Wendy Sherman

Victoria Nuland, the third-highest ranking US diplomat and frequent target of criticism for her hawkish views on Russia and its actions in Ukraine, will retire and leave her post this month, the State Department said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to back down on Wednesday, saying his government has no intention of returning to four abandoned settlements in the occupied West Bank under a law that was repealed by parliament this week.

The toll from a devastating strike on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was expected to rise past 40 on Tuesday as rescuers searched the rubble for 25 people still missing after one of Russia's deadliest attacks since its invasion.

President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the missile strike as a war crime.

The United States, Japan and South Korea warned Wednesday that a North Korean nuclear test would warrant an "unprecedentedly strong response", vowing unity after a blitz of missile launches from the hermit state.

Following talks in Tokyo, the three nations' deputy foreign ministers said they would ramp up their deterrence in the region.

Türkiye and the United States held a third meeting of the Türkiye-U.S. Strategic Mechanism Dialogue on Sept. 15 in Washington chaired by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland also participated in the dialogue.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan on Wednesday, emphasizing the U.S. commitment to defend its allies and trilateral security cooperation to confront an accelerating nuclear threat from North Korea.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Tuesday warned of a forceful response if North Korea carries out its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years as she traveled to Seoul to meet with South Korean and Japanese allies and discuss the escalating standoff.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman had a conversation with Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, the US State Department announced.

Ahead of the Winter Olympics that is set to begin on February 4 in Beijing, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday (local time) suggested that the Olympics could affect Russian President Vladimir Putin's calculations over a possible invasion of Ukraine.

Senior U.S. and Turkish diplomats discussed the ongoing "strength of the U.S.-Turkey relationship and opportunities to deepen cooperation," the State Department said on Sept. 17. 

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal met as part of this year's U.S.-Turkey High-Level Political Dialogue.