📌 The Latest From Russia's Ministry of Defense on the Ukraine crisis:

▪️Russian forces eliminated up to 100 militants in a missile strike on a temporary deployment point of foreign mercenaries near the city of Zaporozhye;

▪️Russian aviation hit 33 Ukrainian artillery units, manpower and military equipment in 178 districts over past 24 hours;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a HIMARS MLRS in the area of the settlement of Yavkino in the Nikolaev region;

▪️Russian forces destroyed a Ukrainian Osa-AKM anti-aircraft missile system near the settlement of Novoselovka in the Zaporozhye region; a Ukrainian armored boat of the "Gyurza" class was sunk near the port of Ochakov;

▪️ Two MiG-29s converted to use American HARM anti-radar missiles were shot down by Russian air power;

▪️ In the area of Novaya Kakhovka and Svatovo, three American HARM anti-radar missiles were shot down by Russian forces;

▪️ 18 HIMARS rockets were intercepted by Russian air defenses

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❗️WATCH: A queue of people wishing to vote in the referendum has formed outside the DPR representative office in Moscow.

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⚡️About 20 powerful explosions have rocked Kherson, traces of air defense work are visible in the sky above the city, a Sputnik correspondent reports

🇵🇱 Poland's Apple harvest may rot on the trees.

▪️ According to Sputnik Poland, there is no one to pick fruit, nowhere to export the fruit to, and it is very expensive to store them because of the energy crisis

🗣 “We don't have enough workers, especially men. The trade union is trying to recruit workers from other countries, but there are problems with visas,” the president of the Polish Horticultural Association complains.

▪️ He added that Ukrainian refugees are not interested in farming.

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❗️ Sullivan says US response to the referendums will include sanctions against "structures and companies" outside Russia

📹 A guest appearance from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a music event in New York City appeared to rub the audience the wrong way, eliciting audible boos, as captured in footage on social media.

🤬 As Pelosi, 82, briefly spoke about Congress' commitment to reduce carbon pollution and tackle climate change, attendees of the event on September 24 appeared to intercept her speech with jeering and booing.

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📹 Roughly 1,000 of citizens of the Donetsk People's Republic voted on the territory of the DPR representative office in Moscow, the republic's ambassador to Moscow Olga Makeeva said on Sunday.

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⚡️ More than 50% of voters voted in a referendum in the LPR in three days, Civic Chamber of Russia says

🤔 US officials have informed their Russian counterparts that Washington will “respond decisively” if Russia uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security advisor, has indicated.

🗣 “We have communicated directly, privately, at very high levels, to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will be met with catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the United States and our allies will respond decisively. And we have been clear and specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan said, speaking to CBS Face the Nation Sunday morning.

▪️ The official did not elaborate in the interview on what this “decisive response” may be.

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⚡️ The latest update from the election commissions of liberated territories where referendums on joining Russia are taking place:

▪️ In the LPR, turnout after three days was 76.09%.

▪️ Voter turnout in the Kherson region following three days of voting was 48.91%.

▪️ In the Zaporozhye region, turnout was 51.55%.

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⚡️ The turnout of the referendum in the DPR after three days of voting is 77.12% - Central Election Commission

⚡️Kenyan track star Eliud Kipchoge bested his world record in the Berlin Marathon. According to ESPN, Kipchoge clocked in 2 hours, 1 minute, 9 seconds on Sunday (Sept. 25). In 2018, he clocked a time of 2:01:39 — 30 seconds more than his new record — on the same course.

"My legs and my body still feel young," Kipchoge said. "But the most important thing is my mind, which also feels fresh and young. I'm so happy to break the world record."

According to the Media, Kipchoge’s future goals include becoming the first runner to win three Olympic marathon noscripts in Paris in 2024 and winning all six annual World Marathon Majors.

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🗳🇮🇹Italians cast their ballots in a national election to bring the country’s most right-wing government to power since World War II.

The electoral campaign kicked off after political infighting led to the collapse of outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government in July. Sunday’s election takes place against the background of an energy crisis, widespread voter disillusionment, and questions about Italy’s future stance towards the European Union.

More than 50 million voters are eligible to pick representatives of a slimmed-down parliament: 200 members for the Senate and 400 for the Chamber of Deputies. Polls opened at 7 am and will close at 11 pm local time (05:00 – 21:00 GMT) – after which exit polls are expected.

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🚚After Congress approved new initiatives to speed the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told Reuters it would seek to enforce stricter greenhouse gas emissions rules for heavy trucks.

The EPA, which proposed new rules to cut smog-forming and greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles in March, said that under the climate and spending Inflation Reduction Act, it will reopen the proposed greenhouse gas rules after passage in August, which could accelerate the shift to heavy-duty electric vehicles in the U.S.

In December, it will also issue a supplemental notice related to more stringent greenhouse gas standards for model years 2027 through 2029. "The big change here is the Inflation Reduction Act. Congress sent a very strong message, backed by significant Resources," the EPA's Joseph Goffman told Reuters.

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▪️Cubans on Sunday will vote in a landmark referendum on whether to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption, allow surrogate pregnancies, and give greater rights to non-biological parents. By midday, 37.3 percent of Cuba's 8.4 million eligible voters had gone to the polls, according to the National Electoral Council.

The new family code, promoted by the communist government, would represent a major shift in Cuba, where the culture of machismo is strong and where the LGBTQ community was ostracized by authorities in the 1960s and 1970s.

More than eight million Cubans over 16 are invited to vote "Yes" or "No" amid the country's worst economic crisis in 30 years. Experts say the referendum could turn into an opportunity to voice opposition against the government.

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🔹The Los Angeles Unified School District will provide all its schools with a medication that can reverse opioid overdoses after at least seven teenagers overdosed on pills likely laced with fentanyl in recent weeks, including a 15-year-old girl who died on a high school campus.

"We have an urgent crisis on our hands," district Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said at a news conference Thursday.

Carvalho said doses of naloxone, also known as Narcan, will be supplied to all schools from kindergarten through 12th grade in the next few weeks — about 1,400 schools in total.

The county public health department will provide the medication for free. The nation's second-largest school district will also begin an educational campaign that includes parent outreach and "peer-to-peer" counseling to warn students about the dangers of fentanyl.

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