Global Pulse

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  • Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan meets newly elected Hamas leader

    Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan meets newly elected Hamas leader

    In a high-profile diplomatic meeting held in Ankara on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan welcomed Khalil al-Hayya, the newly appointed chief of Hamas’s political bureau, and a full delegation from the Palestinian militant group, according to Turkish diplomatic sources cited by the semi-official Anadolu Agency. The meeting, which was publicly confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs via an official Twitter post on July 29, 2026, comes at a period of escalating violence across Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, and amid growing global legal pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    During the opening of the talks, Fidan formally congratulated Hayya on his recent elevation to the top leadership role of Hamas. Hayya, who is currently based in Qatar, took over the post on July 20, 2026, making him the third person to lead Hamas’s political wing since the outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. He succeeds Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in Rafah just three months after Israeli operatives assassinated previous leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July 2024. Tragically, Hayya has also lost four of his own sons – Osama, Hamza, Hammam and Azzam – to the conflict, marking a deep personal toll alongside his new political responsibilities.

    In the closed-door briefing, Hayya updated Fidan on the ongoing military operations carried out by Israeli forces across the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. He highlighted that overnight attacks carried out by Israeli air forces between Thursday and Friday alone left at least six Palestinian civilians dead and 25 more injured. Beyond Gaza, Hayya accused Netanyahu’s government of accelerating the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and ramping up provocative attacks on religious holy sites located in East Jerusalem, a territory claimed by Palestinians as the capital of their future state. He added that Hamas remains fully committed to playing a constructive part in future peace negotiations aimed at ending the conflict, and outlined ongoing efforts by the group to secure national reconciliation between competing Palestinian political factions.

    The meeting also comes against the backdrop of a major international legal development: the International Criminal Court has recently issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, charging him with alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the military campaign in Gaza.

    Responding to Hayya’s briefing, Fidan reaffirmed that Turkey will maintain its unwavering support for what Ankara describes as the Palestinian people’s just cause, both in multilateral diplomatic forums and across global international institutions. The foreign minister stressed that Turkey will continue working to focus global public and political attention on Israeli military actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including targeted attacks on religious holy sites. Fidan also added that Turkey plans to expand the flow of humanitarian aid into the blockaded and besieged Gaza Strip, and will continue backing regional and international efforts to advance a lasting peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. He also publicly praised Hamas’s ongoing engagement in negotiation efforts aimed at bringing an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

  • Iranian press review: Iran relies on speedboats to keep Strait of Hormuz closed

    Iranian press review: Iran relies on speedboats to keep Strait of Hormuz closed

    As military clashes between Iran and the United States stretch across neighboring Iraq and Yemen, new developments are shedding light on internal Iranian divides over the conflict, Tehran’s key asymmetric military strategy in the Persian Gulf, and allegations of transnational repression targeting Iranian dissident students abroad.

    A prominent Iranian daily with deep official ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has centered its latest front-page coverage on the IRGC’s fleet of small speedboats operating in the Persian Gulf, framing the force as a decisive asymmetric advantage for Tehran amid escalating hostilities. In Wednesday’s coverage, Hamshahri labeled the speedboat fleet Iran’s “winning card” in the Persian Gulf, noting it forms a core component of the country’s deterrence architecture designed to discourage further expansion of U.S. military attacks.

    For more than 20 years, the outlet explained, the fleet has posed one of the most persistent and complex threats to U.S. naval forces deployed in the region, built around the effective use of “swarm attack” tactics. Over the past five months, it has also evolved into a key strategic asset for controlling movement through the critical Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which roughly 20% of the world’s global oil supplies pass annually.

    Tehran’s naval strategy prioritizes mass production of small, high-velocity, low-cost craft rather than pursuing direct military competition with larger, far more expensive U.S. naval vessels. This approach is intentionally designed to raise the operational and human cost of any confrontation for adversarial forces while restricting their ability to maneuver freely in the Gulf. On the topic of controlling the Strait of Hormuz, Hamshahri added that the speedboat fleet complements other Iranian military assets including naval mines, cruise and ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles to complete Tehran’s strategic ability to block access to the waterway if needed.

    Amid rising hardline pressure to continue military clashes, a senior former IRGC commander has broken ranks to join growing calls for a cessation of hostilities with the U.S., arguing that genuine national victory for Iran only comes through the restoration of regional peace and stability. Brigadier General Hossein Alaei, the inaugural commander of the IRGC Navy and a former senior Iranian defense official who led IRGC naval forces during the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, shared his perspective on the ongoing conflicts that have pitted Iran against the U.S. and Israel since 2025.

    “While Iran has every right to defend itself, maintain its position, and respond to enemy attacks, the simple reality is that ongoing war causes irreversible harm to the Iranian people,” Alaei stated. The former commander also criticized the collapse of the earlier bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Tehran and Washington, describing the now-defunct agreement as a clear strategic win for Iran and a major setback for Israel.

    Alaei emphasized that Iran conceded virtually no critical ground under the terms of the deal: “The U.S. claims it has degraded, damaged, and effectively dismantled Iran’s nuclear program. The maximum concession Iran made was agreeing to open discussions on the nuclear issue in the future, which aligns with Iran’s long-stated public position that it has no intention to develop nuclear weapons.” He added that the agreement also successfully pressured Israel to pause its frequent military strikes on Lebanon, a major win for regional stability: “Israel was launching strikes on Lebanon daily before the MoU; through that agreement, we halted those daily attacks. That is a very significant victory.”

    Since large-scale military clashes resumed between Iran and the U.S. on July 7, hardline political and military factions within Iran have pushed to cut off all diplomatic negotiations with Washington and continue offensive operations. But Alaei is among a cohort of older-generation IRGC leaders who are publicly advocating for an end to the fighting.

    Separately, a new investigation by BBC Persian has uncovered allegations that Belarusian security services have carried out a coordinated campaign of interrogation, detention, and deportation against Iranian students studying in Belarus who posted social media content critical of the Islamic Republic. The students have directly accused the Iranian Embassy in Minsk of collaborating with Belarusian security forces to enable this cross-border repression of Iranian government critics.

    Khatereh Khodadadi, a dental student who spoke to the outlet, said she was arrested at her home by masked security agents just days after she posted a message expressing joy on Instagram following the killing of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei by U.S.-Israeli forces. She told reporters that agents interrogated her extensively about her views on Islam and the Iranian government before convicting her of “deliberate disobedience” and sentencing her to 15 days in prison. Khodadadi said she ultimately spent 45 days in detention, held in poor, unsanitary conditions, before being deported to a third country and issued a 30-year ban on reentering Belarus.

    Another Iranian student, identified only by the first name Pezhman, alleged that the Iranian ambassador personally provided Belarusian authorities with a target list of Iranian dissident students living in the country, falsely labeling them as plotters to carry out an arson attack on the Iranian Embassy. Similar coordinated repression allegations have also emerged from other regional states: in Armenia, Iranian dissident protesters claim local authorities seized their passports in a coordinated action organized by the Iranian Embassy in Yerevan.

    In additional new details on a previously unconfirmed Iranian military operation, local media has named Brigadier General Majid Kazemi as one of two pilots killed when Iranian Su-24 tactical bombers were shot down during an attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar on March 2. The strike was carried out in retaliation for earlier U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iranian targets, but no official details of the operation had been released publicly prior to this disclosure.

    Recent independent reports confirm the two Su-24 aircraft were struck down while returning to Iranian airspace after carrying out bombing runs on the large U.S. Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The bombers took off from a major IRGC military base outside the southern Iranian city of Shiraz, according to the accounts. Iranian authorities have not yet released any public information identifying the second pilot killed in the downing or shared any official confirmation of the operation. Iranian state television has previously reported on a separate retaliatory strike carried out by Iranian F-5 fighter jets against a U.S. military base located in Kuwait, marking a series of escalating cross-border attacks on U.S. assets in the Persian Gulf region.

  • Belgium says a Canadian intern is suspected of spying at Nato. Here’s what we know

    Belgium says a Canadian intern is suspected of spying at Nato. Here’s what we know

    In a high-stakes security breach at one of NATO’s most critical command centers, a Canadian woman of Chinese descent has been taken into custody by Belgian law enforcement over allegations that she engaged in espionage while serving as an intern at the alliance’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons. Belgian federal prosecutors confirmed the development Saturday, stating that the investigation was launched after NATO’s internal security services flagged suspicious activity and tipped off national authorities.

    Following the alert, law enforcement teams executed coordinated raids at both the suspect’s private residence and her workplace inside the SHAPE compound. In an official statement, prosecutors outlined two key allegations against the woman: that she conducted spying activities on behalf of an unnamed third country, and that she is affiliated with a structured criminal organization. As of the latest updates, Belgian officials have not publicly released the suspect’s identity, nor have they officially confirmed which nation she is accused of working for.

    Early reporting outlines that the woman’s conduct drew the attention of NATO security personnel through a series of unusual behaviors, including prolonged unauthorized presence near secured NATO facilities and inappropriate questioning of staff about sensitive alliance matters. A Belgian court has since approved a one-month period of pre-trial detention, keeping the suspect in custody as the investigation progresses.

    SHAPE serves as NATO’s central operational military headquarters, tasked with planning and executing all of the alliance’s global military operations. Both Canada and Belgium are long-standing NATO member states, falling under the alliance’s collective security framework. Under existing SHAPE security protocols, the responsibility for conducting background security clearance checks for interns falls to the candidate’s home country. In this case, that responsibility rested with Canadian authorities.

    SHAPE’s official public guidance notes that security clearance processing timelines vary across NATO member states, ranging from as little as eight weeks to as long as 18 months, with formal vetting only launching after a candidate has been selected for an internship role. Global Affairs Canada, Canada’s foreign affairs department, has confirmed that Canadian security clearances for citizens working at international organizations are determined based on security assessments provided by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Canada’s national intelligence and security agency.

    Multiple international and national law enforcement and security bodies have confirmed their involvement in the ongoing investigation. NATO has moved to reassure member states of its commitment to safeguarding sensitive information and protecting personnel. A NATO spokesperson told U.S. media outlets that the alliance “remains fully committed to protecting Allied personnel, safeguarding classified information, and maintaining the trust and security upon which the Alliance depends.”

    Canada’s national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), confirmed it is providing support to Belgian investigating authorities but declined to share any additional details on the ongoing case. Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree addressed the incident during a recent press conference, noting that Canadian officials will conduct a full review of existing national security screening processes.

    “In this particular case, I think it’s important to get to the bottom of what happened,” Anandasangaree told reporters. The BBC has reached out to both NATO and Canadian law enforcement for additional comment on the investigation, and has not yet received further substantive responses as inquiries remain ongoing.

  • War on Iran: Rescuers search for survivors on Qeshm Island after US kills toddler and parents

    War on Iran: Rescuers search for survivors on Qeshm Island after US kills toddler and parents

    On Thursday, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB published aerial and on-the-ground footage showing emergency rescue teams sifting through collapsed concrete and debris in Qeshm Island’s Chah-Tango neighbourhood, located in southern Iran’s Hormozgan province. The destruction was left behind by a newly launched United States military strike that targeted a residential civilian home in the area.

    According to local Iranian officials, the attack claimed the lives of three members from a single local family: a 30-something father, his wife, and their two-year-old toddler. Two other children from the family, ages seven and nine, escaped the rubble with non-fatal injuries and were urgently transported to a nearby regional medical center for ongoing care.

    This civilian death toll is part of the broader large-scale US assault launched across Iranian territory overnight Thursday, an operation ordered by US leadership in direct retaliation for an earlier Iranian missile strike targeting a joint US-Jordanian military base in Jordan. Prior to launching the assault, former US President Donald Trump issued an aggressive public vow, stating he would “beat the fucking shit out of Iran” following the attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northern Jordan.

    Critics point to a repeated pattern of civilian and child casualties stemming from US military operations in the ongoing conflict that Washington launched alongside Israel on February 28. The very first strike of the coordinated campaign was a double-tap cruise missile attack on a public school in the southern Iranian city of Minab, which killed at least 155 people, a majority of whom were school-aged children.

    In direct response to Thursday’s US strikes across Iran, Tehran launched a new round of retaliatory strikes targeting US military assets in Jordan Thursday. Multiple regional media outlets reported loud explosions heard within the perimeter of Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, though independent outlet Middle East Eye has not been able to independently confirm these on-the-ground claims. A official spokesperson for the Jordanian Army released a statement confirming that five missiles launched from Iranian territory were “detected, intercepted, and shot down” before reaching their intended target. This announcement follows multiple past instances where US officials and regional allies claimed to have intercepted Iranian missiles, only for subsequent evidence to confirm the projectiles ultimately hit their intended targets.

    Alongside the military response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a formal public warning Thursday that any countries choosing to provide support or assistance to the US military operation will be added to Tehran’s list of legitimate retaliatory targets. “Countries involved in aiding the aggressor will receive a harsh response if they do not correct their behaviour,” the IRGC statement read. Since the conflict began last month, Iran has repeatedly targeted US military and diplomatic interests across Jordan and Gulf Cooperation Council member states in response to joint US-Israeli operations.

  • UK police arrests dozens at protest supporting banned group Palestine Action

    UK police arrests dozens at protest supporting banned group Palestine Action

    LONDON – In a dramatic escalation of tensions over the United Kingdom government’s terrorist designation of pro-Palestine advocacy group Palestine Action, 77 demonstrators were taken into custody Thursday outside a central London courthouse after gathering to show public support for the banned organization. The arrests coincided with a landmark procedural ruling that cleared the way for the group to appeal its proscription status before the UK Supreme Court, setting up a major constitutional showdown over the boundaries of free speech and counterterrorism policy.

    The UK government first outlawed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization one year ago, in response to a high-profile direct action protest in June 2025 where activists breached security at a Royal Air Force base to demonstrate against British military backing for Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The ban carries severe legal consequences: anyone found guilty of membership or public support for the group can face up to 14 years in prison. Since the designation took effect, more than 3,000 people have been arrested for acts as minor as holding public signs reading “I support Palestine Action”, according to official figures. More than 1,200 of those detained have been formally charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act, though no convictions have been secured in any of these cases to date.

    The legal battle over the ban has wound through multiple levels of the UK judicial system over the past year. The High Court struck down the government’s proscription order in February, ruling in the group’s favor. But the government appealed that decision, and the Court of Appeal reversed the lower court’s ruling in June. The appellate judges characterized the ban as a “justified and proportionate” limitation on freedom of expression, concluding that Palestine Action had crossed the line from legitimate civil disobedience by using violence to damage property and threaten public safety.

    On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted Palestine Action founder Huda Ammori permission to bring the challenge before the court’s top justices. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled to take place between October and December. Court officials confirmed that all ongoing prosecutions of people charged under the ban have been paused pending the Supreme Court’s final ruling, which will set a binding precedent for future counterterrorism proscription cases in the UK.

    The demonstration outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday drew hundreds of supporters, with detained protesters shouting chants including “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action” as onlookers responded with cries of “Shame!” The Metropolitan Police confirmed that nearly all of the 77 arrests were made on charges of violating the proscription ban by publicly expressing support for Palestine Action.

  • Flash flooding destroys structures, submerges roads in Northeast US

    Flash flooding destroys structures, submerges roads in Northeast US

    Destructive flash flooding has swept across multiple states in the U.S. Northeast, leaving a trail of damage in its wake. Whole structures have been destroyed by the surging, fast-moving floodwaters, while major and local roads have been completely submerged, bringing transportation across the region to a standstill. By Wednesday, official weather authorities had issued active flood alerts covering more than 10 million residents spanning the affected area. Emergency management teams have mobilized to conduct search and rescue operations, evacuate at-risk communities, and clear blocked transportation routes. Local officials have urged residents to avoid non-essential travel, heed evacuation orders, and stay updated on changing weather conditions as response teams work to assess the full scope of damage and begin recovery efforts.

  • UEFA says will boycott World Cup if FIFA pushes private investor proposal

    UEFA says will boycott World Cup if FIFA pushes private investor proposal

    In a sharp rebuke that has sent shockwaves through global football governance, Europe’s governing football body UEFA issued an ultimatum Thursday: it will pull all of its national teams out of every FIFA competition, including the marquee World Cup, if FIFA refuses to completely abandon its plan to bring private investors into the ownership of its top competitions. The hardline stance marks one of the most significant rifts between continental confederations and the global football governing body in modern history.

    “No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in an official, strongly worded statement. The organization doubled down on its principle that football’s most iconic tournament cannot be commodified: “The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product… No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.”

    The controversy stems from an announcement FIFA made just two days prior, on Tuesday, that it intended to launch a new commercial subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), that would manage its crown jewel events, including the men’s and women’s World Cup and the expanded Club World Cup. Under the published framework, private investors would be permitted to purchase minority stakes in the new entity, with FIFA targeting capital raises of up to $4.2 billion based on a $20 billion total valuation of FFE.

    FIFA has framed the initiative as a transformative investment in global football growth. If the proposal receives final approval, the organization says each of its 211 member associations would get a one-time payout of $20 million as early as 2027, and would see its core funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle jump from $8 million to $20 million. FIFA President Gianni Infantino lauded the plan Wednesday, calling it a “golden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally”.

    That pitch has done little to sway critics, led by UEFA. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin already boycotted the 2024 World Cup final last week to signal his opposition to the plan, and the confederation’s latest statement makes clear the schism is about core principles of football governance. “This model has no place in world football,” the statement read. “Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return. Nor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns. Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain.”

    UEFA went on to argue that the entire process behind the proposal has been deeply undemocratic. “It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game,” the statement added. “This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football. National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences. This is not a ‘democratic decision’, but governance by intimidation – an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game.”

    UEFA is far from alone in its opposition. Several top European national federations and European Union officials have already come out against the plan, warning it accelerates the excessive commercialization of sport and creates dangerous openings for conflicts of interest. Two other continental confederations, CONCACAF covering North, Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation, have also raised objections over the lack of broad consultation with FIFA’s full membership before the plan was announced. The Confederation of African Football has directed its member associations to conduct a full review of the controversial proposal before taking a formal position.

    Closing its statement, UEFA reiterated that its opposition is non-negotiable, framing the fight as a defense of football’s intergenerational legacy. “There are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept, but by what they refuse to compromise. This is one of those moments. Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale,” the statement concluded.

  • Man impaled by a hiking pole treks 10 miles down mountain

    Man impaled by a hiking pole treks 10 miles down mountain

    In an extraordinary display of endurance and self-reliance that has shocked outdoor communities, experienced hiker David Cifaldi survived a life-threatening accident on one of Montana’s most challenging peaks by trekking 10 miles down the mountain with a sharp hiking pole impaled through his torso, turning down an offer for an emergency helicopter evacuation mid-incident.

    The harrowing incident unfolded on Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana, a popular but strenuous destination for backcountry hikers that sees thousands of visitors annually. While navigating the mountain’s rocky, steep terrain, Cifaldi suffered a devastating accident that left a metal hiking pole piercing through the soft tissue of his side. Instead of waiting for rescue teams to reach him via air – a response that would have been standard for such a severe injury – he made the fateful decision to begin the long descent to the base of the mountain on his own power.

    Local search and rescue officials confirmed that Cifaldi reached lower elevations after completing the 10-mile trek, where emergency medical teams were waiting to transport him to a regional trauma center for immediate treatment. As of the latest updates, medical professionals have not released full details on his current condition, but initial reports indicate that his decision to self-evacuate allowed him to reach care far faster than a helicopter rescue could have been arranged in the remote mountain terrain.

    Outdoor safety experts have noted that Cifaldi’s case is an extremely rare exception to standard backcountry safety protocols, which urge injured hikers to stay in place and wait for professional rescue whenever possible. The accident has sparked new conversations about the risks backcountry enthusiasts face, and the split-second decisions that can mean the difference between life and death in remote wilderness areas.

  • Russian missile strike destroys family home, 10 feared dead

    Russian missile strike destroys family home, 10 feared dead

    In one of the deadliest large-scale Russian attacks on Ukraine in recent months, a massive overnight barrage of missiles and drones launched early Thursday has killed dozens of civilians, including 10 members of a single extended Ukrainian family whose home was completely obliterated in an eastern strike.

    Ukrainian emergency service officials confirmed to Agence France-Presse that six deaths have been formally verified at the residential site outside Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown, with four additional people still missing and presumed dead amid extensive destruction. Forensic teams are still processing the blast site, where 17 body fragments have been recovered to date amid piles of splintered wood and crumbled concrete. Regional governor officials have released on-the-ground photos showing rescue workers sifting through the rubble of what was once the Voronov family home.

    Zelenskyy identified the victims in a social media statement Thursday morning: mother Olena, father Artem, their seven children, and a grandchild, noting the youngest presumed victim was just 18 months old. “It was an ordinary home, blown into smithereens,” he wrote, condemning the deliberate targeting of civilian residential property.

    Sergiy Kovtoniuk, press officer for the State Emergency Service in Dnipropetrovsk region, told AFP that the scale of devastation leaves little hope of survival for the 10 people present in the home at the time of the strike: “It can be preliminarily stated that all 10 people who were in the house have died.”

    The strike on the Voronov family home was part of a far larger coordinated assault that saw Russia launch 74 missiles and 284 drones across Ukraine overnight, the latest escalation in a four-and-a-half-year war that has seen civilian casualties spike sharply in recent weeks. Zelenskyy had issued a public warning of an impending attack late Wednesday, prompting tens of thousands of Kyiv residents to seek shelter ahead of the first blasts, which rang out shortly after midnight across the capital.

    For the first months of the full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s subway system served as a primary bomb shelter for residents, and that long-held routine reactivated quickly Thursday night. More than 56,000 people packed into station platforms, setting up tents, rolling out yoga mats and unfolding sleeping bags in a now well-rehearsed process. Galyna Doschuk, a 27-year-old photojournalist who has taken shelter in the subway repeatedly during the war, summed up the mindset of many Ukrainians amid the ongoing attacks: “I want to live… sometimes our neighbour gets in the way. But we’re fighting on.”

    By dawn Thursday, three additional civilian deaths were confirmed across Kyiv, Poltava and Lviv. A popular Kyiv flea market was destroyed in the strike, with its charred, twisted metal framework still smoldering as vendors arrived to salvage whatever belongings they could. In the western city of Lviv, which suffered extensive damage across multiple residential blocks, rescue teams pulled a 93-year-old woman alive from the rubble of a collapsed five-story apartment building, where she had been trapped alone on the top floor. AFP reporters on the ground saw stunned local residents gathering around destroyed apartment blocks, many crying and covering their faces as they surveyed the damage.

    The assault also spilled over into NATO territory, triggering new diplomatic tensions after a 10-meter-wide crater was discovered in an agricultural field in eastern Poland, roughly 80 kilometers from the Ukrainian border. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed Thursday that debris recovered from the site matches a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, confirming the projectile originated from the overnight Russian barrage.

    Ukrainian air force officials reported that defense systems successfully intercepted 55 of the 74 Russian missiles and 265 of the 284 drones launched in the attack. However, Ukrainian forces continue to face critical gaps in defense against advanced Russian ballistic missiles, which Moscow has increasingly deployed in recent strikes and are far harder to intercept. Zelenskyy renewed his urgent appeal to Western allies Thursday for additional air defense systems and interceptor missiles to shield civilian population centers.

    The appeal comes just two days after Zelenskyy met with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss anti-ballistic defense cooperation. Trump previously announced plans to grant Ukraine a license to domestically produce Patriot anti-ballistic interceptors, but neither government has released further details of the agreement to date.

    April 2025 has already become the deadliest month for Ukrainian civilians since April 2022, according to casualty tallies, as Russia has dramatically scaled up the frequency and size of its missile and drone strikes across the country. Russia’s defense ministry claimed in a statement Thursday that the overnight barrage exclusively targeted Ukrainian military-industrial sites, military communications hubs and logistics centers, a claim that contradicts extensive on-the-ground reporting of civilian damage and casualties.

  • AP Exclusive: Child soldiers recount horrors of Sudan’s war and presence of Colombian mercenaries

    AP Exclusive: Child soldiers recount horrors of Sudan’s war and presence of Colombian mercenaries

    Four years into Sudan’s brutal civil conflict between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), gripping firsthand testimonies from former child soldiers have pulled back the curtain on systematic abuse, forced conscription, and the hidden role of foreign mercenaries in the capital region of Khartoum. Six former child conscripts held by the RSF spoke anonymously to The Associated Press, sharing harrowing details of their exploitation that align with broader investigations into foreign fighter involvement in the war.

    One 17-year-old survivor, who was abducted at 15 while selling cigarettes in Omdurman – Khartoum’s twin city – described being mistakenly seized by RSF fighters searching for deserters, then thrown directly into frontline combat with no prior weapons training. Chained by his hands and feet to an anti-aircraft weapon mounted on a pickup truck, he recalled being left exposed as Sudanese warplanes launched airstrikes. When enemy jets approached, Colombian mercenaries who commanded the post retreated to fortified bunkers, ordering the chained children to open fire on the aircraft. Anyone who tried to run, the teens were told, would be killed by their captors before the bombs could hit them.

    The teenager, who still bears shrapnel scars on his head and face, spent 18 months in captivity at the RSF’s Central Reserve Camp in Omdurman, where dozens of child recruits were held. He described being kept bound around the clock – even during meals, when guards poured water over the shackled boys instead of allowing them to bathe. Colombian mercenaries stationed at the base trained the children to operate heavy anti-aircraft systems and explicitly ordered that the teens be chained to the weapons to prevent escape, he said. Too terrified to aim accurately, he never hit a target, he added.

    A second 17-year-old survivor, abducted at 15, shared equally devastating accounts from his detention at the RSF’s al-Konan camp, where he said Colombian mercenaries trained him and other underage recruits to handle heavy artillery and operate drones. Locked in a cell unless he was ordered to carry out strikes, he described seeing civilian targets through drone cameras, and being beaten – sometimes unconscious with electric batons – when he refused to fire. He watched an 18-year-old friend who attempted to escape shot dead by RSF fighters, and he still suffers nightly nightmares from the trauma.

    These testimonies confirm long-suspected reports of widespread Colombian mercenary deployment alongside the RSF. Rights researchers say the foreign fighters are recruited by a United Arab Emirates (UAE) state-linked contractor and trained in Emirati military bases, supporting the RSF in its fight against the Sudanese army. A UN panel has previously tracked weapons shipments from the UAE to the RSF, though the UAE has repeatedly denied arming the paramilitary group, claiming all shipments were humanitarian aid for refugees. It did not respond to multiple AP requests for comment on the mercenary allegations.

    Colombia’s long history of internal armed conflict has created a large pool of combat veterans with specialized U.S.-backed training, many of whom turn to mercenary work abroad due to low domestic pensions and limited civilian job opportunities. While Colombia has passed legislation banning its citizens from fighting in foreign wars, recruitment networks continue to operate, veteran groups report. Human Rights Watch and the private research firm Conflict Insights Group have already documented Colombian mercenary presence in Sudan’s Darfur region, including during the RSF’s 2024 capture of El Fasher, where the paramilitary has been accused of mass civilian killings. A Colombian mercenary who fought in Darfur for six months in 2025 told the AP that hundreds of Colombian fighters were deployed on RSF front lines, and he personally encountered child recruits as young as 13.

    The accounts from Khartoum mark the first concrete on-the-ground confirmation of Colombian mercenary activity training child soldiers in the capital region. Multiple independent sources, including a defected former RSF fighter and a senior Sudanese military officer, confirmed to the AP that Colombian fighters were actively training underage recruits in Khartoum while the RSF controlled the city. The Colombian government said it has no official information confirming the child soldier training allegations, but condemned any such abuses.

    Across Sudan, an estimated tens of thousands of children as young as 8 have been forcibly conscripted by all parties to the conflict, according to Sudan’s National Council for Child Welfare. The United Nations confirms both the RSF and government-allied militias have deployed child soldiers on front lines, with thousands still held in combat roles. The RSF, which grew out of the Janjaweed militias that carried out a genocidal campaign in Darfur in the 2000s, has a well-documented pattern of repeating these abusive tactics today. International law explicitly classifies forced child recruitment as a war crime, and rights experts say the UAE’s documented support for the RSF could leave the Gulf nation complicit in widespread crimes against humanity.

    Both of the surviving teens interviewed by AP spoke from a government-run rehabilitation facility on the outskirts of Khartoum, which housed more than 200 former child soldiers recaptured when the army retook the capital over the past year. Facility staff told AP that multiple child recruits have confirmed Colombian mercenary involvement in their training across Khartoum’s camps. Many of the released children face a difficult path forward: some carry permanent disabilities from combat and torture, while others have been rejected by their families traumatized by the war. Psychologists at the facility work to reconcile families with the boys, who are struggling to process severe trauma and guilt over acts they were forced to commit.

    Since the AP’s visit to the facility in April 2025, all children held there have been released through a joint process between the Sudanese government and UNICEF. The UN children’s agency is working to expand efforts to release and reintegrate remaining child soldiers across the country, pushing for all parties to recognize conscripted children as victims rather than combatants. For the teens who survived their ordeals, the desire to rebuild is mixed with lingering trauma. “We have made mistakes,” one boy said. “We want to get out of here to rebuild Sudan.”