The United States and Poland on June 10 launched an international operation based in Warsaw whose mission is to help Ukraine counter Russian disinformation. James Rubin, a senior U.S. diplomat responsible for countering disinformation, and Tomasz Chlon, a Polish diplomat tasked with the same mandate, took part in a ceremony inaugurating the new Ukraine Communications Group. The group, which begins its work on June 11, will comprise representatives from 12 countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Finland, Italy, and Ukraine, Rubin said. The goal will be to try to detect and debunk Russian disinformation campaigns aimed at weakening support for Ukraine globally.

Poland will reintroduce a buffer zone at its border with Belarus, the Deputy Interior Minister Czeslaw Mroczek said on June 10. The zone will be introduced on June 13 and will span 60 kilometers along the two sections of the border with the highest number of illegal crossing attempts. Most of the buffer zone will extend 200 meters into Polish territory, but it will expand to 2 kilometers in the Bialowieza forest, Mroczek said. Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a plan to reintroduce the buffer zone following the fatal stabbing of a Polish soldier by a migrant along the border fence.

Hungary has detained 32 Ukrainian citizens who fled across the border in a truck, the Ukrainian border guard agency said on June 10. Hungary “reported that they had discovered a vehicle and detained 32 Ukrainian citizens,” Ukrainian border guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told news site Ukrayinska Pravda. Demchenko said the truck is not believed to be from the Ukrainian military despite its green paint and black license plate. Martial law was imposed in Ukraine following the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, and men of conscription age are barred from leaving the country, although many attempt to flee into neighboring EU states and Moldova.

The United States on June 10 announced sanctions on 10 individuals and vessels that the Treasury Department suspects of aiding Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Yemen’s Huthi rebels through illicit oil transport. Among the sanctioned vessels are the Panama-flagged Bella 1 and Janet, which a Treasury Department press release said have supported the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Sanctions also again targeted Sa’id al-Jamal, who is suspected of running a shipping network and financing the IRGC-QF, the Huthis, and Syria. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said the U.S. government was “committed to disrupting and degrading the Huthis’ ability to engage in attacks.”

Iranian authorities have announced the commencement of the campaign season for upcoming early presidential elections amid a judicial crackdown on media outlets accused of misrepresenting election coverage.

State broadcaster IRIB said electoral debates are scheduled to begin on June 17, with five planned through June 25, three days before voters head to the polls in a snap election, which was called following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month.

This announcement of the campaign comes amid reports that the Tehran prosecutor's office has taken legal action against two local media outlets, Hashieh News and Bamdadno, on charges of distributing what the judiciary calls "false news" about the elections.

Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran's judiciary, warned media and all candidates -- both the group of six who qualified to contest the election, and more than two dozen others whose candidacies were rejected -- of avoiding “actions” that could be “exploited” by foreign entities.

Furthermore, Ejei cautioned various media platforms against engaging in “defamatory speech, spreading lies, or disturbing public opinion,” as they could end up suffering legal consequences.

Last week, the Iranian government issued strict guidelines in which any content deemed to be aimed at discouraging voter turnout or promoting election boycotts, as well as organizing any form of unlicensed protest gatherings, strikes, or sit-ins, is now classified as "criminal."

The rules mimic previous election mandates and carry severe punishments, including the potential for as many as 74 lashes for those found in violation.

In a significant show of political dissent, Ali Larijani, a prominent figure and former speaker of parliament, publicly criticized the Guardian Council's opaque disqualification practices.

Larijani, who was disqualified from the 2021 presidential race allegedly due to his daughter's residence in the United States, penned an open letter expressing his grievances.

SEE ALSO:

Iran's 'Highly Engineered' Race For Presidency Dominated By Hard-Liners

The Guardian Council's list of approved candidates notably excludes several key figures from the current and former administrations, paving the way for a predominantly conservative slate of candidates for the upcoming election.

Five of the candidates are considered hard-liners and conservatives. Only one is a reformist candidate.

Observers said the vote is likely to be a straight fight between two hard-liners: Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Saeed Jalili, an ultraconservative former chief nuclear negotiator and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's representative on the Supreme National Security Council.

The election comes against a backdrop of widespread public disillusionment, with decreasing voter turnout blamed on allegations of noncompetitive electoral processes.

In recent elections, the authorities severely limited the playing field by disqualifying most moderate and reformist candidates, which may have contributed to the low voter participation seen in recent balloting.

Rights groups have complained of an intensified clampdown on public expressions of discontent since Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and several others died in the helicopter crash in a mountainous region of northwestern Iran on May 19 while returning from an official visit to Azerbaijan.

Ursula von der Leyen will face some challenges to secure another five-year term as European Commission president, but her chances appeared good after her European People's Party (EPP) strengthened its grip as the largest faction in the European Parliament in elections across the European Union’s 27 countries that culminated on June 9.

As far-right parties celebrated big gains, Von der Leyen, speaking in Berlin on June 10, cast the results in a positive light for the EPP, which will remain the largest bloc in the 720-member parliament. The initial results show it is possible to "withstand the pressure from the extremes," she said.

Despite the shift to the right, von der Leyen, a member of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, was among the main winners in the election. The 65-year-old saw the center-right EPP increase the number of seats it holds in the European Parliament as centrist forces maintained an overall majority in the legislative branch of the 27-member bloc located in Strasbourg.

"We won the European elections," von der Leyen told her grouping as the results were announced, crediting the EPP's record of delivering for the public and managing crises for giving it "the strength to have this good result."

She appeared in prime position to secure another term at the helm of the European Union’s executive, the European Commission, but she will have to get a majority of European Union national leaders to support her and shore up enough support in the new parliament.

As the new parliament takes shape, EU leaders are preparing for a summit on June 17 at which they are expected to have an initial discussion on the nomination before deciding whom to nominate at another summit held in Brussels on June 27-28.

Vassilis Ntousas, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund, said there’s no question about the gains of far-right parties in four days of voting.

“What we saw was some key high-profile wins for the far right, no question about it,” Ntousas told RFE/RL. “France is perhaps the most pronounced of those examples.”

The far-right gains prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve parliament and announce new national elections immediately after his party’s losses to Marine Le Pen's National Rally were clear on June 9.

But Ntousas said the broader picture shows the far right had modest gains across the bloc and in some countries didn't do as well as preelection polling predicted. The centrist majority that has “really set the tone when it comes to EU policies has held,” he said.

On von der Leyen's chances to win reelection, Ntousas said the odds are with the incumbent, but it remains to be seen what effect the French parliamentary elections will have on the process.

Meanwhile, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her party’s seats in the European Parliament.

"It is a resounding result," Meloni said on June 10 of the gains made by the far-right Brothers of Italy despite a historically low turnout of 49.69 percent.

"It is very important politically and also moving personally," she told Italy’s RTL radio, noting that elsewhere in Europe governing parties had suffered in the polls.

"Italy is going completely against the trend," she said.

Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), which had been hounded by scandals, still rallied enough seats to sweep past the slumping Social Democrats of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Scholz said the gains far-right parties made are worrying and should not become normalized. He added that Germany's coalition parties cannot "go back to business as usual" to win voters back.

The AfD on June 10 said its top candidate, Maximilian Krah, will be excluded from the party's delegation at the European Parliament because of the scandals.

Krah has been accused of having suspicious links to Russia and China, and he touched off a furor by making comments minimizing the crimes of the Nazis. Krah will still enter parliament, but the AfD delegation will be led by Rene Aust. The scandals surrounding the AfD resulted in the party's expulsion from the far-right group within the European Parliament.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters

More than a dozen tents blocked traffic on a main avenue outside Armenia's parliament on June 10 as supporters of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian pressed their demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian's government over its territorial concessions to Azerbaijan.

It is the evolving opposition's latest tactic in a confrontation that began in the northeastern province of Tavush in April as Armenia and Azerbaijan began the demarcation process of their heavily militarized border following an agreement announced by Yerevan and Baku.

"This is the first step of the no-confidence process or the first step of the impeachment process," Galstanian told journalists on June 10, one day after he called in front of thousands of people at a rally in Yerevan for four days of nonstop street protests. "I ask you to ask the deputies about legal solutions and steps."

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Protesters Camp Out In Yerevan, Calling For Prime Minister's Ouster

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The National Assembly was set to open a new session later in the afternoon next to Baghramian Avenue where green tents were pitched under light rain.

Pashinian, whose Civil Contract party has a two-thirds majority in parliament, has remained defiant under nearly two months of pressure.

Under Armenia's constitution, at least one-third of lawmakers can initiate a no-confidence vote against the prime minister in parliament, provided they also name a candidate who will replace them.

Police have closed several streets leading to the anti-government encampment to avoid disruptions to parliament or a spillover in other parts of the capital.

Galstanian has vowed that the police presence won't intimidate protesters.

At one point late on June 9 a heated verbal exchange broke out between Galstanian, a nationalist priest from one of the embattled border regions who has bridged the divide between faith and government to lead the most serious challenge so far to Pashinian's six-year reign as prime minister.

The outspoken head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church said that nonstop street protests were needed to "impose our will."

Armenia recently handed over four abandoned villages that used to be part of Soviet Azerbaijan but which came under Armenian control in the early 1990s during the first Armenian-Azerbaijani war.

The handover followed two intense flareups in the past four years in which Azerbaijani forces retook Nagorno-Karabakh from Yerevan-backed ethnic Armenian forces as well as surrounding districts.

The demarcation, which was formally completed on May 15, alters the boundary in a way that affects the infrastructure of a number of Armenian border villages, which the Armenian government has pledged to fix within weeks.

Local populations have expressed fears of possible further Azerbaijani attacks after the Armenian military withdrawal from their positions held for over three decades.

But the Pashinian government insists that having a demarcated border in itself is an assurance against further conflict.

The chief of aviation in Ukraine's Air Force says some of the dozens of advanced F-16 aircraft pledged to Kyiv by Western allies will be stored abroad to avoid them being hit in Russian attacks in Ukraine.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Brigadier General Serhiy Holubtsov told Donbas.Realities of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service in an extended interview that such warplanes abroad will help maintain an operational fleet corresponding to the country's Western-trained pilot corps.

"There are a certain number of aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases, outside of Ukraine, so that they are not targeted here," Holubtsov said, "And this will be our reserve in case of need for replacement of faulty planes during routine maintenance."

President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have stepped up warnings since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022 that they might target Ukrainian war assets stationed abroad, although doing so could risk escalation with NATO.

The storage abroad of planes or other Ukrainian military assets could "pose a serious danger of NATO being drawn further into the conflict," Putin said last year.

NATO and its members' leaders, including most recently German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on June 2, have repeatedly warned they are prepared "to defend every square inch" of alliance territory.

The head of the Russian Duma's Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, was quoted by RIA Novosti last week as saying NATO bases hosting Ukrainian F-16s would be regarded as "legitimate targets."

Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway have combined to pledge more than 60 F-16s to Ukraine since Washington reluctantly gave approval for the U.S.-designed planes to be provided by allies.

But Holubtsov said more countries could do so as they gradually replace aging F-16s with F-35 aircraft.

The New York Times reported in March that Ukraine might receive just six out of dozens of the U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets promised by its Western allies by July, in part because Ukraine wasn't fully prepared to maintain or fly them despite the ongoing training of Ukrainian pilots in the West.

Holubtsov said his estimate of the number of F-16 squadrons needed to gain air superiority locally was evolving especially with the provision of U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missile systems playing "a major role" that could combine with F-16s as the latter became available.

Ukraine has struggled to defend the area around the northeastern city of Kharkiv since a new Russian offensive began there as Kyiv's allies ran into delays in hoped-for provision of weapons, artillery, and other military equipment.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration recently said it had changed its approach to allow Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike at Russian forces and other legitimate military targets in Russia.

The chief of Ukraine's Restoration and Infrastructure Development Agency, Mustafa Nayyem, has resigned just a day before a major conference aimed at rebuilding the country once the war with Russia ends. Nayyem wrote on social networks on June 10 that he made the decision "due to systemic obstacles that prevent me from effectively carrying out my duties." He said that, since November, his team has faced "constant opposition" and "resistance" to carrying out the duties of the agency, including a decision by the prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, to cancel his participation in the conference. An influential public figure and journalist, Nayyem had led the agency since January 2023. Before that he served as deputy infrastructure minister from August 2021. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, click here.

A Moscow court adjourned to an unspecified date the trial of theater director Yevgenia Berkovich and playwright Svetlana Petriichuk, who are charged with justifying terrorism, after Berkovich felt unwell and an ambulance was called to the courtroom on June 10. The two women have maintained their innocence in the trial, which started on May 20. Berkovich and Petriichuk were arrested last year following a production of the play Finist -- The Brave Falcon. The play is about Russian women who married Muslim men and moved to Syria. If convicted, the women face up to five years in prison each. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Russian Service, click here.

A military court in Moscow on June 10 sentenced the former owner of the Saturn soccer club, Oleg Medvedev, to life in prison on charges of murder, banditry, and the organization of a criminal group. Medvedev is a kingpin, a person who holds the highest position in the criminal hierarchy in the former Soviet Union: thief-in-law. He is known in criminal circles as Shishkan or Oleg Ramensky. Three of his 17 co-defendants were also sentenced to life in prison, while others were handed various prison terms, including suspended ones. Medvedev's group was found guilty of killing a municipal lawmaker in the city of Ramesnakoye near Moscow, Tatyana Sidorova, and three members of her family in 2012. To read the original story by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, click here.

The lawyer for an Italian woman whose shackling in a Hungarian court over charges she attacked neo-Nazis whipped up tensions between Budapest and Rome has said her client will seek freedom from Hungarian house arrest after her apparent election to the European Parliament on the list of an Italian Left-Greens Alliance. Teacher and left-wing activist Ilaria Salis, 39, could face a long prison sentence in her ongoing trial over alleged violence to counter a radical right-wing rally in Hungary in February 2023. Italy's Il Messaggero newspaper quoted lawyer Eugenio Losco and Green Europe spokeswoman Angela Bonelli as saying a request for immunity was certain after her confirmation as a member of the Europan Parliament (MEP). Italy summoned Hungary's ambassador after Salis was led into the courtroom in chains in January in a move Rome said went "too far."

Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Khrenin said in a statement on YouTube on June 10 that his country’s armed forces were taking part in the second phase of Russian exercises to practice the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons. Khrenin claimed that the drills were being held "to guarantee security" for Belarus and the Union State of Belarus and Russia. The first phase of the exercises, ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin, were held in southern Russia in May. Putin's move was seen as an attempt to deter the West from providing weapons to Ukraine to assist Kyiv's efforts to resist Moscow's full-scale invasion.

The former commander of NATO's bombing campaign to protect ethnic Albanians and force a withdrawal of Serb-led Yugoslav troops from Kosovo in the late 1990s has warned of ongoing obstacles to stability and dangerous Russian "ambitions" in the Balkans.

Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark told RFE/RL's Kosovo Service that Serbia and its former province Kosovo remain at cross purposes and "Serbia is a magnet, drawing Russian imperialist ambitions into Europe."

Serbia continues to reject the independence that Kosovo declared in 2008, and more than a decade of Western-mediated talks aimed at normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina have mostly stalled over recognition and representation for Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority.

"Serbia doesn't want peace, and Kosovo doesn't want to surrender its independence," Clark said in an interview coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the end of the 79-day NATO bombardment during Kosovo's war of independence.

Belgrade has worked with UN Security Council permanent member Russia to oppose partially recognized Kosovo's membership in international organizations, with support from China.

Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic has bolstered trade, energy, and diplomatic relations with Russia and avoided joining sanctions on Moscow since President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, irritating the EU candidate country's Western partners.

SEE ALSO:

'Sad, Shameful, And Terrifying': Anti-War Russians Fear Expulsion From Serbia

Belgrade's relations with Pristina have also soured further over cross-border violence, boycotted elections and walkouts, and currency and other crackdowns in Serb-majority areas of northern Kosovo.

Russia has helped fuel resistance to postwar borders and institutions in the former Yugoslavia, including through appeals to Christian Orthodoxy and historical and linguistic ties particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Clark warned that there cannot be stability between Kosovo and Serbia until "Moscow withdraws its imperialist ambitions from the region."

"Until then, you're not going to have stability and the chance for people to reconcile and move forward," Clark added.

He said Serbia was serving as "an agent of infection in the region, in North Macedonia, in Montenegro, and elsewhere" and he warned of the risk of further violence in the region.

SEE ALSO:

Serbian, Ethnic Serb Leaders Urge Unity, But Avoid Mention Of Separation From Bosnia

“The way out is Russia's defeat in Ukraine, to take the Russian backing of Serbia down to a different level," Clark said, "so Serbia understands its future's with the West. When Serbs understand that, there'll be no problem with Kosovo."

Clark was NATO's supreme allied commander Europe during the air campaign targeting mostly Serbian targets, including in Belgrade, that ended on June 10, 1999, after the signing of the Kumanovo Agreement withdrawing then-Yugoslav forces from Kosovo and establishing an international peacekeeping force there amid accusations of ethnic cleansing.

Kosovo has been criticized by its Western partners over Prime Minister Albin Kurti's increasingly assertive policies, including a ban on dinar transactions despite wide use of the Serbian currency in mostly Serb-populated areas and expropriations of land.

SEE ALSO:

New Serbian Government To Keep East-West 'Two Chairs' Policy

Pristina has also refused to lay a legal foundation for an association of Serb-majority municipalities despite a pledge in the so-called Brussels Agreement in 2013.

Clark said that "nations have to do what's in their own interest" and appeared to question the essential need for such an association.

"I think for it to open the way to extraterritoriality for Serbia any more than it has north of the Ibar River is extremely damaging for the future of the people in Kosovo," Clark said, citing Serbs' past use of Orthodoxy as a "focal point for rebellion or repression or aggression."

"And so, I think it's better for everyone in the region if we don't push the association, but instead hope and work for these two governments to have normalized diplomatic relations," Clark said.

"There's always a mix of ethnic groups, but the best way for peace is to respect national boundaries."

Karim Masimov, a once-powerful politician who twice served as Kazakhstan's prime minister, has officially asked President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev for clemency from a treason conviction dating to when he was the chief of the National Security Committee (KNB).

Informburo.kz website quoted KNB officials on June 10 as saying that Masimov, who is serving an 18-year prison sentence on charges of high treason and attempting to seize power during unrest in 2022, had filed papers asking for a presidential pardon in March.

The officials added that Masimov still faces charges of bribe-taking and money laundering, which are currently under investigation.

Masimov, a close ally of former President Nursultan Nazarbaev, was jailed in April 2023 over his role in deadly events that followed unprecedented anti-government protests in the former Soviet republic in January 2022.

The protests began in the southwestern town of Zhanaozen in January 2022 over a sudden fuel price hike. But the demonstrations, fueled by anger over corruption, political stagnation, and widespread injustice, quickly grew.

Much of the protesters' ire appeared directed at Nazarbaev, who ruled Kazakhstan from 1989 until March 2019, when he handed over power to President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev. However, Nazarbaev was widely believed to remain in control behind the scenes.

The protests were violently dispersed by police and military personnel, including troops of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization whom Toqaev invited into the country claiming that "20,000 extremists who were trained in terrorist camps abroad" had attacked Almaty.

The authorities have provided no evidence proving Toqaev’s claim about foreign terrorists.

With reporting by Informburo.kz

Authorities in Russia's Tatarstan region on June 10 suspended operations for three hours at the international airport in Kazan "for security reasons." In recent weeks, the airport has suspended operations several times because of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting military and industrial locations in the region. In April, drones hit an oil refinery and a dormitory in the Alabuga special economic zone in Tatarstan that hosts more than 20 industrial enterprises, including chemical, mechanical engineering, and metal treatment factories. It also reportedly houses a facility that produces drones. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Idel.Realities, click here.

In the latest show of force against Russian forces in occupied Crimea, the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces on June 10 claimed to have successfully struck three Russian antiaircraft missile systems.

The Ukrainian military reported that one S-400 antiaircraft missile division in the Dzhankoya area and two S-300 antiaircraft missile divisions near Chornomorskiy and Yevpatoria were destroyed and an “immediate shutdown of S-300/S-400 complex radars was recorded.”

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on these reports, but Russian telegram channels say that Russian air defenses shot down at least four ballistic missiles over Crimea. The claim has yet to be verified.

The strikes come ahead of a June 15-16 peace summit on Ukraine, which Swiss President Viola Amherd said will bring together nearly 90 countries and organizations. Participants in the peace summit are expected to discuss the front lines of the war with Russia amid conflicting claims of success.

Speaking in the Swiss city of Bern on June 10, Amherd said that participants in the summit -- about half of whom will be heads of states or governments -- will look to find an avenue to halt the fighting that has raged for more than two years after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbor.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

"This is not propaganda," Amherd told journalists. "This is about the basis of humanitarian aid provided by Switzerland...and to initiate a dialogue."

While French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz are expected to attend the summit, officials from China and Russia will be notably absent from the event.

Some governments say the process is flawed without the participation of both sides in the conflict. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Brazilian special adviser Celso Amorim have signed a statement calling for negotiations “recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.”

Moscow was not invited and says the process is meaningless without its participation. Ukraine says Russia's presence would only distract and create obstacles to making progress in charting a course to peace

Some governments say the process is flawed without the participation of both sides in the conflict. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Brazilian special adviser Celso Amorim have signed a statement calling for negotiations “recognized by both Russia and Ukraine.”

Ahead of the summit, intense fighting has seen both sides make claims on the battlefield.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is helping arrange the June 15-16 Swiss summit, said in a video message on social media late on June 8 that Ukrainian forces were "restraining" Russia's advance in the area and "destroying the Russian units that enter our land and terrorize the Kharkiv region."

RFE/RL was not able to independently verify the claim, but U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan told CBS TV that while Kharkiv "is still under threat," the Russians "have not been able to make material progress on the ground in recent days in that area."

Russian forces began an offensive in the Kharkiv region along the Russian-Ukrainian border on May 10, in an action that the Kremlin has described as a bid to establish a "buffer zone" to protect Russian territory from cross-border strikes by Ukraine.

On June 10, meanwhile, a local official in the Sumy region -- to the northwest of Kharkiv -- denied claims by Ramzan Kadyrov, the authoritarian ruler of Russia's North Caucasus region of Chechnya, that Russian forces led by a Chechen-based special forces unit had seized control of the town of Ryzhivka.

Fighting has also been particularly intense around the town of Vovchansk, which the Ukrainian military says remains "largely" under Ukrainian control.

Ukraine's HUR military intelligence service reported on June 9 that a drone attack the previous day on an airfield in Russia's Astrakhan region had damaged an advanced Su-57 multipurpose fighter. The Su-57 is Russia's most modern fighter and is capable of striking with Kh-59 and Kh-69 cruise missiles.

"The damage to the Su-57 is the first such case in history," the HUR statement said, noting that the Akhtubinsk airfield is located nearly 600 kilometers from the front line in Ukraine.

Belarusian state TV on June 7 broadcast what it said was an interview with the wife of RFE/RL journalist Ihar Losik, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence for charges that he, RFE/RL, and foreign governments have called politically motivated.

Darya Losik, who herself has been jailed on a charge of facilitating extremist activity, is seen in the recording, which RFE/RL determined took place in March.

The video features hidden camera footage recorded the moment Darya Losik entered the prison in Homel where she was sent to serve her two-year sentence. The charge stemmed from her interview with the Poland-based Belsat television channel, which Minsk has labeled as extremist.

Dayra Losik speaks in the interview about the threat of "removing the child from the family," but it is not clear whether she is referring to the Losiks' 5-year-old daughter, Paulina, who has been cared for by Darya's parents since she was sent to prison.

Darya Losik also said in the interview that she filed for divorce, and that she had been working in a factory sewing uniforms for security forces.

It was impossible to verify her statements, and RFE/RL opted not to show the video on its channels or quote any of her other statements because it is not known how they were obtained.

State television has broadcast other interviews with other prisoners taken into custody during anti-government protests that appeared to have been staged.

The Vyasna human rights group said on Telegram that the authorities claimed that Darya Losik wanted to give an interview in order to "tell the truth about herself and what was done to her."

Vyasna's Telegram message showed Darya Losik's yellow ID badge, which indicated she is to be released on August 1, 2024.

Ihar Losik was arrested in June 2020 and sentenced to 15 years in prison in December 2021 on several charges, including "organizing mass riots, incitement to social hatred," and several other charges that remain unclear. He has maintained his innocence and calls all charges against him politically motivated.

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Ahead Of Verdict, Parents Of Jailed Belarusian Blogger Losik Say He's 'Not Guilty Of Anything'

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Losik has been held incommunicado since February 20, 2023. He has been placed several times in a cell-type premises (PKT) where letters, parcels from relatives, and visits are banned.

Kazakh authorities have arrested Kyrgyz citizen Alina Gorshenina at Russia's request, media reports in Kyrgyzstan and Russia say. According to the reports, the 29-year-old single mother is wanted in Russia for allegedly threatening Moscow Judge Yelena Morozova and Moscow prosecutor Yelena Koloskova, who took part in a court hearing in January 2021 that ordered the arrest of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny. Gorshenina's mother, Larisa Gorshenina, confirmed to the Novosti Bishkeka newspaper that her daughter was arrested at a Kyrgyz-Kazakh border checkpoint on June 1. Kazakh authorities have yet to comment on the situation. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

Kyrgyz prosecutors on June 10 asked a Bishkek court to convict and hand down lengthy sentences to 27 members of a Kyrgyz group who are on trial for protesting a border deal. The prosecutors asked for 20 years in prison for each of the defendants along with the confiscation of their property and assets. The 27 were arrested in 2022 and charged with organizing mass unrest and plotting to seize power after they protested a deal that saw Kyrgyzstan hand over the Kempir-Abad reservoir to Uzbekistan. Many were later transferred to house arrest. The trial is being held behind closed doors as case materials were designated classified. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, click here.

BUDAPEST -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed victory for his long-ruling Fidesz party after European and local elections on June 9, but a former loyalist mounting a more EU-friendly challenge said his new party's success marked the start of a political breakthrough.

Orban's national-populist Fidesz party won the European voting with 44 percent, with nearly all the votes counted, but lost one of its seats in the European Parliament as defector Peter Magyar's fast-rising Respect and Freedom (Tisza) party appeared to control nearly 30 percent with counting nearly complete early on June 10.

Fidesz will still hold 11 of Hungary's 21 European Parliament seats, but Tisza looked set to win seven of its own MEP mandates and further its softer line in contrast to Orban's near-constant feuding with Brussels.

Tisza's rise appeared to erode Fidesz's base among voters slightly but dealt an even heavier blow to the longtime center-left opposition leader, the Democratic Coalition (DK).

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Explainer: Magyar Emerges As Challenger To Orban In European Elections In Hungary

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But the broader opposition appeared to hold onto many of the mayoral posts it grabbed in 2019.

In a neck-and-neck race for the mayorship of the capital, Budapest, leftist-green incumbent Gergely Karacsony appeared to hold a lead over the Fidesz-backed David Vitezy of just hundreds of votes with 95 percent of the more than 700,000 votes counted and a recount almost certain.

Elections officials reported record-high turnout, with more than 57 percent of registered voters casting ballots at 10,199 polling stations.

Orban responded to his party's worst showing in the European voting amid the relatively high turnout by saying there were two elections and his party won them both.

"Today we defeated the old opposition, we defeated the new opposition, and it doesn't matter what the current opposition is called, we will always defeat it again and again," Orban, who has governed with a parliamentary supermajority since 2010, said in his election-night speech.

But Magyar congratulated his seven successful candidates for the European Parliament and hailed mandates in 10 local assemblies in the capital.

"What is apparent is that this is the Waterloo of the Orban power machine, the beginning of the end," the 43-year-old lawyer who split from Fidesz in February to campaign on eliminating corruption said.

"What happened here is a political ground-breaking, no matter how you twist it," Magyar said. "What happened here in the last two months? Lies and truth confronted each other."

Orban's Fidesz party is not affiliated with any group in the European Parliament but it hoped to benefit in the election from a rise in far-right sentiment across the continent.

The number of far-right lawmakers in the European Parliament increased sharply after the vote, according to initial projections.

SEE ALSO:

Despite Shift To Far Right In EU Vote, Von Der Leyen Says Centrists Held Against 'Extremes'

Magyar's party has presented itself as a more centrist and constructive alternative to Orban's brand of "illiberal" populism.

Magyar has said he will join the center-right European People's Party (EPP), which is set to be the largest grouping in the European Parliament.

Orban has angered many leaders in the European Union with perceived attacks on democracy and the bloc's founding principles and inclusivity, his opposition to EU sanctions on Russia and military aid for Ukraine, and his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Fidesz campaign relied heavily on Hungarians' fears of being drawn into the war in neighboring Ukraine.

WATCH: RFE/RL asked voters in Budapest about the ruling Fidesz party's campaign suggesting that its political rivals would draw Hungary into war.

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Can EU Elections Make 'Peace'? Hungarian Voters Divided Over Government Campaign

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The election was also a test for the controversial Sovereignty Protection Office (SZH), established in February and which has waded into the campaign to publicly denigrate individuals and groups and criminalize candidates over accusations of foreign funding and influence.

Magyar has served in the Foreign Ministry and in Hungary's permanent representation to the EU. Until 2023, he was married to Judit Varga, a prominent Fidesz member and the former justice minister.

He emerged as a challenger after his ex-wife became embroiled in the case of a presidential pardon for an accessory to serial child sexual abuse that cost former President Katalin Novak her job.

Hungary's next general elections are scheduled for 2026.

Iranian authorities have imprisoned two prominent figures from Tabriz and opened a case against another, a well-known actor and presenter, for their activism.

Milad Jalili, a rapper and singer, and Salar Taherafshar, a civil activist, both from the northwestern city of Tabriz, have been transferred to prison to commence sentences handed down earlier. They were out on bail before being summoned by authorities and subsequently detained and sent to prison.

Jalili, known artistically as "Ilshan," was sentenced to eight months for a performance supporting Azerbaijani political prisoners. Taherafshar faces six months for his role related to the same event.

Both were initially arrested in December 2023 after Jalili's performance and charged with "propaganda against the regime" by the Tabriz Revolutionary Court.

An appellate court in April upheld the conviction of Jalili, who had appealed.

Separately, in Tehran the judiciary charged popular entertainer Hossein Pakdel with "insulting" the late Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and former President Ebrahim Raisi over a social media post in which Pakdel criticized political leaders using food metaphors.

The post, which mocked the political elite as being transformed into "rubber steaks" and "special diet cutlets." The term "cutlet" has gained a subversive edge in Iranian political discourse since Soleimani’s killing by a U.S. drone strike. It is often used to signify obliteration.

Pakdel, who has enjoyed a long career as a presenter for Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and has also managed the Tehran auction, has been outspoken in his criticism of a crackdown on human rights.

The charge is part of a broad campaign of suppression in response to the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests in 2022, where many artists and popular cultural activists were similarly targeted.

Following the helicopter crash on May 29 that killed President Raisi, there has been a wave of arrests of social media users for insulting him. Among those arrested was Reza Babarnejad, the brother of Mehdi Babarnejad, a victim of the "Women, Life, Freedom" protests, who was detained on June 1.

Additionally, on June 4, the Kerman provincial judiciary information center announced that 254 people had been given "telephonic warnings and guidance" by the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guards, and judicial summonses were issued for eight individuals over "insulting" content.

Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL's Radio Farda

Washington's limited policy change permitting Ukraine to use U.S.-provided weapons to strike some Russian military targets in a small area within Russian territory is not enough in itself to disrupt Russia's large-scale operations, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a report. The ISW said on June 9 that the move by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden had reduced the size of Russia’s ground sanctuary by only 16 percent at maximum. This has "effectively created a vast sanctuary...which Russia exploits to shield its combat forces, command and control, logistics, and rear-area support services that the Russian military uses to conduct its military operations in Ukraine," it said.

SOFIA -- The conservative GERB-SDS coalition led by former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov was leading all parties but had only around one-fifth of the vote as counting continued in Bulgaria's sixth election in the past three years, with no sign of an easy path to power for any side.

Turnout appeared to be a record low at just around 32 percent, marking the first time in Bulgaria that participation was higher for the European elections than for the national balloting.

With 93.53 percent of votes for the Bulgarian parliament counted early on June 10 according to the Central Election Commission's official website, GERB-SDS was well ahead of all other parties with 24.63 percent of the vote, in a contest that could bring the populist Borisov -- who has been accused of corruption by the opposition -- back to power.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) was second at 15.89 percent. DPS has traditionally represented the Turkish and Muslim population in the country but is now led for the first time by an ethnic Bulgarian billionaire, Delyan Peevski, who has been hit by sanctions for alleged corruption by the United States and Britain.

There has been speculation that GERB-SDS and DPS could seek to form a government, but the partial results so far suggest they would need at least eight or so seats to reach the 121 seats needed for a majority in the legislature.

The reformist We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition (PP-DB), GERB's erstwhile partner in the outgoing coalition government, was third at 14.81 percent.

The pro-Russian Revival party (Vazrazhdane) was in fourth at 14.04 percent.

During the balloting on June 9, Borisov expressed doubts that any party or coalition will be able to form a new government based on early indications of voting.

"From the morning voting, I do not see how a government can be formed after these elections," Borisov said after casting his ballot in Bankya, a small town outside of Sofia.

He added that it did not appear likely that his GERB party would be in line for enough parliamentary seats to do it with any one potential partner and neither would the opposition with its allies.

"Either it's just us [GERB] or nobody, so there is no mathematics in this case," said Borisov, who declined to say who GERB would potentially nominate for prime minister.

With 93.35 percent of the ballots counted, GERB was also leading the concurrent voting for the European Parliament, GERB-SDS had 23.5 percent, ahead of PP-DB at 14.91 percent and Revival with 14.24 percent, and DPS with 13.48 percent.

Regardless of the outcome, Borisov is likely to remain an influential figure and potential power broker in the country.

Borisov has led three governments over the past decade, but his support has weakened amid allegations of corruption, links to oligarchs, and attacks on media freedom.

The reformist PP-DB coalition was expected to see a drop as many supporters deserted the party for its previous partnering with GERB.

PP-DB had agreed to work with its GERB rivals on a common pro-EU platform of ensuring that Bulgaria supports Ukraine's battle against the Russian invasion, but disagreements between leaders of the two parties mean a renewed coalition government appears unlikely.

Among the reasons for the breakup of the PP-DB-GERB partnership has been the PP-DB demand for reforms in the judiciary and in the security services, alleging that they have provided cover for organized crime and that they have not done enough to counter Russian influence.

GERB has been supported by DPS leader Peevski, who has been hit by sanctions for corruption by the United States under the Global Magnitsky Act, a move then matched by Britain. The pro-Ukrainian former media mogul is reportedly one of the richest people in Bulgaria.

SEE ALSO:

Former Bulgarian PM Blasts Powerful Oligarch Peevski As The Country's 'Biggest Evil'

PP-DB has claimed that GERB and DPS act as one party. "Anytime we had a meeting with Borisov, Peevski was already in the room," former PP-DB Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said.

If Borisov is unable to cobble together a government, another election -- the seventh in three years -- is likely, observers say.

A caretaker government led by Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev was sworn in by parliament on April 9 after being appointed by President Rumen Radev, who also announced the snap general elections for June 9.

Following elections in April last year, Bulgaria had a joint government supported by the pro-West, reformist PP-DB and Borisov’s GERB. They had agreed on an 18-month government with a rotation of prime ministers -- first Denkov from PP-DB and, after nine months, Maria Gabriel from GERB.

Denkov stepped down on March 5 to let GERB lead the government for the following nine months, as agreed. But Gabriel failed to form a government, and on March 27 Denkov also rejected Radev's invitation to try to put together a cabinet.

On March 28, the populist There Is Such a People (ITN) party also declined to attempt to form a government, thus setting up the June 9 election.

SOFIA -- Former Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's center-right GERB party appears to have won snap parliamentary elections, according to exit polls in Bulgaria's sixth such vote in the past three years, although it remains uncertain whether any party can cobble together a governing coalition.

Exit polls by Alpha Research and Gallup International gave GERB about 25 percent of the vote, far ahead of the second- and third-place parties in a contest on June 9 that could bring the populist leader -- who has been accused of corruption by the opposition -- back to power.

The exit polls showed several other groups trailing GERB, including the party's erstwhile partner in the outgoing coalition government, the reformist We Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria coalition (PP-DB), which was third at 14.3-15 percent.

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) was second in the polls at about 16 percent. DPS has traditionally represented the Turkish and Muslim population in the country but is now led for the first time by an ethnic Bulgarian, Delyan Peevski, who has been hit by sanctions for corruption by the United States and Britain.

The pro-Russia Revival party (Vazrazhdane) had around 14 percent.

The former communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) had just over 7 percent and the populist There Is Such a People just under 6 percent.

Official results were just beginning to trickle in after midnight.

Borisov earlier on June 9 expressed doubts that any party or coalition will be able to form a new government based on early indications of voting.

"From the morning voting, I do not see how a government can be formed after these elections," Borisov said after casting his ballot on June 9 in Bankya, a small town outside of Sofia.

He added that it did not appear likely that his GERB party would be in line for enough parliamentary seats to do it with any one potential partner and neither would the opposition with its allies.

"Either it's just us [GERB] or nobody, so there is no mathematics in this case," said Borisov, who declined to say who GERB would potentially nominate for prime minister.

As of 4 p.m., voter turnout for the parliamentary elections was 20.44 percent, election officials said, down from 27.3 percent in the April 2023 election.

Turnout for a simultaneous European Parliament vote was 20.89 percent, down from 39.8 percent the last time, although that count was taken an hour later at 5 p.m.

Preelection polls showed that GERB and its United Democratic Forces partner would receive the most votes, with 25 percent, potentially returning Borisov to power.

Regardless of the outcome, Borisov is likely to remain an influential figure and potential power broker in the country.

Borisov has led three governments over the past decade, but his support has weakened amid allegations of corruption, links to oligarchs, and attacks on media freedom.

The reformist PP-DB coalition was seen in preelection polls as getting about 15 percent, down from the 24.6 percent last time as many supporters may desert the party for its previous partnering with GERB.

PP-DB had agreed to work with its GERB rivals on a common pro-EU platform of ensuring that Bulgaria supports Ukraine's battle against the Russian invasion, but disagreements between leaders of the two parties mean a renewed coalition government appears unlikely.

Among the reasons for the breakup of the PP-DB-GERB partnership has been the PP-DB demand for reforms in the judiciary and in the security services, alleging that they have provided cover for organized crime and that they have not done enough to counter Russian influence.

SEE ALSO:

Pro-Kremlin Forces On Rise In Bulgaria Ahead Of European Elections

GERB has been supported by DPS leader Peevski, who has been hit by sanctions for corruption by the United States under the Global Magnitsky Act, a move then matched by Britain. The pro-Ukrainian former media mogul is reportedly one of the richest people in Bulgaria.

PP-DB has claimed that GERB and DPS act as one party. "Anytime we had a meeting with Borisov, Peevski was already in the room," former PP-DB Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said.

SEE ALSO:

Former Bulgarian PM Blasts Powerful Oligarch Peevski As The Country's 'Biggest Evil'

Borisov said that GERB would not partner solely with DPS to form a coalition.

GERB could turn to the MRF Turkish minority party, which also has about 15 percent in the polls.

If Borisov is unable to cobble together a government, another election -- the seventh in three years -- is likely, observers say.

"We are weary of elections, and we want some stability and some prosperity for the country," pensioner Margarita Semerdzhieva, 72, told AFP outside of a polling station in Sofia.

"I am voting for a better future," Antoaneta Hristova, 55, a marketing professional, told Reuters. "But, to be honest I think we are heading into more elections -- seven in three years. We have been the laughingstock of Europe for a long time."

A caretaker government led by Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev was sworn in by parliament on April 9 after being appointed by President Rumen Radev, who also announced the snap general elections for June 9.

Following elections in April last year, Bulgaria had a joint government supported by the pro-West, reformist PP-DB and Borisov’s GERB. They had agreed on an 18-month government with a rotation of prime ministers -- first Denkov from PP-DB and, after nine months, Maria Gabriel from GERB.

Denkov stepped down on March 5 to let GERB lead the government for the following nine months, as agreed. But Gabriel failed to form a government, and on March 27 Denkov also rejected Radev's invitation to try to put together a cabinet.

On March 28, the populist There Is Such a People (ITN) party also declined to attempt to form a government, thus setting up the June 9 election.

The vote is being held alongside EU elections.

Between June 6 and June 9, voters in all 27 EU member states went to the polls to elect 720 members of the European Parliament amid concerns by many leaders of a rise in far-right support in several countries.

The elections are held every five years, and each country is allotted a certain number of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in direct proportion to its population size.

Voters elect national parties, but after the elections, the MEPs organize into political groups in the European Parliament that align with their parties' political ideologies.

Opinion polls heading into the elections for the European Parliament put the coalition of two center-right parties, GERB and the Union of Democratic Forces, in first place.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters