CAIRO — A towering blaze at a notorious prison housing political prisoners and anti-government activists in Iran’s capital killed four inmates, the country’s judiciary said Sunday. The dramatic scenes of the nighttime fire have reverberated across Iranian social media.

Flames and thick smoke rising from Tehran’s Evin Prison had been widely visible Saturday evening, as nationwide anti-government protests triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody entered a fifth week. In online videos, gunshots and explosions could be heard in the area of the prison.

The blaze was extinguished after several hours and no detainees escaped, state media said.

Authorities have attempted to distance the events at the prison from the ongoing protests, while state media has offered conflicting accounts of the violence. Hundreds are being held at Evin, where human rights groups have reported repeated abuses of prisoners.

Families of inmates gathered Sunday near the prison hoping for news of their loved ones inside.

Masoumeh, 49, who only gave her first name, said her 19-year-old son was taken to the prison two weeks ago after taking part in the street protests. “I cannot trust news about his health, I need to see him closely,” she said.

Another man, Reza, who also gave only his first name, said his brother has been in Evin Prison since last year after he was involved in a violent quarrel. “He did not call us in recent days and following last night’s fire I am here to learn what happened to him,” he said.

State media originally reported nine people were injured but the judiciary-affiliated website Mizan.news on Sunday said four inmates died of smoke inhalation and 61 others were injured. It said all four who died were in prison on robbery convictions.

Ten inmates were hospitalized, with four of them in serious condition, Mizan reported. It said some prisoners had tried to escape but failed.

State TV on Sunday aired video purporting to show the fire’s aftermath of scorched walls and ceilings in a room it said was the upper floor of a sewing workshop at the prison.

“This fire was caused by a fight between some prisoners in a sewing workshop,” said Tehran Gov. Mohsen Mansouri.

Iranian social media posts challenged state media claims over the cause of the fire and apparent explosions at the prison. Former inmate of Evin and rights activist Atena Daemi said in a Tweet Sunday that normally, all prisoners are sent to their wards and the workshops closed by sunset.

The European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell expressed his “most serious concern” to Iran’s foreign minister and called for “maximum transparency on the situation” following the prison blaze and apparent violence.

Iranian authorities are responsible for the lives of “all detainees, including human rights defenders and EU nationals,” Borrell said in a Tweet Sunday.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Saturday that there were clashes between prisoners in one ward and prison personnel, citing a senior security official. The official said “rioters” set fire to a warehouse full of prison uniforms, which caused the blaze.

The official said the “situation is completely under control” and that firefighters were extinguishing the flames. Later, Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi said that calm had returned to the prison and that the unrest was not related to the protests which have swept the country for four weeks.

The U.S.-based Center for Human Rights in Iran reported that an “armed conflict” broke out within the prison walls. It said shots were first heard in Ward 7 of the prison. This account could not immediately be corroborated.

Footage of the fire circulated online. Videos showed shots ringing out as plumes of smoke rose into the sky amid the sound of an alarm. A protest broke out on the street soon after, with many chanting “Death to the Dictator!” — a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — and burning tires, the videos showed.

Online video of the prison fire appeared to show projectiles being launched into the prison’s area by security forces, followed by the sound of at least two explosions. It wasn’t immediately clear what kind of rounds Iranian security forces used in the incident.

Witnesses said that police blocked roads and highways to Evin and that at least three strong explosions were heard coming from the area. Traffic was heavy along major freeways near the prison, which is in the north of the capital, and many people honked to show their solidarity with protests.

Riot police were seen riding on motorbikes toward the facility, as were ambulances and firetrucks. Witnesses reported that the internet was blocked in the area.

The prison fire occurred as protesters intensified anti-government demonstrations along main streets and at universities in the capital and other cities across Iran on Saturday. Human rights monitors reported hundreds dead, including children, as the movement concluded its fourth week.

Wider protests in the northern city of Ardebil erupted following reports a teenager, Asra Panahi, died after police confronted protesting girls at a high school. Official denied the report saying she died because of a chronic heart problem and police did not hit her.

The protests erupted after public outrage over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. She was arrested by Iran’s morality police in Tehran for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Iran’s government insists Amini was not mistreated in police custody, but her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was detained.

President Joe Biden, on a trip to Oregon, said the Iranian “government is so oppressive” and that he had an “enormous amount of respect for people marching in the streets.”

Evin Prison, which holds detainees facing security-related charges and includes dual citizens, has been charged by rights groups with abusing inmates. The facility has long been known for holding political prisoners as well as those with ties to the West who have been used by Iran as bargaining chips in international negotiations.

Iranian officials have downplayed the threat of anti-government protests in the country even as the number of deaths and arrests has swelled. Rights groups say over 200 protesters have been killed since demonstrations swept Iran on Sept. 17. Over two dozen security force members have been killed in the unrest, according to Iranian authorities.

KYIV, Ukraine — Pro-Kremlin officials on Sunday blamed Ukraine for a rocket attack that struck the mayor’s office in Donetsk, a city controlled by the separatists, while Ukrainian officials said Russian rocket strikes hit a town across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, among other targets.

The attacks came as Russia’s war in Ukraine nears the eight-month mark. Kyiv also reported holding the line in continued fierce fighting around Bakhmut, where Russian forces have claimed some gains amid a seven-week Ukrainian counteroffensive that has led Russian troops to retreat from some areas around it.

The municipal mayor’s building in Donetsk was seriously damaged by the rocket attack. Plumes of smoke swirled around the building, which had rows of blown-out windows and a partially collapsed ceiling. Cars nearby were burned out. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Kyiv didn’t immediately claim responsibility or comment on the attack.

Kremlin-backed separatist authorities have accused Ukraine of numerous strikes on infrastructure and residential targets in the occupied regions. They have said Kyiv often uses U.S.-supplied long-range HIMARS rockets, but have not provided corroborating information.

Last week, the Kremlin launched what is believed to be its largest coordinated air and missile raids yet on Ukraine’s infrastructure. The wide-ranging retaliatory attacks included the use of self-destructing explosive drones from Iran, and killed dozens of people.

Ukraine’s presidential office said Sunday that Moscow was shelling towns and villages along the front line in the east, and that “active hostilities” continued in the southern Kherson region.

Kyiv reported at least six people wounded in the latest attack on Nikopol, across from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest. The strikes damaged power lines, gas pipelines, and a raft of civilian businesses and residential buildings, they said.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of firing at and around the plant, which is run by its pre-occupation Ukrainian staff under Russian oversight.

The region of Zaporizhzhia is one of four that Moscow illegally annexed last month, despite the fact that some 20% of Zaporizhzhia remains under Ukrainian military control.

In western Russia, along the border with Ukraine, Russian officials said their air defenses shot down “a minimum” of 16 Ukrainian missiles in the Belgorod region, Russia’s Ria Novosti reported. The regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said four people were wounded.

Russian authorities in border regions have repeatedly accused Kyiv of firing at their territory, and claimed that civilians were being wounded. Ukraine hasn’t claimed responsibility for the alleged atacks or commented.

Russia has long used Belgorod as a staging ground for shelling and missile attacks on Ukrainian territory.

Meanwhile, Russia opened an investigation into a shooting in the Belgorod region Saturday in which two men from a former Soviet republic who were training at a Russian military firing range killed 11 and wounded 15 during target practice, before being slain themselves. The Russian Defense Ministry called the incident a terrorist attack.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of 22,000 Ancheer electric bikes on Thursday, after reports of lithium-ion batteries catching fire and exploding.

The bikes, produced by Chinese manufacturer Ancheer, are distinguished by their water-bottle-shaped battery. The company has received six reports of sparks, fire and explosions, including four burn injuries.

Consumers who bought an Ancheer bike should look for model number AM001907, which can be found “on the e-bike packaging and in the instruction manual but cannot be found on the bike itself,” the commission said.

The bikes are black and have 26-inch wheels. “Ancheer” is printed on the downtube of the bikes.

The AM001907 model bikes were sold on a number of online platforms: Amazon, Walmart, Rakuten, Overstock, eBay, Newegg, Sears, Wish, AliExpress and the company’s own website.

They were sold between January 2016 and June 2022 for between $280 and $930.

Consumers, who will not have to ship back the entire bike, can contact Ancheer for a free replacement battery and mount.

Ancheer will send a replacement battery if they “provide proof of disposal of the original battery at a certified electronics recycler that accepts lithium-ion batteries or at a hazardous waste collection facility.”

Consumers also can request a prepaid mailing package and shipping label for an at-home pickup of the defective battery.

For now, the company urges consumers to “remove the original battery … and store it in a ventilated and dry place. Do not expose the original battery to heaters, stoves and direct sunlight, or environments with high temperature or high humidity.”

Climate protesters threw tomato soup on a version of Van Gogh’s famous painting “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery before gluing themselves to the wall below on Friday.

The art piece dates to 1889, one of seven versions made by the Dutch painter, and is worth an estimated $85 million.

The vandalism by the two protesters did not damage the painting, which is covered in glass, although there was “minor damage to the frame,” according to the BBC.

The vandalism comes after two weeks of protests across London by the group Just Stop Oil, a group to which both protesters belong. Other actions included, much like American protests, blocking roadways to tie up commuter traffic.

The group wants the British government to stop “all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK.”

“What is worth more, art or life? … are you more concerned about the protection of a painting or the protection of our planet and people?”@JustStop_Oil’s activists explain their action pic.twitter.com/mGNZIO6RbK

— Damien Gayle (@damiengayle) October 14, 2022

Friday’s art protest was far from the first for Just Stop Oil. In late June and early July, activists from the group engaged in a series of five similar stunts. They glued themselves to the frame of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at the Royal Academy and to the frame of Van Gogh’s “Peach Trees in Blossom” at London’s Courtauld Gallery.

Such stunt protests are not universally supported by climate change activists.

The direct action “alienates many people we need to bring into the fold. People who are natural allies in the climate battle but will draw negative associations with climate advocacy and activism from such acts,” climate scientist Michael Mann told the Associated Press.

A Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed the pair of protesters had been arrested for their actions, saying, “Specialist officers have un-glued them and they have been taken into custody to a central London police station,” according to the New York Post.

The painting was cleaned and returned to its display Friday afternoon.

Russian intelligence officials attempted to recruit captured members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment to join a large-scale fight planned against Western Europe and the U.S., a senior leader of the unit said after being released. 

Maj. Bohdan Krotevych, Azov Regiment chief of staff, was among the more than 2,000 Ukrainian service members captured in May when Russia overwhelmed the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol after a bitter, bloody siege. He recalled in an interview how his captors attempted to chip away at his loyalty to Ukraine as part of a psychological pressure campaign spanning his four months as a POW near Moscow.

“They asked why I’m fighting,” Maj. Krotevych told The Washington Times in an interview this week. “They asked what is Ukraine for me. And they asked, ‘Why don’t you join us and fight against Europe and the USA?’”

The grillings were the only interruptions to otherwise endless spans of isolation. In total, Maj. Krotevych says he spent 120 days in a 4-by-2 meter cell cut off from the outside world.

“It was hard psychological pressure,” he said. “We weren’t able to speak with people, to see people, to even see the skies, because the windows were totally closed.”

He said a camera hung in his cell to record his every move. The overhead light stayed on around the clock. 

“It’s quite a philosophic adventure,” he said. “I planned to not lose my mind, and I guess I managed to do that.”

In addition to pressuring battle-hardened Azov fighters to switch sides, Maj. Krotevych said his handlers, who he thinks were part of either Russia’s federal security service or military intelligence, pressed him for information about other Ukrainian units still resisting a Russian invasion now nearly 8 months old.

But he said turning against his country or its Western allies was never an option.

“I told them that I’m not going to say anything and that if they want to try to torture me to get me talking, try,” he said. “After that, they never spoke to me again.”

The 8-year-old Azov Regiment was founded as a volunteer paramilitary militia to fight in the frozen conflict between Ukraine and pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine‘s Donbas region, and was later incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard. The regiment has been a special target of criticism from President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, who cite it as what they say is a clear illustration of the “far-right elements” that dominate the Kyiv government.

The prison ordeal was not the first time Maj. Krotevych‘s determination had been put to the test.

His unit was outnumbered and under siege for months before Russia overtook the Azovstal steel plants sprawling network of bunkers used to defend the key port city. Their lengthy resistance became a rallying point for Ukrainians across the country.

The regiment remained concealed in the plant in a last-ditch effort to defend the key port city — sleeping underground as Russian forces launched barrages from the air and sea, emerging amid the onslaught to man a network of firing positions on the surface.

The steel mill had served as the Azov Regiment’s command post for the region since the start of the war. Azov fighters gathered food and supplies from other bases, planning to use the sprawling fortress for a strategic fallback as Russian forces advanced from the east and south.

By late spring, the unit had been cut off from supply lines and left to fend for themselves without support from other Ukrainian units.

Fighters relied on the food they brought into the factory at the beginning of the war and the industrial water that was still being supplied to the plant, which the fighters boiled before they drank.

Maj. Krotevych, who joined the Azov Regiment after Russia annexed his hometown in Crimea in 2014, told The Times in an interview that despite the circumstances, Russia stood no chance of breaking his resolve to defend Ukraine.

“For me, every man must go defend his homeland,” he said. “I would like the world to understand that Russia is a terrorist country. Terrorists must be neutralized.”

Most of those captured after Mariupol fell were held in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. Maj. Krotevych was among nine Azov leaders taken to a different facility in Russia. He said he did not know his whereabouts until his release last month as part of a prisoner swap that freed 108 Azov fighters.

Several of the unit’s top commanders are required to remain in Turkey until the war ends as part of the deal. 

Maj. Krotevych, who spoke to The Times by phone from Kyiv, was careful in sharing details from his time in captivity. He said that if he were to disclose certain details, it could complicate efforts to release thousands who remain imprisoned.

He said he and others who were recently released have been debriefed by Ukrainian officials and are aiding in efforts to free other prisoners.

And he said he is not done fighting for Ukraine.

“We’re going to bring everybody back,” he said. “Everybody has to understand that the full-scale war is ongoing, but Ukrainian armed forces are liberating Russian-controlled territories every day. And we are going to continue to go forward.”

Following a 12-mile retreat forced by advancing Ukrainian forces, Russian troops now appear to be digging in along a new front outside the Ukrainian village of Mylove in the Kherson region, British military intelligence officials said Thursday.

“Heavy fighting continues along this line, especially at the western end where Ukrainian advances mean Russia’s flank is no longer protected by the Inhulets River,” the British Ministry of Defense said in its latest intelligence update on Twitter.

The majority of the Russian troops continue to be weakened airborne forces, British officials said.

Intelligence indicates that Russian occupation forces have ordered the preparation to begin for the evacuation of some civilians from Kherson.

“It is likely that they anticipate combat extending to the city of Kherson itself,” British military intelligence officials posted.