ROME (AP) — The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced almost 10 million people to flee their homes, with about 3.8 million displaced within the country and 5.6 million abroad, but most of them want to stay close to their homes, the U.N. refugee agency's representative for Ukraine said.
The war between Russia and Ukraine is continuing with “increased intensity" so the continuation of international support funding a humanitarian response is crucial, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative Karolina Lindholm Billing said Friday.
“At the moment, most who are newly displaced remain within the country and that’s what most people prefer to do as well: to stay as close as possible to their home regions,” Lindholm Billing told The Associated Press.
The UNHCR representative stressed that every day the organization and its local partners help people who are victims of aerial attacks, including recent strikes on Kyiv and Kharkiv.
“People evacuating from front line areas need support. But at the same time, we have to continue helping Ukraine’s immediate recovery, so that people who want to stay in Ukraine can actually do that,” Lindholm Billing said.
As participants in the fourth Ukraine Recovery Conference gathered in Rome Thursday and Friday, European leaders urged private business and equity to invest in rebuilding Ukraine now, even as Russia accelerates its war effort.
The conference is expected to finalize individual deals of guarantees and grants to unlock more than 10 billion euros (around $12 billion) in investments. The European Commission, for its part, announced the creation of the European Flagship Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, the largest equity fund to date to support the country.
Countries prepared to provide troops for a future stabilization force in Ukraine also agreed to set up a headquarters in Paris to facilitate a rapid deployment after the war ends.
Russia recently intensified a series of long-range Shahed drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which often also include ballistic and cruise missiles as well as powerful glide bombs.
June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said Thursday.
Lindholm Billing said UNHCR is working with Ukraine's government on a “winter response plan,” which will include cash assistance for vulnerable families to pay for firewood, coal and briquettes to warm homes in front line areas where energy systems are damaged.
“We have another winter coming up and we know that the cold weather adds another layer of risk to people. So it’s going to be crucial to also provide support for Ukraine’s energy systems, but also for individual households,” she said.
UNHCR Ukraine Representative Karolina Lindholm is interviewed by the Associated Press during the Ukraine Recovery Conference at La Nuvola convention center in Rome, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
UNHCR Ukraine Representative Karolina Lindholm is interviewed by the Associated Press during the Ukraine Recovery Conference at La Nuvola convention center in Rome, Friday, July 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
