Deadly drone attacks on civilians continue in Sudan's Kordofan, UN says Fatal drone strikes on civilians persist in Sudan's Kordofan, as the central region has emerged as the latest front line in Sudan's nearly three-year conflict, the United Nations has said. Addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk painted a grim picture of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has plunged the country into widespread bloodshed and humanitarian catastrophe. Turk also highlighted harrowing survivor testimonies from el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which fell to RSF forces in October following an 18-month siege. He described accounts of atrocity crimes committed by the paramilitary after it overran the city, including mass killings and other grave violations targeting civilians. "Responsibility for these atrocity crimes lies squarely with the [RSF] and their allies and supporters," he said As Sudan's devastating civil war expands beyond the western Darfur region into the central Kordofan areas, Turk cautioned that the shift in fighting is likely to bring even more severe violations against civilians, expressing deep concern over the potential for additional grave abuses, specifically highlighting the increasing use of "advanced drone weaponry systems" by both warring parties.

Twelve miners have been killed by a Russian drone strike in eastern Ukraine, the country's largest private energy firm has said. DTEK said a bus carrying workers after a shift in the Dnipropetrovsk region had been targeted in Sunday's attack. At least seven people were injured. Earlier, at least two others were killed and nine injured in separate Russian attacks overnight and on Sunday. The victims included six people hurt when a drone hit a maternity hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned as terrorism a Russian drone attack on a crowded passenger train that local officials say killed at least five people and injured several others. More than 200 people were on the train, officials said, when one of the carriages was hit by a drone and two other drones exploded nearby, in Ukraine's north-eastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday. Zelensky said 18 people were in the carriage at the time and there was no military justification in targeting civilians. Russia has not commented on the strike, but it has intensified drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy and transport infrastructure during the harshest winter in years. Elsewhere in Ukraine, the southern port city of Odesa was hit by dozens of drones and officials said three people were killed and dozens more wounded.

Up here you can see and hear when the drones come, she says, standing by a wall-length, floor-to-ceiling window. When they hit buildings and homes in the city of Odesa down below we see all the fires too. Her daughter Eva, who is nine, has learned the shapes and sounds of the objects that zoom through the sky on a daily basis. She proudly shows off a list of social media channels she checks when the air raid alerts go off. She knows whether what's coming is a risk or a threat, and that calms her down, her father Sergii says.

EU's top diplomat rejects Russian claims of Ukrainian attack on government sites The EU's top diplomat has called Moscow's claims that Ukraine targeted Russian government sites a deliberate distraction and an attempt to derail the peace process. Kaja Kallas' comments on social media appear to be a reference to the Kremlin's allegation that Ukraine attempted a drone strike on one of Vladimir Putin's residences. No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine's infrastructure and civilians, Kallas wrote on social media. Earlier this week Moscow accused Ukraine of targeting Putin's private home on Lake Valdai in north-west Russia. Russia would review its position in the ongoing peace negotiations as a result, the Kremlin said.

Major cities across Sudan, including the capital, Khartoum, and coastal city Port Sudan, have been plunged into darkness after drone strikes hit a key power plant in the country's east. Flames and smoke rose from the facility in Atbara, River Nile state on Thursday, which is controlled by the government-aligned Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and under attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing civil war that has ripped the nation apart. Sudan's RSF trying to hide atrocities: Report Two civil defence members were killed, power plant officials said, while trying to extinguish the fire that erupted after the first strike, adding that rescue workers were injured when a second drone hit as they battled the flames. Al Jazeera correspondent Mohamed Vall in Port Sudan reported that residents initially thought a routine power cut had occurred, only to learn it was linked to incidents in Atbara, roughly 320km (about 230 miles) north of Khartoum. He added that such strikes have become a frequent occurrence in Sudan's war.

Sudan's air force has carried out bombings in which at least 1,700 civilians have died in attacks on residential neighbourhoods, markets, schools and camps for displaced people, according to an investigation into air raids in the country's civil war. The Sudan Witness Project says it has compiled the largest known dataset of military airstrikes in the conflict, which began in April 2023. Its analysis indicates that the air force has used unguided bombs in populated areas. The data focuses on attacks by warplanes, which only the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is capable of operating. Its rival, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) does not have aircraft.

Chernobyl radiation shield'lost safety function' after drone strike, UN watchdog says A protective shield covering the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in Ukraine can no longer provide its main containment function following a drone strike earlier this year, according to a UN watchdog. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors found that the massive structure, built over the site of the 1986 nuclear disaster, had lost its primary safety functions including the confinement capability. In February, Ukraine accused Russia of targeting the power plant - a claim the Kremlin denied. The IAEA said repairs were essential to prevent further degradation of the nuclear shelter. However environmental expert Jim Smith told the BBC: It is not something to panic about.

Is the fall of Pokrovsk inevitable? Is Trump losing patience with Putin? Will sanctions against Russian oil giants hurt Putin? Ukraine is working to resume prisoner exchanges with Russia that could bring 1,200 Ukrainians home, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, a day after his national security chief announced progress in negotiations. "We are counting on the resumption of POW exchanges," Zelenskyy wrote on X on Sunday.

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