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Russia launched about three dozen drones over Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, Sunday. The early-morning attack lasted about two hours, with debris falling over the city.

Meanwhile, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday Russia’s Pskov oblast, near the Estonian border, has organized “volunteer security patrols” to bring a stop to drone attacks against Kresty Air Base.  

The ministry said, due to the limited range of quadcopter drones, the attacks on Kresty were almost certainly launched from Russia.  The volunteer patrols will “likely” serve as a deterrence, according to the ministry.

The use of volunteers indicates that it is “highly likely” that there is a shortage of trained security personnel within Russia,” the ministry said.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces will continue in the coming months, regardless of inclement weather when fighting would be harder to conduct, Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said Saturday.

“Combat actions will continue in one way or another. In the cold, wet and mud, it is more difficult to fight. Fighting will continue. The counteroffensive will continue,” Budanov said.

Ukraine’s much-vaunted counteroffensive has seen some success in the south where Ukrainian forces have retaken a dozen villages over the past three months.

Ukraine’s armed forces are making “gradual tactical advances” against Russia’s defensive line east of the town of Robotyne, the British  ministry said Saturday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But Ukraine’s military operation has been slower than anticipated because of hurdles that include vast minefields and heavily entrenched Russian forces.

Budanov’s comments, made during a news conference in Kyiv, indicate Ukraine does not intend to halt its push when the weather turns harsher later this year.

The slow progress of the counteroffensive has sparked concerns among Kyiv’s supporters that the West could face an uphill battle to maintain its support and the military aid needed to keep Ukraine battling at the same intensity level.

Ukraine’s advances in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, now centered around Robotyne and Verbove, are seen as a crucial part of an operation that seeks to split Russia’s occupying forces in half in the south but remains far from that goal.

“Our counteroffensive is happening in several directions,” Budanov said, acknowledging that progress had been slower than he wanted and describing the situation as difficult.

Apart from the huge concentration of Russian mines, he identified the large number of small Russian “kamikadze” drones as a key factor in slowing Ukraine’s progress so far.

Russian air defense says it shot down three Ukrainian drones over Crimea on Saturday, one in the northwest and two in the west of the peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of the local administration, said on a post on Telegram.

Reuters could not verify the claims, and there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

G20 summit

The leaders of the world’s 20 wealthiest countries adopted a consensus declaration Saturday at the G20 summit, calling on all states to refrain from the use of force to seize territory but stopped short of condemning Russia for its war on Ukraine.

Despite the consensus declaration, the group remains deeply divided over the war. Western nations were pushing for a strong denunciation of Russia in the Leaders’ Declaration, while other countries demanded a focus on broader economic issues.

On the war in Ukraine, the declaration says that all states must refrain from threats or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state. It also called the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons “inadmissible” and urged for peaceful resolution of conflicts using diplomacy and dialog.

The G20 noted “different views and assessments of the situation,” regarding the war in Ukraine.

They called on Russia and Ukraine to ensure immediate and unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, and fertilizers from Russia and Ukraine for the sake of global food and energy security and asked for the end of military destruction or other attacks on relevant infrastructure.

VOA White House Correspondent Anita Powell  contributed to this story.
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In an unprecedented move, the Vatican on Sunday is beatifying a Polish family of nine — a married couple and their small children — who were executed by the Nazis during World War II for sheltering Jews.

Last year, Pope Francis pronounced the deeply Catholic Ulma family, including the child that Wiktoria Ulma was pregnant with, martyrs for the faith, paving the way for the beatification Mass that is taking place in their home village of Markowa, in southeastern Poland.

The Ulmas were killed at home by German Nazi troops and by Nazi-controlled local police in the small hours of March 24, 1944, together with the eight Jews they were hiding at home, after they were apparently betrayed.

Jozef Ulma, 44, was a farmer, Catholic activist and amateur photographer who documented family and village life. He lived with his 31-year-old wife Wiktoria; their daughters Stanislawa, 7; Barbara, 6; Maria, 18 months; and sons Wladyslaw, 5; Franciszek, 3; and Antoni, 2.

With them were killed 70-year-old Saul Goldman with his sons Baruch, Mechel, Joachim and Mojzesz, along with Golda Grunfeld and her sister Lea Didner with her little daughter Reszla, according to Poland’s state Institute of National Remembrance, IPN, which has meticulously documented the Ulmas’ story.

The Catholic Church faced a dilemma in beatifying Wiktoria’s unborn child and declaring it a martyr because, among other things, it had not been baptized, which is a requirement for beatification.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Causes of Saints issued a clarification saying the child was actually born during the horror of the killings and received “baptism by blood” of its martyred mother.

The clarification was issued Sept. 5 by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Vatican’s saint-making office. Semeraro is presiding over the beatification Mass, at which more than 30,000 participants from across Poland are expected. It is the first time that an entire family is being beatified.

Poland’s conservative ruling party has been stressing family values and also the heroism of Poles during the war and the beatification ceremony is a welcome addition to its intense political campaigning ahead of the Oct. 15 parliamentary elections in which the Law and Justice party wants to win an unprecedented third term.

The Ulma beatification poses several new theological concepts about the Catholic Church’s ideas of saints and martyrs that also have implications for the pro-life movement because of the baby in the mother’s womb, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, a professor of ethics at the Catholic University of America and Rome’s Pontifical Holy Cross University.

Perhaps because the concept of “beatification of a fetus” could be weaponized by the pro-life movement, the Vatican apparently felt it necessary to state that the child was “born” at the moment the mother was executed.

By stating that the child was actually born, the Vatican also affirmed that the killers intended to kill the child out of hatred for the faith, a requirement for a martyrdom and beatification declaration, Gahl told The Associated Press.

After beatification, a miracle attributed to the Ulmas’ intercession would be necessary for their eventual canonization, as the church’s sainthood process is called.

Israel’s Yad Vashem Institute in 1995 recognized the Ulmas as Righteous Among Nations who gave their lives trying to save Jews during the Holocaust.

In Poland, they are a symbol of the bravery of thousands of Poles who took the utmost risk while helping Jews. By the occupying Nazis’ decree, any assistance to Jews was punished with summary execution. A Museum of Poles Saving Jews During World War II was opened in Markowa in 2016.

Poland was the first country to be invaded by Nazi Germany, on Sept. 1, 1939. Some 6 million of its citizens were killed during the war, half of them Jews.
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A year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II triggered questions about the future of the British monarchy, King Charles III’s reign has been marked more by continuity than transformation, by changes in style rather than substance.

Charles, who waited more than 70 years to ascend the throne, moved seamlessly into his new role, avoiding controversy and sidestepping major reforms despite questions about whether an unelected king can still represent the people of modern Britain.

Most people seem to have shrugged off Charles’ occasional faux pas — most publicly when he threw a hissy fit over an aide’s failure to move an ornate pen case during a signing ceremony — focusing instead on successes like his state visit to Germany, where the king wowed his audience by switching effortlessly between English and German during a speech to lawmakers.

The message delivered by the new king’s first year on the throne is clear, said Sally Bedell Smith, author of “Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life.” Change will be subtle, more evolution than revolution.

“The queen was known for incremental change and his incremental change may be a little more obvious in various moments,” she said. “But back in the ’90s, there was a lot of talk about how he just wanted to really shake up the deck and do things in a more radical way and be more outspoken. And I think he has recognized that this is not his role.”

So while Charles has made it clear that he wants to streamline the monarchy, cut costs and reform a system of patronage seen as bloated and anachronistic, there has been no obvious overhaul of Buckingham Palace — at least not yet.

Instead, Charles has focused on building bridges at home and abroad as he embraces the role of diplomat-in-chief. After traveling to each of the four nations that comprise the United Kingdom, the king visited faith communities around the country, greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in London and staged a successful state visit to Germany.

Charles became sovereign on Sept. 8, 2022, the day Elizabeth died after more than 70 years on the throne.

The following day, the new king telegraphed much of what has happened since in a speech that paid homage to the way his mother honored the history of a 1,000-year-old monarchy while embracing the changes that transformed Britain after World War II.

“In her life of service, we saw that abiding love of tradition, together with that fearless embrace of progress, which makes us great as a nation,” Charles said as he pledged to serve all his people, no matter where they live or what they believe.

Known for speaking his mind during his decades as heir to the throne, Charles also acknowledged that he would have to tone down his support for causes such as conservation and environmental protection.

But he immediately handed that mantle to Prince William, encouraging him to “lead our national conversation” and help “bring the marginal to the center ground, where vital help can be given.”

William accepted that challenge, continuing his fight against climate change and announcing a campaign to end homelessness in Britain.

Charles joined the nation in mourning the late queen at a state funeral that celebrated the life of the only monarch most people had ever known. After the queen’s piper played one final lament, the Westminster Abbey congregation offered a thunderous rendition of the national anthem — though for the first time in seven decades the first line was, “God save our gracious king.”

With that, the queen seemed to slide into the background of history and Charles took center stage in a multi-cultural nation where schoolchildren now speak more than 300 languages.

During his first Christmas Day broadcast, Charles gave a nod to the changing face of Britain, splicing in video of his travels around the kingdom, including scenes of the king meeting with food kitchen volunteers at a Sikh house of worship in Luton, a diverse community 30 miles north of London.

During the coronation ceremony in May, Charles again balanced the traditions of monarchy against the pressure for change.

As Charles sat in the 700-year-old coronation chair at Westminster Abbey, the Archbishop of Canterbury placed a jewel-encrusted crown on his head. Then he was enclosed behind a screen where he was anointed with holy oil.

But the monarch also made sure there was a role for other religions, with non-Christian faith leaders taking part in the ceremony for the first time.

And while the TV cameras focused on presidents and prime ministers, lords, ladies and royals as they trooped into the abbey, the audience also included dozens of people invited in honor of the work they do for charities, schools and youth programs around the country.

More challenges are to come.

The perception of the monarchy itself has changed since Elizabeth took the throne, making it harder for the palace to stick to its mantra of “never explain, never complain” as the media demand more information about royal spending and accountability.

Charles is also facing demands to make the palace staff more representative of modern Britain and to acknowledge the monarchy’s role in slavery and imperialism.

Some of those calls come from within the royal family after Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, criticized the palace in a book and TV series released earlier this year. But there is also pressure from republican groups that want to get rid of the hereditary monarchy and some of the 14 Commonwealth realms that bridle at the idea of having an English king as their head of state.

“It seems likely that his reign will end with less realms than it started,” said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty Magazine. “But, you know, that was also the case with Queen Elizabeth II. It’s just a natural progression, I think. But ultimately, it’s down to the people of the countries who have him as sovereign.”
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Niger’s military regime, which took power in July, accused France of deploying forces in several West African countries with a view to “military intervention.” 

“France continues to deploy its forces in several ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries as part of preparations for an aggression against Niger, which it is planning in collaboration with this community organization,” regime spokesman Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane said in a statement broadcast on national television on Saturday. 

Relations with France, Niger’s former colonial power, degraded swiftly after Paris stood by ousted President Mohamed Bazoum following the July coup. 

The Sahel state is also embroiled in a standoff with the West African bloc ECOWAS, which has threatened to intervene militarily if diplomatic pressure to return Bazoum to office fails. 

On August 3, Niger’s coup leaders renounced several military cooperation agreements with France, which has about 1,500 soldiers stationed in the country as part of a wider fight against jihadis. 

On Tuesday, a Paris defense ministry source told AFP the French army was in talks with the military regime over withdrawing elements of its presence in Niger. 

On September 1, the regime said its chief of staff had “received the commander of French forces in the Sahel … to discuss a plan for the disengagement of French military capabilities.” 
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Paris has rescinded a special honor it bestowed on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas because of his recent antisemitic comments minimizing the Holocaust. 

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo published a letter Friday saying “your remarks run counter to universal values and the historical truth of the Holocaust.” 

Noting that tens of thousands of Jews were rounded up in Paris under the Nazi occupation and deported to death camps, Hidalgo said, “We condemn your comments with the utmost firmness. No cause can justify revisionism and negationism.” 

Hidalgo awarded Abbas the city’s highest honor, the Grand Bronze of Paris, in 2015 for his efforts toward peace in the Middle East and a two-state solution. 

In a speech last month to senior members of his Fatah movement, Abbas said that Adolf Hitler killed European Jews not because of antisemitism, but because of their “social functions” in society, such as money lending. 

The United States, Germany and the European Union condemned Abbas’ comments and accused him of distorting history and promoting antisemitic stereotypes. 

In the Holocaust, 6 million Jews and others were murdered by the Nazis and their allies. Hitler considered Jews to be an inferior race and viciously promoted antisemitic stereotypes to incite violence and discrimination against Europe’s Jews as the Third Reich carried out the genocide. 
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A former British soldier who escaped from a London prison four days ago was captured Saturday while riding a bike on a path west of London, police said. 

Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, escaped from HMP Wandsworth by leaving the prison kitchen where he was working and fastening himself to the bottom of a food delivery van. He was caught about 16 kilometers from where he escaped. 

Discharged from the British army in May, Khalife was awaiting trial on offenses related to terrorism and violations of the Official Secrets Act. He is accused of planting fake bombs at an army base in England and, the BBC reported, collecting sensitive personal information about soldiers from a British Defense Ministry database. His trial is scheduled for November. 

He is also charged with obtaining information that might be “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.” The BBC reported that enemy was Iran.  Khalife has denied the charges. 

Khalife’s prison escape from HMP Wandsworth, a medium-security prison that opened in 1851, prompted criticism of the governing Conservative Party’s years of austerity. 

“We need answers about how on earth a prisoner charged with terror & national security offences could have escaped in this way,” Yvette Cooper, a member of the Labour Party in the House of Commons, wrote on social media Saturday. 

British Justice Minister Alex Chalk briefed Parliament on the escape Thursday and promised an immediate investigation into the prison’s protocols and the decision about where Khalife was held. He said a second independent investigation will take place at a later date as well.  

“No stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened,” Chalk said. 

London’s Metropolitan Police had offered a reward of $25,000 for information leading to Khalife’s arrest, but it was unclear Saturday if anyone is eligible to receive the money. 

Some information in this report was provided by Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Poland’s conservative governing party and the opposition showered potential voters with promises Saturday as the country’s political parties revealed their campaign programs before the October 15 parliamentary election.

The nationalist ruling Law and Justice party, which took power in 2015, wants to win an unprecedented third term. The government’s tenure, however, has been marred with bitter clashes with the European Union over the government’s rule of law record and democratic backsliding.

At a party convention, leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who is Poland’s most powerful politician, made promises of new spending on social and military causes for the nation living in the shadow of Russia’s full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

The government has already largely increased the state budget deficit with spending on benefits for large families and retirees, as well as on purchasing armament.

The main opposition Civic Coalition also laid out its program tenets, vowing to reverse the negative trends in foreign and home policy, mend fences with Brussels and secure funds frozen now by the EU amid the rule of law dispute.

Party leader Donald Tusk, who is a former prime minister and former top EU figure, also promised to free state media and cultural activities from their current restrictions and “censorship.”

With five weeks to go to the election that will shape Poland for the next four years, opinion polls suggest that Law and Justice may garner the most electoral votes but not enough to continue its current narrow control of the parliament, and may need to seek an uncomfortable coalition in which the most probable partner would be the far-right Confederation.
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Ukraine’s armed forces are making “gradual tactical advances” against Russia’s defensive line east of the town of Robotyne, the British Defense Ministry said Saturday in its daily intelligence update on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The update, posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, also indicated that it is “highly likely” Russia has taken forces from other areas of the front line “to replace degraded units” near Robotyne. The redeployments, the ministry said, are “likely limiting” Russia’s capacity for executing offensive operations in other frontline areas and are “highly likely” indicative of pressure on Russia’s defensive lines, especially around Robotyne.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a letter last month that Russia would be eligible to apply for membership and access to the SWIFT banking system for food and fertilizer transactions.

The Russian Agricultural Bank subsidiary in Luxembourg could immediately apply to SWIFT to “effectively enable access” for the bank to the international payments system within 30 days, the United Nations told Russia in a letter, seen by Reuters on Friday.

In an effort to persuade Moscow to return to the U.N.-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative that had allowed the safe export through the Black Sea of Ukrainian grain, Guterres outlined four measures the United Nations could facilitate to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports.

Guteres told Lavrov the U.N. was immediately ready to move on all measures “based on the clear understanding that their application would lead to the Russian Federation’s return to the Black Sea Initiative and the full resumption of operations.”

A key Russian demand has been the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT system. It was cut off by the European Union in June of last year after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed skepticism in a statement Wednesday at the U.N. chief’s proposals.

“Instead of actual exemptions from sanctions, all Russia got was a new dose of promises from the U.N. Secretariat,” it said. “These recent proposals do not contain any new elements and cannot serve as a foundation for making any tangible progress in terms of bringing our agricultural exports back to normal.”

Russia exited the deal in July, a year after it was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey to combat a global food crisis the U.N. said was worsened by Russia’s invasion. Ukraine and Russia are both leading grain exporters.

In other developments, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin masterminded the death of Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in an unexplained plane crash with his top lieutenants last month.

Zelenskyy did not provide evidence to back up the claim he made in passing during a conference in Kyiv when he was asked a question about the Russian president.

“The fact that he killed Prigozhin — at least that’s the information we all have, not any other kind — that also speaks to his rationality, and about the fact that he is weak,” Zelenskyy said.

The Kremlin says all possible causes of the crash will be investigated, including the possibility of foul play. It has called the suggestion that Putin ordered the deaths of Prigozhin and his men an “absolute lie.”

Prigozhin led a short-lived mutiny in Russia in June that Putin characterized as treasonous and a “stab in the back.”
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A multinational rail and ports deal linking the Middle East and South Asia will be announced Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, a White House official said.

The pact comes at a critical time as U.S. President Joe Biden seeks to counter China’s Belt and Road push on global infrastructure by pitching Washington as an alternative partner and investor for developing countries at the G20 grouping.

The deal will benefit low and middle-income countries in the region and enable a critical role for the Middle East in global commerce, Jon Finer, the U.S. deputy national security adviser, told reporters at the bloc’s annual summit in New Delhi.

It aims to link Middle East countries by railway and connect them to India by port, helping the flow of energy and trade from the Gulf to Europe, U.S. officials have said, by cutting shipping times, costs and fuel use.

A memorandum of understanding for the deal will be signed by the European Union, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other G20 partners, Finer said.

“Linking these key regions, we think, is a huge opportunity,” said Finer. No immediate details of the value of the deal were available.

The move comes amid U.S. efforts for a broader diplomatic deal in the Middle East that would have Saudi Arabia recognize Israel.

From the U.S. viewpoint, Finer added, the deal helps “turn the temperature down across the region” and “address a conflict where we see it.”
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Britain on Friday marked one year since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, polls show her successor, King Charles III, faces a challenge to keep the monarchy relevant and popular among younger generations. Camera: Henry Ridgwell.
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An international team of at least 150 rescuers gathered at a Turkish cave Friday and prepared to try to bring out a U.S. explorer who fell ill nearly a week ago while exploring more than 1,000 meters underground.

Mark Dickey, 40, was exploring Morca Cave near Anamur, Turkey, in the Taurus Mountains with a team of about 12 others last Saturday when he fell ill with what was determined to be internal bleeding.

At a depth of 1,040 meters, Dickey was unable to climb out on his own. The Turkish Caving Federation said the team alerted the European Cave Rescue Association.

A Hungarian rescue team that includes a doctor reached Dickey this week, was able to get him medicine and blood infusions, and was monitoring him at a base camp.

Dickey appeared in a video message that the rescuers recorded and released Friday. He appeared to be in good spirits but said he “was not healed on the inside yet” and would need a lot of help climbing out of the cave.

The head of the Turkish search-and-rescue team, Recep Salci, told the Reuters news agency Friday that Dickey was stable enough to be moved but that the operation would likely take several days.

Salci said that getting to Dickey’s location involves many narrow passages and descents where a rope must be used. Some areas can be accessed only by crawling.

Salci said it takes a healthy caver 12 hours to get down to the location and 16 hours to climb up. He said some areas would require explosives to widen.

Salci said many of the operations were already being carried out.

In his video message, Dickey thanked the Turkish government and others who reached him initially with medical supplies, which he said saved his life. He also thanked the international community of cave explorers who have responded.

The European Cave Rescue Association said teams from Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Poland arrived at the scene over the course of the last week. How long the rescue mission will take depends on whether Dickey will require a stretcher on the way out, Werner Zegler, the association’s vice president, told VOA in an interview.

Zegler estimated that it would take three or four days if Dickey did not need a stretcher and up to two weeks if he did. According to Zegler, there were more than 100 rescuers on site. If initial extraction efforts fail, more might be necessary, he said.

Ivana Konstantinovic of VOA’s Serbian Service contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Rescue crews have begun airlifting hundreds of people trapped in dozens of Greek hamlets after four days of cataclysmic rainfall left at least 7 people dead and an unknown number missing.

Rains from Daniel, the worst storm to hit Greece in 75 years, turned small streets in the country’s farming heartland of Thessaly into waterways that uprooted village huts. Rivers swelled, dams burst, and bridges broke.

Hardest hit has been the region of Karditsa, where six people, all elderly women and shepherds, were found under mounds of debris, washed away by floodwaters in their attempt to evacuate their homes. 

Officially, six people remain missing, but locals and crew contacted by VOA predict greater numbers. In the village of Palamas alone, on the outskirts of Karditsa, residents phoning into local TV stations spoke of more than 60 villagers missing on Friday.

Authorities liken the storm to what they call a “biblical catastrophe,” placing several parts of the Thessaly plain in a state of emergency, and allowing the country’s military to be called in to help on Thursday.

But by then, Daniel had wreaked unprecedented damage, and left the nation angry about the government’s delayed response. 

Emergency services on Friday were seen using divers, lifeboats and 80 all-weather military helicopters to reach stranded people across Thessaly, mainly in Karditsa.

Sofia, an elderly woman who managed to escape to a relative’s home, described the horror of her ordeal.

“I was left on the rooftop of my home for days before someone came with a plastic life raft and helped me down,” she said. “I would have drowned, because the water had reached 2 meters high.”

Like thousands of others in the region, Sofia said she received no notification to evacuate and seek safety on higher ground. 

“I am left with nothing. Zero,” she said. “The government now has to help us.”

Other farmers, including Christos Theodoropoulos, are mad.

“Nothing is left. Nothing,” he shouted. “No official has come to help us. I am embarrassed that this is 2023 and this has happened.”

In 2020, the region was hit by a ferocious cyclone. 

But since then, locals say authorities have failed to build necessary infrastructure to shield the region — leaving it, thousands of residents and livestock at the mercy of nature.  
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London’s Metropolitan Police on Friday reported the first confirmed sighting of a terror suspect who escaped Wednesday from a London medium-security prison and is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt. 

A former British soldier, 21-year-old Daniel Abed Khalife, is believed to have escaped from HMP Wandsworth by leaving the prison kitchen, where he was working, and fastening himself to the bottom of a food delivery van. 

In a release, the Metropolitan Police said they received information from a member of the public who said they saw a man fitting Khalife’s description walking away from a food delivery van that had stopped not far from the prison shortly after his escape. The man was then seen walking toward Wandsworth town center.

London police also confirmed Friday they were carrying out an extensive search of Richmond Park in London’s southwest. The search included 150 officers, The Independent newspaper reports, quoting Metropolitan Pollice Commissioner Mark Rowl.

Discharged from the British army in May, Khalife was awaiting trial on offenses related to terrorism and violations of the Official Secrets Act. He is accused of planting fake bombs at an army base in England and, the BBC reported, collecting sensitive personal information about soldiers from a British Defense Ministry database. 

He is also charged with obtaining information that might be “directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.” The BBC reported that enemy was Iran. Khalife has denied the charges.

British Justice Minister Alex Chalk briefed Parliament on the escape Thursday and promised an immediate investigation into the prison’s protocols and the decision about where Khalife was held. He said a second independent investigation will take place at a later date.

“No stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened,” Chalk said.

Some information in this report was provided by Reuters and The Associated Press. 
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