls by the United States, the European Union, the Council of Europe, etc. to stop repression. By launching a probe against an opposition party's leader, the authorities want to completely liquidate the opposition, civil society, and free media," Karimli told his supporters in Baku.

Karimli has been under pressure from authorities for decades.

In 1994 he had to fight a charge of illegally possessing explosives. Since 2006 he has been unable to travel internationally as the authorities have refused to issue him a passport.

Critics of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's government say authorities in the oil-rich Caspian Sea state frequently seek to silence dissent by jailing opposition activists, journalists, and civil society advocates on trumped-up charges.

Azerbaijani officials have insisted that there are no political prisoners in the tightly controlled country.

President Aliyev has ruled the oil-rich South Caucasus state with an iron fist since 2003 after taking over from his father, Heydar, who was president for a decade.

Ukraine accused Russia on September 12 of using strategic bombers to fire missiles at a civilian ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea.

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Romanian authorities said the ship was in the maritime economic zone of Romania, a NATO member, when it was hit. The vessel was transporting the grain from Chernomorsk, Ukraine, to Istanbul when it was struck, the Coast Guard said in a news release.

Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenciuc said the ship's cargo was bound for Egypt. Russia used Tupolev Tu-22 bombers to fire the missiles at around 11 p.m. local time on September 11, Ukraine's navy said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said the strike was "a brazen attack on freedom of navigation and global food security."

The strike was confirmed by the Romanian Coast Guard, which said the vessel had a crew of 22 people on board and no one was injured, and the ship's mobility was not affected, a Coast Guard spokesperson told RFE/RL.

The ship's captain requested a change in course so that it could head to Constanta to assess the damage. A maritime surveillance vessel was sent in coordination with the Romanian Navy to monitor the distressed ship and provide any assistance needed, the Coast Guard said.

The ship was 55 kilometers from the town of Sfantu Gheorghe in the exclusive economic zone of Romania when the explosion occurred, according to the Coast Guard. The exclusive economic zone is the maritime area adjacent to a country's territorial waters and can extend up to a maximum of 200 nautical miles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier that a cargo ship carrying wheat was hit by a Russian missile strike in the Black Sea as it was headed for Egypt.

"Today's strike in the Black Sea was against an ordinary civilian vessel immediately after leaving Ukrainian territorial waters. According to preliminary data, fortunately, there were no casualties," he said. "Ukraine is one of the key global donors of food security. The internal stability and life of dozens of countries in different parts of the world depends on the normal and smooth operation of our export food corridor."

Ukraine, one of the world's leading grain producers and exporters, has been shipping about 4 million tons of grain each month through the Black Sea corridor, which was set up through a deal mediated by Turkey and the United Nations.

With reporting by Reuters