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UN Calls on Iran to Avoid ‘Unnecessary Force’ on Protesters

In this Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP)
In this Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP)
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UN Calls on Iran to Avoid ‘Unnecessary Force’ on Protesters

In this Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP)
In this Sept. 19, 2022, photo taken by an individual not employed by the Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran, a police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of a young woman who had been detained for violating the country's conservative dress code, in downtown Tehran, Iran. (AP)

The United Nations Secretary-General called on Iran early Wednesday to refrain from using “unnecessary or disproportionate force” against protesters as unrest over a young woman's death in police custody spread across the country.

Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that authorities should swiftly conduct an impartial investigation of the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, which has sparked unrest across Iran’s provinces and the capital of Tehran.

“We are increasingly concerned about reports of rising fatalities, including women and children, related to the protests,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in a statement. “We underline the need for prompt, impartial and effective investigation into Ms. Mahsa Amini’s death by an independent competent authority.”

Protests have spread across at least 46 cities, towns and villages in Iran. State TV reported that at least 41 protesters and police have been killed since the protests began Sept. 17.

An Associated Press count of official statements by authorities tallied at least 14 dead, with more than 1,500 demonstrators arrested.

Dujarric added that Guterres stressed the need to respect human rights, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association during the meeting with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on September 22nd.

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Russia Pushes Ukrainian Troops from One of Their Last Footholds in Kursk Region, Army Says

A handout photo made available by the acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Khinshtein shows the governor during his visit to Pogrebki, Kursk region, Russia, 07 April 2025. (EPA/Alexander Khinshtein/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Khinshtein shows the governor during his visit to Pogrebki, Kursk region, Russia, 07 April 2025. (EPA/Alexander Khinshtein/Handout)
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Russia Pushes Ukrainian Troops from One of Their Last Footholds in Kursk Region, Army Says

A handout photo made available by the acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Khinshtein shows the governor during his visit to Pogrebki, Kursk region, Russia, 07 April 2025. (EPA/Alexander Khinshtein/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the acting Governor of the Kursk region Alexander Khinshtein shows the governor during his visit to Pogrebki, Kursk region, Russia, 07 April 2025. (EPA/Alexander Khinshtein/Handout)

Russia is close to regaining full control of its western Kursk region after pushing Ukrainian forces from one of their last footholds there, the regional governor and state media said on Tuesday.

Russia's Defense Ministry released video of what it said was the recapture of the settlement of Guyevo set to dramatic music, showing smoke rising into the air from various buildings, a soldier waving the Russian flag from the window of a heavily damaged Orthodox church, and Russian troops carrying out house-to-house checks in case any Ukrainian soldiers were hiding.

Reuters was able to verify the location of the video from file and satellite imagery of the area, but not the date.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Russia has been trying to eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk since August last year after Kyiv's troops mounted a surprise incursion that embarrassed President Vladimir Putin and which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hoped would give him a bargaining chip in any future talks.

But Russia has retaken a swath of territory inside Kursk in recent weeks, pushing Ukrainian forces closer towards the border. It has also begun to take territory in Ukraine's neighboring Sumy region after Putin spoke of the possibility of carving out a buffer zone.

Alexander Khinshtein, the governor of Kursk who was appointed by President Vladimir Putin in December, said the raising of Russia's flag in Guyevo meant Russian forces were on course to regain control of the region "very soon".

Citing an unnamed source in the military, the state TASS news agency said that Russian forces only had to push Ukrainian troops out of two more settlements - Gornal and Oleshnya - in order to retake the entire region.

The Defense Ministry said its forces had defeated Ukrainian troops in fighting around the two settlements, but suggested they remained under Ukrainian control. Reuters could not verify the battlefield claims.

Ukraine's authoritative DeepState war map shows Ukraine in control of about 58 square kilometers (22 square miles) of Russian territory in Kursk, down from as much as 1,400 square kilometers claimed by Kyiv last year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed for the first time on Monday that Ukrainian troops have also been active in Russia's adjacent Belgorod region.

He said the aim of Ukrainian activity in Russia's border areas was to protect Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions from Russian aggression and said that "the war must return to where it came from".

Russia's war in Ukraine has left hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, displaced millions of people, reduced towns to rubble and triggered the sharpest confrontation for decades between Moscow and the West.

Russian commander Apti Alaudinov was quoted by the state RIA news agency as saying on Friday that the situation in the Belgorod region was "under control" after the Ukrainian army tried to break through the border around two weeks ago.