(WARSAW) – Multiple explosions were reported overnight in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, located more than 600 kilometres from the Ukrainian border, in what appears to be another Ukrainian drone attack deep inside Russian territory.
Local authorities stated that air defences were activated overnight and a fire was reported. It remains unclear what was targeted or whether the attack achieved its objectives. Ukraine has struck Sochi at least twice previously in September.
The explosions follow a Russian attack on Ukraine on Sunday, when a train near the Polish border was struck. Ukrainian Railways reported that the intended target may have been a diplomatic train carrying EU security advisers and former European leaders, which had departed the station just 15 minutes earlier.
The strike on the Kyiv to Warsaw train has prompted a strong response from Poland. Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski stated that the incident demonstrates how closely Polish and Ukrainian security interests are intertwined.
“These bombardments taking place literally just a few hundred metres from the Polish border affect the security of my fellow citizens,” Sikorski said. “Let this serve as final proof to everyone in my country that the security of Poland and Ukraine is inseparably linked, and that showing solidarity with Ukraine as a whole, but also with every individual Ukrainian, those living in Poland and those seeking to enter Poland, helps build solidarity between our nations.”
Sikorski added: “Whenever we are divided, whenever they pit us against one another, we know what happens. Those responsible receive praise from Mr Medvedev and Putin’s propagandists. Whenever Ukrainians and Poles have been successfully divided, the country that wishes both of us harm has benefited.”
Questions remain over whether the Warsaw bound train was deliberately targeted. Joshua Bergen of the Alliance for Global Security believes the strike was a provocation and that Russia knew exactly what it was doing.
“I certainly believe this is a provocation and that Russia knows exactly what it’s doing,” Bergen said. “I’ve been reading reports on various social media feeds throughout the morning, people having evacuated the train, the fear that accompanied them. Just the warning indicates that Russia probably didn’t want actual fatalities but to probe and to test and to signal yet again to the Western world that it is coming for us.”
In Serbia, a student protest movement is becoming a significant political force. Thousands of people turned out over the weekend to support the students ahead of next month’s vote. The movement began after the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapsed in 2024, killing 16 people, and could now pose a serious challenge to President Aleksandar Vučić.
Huge queues and hours of waiting characterised the experience of thousands of people in Serbia over the weekend who decided to sign up on the student movement’s list in a show of support ahead of the approaching snap election on 25th October. Rather than frustration, many of those in line shared positive sentiments.
“I’ve been waiting here for almost two hours in a row to sign the list and I’m somehow very happy because I see people in a good mood,” one participant said. “I can see people who are determined to first sign the list and later at the elections contribute to the end of this regime.”
The student movement emerged roughly two years ago, not as a political crusade but as a call for accountability after the railway station canopy collapse in Novi Sad. Protesters blamed the tragedy on corruption and began massive anti government demonstrations criticised by Vučić. Demonstrators on occasion braved tear gas and stun grenades deployed by Serbian police, but the protests only grew and eventually gained political momentum.
“The student protest has turned into a proper political movement that’s been demanding snap elections,” a correspondent reported. “They have said that in those particular elections the students themselves will not be running but instead they will have a list of 250 MP candidates that they will allow to represent their interests in order to stand up against Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party and be able to take part in the approaching snap elections.”
The movement, called the Student List, requires 10,000 signatures which needed to be verified by notaries who were reportedly hard to find over the weekend. One of the key challenges it has been counting on is that the lack of enough notaries would cause people to give up after standing several hours waiting for their turn to give a signature.
“But actually it was exactly the opposite,” the correspondent noted. “People were dancing, people were singing. That basically tells you all you need to know: that spirit has not been broken. As a matter of fact, it has just been growing.”
Vučić said he would resign as president around 25th or 26th September. The ruling Serbian Progressive Party nominated him as its candidate for prime minister ahead of the vote. His ultimate goal is to stay in power for as long as possible, shifting from one position to another, from president to prime minister, and on foreign policy to continue playing his balancing game between Russia and China as well as the West.
Vučić dissolved the parliament and announced the snap elections earlier in the week. The move came as Serbia, a candidate for EU accession, faces increased criticism from the union, having hosted a hero’s funeral for Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb commander convicted of war crimes.
In Sweden, the centre left opposition appears to have a three seat lead over the ruling centre right bloc, based on results from most electoral districts. The race remains close, with the final outcome potentially depending on overseas ballots still to be counted.
The opposition led by Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson is projected to win 176 seats compared with 173 for the coalition led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Since taking office, Kristersson’s government has tightened immigration rules, including residency, welfare and deportation policies. Before the election, Kristersson said he was prepared to bring the Sweden Democrats into government. The party has called for a ban on face coverings in public and an end to funding for a project aimed at integrating newcomers.
During the Cold War, a house outside Paris became a major centre of Polish intellectual life in exile. Its writers challenged communist rule through the influential magazine Kultura. Now, as Poland marks the legacy of its founder, we visit the historic home behind the magazine.
Over a thousand publications, countless authors scattered across the globe, and a desire to create a space for independent Polish thought as the country descended into communist rule following the Second World War. For eight decades, the Literary Institute publishing house in Maisons Laffitte has provided a space for creativity, dialogue and discussions about the future of Poland and the Eastern Bloc.
Brought to life by Jerzy Giedroyc in 1946, the institute continues its work today, welcoming researchers long after its founding mothers and fathers are gone.
“Today, the collections of the Literary Institute consist of several collections,” an archivist explained. “The most important element is the material relating to its publishing activity which allows us to trace it essentially from the very beginnings of the institute and the publication of the first issue of Kultura in 1947. It allows us to trace the continuity of its publishing activity which consisted of the magazine and biblioteka.”
Nowadays, the institute carries the legacy of decades of work that had served as a bridge between the West and Poland under communist rule.
“The society for culture sought to create a space for autonomous thought and to build a kind of intellectual and cultural bridge between the immigrant community and Poland itself,” the archivist continued. “In other words, they endeavoured to create a space for dialogue. Yet, they were also deeply committed individuals.”
The Literary Institute, now an archive and research facility, once doubled as a home to those who created it, making the place an around the clock hub for thought provoking discussions and dialogue.
“This really is a very unusual situation because it was not only a place of work, but also a place where people lived,” the archivist said. “Professional life took place on the ground floor of the house. Although there were also these intrusions of entirely private domestic life because the kitchen and dining room are on the ground floor and they too played an important role.”
Giedroyc, who founded the institute alongside Józef Czapski, Zofia Hertz, Zygmunt Hertz and Gustaw Herling Grudziński, and oversaw the publication of the legendary Kultura journal, served as an inspiration to generations of influential commentators, authors and scholars, including renowned Polish British historian Norman Davies.
“When I was learning about Poland in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, he was a very big influence on the way I looked at Poland’s eastern relations,” Davies said. “To this day Kultura and the Literary Institute continue its mission as a centre for independent thought aimed at mutual understanding and cooperation.”
“It seems to me that cultivating this tradition of a certain intellectual autonomy is crucial and I believe those involved in Kultura are precisely the ones doing that,” he added.
Eighty years on, fulfilling the final wish of its founders, the institute continues to serve as a place of creativity and inspiration in a dynamically changing geopolitical landscape.
Two Polish professional drift drivers took the top spots on the championship podium as the Red Bull Drift Masters season ended on Saturday at the PGE Narodowy Stadium in Warsaw. The fourth edition of the Red Bull Drift Masters brought together the season’s 40 best drivers from around the world and around 55,000 fans for the decisive round of the championship.
The finale took place at the PGE Narodowy Stadium with a strong home focus as two Polish drivers competed to become champion in front of the Warsaw crowd.
“To fight for the championship in front of our home crowd in Warsaw, I’m out of words. I’m speechless to be honest,” one driver said. “I couldn’t be more happy because I’m in a place I’ve been working for more than 10 years to get to. So it’s definitely a dream come true.”
The title challenge took a dramatic turn in the top 16 when one driver was involved in an accident. He was not injured but ultimately finished third in the championship, putting two Polish drivers on the final podium.
“To finish it on the podium and to be on the podium with Paweł and singing together our national anthem, it felt amazing to have two Poles on the podium in the end,” another driver said. “Amazing feeling especially in this stadium.”
Defending champion Connor Shanahan remained among the strongest challengers until the end, completing the season in second place.
“Yeah, very good. Obviously I come to try to win the championship but P2 this year and I’m happy,” Shanahan said. “I’m really happy, third time winning this event. So much emotions connected to this place and yeah quite a special night again tonight.”
But on Saturday night at the PGE Narodowy Stadium, it was Paweł Korpoliński who came out on top, ending the season as the Drift Masters champion in front of his home crowd.
Warsaw’s Central Railway Station had an unusual visitor on Sunday evening. A moose wandered onto the tracks, forcing two platforms to temporarily close. Emergency crews sedated the animal and carried it to a special vehicle before releasing it into its natural habitat.
Polish Railways nicknamed the moose Emil. Moose are regularly seen around Warsaw with populations in nearby forests in Kampinos National Park, but finding one inside the capital’s main railway station is far less common.
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