Russia Says It Has Taken Control of Village on Outskirts of Ukraine’s Bakhmut 

Ukrainian servicemen check their Sweden made CV90 armored infantry combat vehicle on a position pointing in the direction of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on November 27, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Ukrainian servicemen check their Sweden made CV90 armored infantry combat vehicle on a position pointing in the direction of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on November 27, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Russia Says It Has Taken Control of Village on Outskirts of Ukraine’s Bakhmut 

Ukrainian servicemen check their Sweden made CV90 armored infantry combat vehicle on a position pointing in the direction of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on November 27, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Ukrainian servicemen check their Sweden made CV90 armored infantry combat vehicle on a position pointing in the direction of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region on November 27, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

Russia's defense ministry said on Wednesday its forces had taken control of a village in eastern Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region.

Khromove, which Russia calls Artyomovskoe, is on the western outskirts of Bakhmut, a city which Russia captured last summer after a months-long battle. The village had a pre-war population of 1,000 people.

Reuters could not independently verify the defense ministry's assertion and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.