Europe

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Moscow is concerned about the tendency of the US, UK and French representatives to abuse their powers in the UN Security Council, including when it comes to peacekeeping efforts, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after the council adopted a resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: Russian forces destroyed a sea drone in the Black Sea that Kiev had launched in an attempt to strike the Crimean Bridge, the Russian Defense Ministry told reporters.

"At 11:15 p.m. Moscow time on September 1, the Kiev regime attempted a terrorist strike on the Crimean Bridge with a semi-submersible uncrewed surface vessel. The Ukrainian sea drone was timely detected and destroyed in the waters of the Black Sea," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces destroyed up to 115 Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen in the Zaporozhye direction in the last day, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

"Up to 115 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored combat vehicles, four vehicles, two M-777 artillery systems, and a US-made M-119 gun, as well as two howitzers: Msta-B and D-20, were destroyed in a day," the report said.

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/: The Russian Armed Forces hit two command and observation posts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as an enemy communications center in the Donetsk People's Republic, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday.

KYIV, Sept 2 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday that Kyiv's troops were "moving forward" in their counteroffensive against Russian forces, rebuffing Western officials who say that Ukraine is gaining ground too slowly.

The much-vaunted counteroffensive, which is nearing the three-month mark, has retaken more than a dozen villages but no major settlements with soldiers hampered by vast Russian minefields and defensive lines.

KYIV, Sept 2 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian court ordered tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering on Saturday, a striking move against one of the country's most powerful businessmen.

The detention of Kolomoisky, who is under U.S. sanctions and is a one-time supporter of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whose election he backed in 2019, comes as Kyiv is trying to signal progress during a wartime crackdown on corruption.

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed a suggestion by a junior coalition partner that the country should keep open the option of using its closed nuclear power plants, declaring that atomic energy is a “dead horse” in Germany.

Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors in April, completing a process that received wide political support after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in 2011. But some argued for a rethink after energy prices spiked because of the war in Ukraine.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said Saturday its forces destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.

One naval drone was destroyed late Friday and two others early Saturday morning, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials.

ROME (AP) — A former Italian premier, in an interview published on Saturday, contended that a French air force missile accidentally brought down a passenger jet over the Mediterranean Sea in 1980 in a failed bid to assassinate Libya’s then leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Former two-time Premier Giuliano Amato appealed to French President Emmanuel Macron to either refute or confirm his assertion about the cause of the crash on June 27, 1980, which killed all 81 persons aboard the Italian domestic flight.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Foundation on Saturday withdrew its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions.”