War in Ukraine

Sept. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s visit to England with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday has sparked large protests in London and at Windsor.

Police estimated there were about 5,000 protesters at Parliament Square in London, and a smaller protest gathered outside of Windsor Castle.

Trump is unlikely to see the protests since most of his day and evening will be spent inside Windsor Castle. On Wednesday evening, the king and Queen Camilla will host a banquet, at which Charles and Trump are expected to give speeches. The king’s speech was written on the advice of the United Kingdom government, BBC’s Chris Mason reported.

The protests were organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, a group of more than 50 unions and charities.

Some protesters carried signs with slogans written across them, including “no to racism,” “no to Trump” and “stop arming Israel,” BBC reported. The 20-foot-tall Trump Baby blimp that greeted the president during his visit in 2019 has been made into smaller balloons that some protestors carried.

Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Louise Puddefoot said police had been in close contact with the organizers and had asked them to be “considerate to the local community” and keep disruption to a minimum.

Before the march, a spokesperson for the coalition said: “A government that will bow down to Trump and to racism is one that will open the door to fascism.”

The protest groups said they would demonstrate to “defeat the politics of Trumpism” and to promote “an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”

The march ended at Parliament Square, and several people spoke on a stage. There was a performance by singer Billy Bragg, and speakers included former Labour Party members of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, comedian Nish Kumar and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Zoe Gardner, a political commentator and one of the organizers of the protest, said that the president “represents everything that we hate.”

“We want our government to show some backbone, and have a little bit of pride and represent that huge feeling of disgust at Donald Trump’s politics in the U.K.,” she said.

Auriel Dowty Glanville, a climate activist from Wimbledon, said she was demonstrating because climate change was “the biggest threat facing us on Earth.”

She said the government giving him a second state visit was “appalling,” saying, “It’s all about the trade deal.”

On Tuesday, four men were arrested for projecting large images and videos of Trump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on the walls of a turret at Windsor Castle. On Wednesday, as Trump toured the grounds and visited with the king, a van with a similar image was being driven around the castle, with the words, “Welcome to the U.K., Donald.” Police stopped the man and sent him on his way. He wasn’t arrested.

As the Trumps arrived via Marine One Wednesday morning, they were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales — William and Kate — and then by Charles and Camilla.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense described the ceremonial welcome as “unprecedented.”

The delegation was then taken on a carriage ride around the grounds of the castle. Trump and Charles rode in the gilded Irish Stage Coach. It’s the coach that Queen Elizabeth II used to travel to the State Opening of Parliament. The queen and first lady followed behind in the Scottish State Coach, which was built in 1830.

After the ride around the castle grounds, they went to the Quadrangle at the Castle to inspect the British Army Guard of Honor. The group of royals and American visitors then went inside for a private lunch.

The unprecedented nature of the visit is that second-term presidents don’t usually get state visits. Instead, they are invited for lunch or tea with the monarch. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were treated to the usual protocol.

“This is really special. This has never happened before. Unprecedented,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the White House in February. “I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us.”

British officials understand that Trump admires the royal family, so “if you have those assets, that opportunity, then why not absolutely make the most of it,” Matthew Doyle, a former communications director and adviser for Starmer, told CNN.

The president will travel on Thursday to Chequers, the prime minister’s country house in Buckinghamshire, where talks will begin. Agreements on “tech and trade” are expected to be discussed, Doyle said. Trump and Starmer will also meet with tech CEOs.

Doyle said Britain also wants to hear that Trump has a “plan to get Russia to the table,” adding that “Ukraine is clearly the biggest issue on the foreign agenda” for this meeting.

Sept. 15 (UPI) — The Russian military put on a show of force Monday in a training exercise intended to prepare for a future war with Western countries.

The exercises included about 7,000 troops in locations in Belarus, a neighboring country aligned with the Kremlin, as well as in Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, which is sandwiched between NATO-members Poland and Lithuania, according to reports from western media invited to witness the event.

The Zapad military drills are meant to simulate an attack by Western countries. Zapad, which means “West” in Russian, are normally routine drills and were last held in 2021, just before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The most recent drills took place amid heightened worries the conflict will spill into neighboring countries and comes weeks after Polish forces and their NATO allies shot down a large number of drones that had entered the country’s airspace.

The drills included a mock battle at the Borisovsky Training Ground in central Belarus, where Russian and Belarusian aircrafts, tanks and artillery opened fire on imagined Western forces, reported ABC News. Two Su-34 jets dropped large bombs and tanks fired across a field as Russian and Belarusian forces simulated retaking a village, the news outlet reported.

Western media were invited to observe the event as part of a recent thaw in relations with Belarus, which included the release of 52 political prisoners, some from western Europe.

Two unnamed U.S. military officials made a surprise visit to observe the drills, reported the Guardian.

“The best viewing seats will be provided for you,” the Belarusian defence minister, Viktor Khrenin, told them.

Belarusian Minister of Defense Viktor Khrenin said in a Telegram post that the exercise was held farther away from it western border and they were trying to reduce tensions with eastern Europe.

However, Poland responded by deploying up to 40,000 troops along its border with Belarus and NATO has stepped up jet patrols against more Russian drone incursions, reported the Guardian.

Sept. 14 (UPI) — Romania has summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest to lodge a protest over Moscow’s drone incursion into its airspace, making the second European nation whose airspace has been threatened by the Kremlin’s attacks on Ukraine in a week.

Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned Vladimir Lipaev to its headquarters on Sunday, a day after the incursion occurred.

“The Romanian side conveyed its strong protests against this unacceptable and irresponsible act, which represents a violation of Romania’s sovereignty,” the ministry said in a statement. “Such recurring situations lead to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security. The Russian side was requested to take, without delay, all necessary measures to prevent future violations of Romanian airspace.

Romania’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement it detected the Russian drone when a pair of F-16 jets were monitoring its border with Ukraine on Saturday at about 6 p.m. local time.

It said the drone was detected about 12 miles southwest of the village of Chilia Veche before it disappeared from radar.

A Sunday military assessment found that the drone flew for about 50 minutes before exiting Romanian airspace.

“The pilots received authorization to shoot down the target, but at the moments when they had direct contact, they assessed the collateral risks and decided not to open fire,” the Defense Ministry said.

Along with the Romanian fighter jets, German allies in Mihail Koglaniceanu scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoon jets to support the Romanian aircraft, which stayed deployed until 9:30 p.m.

The incident comes after Poland shot down at least three of at least 19 Russian drones that had breached its airspace overnight Tuesday to Wednesday morning.

Russia’s latest incursion into a European nation’s airspace has raised concerns throughout the region amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and has drawn condemnation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it an expansion of Russia’s war.

“The Russian military knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air,” Zelensky said in an online statement. “Their routes are always calculated. This cannot be a coincidence or a mistake or the initiative of some lower level commanders.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “blatant violation of EU sovereignty and a serious threat to regional security.”

“We are working closely with Romania and all member states to protect the EU territory,” she said in a statement.

“Suntem solidari cu Romania,” she added, which means, “we stand in solidarity with Romania” in Romanian.

Sept. 14 (UPI) — Ukraine launched large airstrikes late Saturday and into Sunday that hit a chemical plant and an oil refinery inside of Russia, authorities confirmed, as Russia tested a new hypersonic cruise missile during a joint exercise with Belarus.

Dmitry Makhonin, the governor of Russia’s Perm Krai territory, said in a statement Saturday that a Ukrainian drone flew into an industrial building in Gubakha. He said that no casualties were reported and that the chemical plant was operating normally.

“I appeal to all residents of the region — refrain from publishing photos and videos of the drone,” he said. “By posting such information on social networks, you are helping the enemy, who has made another pathetic attempt to intimidate us. They will not succeed. Victory will be ours.”

But a Ukrainian military intelligence source told The Kyiv Independent newspaper in Ukraine that equipment for urea production has been damaged. Urea is a nitrogen fertilizer used in agriculture that can also be used to make explosives.

The Russian independent media publication Astra reported that the plant hit is operated by Metafrax Chemicals, which has been targeted with sanctions by Britain and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed in a statement that it had hit the Kirish oil refinery in the Leningrad region of Russia.

“Explosions and fire were recorded at the refinery. The results of the impressions are being clarified,” Ukrainian officials said.

The Kirish refinery is one of the largest oil refineries in Russia and produces petroleum products, including automobile gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel.

Leningrad regional governor Alexander Drozdenko said on Telegram that three drones were destroyed in the Kirishi area but that falling debris sparked a fire, which was put out. Nobody was injured in the incident, he said.

Also on Saturday, falling debris from an intercepted drone hit another oil refinery in the Ufa district of the Bashkortostan region of Russia, regional governor Rady Khabirov confirmed. There were no casualties but the site suffered minor damage after a fire broke out.

“After that, another UAV was shot down. The scale of the consequences of its fall is still being clarified,” he said. “All services have been put on combat alert.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday its forces shot down 80 Ukrainian drones overnight across a wide area of Russia and occupied Crimea. The largest number, 30, were intercepted over the Bryansk region, while 15 were destroyed over Crimea, 12 over Smolensk, and 10 over Kaluga.

And on Friday, Russia said it had shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones, many of them targeting facilities of the multinational Russian oil company, Lukoil, southwest of Moscow.

Ukraine’s airstrike comes as Russia on Sunday tested a new Zircon cruise missile on a target in the Barents Sea during a joint military exercise with Belarus.

“According to objective control data received in real time, the target was destroyed by a direct hit,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. “The area where the missile launch was conducted was closed in advance to civilian shipping and aircraft flights.”

Sept. 14 (UPI) — Romania has claimed a Russian drone entered its airspace Saturday near Ukraine‘s southern border, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called an expansion by Russia in the ongoing war.

“The Russian military knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air,” a social media statement by Zelensky said. “Their routes are always calculated. This cannot be a coincidence or a mistake or the initiative of some lower level commanders.”

Romania is the second NATO country to report such an incursion. On Wednesday, Poland said it had shot down three drones that had breached its airspace, according to the BBC.

Romania said it detected the Russian drone when a pair of F-16 jets were monitoring its border with Ukraine, according to a statement from the Romanian defense ministry.

It said the drone was detected about 12 miles southwest of the village of Chilia Veche before it disappeared from radar.

“The UAV did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the security of the population,” the statement said. It said the defense ministry has teams on alert to monitor potentially hazardous fallout from the drone.

“People in Romania were never in danger but such actions by Russia are unacceptable and reckless, a social media post from the Romanian minister of foreign affairs said.

It is the latest incident in an ongoing series of escalations in the war between Russia and Ukraine, the latest chapter of which has been waged since February 2022.

Moscow has not commented on either incident.

Sept. 13 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Saturday outlined the road to new sanctions against Russia in an effort to stop that country’s war in Ukraine.

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

“The purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”

Trump earlier in the week reportedly delivered the same message to European Union countries, urging them to enact new 100% tariffs on China and India for their purchases of Russian oil.

“Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR,” Trump wrote Saturday.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright this week called on EU countries still buying oil and gas from Russia to shift their business to the United States.

“We want to displace all Russian gas. President Trump, America, and all the nations of the EU, we want to end the Russian-Ukraine war,” Wright said this week.

“The more we can strangle Russia’s ability to fund this murderous war, the better for all of us. So the answer to your question is absolutely.”

Sept. 12 (UPI) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and the United Kingdom to address security matters in Gaza and globally from Saturday through Thursday.

Rubio first will travel to Israel, where he plans to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and security in the Middle East while affirming the United States’ “commitment to Israeli security,” according to a State Department news release.

“He will also emphasize our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home,” said Thomas Pigott, State Department principal deputy spokesperson.

Rubio and Israeli leaders will discuss Israeli military operational goals and the objectives of the Israel Defense Force’s Operation Gideon’s Chariots II, which targets Hamas leadership and members in Gaza City.

Rubio and Israeli leaders also will discuss “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions, including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism and lawfare at the [International Criminal Court] and [International Court of Justice],” Pigott said.

Rubio also is scheduled to meet with the families of hostages being held by Hamas to “underscore that their relative’s lives remains a top priority,” Pigott added.

After concluding the visit in Israel, Rubio is scheduled to travel to the United Kingdom to meet with U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss “critical global challenges,” he said.

Those challenges include the war in Ukraine, stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, securing a cease-fire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and competing with China.

Rubio’s diplomatic trip is to occur after Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Adbulrahman al-Thani was to meet with President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Rubio and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Friday.

The prime minister and president are expected to discuss the recent IDF strike against Hamas officials in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and a potential defense agreement between Qatar and the United States.

Sept. 12 (UPI) — Russia said Friday that it shot down hundreds of Ukrainian drones overnight, many of them targeting facilities of the multinational Russian oil company, Lukoil, southwest of Moscow, according to the defense ministry.

More than half of the 221 UAVs were brought down over the regions of Smolensk and Bryansk, where five civilians and two military personnel were injured after a bus was struck, while nine got through to the Moscow area before being destroyed.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said emergency services were attending a location hit by falling debris from downed drones but gave no details of where or the extent of the damage. Russian social media accounts reported blasts in Mozhaysk and Dedovsk in the western suburbs of the capital.

As many as 30 others were intercepted in the Leningrad region, temporarily closing St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport and setting ablaze a vessel at Russia’s largest oil terminal northwest of the city at Primorsk on the Baltic Sea.

Secret Service of Ukraine sources told The Kyiv Independent that the agency was responsible for the Leningrad strikes, which also successfully targeted three pumping stations serving the Ust-Luga oil terminal 80 miles southwest of St. Petersburg, as part of what was believed to be one of the largest attacks on the region since the start of the war in 2022.

Drones were also downed over Oryol, Kaluga, Novgorod, Belgorod, Tver, Pskov, Tula and Kursk — but without any further casualties, authorities said.

Ukraine stepped up its targeting of Russia’s energy infrastructure in August, hitting more than a dozen refineries and knocking out a fifth of Russia’s oil processing capacity during the month, according to the White House.

Russia has tried to downplay the disruption, with state-run media outlets claiming it was caused by “unscheduled repairs.”

Ukraine has modified its drone strategy from trying to attack Moscow and military facilities on Russian soil to higher-profile targets in an effort to make the Russian people more cognizant of the war.

At least 31 Ukrainian drones were downed early Tuesday as they closed in on the Black Sea resort of Sochi, hours after President Vladimir Putin was in the city for a virtual meeting with other world leaders belonging to the so-called BRICS grouping of economic powers.

The attack killed one person, damaged six homes and forced authorities to close the city’s international airport.

Sept. 10 (UPI) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that Polish forces and their NATO partners downed a “huge” number of Russian drones overnight, the first time Russian assets have been intercepted in the military alliance’s airspace.

“Last night, the Polish airspace was violated by a huge number of Russian drones. Those drones that posed a direct threat were shot down. I am in constant communication with the Secretary General of NATO and our allies,” Tusk said in a post on X.

He said there were “multiple violations of Polish airspace,” each of which was met by Polish and NATO air defenses, including fighter jets.

Tusk said he was in continual contact with the commander of the operation, the defense minister and the country’s president.

Residents were sent emergency texts alerting them of the air defense operation and requesting them to report any drones they saw or locations where they fell, while people in three regions in the east of the country were told to stay indoors.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Alexus Grynkewich said NATO’s swift and decisive response demonstrated both the alliance’s ability and determination “to defend Allied territory.”

Speaking after an emergency meeting of the National Security Bureau, Tusk said Poland was most likely “dealing with a large-scale provocation.” He called the situation “serious” but vowed that Poland was “ready to repel” attacks of this nature.

A number of the drones entered from Belarus airspace, Tusk told lawmakers later Wednesday, and that the last of the objects was shot down at 6:45 a.m. local time.

“I have no reason to claim we’re on the brink of war, but a line has been crossed, and it’s incomparably more dangerous than before. This situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two,” he said.

The incursion came amid a massive Russian airborne attack against neighboring Ukraine involving more than 400 drones and more than 40 cruise and ballistic missiles, with the Ukrainian Air Force saying that as many as 24 drones “crossed the Ukrainian state border flying in Poland’s direction.”

Poland shares borders of roughly equal length with both Ukraine and Belarus.

NATO Allied Command Operations confirmed the clashes were the first time NATO aircraft had engaged with potential threats in “Allied Airspace” with Poland and the Netherlands scrambling fighter jets, Italian early warning aircraft and a NATO air-refuelling tanker airborne and German-supplied Patriot missiles on alert.

“NATO, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, and all of Allied Command Operations is committed to defending every kilometer of NATO territory, including our airspace,” said Col. Martin L. O’Donnell, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe spokesman.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer issued a statement saying he had been in communication with Tusk over the incident, which he called a “barbaric attack on Ukraine and the egregious and unprecedented violation of Polish and NATO airspace by Russian drones”.

“This was an extremely reckless move by Russia and only serves to remind us of President Putin’s blatant disregard for peace and the constant bombardment innocent Ukrainians face every day.”

The incident came hours after Starmer hosted NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Downing Street where they discussed work to integrate U.S. support into plans for a so-called Coalition of the Willing of European countries putting together a reassurance force for Ukraine to uphold any future cease-fire.

Condemning the incursion in “the strongest possible terms,” French President Emmanuel Macron said it was completely unacceptable and that he would meet with Rutte — but did not say when.

Belarus claimed the incursion was accidental, caused by drones turned “rogue” after their systems were jammed, claimed its forces had shot some of them down, and that it communicated with Poland and Lithuania over a five-hour period during the night.

Moscow, however, sought to lay blame on Ukraine, with Russian state television quoting unnamed Polish lawmakers saying it appeared to be a false-flag operation perpetrated by Kyiv.

Sept. 9 (UPI) — Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Sochi early Tuesday morning hours after President Vladimir Putin joined a virtual meeting with other world leaders from the Black Sea vacation destination.

Russian air defenses intercepted 31 Ukrainian drones in the attack, shooting down about half over the Black Sea in the overnight attack, military officials told the state-run TASS news agency.The attack damaged six homes and killed one person in Sochi after drone debris fell on the car he was driving, Krasnodar Region Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev, told TASS.

The strike came in response to Russia’s growing wave of drone attacks that are meant to overwhelm Ukraine‘s air defenses. The same morning, more than 20 people in Ukraine waiting in lines for pensions were killed by a Russian drone attack.

While it’s unclear if Putin was in Sochi during the attack, the Russian leader was at his residence in the city where he participated in a video conference with other leaders in BRICS, an intergovernmental organization intended to be a counterweight to the United States and Europe, according to a Kremlin readout.

Hours earlier a Il-96-300PU aircraft of the Rossiya squadron arrived in Sochi, reported the independent news outlet Agentstvo, citing flight data. That plane had the tail number RA-96024, which was the same as the aircraft Putin used to fly to Alaska to meet with President Donald Trump last month, according to the new outlet.

Russian authorities closed the airport in Sochi in response to the attacks, reported independent new outlet Meduza.

Sochi hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics and is regarded as Russia’s top resort city. Putin previously spent weeks at his residence “Bocharov Ruchey” in Sochi but has avoided visiting the city since Ukraine increased drone strikes, according to the news outlet.

Sept. 9 (UPI) — At least two dozen people in Ukraine on Tuesday morning were killed in a Russian airstrike, with nearly as many injured at a postal building.

According to local authorities, at least 24 people are dead and 19 others injured in the village of Yarova in the Donetsk Oblast region after Russian forces struck the area around 11 a.m. local time at Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s national post service, as local workers and residents stood in line to receive a pension payout.

“Such Russian strikes must not be left without an appropriate response from the world,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky posted on social media.

Two injured were hospitalized but the full extent of damage was not immediately clear.

Regional Governor Vadim Filashkin called Russia’s air attack “pure terrorism” and said it was “not a military operation,” he wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian postal service facility sat less than 6 miles from Russian-occupied territory. Video footage depicted bodies among damaged postal service cars.

The attack represented a higher fatality count bombing since the end of last month when around 23 Ukrainians were killed in overnight air strikes on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv.

On Tuesday, Zelensky added that the world “must not remain idle” as a result of Russia’s morning airstrikes.

“A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20,” he stated.

It came after some 550 Russian drones in July surpassed previous records and penetrated Ukraines air defenses.

Sept. 8 (UPI) — The Trump administration has floated the idea of a second round of sanctions on Russia after its largest aerial attack on Ukraine‘s capital since the start of the war.

Speaking to reporters Sunday at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, President Donald Trump decried the attacks on Kyiv, which killed four people, including a mother and her baby, the BBC reported. Trump said he was “not happy with the whole situation.”

Asked by a reporter whether he was considering a second round of sanctions on Russia in response to Sunday’s attacks, Trump said, “Yeah, I am.”

He declined to give further details, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told NBC on Sunday that the United States must partner with Europe to “collapse” Russia’s economy. He called on European countries to impose sanctions on other nations that purchase oil from Russia.

“We are prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us,” Bessent said during an appearance on Meet the Press.

He said the race now is between how long the Ukrainian military can hold off Russia and how long Moscow’s economy can last. Collapsing Russia’s economy, Bessent said, “will bring [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to the table.”

Bessent is expected to meet Monday with economic representatives from multiple European countries, according to NBC News.

Trump suggested a second and third phase of sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, The Hill reported. At the time, a reporter asked him why he hadn’t taken action against Putin.

“How do you know there’s no action?” Trump responded. “Would you say that putting secondary sanctions on India — the largest purchaser [of Russian oil] outside of China, they’re almost equal — would you say there’s no action?

“That cost hundreds of billions of dollars to Russia. You call that no action? And I haven’t done Phase 2 yet or Phase 3.”

Sept. 7 (UPI) — One of Microsoft’s cloud services has been disrupted by severed cables below the surface of the Red Sea, the company said.

Users of Azure will experience delays in Internet traffic as it crosses through the Middle East, and the data has been rerouted, Microsoft said in a statement.

There were reports over the weekend that Internet traffic in the United Arab Emirates and some Asian countries had been affected, the BBC reported.

“Network traffic that does not traverse through the Middle East is not impacted,” Microsoft said.

NetBlocks, a company that monitors online Internet traffic, said Saturday that India and Pakistan were among the countries affected by the outage.

The cables were severed in water near the Saudi city of Jeddah, according to a social media post by the Pakistan Telecommunications company.

Severed Internet cables are a fairly routine occurrence, often the result of ships dropping anchor. Some cables, however, may have been cut deliberately, including several in 2024 that were severed between Asia and Europe about a month after the Yemeni government issued a warning that Iran-backed Houthi rebels threatened could sabotage communication cables and attack ships in the Red Sea.

The Houthis denied targeting the lines.

Since Russia’s latest invasion of Ukraine in 2022, several communication cables and gas lines beneath the surface of the Baltic Sea have also been severed.

Sept. 7 (UPI) — A Russian airstrike hit and damaged the upper floors of the Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers building in Kyiv for the first time since the war began in February 2022.

The building is among the most prominent Ukrainian government buildings and houses the offices of the executive branch’s top officials, including the prime minister and cabinet ministers. The strike is significant because it shows Moscow’s strikes can reach the heart of Kyiv’s government district, hitting a central symbol of executive authority.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement Sunday that the strike on the cabinet building was part of a sweeping attack on cities across the country, including Sumy, Kremenchuk, Odesa, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia used more than 800 drones, as well as four ballistic missiles and nine cruise missiles in the attack, making it the largest such strike since the war began, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in its own statement.

At least four people were killed in the broader airstrike, Zelensky said in an earlier statement. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that at least one of the people killed was a child.

“In Kyiv, the rubble is still being cleared — there may still be bodies beneath it. The Cabinet of Ministers building has been damaged. As of now, more than forty people have been reported injured across the country, 20 of them in Kyiv,” Zelensky said.

Yulia Svyrydenko, who has served as prime minister of Ukraine since July 17, shared photos of the destruction on Telegram and said that there were no injuries at the cabinet building during the broader airstrike.

“Russian terror will not stop the work of the government,” she said. “We will restore the destruction. But the lives of Ukrainians cannot be brought back. During the night, four people were killed and more than 44 were injured across the country due to Russian shelling.”

Zelensky said that air raid sirens in the capital alone lasted for more than seven and a half hours, suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin used the strike to test whether the world would tolerate escalating attacks by Moscow as he praised the response of Western allies who decried the airstrike. He also called for sanctions and tariffs on Russia.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the attack as a “brutal overnight assault on Kyiv and across Ukraine,” stressing that “for the first time, the heart of Ukraine’s civilian government was damaged,” and warning that Putin “believes he can act with impunity” and “is not serious about peace.”

French President Emmanuel Macron similarly denounced the strikes on social media, stating that “Russia, meanwhile, is locking itself ever deeper into the logic of war and terror,” and affirmed that “together with Ukraine and our partners, we stand for peace.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that it carried out a large-scale strike with precision weapons and drones against facilities used to produce, store and launch unmanned aircraft, as well as military airbases across central, southern and eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said the attack included strikes on an industrial plant on the western outskirts of Kyiv and a logistics center on the city’s southern edge.

It said all intended targets were destroyed and stressed that no other sites inside Kyiv were hit, making no mention of any government structures in Kyiv.

Separately, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that Ukraine attempted a large-scale overnight drone attack overnight into Sunday, with its air defenses shooting down 69 unmanned aircraft across southern and central Russia.

The ministry said the drones were intercepted over Krasnodar, Voronezh, Belgorod, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov, Bryansk, Kursk and Ryazan regions, as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov.

In its daily summary of war accomplishments, Russia claimed that its troops advanced in eastern and southern Ukraine, capturing the village of Khoroshe in the Dnipropetrovsk region and striking Ukrainian units across Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. The ministry claimed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the fighting, along with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and supply depots destroyed.

It said Russian air and missile forces also hit Ukrainian military-industrial sites, drone bases and transport hubs in nearly 150 locations, while air defenses intercepted three U.S.-made HIMARS rockets, guided bombs and more than 200 drones.

Sept. 5 (UPI) — A federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump administration for now from ending Temporary Protected Status for more than 1.1 million migrants from Venezuela and Haiti.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco ruled that the change unlawfully “truncated and condensed” the timeline to end temporary legal protections and work permits for people who fled the two Latin American nations. He was appointed by President Barack Obama.

About 600,000 Venezuelans had their protections expire in April or on Sept. 10. They have fled political unrest, mass unemployment and hunger since receiving their protected status in 2021. The ruling affects 500,000 from Haiti.

The Department of Homeland Security has attempted to end the status for several countries. Separate litigation is ongoing for migrants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua.

“This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries,” Chen wrote in a 69-page decision. “The Secretary’s action in revoking TPS was not only unprecedented in the manner and speed in which it was taken but also violates the law.”

The decision only temporarily halted the agency from deporting them. But Chen said he expects Venezuelans will be able to renew this status while the case goes through the courts, including appeals, and ultimately the Supreme Court.

Earlier, he halted a TPS order for several hundred thousand Venezuelans. But the Supreme Court in May allowed the Trump administration to end the program as it goes through the courts.

Chen said his new decision concerned only preliminary relief, and the high court didn’t bar him from deciding on the case based upon its merits under the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs the rule-making process of the agency.

In planning to appeal, Noem said the government will “use every legal option at the Department’s disposal to end this chaos and prioritize the safety of Americans.”

“For decades the TPS program has been abused, exploited, and politicized as a de facto amnesty program. Its use has been all the more dangerous given the millions of unvetted illegal aliens the Biden Administration let into this country,” the statement obtained by CBS News read.

The Trump administration has argued that conditions in Venezuela and Haiti have improved sufficiently to end those protections.

TPS was established in 1990 to allow for temporary immigrant protections for people experiencing wars, natural disasters or other “extraordinary” conditions.

“For 35 years, the TPS statute has been faithfully executed by presidential administrations from both parties, affording relief based on the best available information obtained by the Department of Homeland Security,” Chen wrote. “This case arose from action taken post haste by the current DHS Secretary, Kristi Noem, to revoke the legal status of Venezuelan and Haitian TPS holders, sending them back to conditions that are so dangerous that even the State Department advises against travel to their home countries.”

When Donald Trump was president during his first term, he attempted to end TPS for several countries, including Haiti. Court cases were blocked during his presidency.

When Joe Biden was president, he designated Venezuela as part of TPS, covering 600,000 migrants. It was expanded to Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti and Ukraine.

Haiti was first designated the protection after the magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010. The nation faces widespread hunger and gang violence.

Two years later in 2023, he extended protections for those from Venezuela and Haiti.

When Trump became president again in January, Noem sought to reverse the extension for Venezuela and then sought to terminate the designation entirely. Haitians also were included, as well as those from other countries.

“As a matter of law, the Secretary lacked the implicit authority to vacate,” Chen wrote. “Even if she had such authority, there is no genuine dispute that she exceeded that authority.”

The National TPS Alliance and Venezuelan TPS holders in February challenged Noem’s decisions.

“From Day 1, Secretary Noem acted with a sole intent of stripping TPS-holders of their legal status whether or not there was a basis for it,” Emi MacLean, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Northern California, which represented the plaintiffs, said in a statement to The Washington Post. “This decision recognizes the illegality of that. As a result, TPS protections should go back into effect immediately.”

Sept. 1 (UPI) — Russia is suspected of interfering with the Global Positioning System of a jet carrying European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union said Monday

She was in a chartered jet Sunday headed from Poland to southern Bulgaria as part of a tour of eastern EU countries, including “front line” states of Latvia, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and Romania bordering Russia and Belarus. She was expected to discuss defense readiness as part of the tour.

Bulgaria borders Romania and is 1,000 miles from western Russia.

Despite no functional GPS, the plane landed safely at its intended airport in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, though pilots relied on paper maps, the Financial Times reported.

Von der Leyen, accompanied by Bulgarian Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, visited an arms producer in Sopot.

On Monday, she traveled to Lithuania and Romania.

“We have received information from the Bulgarian authorities that they suspect that this was due to blatant interference by Russia,” Arianna Podesta, deputy spokesperson of the commission, said in a statement obtained by Politico.

“This incident underlines the urgency of the president’s current trip to frontline member states, where she has seen firsthand the everyday threats from Russia and its proxies.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Bulgaria’s information was “incorrect.”

Bulgaria’s government explained how the plane landed at the airport.

“Air Traffic Services immediately proposed an alternative landing approach using ground-based navigation aids [Instrument Landing System],” the Bulgarian government said in a news release. “The ground-based navigation aids used in Bulgaria are independent of GPS systems. We further clarify that there was no need to divert the flight.”

Without correct GPS information, there is a risk of colliding with other planes or unintentionally flying into the ground, water or other object.

“Threats and intimidation are a regular component of Russia’s hostile actions,” the European Commission said, adding they would “ramp up our defense capabilities and support for Ukraine.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, GPS jamming has worsened, Cyrille Rosay, a senior cybersecurity expert at the European Union Aviation Safety Agency, told the BBC.

The BBC reported no proven link has yet been established between Russia and GPS jamming.

Bulgaria, which was a satellite state in the Soviet Union with Russia until the collapse in 1989, has had a “noticeable increase” in GPS incidents, the nation’s Air Traffic Services Authority said.

In March 2024, a British air force plane carrying Defense Secretary Grant Shapps had its GPS signal jammed while flying close to Russia’s Kaliningrad between Poland and Lithuania. Legitimate signals are replaced with fake ones, indicating an incorrect location.

“They have gone from isolated incidents to being normalized,” Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Program, told the BBC. “No one has been willing or able” to convince Moscow to stop an expanding “campaign of interference.”

Airlines operating around the Baltic coast in the last few years in three countries — Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia — have reported tens of thousands of jamming incidents.

Aug. 31 (UPI) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday that the world’s two largest economies should be “partners and not rivals” as Russian President Vladimir Putin made his way to a summit in the city of Tianjin with the leaders.

Meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Modi and Xi “noted the need” to strengthen ties between their populations by resuming direct flights and tourist visa approvals, India’s Press Information Bureau said in a statement.

Flights between the countries have been paused since deadly clashes between their troops in the Himalayas in 2020 over a longstanding border dispute. The visit marks Modi’s first trip to China in seven years, though the pair met in Kazan in 2024, which Xi praised Sunday as the “restart of China-India relations.”

“India is willing to work with China to seek a fair, reasonable, and mutually acceptable solution to the border issue,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in its own statement Sunday. China noted that the border remains “peaceful and stable,” but no timeline was given for when the flights might resume.

Modi noted that India and China both pursue strategic autonomy, and their relations “should not be seen through a third country lens,” India’s statement said. China echoed that sentiment, stating that “bilateral relations will not be influenced by third parties.”

“The two leaders deemed it necessary to expand common ground on bilateral, regional, and global issues and challenges, like terrorism and fair trade in multilateral platforms,” India’s statement reads.

Essentially, the Indian government expressed that India and China are seeking non-U.S.-centric alignment on their shared interests in a “multi-polar” world,” despite their differences in other areas. China’s Foreign Ministry further highlighted their roles as important members of the “Global South.”

“China and India, two ancient Eastern civilizations, are the world’s two most populous countries, and important members of the Global South,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the meeting. “Being good-neighborly friends and partners for mutual success and achieving a ‘Dancing of the Dragon and the Elephant’ should be the right choice for both China and India.”

The summit comes after President Donald Trump placed stiff sanctions on India for continuing to buy Russian oil as Russia faces the threat of U.S. sanctions for the war in Ukraine. Putin is also seeking to project a united front with India and China as internal tension in his country over the cost of the war grows.

Russia’s economy has been under growing strain as inflation, currently hovering around 9%, continues to bite, having been fueled by Putin’s wartime expenditures and the ongoing effects of Western sanctions.

On July 25, the Bank of Russia lowered its main interest rate by 2 percentage points, bringing it down to 18% per year, because inflation is easing faster than expected and the economy is gradually stabilizing with price growth slowing significantly earlier in the year, it said in a press release.

The bank said, however, that monetary policy will stay tight for a while. On average, the central bank expects interest rates to stay between 18.8% and 19.6% for 2025, then ease to about 13% in 2026 to make sure inflation continues to fall to its official 4% target by 2026.

Russian economists believe the country can sustain its war efforts for another year or so but new sanctions from the Trump administration, like those on India, could hurt Putin’s war effort.

Other members of the summit include Pakistan and Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also met with Xi ahead of the summit and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is also expected to attend.

Aug. 27 (UPI) — A summer offensive by Russian forces has succeeded in penetrating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s home region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time, with troops capturing two villages in the southeastern corner of the province.

The Russians occupied Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka, the BBC and The New York Times said, after breaking through from neighboring Donestsk following months of heavy fighting for control of cities in the west of the province and were now battling to establish a foothold in Dnipropetrovsk.

The Russian gains by infantry backed by drones and other fire support were confirmed Tuesday by “DeepState,” a real-time mapping project with links to the Ukrainian military, and the Russian Defense Ministry.

DeepState said that having entered the province, Russian forces were “now entrenching themselves, and accumulating infantry for further advances.”

Officially, Ukraine categorically denied it had lost more territory to Russia, which has been attempting to push westwards from Donetsk all summer.

“This is the first attack of such a large scale in Dnipropetrovsk region,” Viktor Trehubov, of the Dnipro Operational-Strategic Group of Troops, told the BBC, but insisted Ukrainian forces had halted the Russian advance.

The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement that its military “continues to control” Zaporizke and that “active hostilities are also ongoing in the area of the village of Novohryhorivka.”

The province is not one of the three, in addition to Donetsk, that Russia has partially occupied and claims as its own, including Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, but it has been pushing hard to capture more territory for much of the year, likely as leverage in peace negotiations being brokered by the United States.

However, while neither of the villages in question is strategically significant — the population of each is around 100 or fewer — losing them will be a further shock to the morale of Ukrainian forces already struggling against their more numerous and better-armed Russian adversaries.

Dnipropetrovsk, in Ukraine’s industrial heartland and the second most industrialized region after the Donbas, before most of it fell into Russian hands, holds a strategically key position, but analysts do not believe the Russians aim to take the whole province.

The Russian advance came as a flurry of diplomatic activity to capitalize on the Aug. 15 Alaska peace summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to be fizzling.

Putin was understood to have offered a deal that would involve Ukraine ceding additional parts of Donbas that Russia does not already control in exchange for ending the war, but efforts by Trump to organize a follow-up meeting between Putin and Zelensky have thus far been unsuccessful.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week poured cold water on prospects for a Putin-Zelensky summit, saying no meeting was planned and that Moscow would not accept security guarantees for Ukraine provided by the West, saying any such discussion that excluded Russia was a “road to nowhere.”

However, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has visited Moscow five times this year in pursuit of a deal, suggested Tuesday that peace efforts were still alive, announcing a meeting with Ukrainian officials in New York later this week and that “we talk to the Russians every day.”

Aug. 24 (UPI) — On the day celebrating Ukraine‘s independence, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada made a surprise visit to Ukraine where Ottawa and Kyiv entered several agreements centered on defending the besieged European nation from Russia.

Carney made the official visit to Ukraine at President Volodymyr Zelensky‘s invitation, reaffirming their strong and enduring partnership, a joint communique read. The visit occurred on the 34th anniversary of the restoration of Ukraine’s independence. Canada was the first Western country that recognized its independence and sovereignty in 1991.

During a joint press conference in Kyiv with Zelensky, the Canadian leader said when Ottawa made that decision to recognize an independent Ukraine more than three decades ago, it was choosing between clinging to the past in the name of stability and “to recognize Ukrainian independence in the name of freedom, fairness and democracy.”

“I’d underscore the world faces a similar choice today,” he said.

“At this hinge moment in history, Ukraine is, once again, at the frontline of the struggle for democracy and freedom,” he continued. “This is a critical moment where allies must step up and lead, and Canada is answering that call. Canada is, has and always will be a steadfast ally in Ukraine’s relentless pursuit of freedom.”

He reiterated the widely held belief of Western leaders that an investment in Ukraine’s defense is an investment in their own, reaffirming Canada’s commitment to Ukraine.

Four documents were signed between the two governments on Sunday.

Carney and Zelensky signed a security cooperation action plan, which covers implementing mechanisms for cooperating in military training, defense capabilities development, intelligence sharing and more. It specifically sets out steps for the implementation of an agreement signed between the two in February.

A letter of joint defense production intent was signed by the countries’ defense chiefs to co-produce defense materials in both Canada and Ukraine.

A mutual administrative assistance in customs matters agreement was also signed, along with the joint communique, which states Ottawa and Kyiv agree to initiate annual foreign affairs and defense ministries consultations among other actions.

A statement from Canada’s prime minister’s office states that among funding allocated Sunday includes more than $600 million to buy armored vehicles medical supplies and other “critical equipment” for Ukraine; $500 million to buy military equipment sourced from the United States through NATO, about $160 million for drone, counter-drone and electronic warfare capabilities; $120 million to support Canada’s work in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and $72 million to source ammunition and explosives through a Czech initiative.

Carney also announced $22.4 million for humanitarian assistance and investments in Ukraine’s democracy.

The amount equals the roughly $1.4 billion in aid that Canada pledge for Ukraine in February.

The visit occurs as the United States under President Donald Trump is pushing to secure a halt in the fighting in the nearly 3 1/2-year war if not a full peace agreement.

Zelensky has been seeking to confirm security guarantees from allies, and said during a press conference that followed a meeting between the two leaders that it is important to Ukraine that Canada participate at the same level as European countries, seeking assurances that Carney will deploy troops on the ground.

“We are counting on the presence of Canadian forces in Ukraine,” Zelensky said. “This is important for us.”

Carney said that the frontlines will be a “robust” Ukrainian military, and that they are working with ally nations through “the modalities of those security guarantees, on land, in the air and the sea, and I would not exclude the presence of troops.”

Ukraine officially declared independence from the former Soviet Union on Aug. 24, 1991.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — Potential security guarantees could end the three-year war between Ukraine and Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday.

Security measures after the war are in the works and will be ready soon after negotiating them with Ukraine’s U.S. and European partners, Zelensky said in a social media post.

“There is now a real chance to end this war, and Ukraine is ready for constructive steps that can bring true peace close,” Zelensky said on X.

“Russia is showing no intention of peace on its side and continues shelling our cities,” Zelensky continued.

“We interpret all signals coming from Moscow these days in the same way. Pressure is needed to change their position, as well as meeting at the highest level to discuss all issues.”

Zelensky announced the pending security guarantees after he had a phone conversation with Netherlands Prime Minister Dick Schoof.

U.S., European and Ukrainian representatives ramped up discussions of security guarantees after President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Alaska last week, Politico reported.

The bilateral meeting produced no tangible results, but they did affirm Putin’s reluctance to end the war that began when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Trump on Monday said a meeting between Zelensky and Putin is being planned, but Putin has not agreed to do so.

Trump met with European leaders on Monday and said they are working to arrange a bilateral meeting between the presidents of the two warring nations.

Meanwhile, Russia has continued its aggression against Ukraine, including an overnight aerial attack early Thursday that struck a U.S.-owned plant in the western Ukrainian city of Mukachevo.

The American-owned Flex manufacturing plant produces electronic goods, such as coffee makers, in western Ukraine.

There were no reports of casualties, but the manufacturing plant was destroyed.

That Russian attack involved 574 drones, 33 cruise missiles and six ballistic missiles, Ukrainian defense officials reported.

Air defenses shot down 546 of the attacking drones, 30 cruise missiles and one ballistic missile.