标签： Europe

Two anonymous Libyan officials have made explosive new claims that Ukrainian military forces are operating covertly across western Libya under a Western-endorsed agreement, launching the March drone attack that severely damaged a Russian-sanctioned liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker off the North African coast. The officials detailed the scope of the alleged deployment, laying out a new layer of proxy conflict between Russia and the West in the already fractured nation of Libya.

The vessel in question, the Russian-flagged *Arctic Metagaz*, was carrying 61,000 tons of LNG when it was struck by what Russia has confirmed was a Ukrainian sea drone attack in early March. The incident occurred roughly 240 kilometers off the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, near Maltese territorial waters. Initially, the Libyan Maritime Authority incorrectly reported the tanker had sunk after it suffered “sudden explosions and a massive fire,” but the damaged vessel remained afloat and drifted toward the Libyan coast. All 30 crew members were successfully rescued and transferred to a separate ship bound for the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

The *Arctic Metagaz* is part of Russia’s widely documented “shadow fleet” of vessels that transport Russian oil and gas in violation of international sanctions imposed over Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now in its fourth year. Just recently, the U.S. issued a temporary waiver on some sanctions to mitigate energy supply disruptions amid escalating conflict with Iran. For Kyiv, targeting these shadow fleet vessels is a deliberate strategy to cut off the oil export revenue that funds Russia’s war effort.

According to the two Libyan officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive, classified arrangements, most of the Ukrainian personnel deployed in Libya are specialized drone experts. They are primarily based at a military air base in the coastal city of Misrata, with additional operations out of facilities in the capital Tripoli and the coastal town of Zawiya. One official confirmed the March 3 drone strike on the tanker was directly launched from a Ukrainian-controlled military site in Tripoli.

In the weeks following the attack, conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature confirmed the damaged tanker remained adrift, pushed by winds and currents closer to Libya’s shore. Libyan authorities attempted to tow the vessel to a secure safe zone off the country’s western coast, but harsh weather and strong winds derailed those efforts, leaving the *Arctic Metagaz* drifting uncontrollably, creating a growing risk of a major Mediterranean oil spill.

As of Tuesday, neither Russian nor Ukrainian government officials had issued an immediate response to the new claims. The Tripoli-based Dbeibah government also had not responded to requests for comment on the alleged deployment.

Since the start of Russia’s 2022 invasion, Ukraine has become a global hub for rapid military innovation, particularly in uncrewed drone technology. Kyiv’s Sea Baby naval drones have carried out repeated successful strikes against Russian military and commercial vessels in the Black Sea, disrupting Russia’s naval operations and energy shipping lanes. As Russia has adapted its defenses to block Black Sea attacks, forcing Kyiv to scale back operations in that region, Ukrainian military planners have begun pursuing more ambitious, long-range strikes from alternative locations, according to defense analysts.

The Libyan officials say the gradual deployment of Ukrainian forces to western Libya over recent months was arranged under a covert bilateral deal between Kyiv and the embattled Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah. The agreement, they claim, has received formal backing from Western powers, including the United States. U.S. Africa affairs adviser Massad Boulos recently tabled a conflict resolution proposal for Libya that would retain Dbeibah as prime minister while appointing Saddam Hifter—son of powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Hifter—as head of the presidential council. Khalifa Hifter leads the Russia-backed self-styled Libyan National Army, which controls eastern and southern Libya, including the country’s largest oil fields.

Libya has remained deeply divided for more than a decade, split between the United Nations-backed Dbeibah administration in Tripoli and the rival, Russia-aligned administration in the east backed by Hifter’s forces. Dbeibah’s original government mandate expired in December 2021 after the country failed to hold long-promised first presidential elections, and he has resisted all attempts to replace him, warning a leadership transition could ignite full-scale civil war.

Jalel Harchaoui, a leading Libya expert at the Royal United Services Institute, said the reported presence of Ukrainian forces in western Libya aligns with longstanding NATO efforts to prevent Russia from expanding its influence in the strategically located North African nation. “It is entirely plausible that, with the knowledge and blessing of NATO powers — chiefly the United States but also the United Kingdom and Turkey — several small groups of Ukrainian operatives now maintain a presence in the greater Tripoli area,” Harchaoui noted.

Libya has been mired in ongoing political instability and conflict since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. For years, the resource-rich nation has served as a key battleground for the geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the West. With borders connecting it to six North and Central African nations, and its position as a major transit route for migrants seeking to reach Europe, Libya’s stability has long been a core security concern for Western governments. This new reported deployment marks a sharp escalation of the Russia-Ukraine war’s spillover into a region already fractured by great power competition.

In a brazen daylight attack that has sent shockwaves across Turkey, a shootout near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul’s central Besiktas business district left one suspected gunman dead and two others wounded, with two police officers also sustaining non-life-threatening injuries in the confrontation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the incident as an unforgivable act of terrorism, vowing to prevent such attacks from eroding public confidence in the country.
Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Ciftci confirmed early details of the attack, noting that the two responding police officers only suffered minor injuries: one was grazed in the ear and the other shot in the leg, with neither facing critical health risks. Investigative updates show the three attackers traveled to Istanbul from the northern Turkish city of Izmit using a rented vehicle, and two of the three suspects are biological brothers.
The killed gunman has been identified by the interior ministry as Yunus E.S., who authorities say has confirmed links to a terrorist group that exploits religious ideology. Turkish officials widely understand this reference to point to the Islamic State (IS) group, though no militant organization has yet released a statement claiming responsibility for the attempted assault.
Early initial reports from law enforcement incorrectly stated two attackers had been killed, but Istanbul Governor Davut Gul later issued an official clarification confirming only one attacker died in the shootout. The two wounded suspects, identified as Onur Ç and Enes Ç, remain in custody as interrogations continue. Governor Gul added that the attackers carried out the assault using a combination of rifles and handguns.
In a key contextual detail, the attack unfolded at a consulate that has sat empty for two and a half years. No Israeli diplomatic personnel have been stationed in Turkey since relations between Ankara and Tel Aviv deteriorated sharply over the ongoing Gaza war, and Gul confirmed no Israeli staff were present on site during the incident.
Social media footage captured the chaotic scene of the attack, showing the moment one armed suspect was shot down by responding police officers. One witness quoted by Reuters described sustained, loud gunfire that continued for 15 to 20 minutes across the busy central district. In the hours after the shootout, heavy police reinforcements flooded the area, with multiple police vans deployed and the entire block cordoned off while forensic teams processed the crime scene.
Authorities have confirmed that extensive digital communications between the three suspects were uncovered during initial evidence collection, and Turkey’s justice ministry has launched a full formal investigation to unpack the full plot and any potential wider networks connected to the attack. Addressing the nation, Erdogan struck a firm tone, insisting that “We will not allow the climate of trust in Turkey to be damaged by such vile and timed provocations as today’s.”

KYIV, Ukraine — As Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its fifth year of brutal conflict, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a unprecedented reciprocal proposal: a temporary halt to cross-border attacks on energy facilities from both sides, timed to coincide with the upcoming Orthodox Easter holiday this weekend. In a public address delivered late Monday, Zelenskyy confirmed the offer was formally transmitted to Russian authorities through Washington, which has served as a mediator for indirect talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Russia agrees to end its strikes against our energy infrastructure, Ukraine will stand by the same commitment,” Zelenskyy stated. To date, the Kremlin has not issued any public response to the proposal. This call for a limited holiday truce comes amid a long track record of failed ceasefire attempts between the two warring nations. Last Orthodox Easter, Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally announced a 30-hour ceasefire, but the agreement collapsed within hours as both sides traded accusations of immediate violations. A year ago, Moscow also rejected a 30-day unconditional truce put forward by the U.S. and Ukraine, framing the offer as unconstructive and continuing to push for a sweeping negotiated settlement that meets its core demands. Even so, Russia has unilaterally declared multiple short-term ceasefires over the past years of conflict.

Despite extending the offer, Zelenskyy made clear he holds little optimism that the Kremlin will accept the proposal. He pointed to current global energy market conditions, noting that Russia is reaping greater financial benefits from elevated international oil prices driven by ongoing conflict in Iran, giving it little incentive to pause strikes that undermine Ukraine’s energy stability. Beyond the truce proposal, Zelenskyy also reiterated growing concerns that a prolonged U.S.-Israeli military campaign in Iran will divert international attention and erode critical American support for Ukraine’s war effort. So far, U.S.-mediated indirect talks between the two nations have stalled on all core sticking points, with Washington’s policy bandwidth largely absorbed by the escalating Middle East crisis. Meanwhile, Ukrainian and Russian forces remain entrenched in brutal, ongoing clashes along a roughly 1,000-mile front line stretching across eastern and southern Ukraine.

For months, both sides have targeted each other’s critical energy infrastructure as a core military strategy. Russia has launched sustained, large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s power grid in a deliberate campaign to break civilian morale ahead of the cold winter and spring months. In response, Ukraine has ramped up its own long-range drone strikes against Russian oil facilities, aiming to cut into the export revenue that funds Moscow’s war machine. A new assessment published late Monday by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank specializing in conflict analysis, confirms Ukraine’s expanding drone campaign is yielding tangible results. The report notes that Ukraine is successfully exploiting gaps in Russia’s overstretched air defense network, causing significant damage to Russia’s oil export capacity. “Russia’s vast geographic territory creates enormous defensive challenges, particularly when the country still relies heavily on legacy air defense systems to intercept Ukrainian drone salvos,” the ISW assessment added.

Alongside attacks on energy infrastructure, Russian forces have continued to target civilian and public transportation networks across Ukraine, including the country’s critical rail links that serve both civilian and military supply purposes. On Tuesday morning, a Russian drone struck a civilian bus as it pulled into a stop in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Nikopol during morning rush hour, killing four civilians and wounding 15 more. Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed the attack in an online post, emphasizing that the strike was a deliberate tactic targeting ordinary civilians. “This brutal attack on regular civilian transportation happened during rush hour, when people were simply heading to their jobs,” Klymenko wrote. “This is no accident — this is Russia’s deliberate strategy: targeted strikes on innocent civilians.”

Additional Russian attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine pushed Tuesday’s civilian death toll even higher. Ukrainian authorities reported three people killed and three more injured in a strike on a residential building in the southern city of Kherson. Near the eastern city of Synelnykove, an 11-year-old boy was killed in a separate drone strike, bringing the total number of civilian fatalities reported on Tuesday to eight. Following Tuesday’s wave of drone and artillery strikes, Ukrainian military and civil defense officials confirmed widespread power outages across multiple regions in eastern and southern Ukraine, a disruption that echoes the widespread energy cuts that upended civilian life across the country through the winter months.

On a Tuesday in central Istanbul, a brazen armed assault targeting police outside a high-rise building that hosts the Israeli Consulate left one attacker dead and two others wounded and in custody, senior Turkish government officials have confirmed. The incident, which unfolded in Levent, Istanbul’s bustling core commercial district, sparked an intense shootout between the three assailants and responding law enforcement, leaving two officers with minor injuries.

Istanbul Governor Davut Gul confirmed to reporters that the attackers were armed with long-barreled weapons, with one attacker fatally shot during the exchange of fire. The two surviving suspects, who were wounded in the clash, have been taken into Turkish custody. According to Turkey’s Interior Ministry, the pair are brothers identified only as Onur C. and Enes C., with Onur holding a prior criminal record related to drug offenses. Both are currently undergoing interrogation by law enforcement authorities.

Details of the attackers’ movements and backgrounds have begun to emerge in the hours after the assault. Interior Minister Mustafa Cifti revealed in a post on the social platform X that the three suspects traveled to Istanbul from Izmit, a city located roughly 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the country’s largest metropolis, in a rented vehicle. Cifti also noted that one of the assailants had ties to a group that “exploits religion,” though he stopped short of naming the specific organization. Turkey has faced repeated deadly terrorist attacks from extremist groups in recent years, most notably the Islamic State group, which has carried out multiple high-profile assaults across the country.

Notably, no Israeli diplomatic personnel were present in the consulate building at the time of the attack. Israel withdrew all of its diplomats from its Turkish missions earlier amid growing security concerns and rapidly deteriorating bilateral relations tied to the ongoing war in Gaza.

Eyewitness accounts from people working and moving through the normally busy business district paint a chaotic picture of the 10-minute shootout. Omer Dilki, a 34-year-old local resident, told reporters that the repeated gunfire stood out in the normally noisy district. “In general, this is a noisy area, so initially we thought this might be something else. But the gunshots continued,” he said, adding that he saw officers taking cover behind parked vehicles and coordinating with one another during the clash. Ali Rıza Arpacı, who works at a business near the consulate building, described witnessing “serious clashes” unfold directly in front of him, saying “We were almost inside the clashes.”

Mobile footage from the scene captured one armed assailant, armed with what appeared to be an assault rifle and wearing a brown backpack, hiding behind a public bus while exchanging gunfire with police. The footage also shows one officer fall to the ground after apparently being struck by gunfire, before rolling to cover behind a nearby tree. Turkish officials later clarified that the two injured officers sustained only minor wounds: one was hit in the leg, while the other suffered a wound to the ear.

In the aftermath of the attack, Turkish law enforcement quickly sealed off the entire building and closed multiple surrounding roads to through traffic. Forensic investigators in white protective hazmat suits have since combed the attack site, collecting shell casings, DNA samples, and other potential evidence to build their case. Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced that three top prosecutors, including one deputy chief prosecutor, have been appointed to lead the ongoing criminal investigation into the assault.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a sharp condemnation of what he called a “treacherous” attack, reaffirming the country’s unwavering counter-terrorism stance. “We will resolutely continue our fight against all forms of terrorism, and we will not allow the climate of security in Turkey to be harmed by vile and timed provocations like today’s,” he said.

International condemnation of the assault followed quickly. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack condemned the attack, praising Turkish authorities for “their swift and decisive response.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement condemning the assault, and commended Turkish security forces for their rapid action that prevented the attack from causing greater harm.

This report includes a correction to an earlier version of the story, which incorrectly cited Turkish outlet Haberturk to claim two attackers had been killed. Turkish officials have confirmed only one of the three assailants was killed, with the other two wounded and taken into custody. Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, with additional contribution from Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul.