Iran Releases Polish Scientist Held for Months 

Maciej Walczak. Nicolaus (Copernicus University)
Maciej Walczak. Nicolaus (Copernicus University)
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Iran Releases Polish Scientist Held for Months 

Maciej Walczak. Nicolaus (Copernicus University)
Maciej Walczak. Nicolaus (Copernicus University)

A Polish scientist held in Iran for months was released and returned home to Poland in December, a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Friday.  

Maciej Walczak, a researcher at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, central Poland, is "safe and sound and with his family", Lukasz Jasina said in a message to AFP, without elaborating. 

Copernicus University spokesman Marcin Czyzniewski said several months ago that Walczak had been held in Iran since September 2021. 



Night-time Russian Attack Kills 4 People in Ukraine's Capital

Firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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Night-time Russian Attack Kills 4 People in Ukraine's Capital

Firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Firefighters work on the site of a damaged building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital with a barrage of drones and missiles in the early morning on Saturday, leaving at least four people dead.

Russia launched 39 Shahed drones, other simulator drones and four ballistic missiles according to Ukraine’s Air Force. Ukrainian air defense forces shot down two missiles and 24 drones. A further 14 drone simulators were lost in location, the statement said.

The four were killed after a shot-down missile fell over the Shevchenkivskyi district, said Kyiv City Military Administration head Timur Tkachenko. There was also falling debris in the Desnyansky district, he said.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said that in the Shevchenkivskyi district, windows were broken and there was smoke at the entrance of a residential building, adding that a water supply pipeline was also damaged.

Klitschko also said the Lukyanivska metro station was shuttered after the attacks damaged its glass entrance.

Drones and missiles were shot down across Ukraine, in the Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Donetsk regions.