WORLD BRIEFING: September 27, 2023

• Russia's Defence Ministry has released a video showing the Black Sea Fleet's commander at a conference, despite Ukraine claiming to have killed him. It's not clear when the footage, where Viktor Sokolov appears on a video link with the defence minister, was filmed. The ministry said the meeting with senior officials happened on Tuesday. Ukraine special forces said on Monday Adm Sokolov and 33 other officers died in a missile strike on the fleet's HQ in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea. They did not name the admiral directly, nor did they offer any evidence that he had died. They now say they are "clarifying" the reports - BBC

• South Korea held its largest-scale military parade in downtown Seoul, the first such event in 10 years, to commemorate its upcoming Armed Forces Day. The parade comes amid heightened tensions between the two Koreas - VOA

• Costa Rica’s president has ordered a state of emergency, citing a surge of migrants crossing through the country toward the United States. “The people that arrive are passing across Costa Rica trying to get to the United States, basically,” President Rodrigo Chaves told a press conference Tuesday. According to Chavez, the people crossing through his country are from around the world, including Venezuela, Ecuador, China, Colombia, Haiti, Yemen, and Bangladesh - CNN

• Ukraine said Tuesday that Russian forces used 38 drones to attack the country overnight, and that some made it past Ukrainian air defenses and caused damage at a port in the Odesa region. Oleh Kiper, the governor of Odesa, said on Telegram that the Russian attack damaged port infrastructure in the Izmail area, which is a key part of Ukrainian grain exports on the Danube river. Kiper said the attack injured two people and damaged more than 30 vehicles. Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed 26 of the 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones deployed by Russia - VOA