Global Pulse

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  • Gunmen attack airport in Niger’s capital as explosions, gunfire heard

    Gunmen attack airport in Niger’s capital as explosions, gunfire heard

    In the early hours of Thursday, heavily armed gunmen launched an assault on Diori Hamani International Airport, the primary air gateway for Niger’s capital city of Niamey, triggering intense exchanges of gunfire and powerful explosions that shook the surrounding area, according to on-the-ground witnesses and a senior national security official.

    The anonymous security official, who is not permitted to speak publicly about ongoing operational matters, confirmed that the attackers successfully breached the airport’s outer security perimeter before forces were rapidly deployed to counter the assault. At this early stage of investigations, the identity and affiliation of the assailants remain unconfirmed, with no immediate claims of responsibility emerging from any militant group.

    Following the conclusion of the initial clash, an Associated Press reporter on site observed that Nigerian soldiers had established extensive checkpoints on all major access roads leading to the airport, conducting thorough searches of every passing vehicle and pedestrian as part of post-attack security sweeps.

    Thursday’s incident marks the second high-profile attack targeting the Niamey airport facility in 2024. Back in January, the Islamic State group claimed credit for a near-identical strike that specifically targeted Niger’s unmanned aerial drone assets stationed at the airport. In the wake of that earlier assault, military authorities announced they had significantly strengthened security protocols and patrols across the airport complex.

    The airport itself holds far more than civilian aviation significance: it houses a major Nigerien Air Force base, and serves as the operational headquarters for the joint military command of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the regional bloc formed by Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. All three nations are currently governed by military juntas that took power via coups in recent years, and all three have grappled with a years-long surge in deadly jihadi insurgent violence that has destabilized large swathes of the Sahel region.

    Security analysts warn that despite stepped up defensive measures, militant groups continue to pose severe, persistent threats to high-profile targets across Niger and the broader Sahel. Beverly Ochieng, a senior security analyst at global risk consulting firm Control Risks, noted that the airport’s central role as the AES headquarters makes it an especially attractive symbolic target for extremist groups seeking to undermine the regional alliance’s security operations.

    “The symbolism of the airport as headquarters for AES will drive intent by militants to target it,” Ochieng explained.

    The ongoing instability comes amid a broader shift in regional geopolitics, as the three junta-led Sahel nations have cut military cooperation with Western powers including France and the United States, and moved closer to other global powers including Russia, while still struggling to contain the expanding jihadi insurgency that has killed thousands and displaced millions across the region since 2012.

  • Moscow hit by largest Ukrainian attack since start of Russia’s full-scale war

    Moscow hit by largest Ukrainian attack since start of Russia’s full-scale war

    Nearly four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the largest recorded Ukrainian drone assault on the Russian capital has sent thick plumes of smoke billowing over Moscow’s skyline, marking a dramatic escalation of Kyiv’s long-range strike campaign against targets deep inside Russian territory. Close to 200 unmanned aerial vehicles targeted sites across the Moscow region in the coordinated attack, which Ukrainian officials have framed as a direct retaliation for a recent Russian strike that destroyed a major religious landmark in Kyiv.\n\nLocal Moscow region governor Andrei Vorobyov confirmed that 17 civilians sustained injuries in the assault. The Kapotnya oil refinery in southeast Moscow, a key energy infrastructure site, was hit for the third time in just one month and the second time this week, triggering large-scale fires that turned the sky black with toxic smoke. Footage circulating widely on social media — despite Russian government bans on publishing imagery of drone strike aftermath — captured an oil storage tank lid blown dozens of meters into the air by the force of the explosion. Falling drone debris also sparked a fire at a nearby shopping mall and forced evacuation of multiple residential high-rise buildings. All four of Moscow’s major commercial airports suspended operations for several hours, disrupting more than 500 incoming and outgoing flights that were either canceled or delayed.\n\nBeyond the Moscow region, the assault extended across other parts of Russia. An oil depot in the southern Rostov region was struck, killing one civilian, according to preliminary official reports. Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed nearly 1,000 drones and four Ukrainian cruise missiles across the entire country over a 24-hour period surrounding the attack. These numbers have not been independently verified, and Ukraine has not confirmed the total volume of munitions launched in the operation.\n\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly claimed responsibility for the strike, referring to the assault on the Moscow region as “long-range sanctions,” Kyiv’s standard euphemism for long-distance strikes on Russian territory. He emphasized that the large-scale attack was a direct response to last week’s Russian bombardment of Kyiv that left a prominent religious landmark engulfed in flames. “We don’t want this war and have never wanted it,” Zelenskyy said in remarks following the assault. “But if Ukraine burns, your Moscow will burn too.” He added that a diplomatic end to the conflict remains Kyiv’s goal, urging Russia to take necessary steps toward negotiated peace.\n\nThe mass drone strike marks a clear milestone in the evolution of Kyiv’s long-range strike capabilities. Strikes on Moscow, located roughly 310 miles from the Ukrainian border, were rare just two years ago: Ukraine’s first successful drone attacks on the capital only began in spring 2023, and early strikes were sporadic, usually involving fewer than five drones. As Ukraine has expanded its domestic drone production and improved its long-range technology, attacks on Russian core territory have grown steadily more frequent and larger in scale. While Russia has constructed layered air defense networks around Moscow in response to the growing threat, the sheer number of drones deployed in this latest assault allowed multiple weapons to penetrate the defensive shield and hit intended targets.\n\nThe strike campaign against Moscow and other major Russian cities aligns with Zelenskyy’s stated strategy of “bringing the war home” to ordinary Russian citizens, who have largely been shielded from direct impacts of the conflict that their country launched. While the grinding war of attrition continues along the hundreds of kilometers of front line in eastern and southern Ukraine, most Russians have experienced little direct disruption to daily life — a reality that Kyiv is seeking to change with deep strikes on infrastructure and population centers.\n\nIn a tit-for-tat escalation, Kyiv confirmed that Russia launched its own large-scale overnight assault following the Moscow attack, deploying more than 200 drones and multiple ballistic missiles across Ukrainian territory. No immediate casualty figures for this retaliatory strike were released as of the latest reports.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin has not issued any public statement on the large-scale attack on the capital. At the time of the assault, Putin was hosting a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in the central Russian city of Kazan, hundreds of kilometers east of Moscow.\n\nUkrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha amplified Kyiv’s messaging in a post on the social platform X, directly addressing residents of Moscow. “One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’” Sybiha wrote. “I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

  • Slovakia’s government faces confidence vote as debt exceeds constitutional limit

    Slovakia’s government faces confidence vote as debt exceeds constitutional limit

    BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia’s governing coalition, led by populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, is gearing up for a high-stakes parliamentary confidence vote this Thursday, a process set in motion after the nation’s public debt breached the constitutional fiscal threshold.

    The vote mandate comes from a Wednesday ruling by Slovakia’s Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal authority, which ordered the government to schedule the confidence ballot without delay. Prime Minister Fico has publicly stated he accepts the court’s decision and has formally moved forward with scheduling the vote.

    Fico’s current coalition holds a solid majority of 79 out of 150 total seats in the National Council, Slovakia’s unicameral parliament, making a victory for the sitting government the most likely outcome. To streamline proceedings, coalition lawmakers have capped the total debate time for the vote at 12 and a half hours. Fico added that the administration had originally planned to pair the confidence vote with a separate vote on the 2026 national state budget scheduled for later this year, before the court’s ruling altered those plans.

    The legal challenge that led to the court ruling originated from an opposition complaint filed last November. The complaint came after Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics agency, announced that Slovakia’s national debt had hit 59.7% of the country’s gross domestic product that month. Updated data from the Slovak Statistics Office puts the current debt level at 61.4% of GDP — far above the 50% constitutional threshold that requires a confidence vote, though still lower than the European Union’s average national debt level.

    Like most European nations, Slovakia ramped up public spending over the past several years to buffer its economy against overlapping global shocks: first the public health and economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, then the surge in global energy prices sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    New economic data released earlier this week by the Slovak Supreme Audit Office added context to the growing debt crisis: the office reported that Slovakia’s economic growth slowed to just 0.8% in 2025, the weakest pace of expansion in three years. Government spending has consistently outpaced economic growth during this period, driving the steady rise in national debt.

    Fico, who returned to the prime ministership in 2023 following parliamentary elections, has remained one of Slovakia’s most polarizing political figures. His well-documented pro-Russian policy stance and other controversial domestic proposals have drawn massive public protests across the country since he took office, adding additional political tension to this week’s confidence vote.

  • Lawyer of Uganda opposition figure Besigye charged with treason-related offence

    Lawyer of Uganda opposition figure Besigye charged with treason-related offence

    A high-profile political crackdown in Uganda has drawn sharp international condemnation after a prominent opposition-aligned lawyer and former mayor was arrested from his private residence and charged with a treason-related offense linked to his representation of jailed dissident leader Kizza Besigye.

    Erias Lukwago, who currently serves as lead legal counsel for Besigye — a veteran opposition figure standing trial on multiple treason counts — made his first public appearance at a magistrate’s court in Kampala this week. Local journalists covering the hearing reported that Lukwago appeared visibly physically weakened, just days after security forces seized him from his home early Monday.

    During the court proceeding, Lukwaga formally entered a plea of not guilty to the charge of failure to report alleged treasonous activity. The magistrate ordered him remanded in state custody until next week, when the next phase of his case will convene.

    The arrest immediately sparked backlash over its open ties to Uganda’s most senior military officer: Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the country’s Chief of Defence Forces and son of long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni. The general publicly took credit for the operation on his social media channels, even posting graphic content that stoked further outrage.

    Among the posts shared by Kainerugaba was a photo appearing to show a blindfolded Lukwago held in an undisclosed location. In a separate, unapologetic message, the general wrote, “I’m proud of all the hurt and pain I will inflict on the criminal Lukwago!”

    Opposition leader Bobi Wine, who fled Uganda in 2021 after contesting the presidential election over threats to his life, has alleged the arrest was ordered directly by Kainerugaba to stop Lukwago from formally serving the general with a court summons. In a post to X calling for collective action, Wine wrote: “I call upon all of us to reject and resist this brazen impunity.”

    Before Lukwago’s court appearance, his family had filed a legal petition seeking a court order to force security forces to disclose his location and release him. The family’s legal team accused authorities of abducting Lukwago, and noted that Kainerugaba had already publicly claimed responsibility for the seizure and the mistreatment his client had faced.

    This incident is far from the first time Kainerugaba has drawn controversy for incendiary social media posts. The general has a documented history of inflammatory remarks, including past boasts of abducting and torturing opposition political figures, with many of his controversial posts eventually taken down after public outcry.

    Lukwago’s legal work centers on Besigye, Uganda’s most high-profile opposition dissident who was abducted from neighboring Kenya in late 2024 and forcibly returned to Uganda to face treason charges. Besigye’s political history with Museveni stretches back decades: he once served as Museveni’s personal physician before splitting from the ruling establishment in 1999, and has challenged Museveni for the presidency in multiple elections, facing repeated detentions over the years.

  • Real Madrid signs France defender Ibrahima Konaté to 4-year deal

    Real Madrid signs France defender Ibrahima Konaté to 4-year deal

    One of European football’s most decorated clubs, Real Madrid, has announced a major transfer coup this week, confirming it has reached a full agreement to bring French center-back Ibrahima Konaté to the Santiago Bernabéu on a four-year contract.

    The revelation of the transfer came on Thursday, even as Konaté remains with the French national squad in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The 27-year-old defender was eligible to move to Real Madrid as a free agent after his existing contract with English Premier League side Liverpool reached its expiration this transfer window.

    Konaté first arrived in the English top flight back in 2021, making the move from German Bundesliga club RB Leipzig to Anfield. During his five-year tenure with Liverpool, he played a key role in the club’s 2025 Premier League title triumph and also claimed an FA Cup winner’s medal with the side in 2022, establishing himself as one of the league’s most formidable young center-backs.

    For Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, the signing of Konaté was not an 11th-hour deal: it was one of the core campaign pledges Pérez made to club supporters ahead of his successful re-election to the presidency earlier this month. The agreement delivers on a key promise Pérez made to strengthen the club’s defensive line ahead of the upcoming season.

    Most recently, Konaté was an unused substitute for France in their opening Group C match of the World Cup on Tuesday, where Les Bleus secured a 3-1 victory over Senegal to kick off their title defense campaign. The transfer announcement comes as football’s global audience remains focused on the World Cup, turning attention to the high-profile moves that will reshape top European leagues once the international tournament concludes.

  • Suspected gang leader shot dead in flower bouquet ambush at airport

    Suspected gang leader shot dead in flower bouquet ambush at airport

    On a recent Wednesday in Ecuador’s largest coastal metropolis Guayaquil, a brutal midday assassination outside José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport’s arrivals terminal has sent new shockwaves through a country already grappling with an unrelenting crisis of gang-fueled violence. The victim, identified by Ecuadorian Interior Minister John Reimberg as 39-year-old Carlos Alberto Suástegui Villanueva, was the leader of the El Triunfo faction of Los Águilas — one of the most violent criminal organizations operating in the South American nation. Security camera footage from the airport captured the chilling premeditation of the attack: two young assailants waited patiently for their target outside the terminal, concealing their weapon beneath a stuffed teddy bear alongside a bouquet of flowers to avoid raising suspicion. As Suástegui exited the arrivals area, one attacker stepped forward, drew the hidden firearm, and fired multiple shots at point-blank range, before both suspects fled the scene, with the second gunman firing a final shot at the fallen victim as they ran. The chaotic immediate aftermath of the shooting left passengers and bystanders scrambling for safety. Local newspaper El Universo reported that crowds scattered in panic when gunfire rang out; one innocent bystander suffered a non-fatal injury, and viral footage from the scene shows a traveler pulling a suitcase collapsing to the ground amid the chaos. In the wake of the attack, law enforcement authorities closed the arrivals terminal for more than two hours to allow forensic investigators and police officers to process the crime scene, and have since taken two teenagers into custody in connection with the assassination. This brazen public killing is the latest high-profile incident in a years-long surge of organized criminal violence that has remade Ecuador’s security landscape. The attack comes just 24 hours after Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa announced a new state of emergency covering 10 of the country’s provinces, including Guayas — the administrative region where Guayaquil is located. Los Águilas, the gang Suástegui led, was formally classified as a terrorist organization by the Noboa administration in 2024, and the group has long been linked to large-scale drug trafficking and systematic extortion operations across the country. Geographic location has made Ecuador a critical transshipment hub for cocaine: the country sits between Colombia and Peru, the world’s top two producers of coca leaf, the raw material for cocaine, and criminal groups have exploited weak governance and under-resourced law enforcement to turn Ecuador into the primary corridor for smuggling cocaine to consumer markets in the United States, Europe, and other global destinations. What was once considered one of the safest countries in South America has over the past decade transformed into a regional crime hotspot, boasting one of the highest homicide rates in the entire Western Hemisphere. Guayaquil, the country’s economic and population center, has been disproportionately impacted by drug and gang-related bloodshed, but even by local standards, the assassination of a high-profile gang leader in broad daylight outside one of the country’s busiest international airports has deeply rattled local communities. President Noboa took office on a promise to crack down on rampant organized crime, and his administration has relied heavily on declarations of states of emergency to grant expanded powers to security forces, including the authority to search private residences without a warrant when officers have reasonable suspicion of illegal activity. Despite these aggressive policy measures, Ecuador’s national murder rate climbed to an all-time record high in 2025, demonstrating the stubborn persistence of the country’s security crisis.

  • Lil Nas X says he’s ‘feeling better’ after rehab and bipolar diagnosis

    Lil Nas X says he’s ‘feeling better’ after rehab and bipolar diagnosis

    Grammy-winning pop and hip-hop star Lil Nas X has broken his silence to give fans a heartfelt update on his mental health, revealing he has made major progress after months of addiction and mental health treatment following his August 2023 arrest. In a raw, vulnerable three-minute video shared to his Instagram, the 27-year-old artist, born Montero Hill, explained that he recently completed an inpatient rehab program and has returned to his hometown of Atlanta to reconnect with his family. This marks his first extensive public comment on his well-being since the 2023 incident that led to criminal charges.

    Last summer, Hill was arrested after reports of erratic public behavior, during which he was found wandering Los Angeles streets in his underwear. He was ultimately charged with assaulting responding police officers, a charge he entered a not guilty plea for. Earlier this year in April, a Los Angeles judge approved a deferred prosecution deal that allowed Hill to complete a court-supervised mental health diversion program in exchange for eventual dismissal of all charges. The agreement was granted after Hill received an official diagnosis of bipolar disorder, with the judge noting that his behavior during the arrest was completely out of character for the artist.
    Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition defined by extreme shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels, alternating between manic highs and depressive lows. In the video, Hill opened up about delaying his diagnosis for years, explaining that he avoided seeking official care out of fear of judgment from the public and reluctance to start prescription medication. In a mix of humor and sincerity, the artist joked, “I mean, I’m already black and gay, like, damn, God. Gay, bipolar, like I’m living life on extreme hard mode.”

    Setting aside the joke, Hill shared that his time in treatment has led to a dramatic improvement in his mental state. “But on a serious note, I’m doing much better, I’m feeling better, I’m creating freely, and there’s less fear in my heart. I’m just smelling the roses,” he said. Filmed outdoors against a bright, clear blue sky, the video showed Hill appearing healthy and grounded as he read from prepared notes. He admitted to feeling awkward and nervous addressing fans after stepping back from social media for months.

    Hill catapulted to global fame in 2019 with his genre-bending breakout hit *Old Town Road*, which spent a record-breaking 19 weeks atop the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and earned him two Grammy Awards. He solidified his stardom with subsequent chart-topping singles including *Montero (Call Me By Your Name)* and *Industry Baby*, works that cemented his status as a groundbreaking queer icon in the music industry and a pioneer at leveraging TikTok’s platform to connect with audiences. In 2023, he received a major career honor when Elton John personally selected him as the opening performer for his iconic headline set on Glastonbury Festival’s Pyramid Stage.

    Near the end of his update, Hill shared that while he is not yet ready to jump back into the full spotlight of global pop stardom, he has been hard at work on new material. “I’ve been doing music for seven years now. I wanted to let you guys know there is new music on the way,” he said. Closing out the message, he turned directly to his loyal fanbase to thank them for their patience and support. “We’ve been through so much together. Thank you guys for holding me down. I love you and all I want to do is continue to try to make you proud and make myself proud.”

    For anyone experiencing the mental health challenges discussed in this story, free and confidential support resources are available via the BBC Action Line.

  • Qantas plans a 22-hour London-Sydney nonstop flight, set for October next year

    Qantas plans a 22-hour London-Sydney nonstop flight, set for October next year

    Australia’s flag carrier Qantas Airways is set to make aviation history next year, when it launches what will be the longest regularly scheduled nonstop commercial flight on the planet: a nonstop service connecting London and Sydney that will clock in at between 19 and 22 hours in the air, covering a total distance of 10,573 miles (17,015 kilometers).

    On Thursday, the Sydney-based airline publicly revealed the first of its modified Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, customized specifically for the ultra-long-haul project. The new route is scheduled to begin commercial operations in October 2025, with tickets set to go on sale starting this February.

    For context, the current title-holder for the world’s longest regular nonstop flight belongs to Singapore Airlines, which operates a route between its Singapore hub and New York City. That journey covers 9,537 miles (15,349 kilometers) and takes less than 19 hours to complete, and crucially, it does not offer economy class seating at all—only premium cabin options. That makes Qantas’ upcoming route a landmark for long-haul budget-conscious travelers, who will for the first time be able to fly nonstop between the two cities in economy.

    To accommodate the massive fuel load required for the 20+ hour journey, Qantas has heavily customized its A350-1000 jets, dubbed the A350-1000ULR (ultra-long-range). While a standard A350-1000 can carry up to 480 passengers, Qantas’ version only seats 238 total, 140 of which are economy seats. The reduced passenger count also makes room for an added 20,000-liter (5,283-gallon) extra fuel tank to power the transcontinental journey.

    Before this launch, the longest nonstop flight available to economy passengers was already operated by Qantas, between London and Perth on Australia’s west coast, a 9,009-mile (14,499-kilometer) trip that takes between 16 and 18 hours. Extending the route to Sydney, on Australia’s east coast, cuts total travel time for passengers heading to the country’s largest city by up to four hours compared to the common one-stop route through Singapore.

    Sharon Petersen, CEO of Australia-based global airline rating platform AirlineRatings, notes that Qantas’ new economy configuration offers more legroom than the average long-haul flight from other carriers. The airline has also added a dedicated Wellbeing Zone between the economy and premium economy cabins, where passengers can stand, stretch their legs, and access complimentary drinks and snacks during the flight.

    Even with these comfort upgrades, however, Petersen acknowledges that a 22-hour continuous flight in economy is a daunting prospect for most travelers. She pointed out common in-flight discomforts that become far more taxing over 22 hours: being seated next to a sick passenger, a crying infant, or an oversized traveler that encroaches on personal space. For economy passengers, Petersen says splitting the journey into two shorter legs remains a more appealing and manageable option, giving travelers a chance to stretch, reset, and avoid the cumulative fatigue of a full day in the air.

    In terms of business model, Petersen explained that Qantas relies heavily on premium cabin passengers to turn a profit on the route, rather than cargo. The extra weight of the fuel tank leaves little capacity for cargo, so all revenue comes from passenger fares, with premium tickets making up the bulk of the route’s profit margin. Qantas has confirmed that tickets for the new nonstop route will be priced higher than comparable one-stop tickets through Singapore, reflecting the time savings for travelers.

    Once the London-Sydney route is fully operational, Qantas has already announced its next ultra-long-haul project: a nonstop service connecting Sydney and New York City, which will cover 9,950 miles (16,013 kilometers), a slightly shorter distance than the London-Sydney route.

  • Clouds of black smoke rise over Moscow after Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery

    Clouds of black smoke rise over Moscow after Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery

    In one of the most extensive Ukrainian drone strikes against Russian infrastructure since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion more than four years ago, Ukraine targeted a critical Moscow oil refinery for the second time in seven days and forced a temporary suspension of commercial flights at multiple capital airports, senior Russian officials confirmed Thursday.

    The coordinated attack unfolded just hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he had completed a high-stakes coordination call with his counterparts from the United States and France, and secured firm new commitments of additional military and diplomatic backing from G7 leaders gathering for their annual summit. Later Thursday, Zelenskyy was scheduled to arrive in Brussels for urgent talks with NATO and European Union leadership, where a top agenda item will be negotiating the framework for a pan-European ballistic missile defense shield. Russia has launched relentless barrages of these hard-to-intercept missiles against Ukrainian civilian and military infrastructure for months.

    For months, Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian energy facilities as part of a deliberate strategy to erode the Kremlin’s war revenue and bring the tangible consequences of the invasion home to ordinary Russian citizens. The tactic has already led to localized fuel shortages across multiple Russian regions.

    Images and footage circulated by Russian state and independent media outlets showed intense infernos raging at the Moscow Oil Refinery, a sprawling complex located just 9 miles from the Kremlin core. The facility is one of Russia’s largest refining operations, supplying more than one-third of all fuel consumed in the Moscow region per its official public data. It suffered a previous drone strike just two days earlier on Tuesday, which sparked a smaller fire that Russian emergency services extinguished quickly.

    Russian transport and aviation authorities confirmed that all incoming and outgoing flights from four major Moscow-area airports were paused for several hours as air defense units responded to the drone incursion, disrupting travel for thousands of passengers.

    Beyond the refinery strike, in the broader Moscow region, a drone crashed into a multi-story residential building in the city of Zhukovsky, triggering a full evacuation of the structure, regional governor Andrei Vorobyov confirmed. Debris from intercepted drones damaged multiple other structures across the region, leaving 16 people injured including two young children, Vorobyov added.

    The Russian Defense Ministry reported that its air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 555 Ukrainian drones across multiple Russian regions overnight, with nearly 200 of the unmanned vehicles shot down as they approached the Moscow capital area. For context, Ukrainian air force data recorded that Russia launched roughly half that number of drones at Ukrainian targets in the same 24-hour window.

    This latest attack marks another public setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, coming less than a month after a Ukrainian drone strike hit his hometown of St. Petersburg during a high-profile international economic forum that hosted foreign dignitaries. On the day of the Moscow attack, Putin was 430 miles east of the capital in Kazan, hosting a summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders as the Kremlin courts deeper economic and political ties with the bloc to offset Western sanctions.

    In a voice message sent to a journalist group chat, Zelenskyy framed the strike as part of Ukraine’s campaign to pressure the Kremlin into entering good-faith peace negotiations. The Ukrainian leader recently accepted an unconditional ceasefire proposal put forward by former U.S. President Donald Trump, but Putin has rejected the offer, and U.S.-led peace initiatives have since stalled. “If Putin does not want to end this war and wants to continue it, we will not sit quietly — we will respond,” Zelenskyy emphasized.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha leaned into the public impact of the attack in a post on the social platform X, writing: “One of the most popular questions asked by Muscovites this morning is ‘What is going on?’ I can answer. Your country started a war of aggression against ours. For years, it has been killing our people. Now that you know what’s going on, ask Putin when he is planning to end it.”

    Western military analysts and senior officials note that, alongside the new commitments of backing from the G7, Ukraine has gained growing tactical momentum against Russia’s larger conventional military in recent weeks, driven largely by its expanding fleet of domestically produced and Western-supplied high-tech drones. Longer-range drone strikes have not only disrupted Russian domestic oil production but have also severely choked Russian supply lines in Ukrainian territories occupied by Moscow forces.

    French President Emmanuel Macron described the just-concluded G7 summit as a critical milestone for Ukraine, noting that Western backers — led by the United States — had reaffirmed their long-term commitment to supporting Kyiv’s defense, though he declined to share specific details of new aid packages. Under the second Trump administration, U.S. military assistance to Ukraine has been scaled back significantly, leaving European countries as the largest suppliers of military and financial support to Kyiv, a shift that has come amid well-documented tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy. Despite that shift, Macron stressed after leaving the G7 venue at the Palace of Versailles that “America is with us on Ukraine, that is very important.”

  • Iranian, US presidents sign peace MoU digitally: ministry spokesman

    Iranian, US presidents sign peace MoU digitally: ministry spokesman

    TEHRAN – In a landmark shift to a decades-long high-stakes conflict between Iran and the United States, the leaders of both nations have formally signed a cross-border memorandum of understanding (MoU) to end open hostilities via digital authentication, a senior Iranian foreign affairs official confirmed early Thursday.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei announced the development in an on-camera interview with Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), noting that the digital signing by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and U.S. President Donald Trump replaces a previously planned in-person signing ceremony scheduled for this Friday in Switzerland.

    “Over the past 24 hours, our two sides conducted additional consultations and reassessment, and reached the conclusion that a virtual signing by the heads of state of both countries is the more favorable path forward,” Baghaei told reporters, adding that a formal in-person ceremonial gathering was deemed “not very appropriate” under current circumstances.

    The spokesperson highlighted a key strategic rationale for the last-minute format change: digital signatures from both countries’ top executive leaders significantly increase the political costs for any future violation of the agreement’s terms, creating a stronger deterrent against backtracking from the war-ending commitment.

    Baghaei confirmed that the long-awaited second phase of bilateral negotiations between Iran and the United States will proceed as originally planned, kicking off in Switzerland on Friday. He struck a cautious note on the outcome of upcoming talks, however, saying “we will have to see what outcome the parties will reach through mediators in the coming hours.”

    Consistent with Iran’s core negotiating priorities, Baghaei emphasized that a ceasefire in Lebanon has held equal importance to a halt to hostilities on Iranian territory for Tehran throughout the negotiation process.

    The finalized MoU, which commits to ending open conflict across all regional fronts including Lebanon, was first announced earlier this week by Iran, the United States, and Pakistan. The agreement capped off weeks of intensive mediated negotiations aimed at de-escalating a conflict that erupted in late February.

    The conflict that the MoU seeks to end began on February 28, when Israel and the United States launched coordinated joint strikes on Tehran and multiple other urban centers across Iran. Iran responded with a large-scale barrage of missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli territory as well as U.S. military bases and strategic assets across the Middle East. Tehran also tightened control over the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, barring safe passage for any vessels owned by or aligned with Israel and the United States.