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Zelenskiy Calls For 'Bold' Decisions By Allies As Kyiv Repels 'Massive' Russian Drone Attack
Air-defense systems successfully repelled what officials called "the most massive attack of 2024" on the Ukrainian capital as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Kyiv's Western partners to make "bold decisions" and deliver enough resources that will allow Ukraine to fully protect its skies from Russian attacks.
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Ukraine's Air Force said on July 31 that its air defenses destroyed all 89 drones launched at the capital, as well as an X-59 guided missile, during an air-raid alert that lasted for more than seven hours.
Russian drones attacked Kyiv in two waves coming from all directions.
"This is one of the most massive drone attacks," the commander of Ukraine's Air Force, General Mykola Oleschuk, wrote on Telegram.
The attack was the seventh launched on Kyiv this month, Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv's military administration, said, adding that there were no casualties or damage in Kyiv.
Zelenskiy, in a message on X, called the repelling of the attack "an important result" and proof that "Ukrainians can fully protect their skies from Russian strikes when they have sufficient resources."
Zelenskiy reiterated his appeal to Ukraine's allies to keep sending the badly needed armaments to defend its cities and missiles that will allow it to strike deeper into Russia.
"Sufficiently bold decisions by partners are needed -- enough anti-aircraft systems, enough long-range. And Ukrainians will do everything correctly and accurately," Zelenskiy wrote.
Hours later there were reports that Ukraine has received the first F-16 fighter jets after pushing for them for more than a year. U.S. officials confirmed the deliver to the Associated Press and Bloomberg.
The United States and some of its NATO allies have been training Ukrainian pilots on how to fly the jets, and there have been indications that their arrival was imminent.
During the NATO summit in Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on July 10 that the transfer of F-16 jets to Ukraine was under way. He said the jets were arriving from Denmark and the Netherlands.
Ukraine has said F-16s are needed to fight back against Russian missiles. Its Western allies have gone ahead with delivery despite concern that arming Ukraine with advanced weaponry would further escalate the war.
Russian shelling on July 31 also killed at least four people in Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Kherson regions, local officials said.
One resident was killed in the town of Toretsk, Donetsk regional Governor Vadym Filashkin reported on July 31, while in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov reported that two civilians were killed by Russian artillery over the past 24 hours.
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In the southern city of Kherson, one person was killed and one was wounded by Russian shelling from across the Dnieper River, the head of the city's military administration, Roman Mrochko, reported.
Kherson was liberated by Ukrainian troops in November 2022, but Russian forces that withdrew across the Dnieper continue to pound the city on a daily basis, causing victims among civilians and damaging infrastructure.
Since the beginning of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Moscow's forces have systematically targeted Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure facilities, causing casualties and huge damage.
In turn, Ukraine has started targeting oil-refining facilities and other energy infrastructure inside Russia that mainly work for the military.
Russia's Defense Ministry said on July 31 that its air defenses had destroyed 19 Ukrainian drones that attacked five of its regions as well as the Moscow-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea.
"Air-defense systems intercepted and destroyed 11 drones over Belgorod, 4 over Bryansk, one each over the Kursk, Kaluga, and Rostov regions," and one in Crimea," the ministrysaid in a message on Telegram.
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Massive Russian Attack Targets Ukraine Energy Sites Amid Winter Freeze
Russia has launched a fresh massive attack on Ukrainian energy targets, causing rotating power outages that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said highlighted the need for Western help to strengthen the existing capabilities of Ukraine’s air shield.
Ukraine Invasion: News & Analysis
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
Several regions across Ukraine were rocked by explosions early on January 15, hobbling the country’s power system in the dead of winter.
Power operator Ukrenerho reported emergency outages in several regions, while the head of the Lviv region reported two hits on critical infrastructure.
"It's the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains the same: our energy sector. Among the targets are gas infrastructure and energy facilities that ensure people's normal lives," Zelenskiy said.
Russian troops also attacked Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Vadym Filashkin, reported on January 15 as he reiterated a call for residents of the region, especially those with families, to evacuate.
The massive attack by Russia appears to be in retaliation for Ukrainian strikes inside Russian territory a day earlier that hit weapons production plants, oil refineries, and warehouses.
As crews worked to restore facilities, Zelenskiy headed to Warsaw to meet with Polish leaders on bilateral relations.
Poland has been a staunch ally of Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost three years ago, but ties have shown signs of strain for decades over the Volhynia massacre of ethnic Poles by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1945.
Tens of thousands of Poles, and thousands of Ukrainians died in the massacres by the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists under Stepan Bandera.
The Polish parliament has said the events bore elements of genocide.
Polish leaders have said the meeting on January 15 will highlight a breakthrough in the dispute.
Warsaw has long sought the exhumation and proper burial of Polish victims and the issue is looming in a May presidential election where Karol Nawrocki, a conservative historian who heads the National Remembrance Institute (IPN), is running as a nationalist candidate.
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski is seen as the leading candidate to succeed President Andrzej Duda. He represents the liberal-conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Duda is ineligible for reelection as he was already elected twice.
Kosovo Raids Parallel Serb Institutions Amid Simmering Ethnic Tensions
Authorities in Kosovo raided municipal offices in 10 Serbia-backed areas as the government continues to press the closure of so-called parallel institutions that gave Belgrade leverage in its former province.
Kosovo's Internal Affairs Minister Xhelal Svecla said the raids on January 15 were aimed at ending “the era of Serbia's parallel and criminal municipalities and institutions in the Republic of Kosovo.”
The municipalities involved in the raids -- which come ahead of Kosovar parliamentary elections in February -- include Lipjan, Obiliq, Pristina, Fushe Kosove, Vushtrri, Novoberde, Kamenica, Viti, Rahovec, and Skenderaj he added.
Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo have been guided for decades by Belgrade and its parallel structures in the region, including Serbian banks, a pension system, and unemployment benefits.
Authorities in Kosovo say that the work of these Serbian institutions, which have been in operation since the post-war period in 1999, is "illegal."
Last year, the government began taking steps to dismantle parallel structures in an effort to extend Pristina's authority in the north as much as possible. The government has also phased out the Serbian currency, the dinar, which many Serbs received their salaries or pensions in, replacing it with the euro.
Belgrade has never acknowledged the independence that Pristina declared in 2008, and violent flare-ups and standoffs persist between Kosovar authorities and tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo in a region still scarred by brutal wars and ethnic cleansing in the 1990s.
Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic said that the "development of the situation" in Kosovo is being followed carefully.
"We will take all measures to protect the Serbian population from new attacks by [Prime Minister] Albin Kurti, who, apparently, has turned his pre-election campaign into a continuation of the mistreatment of our people," he said.
Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric added that "these aggressive moves are not just an attack on institutions but a blatant attempt to undermine the collective rights and identity of Serbs in Kosovo."
Kosovo's government has spent much of the past year trying to root out Serbian influence in the daily lives of many of those Serbs, eliciting concerns among Western partners that such "unilateral" actions will stir up unnecessary trouble just a generation removed from bitter ethnic bloodshed.
Pristina says it is merely trying to enforce its constitutional order.
Kosovo and Serbia have been negotiating normalization since 2011 through the Brussels dialogue, which is supervised by the EU.
They reached an agreement on normalization steps in early 2023, but key elements of the deal remain unfulfilled. Kosovo insists that this agreement must be signed first, although the EU says it is binding on the parties regardless of signature.
Kosovo, which is majority ethnic Albanian, has faced increased criticism from international partners, including the United States and the EU over "unilateral" and "uncoordinated" actions affecting the daily lives of its ethnic Serb minority.
Belgrade and EU and U.S. officials have also pressed for Pristina to lay the legal groundwork to establish an association of mostly Serb municipalities that it originally pledged to create more than a decade ago.
Russian Forces Tried To Stop Removal Of Captured North Korean Soldier From Battlefield
Russian forces tried to prevent Ukrainian troops who captured a North Korean soldier in Kursk earlier this month from taking him off the battlefield, according to a Ukrainian soldier involved in the mission in comments to RFE/RL.
The Ukrainian soldier said the Russian forces launched a barrage of artillery fire at members of Ukraine’s 8th Regiment of Special Operations Forces, stopping them from leaving the forest with the captured soldier.
"They probably guessed that we wanted to take their fighter, and massive artillery shelling began, said the soldier, who identified himself only by his call sign, Greek. “And they were shooting very close and very accurately. They didn't want us to take him out of there until the last moment.”
The Russian forces also attempted to use an FPV (first-person view) drone.
“It didn't hit either, but that's good for us," said Greek.
The Ukrainian special forces came upon the soldier after seeing an opportunity to advance in an area they had been observing. The retreating soldiers left without the North Korean, who had an injured leg.
“We took them by surprise. They had not yet had time to orient themselves, as we pushed them away from that point and simply took the prisoner,” a second Ukrainian soldier involved in the capture identified only by his call name, Badger, told RFE/RL.
Both Ukrainian soldiers said the North Korean soldier may not have realized what was happening. They said they approached very quickly and were difficult to see in their camouflage.
Other soldiers held him at gunpoint to prevent him from harming any of the Ukrainian troops present. He was also frisked for any means he may have had to commit suicide.
The prisoner was given an anesthetic injection for his wound and handed over to the medics. According to the Ukrainian military, he wanted food and water.
Two previous attempts to capture North Korean soldiers were unsuccessful, the military said. The first was seriously wounded and died shortly after being captured; the second committed suicide.
The successfully captured North Korean soldier is one of two that Ukraine reported its forces captured in the Russian region of Kursk this month.
South Korea’s intelligence agency confirmed their capture, but it has not been confirmed by either Moscow or Pyongyang. The agency quoted one of the captured North Korean soldiers as saying that "there were significant losses among North Korean soldiers in Russia."
It also said that one of the prisoners had been without food and water for four to five days before he was captured.
Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) said on January 13 that the two soldiers would be interrogated.
Yevhen Yerin, a representative of HUR, told RFE/RL the information gathered from them “is important not only for operational intelligence but also as a political tool to reveal the participation of the North Korean Army in Russia's military actions."
South Korea's intelligence service reported on January 13 that more than 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed in the Russian region of Kursk and 2,700 more injured. The arrival of North Korean military personnel in Kursk became known in October.
Moscow has reclaimed some 40 percent of the territory Ukraine claimed after launching an incursion in August, but Ukrainian troops still control more than 500 square kilometers of the region.
Kallas Says Europe Should Increase Pressure On Moscow In Push To End War
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Kyiv and its partners should continue to apply pressure on Russia to improve Ukraine’s position in any eventual negotiations to end the war.
Kallas, speaking on January 14 in an interview with RFE/RL and several European newspapers, said increasing economic pressure on Moscow and isolating it internationally are the only ways to prevent Russia from gaining the upper hand.
“We should not underestimate our own capabilities and overestimate the Russians,” Kallas said. "Russia sometimes seems like a mysterious power that cannot be defeated. This is not true. We are stronger in terms of both military and economic capabilities. We should approach things from a position of strength.”
Signs of strain on Russia's economy include key interest rates above 20 percent, Gazprom cutting 40 percent of its management, a labor market in "very bad shape,” and the recruitment of North Korean soldiers to fight on Moscow's side, she said.
"All this shows that they are not in a good position,” she added.
Russia is convinced that time is on its side, but Kallas said she believes this is wrong and Kyiv's Western allies should further increase economic pressure.
"We see that their cash reserves are completely depleted. They have much less income from the sale of oil and gas than before," she said.
The European Union will discuss sanctions as they try to decide on a 16th package to coincide with the February 24 anniversary of the war, an EU official told RFE/RL. It will be a substantive package despite the difficulty of finding new areas to sanctions, the official said.
The focus of the package is therefore expected to be technical and anti-evasion measures. In addition the discussions will consider import restrictions on primary aluminum, tariffs on agricultural products, including chemicals used in fertilizers, and more measures to restrict Russia's so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers, according to the official.
Kallas expressed confidence that the European Union will be able to maintain unity on its policy of sending arms and other aid to Ukraine despite resistance from a few European governments that are sympathetic to Russia.
The former Estonian prime minister said the European Union has been able to maintain unity despite "difficult negotiations" with those governments.
“This is becoming increasingly difficult,” she admitted. "Yet I still have confidence that we can represent a unified position, because only with this can we remain strong.”
The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield, the stronger it will be at the negotiating table, she said.
Kallas also commented on President-elect Donald Trump’s statement that he will be able to end the war quickly, saying that the world awaits Trump’s plan. If Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on January 20, really uses U.S. power to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine and stop the bombing of civilians and civilian infrastructure, the war could end in a timely manner, she said.
But she reiterated the EU's position that there should be no decision about Ukraine without Ukraine’s consent and that goes for Europe as well.
“It is clear that whatever agreement is reached, Europe must be part of it. It is up to the Ukrainians to decide what kind of agreement is acceptable to them,” she said.
Whether Putin truly wants peace is another question, she said, warning that a cease-fire would only be used by the Russians to regroup and rearm their forces.
"The Russians have never respected cease-fires. That’s why it’s important for Europe that the peace is sustainable and lasting,” she said.
Kallas also spoke about recent attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, stressing that it would be a mistake to treat them separately from attacks on different European critical infrastructure. The incidents should be considered collectively and also in the context of similar attacks that she said China has carried out against Taiwan and South Korea.
This points to the need to further develop international maritime law and the need to further tighten sanctions against Russia's so-called shadow fleet that it uses to evade sanctions on its oil exports, she said.
U.S., Armenia Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement
The United States and Armenia on January 14 signed a strategic partnership agreement expanding cooperation in security and several of areas as Yerevan seeks to distance itself from traditional ally Russia.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed the agreement at the State Department in Washington.
The United States is "working with Armenia in the realm of security and defense, and in particular, to support its efforts to assert its independence and sovereignty over its own territory," Blinken said at the signing ceremony.
"We are increasingly strong partners, and I think that is for the good of both of our countries, as well as the good of the region and beyond," Blinken said, describing the agreement as a milestone in cooperation on defense, security, the economy, and democratization.
He announced that in the coming weeks, a U.S. customs and border patrol team would travel to Armenia to work with Armenian partners on developing border security capabilities.
In addition, the agreement calls for the United States to start negotiations with Armenia on nuclear cooperation in the civilian space, and Yerevan will formally join a U.S.-led coalition on defeating the Islamic State extremist group.
Armenia is formally an ally of Russia through the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Moscow maintains a military base in Armenia. But relations have soured over what Armenia called a failure by Russia to provide sufficient assistance when Azerbaijan in 2023 seized Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing some 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.
Blinken has tried unsuccessfully to broker a lasting peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Mirzoyan saluted that effort and said Armenia appreciates U.S. “steadfast support for Armenia's independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity."
"We believe that a stable and prosperous South Caucasus is in the interest of all regional actors and the broader international community," Mirzoyan said at the signing ceremony.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on January 14 that the Russian partnership with Armenia had been positive for Yerevan, while the United States had “never played a stabilizing role in the South Caucasus."
Peskov said that relations with Russia offer "a significant dividend for Armenia and its people,” adding that Moscow intends to further develop them.
Belarusian State TV Airs Propaganda Film Featuring Jailed RFE/RL Journalists
The Belarusian state TV channel ONT has aired the first segment of a propaganda film about RFE/RL journalists held in Belarusian prisons, accusing them of "trying to set Belarus on fire."
The series, Svaboda Slova (Freedom of Speech), appears aimed at discrediting independent journalists who have been reporting on government abuses and repression in the country just weeks before voting begins in a presidential election.
Opposition leaders called the last election -- held in August 2020 -- rigged, triggering mass protests and a brutal crackdown by authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
They see the upcoming January 26 vote as a sham to hand Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994 and is a staunch ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a 7th term in office.
The first segment of the broadcast shows Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with RFE/RL’s Belarus Service who was detained in November 2021.
Kuznechyk appears emaciated and tired as he talks with one of the filmmakers in what appear to be prison surroundings. Snow can be seen falling, with bars and prison walls in the background of the undisclosed location.
Kuznechyk, a father of two, was initially sentenced to 10 days in jail on hooliganism charges that he rejected.
After serving that penalty, he was charged with creating an extremist group and sentenced in June 2022 to six years in a medium-security penal colony.
Dressed in a jacket and hat, Kuznechyk spoke in calm and measured tones but looked fatigued. The segment concluded with footage of him being escorted away under guard.
RFE/RL's Belarus Service does not quote statements obtained under unknown circumstances from individuals in detention.
At the end of the video, the state-controlled channel previewed the next segment in the propaganda series, saying it features RFE/RL Belarus Service journalist Ihar Losik, former veteran reporter Ihar Karney, and opposition activist Yuras Zyankovich, who holds dual Belarusian-American citizenship.
Kuznechyk, who has maintained his innocence, and some 150 other Belarusian political prisoners, including Losik and former would-be presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka, are serving sentences at the same prison in the northern city of Navapolatsk. The facility is known as one of the most-restrictive penitentiaries in the country.
Human rights groups in Belarus have recognized Kuznechyk as a political prisoner and his case is seen as part of the larger campaign of repression against RFE/RL journalists and independent media in Belarus.
Losik, who is a father of one, was detained in June 2020 at his home in Baranavichy.
He was first charged with organizing and participating in mass riots only to have more charges added later. He was sentenced to 15 years in December 2021 in a closed trial held at a detention center.
Belarusian authorities subsequently stepped up their efforts to suppress independent media by targeting RFE/RL's Belarus Service, known locally as Radio Svaboda.
The same month that Losik was sentenced a court of Minsk ruled that Radio Svaboda's Telegram channel, social media pages, and YouTube content extremist, and the Interior Ministry officially recognized a group of citizens who worked with the online resources of Radio Svaboda as an extremist group.
Authorities blocked access to Radio Svaboda's website and more than 40 other independent media outlets amid mass protests in August 2020 over the disputed presidential election. These websites are available only via VPN services in Belarus.
Since the disputed election, which handed authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka a sixth term in office, tens of thousands of Belarusians have been arrested for voicing any dissent against the regime.
The crackdown has pushed most opposition politicians, who say the vote was rigged, to leave the country fearing for their safety and freedom.
Many Western governments have refused to recognize the results of the election and do not consider Lukashenka to be the country's legitimate leader.
Many countries have imposed of sanctions against the regime in response to the suppression of dissent in the country.
- By Mike Eckel
Top Russian Diplomat Again Signals Readiness For Trump's Ukraine Proposals
Russia’s foreign minister signaled that Moscow was ready to hear from President-elect Donald Trump and advisers on proposals to resolve the Ukraine war, saying the incoming administration had "started to acknowledge the realities on the ground."
The comments from Sergei Lavrov, made during an annual news conference on January 14, were the latest in a series of remarks by Russian officials ahead of potential cease-fire proposals for the conflict, which will mark its third anniversary next month.
Trump has said he wants to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin directly to try and resolve the war, which has killed or wounded more than 1 million troops on both sides.
Russia, whose troops currently occupy around 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, has justified its all-out February 2022 invasion of Ukraine in a series of shifting rationales, including preventing it from ever joining the NATO military alliance.
"We will be waiting for specific initiatives. President Putin has said on multiple occasions that he is ready to meet, but no proposals have been made yet," Lavrov told reporters during the three-hour news conference.
"President Trump also said that Putin wanted to meet and he believed they should meet but he first needed to take office.”
In the waning days of his tenure, President Joe Biden has rushed to ship billions of dollars in weaponry and other equipment to Ukraine, seeking to bolster its arsenals in the event that the incoming Trump administration scales back arms shipments.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian officials have also signaled an openness to hearing Trump’s peace proposals.
Speaking in an interview with Newsmax on January 13, Trump asserted that Putin was ready to meet soon after Trump's inauguration on January 20.
"I know he wants to meet and I’m going to meet [him] very quickly," he said.
"I would've done it sooner but...you have to get into the office. For some of the things, you do have to be there."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters shortly before Lavrov's event that there were no specifics agreed on yet for a Trump-Putin meeting.
Trump's incoming national-security adviser, Mike Waltz, also emphasized a new diplomatic push to resolve the fighting. But he also signaled Ukrainian demands that Russia withdraw from all occupied territories was unlikely.
"I just don't think it's realistic to say we're going to expel every Russian from every inch of Ukrainian soil, even Crimea," Waltz told ABC News in an interview broadcast on January 12.
"President Trump has acknowledged that reality, and I think it's been a huge step forward that the entire world is acknowledging that reality. Now let's move forward."
Ukraine Targets 'Strategic Sites' With Drone Attacks In Russia
Ukraine launched a massive attack on targets inside Russian territory on January 14, hitting weapons production plants, oil refineries, and warehouses.
Hours after the attacks, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius arrived in Kyiv in an unannounced visit as European leaders look to underscore their support for Ukraine.
Two industrial facilities in Russia's western Saratov region were damaged in a drone attack, regional Governor Roman Busargin said on social media, while Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, said five Russian cities had been targeted.
Kovalenko did not specifically say Ukraine launched the attacks -- officials rarely comment directly on such events -- but he did say in a post on Telegram that a series of drone attacks targeting critical infrastructure across Russia have been undertaken.
"The porous Russian air defense continues to fail, allowing strikes on strategic economic facilities," he said, noting targets include factories manufacturing parts for weapons, oil refineries, fuel depots, warehouses, and air defenses, which are crucial for the Russian military and economy.
The January 14 attacks also targeted facilities in Kazan, the capital of Russia's Tatarstan, where a fire broke out near the Kazan Orgsintez plant, which produces high-strength plastics.
Kazan, Tatarstan:
Local Telegram channels shared videos of an enormous fire with officials in Tatarstan attributing the blaze to falling debris from intercepted drones. There were no reports of casualties.
In the Saratov region city of Engels, drones struck an industrial plant, igniting a fire at one of the fuel depots damaged in a previous attack on January 8.
Engels, Saratov region:
Busargin confirmed the facility was destroyed but provided no other specifics.
Flights at airports in the surrounding area -- which serve cities including Saratov, Penza, and Kaluga -- saw operations limited as a precaution.
Ukrainian officials said the Russian military sent 80 drones from several directions overnight, but Ukrainian air defenses managed to shoot down 58 drones over various regions, including Kyiv, Poltava, and Odesa.
While there were damages to private and residential buildings and injuries, no deaths have been reported.
Pistorius's visit comes a day after NATO chief Mark Rutte told members of the European Parliament that Ukraine is currently not in a position to begin peace talks with Russia as the three-year anniversary of the war nears.
"This visit proves that Germany, as the largest member of NATO in Europe, stands in solidarity with Ukraine and our allies," he said.
Among other things, Pistorius discussed the potential for joint military exercises and intelligence sharing. He also negotiated further military aid, including delivering new RCH 155 self-propelled howitzers that would help significantly increase the strength of Ukraine's artillery.
- By Kian Sharifi and
- Iliya Jazaeri
Lebanon Names ICJ Chief As Prime Minister In Latest Blow To Iran
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun's designation of Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as the country's new prime minister appears to deal another blow to Iran's declining regional influence.
Lawmakers on January 13 nominated Salam for the post, favoring him over the incumbent, Najib Mikati, who was said to be the preferred candidate of Hezbollah, the political party and armed group backed by Iran and designated as terrorists by the United States.
Aoun himself was elected president by lawmakers on January 9, filling a role that had been vacant for over two years, not least because lawmakers from Hezbollah and its Shi'ite ally Amal Movement would refuse to attend sessions to prevent the parliament from reaching quorum.
The U.S.- and Saudi-backed former army chief was elected president in the second round of voting after Hezbollah lawmakers opted to vote for him, having withheld their ballots in the first round in an apparent attempt to show that the group still held some power.
However, Salam's designation as prime minister further reflects the weakening of Hezbollah -- and by extension the waning of Iran's influence.
"It means that Iran's dominance in the region has come to an end," Makram Rabah, a history lecturer at American University of Beirut, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.
Mohammad Raad, leader of the Hezbollah bloc in parliament, claimed on January 13 that opponents of the group were working to exclude it from power and sought to divide the country.
The Lebanese lawmaker said the group had "extended its hand" by helping Aoun become president but found the "hand was cut off" after meeting him following the parliament's nomination of Salam.
Raad warned any government that "opposes coexistence has no legitimacy whatsoever."
Rabah said Salam's designation as prime minister "does not pose a challenge for anyone," but if Iran and Hezbollah believe that his becoming Lebanon's premier is "an attempt to end them," that means the Islamic republic and its Lebanese ally "harbor ideas and policies that contravene the principles of governance and progress."
Once a powerful force in Lebanon, Hezbollah's recent war with Israel has left it politically and socially weak and militarily degraded.
Under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing political system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shi'ite Muslim.
Salam, who comes from a historically political family, served as Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations in 2007-17 before elected to serve on the ICJ, with his term beginning in 2018. In 2024, he became the first Lebanese judge to be elected as the head of The Hague-based court.
- By Merhat Sharipzhan and
- Rikard Jozwiak
NATO Launches Patrol Highlighting Baltic Sea Security Concerns
NATO and EU leaders agreed to launch a monitoring mission of the Baltic Sea in the wake of several "serious incidents" damaging critical undersea infrastructure, some of which are suspected to involve vessels that form part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet.
At a meeting in Helsinki on January 14, leaders from eight Baltic Sea nations and the military alliance's leader, Mark Rutte, announced the Baltic Sentry mission that will "deploy additional assets at sea, in the air, on land, and below the surface of the sea to enhance vigilance and deterrence."
"Combating breakage of undersea cables and pipelines represents a global problem," the group said in a joint declaration.
"Russia's use of the so-called shadow fleet poses a particular threat to the maritime and environmental security in the Baltic Sea region and globally. This reprehensible practice also threatens the integrity of undersea infrastructure, increases risks connected to sea-dumped chemical munitions, and significantly supports funding of Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine."
NATO said in late December it would increase its presence in the region following the suspected sabotage of cables between Finland and Estonia.
Several undersea telecommunications and power cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Experts and politicians have blamed vessels in Russia's "shadow fleet" of aging oil tankers. The Kremlin denies any involvement.
Rutte told members of the European Parliament on January 13 that "such hostile actions" will not go unanswered, promising to strengthen NATO's military presence in the region.
The first major incidence of sabotage of infrastructure occurred in September 2022 when a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines built to carry Russian gas to Europe. The cause has yet to be determined.
An undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down in October 2023 after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
The most recent incident occurred on December 25 when the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged.
That came just weeks after two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on November 17-18.
Suspicion over the December 25 incident has fallen on the Eagle S, a Cook Island-flagged oil tanker believed to be part of Russia’s "shadow fleet." Investigators suspect the cables were damaged when the tanker dragged its anchor over them.
Finnish police seized the Eagle S as part of a criminal investigation, and Finnish authorities last week deemed the ship unseaworthy following an inspection. They barred it from sailing and banned eight crew members from leaving the country pending the investigation.
The meeting in Helsinki included the heads of state and government from Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, as well as Rutte and other NATO officials.
Slovak Prime Minister Criticizes End Of Russian Gas Transit, Demands Meeting With Zelenskiy
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico sharply criticized Ukraine in an open letter to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for his decision to let a contract for the transit of Russian natural gas through Ukrainian territory expire on January 1.
Fico emphasized the economic and political fallout of the move, which ended the flow of gas through the pipeline serving Slovakia and several other European countries.
"Your decision to block gas transit through Ukraine has caused enormous harm not only to Slovakia but to the European Union as a whole," Fico wrote in the letter, dated January 13. "It undermines the competitiveness of an organization Ukraine aspires to join."
Fico demanded an immediate meeting with Zelenskiy to discuss potential solutions, including alternative technical arrangements to restore transit.
The pipeline brought gas from Siberia to the Russia town of Sudzha, which is now under the control of Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region. It then flowed through Ukraine to Slovakia, where the Soviet-era pipeline splits into branches going to the Czech Republic and Austria.
Ukraine repeatedly said it would not sign a new deal to replace the one expiring. The decision aligned with efforts by Ukraine and its allies to cut off the Kremlin's source of funding for the war.
The decision, presented as a matter of national security, represented one of the most critical changes in Ukraine's energy policy since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago and since Kyiv began reducing dependency on Russian energy supplies.
The European Union said preparations ahead of the end of the contract had included energy efficiency measures and renewable energy development. It also said Europe's gas infrastructure was "flexible enough to provide gas of non-Russian origin to Central and Eastern Europe via alternative routes."
But Fico said the end of the flow of natural gas through the pipeline has thrown Slovakia into an immediate energy supply problem since it depends heavily on Russian natural gas and revenues from transit.
Last year, the pipeline delivered about 13.5 billion cubic meters of gas, including some 3 billion cubic meters to Slovakia.
Fico said in his letter that Slovakia stands to lose 500 million euros annually in revenue and see its energy insecurity worsen, which may reduce the EU's economic competitiveness even further. Fico also points to long-term consequences for Europe's energy stability and bilateral relationships.
He said he hoped Ukraine would engage constructively with a special EU working group looking into the crisis. Potential solutions could involve renegotiating the transit agreement or finding alternative energy sources.
Zelenskiy reacted to Fico's open letter by inviting him to Kyiv on January 17.
Zelenskiy on January 12 attacked Fico in a statement, accusing him of mismanaging Slovakia's energy policy and, in essence, putting "shadow deals with Moscow" above European unity and national interest.
"Many in Europe warned him that the 'do nothing, wait' tactic would go this way. Now, he is trying to shift the responsibility regarding PR and lies and thunderous accusations," Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy also said that Ukraine had offered to help Slovakia during its transition away from Russian gas, but Fico "arrogantly refused." According to Zelenskiy, this proves the Slovak leader's "bet on Moscow, not on his own country, not on a united Europe, and not on common sense."
Ukraine Must Be In Position Of Strength Before Any Peace Talks, NATO Chief Says
Ukraine is currently not in a position to begin peace talks with Russia, NATO chief Mark Rutte told members of the European Parliament on January 13 as Russian forces concentrate their main offensive efforts around the city of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region and in the Russian region of Kursk.
Ukraine cannot "at this moment negotiate from a position of strength," Rutte said. "We have to do more to make sure by changing the trajectory of the conflict that they can get to that position of strength."
Rutte spoke a week before the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to seek a swift end the war in Ukraine. The promises have sparked fears that U.S. support for Kyiv could decline and Ukraine's leaders could be forced to make painful concessions.
"We all want this war to end, but above all, we want peace to last," Rutte said. "Peace will not last if [Russian President Vladimir] Putin gets his way in Ukraine because then he will press ahead."
Rutte reiterated his insistence that Europe needs to massively ramp up its defense spending, saying the alliance's threshold of 2 percent of gross domestic product is "not nearly enough" to face the threat from Moscow.
"If we don't do it, we are safe now but not in four or five years," he said. "So, if you don't do it, get out your Russian-language courses or go to New Zealand."
On the battlefield, the situation remains tense around Pokrovsk and in Kursk, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said late on January 13.
Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions in more than a dozen settlements around Pokrovsk 74 times on January 13. Five clashes were still ongoing as of 10 p.m. local time, the report said.
Ukrainian forces "successfully repelled" 11 enemy attacks in Kursk, according to the General Staff.
In the Sumy region, a 54-year-old woman died and her 65-year-old husband was injured after a drone strike on their car, the regional prosecutor's office reported on Telegram. The civilian car was moving through a community when it was hit, the prosecutors said, adding that an investigation into possible war crimes has been launched.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on January 13 that he and French President Emmanuel Macron again discussed the idea of Western "partner contingents" being deployed to Ukraine.
Speaking in his evening address, the Ukrainian leader did not say whether he was talking about the West sending combat troops or peacekeepers as part of a settlement to end the war.
He described the conversation as "rather long and detailed" and said it covered military support, including various forms of defense and arms packages for Ukraine.
Macron has floated the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine before, including last month when Zelenskiy said that he and Macron discussed it in detail.
"We continued working on President Macron’s initiative regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilizing the path to peace," Zelenskiy said on December 18.
With reporting by Reuters and AFP
- By RFE/RL
Biden Says U.S. Stronger Versus Russia, China As He Prepares To Depart
WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden told the nation that the United States is stronger economically and militarily and has more allies today compared with four years ago as he prepares to leave office later this month.
In a speech at the State Department on January 13 summing up his administration’s record, Biden said the United States has widened its lead over competitors like Russia and China.
"Our adversaries are weaker than they were when we came into this job four years ago. Let's consider Russia. [President Vladimir] Putin invaded Ukraine. He thought he'd conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. But the truth is, since that war began, I'm the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him," Biden said, referring to his visit to the embattled nation last year.
When Biden took office in 2021, he sought to repair relations with European allies damaged under his predecessor, Donald Trump, "park Russia," and focus on competing with China, which the United States considers its main global rival.
However, his foreign policy priorities were uprooted as Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the largest land war in Europe in more than seven decades, and as Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, igniting a war that threatens to engulf the region. Both wars continue today.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped Biden achieve his goal of strengthening NATO, as member nations rallied around the United States to support Kyiv with hundreds of billions of dollars in military and financial aid. Sweden and Finland, long neutral nations, joined NATO following Russia's attack on Ukraine.
During his term in office, U.S. adversaries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, expanded cooperation, increasing the threat to the West. Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang all sent technological and military aid to Russia, while Moscow boosted energy and military supplies to those countries. Biden said their cooperation was driven by “weakness” not strength.
Biden said his administration rebooted the U.S. defense industrial base, investing almost $1.3 trillion in procurement and research and development during his four year term.
He also said he oversaw a U.S. economy that went from strength to strength while adversaries struggled, adding that the United States will continue to remain the largest economy in the world for decades to come.
"My administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play," Biden said. "America is once again leading."
He called on Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on January 20, to ensure the United States remains the leader in artificial intelligence, saying the new technology has the power to reshape economies, governments, and national security.
Biden also urged Trump to take the clean energy transition seriously, calling climate change the "greatest existential threat to humanity."
He warned that China was seeking to dominate the clean energy industry, from materials to manufacturing, saying it could leave the United States dependent on Beijing.
"The United States must win that contest," he said.
Tehran Releases German-Iranian Activist Nahid Taghavi
Nahid Taghavi, a dual German-Iranian national, has returned to Germany after four years of imprisonment in Iran as a new round of nuclear negotiations between three major European countries and Tehran is set to resume.
Taghavi's daughter, Mariam Claren, posted on social media on January 14 a picture of herself embracing her mother at what appeared to be a German airport with a caption saying "It's over. Nahid is free!"
"After more than 4 years as a political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran my mother Nahid Taghavi was freed and is back in Germany," she added.
Taghavi, now 69, was arrested by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) while visiting Iran in the fall of 2020.
She was later sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison by a revolutionary court on charges of taking part in an "illegal group" -- something she and her family have denied.
Taghavi was briefly granted medical furloughs but was required to remain under electronic surveillance in Tehran.
She was forced to return to prison amid increased tensions between Iran and Germany, notably after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz voiced support for Iran's Women, Life, Freedom protests, a movement advocating for women's rights and freedom in Iran.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock celebrated Taghavi's release in a social media post, calling it "a moment of great joy."
Taghavi's release follows a flurry of diplomatic moves leading up to talks to be held in Geneva on January 14 between Iran, Germany, the United Kingdom, and France.
Last week Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was released after being detained in Iran for three weeks while in Tehran for a reporting trip.
Separately, Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested in Italy on a U.S. warrant for allegedly smuggling drone parts to the IRGC, was released and returned to Tehran last week.
The talks in Geneva are the second round in two months concerning Tehran's nuclear program.
France has said the so-called consultations are aimed at working "toward a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program, the progress of which is extremely problematic."
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom were key players in a 2015 deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that gave Iran some limited relief from international sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program designed to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Under then-President Donald Trump, the United States pulled out of the deal and reimposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic.
With Trump scheduled to be inaugurated once again as president on January 20, Rafael Grossi, head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has urged Iran and its global partners to achieve "concrete, tangible, and visible results" in talks over Tehran's nuclear program as Trump's return to the White House may mean the window for diplomacy is closing.
Taghavi's case is just one of many involving dual nationals detained in Iran. The West accuses Tehran of using the detainees as diplomatic bargaining chips.
France has demanded the immediate release of its nationals arrested in Iran, saying their conditions are tantamount to torture.
Meanwhile, Switzerland has called for an investigation into the death of one of its citizens in an Iranian jail last week that Iranian authorities ruled was a "suicide."
The fate of Jamshid Sharmahd, an Iranian-German political activist executed in Iran under controversial circumstances, also has fueled tension between Berlin and Tehran. Despite an international outcry, Iran has not released Sharmahd's body to his family in the United States.
Ukraine Gaining 'Useful' Intel From Captured North Korean Soldiers, Kyiv Says
Ukraine's Military Intelligence (HUR) says two North Korean soldiers captured while fighting for Russia continue to be interrogated with Kyiv ready to swap them for Ukrainian troops held by Moscow if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un can arrange such an exchange.
Speaking to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on January 13, Yevhen Yerin, a representative of HUR, said the capture of live North Korean soldiers, the first Ukraine has announced since their entry in support of Russia into the nearly 3-year-old war last autumn, provides Kyiv "many useful opportunities."
"The information we can gather from these individuals is important not only for operational intelligence but also as a political tool to reveal the participation of the North Korean Army in Russia's military actions," he said.
The capture of the two wounded soldiers, announced on January 11 by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has yet to be confirmed by either Moscow or Pyongyang.
Last fall, North Korea sent some 11,000 troops to the Kursk region to support Russian forces there. Moscow has reclaimed some 40 percent of the territory, but Ukrainian troops still control more than 500 square kilometers in Kursk, and Pyongyang's troops have reportedly been experiencing mass casualties.
Yerin said it appears North Korean soldiers are being integrated into many parts of the battle in Russia's Kursk region, where Ukraine has taken control of some territory.
"They are primarily used as cannon fodder. However, among them there are various specialists who deal with different issues, but in general, they are, generally speaking, infantry," he said on North Korean soldiers fighting in support of Russia.
Earlier on January 13, South Korea's National Intelligence Service reported that more than 300 North Korean soldiers had been killed in the Russian region of Kursk, with around 2,700 more injured.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said one prisoner, who said he was born in 2005, claimed he believed he was "going for training, not to fight a war against Ukraine."
The other man was forced to write his answers because of an injured jaw, the SBU said. That soldier said he was born in 1999 and was a sniper in the North Korean Army.
One of the soldiers purportedly said he would prefer to stay in Ukraine rather than return to North Korea for fear of "severe punishment" from his government, saying he possibly faces execution or a lengthy imprisonment.
"North Korea's participation is not only a matter on the battlefield -- it has big diplomatic implications," Yerin said.
"The very fact that they are there impacts the dynamics of the war, even though they're mostly 'cannon fodder.'"
Zelenskiy has publicly accused Russia and North Korea of trying to cover up evidence of the deployments by issuing fake papers to North Korean soldiers identifying them as Russian citizens.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on January 13 declined again to comment on the situation, which Russia has neither confirmed nor denied.
"We cannot comment in any way, we do not know what is true there," he said of the Ukrainian claims on capturing the two soldiers.
"We continue to discuss the possibility of exchanges, which is not easy work...but for us the life of every Russian soldier is important," Peskov added.
- By RFE/RL
Biden Speaks To Families Of Taliban's U.S. Prisoners, Vows To Press For Release
The White House said President Joe Biden spoke to the families of three Americans held by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2022 and promised to do everything possible to bring them home as he heads into the final days of his presidency.
Biden "spoke with the families of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann, and Mahmood Habibi -- Americans unjustly held by the Taliban in Afghanistan since 2022 -- this afternoon," the White House said on January 12.
"The president and the families discussed the U.S. government's continuing efforts to reunite these three Americans with their families. The president emphasized his administration's commitment to the cause of bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas," the statement added.
Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter, last week reported that the administration has been negotiating with the Taliban since at least July concerning a U.S. offer to release the three Americans in exchange for Muhammad Rahim al-Afghani, a high-profile prisoner held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
Afghani has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2008 and is believed to have been an associate of Osama bin Laden, the late founder of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group.
Aid worker Corbett, 40, and Habibi, 37 -- who led the Afghan Aviation Authority under the previous Afghan government -- were detained separately in August 2022, a year after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan from the Western-backed government. Glezmann, now 66, was detained later in 2022 while visiting as a tourist.
Family members who spoke with Biden said they were told no deal had yet been reached.
Habibi's brother, Ahmad Habibi, was on the call, and welcomed the president's efforts.
"President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go," he told Reuters.
"He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother."
Reuters quoted sources as saying the Taliban, which has not acknowledged holding Habibi, had countered with a proposal to exchange Glezmann and Corbett for Rahim and two other people.
A U.S. Senate report called Rahim an "Al-Qaeda facilitator" and said he was arrested in Pakistan in June 2007 and turned over to the CIA the next month and eventually transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Biden, who will depart the White House on January 20, last week ordered the release of 11 Guantanamo detainees to Oman, reducing the prison population there to 15.
Biden's administration has been working to reduce the number of detainees, with a goal of closing down the prison, which is on a U.S. naval base on the island of Cuba. At its peak in 2003, it held an estimated 680 prisoners.
President George W. Bush opened the prison in January 2002 to hold international terrorism suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
With reporting by Reuters
Italy Frees Iranian Wanted By U.S. For Alleged Involvement In Drone Attack
Tehran has confirmed that an Iranian national has returned home following his release from Italy, despite a request by Washington for his extradition to the United States for alleged involvement in a deadly drone attack in Jordan.
Italy's release of 38-year-old Mohammad Abedini on January 12 came four days after the freeing by Tehran of 29-year-old Italian journalist and podcaster Cecilia Sala, although no mention of a prisoner swap was made by either side.
After saying Abedini had been released earlier in the day by Italy, the Iranian Foreign Ministry and judiciary announced he had arrived in Iran.
Abedini, an Iranian-Swiss businessman, was arrested in Italy in December at the request of the United States.
Washington has accused him of supplying sophisticated drone technology to Iran's military in violation of U.S. sanctions and of alleged involvement in a January 2024 drone attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three soldiers.
The U.S. Justice Department said Abedini was the founder and director of an Iranian company "that manufactures navigation modules used in the military drone program" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed Abedini's arrest was a "misunderstanding" that was resolved in talks between the Iranian and Italian intelligence services.
The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Abedini had been released from a Milan prison by the Court of Appeals based on a ruling by Justice Minister Carlo Nordio.
Italy's Justice Ministry said that, according to the country's treaty with Washington, extradition can only occur if an alleged crime is punishable under both countries' laws.
"The first conduct attributed to the Iranian citizen of 'criminal association to violate the IEEPA' [is not] punished by the Italian criminal system," it said, referring to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a U.S. law that gives the president sweeping emergency powers.
The Iranian man is also accused by Washington of "criminal association to provide material support to a terrorist organization resulting in death" and of providing "material support to a foreign terrorist organization resulting in death."
However, Italy's Justice Ministry said no evidence was offered as "a basis for the accusations made."
Washington has not commented on Abedini's release.
Sala, who was arrested on December 19 by Tehran police for her "journalistic activities," was released on January 8 and has returned home.
The journalist, who has a podcast called Stories that covers life in places around the world, was held for over a week before Iranian authorities confirmed her detention.
The arrest sparked a diplomatic clash between Tehran and Rome, with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto calling her arrest “unacceptable.”
The United States called Sala's detention "retaliatory," while media watchdogs Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists described her arrest as "arbitrary" and aimed at "extortion."
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced in a post on X that Sala was released "thanks to intense work on diplomatic and intelligence channels."
Iran is routinely accused of arresting dual nationals and Western citizens on false charges to use them to pressure Western countries.
With reporting by AFP
Fresh Protests Erupt In Romania Over Canceled Presidential Election
BUCHAREST -- Thousands of people rallied in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, on January 12 to protest the December annulment of the presidential election in which right-wing, pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu unexpectedly won the first round.
The protest began around 2 p.m. at Bucharest’s University Square and spread out to other sites. At 10:30 p.m., some 200 people were still in front of government buildings near Victory Square.
Protests have been continuing in Romania since December 6 when the Constitutional Court canceled the election two days before the second round amid allegations of Russian interference.
Demonstrators on January 12 waved the Romanian flag and carried Christian icons as wells as banners that read "Democracy," "Freedom," and "Give us back the second round," as they demanded the court to reverse its ruling.
They also called for the resignation of the outgoing President Klaus Iohannis, whose term expired on December 21 but is staying on as head of state until his successor is elected.
While the rally, which blocked traffic, was peaceful, police said they have arrested three people for "possession of knives and other prohibited items."
Georgescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion, was a little-known figure in Romania until he unexpectedly won the first round of the presidential election on November 24 with about 22 percent of the vote.
Georgescu, 62, was to face pro-European centrist candidate Elena Lasconi in a runoff, which had been seen as a referendum on the future course of Romania, a member of NATO and the European Union.
The Constitutional Court's decision to scrap the election and ordering a new vote came after state documents showed Georgescu, who ran as an independent candidate, had benefitted from an unfair social media campaign likely orchestrated by Russia. Moscow denies interfering in the election.
Georgescu's lawyers filed a request on January 10 for the Constitutional Court to revise its decision and reinstate the election result.
A similar request was filed on the same day by George Simion, the leader of far-right pro-Russian AUR party, together with parliamentarians from AUR. The party announced plans to stage more protests.
Ahead of the January 12 rally, Simion told reporters the protesters demand "free elections with the resumption of the second round and respect for democracy."
Pro-European parties in Romania struck a deal late last year to form a coalition government without the far right after parliamentary elections on December 1. The new government was sworn in on December 23.
Georgescu's first-place finish sparked fears and also triggered protests in favor of the country's pro-Western path, especially among younger Romanians concerned over the future of democracy in the country.
On December 5, about 3,000 people marched in Bucharest, decrying Russian interference and chanting "Freedom" and "Europe."
The new presidential vote is planned for May 4, with a possible run-off vote scheduled for May 18, but it remains unclear whether Georgescu will be allowed to run for president again.
Malala Condemns Taliban On Women’s Rights, Assails ‘Gender Apartheid’
ISLAMABAD -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders not to "legitimize" the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan and instead to "raise their voices" and "use [their] power" against the militant group's curbs on women and girls' education.
"Do not legitimize them," Yousafzai said on January 12, as she addressed the second and final day of a Muslim-led summit on girls’ education in her home country, Pakistan.
"Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings. They cloak their crimes in cultural and religious justification," Yousafzai, 27, told the gathering in Islamabad.
She also urged Muslim leaders and global politicians to support efforts to make what has been called “gender apartheid” a crime under international law.
The event marked a full circle for Yousafzai, who was shot in 2012 by the Pakistani Taliban in the northwestern valley of Swat because she had campaigned for girls' education.
Following the conference, organizers released a 17-point "Islamabad Declaration," including an agreement "emphasizing that girls' education is not only a religious obligation but also an urgent societal necessity."
"It is a fundamental right safeguarded by divine laws, mandated by Islamic teaching, reinforced by international chargers and well-established by national constitutions," it said.
The rights of girls and women – especially access to education – is often a controversial subject in conservative Islamic nations. Domestic activists and international organizations have pressed leaders to promote and protect such rights, and observers in recent years have noted improvements in many, but not all, countries.
Some 47 Muslim-majority nations and organizations sent representatives to the event, but it was shunned by the Afghan Taliban, whom activists say are among the world's leading violators of the rights of women and girls.
Ahead of the gathering, Yousafzai said she would focus her speech on Afghanistan -- which is now the only nation among the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that bans women's education. The ban has been widely assailed by the international community and many people inside Afghanistan.
"I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls," she wrote on X.
The attack on Yousafzai, who had become a target for her campaign for girls' education, sent shock waves across Pakistan and provoked international outrage.
Yousafzai, who was 15 at the time, survived after months of treatment at home and abroad and became an international figure, winning 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
Roza Otunbayeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), urged leaders of Islamic nations to protect the rights of Afghan girls.
"I really call on all these ministers...who came from all over the world, to offer scholarships, to have online education, to have all sorts of education for them. This is the task of the day," she said during a panel discussion.
'Crime Against Humanity'
Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, criticized Muslim countries for what he described as being "either silent, complicit, or apologetic" toward the Taliban's curtailing of Afghan women's rights.
Echoing condemnations by the United Nations, which has labeled the Taliban’s treatment of women "gender apartheid," Ziauddin Yousafzai told RFE/RL that "the international community, especially Muslim countries, should call the [government in Kabul] an apartheid regime."
He said the Taliban-led administration's curb on girls and women's rights is a "crime against humanity."
No Taliban representatives were present among participants of the two-day conference that brought together ministers and education officials from dozens of Muslim-majority countries, backed by the Muslim World League.
A senior Taliban diplomat in Islamabad told RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal that "so far, Kabul has not told us anything about this event."
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Pakistan's education minister, said, “No one from the Afghan government was at the conference," but that Taliban leaders were formally invited to the event.
The Taliban government banned teenage girls from education soon after returning to power in August 2021.
Since then, the Islamist group has imposed draconian bans on women’s work, education, and mobility despite domestic opposition and a global outcry.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in his opening statement that preventing girls from receiving an education is "tantamount to denying their voice" and restricting their choices.
"The Muslim world, including Pakistan, faces significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls," Sharif said.
Muhammad al-Issa, a Saudi cleric and secretary-general of the Muslim World League, who organized the event with the Pakistani government, said, "The entire Muslim world has agreed that girls' education is important."
"Those who say that girls’ education is un-Islamic are wrong," he added.
With reporting by AFP
Key Trump Adviser Blasts Iran At Paris Opposition Gathering
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's incoming special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, while attending an Iranian opposition event in Paris, called for the return of "maximum pressure" against Tehran to push it to allow more democracy and to cease support for extremist elements in the Middle East.
"These pressures are not just kinetic, just not military force, but they must be economic and diplomatic as well," Keith Kellogg, a retired lieutenant-general, on January 11 told attendees at a gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – which Tehran considers a terrorist group.
Trump has vowed to return to the "maximum pressure" policy he pursued during his previous term, with the goal of hampering the Iranian economy enough to force it to negotiate its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and curb regional activities.
Trump in 2018 withdrew Washington from a landmark nuclear deal signed with world powers, reimposing crippling sanctions on Iran. Trump said the terms were not strict enough to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
In Paris, Kellogg said there were now opportunities "to change Iran for the better" but that "we must exploit the weakness we now see. The hope is there, so must too be the action."
It was not immediately clear if Kellogg's trip and statements on Iran policy were directly synchronized with Trump.
Trump on November 27 tapped Kellogg, who has long served as a top adviser on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Earlier this month, Kellogg postponed a trip he was expected to make to Kyiv and other European capitals until after Trump takes office on January 20.
Meanwhile, Hussein Salami, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), on January 11 warned the incoming administration that strategic miscalculations could lead to armed conflict.
He added that Tehran's military was not as weak as some believed.
"We know that such judgments are the dreams of the enemy, not realities on the ground," he said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
"Be careful, don't make any strategic mistakes or miscalculations," he said, without directly mentioning Trump.
The Trump administration in 2019 officially designated the IRGC a foreign terrorist organization.
With reporting by AFP and dpa
- By RFE/RL
Zelenskiy Says Ready To Swap Captured N. Korean Soldiers For Ukrainian Troops
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he is prepared to hand over captured North Korean soldiers to Pyongyang if reclusive leader Kim Jong Un can arrange a prisoner swap for Ukrainians held in Russia.
"Ukraine is ready to hand over his people to Kim Jong Un if he can organize their exchange for our soldiers who are in captivity in Russia," Zelenskiy wrote on social media on January 12.
He also offered "some other paths" for any North Korean soldiers who did not want to return to their authoritarian home country.
"In particular, those Koreans who express a desire to bring peace closer by spreading the truth about this war [back] in Korea will have such an opportunity," he added.
The Ukrainian president's comments came as South Korea said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, confirming remarks made a day earlier by Zelenskiy and other Ukrainian officials.
"Through real-time cooperation with Ukraine's intelligence agency...[South Korea's National Intelligence Service] has confirmed that the Ukrainian military captured two North Korean soldiers on January 9 in the Kursk battlefield in Russia," Seoul said in a statement.
Neither North Korea nor Moscow has commented on the reports.
Ukraine's SBU intelligence on January 11 released a video showing two men in hospital bunks, one with bandaged hands and the other with a bandaged jaw.
Ukrainian officials said the prisoners were talking through interpreters working with South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The SBU said one prisoner, who said he was born in 2005, claimed he believed he was "going for training, not to fight a war against Ukraine."
The other man was forced to write his answers because of an injured jaw, the SBU said. That soldier said he was born in 1999 and was a sniper in the North Korean Army.
In separate televised comments, Zelenskiy said one to the two captured soldiers had "expressed a desire to stay in Ukraine, the other to return to [North] Korea."
The NIS also said one of the captured soldiers had claimed he received training from the Russian military after he arrived in the country in November.
“He initially believed he was being sent for training, realizing upon arrival in Russia that he had been deployed," South Korea's intelligence agency said.
It added that one of the prisoners "went without food or water for four to five days before being captured" by Ukrainian forces.
Ukraine has launched new attacks in Kursk to prevent Russia from snatching back territory. A lightning Ukrainian offensive first captured large swaths of the Kursk region in August 2024. It was the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II.
Last fall, North Korea sent some 11,000 troops to the Kursk region to support Russian forces. Moscow has reclaimed some 40 percent of the territory, but Ukrainian troops still control more than 500 square kilometers in Kursk, and Pyongyang's troops have reportedly been experiencing mass casualties.
Zelenskiy on December 23 said more than 3,000 troops, or about a quarter of the North Korean special forces sent to Russia, had been killed or injured, though he did not provide evidence.
White House spokesman John Kirby on December 27 told reporters that North Korean forces were suffering heavy casualties on the front lines, adding that some 1,000 of their troops had been killed or wounded in the Kursk region over a one-week period.
"It is clear that Russian and North Korean military leaders are treating these troops as expendable and ordering them on hopeless assaults against Ukrainian defenses," Kirby said.
With reporting by AFP and Reuters
- By RFE/RL
N. Korean Soldier Claims He Thought He Was On Training Mission, Ukraine Says
Ukrainian investigators are questioning two soldiers from North Korea whom the country’s forces captured in Russia’s Kursk region, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Ukraine Invasion: News & Analysis
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“These are two soldiers who, although wounded, survived and were brought to Kyiv and are talking to SBU [Ukrainian Security Service] investigators," Zelenskiy said in a statement on Telegram on January 11.
Zelenskiy's Telegram post included photos of the soldiers he says were taken prisoner. He did not provide evidence that they were North Korean, but if this is confirmed, it will be the first time Ukrainian authorities have published images of captured North Korean troops.
The Ukrainian president said it was “not easy” to capture the North Korean soldiers, claiming that Moscow attempted to hide their presence by letting Russian and North Korean troops kill their wounded comrades on the battlefield to avoid being taken prisoner by Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials said the prisoners were talking through interpreters working with South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS).
The SBU said one prisoner, who said he was born in 2005, claimed he believed he was "going for training, not to fight a war against Ukraine."
The other man was forced to write his answers because of an injured jaw, the SBU said. That soldier said he was born in 1999 and was a sniper in the North Korean army.
The developments followed new Ukrainian attacks in Kursk to prevent Russia from snatching back territory. A lightning Ukrainian offensive first captured large swaths of the Kursk region in August 2024. It was the largest incursion onto Russian soil since World War II.
Last fall, North Korea sent some 11,000 troops to the Kursk region to support Russian forces there. Moscow has reclaimed some 40 percent of the territory, but Ukrainian troops still control more than 500 square kilometers in Kursk, and Pyongyang's troops have reportedly been experiencing mass casualties.
Referring to the captured soldiers on X, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said that the "first North Korean prisoners of war are now in Kyiv" and that they were "regular [North Korean] troops, not mercenaries."
“The security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific is directly linked. We need maximum pressure against regimes in Moscow and Pyongyang.,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack killed a woman in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya region.
Ivan Fedorov, the head of the region’s military administration, said a 47-year-old woman was killed instantly after a Russian drone hit a civilian car with five passengers.
“The occupiers attacked Prymorske all night,” he said.
Fedorov said the wounded included two men aged 46 and 60. Two women, 49 and 52, were also injured.
Earlier on January 11, Yevgeny Pervyshov, the governor of the Tambov region in western Russia, said Ukrainian drones crashed into two apartment buildings in the town of Kotovsk, which injured several people.
Photos and videos of the incident, which have not been verified by RFE/RL, were posted online by local residents, who said there had been no air raid siren before the drones struck.
With reporting by AP and AFP
Taliban Absent As Pakistan PM Opens Summit On Girls' Education
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said preventing girls from receiving an education is “tantamount to denying their voice” as he opened a major Muslim-led summit on the subject that remains sensitive in the Islamic world.
The gathering attracted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai – who is scheduled to speak on January 12 – while it was apparently shunned by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, who activists say are among the world’s leading violators of the rights of women and girls.
"The Muslim world, including Pakistan, faces significant challenges in ensuring equitable access to education for girls," Sharif said at the opening of the event in Islamabad.
"Denying education to girls is tantamount to denying their voice and their choice, while depriving them of their right to a bright future," he added.
On January 11, no Taliban representatives were present among participants from some 50 Muslim-majority countries when the two-day conference opened in the Pakistani capital.
A senior Taliban diplomat in Islamabad told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal that “so far, Kabul has not told us anything about this event.”
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Pakistan's education minister, said, “No one from the Afghan government was at the conference," but they were formally invited to the event.
The Taliban government banned teenage girls from education soon after returning to power in August 2021.
Since then, the Islamist group has imposed draconian education on women’s work, education, and mobility despite domestic opposition and a global outcry.
It is now the only nation among the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that bans women’s education. The ban has been widely opposed by Afghans and internationally.
"The entire Muslim world has agreed that girls' education is important,” said Muhammad al-Issa, a Saudi cleric and secretary-general of the Muslim World League, who organized the event with the Pakistani government.
“Those who say that girls' education is un-Islamic are wrong," he added.
Nobel laureate Yousafzai wrote on X ahead if the conference that “leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women and girls.”
In 2012, Pakistani Taliban militants shot Malala in the northwestern valley of Swat because she campaigned for girls' education.
The Taliban banned women’s education despite promising to allow it while it negotiated a peace agreement with the United States.
Senior Taliban government leaders, who are Sunni Deobandi clerics, have adopted a "fringe opinion" of Islamic Shari'a law to enforce the ban on the education of teenage girls and women.
Pakistan has also faced criticism for violation of the rights of girls and women in the country, particularly in rural areas. But poverty, lack of infrastructure, and cultural issues have also hampered the educational system.
“Millions of Pakistani children do not attend school, and those that do must deal with absent teachers and poor learning environments, among other things,” the U.S.-based Wilson Center said in a report.
Injuries Reported In Western Russian Town After Drone Attack
Drones crashed into two apartment buildings in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region of western Russia, injuring several people, the region’s governor said early on January 11.
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Yevgeny Pervyshov said on Telegram that several people suffered injuries from glass shards and were being treated. Pervyshov said the buildings did not catch fire and sustained only minor damage.
Photos and videos of the incident, which have not been verified by RFE/RL, were posted online by local residents, who said there had been no air raid siren before the drones struck.
The Russian state news agency TASS said the drones were launched by Ukraine, but the General Staff of the Ukrainian military has not reported any drone attacks on Russian regions.
TASS added that authorities in other parts of Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea also reported Ukrainian drone attacks on the night of January 10-11, including in the Krasnodar Krai region to the east of Crimea. Explosions were also heard in the Kursk and Voronezh regions of Russia.
Voronezh Governor Aleksandr Gusev said more than 15 drones were shot down on the night of January 10-11. There were no casualties or damage, he said.
Eyewitnesses also reported seeing a fire in the port area of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea, and the bridge connecting the Russian mainland to Crimea was closed for more than three hours.
Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said several drones were destroyed in the Kursk region. There were no casualties, but three private houses were damaged, he said on Telegram.
The governors of the other regions that came under drone attack have not commented on any damage or casualties. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not yet reported on drones being shot down.
Russia on January 10 accused Ukraine of conducting a deadly missile strike on a supermarket in the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk.
Another Russian state news agency, RIA, said investigators were looking into the supermarket attack, claiming a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile hit the supermarket, killing two people.
Video on social media, which has been verified by RFE/RL, appears to show a massive explosion in an area where a small market is located.
Ukrainian officials have not commented on the Russian accusation.
The Ukrainian Air Force, meanwhile, said Russia attacked Ukraine with 72 Shahed-type strike drones on January 10 in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Khmelnytskiy, Vinnytsya, and Kherson regions.
The Ukrainian General Staff said several small towns east of Pokrovsk and an important highway a few kilometers south of the area had been the site of intense battles on January 10. The city has been the target of a brutal, bloody drive by Russia in recent months.
The January 10 fighting came a day after the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) meeting in Ramstein, Germany, where Kyiv's allies vowed no letup in aid to bolster Ukraine's air defenses amid Moscow's relentless assaults throughout the east, including attacks on civilian and infrastructure sites.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who traveled to Rome following the Ramstein gathering, also praised new actions by the United States and Britain to sanction Russia's oil producers, a major liquefied natural gas project, and more than 100 tankers in its “shadow fleet" as the West looks to deprive Moscow of funds needed to carry on its war.
U.S. Makes Romania Part Of Its Online Visa Waiver Program
Romanians will no longer need to visit a U.S. Embassy or consulate to obtain a visa before traveling to the United States for business or tourism, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced on January 10.
The department announced that starting on March 31, Romania will be part of the Visa Waiver Program, which simplifies the process of obtaining a visa.
U.S. Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec told a gathering at the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest that it was a “historic moment” for U.S.-Romania relations and the result of several years of work between the two countries.
“With today’s announcement, it is clear that our relations are only getting stronger,” Kavalec said. “I expect it will supercharge our relationship, giving a boost to our growing economic ties, encouraging more investment in both directions.”
She said the change will allow most Romanian travelers visiting the United States for business or tourism to skip in-person visits to an embassy or consulate and long waits for approval.
The Visa Waiver Program processes applications online, saving travelers money and lowering barriers for Romanian businesses, Kavalec said.
The online application, known as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), must be completed before travelers leave for the United States, and Kavalec said the processing time in most cases will be less than three days.
Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told the embassy gathering the decision was the "success of the entire Romanian society" and noted that it comes after the lifting of the European Union land border controls.
Romania and Bulgaria celebrated on January 1 when the two EU members gained full entry into the bloc’s free-travel Schengen Zone.
Romania became the 43rd country to enter the Visa Waiver Program. Bulgarian citizens do not yet have access to it.
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