tag

Ukraine and Romania Thursday signed a statement of intent to produce drones together in Romania during a visit to Bucharest by President Volodymyr Zelensky aimed at deepening defence co-operation.Zelensky also offered to develop anti-drone defence systems with Kyiv's European allies.The visit – followed by a trip to Paris today – comes at a time of uncertainty over planned peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow that have been spearheaded by the United States and derailed by the US-Israeli war with Iran.Zelensky and Romanian President Nicusor Dan signed an agreement on the joint production of defence products in Romania, and another on energy co-operation, the two sides said."We discussed our military co-operation, and one of the documents signed refers to the joint production of drones in Romania," Dan said during a joint press conference.Both countries will consider drone production in Romania in the "shortest possible time," according to the statement of intent.The project would be partially funded through the EU's SAFE Initiative with up to 200 million euros ($230 million), it added.Nato-member Romania – an important ally of Kyiv's – has seen repeated violations of its airspace, including drone fragments falling onto its soil, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.Zelensky, who has dispatched teams to the Gulf to help allies fend off Iranian drones, offered Thursday to work with European allies to develop their defensive systems."I think it would be quite good to develop all of this together with European countries, our neighbours, our friends," Zelensky said.The Ukrainian leader also said the two Black Sea countries were deepening energy ties, noting the construction of two new electricity supply lines.Ukraine has become increasingly dependent on electricity imports from its European neighbours since the start of Russian attacks on its power grid. 

How Qatar has met the unprovoked missile and drone barrage from Iran this week has proved more than a statistical point: it is the product of years of quiet, methodical investment in governance, infrastructure, and national resilience. The attacks were repelled with a remarkably high success rate, the country kept functioning normally, and its people went about their daily lives in safety. It was, in many ways, governance under the ultimate stress test — and Qatar passed.Qatar has ranked first in the region on the World Bank's global governance indicators, according to the latest 2024/2025 reports, due to the high efficiency of government performance across various related fields.The country ranked high in several practical areas, including political stability, the rule of law, government effectiveness, and the quality of regulations. Besides, the latest reports have rated Qatar very highly in terms of economics and logistics, as Hamad Port ranked 1st in the Gulf and 11th worldwide in the 2024 Container Port Performance Index.Further, Qatar has maintained an excellent high ranking in advancing e-government services, with a target of digitalisation. The government has been consistently investing in upgrading and developing its systems to improve public services and make them easily and securely accessible online for citizens, expatriate residents, visitors, and the business community, enhancing the customer experience and speeding up related procedures. Such e-services have been expanding continuously and covering many fields, including the courts and judiciary.Accordingly, such digital transformation has reflected positively on public services and business, enabling the government to maintain the desired flexibility, allowing it to address challenges or emergencies immediately without significant disruption to essential public services, as the country has already built the necessary infrastructure and mastered the skills to run it.During the Covid-19 pandemic, the government acted swiftly and efficiently, implementing positive measures that expanded health facilities, saving the lives of thousands of people. At the same time, the country's economy remained stable, and major construction and infrastructure projects were managed and completed on schedule.The country was among the first in the world to roll out a highly organised, regulated nationwide vaccination campaign, which helped contain the spread of the disease and speed the gradual return to normal life. Further, the government adopted flexible measures and launched dedicated online platforms to facilitate the return of expatriates whose residency permits had expired during such a crisis. The process was managed efficiently and easily to minimise the associated negative human and economic impacts.When the country was faced with a difficult situation back in 2017, the government was able to swiftly find excellent supply alternatives and travel routes, where quick and steady food, medicine and other supplies were secured and flooded the local market with goods from different parts of the world at even better and competitive prices than before the crisis.The tough challenges were converted into new investment and business opportunities with Hamad Port maintaining more international trade routes and sophisticated ship and cargo handling facilities. Besides, local food production has been steadily increasing, marking a dramatic shift towards achieving food sufficiency in various areas, with the number of local farms and food companies rising at an outstanding rate, despite the involved natural and environmental challenges.Recently, the multiple hostile attacks of the Iranian missiles and drones were effectively fended off with minimal losses and an amazingly high success rate that saved the country and its people from the intended potential havoc.The country has continued to function and operate normally, with all services active and the people going about their daily lives safely and securely, due to the high-efficiency governance established over the years, with serious, sincere work under the guidance and vision of the country's wise leadership. In such exceptional and critical circumstances in Qatar and the region, the people living in the country feel assured that their protection, safety and well-being are the top priorities of the government. They can go about their daily affairs worry-free despite the negative rumours spread by some, as the reality of life proves that the situation is safe and under control.. 

An Iranian drone hit the runway of a UK air force base in Cyprus Monday hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain would not join the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.He said that mistakes of the Iraq war had been "learned".Starmer announced late on Sunday that he had agreed to the United States' request to use British bases for "specific and limited defensive purpose".Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer insisted Monday that "the UK is not at war"."Let me be really clear: the UK took a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of strikes conducted by the US and Israeli governments."But in the face of reckless attacks from Iran on a whole range of allies in the region... we took the decision, as the Prime Minister announced last night, to support the US's request to use our bases in order to conduct defensive actions," he added.Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper said the strike on the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri had been "specifically on the airport runway" and that the government was "working on every possible option" to help its nationals in the region return home if needed."There's an estimated 300,000 British citizens in Gulf countries that have now been targeted by Iran, including countries where now airspace is closed," she told Sky News.She urged nationals to register with UK authorities and follow local advice.Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides said the strike took place just after midnight (2200 GMT) when "a Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the military facilities of the British Bases in Akrotiri, causing minor material damage".The RAF Akrotiri base is a British overseas territory near the southern coastal city of Limassol.More than 100,000 UK nationals have so far registered their presence in the Middle East, according to Cooper.Scottish teacher Felicity Flanagan, who lives in Dubai, said she had been sheltering at home since Saturday when she heard loud bangs while at the beach with friends."Moments later, we actually saw what we believed to be shrapnel from the missile then fall into the water in front of us," she told the BBC's Radio Scotland.She said she was now following British embassy advice not to venture out.Starmer, speaking late on Sunday before news of the strike on RAF Akrotiri, said the decision not to be involved with the initial strikes was "deliberate"."I want to be very clear: we all remember the mistakes of Iraq. And we have learned those lessons," he said in a video address posted on X."We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran and we will not join offensive action now," he added.Rosa Freedman, an expert on international law and conflicts at the University of Reading, told AFP the current situation was "materially different" from the war in Iraq in 2003.She said the hostilities were part of a broader conflict following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and concerns about its nuclear programme."The Iranian people have tried for many years to overthrow this regime, including tens of thousands of young people being slaughtered in the streets over recent weeks. Regime change needs to happen for domestic and international stability and security," she said. 

The scars on Victor's forearm remind him constantly of the day a Ukrainian drone attacked him after he was forcibly conscripted, like hundreds of young Kenyans, into the Russian army.It was a war that had nothing to do with him and which he was exceptionally lucky to survive.Four Kenyans — Victor, Mark, Erik and Moses — recounted to AFP the web of deception that took them to the killing fields of Ukraine. Their names have been changed for fear of reprisals.It began with promises of well-paid jobs in Russia from a Nairobi recruitment agency.Victor, 28, was supposed to be a salesman. Mark, 32, and Moses, 27, were told they would be security guards.Erik, 37, thought he had a ticket to high-end sports.They were all to be paid between $1,000 and $3,000 a month — a fortune in Kenya, where jobs are scarce and the government encourages emigration to boost remittances.Victor, Mark, Erik and Moses were included in WhatsApp groups where fellow Kenyans reassured them in Swahili that they were heading for good salaries and exciting new lives.Instead, Victor's first day was in an abandoned house three hours outside Saint Petersburg.The next day, he was taken to a Russian military base, where soldiers presented him with a contract in Russian that he could not read."They told us: 'If you don't sign, you're dead,'" Victor said, showing his Russian military service record and combat medallion.Victor would later meet some of the Kenyans from the WhatsApp group in a military hospital."Some had no legs. Some were missing an arm... They told me they were threatened with death if they wrote a negative message on the group," he said.Mark said new recruits were offered the chance to pay their way home for around $4,000 — an impossible sum."We had no option but signing the contract," he said.Erik's first day was training with a basketball team and he signed a contract he believed would land him with a professional club.He did not know it was actually a military contract.The next day he was in an army camp.Mark and Moses say they were paid very little for their year of service. Victor and Erik say they received nothing.The four men left for Russia through a Kenyan recruitment agency, Global Face Human Resources, which boasts on its website: "Let our HR wizards connect you to exciting opportunities."AFP was unable to speak to the agency, which has relocated several times within the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, in recent months.One of its employees, Edward Gituku, is being prosecuted for "human trafficking" after a police raid in September on an apartment he rented on the outskirts of the city.Twenty-one young men, who were about to fly to Russia, were rescued in the raid.Gituku, released on bail, denies the charges, his lawyer Alex Kubu said.CLINICSVictor, Mark, Erik and Moses all say they met Gituku and that he was a key player in the scam.Erik and Moses even say Gituku drove them to Nairobi airport.Gituku's previous lawyer, Dunston Omari, told Citizen TV in September that Global Face Human Resources had sent "more than 1,000 people" to Russia but all were former Kenyan soldiers who had "voluntarily" joined the Russian army.Around that time, Mikhail Lyapin, a Russian citizen implicated in the case, was expelled from Kenya "to stand trial in Russia" at the request of the Russian authorities, Kenyan Foreign Secretary Abraham Korir Sing'Oei said.The Russian embassy in Kenya stated in a press release that Lyapin had left Kenya voluntarily and had "never been an employee of Russian governmental bodies". It did not respond to questions from AFP.In December, Kenyan authorities said around 200 citizens had been sent to fight in Ukraine, with 23 since repatriated.This is an underestimate, said the four recruits who spoke to AFP.Potential migrants to Russia had to undergo a medical examination before leaving. Just one of multiple Nairobi clinics that carried them out told AFP they saw 157 in little over one month last year."The majority were former Kenyan soldiers" who knew what awaited them in Russia, said a worker at the clinic.There have been reports of genuine Kenyan mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine, but Mark and Erik, who were examined at the clinic, said they were never informed of their future military service.'CANNON FODDER'Victor and Moses went through another Nairobi clinic, Universal Trends Medical and Diagnostic Centre, which declined to tell AFP the number of individuals referred by Global Face Human Resources.AFP was able to identify two other recruitment agencies sending Kenyans to Russia but was unable to contact them.The founder of Global Face Human Resources, Festus Omwamba, visited the Russian embassy in neighbouring Uganda several times last year, a source close to the embassy said.Omwamba blocked calls from AFP.In the early days of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia was accused of using people from its own ethnic minorities as expendable forces: Chechens, Dagestanis and others.Its tactic was to throw vast numbers at Ukrainian defences in a bid to overwhelm them.But the human cost has been huge. Western intelligence services say Russia has suffered more than 1.2mn casualties, twice as many as Ukraine.That has pushed Moscow to seek recruits further afield.Ukraine's ambassador to Kenya, Yurii Tokar, said Russia first targeted former Soviet republics in Central Asia, then India and Nepal, before turning to Africa.The four returnees interviewed by AFP said they encountered dozens of Africans in training camps and battlefields, including from Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt and South Africa.Russia exploits the "economic desperation" of young Africans, said Tokar."They are looking for people for cannon fodder everywhere it is possible," he said.FRONTLINE HORRORSVictor recounted apocalyptic scenes at the front near Vovchansk in the Kharkiv region."We had to cross two rivers, with many dead bodies floating. Then there was a big field, which was covered with hundreds of bodies. We had to run to cross it. With drones everywhere," he said."The commander told you: 'Don't try to escape or we shoot you,'" he said.Of the 27 in his unit, two made it across the field.Victor survived by hiding under a corpse but was hit in the right forearm by drone fire.After two more weeks of missions, during which he was unable to carry his weapon and maggots were crawling in his wound, he was allowed to receive treatment behind the lines.A few weeks later, despite the heavy losses already suffered, the Russian army sent Erik to the same location without changing its strategy.Of the 24 men in his operation, only three made it across the field — a Pakistani who ended up with "both legs broken", a Russian with "his stomach ripped open", and Erik.Miraculously escaping this ordeal unscathed, the 37-year-old said he was then hit in the arm and leg by drones.'DESTROYED MY LIFE'Mark's shoulder is covered in scars from a grenade launched by a Ukrainian drone while he was heading to the front in September. He doesn't know where he was.All three eventually found themselves in a Moscow hospital and escaped to the Kenyan embassy, which helped them return home.Moses managed to escape his unit in December and make contact with Kenyan officials.Though physically unscathed, he is as traumatised as the others. A flying bird is enough to trigger his anxiety now, he said.They know many Kenyan families are dealing with worse.Grace Gathoni, now a single mother of four, learnt in November that her husband, Martin, who had planned to become a driver in Russia, died in combat.Moscow has "destroyed my life", she said through tears.Charles Ojiambo Mutoka, 72, learnt in January that his son, Oscar, was killed in August. His remains rest in Rostov-on-Don.The Russian authorities "should be ashamed", he said, angrily. "We only fight our own wars and we never bring Russians to fight for us... so why take our people?" 

A Russian drone strike on a house in northeastern Ukraine killed three toddlers and their father and wounded their pregnant mother, officials said Wednesday.Twin boys aged one and a two-year-old girl were killed in the attack late Tuesday night on the family's house in the city of Bogodukhiv, around 20 kilometres from the border with Russia.It triggered an outpouring of anger and grief."This is deliberate terror against civilians, against families, against children. Russia is consciously killing our future," said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.Local prosecutors said the family had been trapped inside after the attack. Video posted by the emergency services showed a bright red flame and grey smoke billowing over the collapsed roof of a house."As a result of the strike, the house was completely destroyed and caught fire, and the family was trapped under the rubble," prosecutors said in a statement posted on Telegram.The children's mother, who is eight months pregnant, survived, but sustained "a traumatic brain injury, acoustic barotrauma, and thermal burns", prosecutors said.Their grandmother was also wounded in the attack and had been hospitalised, Bogodukhiv mayor Volodymyr Biely said in a statement.The head of the Velyka Rogozianka community in Kharkiv, where the family is originally from, told AFP that they had only just moved to the town to be nearer to relatives several days earlier.The killed father served in the Ukrainian army for several months, starting in spring 2024.He was discharged after his leg was blown off by a mine, the official, Anatoliy Yeliseiev said.He added that the couple had only formally registered their marriage last week.The pregnant mother of the family was discharged from hospital later on Wednesday, he said."The shock has passed," Yeliseiev told AFP, referring to her condition, adding: "I don't know how she survived."President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack showed Russia was not serious about ending the four-year war, unleashed by Moscow's invasion in February 2022."Each such Russian strike undermines trust in everything being done diplomatically to end this war and, time and again, proves that only strong pressure on Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine are the real key to stopping the killings," he said on social media.He also said Russia had hit a hospital in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia in a separate drone attack.Moscow denies targeting Ukrainian civilians, even as thousands have been killed since it invaded.Under US pressure, the two sides have opened talks on trying to broker a deal to end the war.But their positions appear far apart with Moscow demanding sweeping territorial and political concessions from Ukraine that Kyiv rejects as tantamount to capitulation. 

Russia's defence ministry Wednesday released video footage of what it said was a downed drone at a briefing ‌intended to show Ukraine tried ‌this week to attack ‍a presidential residence and challenge Kyiv's denials that such an ⁠attack took place.Kyiv says ⁠Moscow has produced no evidence to support ‍its allegations and that Russia invented the alleged attack to block progress at talks on ending the war in Ukraine. Officials in several Western countries have cast doubt on Russia's version of events and questioned whether there was ‌any attack.Video footage released by Russia's defence ministry showed a senior officer, major-general Alexander Romanenkov, setting out details ‍of how Moscow ⁠says it ‌believes Ukraine attacked one of President Vladimir Putin's residences in the Novgorod region.Romanenkov said 91 drones had been launched from Ukraine's Sumy and Chernihiv regions in a "thoroughly planned" attack that he said was thwarted by Russian air defences, caused no damage and injured no one.The video released by the ministry included footage of a Russian serviceman standing ​next to fragments ‌of a device which he said was a downed Ukrainian Chaklun-V ⁠drone carrying ‍a 6kg explosive device which had not detonated.The ministry did not explain how it knew what the device's target was.Reuters could not confirm the location and the date of the footage showing fragments ​of a destroyed device. The model of the destroyed device could not be immediately verified.Other footage featured a man, identified as Igor Bolshakov from a village in the Novgorod region, saying he had heard air defence rockets in action.Ukraine did not immediately respond to a ⁠request for comment on the Russian defence ministry's footage.Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year's address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, ‌saying he believed in them ‌and in victory in ‍a war that he has framed as part of ⁠an existential struggle with ⁠the West.US President Donald Trump is trying to ‍broker an end to the nearly four-year-old conflict, Europe's bloodiest conflagration since World War II, with both sides' negotiating stances still far apart.Dressed in a black coat, Putin - whose forces are advancing slowly but steadily in ‌Ukraine - spoke about Russia's destiny and the unity of its people, which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and ‍security of the "Fatherland".He ⁠paid tribute ‌in particular to his forces fighting in Ukraine, calling them heroes."Millions of people across Russia - I assure you - are with you on this New Year's Eve," said Putin. 

When her children, trembling with fear, ask where the family can go to escape Israel’s continued bombardment in southern Gaza’s Khan Yunis area, Umm Ahmed has no answer. In her small, devastated village near Khan Yunis city, recent Israeli drone and artillery strikes shattered the tenuous sense of peace delivered by a ceasefire that has largely held since October 10. Residents say the strikes have targeted neighbourhoods east of the so-called Yellow Line — a demarcation established under the truce between Israel and Hamas. The Israeli military says its troops are deployed in the area in accordance with the ceasefire framework. More than two years after Hamas’s October 2023 storming of Israel sparked a devastating war, tens of thousands of Gazans still live in tents or damaged homes in these areas, where the Israeli army maintains control and operates checkpoints. Now, many fear being forced from their homes, compelled to move west of the Yellow Line. “We don’t sleep at night because of fear. The bombardments in the east are relentless,” said Umm Ahmed, 40. “My children tremble at every explosion and ask me, ‘Where can we go?’ And I have no answer.” Her home in Bani Suheila has been completely destroyed, yet the family has stayed, pitching a tent beside the ruins. “Staying close to our destroyed home is easier than facing the unknown,” Umm Ahmed said. Crossing the Yellow Line to Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, is not an option for them. There, makeshift camps stretch as far as the eye can see, housing tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled the fighting. “There is no place left for anyone there, and not enough food or water,” Umm Ahmed said, as Gaza remains trapped in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The Israeli military blames continued threats from Hamas fighters for its actions in the area. The war in Gaza began with Hamas’s storming of Israel in October 2023 . Since the war began, more than 70,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The vast majority of Gaza’s more than 2mn residents were displaced during the war, many multiple times. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October 10, though both sides regularly accuse each other of violations. Under the truce, Israeli forces withdrew to positions east of the Yellow Line. Earlier this month, Israeli army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir described the Yellow Line as the “new border line” with Israel. “The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity,” he said to reserve soldiers in Gaza. For Palestinian officials, the line is seen as a tool for permanent displacement. “The objective is to frighten residents, expel them from their areas, and force them west,” said Alaa al-Batta, mayor of Khan Yunis, denouncing the bombardments as “violations of the ceasefire agreement”. Mahmud Baraka, 45, from Khuzaa, east of Khan Yunis, described constant artillery fire and home demolitions in the area. “It feels like we are still living in a war zone,” he said. “Explosions happen as if they are right next to us. The objective of the occupation is clear: to intimidate us and drive us out, so the region is emptied.” For now, residents feel trapped between bombardment and displacement, uncertain how long they can endure. Despite the danger, Abdel Hamid, 70, refuses to leave his home located north of Khan Yunis, where he lives with his five children. “We will not leave... this is our land,” he said. “Moving would not be a solution, but yet another tragedy.” 

OilOil prices settled more than 2% higher on Friday as Russia's port of Novorossiisk halted oil exports following a Ukrainian drone attack that hit an oil depot in the Russian energy hub, stoking supply concerns.Brent crude futures settled at $64.39, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude finished at $60.09. For the week, Brent rose by 1.2% and WTI rose by 0.6%.**media[381904]**The Russian port of Novorossiisk paused oil exports, equivalent to 2.2mn barrels per day, or 2% of global supply, and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft suspended crude supplies to the outlet.Ukraine on Friday said it separately struck an oil refinery in Russia's Saratov region and a fuel storage facility in nearby Engels overnight.Investors are assessing how recent attacks impact long-term Russian supply while watching how Western sanctions affect the country’s oil output and trade flows.GasAsian spot LNG prices were flat for a second consecutive week, as steady supplies of contracted cargoes and overall weak demand across the region outweighed modest spot market interest.The average LNG price for December delivery into northeast Asia held at $11.10 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), industry sources estimated.Current price levels are still too expensive for most price sensitive buyers, but minor supportive news came from Indonesia and Egypt that signalled higher domestic demand, adding a bit of tightness to the current circumstances.**media[381905]**In Europe, the Dutch TTF price settled at $10.56 per mmBtu, recording a weekly loss of 0.1%. Gas prices were under bearish pressure as oversupply, weak Asian demand, high freight rates, and strong US liquefaction kept cargoes in the Atlantic basin.This article was supplied by the Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development.

Residents of the southern Sudanese city of El-Obeid have said they are living in fear as paramilitaries appear to prepare for an assault, with the army reporting shooting down a drone targeting the city on Saturday.The North Kordofan state capital, about 400km southwest of the national capital Khartoum, is a regional hub and a strategic prize for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with Sudan's army since April 2023.While the RSF announced Thursday it had accepted a truce proposal put forward by mediators, the UN subsequently said it saw "preparations for intensified hostilities", issuing a warning about the deteriorarting situation in the Kordofan region in particular."We are especially worried after what happened in El-Fasher," Soaad Ali, from El-Obeid's Karima neighbourhood, said referring to the RSF's capture of the last army stronghold in western Darfur after an 18-month siege.That takeover was followed by reports of mass killings, sexual violence, abductions and looting, triggering fears the conflict could spread into oil-rich Kordofan.El-Obeid, which hosts an airport, sits on a key supply route linking Darfur and Khartoum.Last month, the RSF captured Bara, north of El-Obeid, forcing more than 36,000 people to flee that town and four others in North Kordofan in less than a week, according to the UN.The group said last week it had massed forces in Bara to retake El-Obeid, "advising civilians to steer clear of military targets"."We are living in fear," said a resident of El-Obeid's Qubba neighbourhood, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons."Officials try to reassure us, but... after what happened in Bara, our fears are growing."The fall of El-Fasher two weeks ago gave the RSF control of all five state capitals in the vast western region, in addition to parts of the south.The army controls most of Sudan's north, east and centre, including Khartoum.Since El-Fasher's fall, more than 80,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas, according to the UN.The General Coordination for Displaced People and Refugees in Darfur, an NGO, said that more than 16,000 people had arrived in Tawila and were in dire need of food, water and medical care.El-Fasher had a population of around 260,000 before the RSF takeover.Little is known about the fate of thousands still trapped in the city, which has been largely cut off from communications.Mathilde Vu, advocacy manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, told AFP that many families arriving in Tawila came with "children who are not their own".The children, she said, "have lost their parents on the way, either because they've... disappeared in a chaos, or they've been detained, or they've been killed".Survivors said that women and men were separated on the way out of El-Fasher, and that hundreds of men were detained in nearby towns.Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Saturday visited displaced people from El-Fasher in Al-Dabba city, about 1,000km north.

Several Palestinians were wounded today after an Israeli drone struck a group of civilians in the town of Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip. Local sources reported to WAFA news agency that an Israeli drone struck a group of Palestinians while they were inspecting their homes in the Abasan Al-Kabira area in Khan Yunis, wounding a number of them, some of them seriously.Israeli occupation forces also fired heavy machine guns continuously and intensively at the eastern areas of Khan Yunis, while Israeli gunboats fired shells near the coast of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.The death toll from the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has risen to 68,519 martyrs and 170,382 wounded since October 7, 2023.The ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel went into effect on October 10, following the withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from populated areas and positions in the Gaza Strip. The return of displaced persons to the northern Gaza Strip has begun, as part of the first phase of US President Donald Trump's initiative to end the war on Gaza.

Three people were killed and 29 others injured on Sunday in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.Ukraine’s Emergency Service reported that the city was targeted by Russian forces for the second time in the past 24 hours.According to the report, Russian forces carried out a drone strike in the Desnianskyi district, where one drone hit a nine-story residential building.Another drone struck a 16-story building, shattering the windows on the first nine floors. Reports also indicated that a drone hit a multi-story building in the Obolonskyi district.Drone strikes between Russia and Ukraine have become routine amid the ongoing conflict, which remains far from a political solution as Moscow continues its military operation in Ukraine until its declared objectives are achieved.

Four people, including two children, were killed, and two others were injured in a Russian attack on the Brovary district in Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian news agency (Ukrinform), Head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Mykola Kalashnyk indicated that Russian forces launched a massive missile and drone attack on cities last night, targeting energy infrastructure. Since the outbreak of the war in Feb. 2022, Russia and Ukraine issued near-daily reports of attacks and interceptions. Due to the conditions of the ongoing conflict, these claims cannot be independently verified.