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Russia Drone Attack Hits Energy Facility in Ukraine’s Sumy Region

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers fire from the BM-21 "Grad" self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers fire from the BM-21 "Grad" self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
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Russia Drone Attack Hits Energy Facility in Ukraine’s Sumy Region

FILE - In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers fire from the BM-21 "Grad" self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday, July 1, 2024, Russian soldiers fire from the BM-21 "Grad" self-propelled 122mm multiple rocket launcher in an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

Russia launched an overnight drone attack across Ukraine on Saturday, hitting an energy facility in the Sumy region in the northeast of the country, officials said.
Ukrainian mobile drone hunter groups and air defense units shot down 24 of the 27 Russian drones fired on 12 regions, Reuters quoted the air force as saying.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said the energy facility in the Sumy region was damaged, forcing emergency electricity shut-offs for industrial consumers in the city of Sumy. Repair teams were working to restore supplies, it said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or other damage details from the regions.
Since March, Russian forces have intensified their bombardments of the Ukrainian power sector, knocking out the bulk of the thermal and hydropower generation and forcing long blackouts across the country. Ukrenergo planned scheduled cut-offs of electricity throughout the day across the country as domestic generation and electricity imports could not cover the deficit. Ukraine's energy system was already hobbled in the first year after Russia's invasion in February 2022. The power system lost about half of its available generation capacity due to the Russian missile and drone attacks in the past four months.

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Russia Has Decided 'at Highest Level' to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, October 4, 2024. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, October 4, 2024. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
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Russia Has Decided 'at Highest Level' to Remove Taliban from Terrorist List

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, October 4, 2024. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan's Taliban movement Amir Khan Muttaqi during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, October 4, 2024. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been "taken at the highest level", the state TASS news agency reported.
The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin's special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.
Putin said in July that Russia considered Afghanistan's Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.
Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.
No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the country's legitimate leadership.
Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow towards normalizing relations with Afghanistan.
The Taliban's acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a speech in Moscow that recent decisions by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to remove the former insurgents from a list of banned groups was a welcome step.
"We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon," he said.
In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain "pragmatic dialogue" with the current Afghan government.
"It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul," Lavrov said.
"Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul," he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Muttaqi and representatives of neighboring countries.
While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight ISIS, which is outlawed in Russia.
Muttaqi said that countries in the region should cooperate against the ISIS group, which he said had established training centers outside Afghanistan.
Lavrov said the United States should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country.
Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.
Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of fighters.
Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors have suffered recurrent attacks from militant groups linked to Afghanistan - most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by ISIS at a concert hall near Moscow.