Fox News' Trey Yingst reports on Ukraine's efforts to conserve electricity after Russian forces target Ukrainian power grid. Iran on Friday urged its citizens in Ukraine to leave the country and warned against travel to the war-torn nation one day after the U.S. accused Tehran of aiding Russia's war effort. "Due to the military escalation in Ukraine, all Iranians are strongly advised to refrain from traveling to Ukraine. Also, Iranians living in Ukraine are advised to leave the country for their own safety," the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters. The ministry did not mention comments made on Thursday by White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, who said the U.S. had learned that Iranian troops were "directly engaged on the ground" in Crimea helping Russia.

Fox News' Trey Yingst reports on Ukraine's efforts to conserve electricity after Russian forces target Ukrainian power grid. A cadre of bipartisan lawmakers traveled to Ukraine this week to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid reports that Iran has begun arming Russia with military drones. Lawmakers from the House Intelligence Committee met with Zelenskyy on Thursday to discuss the war and ongoing aid efforts. Attending the meeting were Democratic Reps. The bipartisan nature of the visit was meant to show continued U.S. support for the Ukraine government and its people as they face a barrage of military attacks from Russia.

The war in Ukraine has an ominous new noise. People living in Afghanistan and Nagorno-Karabakh have talked about a sound that makes them run for cover. And on Monday, that whirr arrived in the skies above Kyiv. Russia has ramped up its use of Iranian-made "suicide drones" in Ukraine, which travel in groups and explode by diving at their targets, obliterating themselves in the process. On Monday, dozens of drones attacked Ukrainian cities during morning rush hour, killing at least four people when they struck an apartment building in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian and Israeli officials have held talks about Kyiv's request for Israel to provide air defence assistance, days after Russia allegedly deployed Iranian "kamikaze" drones as part of a new wave of air raids on the war-torn country. Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday he had spoken on the phone to Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and "discussed in detail" the provision of air and missile defence systems and technology. "I informed him [about the] unspeakable suffering, loss of life, and destruction caused by Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones," he tweeted. I spoke to Israeli Prime Minister @YairLapid and informed him on unspeakable suffering, loss of life, and destruction caused by Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones. We discussed in detail Ukraine's request for Israel to provide air and missile defense systems and technology.

KYIV/WASHINGTON – The United States said Thursday that Iranian military trainers had been sent to Crimea to assist Russian forces using Iranian-made drones to attack targets in Ukraine, adding a new international element to a war that has already worsened some geopolitical tensions. Ukrainian citizens endured the first day of nationwide scheduled power outages since the war began eight months ago so repairs could be made to damaged or destroyed energy plants as winter approaches. This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software. Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites. If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.

Fox News' Trey Yingst reports on Ukraine's efforts to conserve electricity after Russian forces target Ukrainian power grid. The Iranian military has personnel in Crimea to train Russian troops on how to pilot drones that have been decimating civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, the White House said Thursday. "They can lie to the world, but they certainly can't hide the facts, and the fact is this -- Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Russia started purchasing Shahed-136, or "kamikaze drones," from Iran this summer and have used them to strike Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials. A Russian drone is seen during a Russian drone strike, which local authorities consider to be Iranian made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Shahed-136, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine Oct. 17, 2022.

A little before 7am on Monday, people in Kyiv heard a whining sound overhead before identifying where it was coming from – a group of "kamikaze" drones flying into the city. Drones have been widely used on both sides of the Ukraine conflict, but these were the first Russian attacks that deployed swarms of the aircraft. Videos and images began to circulate on social media of the drones flying directly over urban infrastructure such as power stations, residential buildings and railways as civilians and soldiers tried to shoot them down with guns. About 28 were launched on Monday morning in Kyiv. At least four civilians were killed after one of the aircraft hit a residential building.

The White House has accused Iran of being "directly engaged on the ground" in Russian-occupied Crimea, helping to train the country's forces on Iranian-made drones that have been used in attacks in Ukraine. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that a "relatively small number" of Iranian personnel are operating in the Ukrainian region that was annexed by Russia in 2014. "Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground and through the provision of weapons that are impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine," Kirby said. "The United States is going to pursue all means to expose, deter and confront Iran's provision of these munitions against the Ukrainian people." Tehran has denied supplying Moscow with drones or helping launch them.

"Russian terror against our energy facilities is aimed at creating as many problems with electricity and heat as possible for Ukraine this autumn and winter, so that more Ukrainians go to European countries," he said in remarks to an EU summit on Thursday.

Waging brutal repression at home and allegedly helping Russia in its war against Ukraine, Iran is becoming an unsolvable challenge for Western powers eager to avoid a new nuclear power in the Middle East. "We're in a delicate situation and an obvious impasse," a French diplomat admitted before Wednesday's UN Security Council meeting on suspected Iranian drone use by Russian forces. Despite Tehran's new support for an increasingly isolated Moscow, the United States and the European Union still hope to revive the 2015 deal aimed at curtailing Iran's nuclear programme -- even though the prospect is dimming. "Iran's repression at home and aggression in Ukraine have increased the political cost for and decreased the appetite of the West to grant Tehran sanctions relief," said analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group. "But the West has no good options, as the only thing worse than a repressive regime that kills its own people is a nuclear armed one that does so."