The president has signed a decree to set the strength of the country’s armed forces at nearly 2.4 million people | President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that officially increases the number of personnel in Russia’s armed forces to almost 2.4 million people, including 1.5 million servicemen. ● The latest increase comes after a similar decree in December 2023, when the president boosted the number of employees in the Russian military to just over 2.2 million, including 1.3 million troops. ● In his order on Monday, Putin also instructed the Russian government to allocate the necessary funds for the Defense Ministry to carry out the increase, which formally takes the number of personnel in the armed forces to 2,389,130.

■ Путин постановил увеличить штатную численность Вооруженных сил (Известия)
■ Russia warns NATO of ‘direct war’ over Ukraine (09/14/24)

The suspect was later apprehended by police and is now in custody | An alleged assassination attempt was made on September 15 on US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the city of West Palm Beach in the state of Florida. According to the former US President, he is unharmed and safe. TASS has compiled the main information about the incident.

■ Suspect in custody following second apparent assassination attempt on Trump (Al Jazeera)
✅ The Ukrainian Trace In The Latest Trump Assassination Attempt Is Impossible To Ignore (Andrew Korybko)

On Saturday, Cabello said two Spanish citizens and one US citizen had been detained on related charges. | Two Americans and one Czech citizen were detained in Venezuela on suspicion of planning to transport a group of mercenaries from Europe to overthrow Venezuela's top political leadership, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Sunday. ● On Saturday Cabello said two Spanish citizens and one US citizen had been detained on suspicion of planning to assassinate the mayor of the city of Upata. The detainees have also been accused of planning in coordination with US and Spanish intelligence services to transport a group of mercenaries from France and Eastern Europe to Venezuela to assassinate top political figures.

■ African leader survives assassination attempt (RT.com)

A children’s facility could be targeted in an “inhumane provocation,” the SVR has claimed | Kiev is preparing a false flag operation, in which a children’s hospital or kindergarten could be hit by a supposed Russian missile strike, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has claimed. ● The “inhumane provocation” is being masterminded by the leaders of Ukrainian intelligence and the military at the advice of “US handlers,” the statement said on Monday. The goal is to cause a large number of casualties and publicize the event through the international media, the agency added. ● Kiev hopes that its plot will help justify long-range strikes using Western weapons deep inside Russia, the SVR believes. The US would then use the incident to ramp up pressure on Iran and North Korea for supposedly providing ballistic missiles to Russia, the agency said.

■ Ukraine Plotting Staged 'Russian Strike' on Children's Institution With Casualties (Sputnik News)