In a new report, the U.S. State Department strongly criticizes Islamic State (IS) militants -- as well as the Russian, Iranian, and Azerbaijani governments -- for human rights abuses.

The 2014 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released on June 25, says one of the most notable trends of the year was the brutality of IS militants in Syria and Iraq against the Yezidi minority, Christians, Turkomans, Shabak, Shi'a, and Sunni Muslims who did not conform to their extremist views.

At the same time, the report noted the Iraqi government's inability to rein in abusive and criminal actions by pro-government Shi'a militia fighters in the so-called Popular Mobilization Committees that helped government troops battle against IS militants.

"The message at the heart of these reports is that countries do best when their citizens fully enjoy the rights and freedoms to which they are entitled," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in presenting the report in Washington. "This is not just an expression of hope, this is a reality and it has proven out in country after country around the world."

"Now we understand that some governments may take issue with these reports, including such extreme cases as North Korea or Syria, but also some governments with whom we work closely may also object," he continued. "But I want to say something about that and I think it is important: The discomfort that these reports sometimes cause does more to reinforce than to undermine the value and the credibility of these reports."

Russia

Russia's government came in for strong criticism not only for abuses within Russia's border but for its annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and its role supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

The report describes Russia's political system as "increasingly authoritarian" with "a range of new measures to suppress dissent within its borders."

It says Russian authorities "selectively employed the law on 'foreign agents,' the law against extremism, and other means to harass, pressure, discredit, and/or prosecute individuals and entities that had voiced criticism of the government."

It says Russia's government also continued to use laws against extremism to prosecute some religious minorities, and that it adopted several discriminatory laws against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons.

The report highlighted what it called a "growing recognition" of links between corruption, human rights abuses, and repressive governments -- saying corruption in Russia was "widespread throughout the executive, legislative, and judicial branches at all levels of government."

It also criticized the persecution in Crimea by "Russian occupation authorities" of the ethnic Tatar community, certain religious minorities, and others who opposed the occupation -- noting that many were forced to flee the peninsula.

It said Russian forces and Russian-backed separatists also shelled urban areas and committed "numerous other gross human rights abuses" in eastern Ukraine, including killings and abductions.

Iran

The State Department said Iran continues to severely restrict the freedoms of assembly, speech, religion, and the press.

READ MORE: U.S. To Continue Rights Sanctions Against Iran Regardless Of Nuclear Deal

It also noted that Iran had the world's second highest execution rate after "legal proceedings that frequently didn't respect Iran's own constitutional guarantee to due process or international legal norms."

WATCH: Tom Malinowski, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, says there has no improvement in human rights in Iran:

Azerbaijan

The State Department criticized Azerbaijan's use of the judicial system to punish peaceful dissent and critical journalists amid allegations of widespread corruption.

It says Baku's restrictions included "intimidation, incarceration on questionable charges, and use of force against human rights defenders, civil society activists, and journalists."

It noted an increased number of arbitrary arrests and detention in Azerbaijan along with politically motivated imprisonment, and lengthy pretrial detention for "individuals perceived as a threat by government officials."

It also lists "physical abuse in the military; torture or other abuse in prisons; and harsh and sometimes life-threatening prison conditions" among other serious human rights problems in Azerbaijan.

​Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the report says, the most significant problem was continued attacks on civilians by Islamic militants -- including violence that killed eight journalists and that targeted women.

It also noted ongoing human rights abuses committed by Afghan security forces.

Other serious abuses included torture and abuse of detainees, targeted violence, and discrimination against women and girls.

The report says while the situation of women "marginally" improved in 2014, domestic and international gender experts considered the country "very dangerous" for women.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan is described an "authoritarian state" where citizens are unable to change their government "through free and fair elections."

The report says authorities in Tajikistan continued to use torture against detainees and others during 2014 while repressing political activists and limiting the free flow of information.

It says human rights abuses also included "violence and discrimination against women, arbitrary arrest, denial of the right to a fair trial, and harsh and life-threatening prison conditions."

It noted there were very few prosecutions of government officials in Tajikistan for rights abuses.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

The U.S. State Department said government corruption remained among "most serious problems" in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2014, which it says resulted in "continued political and economic stagnation."

It also says some political leaders "manipulated deep-seated ethnic divisions" that weakened democracy and governance, undermined the rule of law, fostered discrimination in most aspects of daily life, distorted public discourse in the media, and obstructed the return of persons displaced by the 1992-95 conflict.

Iraq

At the same time, it noted the Iraqi government's inability to rein in abusive and criminal actions by pro-government Shi'ite militias that fought against IS militants.

Belarus

The State Department said authorities in Belarus have continued to "arrest individuals for political reasons and to use administrative measures to detain political activists."

It describes Belarus as an "authoritarian state" where "authorities arbitrarily arrested, detained, and imprisoned citizens for criticizing officials, participating in demonstrations, and other political reasons."

It says Belarus' judiciary suffered from "political interference and a lack of independence and trial outcomes often appeared predetermined."

It also says corruption in "all branches of government" remained a problem in Belarus during 2014.

Here's a look at the other countries in RFE/RL's broadcast region:

Armenia

The State Department says that “systemic corruption and lack of transparency in government” was a serious human rights problem in Armenia last year.

The report says “allegations of persistent corruption at all levels of government undermined the rule of law although the government took limited steps to punish corruption by low- and mid-level officials.”

The report also says that “limited independence of the judiciary, and limitations on the ability of citizens to change their government” were among other serious problems in the country.

Suspicious deaths in the military under noncombat conditions and continued hazing by officers and fellow soldiers were among other abuses cited in the report.

It also notes that there were several incidents of violence toward journalists in connection with citizens’ protests.

Georgia

The State Department says the most important human rights problems reported in Georgia during the last year included domestic violence and politically motivated violence and “increased societal intolerance” of members of minority groups.

The report also denounces interference with religious worship in the country and intimidation that prevented freedom of assembly.

The report adds that “persistent shortcomings” in the legal system led to “incomplete investigations, premature charging of suspects, and inappropriate use of pretrial detention.”

Other problems included abuse by law-enforcement officials, “substandard” prison conditions, and pressure on opposition figures to withdraw from local elections.

The report says de facto authorities in the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia continued to “restrict the rights, primarily of ethnic Georgians, to vote or otherwise participate in the political process, own property, register businesses, and travel.”

Kazakhstan

The State Department says Kazakhstan’s government limited freedom of expression last year and exerted influence on the media through "laws, harassment, licensing regulations, internet restrictions, and criminal and administrative charges."

The report says judicial actions against journalists and media outlets, including civil and criminal libel suits filed by government officials, led to the suspension of several media outlets and encouraged self-censorship.

The report warns that Kazakhstan’s parliament passed new criminal and administrative offenses codes as well as a new labor law, which it says have “the potential to further limit freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion.”

Other reported abuses included arbitrary or unlawful killings, detainee and prisoner torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, infringements on citizens’ privacy rights, prohibitive political party registration requirements, and restrictions on the activities of nongovernmental organizations.

Kosovo

The State Department says actions to block the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina was among the most important human rights problems in Kosovo in the past year.

The report also cites restrictions on such rights as freedom of movement and freedom of worship by Serbian Orthodox pilgrims.

The report says “societal violence and discrimination against members of ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community constituted a second significant area of concern.”

Domestic violence against women was a third major problem, it adds.

The report says the government took steps to prosecute and punish officials who committed abuses, but adds that “many assumed that senior officials engaged in corruption with impunity.”

Kyrgyzstan

The U.S. State Department says routine violations of procedural protections in all stages of the judicial process, and systematic, police-driven extortion of vulnerable minority groups, were among the most serious human rights violations in Kyrgyzstan last year.

The report also denounces a “continued denial of justice" in connection with deadly ethnic clashes in the southern city of Osh five years ago as a serious rights issue.

“Underscoring the country’s human rights problems was an atmosphere of impunity for officials in the security services and elsewhere in government who committed abuses and engaged in corrupt practices,” the report adds.

It also denounces torture, poor prison conditions, corruption, and pressure on independent media in the country.

Macedonia

The State Department says the most significant human rights problem in Macedonia last year stemmed from “significant levels of corruption” and from the government’s “failure to respect fully the rule of law.”

The report also says political interference, inefficiency, favoritism toward well-placed persons, and corruption characterized the country's judicial system.

Human rights problems also included physical mistreatment of detainees and prisoners by police and prison guards, discrimination against Roma and other ethnic minorities, societal discrimination against sexual minorities, and child labor.

The report also says the government "took some steps to punish police officials guilty of excessive force, but impunity continued to be a problem.”​

Montenegro

The U.S. State Department says corruption was among Montenegro’s most pressing human rights problems last year.

The report says corruption was pervasive in health care, education, and multiple branches of government including law enforcement.

It was characterized by impunity, political favoritism, nepotism, and selective prosecution of political and societal opponents, the report adds.

According to the report, Montenegro also suffered from a continued deterioration of the environment for nongovernment institutions, including the media and civil society.

Other human rights problems included mistreatment by law enforcement officers of persons in their custody, overcrowded and dilapidated conditions in prisons, and domestic violence against women and children.

Moldova

The State Department says corruption, particularly in the judicial sector, continued to be “the most significant human rights problem” in Moldova last year.

The report says corruption remained “widespread” in the judiciary, the Tax Inspectorate, the customs service, and other public institutions.

“Poor conditions, mistreatment, and abuse in psychiatric and social care homes were major areas of concern,” the report adds.

Other significant problems included “erosion of media freedom, the opaque ownership of media outlets, and increased monopolization of the media and the advertising market.”

According to the report, the human rights situation in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester “deteriorated in some respects, including through new restrictions on internet freedom.”

Pakistan

The U.S. State Department mentions serious human rights abuses in Pakistan, including “extrajudicial and targeted killings, disappearances, torture, lack of rule of law” and continued “sectarian violence.”

The report warns that harassment of journalists continued, “with high-profile attacks against journalists and media organizations."

Human rights problems also included “poor prison conditions, arbitrary detention, lengthy pretrial detention, a weak criminal justice system, lack of judicial independence in the lower courts, and infringement on citizens’ privacy rights.”

The report says “lack of government accountability” remained a problem while abuses often went unpunished, “fostering a culture of impunity.”

It adds that violence and intolerance by militant organizations contributed to “a culture of lawlessness” in some parts of the country.

Serbia

The U.S. State Department says the most serious human rights problem in Serbia last year included discrimination and societal violence against members of minority groups, especially Roma.

The report says harassment of journalists and pressure on them to self-censor was also a significant problem in the Balkan country.

Human rights problems also included police mistreatment of detainees, government censorship of the Internet, harassment of human rights advocates as well as government critics, and domestic violence against women and children.

It says the government took steps to prosecute officials when the public took notice of abuses, adding that many believed that numerous cases of corruption, police mistreatment, and other abuses went unreported and unpunished.

Turkmenistan

The State Department denounced human rights violations in Turkmenistan, including arbitrary arrest, torture, and disregard for civil liberties.

The report says officials in the security services and elsewhere in the government acted with impunity.

Human rights problems also included denial of due process and fair trial, discrimination and violence against women, trafficking in persons, and restrictions on the free association of workers.

The report says there were no reports of prosecution of government officials for human rights abuses.

Ukraine

The State Department said the most significant human rights developments in Ukraine last year were linked to antigovernment protests in Kyiv, Russia’s occupation of Crimea, and conflict in the country’s east.

The report says ousted President Viktor Yanukovych government’s decision to use force to disperse citizen protests in central Kyiv in February “resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, most by sniper fire from special security forces, and numerous injuries.”

The report says Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea in March “displaced more than 18,000 Crimeans, while Russian authorities committed “numerous human rights abuses, targeting ethnic and religious communities, particularly Crimean Tatars.”

The report says fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since April destabilized the region and resulted by year’s end in more than 4,700 civilian deaths. The toll is now more than 6,500.

Generally, the document says, actions by the rebels deprived more than 5 million people of “access to education, health care, housing, the opportunity to earn a living and to the rule of law," and forced more than 1 million people to leave the area.

Uzbekistan

The State Department accuses Uzbek officials of “frequently” engaging in "corrupt practices" with impunity.

The report also denounces serious human rights issues in Uzbekistan including, “torture and abuse of detainees by security forces,” denial of due process and fair trial,” and “widespread restrictions on religious freedom.”

It says Uzbek authorities subjected human rights activists, journalists, and others who criticized the government, as well as their family members, to harassment, arbitrary arrest, and politically motivated prosecution and detention.

Human rights problems also included restrictions on freedom of speech and on civil society activity as well as violence against women.

Tensions between India and Pakistan continue to mount after a top Pakistani official claimed to have "credible intelligence" that New Delhi is prepared to undertake military action against Islamabad following a militant attack in Kashmir.

"Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends carrying out military action against Pakistan in the next 24-36 hours," Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a video message posted on X in the middle of the night.

There was no immediate response from India to the claim. RFE/RL contacted India's External Affairs Ministry and Defense Ministry for comment, but has yet to receive an answer.

Tarar did not elaborate on what evidence Pakistan had used to make the claim, but added that Islamabad would respond "assuredly and decisively" to any Indian action.

"The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India," Tarar said.

The comments come just a week after militants massacred 26 people in the Himalayan mountain town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. The attack has sparked widespread outrage across India and brought nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan to the brink of conflict.

India quickly accused Pakistan of involvement in the attack and said two of the three suspected militants were Pakistani. Islamabad has flatly denied any responsibility and offered to carry out an investigation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has not issued public comments regarding any imminent plans for military action, but he met with his cabinet late on April 29. Indian media have reported, citing unnamed government sources, that Modi has given the country's armed forces "complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets, and timing of our response to the terror attack."

Why Are India And Pakistan On The Brink Of Conflict?

The April 22 terrorist attack was claimed by a little known group that calls itself the Resistance Front, but there has been no way to corroborate the claim made on social media. Indian officials say it is a proxy for the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, a United Nations-designated terrorist organization.

In the aftermath of the attack, India took a number of nonmilitary measures against Pakistan, suspending a vital water-sharing treaty, downgrading diplomatic relations, and asking Pakistani nationals to leave the country.

Islamabad announced similar retaliatory measures a day later.

The attack took place in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan control the region in part, but each claims it in full.

The two countries have fought three wars over the territory, which is now divided by a de-facto border called the Line of Control (LoC). The region has been hit regularly by militant violence since an armed anti-Indian insurgency began in 1989. Hostilities have claimed tens of thousands of lives over more than three decades.

Praveen Swami, the national-security editor at the Indian daily newspaper The Print, told RFE/RL that the situation remains fluid and both India and Pakistan are currently "prisoners of their own rhetoric."

He adds that there are discussions of potential targeted Indian missile strikes but there are concerns of the reaction it would illicit from Pakistan.

"India will be weighing its options and Modi may be looking to be a hawk, but they are weighing all the options before going for something," Swami said.

Amid the rising tensions and escalating rhetoric, Indian and Pakistani military forces in the region have exchanged gunfire across the LoC repeatedly over the past six days.

"We have reinforced our forces because it is something which is imminent now. So in that situation some strategic decisions have to be taken, so those decisions have been taken," Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told Reuters in an April 28 interview.

Pakistani state television also claimed Indian fighter jets conducted patrols near the border in Kashmir under its jurisdiction during the early hours of April 29.

How Are Countries Responding To India-Pakistan Tensions?

The UN warned of potentially "catastrophic" consequences on April 29 if the two countries escalated into war.

"The region and the world cannot afford a confrontation between India and Pakistan, which would be catastrophic for the two countries and for the world as a whole," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antontio Guterres, referring to the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

He said Guterres held separate phone calls with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India's foreign minister.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asked the two countries "not to escalate the situation," spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said during an April 29 press briefing.

She said Rubio would speak with both the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers "as early as today or tomorrow."

China, which itself claims control of part of Kashmir and has grown closer to Pakistan in recent years, has also urged restraint.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister last week, saying any conflict between Pakistan and India would "not serve the fundamental interests of each side" and posed a risk to regional security.

Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro late on April 29, killing one person and setting several homes on fire, the regional governor said.

"Dnipro residents remember last night as hell," Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram.

"[A person] was taken out and put on the grass and put in a black bag.... He was killed," a Dnipro resident told RFE/RL at the scene of the attack on the morning of April 30.

Earlier, Russian drones also struck Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said, adding that dozens of people had been injured, including two children and a pregnant woman.

The youngest injured was 5 years old, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Residential neighborhoods were hit, with apartment buildings, a hospital, and a school damaged," he added.

Meanwhile, a source from the Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) told RFE/RL that it was responsible for a drone strike on a Russian defense manufacturing facility in the Vladimir region.

According to a source in the SBU, the Murom Instrument-Building Plant, located 300 kilometers east of Moscow, specializes in the production of ammunition fuses, components, and products for the Russian Navy and military aviation.

"The Murom Instrument-Building Plant is on the sanctions lists of Ukraine and the EU because it plays a significant role in ensuring military aggression against Ukraine," said the source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Earlier, the ASTRA Telegram channel, citing sources in the Russian Emergencies Ministry, reported that a warehouse and a gatehouse of the facility had burned down.

On April 29, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod, reported that a Ukrainian drone strike targeted six localities and hit a vehicle on a highway, killing two and injuring at least three others.

Aleksandr Khinshtein, the governor of the neighboring Kursk region, said drones also struck the town of Rylsk, injuring three people and damaging three apartment buildings, a private house, and a kindergarten.

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that fighting in the Kursk region was ongoing as of April 29, according to Russian and Ukrainian sources.

"Russian forces continue efforts to push Ukrainian forces from their limited remaining positions in the area," the report added.

Elsewhere, South Korean lawmakers said on April 30 that about 600 North Korean troops have been killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine out of a total deployment of 15,000.

"After six months of participation in the war, the North Korean military has become less inept, and its combat capability has significantly improved," Lee Seong-kweun, a member of South Korea's parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters.

North Korea has suffered about 4,700 casualties so far, including injuries and deaths, Korean lawmakers said.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged the "significant contribution" of North Korean soldiers in the battle to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region following Kyiv's shock incursion into the border area last year.

On April 30, Ukraine's top commander, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said Russian forces had increased the intensity of fighting.

Russia is "stubbornly" trying to break through Ukraine's defenses and reach the border of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Syrskiy added.

In its morning report, the Ukrainian military reported 177 engagements over the past day, most of which occurred near the city of Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, an area less than 20 kilometers from the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Iran’s judiciary said it has executed Mohsen Langarneshin for allegedly spying for Israel and being involved in the high-profile assassination of an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) colonel in 2022.

In a statement on April 30, the judiciary described Langarneshin as a “high-ranking spy” for Israel who had “supported several Mossad operations in Iran.”

In addition to his alleged involvement in the killing of IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in May 2022, Langarneshin was also accused of playing a role in a January 2023 drone attack on a military factory in Isfahan.

Iran’s judiciary also claimed that Langaranshin had met twice with senior Mossad intelligence officers -- once in Georgia and once in Nepal -- and described him as a “highly trained operative” who had undergone “extensive espionage training and was fully capable of carrying out assigned missions.”

Foreign-based Iranian human rights-focused news outlet HRANA said on April 28 that Langarneshin had made three separate requests for a retrial, all of which were rejected.

The HRANA report said he was moved to solitary confinement in the Ghezel Hesar Prison on April 29, a day before his execution, and allowed a final visit with his parents.

His father, Masud Langaranshin, released a video stating that his son had been sentenced to death “without a fair trial” and that the case was riddled with “inconsistencies and legal flaws.”

Quoting a source close to Langaranshin, HRANA claimed that “he was pressured during detention to make forced confessions” implicating him in the assassination of Sayyad Khodaei.

A shadowy figure in the IRGC, Sayyad Khodaei was killed by gunmen outside his home in Tehran. Israeli media have described Sayyad Khodaei as a key figure behind “plots to kill Israelis and Jews” and to attack Jewish interests around the world.

In an annual report on human rights, Amnesty International said on April 29 that Iran "arbitrarily" executed hundreds of people last year as authorities "used the death penalty as a tool of political repression against protesters, dissidents and ethnic minorities."

A federal court has ordered the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to disburse funds for April to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty from the broadcaster’s congressional appropriation, amid a fight over winding down operations at a number of US-funded broadcasters.

US District Judge Royce Lamberth granted the temporary restraining order on April 29, writing that it was Congress that "ordained that the monies at issue should be allocated to RFE/RL," and that President Donald Trump signed the budget resolution appropriating those funds.

“Today’s ruling ordering USAGM to release one month's worth of the annual funds Congress appropriated to RFE/RL means that our journalists can continue doing their jobs holding dictators and despots accountable," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said after the ruling.

"We hope to receive April’s late payment quickly because RFE/RL was forced to furlough staff this month and cut back programming to regions crucial to American national security."

The USAGM is an independent government agency that oversees RFE/RL, Voice of America, and other US-funded broadcasters, which together distribute news and information in almost 50 languages to some 361 million people each week.

Hours after an executive order signed by President Trump on March 14 called for the reduction of seven agencies -- including USAGM -- to "the maximum extent consistent with applicable law," the agency claimed to terminate RFE/RL's congressionally appropriated funding for the 2025 budget year that ends on September 30.

RFE/RL called the move unlawful and initiated legal action against the USAGM over the move.

On March 25, the same US court granted an RFE/RL request for a temporary restraining order (TRO), ruling that USAGM had acted "arbitrarily and capriciously" in terminating RFE/RL's grant.

The next day, the USAGM wrote to RFE/RL saying it was reversing the announcement but that this was "without prejudice to USAGM's authority to terminate the grant."

RFE/RL was forced to seek another TRO in April after funds for that month were not disbursed. It also continues to seek an injunction to ensure the release of the rest of the money due from the grant for the 2025 budget year.

"We will remain in court and look forward to working with USAGM to ensure that we’ll be paid for the rest of the fiscal year,” Capus said.

RFE/RL reaches nearly 50 million people across 23 countries -- including Belarus, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia -- as it seeks to provide independent, unbiased news in 27 languages.

Media rights advocates have called the move to gut the USAGM "outrageous," saying it hands a win to authoritarian regimes around the world.

The Committee to Protect Journalists warned on April 1 that it also puts many journalists who worked for broadcasters such as RFE/RL at risk.

"USAGM-affiliated journalists face serious threats, imprisonment, and persecution in their home countries due to their reporting on politically sensitive issues," it wrote in a letter also signed by PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, and others that urges US Congress to take "immediate action" to protect journalists who worked for publicly funded outlets.

"Protecting them...is a moral obligation and a vital stand for press freedom and democratic values."

The total budget request for the USAGM for fiscal year 2025 was $950 million to fund all of its operations and capital investments.

This includes media outlets such as RFE/RL, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (Radio Marti), Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Open Technology Fund.

Kyiv and Washington are on the verge of signing a deal giving the United States preferred access to Ukraine's mineral resources, including rare earth materials, as pressure builds on Russia and Ukraine to reach a peace deal to end Europe's longest conflict since World War II.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal said on state television the agreement, which he characterized as a "real partnership deal," could be signed within the next 24 hours as soon as all the remaining details are finalized.

"This is truly a good, equal, and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine," he said.

Ukraine is looking for the deal to shore up waning US support that has been key in Kyiv's battle to repel Russia's full-scale invasion, launched in February 2022.

Shmyhal gave no details of the deal, but Reuters quoted a draft as saying a joint US-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction would be created where half of the profits and royalties accruing to Ukraine from new natural resources permits will form Kyiv's contribution.

In turn, future US military assistance to Ukraine will count toward Washington's contribution to the fund.

Reaching a deal to give US companies access to Ukraine's mineral resources -- so-called rare earth minerals, as well as other valuable resources like lithium, titanium, uranium, and even oil and gas -- has proved difficult, with clashes and acrimony highlighting the talks.

A fiery clash at the White House between Trump and Zelenskyy in front of the international media derailed the talks in late February. Last month signs of discord emerged again when Trump charged that Zelenskyy was looking to back out of the deal while it was still being negotiated and warned that the Ukrainian leader would face "big, big problems" if he did.

Rubio Says Clock Running Out On US Peace Efforts

News of the minerals deal came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that unless Russia and Ukraine put forward specific plans for ending the war in Ukraine, the United States will curtail its efforts to mediate.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce cited Rubio as saying that the time had been reached at which "concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict."

If there is not progress, the United States "will step back as mediators in this process," Bruce told reporters on April 29.

Later that day at a UN Security Council meeting, US diplomat John Kelley blamed Russia for the continuing bloodshed, saying it had "regrettably" carried out high-profile strikes "causing needless loss of life, including of innocent civilians."

"Right now, Russia has a great opportunity to achieve a durable peace," Kelley said, while adding that the burden for ending the war rests with Russia and Ukraine.

"It is up to the leaders of both these countries to decide whether peace is possible. If both sides are ready to end the war, the United States will fully support their path to a lasting peace," he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha on April 30 reiterated Kyiv's "readiness for peace talks in any format as soon as we see that Russia is truly prepared for the difficult path to peace."

Sybiha called Russian President Vladimir Putin's April 28 announcement of a three-day cease-fire on May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War II "peace populism or a brief propaganda cease-fire for the May 9 parade."

"Russia can demonstrate its genuine readiness for peace talks by agreeing to a real ceasefire for at least 30 days. If Russia is ready for a 60- or 90-day cease-fire, we are too," Sybiha said in a statement on X social network.

"Russia must stop talking about its readiness for peace and start acting by agreeing unconditionally to a real and durable cease-fire. When the guns are silent, talks can begin -- in any format that will bring peace," Sybiha added.

Trump said he believes Putin wants to end the war in Ukraine, telling ABC in an interview broadcast on April 29, "I think he does," when asked if Putin wants peace.

Zelenskyy also questioned earlier the need to wait until the anniversary for a cease-fire and called for an "immediate, full, and unconditional" 30-day truce.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 30 acknowledged Washington wants to see rapid progress in ending the war in Ukraine but emphasized that the process is highly complex and first requires resolving many outstanding issues.

"We understand that Washington wants quick success in this process," Peskov told reporters. "But at the same time, we hope there is an understanding that the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis is a very complex process, with many questions and details that need to be settled beforehand."

He also stressed any agreement must be made "with Ukraine, not the US," adding that while Washington is acting as a mediator, "we are grateful to the US for these efforts."

Peskov further recalled that Putin recently reiterated his willingness to hold direct talks with Ukraine, but "Kyiv has not responded" to this offer.

Trump and his envoys have been pressing Ukraine to agree to a cease-fire. At the same time the US president has been urging Russia to stop attacking Ukraine. In the interview with ABC, Trump said he "was not happy when I saw Putin shooting missiles into a few towns and cities."

Trump reportedly has suggested an official recognition of Russia's takeover of Crimea -- an annexation rejected by nearly all the world -- in addition to land swaps.

Zelenskyy has held firm against formal international recognition of Russia's 2014 takeover of Crimea.

"We all want this war to end in a fair way -- with no rewards for Putin, especially no land," Zelenskyy said on April 29 in a videoconference at a summit organized by Poland.

At the Security Council, France and Britain praised US mediation, while criticizing Russia, which launched more drone attacks late on April 29, hitting the cities of Dnipro and Kharkiv.

Jean-Noel Barrot, France's minister for Europe, said Kyiv had demonstrated goodwill and called Putin the sole obstacle to a cease-fire by seeking Ukraine's "capitulation."

Russia's UN ambassador, Vasily Nebenzya, rejected allegations that Russian forces had targeted civilians and accused Ukraine of using civilians or human shields by positioning air defenses in heavily populated areas.

He accused Kyiv of recklessly rejecting balanced US peace proposals and targeting Russian civilians, while saying it was increasingly difficult for Western backers of Zelenskyy's government to conceal its "brutal, misanthropic, and Nazi essence."

Mariana Betsa, a Ukrainian deputy foreign minister, told the Security Council that Russia wants Ukraine to surrender and Kyiv could not accept peace at any cost.

She said Ukraine would never recognize any temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine as Russian, including Crimea, which Moscow has held since 2014.

With reporting by Reuters

Pakistan says it is readying international legal action against India for suspending a vital water-sharing agreement between the two nuclear-armed rivals as tensions mount following a militant attack in the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistani Minister for Law and Justice Aqeel Malik said Islamabad is working on plans for at least three different legal options, including raising the issue at the World Bank, the facilitator for the six-decade old Indus Waters Treaty.

"Legal strategy consultations are almost complete," Malik said in an interview with Reuters late on April 28.

After an April 22 militant attack in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists, all but one of whom were Indian nationals, New Delhi said that it was suspending its participation in the water treaty that splits the Indus River and its tributaries between the two neighbors and governs most of the water used in Pakistani agriculture.

'Act Of War'

India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, though it has stopped short of putting direct blame on Islamabad for the attack.

Islamabad has denied any role in the attack and warned that any Indian attempt to stop or divert the flow of water between them would be considered an "act of war."

The water treaty now looks to be a potential flashpoint in the unpredictable situation between the nuclear-armed neighbors that was sparked by the militant attack.

Malik said that Islamabad would likely pursue more than one path in taking legal action, including at the Permanent Court of Arbitration or at the International Court of Justice in the Hague where it could allege that India has violated the 1960 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

He added that the Pakistani government was also considering raising the issue at the United Nations Security Council.

"All the options are on the table and we are pursuing all appropriate and competent forums to approach," Malik said.

The treaty became necessary after 1947, when India and Pakistan were partitioned by Britain and became independent countries. The water agreement, however, took a decade to negotiate and was signed in 1960, with the World Bank as a mediator.

Acute Water Shortages

The treaty governs the distribution and use of waters from the Indus River and its tributaries, which feed 80 percent of Pakistan's irrigated agriculture and its hydropower.

Suspending the deal would put major pressure on Pakistan, which has been battling acute water shortages, partly because of extreme weather events.

In March, Pakistan’s water regulator warned that Punjab and Sindh, the country’s key agricultural provinces, could already face water shortfalls of as much as 35 percent during the final phase of the current crop season.

Other issues may arise during the heavy rains of the coming monsoon season. India could decide to release surplus water from the eastern rivers without prior notification, potentially triggering floods.

Despite a history of tensions and war, the treaty has managed to survive through the years, withstanding threats from New Delhi to pull out of the agreement during previous times of high-tensions.

"We will ensure no drop of the Indus River's water reaches Pakistan," India's water resources minister, Chandrakant Raghunath Paatil, said on X on April 27.

Halting the flow of water is not a straightforward process, experts and officials from both countries have said.

The treaty stipulated that India was only to build hydropower plants without significant storage or dams on the three rivers allocated to Pakistan, preventing New Delhi from immediately stopping water sharing.

Tensions continue to mount since the attack in Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan rule in part but claim in full.

The two countries continue to exchange small-arms fire in the region and both governments suspended trade ties, limited diplomatic contact, and suspended some visas following the attack.

On April 29, India claimed both sides exchanged fire, the fifth consecutive day of such reports. State broadcaster Radio Pakistan said the Pakistani military had shot down an Indian drone, calling it a violation of its airspace.

The death toll from a massive explosion at Iran’s key Shahid Rajaei port has hit 70, local authorities said, as the interior minister blamed “negligence” for the incident, which injured more than 1,000 people.

Eskandar Momeni told Iranian state television late on April 28 that “noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence” had caused the incident, though it was not immediately clear what started the fire at the hazardous and chemical materials storage depot.

Momeni said several “culprits have been identified and summoned” but did not share further details.

Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the director of the crisis management office in the southern Hormozgan Province where the port is located, told state television that most of the injured had already been released from hospital.

On April 27, a day after the explosion happened, Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran's crisis management organization, appeared to blame the blast on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the port.

Open-source data suggests that Iran took shipments of chemical ingredients from China used in missile fuel at the port in February and March. However, an Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman has denied that any cargo used for military use, including missile fuel, was being stored at the blast site.

The New York Times quoted an unnamed source with ties to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps as saying the substance that exploded was sodium perchlorate, a key component in solid missile fuel.

Amid mounting criticism of officials over the incident, renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi called for a “free and transparent referendum under international supervision to restore sovereignty to the people.”

In a post on Instagram, Panahi described the explosion as a symbol of “the collapse of a regime that has led Iran into ruin for nearly half a century.”

Russian forces launched a mass drone attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro late on April 29, killing one person and setting homes on fire, the regional governor said.

"There are a number of fires in the city," Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram shortly after attack.

"Dnipro residents remember last night as hell," Lysak added later.

Russian drones earlier on April 29 struck Kharkiv, Regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov said, adding that 45 people had been injured, including two children and a pregnant woman.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a drone hit a private house and another one fell near a medical facility.

The governor of Russia's border Belgorod region said a Ukrainian drone slammed into a car on a highway, killing two people and injuring three. Vyacheslav Gladkov said five people were injured in cars in three incidents in areas near the Ukrainian border.

Drones later attacked six localities in the Belgorod region, Gladkov said on Telegram. An apartment building, a house and a business were damaged, but no casualties were reported.

The governor of the neighboring Kursk region, Aleksandr Khinshtein, said drones attacked the town of Rylsk, injuring three people and damaging three apartment buildings, a private house and a kindergarten.

The reports could not be independently verified.

The Kremlin earlier on April 29 rejected a call from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a 30-day cease-fire after the Ukrainian leader criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a three-day pause in fighting to coincide with annual Victory Day celebrations in Moscow.

Putin called for the 72-hour truce to take place on May 8-10 as Russia marks the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Zelenskyy questioned the need to wait until then for a cease-fire, saying it was a move "just to provide Putin with silence for his parade" and called for an "immediate, full, and unconditional" 30-day truce.

"We all want this war to end in a fair way -- with no rewards for Putin, especially no land," Zelenskyy said in a videoconference at a summit organized by Poland. Moscow holds about 20 percent of Ukraine's territory after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A proposal from the United States for an unconditional cease-fire, which Ukraine had agreed to, was also still possible, Zelenskyy reiterated.

"Russia knows exactly what it needs to do and how to respond: to genuinely cease fire," he said.

Ukraine's foreign minister said earlier that the announcement by the Kremlin on April 28 was disingenuous and said it should begin immediately.

Russia's response on April 29, however, was to reject the longer "immediate" cease-fire, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying several issues first needed to be resolved.

"Without answers to these questions, it is difficult to enter into a long-term cease-fire," he said.

It's the second time this month that the Kremlin has called for a halt to fighting. A proposal for the Easter holiday earlier this month was largely ignored as Russia and Ukraine continued to batter one another.

On the night of April 28-29, Russia launched a drone attack on civilian areas in Ukraine, killing a child, according to officials.

In his evening address on April 29, Zelenskyy again called for a full and unconditional cease-fire.

"They must take clear steps to end the war, and we insist that an unconditional and complete cease-fire must be the first step," he said.

The United States has been pressing for “a complete, durable ceasefire and an end to the conflict," State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said on April 29.

"We are now at a time where concrete proposals need to be delivered by the two parties on how to end this conflict," Bruce told reporters in what she said was a message from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "If there is not progress, we will step back as mediators in this process," Bruce quoted Rubio as saying.

US President Donald Trump had vowed to end the war in his first 24 hours back in the White House. But the goal remains elusive as he celebrates 100 days in office.

The United States reportedly has suggested to freeze the front lines and accept the Russian control of the Crimean Peninsula that it seized in 2014. But Zelenskyy has held firm against formal international recognition of Russia's 2014 takeover of Crimea.

Though Trump has opened direct talks with Moscow, Russian officials have sought to broaden the negotiations to include not just the Ukraine conflict, but the wider bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a limited cease-fire in March, but the two sides have continued to attack one another. On the battlefield, Russian forces have pressed their advantage -- in men and in weaponry -- to grind down Ukraine's troops.

Over the weekend on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican, Trump had his first face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy since February, when Oval Office talks imploded in acrimony.

Trump said the meeting had gone well, but he added that he thought Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea Peninsula to Russia as a concession.

Trump later called on Putin to "stop shooting" and agree to a peace deal.

Experts say Putin has been dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of one of his main goals: fully capturing the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.

They add that ceding territory to Russia would be politically and constitutionally impossible for Zelenskyy. Ukrainian citizens and lawmakers appear strongly opposed to the idea.

Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement.

US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (Democrat-New Hampshire), said on April 29 that recognizing "Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea would invite additional aggression from Moscow and Beijing."

"I have endeavored to give President Trump the space to negotiate a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, which is a goal we both share," said Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"However, President Trump and his team have fatally mismanaged these negotiations -- offering concession after concession to Russia, throwing away our leverage and fracturing the united front with our allies that is critical to ending this war," she said.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

PRAGUE -- The European Union is considering moving along in the accession process with Moldova while leaving Ukraine behind as Hungary continues to block Kyiv's membership drive.

Speaking to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in an interview on April 28 during a visit to Prague, EU Enlargement Minister Marta Kos said she couldn't rule out a "decoupling" of the two countries as soon as June, when a raft of enlargement decisions is expected to be made in Brussels.

"We are discussing already with the member states what to do because no member state is against starting to open the first cluster (of accession chapters) with Moldova," she said, noting Hungary's opposition to Ukraine's accession.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, and Ukraine, torn apart by more than three years of war sparked by Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion, have so far proceeded hand-in-hand in the EU accession process.

Both applied for membership of the bloc shortly after thousands of Russian troops crossed over into Ukraine in early 2022. Last year the 27 EU member states gave both the green light to start accession talks.

The negotiations with Kyiv, however, have stalled with Budapest putting up a road block while it presses for improved rights of the Hungarian-speaking minority in Ukraine.

With all EU enlargement decisions needing unanimity, Hungary can effectively keep Ukraine out of the bloc as long as it deems necessary.

Decoupling countries vying for entrance into the bloc has been done before.

In September 2024, the EU decided to start negotiations with Albania while leaving North Macedonia behind as Skopje remained entangled in bilateral disputes with the EU member state Bulgaria over minority rights.

Could Moldova Join The EU This Decade?

During the interview, Kos, who became enlargement commissioner in December 2024, said there was even a possibility Moldova could become a member state by the time her mandate finishes in 2029.

She said it would be considered a "failure if we will not get any newcomers into the EU in the times of the present European Commission."

Confident that both Western Balkan frontrunners Albania and Montenegro could become EU countries in the upcoming three or four years, Kos also left the door open for Chisinau as well.

"Moldova is really a good student in the whole group. They really feel this historical moment," she said.

"This is something which probably we haven't seen before, because it is a peace project, because they want to belong to the community of values and democracy. They are willing to do everything possible," she said.

Kos said it was regretful that Budapest is playing politics with Ukraine's membership, with Hungary going as far as holding a consultative referendum on Ukrainian EU membership in which the Moscow-friendly Fidesz government has spoken out against Kyiv joining the club.

"Ukraine has done enough, I can tell you from my personal experience because I was facilitating the dialogue between Hungary and Ukraine. And there were many points, and Ukraine is willing to fulfill all of them. But this is not enough for Hungary," Kos said.

Is The EU Talking To Georgia Again?

In a nod to another accession candidate that has seen its candidacy run aground, Kos hinted it may be time to slowly start re-engaging with the government in Tbilisi.

Georgia also applied for EU membership in 2022 and received candidate status a year later.

But parliamentary elections in October, which Western observers noted were marred by irregularities, and controversial legislation such a foreign agent law similar to one Russia has used to stifle civil society, forced Brussels to pause the bid of the small South Caucasus republic.

Brussels also decided to freeze EU funds earmarked for the government, reinstate visa requirements for Georgian diplomatic passport holders, and suspended high-level contacts.

"The easiest way is not to talk.... But we talk to many other countries in the world which do not have candidate status," Kos said, noting that Turkey, which has had its candidate status frozen since 2019, has resumed high-level dialogue.

"We had one [discussion] on the economy, and we are planning another one on migration," she said.

When pressed if she thought something similar was on the cards for Tbilisi, she added: "We should take care, perhaps not on the highest level at the beginning or perhaps starting at the lower level, but then to see how we could explore this."

Iran's top diplomat has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy toward Iran after the premier renewed his call for the full dismantlement of Tehran's nuclear program.

Iranian and US negotiators concluded a third round of indirect talks over Iran's nuclear program on April 26, with a fourth round scheduled for May 3, likely in a European country.

Speaking in Jerusalem a day after the talks, Netanyahu said any deal with Iran must aim for the complete dismantling of the nuclear program and also address Tehran's missile capabilities.

"The real deal that works is the deal which removes Iran's capacity to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said, adding that a good agreement should also "bring in the prevention of ballistic missiles."

Writing on X, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said it was "striking…how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran."

The Iranian diplomat maintained that his country was "strong and confident enough" to "thwart any attempt by malicious external actors to sabotage its foreign policy or dictate its course."

"We can only hope our US counterparts are equally steadfast," he added.

Netanyahu's comment came after a deadly explosion hit Iran’s Shahid Rajaei port, killing at least 46 people and injuring more than 1,000.

Some speculate that the explosion was linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make ballistic missile fuel, though Iran denies any sort of fuel was being stored in the container terminal.

Farzin Nadimi, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the sharp orange color of the initial fire was consistent with burning sodium perchlorate, a component used in rocket fuel. Open-source data suggests Iran took shipments of the chemical at the port earlier this year.

According to various reports, the Donald Trump administration previously held Netanyahu back from launching strikes on Tehran's nuclear facilities. However, the US president has said he himself would be "leading the pack" toward war with Iran if he cannot clinch a deal.

Ali Shamkhani, a senior aide to Iran's supreme leader and former national security adviser, warned on April 28 that Israel would face "unimaginable consequences" if it attacked Iran's nuclear sites.

"The question is: Are these threats the result of Israel acting on its own, or are they coordinated with Trump to push forward negotiations with Iran?" he wrote on X.

Russian prosecutors have charged a man in connection with a Moscow suburb car bombing that killed a Russian general, alleging he had been paid by Ukrainian intelligence services.

The Investigative Committee on April 27 said Ignat Kuzin faced terrorism charges for the killing of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik. He was the second general to have been killed in a bomb attack in the Moscow region in the past six months.

The committee released a courtroom video showing a man, wearing a black hospital mask and a black-hooded sweatshirt appearing in a glass cage as a judge ordered him held pending further investigation.

Ukraine has said nothing about the April 24 bombing that killed Moskalik, who served on the General Staff's planning directorate and was reportedly involved in planning Russia's all-out invasion in 2022.

The Federal Security Service announced Kuzin's arrest on April 25, alleging he was a resident of Ukraine and that Ukrainian security services had provided him with an explosive device that he then planted in a car in the Moscow suburb of Balashikha.

The service claimed the bomb was detonated remotely from Ukraine as Moskalik passed by.

The incident followed a similar killing in December.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov died when a bomb planted in an electric scooter on a sidewalk detonated as he exited his Moscow apartment building. Kirillov headed Russia's military unit that oversaw defenses against nuclear, chemical, and biological attacks.

Russian officials also alleged Ukraine was behind that bombing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a three-day cease-fire in the Ukraine war to coincide with the annual celebrations marking the defeat of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Ukraine's foreign minister suggested the call, announced by the Kremlin on April 28, was disingenuous, and proposed a cease-fire beginning immediately.

It's the second time in the month that the Kremlin has called for halt to fighting. A proposal for the Easter holiday earlier this month was largely ignored as Russia and Ukraine continued to batter one another, including a recent series of massive air attacks by Moscow across Ukraine.

Highlighting the strikes, which have killed several civilians, including children, family and friends gathered on April 28 at a funeral for 17-year-old Danylo Khudia, who died in a Russian strike on Kyiv four days earlier. The funeral was also a remembrance for Khudia's parents, who were among at least 12 people killed in the attack.

The cease-fire would coincide with Victory Day, one of Russia's -- and Ukraine's -- most-revered annual observances. May 9 marks the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

As he has every year of his presidency, Putin will preside over a Red Square military parade that celebrates the Soviet role in defeating Germany. In recent years, he has used the occasion to whitewash Soviet and Russian history, while also bashing the West.

Responding to the Kremlin proposal, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called for a cease-fire to begin immediately.

"Why wait until May 8? If the fire can be ceased now and since any date for 30 days-- so it is real, not just for a parade," he said in a post to X. " Ukraine is ready to support a lasting, durable, and full cease-fire. And this is what we are constantly proposing, for at least 30 days."

The celebration occurs as the Russian invasion of Ukraine -- now the largest land war in Europe since World War II -- continues unabated in its fourth year. Russia's casualties, killed or wounded, now total more than all the casualties it suffered in all the conflicts it has fought since 1945.

Efforts to reach a bilateral cease-fire, or even a broader peace deal, kicked into higher gear as US President Donald Trump took office in January, vowing to end fighting within 24 hours.

His predecessor, Joe Biden, refused to engage in substantive talks with Moscow so long as the invasion continued.

Though Trump has opened direct talks with Moscow, Russian officials have sought to broaden the negotiations to include not just the Ukraine conflict, but wider bilateral relationship between Washington and Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a limited cease-fire in March, but the two sides have continued to attack one another. On the battlefield, Russian forces have pressed their advantage -- in men and in weaponry -- to grind down Ukraine's troops.

Over the weekend on the sidelines of Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican, Trump had his face-to-face meeting with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy since February, when Oval Office talks imploded in acrimony.

Trump said his meeting with Zelenskyy had gone well, but he added that he thought Zelenskyy is ready to give up Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula to Russia as a concession -- something the Ukrainian leader has long stated he would never do.

Trump later called on Putin to "stop shooting" and agree to a peace deal.

"Well, I want him to stop shooting, sit down, and sign a deal," Trump told reporters.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt echoed that assertion on April 28.

Trump "wants to see a permanent cease-fire. I understand Vladimir Putin, this morning, offered a temporary cease-fire," she said. "The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent cease-fire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed."

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, said his conversation with Trump represented a "very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results."

Experts say Putin has been dragging out talks because his forces have the momentum on the battlefield and a cease-fire at the current line of contact would leave him short of one of his main goals: fully capturing the four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed: Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson.

They add that ceding territory to Russia would be politically and constitutionally impossible for Zelenskyy. Ukrainian citizens and lawmakers appear strongly opposed to the idea.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal to end the Russian invasion was "closer."

Russia and Ukraine "are closer in general than they have been anytime in the last three years, but it's still not there," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News broadcast on April 27.

But Trump's critique of Putin also came shortly after he made his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to cede territory.

He said in a Time magazine interview published on April 25 that "Crimea will stay with Russia."

Russia wants any peace deal to recognize its control of nearly 20 percent of Ukraine, including Crimea. It also wants Ukraine to be de-militarized and kept out of NATO. Moscow has also rejected Kyiv's demand for a Western peacekeeping force to monitor any cease-fire agreement.

European officials and US Democrats have pushed back against some US proposals.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on April 27 said Kyiv should not agree to US proposals that would include giving up land to Russia.

Kaja Kallas, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said it would be a mistake for the United States to consider the possibility of recognizing the occupied Crimea as Russian territory as part of a peace agreement.

"Crimea is Ukraine," Kallas said, adding the EU will never recognize the peninsula as part of Russia.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

Pakistani security forces said they killed dozens of militants attempting to cross into the country from Afghanistan, even as its troops separately continued to exchange gunfire with the India military near Kashmir amid skyrocketing tensions in the region.

Islamabad did not directly blame India for the incursion of militants from Afghanistan, but it said the fighters had been sent to carry out terrorist attacks by their "foreign masters."

Some Pakistani officials suggested, without providing evidence, that nuclear-rival India encouraged the insurgents' actions to divert the attention of Pakistan's military from the brewing crisis in Kashmir.

"Such actions by [the insurgents], at a time when India is leveling baseless accusations against Pakistan, clearly implies on whose cues [the fighters are] operating," the Pakistani Army said in a statement.

The military said it killed 71insurgents entering from Afghanistan on April 27 and claimed that intelligence reports indicated the militants were "Khwarij" -- a phrase the government uses for Tehrik-e Taliban, otherwise known as the Pakistani Taliban.

"On the nights of April 25-26 and 26-27, movement of a large group of Khwarij, who were trying to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan border, was detected by the security forces in general area Hassan Khel, North Waziristan district," the military said.

"Own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate…; A large cache of weapons, ammunition, and explosives was also recovered."

Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters the incident represented the largest number of "terrorists" killed in a single day.

"We had information that the foreign masters of these terrorists are asking them to enter Pakistan as soon as possible" to undertake attacks.

Reuters quoted local police officials on April 28 as saying security forces had detained around 500 people for questioning after a search of some 1,000 houses and forests in a hunt for militants in Indian Kashmir.

What's Behind The New India-Pakistan Escalation?

Tensions have soared in the region between Pakistan and its bitter rival and neighbor India, both nuclear-armed nations.

The latest flareup occurred on April 22 when an attack killed mostly Indian nationals in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India has accused Pakistan of supporting cross-border terrorism, but the Pakistani government denies it was behind the attack that killed 26 civilians.

New Delhi and Islamabad have since carried out tit-for-tat punishments following the incident, including downgrading diplomatic and trade ties, closing the main border crossing, and revoking visas for each other's nationals.

On April 27, Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire near Kashmir's Line of Control for a third night in a row.

The Pakistani government has said it would consider it "an act of war" if India followed through on a threat to block the flow of crucial rivers as punishment for the deadly incident.

The United States on April 27 said it was in touch with India and Pakistan and urged them to seek a "responsible solution" to the crisis.

"This is an evolving situation and we are monitoring developments closely. We have been in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan at multiple levels," a State Department spokesperson told Reuters.

In comments to foreign media, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tatar claimed that India blamed Islamabad for the tourist attack to distract Pakistan's security forces from their focus on the tensions on its western borders.

He added that Pakistan had "undeniable evidence" of India's support for the Pakistani Taliban and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which is behind multiple attacks in Balochistan. India has denied the charges.

Balochistan has been the site of an insurgency, with separatists seeking independence from Pakistan.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

A massive explosion purportedly linked to a shipment of a chemical ingredient used to make missile propellant has killed at least 40 people and injured more than 1,000 others in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.

Authorities in Iran offered no clear explanation for what caused the April 26 blast at the Shahid Rajaei port, although independent experts said it appeared to be due to the improper storage of sodium perchlorate, a component used in rocket fuel.

On April 27, state media reported that the blast was now under control.

Iranian President Masud Pezeshkian visited with those some of the injured and told local officials that “we have to find out why it happened,” according to the government website.

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, Pir Hossein Kolivand, said 190 of those injured remained hospitalized as of April 27.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei ordered security and judicial officials to investigate "any negligence or deliberateness" in the incident.

The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's busiest, processing up to 80 percent of the country's shipping traffic.

Hossein Zafari, a spokesman for Iran's crisis management organization, appeared to blame the explosion on poor storage of chemicals in containers at the port.

"The cause of the explosion was the chemicals inside the containers," he told Iran's ILNA news agency.

"Previously, the director general of crisis management had given warnings to this port during their visits and had pointed out the possibility of danger," Zafari said.

According to the private security firm Ambrey, the port had received a shipment of “sodium perchlorate rocket fuel” in March, which was going to be used to replenish Iran’s missile stocks after being depleted by its direct attacks on Israel during the war with Hamas -- which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union -- in the Gaza Strip.

Tehran has not acknowledged taking the shipment, but ship-tracking data obtained by the Associated Press shows vessels believed to be carrying the chemical in the vicinity of the port in March.

Iran Launches Investigation After Port Explosion

Iran's Interior Ministry said it launched an investigation into the port explosion.

The April 26 blast happened as Iran and the United States met in Oman for the third round of talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, also in Oman.

While no Iranian officials have suggested the explosion was due to an attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who is leading Tehran's delegation in Oman, said earlier this week that "our security services are on high alert given past instances of attempted sabotage and assassination operations designed to provoke a legitimate response."

Deadly incidents have hit Iranian energy and industrial infrastructure in recent years -- such as gas explosions and oil refinery fires -- with many blamed on negligence.

Tehran, however, has also blamed some incidents on its arch-foe Israel, which has carried out attacks on Iranian soil targeting the country's nuclear program. Last year, Israel also bombed Iran's air defenses.

Iran accused Israel as being behind a February 2024 attack on Iranian gas pipelines, as well as a major cyberattack on the Shahid Rajaei port in May 2020, causing transport chaos for days after crashing the facility's computer system.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 27 repeated his calls for "all of" Iran's nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled.

"We are in close contact with the United States. But I said, one way or the other, Iran will not have nuclear weapons," Netanyahu told a news conference.

The Shahid Rajaei port is Iran's largest and it mainly handles large volumes of container traffic and also has oil tanks and other petrochemical facilities.

The port is some 1,050 kilometers southeast of the capital Tehran, on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf where 20 percent of all oil traded globally passes through.

Local officials said that all schools, universities, and offices in Bandar Abbas will be closed on April 27.

With reporting from Reuters and the AP.

Iran and the United States met in Oman on April 26 for the third round of talks over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. A fourth round is scheduled for May 3, with the location yet to be announced.

The talks ran for several hours in Muscat, Omani mediators said of the indirect sessions between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East.

"The negotiations were conducted very seriously and professionally," Araqchi said without providing full details. "We are cautiously optimistic."

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who has mediated the two previous round of US-Iran talks in Muscat and Rome, offered a positive note at the end of the negotiations.

Iran and the United States “identified a shared aspiration to reach agreement based on mutual respect and enduring commitments,” Busaidi posted on X after the conclusion of talks in Oman.

“Core principles, objectives and technical concerns were all addressed. Talks will continue next week with a further high-level meeting provisionally scheduled for May 3.”

The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the United States has imposed on the country.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached.

Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.