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Hundreds of Ukrainian troops reportedly killed in Russian invasion

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Hundreds of Ukrainian troops have reportedly been killed after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion early Thursday.

However, the Ukrainian military has claimed to be fighting back by shooting down planes in the east of the country.

The Ukrainian military claimed they downed five Russian planes and a helicopter in the east of the country near a rebel-held enclave.

“According to the Joint Forces Command, today, February 24, in the area of the Joint Forces operation, five planes and a helicopter of the aggressors were shot down,” a senior military official told AFP.

Airports in the country have meanwhile been temporarily shut down in a bid to prevent potential Russian aircraft landings, while Russia has also closed its own airspace around the border from civilian access for the next four months.

All airspace over Ukraine has also been closed to passenger and cargo flights.

Russia’s defense ministry, however, has denied reports that any of its aircraft have been shot down.

Sky News correspondent Stuart Ramsay said it is ‘possible but unlikely’ that Russian planes have been shot down.

The US embassy in Kyiv meanwhile issued a security alert on Thursday for Americans in Ukraine to take shelter.

“US citizens in Ukraine are advised to shelter in place and take necessary action,” the alert read.

India’s embassy in Kyiv has also advised its nationals in Ukraine to refrain from traveling to the capital.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday tweeted: “I continue negotiations with the leaders. Received support from the Emir of Qatar.”

Earlier he said he had tried to reach Putin but “was met with silence”.

Loud explosions were heard across numerous cities through Thursday morning, including in Kyiv. Citing an “advisor to the Ukrainian interior ministry,” CNN reported that the explosions were from Russian missile strikes.

After an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday night, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pleaded with Putin to stop his troops from attacking.

“I have only one thing to say, from the bottom of my heart. President Putin, stop your troops from attacking Ukraine.

“Give peace a chance. Too many people have already died,” he said.

Despite global condemnation of the invasion, Putin continued Thursday with his offensive sending Ukrainians into panic mode.

Visuals from Kyiv showed people standing in long queues outside medical stores and other shops as they tried to stock up on supplies. Visuals of a massive traffic jam, where cars stood motionless, in the center of Kyiv, were also broadcast around the world as terrified residents tried to flee west.

By late morning Kabul time, air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv and emergency TV broadcasts were being aired. Photographs of terrified residents were also distributed on social media showing hundreds taking shelter in the city’s underground metro stations.

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One dead in new attack on Saudi airport, a day after Houthi strike kills 13

US aviation authorities issued a notice to US airlines to use caution while flying to or over the kingdom, Reuters reported.

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One person was killed and nearly a dozen hurt in a new attack ​Riyadh’s international airport on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported, a day after a strike claimed by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, Reuters reported.

Saudi-led coalition forces in ‌Yemen said an unidentified projectile had targeted Riyadh’s international airport Terminal 4 on Sunday, causing a fire. Eleven people were wounded in addition to the fatality, the Saudi civil aviation authority said.

Coalition forces also said Saudi air defences had intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of King Khalid International Airport. They later added that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed in the country’s Eastern Province, and a ballistic missile launched towards Khamis Mushait had been intercepted. Emergency alerts were also issued in Abha, in the ​south, early on Monday but the danger had since passed, the Saudi Civil Defense said.

The strikes have exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi defence capabilities as the kingdom wages an air campaign against the Houthis, ​who are fighting a ground war in Yemen against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Footage released by Saudi state television of the Saturday attack on the Riyadh airport showed scores ⁠of religious pilgrims lined up at a gate as they prepared to travel to Islam’s two holiest sites. A bright orange flash sent people running in panic, while parts of the roof appeared to cave in, read the report.

The ​airport was closed after the attack, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.

In a televised speech on Sunday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack and said ​the group had also struck the airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province and two facilities of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The Saudi government’s media office and Aramco did not respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed the strike on Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport late on Sunday, adding that “damage assessments and safety inspections of airport facilities are under way.”

An eyewitness aboard a taxiing aircraft at Dammam told Reuters that around 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday, they saw a projectile strike ​the tarmac beside several parked aircraft, causing a fire. The witness said the aircraft returned to the gate. Passengers disembarked and were told to leave.

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed several delays and cancellations on Sunday for arrivals and ​departures at Dammam airport, the kingdom’s third-largest.

The Houthis earlier on Sunday had renewed their warning against using Saudi airports. “We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions,” the group said.

Britain’s embassy in Saudi ‌Arabia in a ⁠post on X advised British citizens against all but essential travel to Jeddah, Dammam and all airports in the kingdom except the airport in Medina.

US aviation authorities issued a notice to US airlines to use caution while flying to or over the kingdom, Reuters reported.

Saudi Arabia has recently stepped up its military involvement in Yemen, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a government counteroffensive after the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia carried out 124 air strikes in Yemen in the past 24 hours. “Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet ​to come, God willing,” Yemen’s Houthi-run foreign ministry said ​in statements carried by Al Masirah television.

US President ⁠Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the wider war with Iran that the US and Israel launched in February.

In a post on Telegram, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi said he told his Saudi counterpart that Tehran was ready to help facilitate ​dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

A five-day conference of international energy organization WPC Energy opened as planned on Sunday at a convention ​centre about 10 km (6 miles) from ⁠the Riyadh airport, the Saudi energy ministry said.

A ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum also went ahead, according to a media advisory from the ministry. It was not clear which ministers attended.

Italy’s energy minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, whose country was co-hosting, had said on Friday he would participate remotely via video link.

German officials were trying to organise a return flight for economy minister Katherina Reiche, read the report.

She was supposed to return to Berlin from Riyadh on Monday but the ⁠ministry said it ​appeared likely her flight would be unable to take off.

Separately, Saudi authorities announced that in-person classes at schools in Riyadh would be ​shifted to remote learning from Sunday until Thursday.

Sunday’s attack brought the death toll in attacks on Riyadh’s airport to 18 for the week. In Saturday’s attack, the dead included four Saudis while the remainder were foreign nationals, Saudi authorities said.

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14 killed in two separate mass shootings across the United States

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro expressed his support for the affected community, describing the incident as a tragic loss of life.

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At least 14 people have been killed in two separate mass shootings in the United States within hours of each other, according to local authorities.

Five people were shot dead at a home in Douglas, Georgia, on Friday evening, police said.

In a separate incident in Erie, Pennsylvania, nine people were killed, including two children and a pregnant woman. Authorities confirmed that the suspected assailant was also among the dead.

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah described the scene as one of the most devastating incidents of his career, saying the motive for the shooting had not yet been established.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro expressed his support for the affected community, describing the incident as a tragic loss of life.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding both shootings.

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Zelenskiy says letting Russia sell diesel to US is ‘investment in war’

 “Gifts to Putin will not ​bring peace or any benefit to the civilised world,” Zelenskiy wrote ​on the X social media platform.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticised an accord on ​Friday between the US and Russia allowing Moscow to provide the ‌US with diesel, calling it “an investment in a war that must be ended.”

He dismissed the accord, which was announced while a Ukrainian delegation was ​in the US to discuss how to seek a ​resolution of the war with Russia, as “a weak decision ⁠on the part of strong partners”.

 “Gifts to Putin will not ​bring peace or any benefit to the civilised world,” Zelenskiy wrote ​on the X social media platform.

“Russia will ‘repay’ the diesel with further terror and perfidy. Allowing Russia to sell petroleum products is an investment in a war ​that must be ended, not prolonged. What is needed is ​real de-escalation with Russia on a reciprocal basis,” Zelenskiy said.

Trump said in ‌a ⁠post on social media that he had agreed in a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Russia would immediately supply diesel to the US and global marketplace. Trump said lower prices ​for Americans “is my ​Greatest Priority”.

 Zelenskiy, ⁠speaking to reporters later on WhatsApp, said the accord would provide Moscow with additional funds to ​wage war and undermine any attempts to work ​towards a ⁠settlement.

“I believe our team is simply being used as a front. And that is certainly not fair, nor is it how partners ⁠should ​treat each other,” he said. “In my ​view, it is a weak decision on the part of strong partners.”

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