KUWAIT CITY, June 1 – Three people were killed and several others injured on Sunday in a fire that broke out in two apartments of a residential building in the Al-Riggae area southwest of Kuwait City, the Kuwait Fire Force said in a press statement.
Firefighting teams, along with personnel from the Search and Rescue Department, responded swiftly to contain and extinguish the flames, read the statement published by the official Kuwait News Agency, without identifying the cause of the fire.
Several injuries were treated at the scene by emergency medical teams, while others requiring further medical attention were transported to nearby hospitals, read the statement.
The Kuwait Fire Force also issued a public safety reminder, urging building and facility owners to strictly adhere to safety and fire prevention requirements, removing all obstacles from external walkways to protect lives and property.
Local Kuwaiti media outlets have reported differing casualty figures. Daily newspaper Al-Rai quoted Director of the Public Relations Department at the Kuwait Fire Force Mohammed Al-Gharib as saying that six people were killed and five others critically injured in the fire, whereas some other reports suggested more than 15 injuries.
The local reports noted that the affected building is inhabited by workers of African and Asian origins.
Rescuers search for victims after a natural stones quarry collapsed in Cirebon district, West Java province, Indonesia, 30, 2025. AP
BANDUNG, Indonesia – The death toll from a rockfall at a limestone quarry on Indonesia’s Java island rose to 18 on Sunday, with another seven people still missing and feared dead, a military official said.
Workers and heavy equipment were buried when rocks suddenly fell at the mining site in the city of Cirebon in West Java province on Friday morning.
The rockfall also injured at least 12 people.
“Today, we retrieved one more body, which brings the total death toll to 18 people, while seven more people are still missing,” local military chief Mukhammad Yusron said.
“We suspect the missing victims have already died.”
Rescuers have deployed excavators and rescue dogs to search for the remaining victims, Mukhammad said.
He said the search operation was challenging and dangerous due to the unstable structures of the rock.
“We must pay attention to the rescuers’ safety because there have been more rockfalls during the operation.”
The local company overseeing the mine was operating legally. Still, safety standards were lacking, according to West Java governor Dedi Mulyadi, who said he had ordered its closure following the accident.
“I have issued an order to my subordinates at the site. The company has been shut down permanently,” he said in a statement earlier this week.
Friday’s incident was the second collapse at the quarry, following an incident in February but no casualties were reported then.
Mining accidents are common across the mineral-rich Southeast Asian archipelago, especially in unlicensed sites where safety protocols are often ignored.
In July last year, at least 23 people died and 35 others were missing when a landslide hit a remote village near an illegal gold mine on the central island of Sulawesi.
In 2023 eight workers died after being trapped in an illegal gold mine in Central Java.
BERLIN, June 1 – A fire broke out overnight at a hospital in the Hohenfelde district of the northern German city of Hamburg, killing three patients and injuring more than 50 others, local authorities confirmed on Sunday.
According to the Hamburg fire department, two of the injured are in life-threatening condition, while 16 others sustained serious injuries and 36 suffered minor injuries.
The fire started in the geriatric ward on the first floor of the hospital and spread to the second floor. Firefighters were alerted to the fire shortly after midnight.
Thick smoke from the fire spread throughout every floor of the building, prompting a large-scale emergency response. Firefighters conducted rescues through open windows, and the fire was completely extinguished in the early hours of Sunday.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
KABUL, June 1 – A total of 500,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland Afghanistan from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in April and May, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
“Support is needed more than ever as returnees face an uncertain future and struggle to rebuild their lives,” said the UNHCR in a statement on Sunday.
Over 2 million Afghans have reportedly returned home from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in the past year.
The Pakistani government is set to expel 3 million Afghans to their home country in 2025, while Iranian officials have asked undocumented foreign nationals to end their illegal stay and return to their homes.
The Afghan interim government has been repeatedly calling upon Afghan refugees to end living abroad as refugees and return home to contribute to the rebuilding of their war-torn homeland.
Displaced Palestinians push a cart with bodies after people were reportedly hit by Israeli fire as they headed to a food distribution center in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 1, 2025. Source-AN-AFP
CAIRO, June 1 – An Israeli attack near an aid distribution point run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) killed at least 30 people in Rafah, Palestinian news agency WAFA and Hamas-affiliated media said on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the reported attack, which WAFA said injured more than 115 people.
The GHF, also backed by Israel, recently started operating in Gaza.
Palestinians gather at an aid distribution center in Deir Al-Balah, in the Gaza Strip, May 28, 2025, in this picture obtained by Reuters. REUTERS
June 1- At least seven people were killed and 30 hospitalised after “illegal interference” caused a bridge to collapse and a train to derail in Russia’s Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, Russian authorities said early on Sunday.
The train’s locomotive and several cars derailed “due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport,” Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app.
Two children were among those hospitalised, one of them in a serious condition, Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram. Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia’s state news agencies reported, citing medics.
Russia’s ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that its main efforts were aimed at finding and rescuing victims, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation.
Russia’s Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100 km (62 miles) from the border with Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new U.S. sanctions.
June 1 – Ukraine’s air defence units were trying to repel a Russian air attack on the capital Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said early on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday.
Paris Saint-Germain supporters displayed a banner saying “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the Champions League final on Saturday. (X/@leylahamed)
MUNICH – Paris Saint-Germain supporters displayed a banner saying “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the Champions League final on Saturday.
They raised it shortly after Achraf Hakimi gave their team a 1-0 lead against his former side Inter Milan in the 12th minute. Désiré Doué scored PSG’s second after the banner was raised for a 2-0 halftime lead.
PSG fans are known for their stance against the war in Gaza. They previously displayed a giant banner saying “Free Palestine” in November during the Champions League match against Atlético Madrid.
The latest banner was likely to lead to disquiet among local authorities in Munich. Munich’s city hall displays an Israeli flag as well as a Ukrainian one, and German support for Israel is strong for historical reasons.
PSG could also face a fine. UEFA bans the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit a provocative message that is judged not fit for a sports event, particularly provocative messages that are of a political, ideological, religious or offensive nature.
Financial penalties are typical for a first offense — 10,000 euros ($10,700) for a political banner or disturbances.
Israel’s nearly three-month blockade on Gaza has pushed the population of over two million to the brink of famine. It has allowed some aid to enter in recent days, but aid organizations say far from enough is getting in.
The UN World Food Program said the fear of starvation in Gaza is high.
A bus crash on a Nigerian highway on Saturday killed 21 athletes returning from a national sports tournament, with authorities saying the accident might have been the result of driver fatigue or excessive speed. (X/@OurFavOnlineDoc)
ABUJA – A bus crash on a Nigerian highway on Saturday killed 21 athletes returning from a national sports tournament, with authorities saying the accident might have been the result of driver fatigue or excessive speed.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said the afternoon crash, which did not involve other vehicles, “might have occurred as a result of fatigue and excessive speed” after a long overnight trip.
The athletes were returning to Kano, in Nigeria’s north, from the 22nd National Sports Festival, held around 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) to the south in Ogun state.
President Bola Tinubu had recently said the games, which included sports ranging from wheelchair basketball to traditional west African wrestling, represented “the unity, strength and resilience that define us as a nation.”
Road accidents are common on Nigeria’s poorly maintained roads due largely to speeding and a disregard for traffic rules.
Last year Nigeria recorded 9,570 road accidents that resulted in 5,421 deaths, according to FRSC data.
Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen near the tents where they have taken shelter after being displaced by the Israeli military offensive, in Gaza City, May 28, 2025. REUTERS
LONDON – The head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees has warned that famine in Gaza remains preventable, but only if there is the political will to act.
Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), said the amount of aid reaching the territory is “vastly disproportionate” to the scale of the crisis.
“What we are asking for is not impossible,” he said in a press statement on Saturday, urging that UN agencies be allowed to deliver vital assistance and uphold the dignity of those in need.
According to Lazzarini, just 900 aid trucks have entered Gaza over the past two weeks — covering only around 10% of the population’s daily needs. He stressed that preventing famine requires political decisions, not just logistical efforts.
He also called for the full resumption of humanitarian operations, which have largely been suspended since March 2. During the previous ceasefire, UNRWA and its partners had managed to bring in 600 to 800 trucks per day, he noted, underlining that it is feasible to scale up aid if access is granted.
Meanwhile, medical sources in Gaza said at least 60 Palestinians were killed and 284 injured in the past 24 hours amid ongoing fighting. Local health authorities report that since the conflict began in October 2023, 54,381 people have been killed and 124,381 wounded, with women and children making up the majority of casualties.
Since hostilities resumed on March 18, following a two-month truce, a further 4,117 people have been killed and 12,013 injured, the same sources added.
Palestinians gather to collect aid supplies from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. REUTERS
LONDON – Israel’s conduct in Gaza is undermining international law and fueling a wider global threat, Norway’s international development minister has said, warning that the use of tactics such as blocking aid and targeting humanitarian groups could become a grim new norm in future conflicts.
“For the last one and a half years we have seen very low respect for international law in the war in Gaza and in recent months it is worse than ever before,” Asmund Aukrust said.
“So for the Norwegian government it is very important to protest against this, to condemn this very clear violation,” he added.
Aukrust said that the crisis was not only deepening suffering in Gaza but eroding principles that protect civilians everywhere, The Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.
“We are very concerned that there will be a new international standard where food is used as a weapon, where the UN is denied entrance to the war and conflict zone, and other NGOs are denied entrance,” he said.
“And Israel is building up something they call Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is to militarise humanitarian aid.”
The GHF, supported by Israel and the US, began food distribution in Gaza this week. Israeli forces said that they fired “warning shots” at a center during chaotic scenes, while local health authorities reported one civilian killed and dozens injured.
A UN-led review earlier this month found all 2.1 million residents of Gaza at critical risk of famine, with 500,000 already in catastrophic conditions.
“We are afraid and very concerned that this might be a new standard in international law and this will make the world a lot more dangerous to all of us,” Aukrust said.
Asked whether Israel’s actions amounted to genocide, Aukrust said that was a matter for international courts, not politicians.
“Genocide is the worst crime a country can do and the worst crime that politicians can do and this should not be polarized,” he said.
He insisted that dialogue must remain open, even with groups such as Hamas, and stressed Norway’s long-term commitment to Gaza’s recovery.
“We have no limitation of who we are talking to. I would say the opposite. We would be happy to, and we want to, talk with those who are responsible, whether it is Israel, Hamas or others,” he said.
“Dialogue is the most important word when it comes to peacemaking and we want to have an open line with all countries, all groups that might have an influence here,” he added.
Norway, which recognized the Palestinian state in May, has long played a mediating role in the region, including hosting the 1993 Oslo Accords. Aukrust said that recognition was meant “to send out a message of hope.”
The country’s sovereign wealth fund, which is the world’s largest, has already blacklisted 11 companies for aiding Israel’s occupation, though Aukrust stressed decisions on investments are made by the bank, not politicians.
“The bank decides where they want to invest. What the politicians do is to decide the rules,” he said. The rules, he added, were “very clear” that the fund should not invest in anything that contributed to a violation of international law.
The Norwegian parliament is expected to vote next week against a proposal to block the fund from investing in firms operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Aukrust urged people across Europe to keep up pressure and stay engaged, adding: “As long as the war is going on, from the Norwegian government side we will all the time look into what more can we do. What new initiative can we take. How can we send an even clearer message to those who are responsible for this.”
A general view of the Grande Synagogue des Tournelles, after it was covered in green paint, in Paris, France, May 31, 2025. REUTERS
PARIS, May 31 – Five Jewish institutions were sprayed with green paint in Paris overnight and an investigation has been opened, a police source said on Saturday.
Police found the paint damage early on Saturday on the Shoah Memorial, which is the Holocaust museum in Paris, three synagogues and a restaurant in the historic Jewish neighbourhood of Le Marais, the source said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X that he was disgusted by these “despicable acts targetting the Jewish community”.
It was not yet known who committed the damage, or why. The Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on details of the incidents.
France has seen a rise in hate crimes: last year police recorded an 11% rise in racist, xenophobic or antireligious crimes, according to official data published in March. The figures did not break down the attacks on different religions.
Palestinians evacuate in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, May 30, 2025. REUTERS
GAZA, May 31, 2025 – Eight Palestinians were killed and several others injured on Saturday as Israeli occupation forces continued their genocidal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, with the deadliest incident involving an airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced civilians to the north of Khan Younis.
Local sources reported that an Israeli drone targeted a tent in the Al-Mawasi area of Al-Qarara town, north of Khan Younis, killing six people. Among the victims were four members of the same family: Saeed Al-Kurd, Basma Al-Kurd, Ashraf Al-Kurd, and Riham Al-Kurd. Two others were also killed: Maryam Al-Astal and Alma Al-Ghalban.
In a separate incident, Israeli forces opened fire on civilians near an aid distribution center west of Rafah, killing Ahmad Sameer Al-Bouji and Ahmad Ashraf Al-Hams.
Meanwhile, medical teams recovered the body of Rafiq Shoaib Ali Al-Lahham, who was killed in an earlier strike on Khan Younis.
General Anil Chauhan, center, Chief of Defence Staff of Indian Armed Forces attends the Shangri-La Dialogue Summit in Singapore on May 31, 2025. AFP
NEW DELHI – India’s military chief Gen. Anil Chauhan has confirmed for the first time that the Indian Air Force lost jets in clashes with Pakistan in May.
Earlier this month, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his country shot down six Indian jets, an assertion that Delhi had refrained from commenting on.
Chauhan, chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, is the first Indian official to make the most direct admission over the fate of the country’s fighter jets during the conflict that erupted on May 7.
“What is important is that, not the jet being downed, but why they were being downed,” Chauhan told Bloomberg TV in an interview on Saturday, while attending the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
“The good part is that we are able to understand the tactical mistake which we made, remedy it, rectify it and then implement it again after two days and fly all our jets again, targeting at long range.”
Pakistan’s claims of shooting down six Indian combat aircraft were “absolutely incorrect,” Chauhan said, without specifying how many jets India lost.
India and Pakistan recently saw their worst clashes in half a century, during which both sides traded air, drone and missile strikes, as well as artillery and small arms fire along their shared border.
It was triggered by a gruesome attack on tourists near the resort town of Pahalgam in Indian Kashmir on April 22, in which 26 people — 25 Indians and one Nepali citizen — were killed.
Bharat Karnad, an emeritus professor for National Security Studies at the Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, said that the Indian Air Force may have underestimated its Pakistani counterpart.
“Initially, Indians were surprised. Maybe they underestimated the capacity of the Pakistani Air Force,” Karnad told Arab News on Saturday.
“I think what was surprising was that India did not use the airborne early warning (and) control system, the NETRA, which Pakistan has used very well,” he said. “I’m not sure how much the Indian Air Force expected this kind of tactical innovation. So, this is something that the Indian Air Force realized very quickly.”
According to Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak, a retired officer of the Indian Air Force, Pakistan benefited from its Chinese-made weapons during the early May conflict.
“This brings us to the lessons which underscore that India was not fighting Pakistan on one front but two countries: Pakistan and China,” Kak told Arab News.
“Every single superior technology, capability, operationally and tactically, or in strategic terms, are made available to Pakistan. That must concern us: What kind of force structure we must have and what kind of capabilities we must build against the combo.”
BERLIN – A small plane crashed into the terrace of a residential building in western Germany on Saturday and two people were killed, police said.
The crash happened in Korschenbroich, near the city of Mönchengladbach and not far from the Dutch border.
The plane hit the terrace of the building and a fire broke out. Police said two people died and one of them was probably the plane’s pilot, German news agency dpa reported. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the other person had been on the plane or on the ground.
Officials had no immediate information on the cause of the crash.
NEW DELHI, May 31 – Heavy rainfall over the past two days triggered landslides and widespread flooding in India’s northeast and south, killing at least 18 people and affecting thousands of others, officials said Saturday.
Torrential rains hit the northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura.
According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), five people were killed due to a landslide in Kamrup Metropolitan district. The ongoing flooding affected more than 10,000 people in six districts.
Authorities have set up two relief camps and one distribution center for the affected population.
“Due to heavy to very heavy rainfall in several districts of Assam, the rivers are flowing above danger level with a rising trend, prompting flood alerts in vulnerable areas,” ASDMA in a statement, said. “Very heavy rainfall is likely to continue over the next two to three days.”
Reports said that amid heavy rain and gusty winds, a red alert remains in effect for 18 districts of the state.
In the adjacent state of Mizoram, several people are feared dead after five houses and a hotel were hit by a devastating landslide at Lawngtlai town.
According to India’s state-run broadcaster, All India Radio, authorities have launched rescue efforts to trace the missing trapped beneath the rubble.
Mizoram has been experiencing heavy rain since Friday, leading to landslides and rockfalls in several areas.
In Meghalaya, three people died in East Khasi Hills district due to rain-related incidents.
Over 1,000 residents across 25 villages have been affected by landslides, flash floods, and power outages. Flooding also damaged roads and inundated schools in the affected districts.
Reports said Nagaland and Tripura each reported one death due to rain-related incidents on Friday.
In the northern state of Uttarakhand, a 38-year-old man died and five others were injured after a landslide struck a vehicle on the Kedarnath national highway near Kund in Rudraprayag district.
In the southwestern state of Karnataka, at least seven people were killed in rain-related incidents. Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, bordering Kerala.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), heavy rainfall with sustained winds is expected to continue in Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts until Monday.
In this handout photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Recue Agency (BASARNAS), rescue search for victims at the site of collapsed natural stones quarry in Cirebon district, West Jawa province, Indonesia, Friday, 30 May, 2025. AP
CIREBON, Indonesia – The death toll from the collapse of a stone quarry in Indonesia’s West Java province has risen to at least 17, with eight people still missing, officials said Saturday.
The victims were trapped in the rubble when the Gunung Kuda quarry in Cirebon district collapsed on Friday. A dozen survivors were found by rescuers.
By Saturday afternoon, rescuers had retrieved 16 bodies, while one of the survivors died in the hospital, said local police chief Sumarni. She said rescuers are searching for eight people still believed to be trapped
“The search operation has been hampered by bad weather, unstable soil and rugged terrain,” said Sumarni who goes by a single name like many Indonesians.
She said the cause of the collapse is still under investigation, and police have been questioning six people, including the owner of the quarry.
Local television reports showed emergency personnel, along with police, soldiers and volunteers, digging desperately in the quarry in a steep limestone cliff, supported by five excavators, early Saturday.
West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi said in a video statement on Instagram that he visited the quarry before he was elected in February and considered it dangerous.
“It did not meet the safety standard elements for its workers,” Mulyadi said, adding that at that time, “I didn’t have any capacity to stop it.”
On Friday, Mulyadi said that he had ordered the quarry shut, as well as four other similar sites in West Java.
Illegal or informal resource extraction operations are common in Indonesia, providing a tenuous livelihood to those who labor in conditions with a high risk of injury or death.
Landslides, flooding and tunnel collapses are just some of the hazards associated with them. Much of the processing of sand, rocks or gold ore also involves the use of highly toxic mercury and cyanide by workers using little or no protection.
Last year, a landslide triggered by torrential rains struck an unauthorized gold mining operation on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 15 people.
The coffin of a migrant girl, who was on a boat that capsized as it neared La Restinga harbor on the island of El Hierro, sits before its entombment in El Pinar, Spain, May 30, 2025. REUTERS
MADRID, May 31 – Seven migrant women and children who died when their boat capsized just metres from shore in Spain’s Canary Islands were buried on Friday at the La Restringa harbour where they had hoped to find safety.
Two five-year-old girls and a 16-year-old were among the dead, emergency services said. The migrant boat capsized as rescuers were escorting it to port at La Restringa on the El Hierro island on Wednesday, the services said.
“I heard the screams and didn’t hesitate. Like any citizen faced with an emergency or an accident, I got in my car, rushed to where the boat was, and helped however I could,” Javier Iglesias, a La Restringa resident, said at the funeral of the seven, which was also attended by surviving migrants.
“What really moves you and leaves an impression is when you see the faces, the expressions of those people who didn’t reach their dream, just five metres from the shore.”
The number of migrants reaching the Canary Islands from West Africa hit an all-time high in 2024, but the number of arrivals has fallen this year, Interior Ministry data shows.
In the first five months of 2024, 4,808 people died on the perilous Atlantic voyage to the Canaries after leaving Africa, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders.
A serviceman of the 65th Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces attends a military drill as a recruit near a frontline, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, May 26, 2025. REUTERS
KYIV, Ukraine – Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine on Saturday killed at least two people, including a 9-year-old girl, officials said, as uncertainty remains about whether Kyiv diplomats will attend a new round of peace talks proposed by Moscow for early next week in Istanbul.
Russian troops launched some 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight and into Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said. Three of the missiles and 42 drones were destroyed and another 30 drones failed to reach their targets without causing damage, it said.
The girl was killed in a strike on the front-line village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and a 16-year-old was injured, Zaporizhzhia’s Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.
“One house was destroyed. The shockwave from the blast also damaged several other houses, cars, and outbuildings,” Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
A man was killed by Russian shelling in Ukraine’s Kherson region, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.
Moscow did not comment on either attack.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday that it had gained control of the Ukrainian village of Novopil in the Donetsk region, and took the village of Vodolahy in the northern Sumy region. Ukrainian authorities in Sumy ordered mandatory evacuations in 11 more settlements as Russian forces make steady gains in the area.
The new additions bring the total number of settlements under evacuation orders in Sumy, which borders Russia’s Kursk region, to 213.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said some 50,000 Russian troops have amassed in the area with the intention of launching an offensive to carve out a buffer zone inside Ukrainian territory.
Speaking Saturday, Ukraine’s top army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said that Russian forces were focusing their main offensive efforts on Pokrovsk, Torets and Lyman in the Donetsk region, as well as the Sumy border area.
Syrskyi also said Ukrainian forces are still holding territory in Russia’s Kursk region, a statement that Moscow has repeatedly denied. Russia said on April 26 that it had pushed all Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region after Ukrainian troops seized land there during a surprise incursion in August 2024. “The enemy is holding its best units here,” Syrskyi said referring to Kursk, “which it planned to use in the east.”
Elsewhere, 14 people were injured including four children after Ukrainian drones struck apartment buildings Saturday in the Russian town of Rylsk and the village of Artakovo in the western Kursk region, local acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said.
A Ukrainian serviceman walks at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Sumy, Ukraine April 13, 2025. REUTERS
KYIV – Authorities in Ukraine’s Sumy region bordering Russia on Saturday ordered the mandatory evacuation of 11 villages because of bombardments, as Kyiv feared a Russian offensive there.
“This decision takes into account the constant threat to civilian lives because of the bombardments of border communities,” Sumy’s administration said.
Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday said its forces had taken another Sumy village, Vodolagy, known as Vodolahy in Ukrainian.
Russia in recent weeks has claimed to have taken several villages in the northeastern region, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that Moscow was massing more than 50,000 soldiers nearby in a sign of a possible offensive.
