World Briefing: September 30, 2023
Ukrainian strike destroys radar station in Russia's Kursk region. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) used a drone to destroy the Russian radar system Kasta in the Kursk region on Sept. 28, Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske reported on Sept. 29, citing its source in the SBU - Kyiv Independent
Armenia says more than 100,000 people have fled Nagorno-Karabakh since Azerbaijan's seizure of that breakaway territory a little over a week ago, while Yerevan has appealed to a UN court to stop Baku from allegedly targeting ethnic Armenians there. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's office told journalists early on September 30 that authorities had registered 81,139 of the 100,417 people who had left Nagorno-Karabakh so far -- the latter representing more than three-quarters of the higher estimates of the territory's entire population. The update came hours after Armenia said it had filed a suit with the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) to prevent the targeting of ethnic Armenians amid signs of a roundup by Baku amid the massive exodus a week after Azerbaijan seized Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning offensive - RFE/RL
Moscow and Kyiv said on September 30 they had shot down dozens of airborne attacks over their respective territories overnight as the furious pace of nighttime air assaults continued, with Russia appearing to focus on Ukrainian ports and Ukraine's war planners pushing their southern and eastern counteroffensive.
The US is urging Serbia to withdraw what it says is a large military build-up on the country's border with Kosovo. It follows an attack last Sunday during which some 30 gunmen were involved in a gun battle with Kosovo police in the Serb-majority northern Kosovo. In the past months, tensions have been rising between Kosovo's minority ethnic Serb and majority Albanian communities - BBC
The Ukrainian General Staff said early on September 30 that defensive operations continued in eastern and southern regions while its forces were engaged in offensives near Bakhmut in the east and in Melitopol in the southern region of Zaporizhzhya. Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had intercepted all nine missiles that it claimed Ukraine fired into its western Belgorod region. It said the attack was with Uragan (Hurricane) multiple-launch rocket systems. In Ukraine, air alert sirens blared in cities and towns across the southern and eastern parts of the country around 1:30 a.m. local time on September 30, followed by explosions far from the front lines including in the central region of Vinnytsya. At least one explosion was also reported in Kramatorsk, where the Ukrainian military's rear base is located for the frontline eastern region of Donetsk - RFE/RL
Food prices worldwide, experts say, will be determined by the interplay of three factors: how El Nino plays out and how long it lasts, whether bad weather damages crops and prompts more export restrictions, and the future of Russia's war in Ukraine. The warring nations are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food, especially to developing nations where food prices have risen and people are going hungry - VOA