Pink Floyd's Waters Cancels Poland Concerts After Ukraine War Remarks - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

The official government news agency IRNA said the IRGC ground forces fired artillery from positions within Iran's West Azerbaijan Province on September 24, attacking what it described as a "terrorist group" based across the border.

Russian police have dispersed peaceful protests against President Vladimir Putin's military mobilization order, arresting hundreds of people in more than 30 cities across the country.

The demonstrations followed protests that erupted within hours after Putin on September 21 issued the partial-mobilization order, which was designed to bolster Russia's forces in Ukraine following heavy losses during a recent Ukrainian counteroffensive.

On September 24, Putin signed amendments toughening punishment for deserters and those who refuse to fight by up to 10 years in prison, just days after ordering a partial mobilization amid recent Russian military losses in Ukraine.

A separate law, also signed on September 24 , facilitates access to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the military.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed amendments toughening the punishment for deserters and those who refuse to fight, just days after ordering a partial mobilization amid recent Russian military losses in Ukraine.

A separate law, also signed on September 24 , facilitates access to Russian citizenship for foreigners who enlist in the Russian military, following efforts to increase the ranks fighting in Ukraine.

Ukraine said on September 23 that it would reduce Iran's diplomatic presence in the country and withdraw accreditation of the Iranian ambassador over Tehran's decision to supply Russian forces with drones, a move President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called "a collaboration with evil.".

Military authorities in southern Ukraine said on September 24 they had shot down at least seven Iranian drones over the sea near the ports of Odesa and Pivdenniy.

"The number of people who died in recent riots in the country has risen to 35 people," the Borna news agency, which is affiliated with Iran's Sports Ministry, said late on September 23, citing state television.

Amnesty International said in a statement on September 23 that it had gathered evidence pointing to "a harrowing pattern of Iranian security forces deliberately and unlawfully firing live ammunition at protesters.".

The statement said that on the night of 21 September alone, shootings by security forces left at least 19 people dead, including at least three children.

Iran's military said on September 23 it would "confront the enemies' various plots in order to ensure security and peace for the people who are being unjustly assaulted.".

"We will not allow enemies to use the situation," a military statement said, according to the semiofficial ISNA news agency.

Russia struck the Pechenihy dam on the Siverskiy Donets River in northeast Ukraine this week using short-range ballistic missiles or similar weapons, the British Ministry of Defense has said.

The attack on September 21-22 followed an earlier one on the Karachunivske dam near Kryviy Rih in central Ukraine on September 15, the ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin on September 24, adding that Ukrainian forces were advancing further downstream along both rivers.

Lukashenka is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has backed Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Tsikhanouskaya said there will be constant security threats to Ukraine and on Belarus's western border as long as Putin is in power.

Tsikhanouskaya said neither country wants to be part of another Russian empire.

"So Belarus is part of this problem and this problem, this crisis, has to be solved in this context," she said, adding that Lukashenka had to support Russia after its invasion because Putin backed him after the mass protests against his claim of victory in the 2020 election.

Since its invasion, Russia has used Belarus as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine, and Moscow and Minsk have maintained close military ties.

Tsikhanouskaya said the war in Ukraine was "extremely unexpected" and some Belarusians were especially opposed to the war "against Ukrainians, our brothers and sisters.".

The Ukrainian military General Staff said on September 24 that "employees of the 'election commissions,' accompanied by armed servicemen of the military of the Russian federation" were collecting signatures of local residents directly at their homes.

"Russia's referenda are a sham -- a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law," Biden said on September 23.

The vote hastily announced this week as Russia decreed a partial mobilization came as Ukrainian forces said they were clawing back territory from Moscow-backed separatists in the very territories Russia wants to annex.

Ukraine's presidential office said on September 24 that the latest Russian shelling had killed at least three people and wounded 19.

Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of the Zaporizhzhya region, said a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhya, killing one person and injuring seven others.

Serhiy Hayday, Ukraine's regional governor in Luhansk, said in a post on Telegram that Russian authorities banned people from leaving for several days to ensure votes.

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians.

The move comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization on September 21 amid apparent heavy personnel losses in the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that Moscow started in February.

"Hide from the Russian mobilization by any means," Zelenskiy said.

"We will never recognize these referenda, which appear to be a step toward Russian annexation, and we will never recognize a purported annexation if it occurs," the G7 leaders said in a statement.

"Supplying Russia with weapons to wage war against Ukraine is an unfriendly act that deals a serious blow to relations between Ukraine and Iran," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on September 23.

Earlier on September 23, Kyiv said that one civilian was killed during a Russian attack with drones on the southern port city of Odesa and that one Iranian-designed unmanned vehicle was shot down by Ukrainian forces.

"We call on the security forces to refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force and appeal to all to exercise restraint to avoid further escalation," Dujarric said.

The head of the regional military administration in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Oleh Synyehubov, says 436 bodies, including 30 with signs of torture, were exhumed from a mass burial site near the eastern city of Izyum recaptured from Russian forces in early September.

The discovery of a mass burial site and evidence of torture in Izyum days after the city was retaken from Russian forces during Ukraine’s successful offensive in early September shocked Ukrainians and the international community.

The Treasury said in a statement that it was seeking to increase support for Internet freedom in Iran through updating a general license allowing access to certain services, software, and hardware after the government on September 21 restricted the Internet severely after days of unrest sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody after being detained for allegedly violating the strictly enforced dress code regarding the hijab.

Finland says it will "significantly restrict" Russian citizens from entering the country after President Vladimir Putin's decree announcing a partial mobilization of military reservists for the war in Ukraine triggered an exodus from Russia that has clogged its borders.

The Finnish government said in a statement on September 23 that its decision to limit the number of Russians entering the country was needed because the influx had done "serious damage to Finland's international position.".

Finland has remained one of the few entry points into Europe from Russia since Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February prompted many European countries to close their physical borders and ban Russian planes from their airspace.

The Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow has warned Kyrgyz men and women with dual Kyrgyz-Russian citizenship that they are considered Russian citizens while residing in the Russian Federation, and thus could face military service after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization to boost troop levels during the war with Ukraine.

Hours after Putin announced the partial military mobilization on September 21, the Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow issued a statement saying that any form of participation by Kyrgyz citizens in military activities on the territory of foreign countries is considered to be mercenary activity and will be punished by up to 10 years in prison.

However, embassy spokeswoman Nazgul Jusubakunova told RFE/RL on September 23 that, while reports Russian authorities were forcing Kyrgyz citizens to mobilize for the war in Ukraine were not true, she did note that "according to Russian federal law on migration, Kyrgyz citizens who obtained Russian citizenship, and therefore have dual citizenship, are considered Russian citizens only.".

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians.

On September 20, Russian lawmakers approved a bill on amendments to the Criminal Code that envisages lengthy prison terms for Russian citizens who refuse to join the Russian armed forces.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in a report on September 22 that Russian authorities will "likely mobilize ethnically non-Russian and immigrant communities at a disproportionate rate" to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, launched in late February.

"A member of the Kremlin’s Russian Human Rights Council, Kirill Kabanov, proposed mandatory military service for Central Asian immigrants that have received Russian citizenship within the last 10 years, threatening to confiscate their Russian citizenship if they do not mobilize," the report said.

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians.

“I have been moved by the resilience and courage of the Ukrainian people and his inspirational leadership,” Streisand said in a tweet accompanied by a picture of Zelenskiy during their phone call on September 22.

The 80-year-old Streisand, who said she had pledged $24,000 to the fund, has been critical of Russia since it launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February.

“My paternal grandparents emigrated from Ukraine and my heart breaks for the courageous people there fighting this Russian invasion.

Putin has said repeatedly that part of the reason he launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine even though Zelenskiy, who was democratically elected, is Jewish and lost relatives in the Holocaust.

In a statement issued late on September 22, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry called the Tajik statement "provocative," adding that Dushanbe "has fully discredited itself on the international scene by its groundless statements recently.".

In the video, he says the decision to return him to the punitive cell was politically motivated because of his recent statements criticizing President Vladimir Putin's decision to launch a partial military mobilization for the war in Ukraine

"To stand against the idea of sending hundreds of thousands of our people to kill other innocent people for nothing, I will go [to punitive confinement] for 12 days or more if it is necessary," Navalny said in the statement

On September 21, hours after Putin announced the partial military mobilization amid recent Russian military losses in Ukraine, Navalny issued a statement condemning the move and accusing Putin of sending more Russians to their death for a failing war where some reports say tens of thousands of Russians have become casualties

Internationally issued payment cards by Russia's Mir reportedly have stopped functioning in Uzbekistan in the face of repeated warnings over failing to adhere to international sanctions against Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine