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Russian bomb hits Kursk school with dozens of civilians inside, says Zelensky
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Ukraine has accused Russia of launching a deadly missile strike that killed at least four people in the dormitory of a boarding school in Kursk.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian bomb destroyed the school building “even though dozens of civilians were there”. The school is located in a part of Kursk held by Ukrainian forces.
On the war front, Russia has marked its most senior casualty in the Ukraine war – a deputy governor of a region killed fighting in Ukraine.
Sergey Efremov, the deputy governor of Russia’s eastern region of Primorsky Krai, was killed after he returned to the Russian frontline from a battle with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region. He was reportedly travelling in a car blown up by a landmine along with another Russian army officer.
It comes as Mr Zelensky said Nato membership for Ukraine would be a “great victory” for US president Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian president said joining the alliance would be the “cheapest” way of guaranteeing Kyiv‘s security while also strengthening Mr Trump geopolitically.
Dozens of Russian and North Korean officers have been killed in a Ukrainian strike on a Russian command post, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
“There was a strong operation by our military — they hit their central command post in the Kursk direction. And they lost key officers of Russia and North Korea,” Mr Zelensky told AP in an interview.
He said the strike was carried out on 31 January (Friday) by Ukraine’s Missile and Artillery Forces targeting the command post of Russia’s Kursk group of forces in the city of Rylsk.
“It was our military target, a fair one. There was a missile attack from our side and various types of weapons; a complex attack was launched against them,” Mr Zelensky said.
North Korean troops have been pulled back from the frontline amid devastating losses, according to Ukrainian and American officials.
Kim Jong Un’s forces have not been seen on the battlefield for around three weeks, Ukrainian special forces said, according to the New York Times.
Pyongyang sent roughly 11,000 soldiers to help with Vladimir Putin’s war effort in November last year, four months after Kyiv’s troops seized Russian territory in Kursk.
Read the full article here:
Kim Jong Un sent roughly 11,000 soldiers to join Vladimir Putin’s troops in November last year
European Union leaders gather today to discuss how to bolster the continent’s defences against Russia and how to handle US president Donald Trump after his decision to impose tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China.
At a royal palace-turned-conference centre in Brussels, the leaders of the EU’s 27 nations will also lunch with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and dine with British prime minister Keir Starmer.
Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council of EU leaders, has billed the one-day gathering as a “retreat” devoted to defence policy rather than a formal summit, aiming for an open discussion without any official declaration or decisions.
The first session focuses on geopolitics and relations with the United States, meaning Trump’s sweeping weekend move on tariffs is certain to come up – particularly as EU officials fear they may soon face similar measures.
Sir Keir Starmer praised the “real progress” in the UK’s relationship with Germany as he welcomed Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Chequers on Sunday.
The two leaders met at the Prime Minister’s country residence ahead of his visit to Belgium on Monday, where he will meet with EU chiefs in an effort to “reset” relations with the block.
Ukraine and the Middle East were among the topics of conversation as Mr Scholz met with Sir Keir at the Buckinghamshire country house, a No 10 spokesperson said.
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The Prime Minister hosted the German Chancellor at his country residence ahead of a visit to Belgium on Monday
Competing claims emerged over a deadly attack on a boarding school in Sudzha, a city in Russia’s Kursk region that has been under Ukrainian control for five months, with Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of carrying out the strike.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said Saturday night that four people were killed and a further four seriously wounded in the strike, with 84 people rescued by Ukrainian servicemen from the rubble of the building.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said that Moscow had bombed the boarding school where civilians were sheltering and preparing to evacuate.
Moscow sent 55 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday
Ukrainian prosecutors charged two men yesterday over the killing of an army draft officer in the central Poltava region, leading a top general to call for swift punishment as he warned of growing disrespect towards members of the military.
One of the suspects, who was being driven to a military training centre on Friday with other conscripts, called an acquaintance who then arrived at the scene and shot dead one of the accompanying officers, the prosecutor general’s office said.
The two men fled but were arrested a few hours later, the office said in a statement, adding that police had seized a hunting rifle, ammunition and two cases of hand grenades from the alleged shooter.
One suspect was charged with obstructing the military and murder, and the other with aiding and abetting military obstruction.
The crack and the ear-splitting blast – two in a row, then a third – rattle windows and set off car alarms. But, in a city under constant bombardment, a smoker in a doorway tips a little ash and takes another drag.
A hotel receptionist, pooled in lamplight, doesn’t look up from her papers.
The explosions, they know, come from outgoing long-range anti-aircraft missiles being fired from the centre of the Ukrainian capital against incoming attacks.
While the citizens of Kyiv won’t move for these, the sound of lawnmower engines in the sky will prompt an immediate race to cellars and shelters.
Sam Kiley reports from Kyiv region:
Swarms of Iranian-made Russian Shahed unmanned drones target Ukraine almost every night – it is up to these men and their World War Two-style machine guns to shoot the UAVs out of the sky. World Affairs Editor Sam Kiley reports from the Kyiv region
Ukraine’s overnight drone attacks targeted fuel and energy facilities in Russia, sparking fires at a Volgograd oil refinery and disrupting flights at several airports, Russian officials said this morning.
“The air defence forces of the defence ministry repelled a massive attack by aircraft-type drones on the territory of the Volgograd region,” governor Andrei Bocharov said in a statement.
Falling drone debris sparked several fires at an oil refinery, the statement said. Mr Bocharov did not say which refinery was on fire but said the blazes had been contained.
Baza, a Russian news Telegram channel that is close to Russia’s security services, said that a series of explosions were heard in the area around a refinery operated by Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil.
In Astrakhan, the drone attack sparked a fire, the region’s governor said, without disclosing what was ablaze.
“Ukrainian armed forces attempted a drone attack on objects located in the region, including fuel and energy facilities,” Igor Babushkin, the governor, said on Telegram.
“There were no casualties.” Baza said that Ukraine attacked a gas processing plant near Astrakhan.
Russia’s air defence units intercepted and destroyed 70 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry said this morning.
In the earlier hours, a swarm of Ukrainian drones had forced suspension of operations at several Russian airports.
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