Russia downs Ukrainian fighter jet, Ukraine reports continued fighting in Kursk

Russia said on Tuesday that its forces had shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet, while Ukraine, on the same say, reported continued fighting in Russia's Kursk region.

In its daily briefing, the Russian Defense Ministry said that its forces repelled multiple attacks by the Ukrainian army and launched multiple offensives in the directions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson in the past 24 hours.

The ministry also said that the Russian air defense forces downed a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet and 189 drones.

The Russian forces captured the Doroshovka settlement in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, it said.

Also on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported 178 battles in the front-line areas, with Ukrainian forces repelling Russian attacks in directions including Pokrovsk and continuing fighting in Russia's Kursk region.

The Ukrainian air force, missile forces and artillery targeted 16 Russian personnel, weapon and military equipment concentration areas, destroying an anti-aircraft system, the Ukrainian side said.

In another development, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that he had listened to the report of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine on the "liquidation of persons from the top command of the Russian armed forces."

Several Ukrainian and Russian media outlets reported that the Ukrainian action referred to by Zelensky was the assassination of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik, deputy head of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.

The Investigative Committee of Russia said on Sunday that it formally charged Ukrainian agent Ignat Kuzin with carrying out a terrorist action last Friday that resulted in the death of Moskalik.

The Investigative Committee said that the suspect had confessed the crime. Kuzin, acting as an agent for the Ukrainian intelligence department, was promised 18,000 U.S. dollars for the assassination.

According to a previous announcement from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, a car explosion occurred in Balashikha of Moscow Oblast on Sunday. The suspect rigged the car with a homemade explosive device from a secret Ukrainian intelligence facility in Moscow Oblast. When Moskalik walked out of the apartment building, the Ukrainian intelligence agency detonated the explosive device remotely in Ukraine, killing Moskalik.

Russia downs Ukrainian fighter jet, Ukraine reports continued fighting in Kursk

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that the situation in Iran is "under total control" following violence linked to protests that spiked over the weekend.

Addressing foreign diplomats in Tehran, the foreign minister noted that armed terrorist groups had infiltrated the protests, attempting to divert them from their legitimate course. He claimed that evidence has been gathered showing Iranian security forces being shot at, with the aim of causing further casualties. He accused the United States and Israel of exploiting the unrest to interfere in Iran's internal affairs.

Araghchi further stated that the government is closely monitoring developments on the streets, emphasizing that "the situation has come under control." He also affirmed that internet services, curtailed during the unrest, would be restored after coordination with security agencies.

The government has engaged in dialogue with merchants and protest representatives and initiated reforms to address grievances related to price hikes and currency depreciation. Iran has taken a series of actions and measures to respond to the demands of peaceful demonstrators, the foreign minister said.

Earlier on Sunday, Araghchi said that clear evidence links recent riots and vandalism of public facilities in Iran to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad. This came after former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned Mossad agents operating on Iran's streets in a social media post. The Iranian foreign minister asserted that police are being attacked by "terrorists" acting under the direction of Israeli operatives, whom Pompeo publicly acknowledged.

The protests initially erupted over a sharp depreciation of the rial and sweeping subsidy reforms. Iranian authorities have blamed the unrest on foreign-linked agents and U.S. sanctions.

Iranian foreign minister says situation "fully under control," accuses Israeli intelligence of stoking unrest