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Israel, Ukraine Deny Report Bennett Recommended Yielding to Russian Demands

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem March 6, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem March 6, 2022. (Reuters)
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Israel, Ukraine Deny Report Bennett Recommended Yielding to Russian Demands

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem March 6, 2022. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett attends a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem March 6, 2022. (Reuters)

A top Ukrainian adviser and an Israeli official on Saturday pushed back against a media report suggesting Israel tried to nudge Ukraine into caving to Russian demands during talks.

Israel has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

A report carried by Israel's Walla news, the Jerusalem Post and US news site Axios had suggested, citing an unidentified Ukrainian official, that Bennett had urged Ukraine to give in to Russia.

Israel, "just as other conditional intermediary countries, does NOT offer Ukraine to agree to any demands of the Russian Federation," Ukrainian adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter. "This is impossible for military & political reasons. On the contrary, Israel urges Russia to assess the events more adequately."

A senior Israeli official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, called the report "patently false".

"At no point did Prime Minister Bennett advise President Zelenskiy to take a deal from Putin - because no such deal was offered to Israel for us to be able to do so," the official said.

"Bennett has at no point told Zelenskiy how to act, nor does he have any intention to."

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World

US Hits Remaining Parts of Iran’s Aviation Sector with Sanctions in Latest Move to Isolate Tehran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference, as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville, North Carolina, US, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference, as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville, North Carolina, US, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Hits Remaining Parts of Iran’s Aviation Sector with Sanctions in Latest Move to Isolate Tehran

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference, as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville, North Carolina, US, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference, as finance ministers and central bank governors from G20 countries meet in Asheville, North Carolina, US, September 1, 2026. (Reuters)

The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions on additional aspects of Iran's aviation industry, targeting more than two dozen commercial and private airlines as well as foreign cargo service providers in its new push to isolate Tehran from its remaining trading partners.

The latest actions are part of the Trump administration’s Operation Economic Outcast campaign that is aimed at severing “critical financial lifelines” for the already heavily sanctioned Iranian government.

The new penalties are focused on the remaining facets of Tehran's already beleaguered aviation ecosystem, which has been under countless sanctions from Washington for years.

“Let this be a warning to anyone doing business with Iran’s remaining airlines, all of which we sanctioned today: You are at risk of being cut off from the global financial system,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release.

The Trump administration accused the 36 entities targeted this week of supporting Tehran’s efforts to use its aviation sector to move weapons, personnel, and illicit cargo.

It also claimed that private entities based in Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan and Malaysia have provided parts and logistics services to Iran’s Mahan Air.

The airline has been subject to US counterterrorism sanctions since 2019 for its support for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the State Department has designated a foreign terrorist organization.

World

Russia Says Putin, Trump Had ‘Frank’ Call After US Envoys Visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to acting governor of Tver region Vitaly Korolyov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to acting governor of Tver region Vitaly Korolyov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
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Russia Says Putin, Trump Had ‘Frank’ Call After US Envoys Visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to acting governor of Tver region Vitaly Korolyov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to acting governor of Tver region Vitaly Korolyov during their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026. (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US counterpart Donald Trump had an "extremely frank" phone call on Tuesday, after US negotiators visited Moscow over the weekend, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters, including AFP.

Steve Witkoff, who is Trump's business ally, and Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, visited the Russian and Ukrainian capitals at the weekend for talks with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a one-hour call on Tuesday, Putin and Trump "exchanged views on the outcome of the visits", Ushakov said.

The talks brought no immediate breakthrough in the four-and-a-half-year war that is Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.

Ushakov said Putin presented to Trump an "objective and detailed analysis" of the frontline situation.

The Kremlin leader routinely says his troops are advancing across the entire front, with the capture of the entire eastern Donbas a matter of time.

He also "pointed out what the Americans could realistically do to bring the hostilities to a swift conclusion," Ushakov said, without elaborating.

Moscow has shown no signs of dropping its maximalist conditions to end the war, including a demand that Ukraine cede territory in the east that Russia's troops have not captured.

Putin also told Trump that Russia had "no aggressive plans" towards Europe, Ushakov said.

The Kremlin has over the summer been accused of ratcheting up a sabotage campaign against Ukraine's European backers -- accusations it has denied.

"In view of the speculation regarding Russia's alleged hostile intentions towards European states, it was emphasized that we have absolutely no aggressive plans whatsoever towards Europe," Ushakov said.

"The myths being spread about the Russian threat serve as a pretext for Europeans to ramp up support for Ukraine and their own military spending," he added.

Fueling the concerns over Russia's intentions, CIA chief John Ratcliffe paid a surprise visit to Moscow in late August, with US media reporting he warned Russia against attacking any NATO country.

World

Serbia Crosses ‘Red Line’ as War Criminal Funeral Sparks Outrage

A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
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Serbia Crosses ‘Red Line’ as War Criminal Funeral Sparks Outrage

A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)
A photograph taken on September 7, 2026 shows a monument reading the figure "8372...", representing the minimum recorded number of victims of the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre at the Srebrenica-Potocari Genocide Memorial and Cemetery in Potocari, near Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. (AFP)

Bosnia's foreign minister on Tuesday expelled two Serbian diplomats and accused Belgrade of crossing "every red line" after several of its officials attended a funeral for war criminal Ratko Mladic.

At least six Serbian ministers were among thousands that attended Monday's funeral service which openly praised Mladic, who died last month in The Hague while serving a life sentence for war crimes committed during the Bosnian war.

The scenes in the capital of a European Union candidate country also drew condemnation from outside the Balkans, with EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa labelling the attendance of Serbian officials "deeply regrettable".

"Serbia's path into the European Union requires an unequivocal commitment to fundamental European values and historical truth," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X.

Bosnia's foreign minister Elmedin Konakovic said he had ordered the defense envoy and an adviser of Serbia's intelligence service to leave the country.

Earlier he said he would recall Sarajevo's embassy staff from Serbia in an attempt to cut diplomatic ties to the "lowest possible level".

"They crossed every red line with what they did yesterday, the day before, and in the days leading up to the reception," Konakovic told a press conference in Sarajevo.

- 'Lip service' -

Despite Mladic's convictions, Serb nationalists and pro-government media still embrace him as a hero. Mourners wore shirts emblazoned with his face and held banners praising the former general during Monday's event.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who did not attend the funeral, has rejected allegations of glorifying Mladic and insisted that the service was organized by the family, not the state.

But the attendance of ministers, alongside the use of soldiers and a government plane to bring Mladic's body to Belgrade has sparked outrage.

"If this is not state involvement, what is?" Emir Suljagic, the director of the Srebrenica memorial center, said on X.

Mladic was sentenced for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Bosnia's 1990s war -- including his role in the killing of some 8,000 people in Srebrenica.

Suljagic said the statements from Brussels were not enough.

"We have had enough of people paying lip service to the victims while proceeding to shake hands with politicians dreaming of future genocides," he said.