Ruined city of Avdiivka, Ukraine Avdiivka was on the front lines of war between Kyiv and Moscow for almost a decade. Fierce fighting raged there for months following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. The withdrawal was far less drawn out. When the Ukrainian military abandoned the town on Saturday, handing Russia its most important victory in months, it was rapid and ruthless. “Leave the 300 (wounded),” one soldier was purportedly ordered, “and burn everything.” Hours after Russian troops raised their flags over Avdiivka, one horrifying story has emerged of several injured soldiers who failed to escape – and were later killed as Russian troops reached their position. Members of Ukraine's National Guard Omega Special Purpose fire a SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher toward Russian troops in the front line town of Avdiivka, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 8, 2023. The Ukrainian servicemen there were part of the 110th S...

Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post.   Russia targeted Ukraine’s Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with air strikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure along the country’s southern coast, the Ukrainian military said. The Kremlin’s forces used air-launched missiles in the attack, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said in a Facebook post. The command posted video Tuesday that appeared to show smoldering rubble and destroyed buildings with the caption: “The consequences of today’s rocket shelling across the Odessa region.” In the Odesa region, a number of private buildings in villages on the coast were hit and caught fire, the report said. In the Mykolaiv region, po...

Russia’s defence minister says Moscow’s forces have taken control of the last major Ukrainian-held city in Luhansk. damaged residential buildings are seen in Lysychansk Smoke rises over the remains of a building destroyed by a military strike in Lysychansk  Russia’s defence minister tells President Vladimir Putin that Moscow’s forces “have established full control over the city of Lysychansk” in Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko says his country is being “provoked”, claims Ukraine fired several missiles at military targets inside Belarus. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says “colossal investments” are needed to rebuild his war-torn country. Ukrainian forces hit a Russian base with more than 30 strikes in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol without causing any casualties.

Russian forces destroyed five Ukrainian army command posts in the Donbas and in the Mykolaiv regions with high-precision weapons and also struck three storage sites in the Zaporizhzhia region, says the defence ministry. Details later...

Helsinki and Stockholm joining NATO marks one of the the biggest shifts in European security in decades. Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned NATO’s “imperial ambitions”, accusing the military alliance of seeking to assert its “supremacy” through the Ukraine conflict. The Russian leader also said on Wednesday that he would respond in kind if NATO deployed troops and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after the two Nordic countries join the military alliance. Putin made his comment a day after NATO member Turkey lifted its veto over the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance when the three nations agreed to protect each other’s security. Helsinki and Stockholm joining NATO marks one of the biggest shifts in European security in decades. “With Sweden and Finland, we don’t have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO, go ahead,” Putin told Russian state television after talks with regional leaders in the central Asian ex-Soviet state of Turkmenis...

The Federal Government has met with envoys of the G7 countries in Nigeria, expressing worries over the Russian-Ukraine conflict with a call for peace to resolve the conflict. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, met with the envoys on Friday in Abuja, saying that the Nigerian government called for peace and the use of diplomacy in resolving all differences. Onyeama said Nigeria does not condone the approach of aggression by Russia, calling on Russia to pull back. “Peace and diplomacy to be prioritised by both sides. “We support every effort being made to stop the aggression and Russian troops to return to Russia,” Onyeama said. Speaking to journalists after the closed-door meeting, German Ambassador to Nigeria, Birgitt Ory, who is also chair of the G7 Group, appreciated the African Union on its statement on the situation. Ory, who also commended Nigeria for putting in its weight, said Nigeria is a very important voice that the world needed to hear. He said that what is also c...