Police Take Down ISIS-linked Servers Across Europe, US

A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back as they come under fire from ISIS militants in Mosul, November 16, 2016. (AFP / Odd Andersen)
A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back as they come under fire from ISIS militants in Mosul, November 16, 2016. (AFP / Odd Andersen)
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Police Take Down ISIS-linked Servers Across Europe, US

A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back as they come under fire from ISIS militants in Mosul, November 16, 2016. (AFP / Odd Andersen)
A commander from the Iraqi Special Forces 2nd division calls his men back as they come under fire from ISIS militants in Mosul, November 16, 2016. (AFP / Odd Andersen)

Police across Europe and the United States have in the past week taken down a large number of servers that supported media outlets linked to ISIS, European police and justice organizations Europol and Eurojust said on Friday.

Servers were taken down in the US, Germany, the Netherlands and Iceland, while Spanish police arrested nine "radicalised individuals", the organisations that coordinated the actions said, Reuters reported.

The servers supported websites, radio stations, a news agency and social media content with a global reach, they added.

"They communicated directives and slogans of ISIS in over thirty languages, including Spanish, Arabic, English, French, German, Danish, Turkish, Russian, Indonesian and Pashto. Several terabytes of information were uncovered," Europol and Eurojust said.



Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
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Zelenskiy Presents New Joint Forces Commander to Ukraine Troops

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy listens to Ukrainian service members during his visit to a frontline, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine June 26, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via Reuters)

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presented the new joint forces commander on Wednesday to troops defending the eastern frontline region of Donetsk.

Zelenskiy announced on Monday he was appointing Brigadier-General Andriy Hnatov to the post, which involves strategic planning of operations, replacing Lieutenant-General Yuri Sodol who had faced criticism over serious military setbacks.

Hnatov's main tasks include "preserving as many fighters' lives as possible" while repelling the invading Russian forces, Zelenskiy said in a video address posted on social media.

One of his meetings during the trip addressed security and support for the people of the Donetsk region, including water provision, social issues and evacuation, Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskiy recorded the video address against the backdrop of a city sign of Pokrovsk, along part of the front that has seen some of the most intense fighting during Russia's 28-month-long full-scale invasion.

In the video, he expressed surprise that some relevant government officials had not visited the region in six months or more.

"There will be a separate conversation in Kyiv, particularly with officials who must be here and in other areas near the frontline – in difficult communities where people need immediate solutions," Zelenskiy said. "Solutions that simply cannot be seen from Kyiv."

Zelenskiy and his army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi also listened to reports from frontline positions.

Ukraine's military has found itself on the back foot this spring as Russian forces opened a new front in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in May and continued to press Ukrainian forces in other directions.