World

GRIMSBY, United Kingdom - A cargo ship ran into a US-military charted tanker carrying jet fuel in the North Sea on Monday, sparking a massive fire off the English coast and injuring more than 30 people, the tanker's operator and authorities said.

A major rescue operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard as images showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the coast.

The Stena Immaculate was "anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull... [and]was struck by the container ship Solong", the Stena's US-based operators Crowley said in a statement.

The tanker was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to Jillian Morris, the spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships providing ocean transport for the US Defense Department.

Crowley said the impact of the collision "ruptured" the cargo tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released".

A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation "extremely concerning". 

Grimsby port director Martyn Boyers told AFP that 32 injured people had been brought ashore for treatment in three vessels, adding that "ambulances were queueing on the quay" in the northeastern English fishing port.

Local MP Graham Stuart later wrote on X that 37 people had been injured.

All crew members on board the tanker, owned by Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk, were confirmed to be alive, Lena Alvling, a spokesperson for the firm, told AFP.

'Not like crude spill' 

There were reports of "fires on both ships" that UK lifeboat services were responding to, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) confirmed to AFP.

A spokesman said the coastguard was carrying out an assessment of the likely counter-pollution response required, while a government body probing marine accidents deployed a team to Grimsby.

"Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps," a Marine Accident Investigation Branch spokesperson said.

Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP that "the good news is it's not persistent, it's not like a crude oil spill". 

"Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly", he added, while warning that "it will kill fish and other creatures".

Martin Slater, director of operations at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, said it could be potentially "devastating" to seal and bird populations if the nearby Humber estuary became polluted.

Humber traffic suspended 

All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP).

The ABP, which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region, added that it was "assisting" the Coastguard. 

The International Maritime Organization told AFP "the current focus is on the firefighting and search-and-rescue operation".

The alarm about the crash near the port city of Hull in East Yorkshire was raised at 0948 GMT.

A coastguard helicopter, a plane, lifeboats from four towns and other nearby vessels were part of the large rescue operation, UK Coastguard said.

The cargo ship was the Portuguese-flagged "Solong", owned by the German company Reederei Koepping.

The 140-metre-long cargo vessel left Grangemouth in Scotland and was bound for Rotterdam, according to the Vessel Finder website.

Collisions rare 

Vessels with firefighting capabilities have been dispatched to the scene off the northeast coast.

Collisions remain rare in the busy North Sea.

In October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany's Heligoland islands in the North Sea.

Three people were killed and two others are still missing and considered dead.

The Isle-of-Man-flagged Verity, which was carrying steel from the northern German port of Bremen to Immingham, sank.

In October 2015, the Flinterstar freighter, carrying 125 tonnes of diesel and 427 tonnes of fuel oil, sank after colliding with the Al Oraiq tanker eight kilometres  off the Belgian coast.

A major North Sea oil spill took place in January 1993 when the Liberian tanker Braer suffered engine damage while en route to Canada from Norway.

Water seeped into the holds of the ship, which ran aground off Scotland's Shetland Islands and released 84,500 tonnes of crude oil.

SAPRONOVO, Russia - Ukrainian drones smashed into high-rise apartment blocks and hit parking lots on the outskirts of Moscow in the early hours of Tuesday, with both sides saying it was the largest attack on the Russian capital of the three-year-conflict. 

The Kremlin condemned the attack, which came hours before top US and Ukrainian officials sat down for talks in Saudi Arabia and after three years of Russian aerial barrages on Ukrainian cities. 

The attack killed three people, Russian officials said. 

Kyiv said the strikes should push Russian President Vladimir Putin to accept its call for a halt to long-range aerial strikes, a proposal Moscow has previously ruled out. 

Ukrainian and US diplomats were meeting for talks on ending the conflict, with Kyiv saying it would try to get Washington -- which has resumed talks with Moscow under President Donald Trump -- on board with the idea. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denounced Kyiv targeting "residential houses", claiming Russia's own forces only hit military infrastructure, despite near daily attacks on Ukraine's civilian areas and thousands of Ukrainian civilians killed by its offensive.

Moscow's army said it intercepted 343 Ukrainian drones with some falling on "residential and economic infrastructure".

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called it the "most massive enemy drone attack on Moscow".

At the site of one attack, AFP journalists saw holes on the upper floors of an apartment block and broken glass and debris strewn across the asphalt.

The drones hit areas surrounding Moscow, including Ramenskoye that is home to an air base, and an area near Moscow's Domodedovo airport. 

'All the neighbours jumped' 

"We were sleeping, there was an explosion, the children screamed," Yevgenia Bakatuyeva, a 38-year-old who lives in one of the apartment blocks that was hit in Sapronovo, south of Moscow, told AFP.

"I opened my door, and all the neighbours jumped out. Somebody was in blood," she added. 

Artyom, a 34-year-old car sales manager also living in the building, said he had "only seen such things on TV" and that it was "scary when in real life." 

The conflict in Ukraine often feels distant in the Russian capital, where life has continued as Moscow's army advances and attacks Ukrainian cities. 

Ukraine has previously targeted Moscow, but deadly strikes so far away from the front lines are rare. 

No air raid alert or siren was announced in the capital amid the attack.

More than 90 drones were intercepted over the Moscow Region, which surrounds the heavily defended capital. The rest targeted regions surrounding Moscow as well as regions bordering Ukraine. 

Truce in the sky 

Russian aviation officials temporarily closed the four main airports serving Moscow. 

Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyov said a 50-year-old and a 38-year-old security guard were killed, with a local official later saying a third man died in hospital. 

The health ministry earlier said several people were in hospital, including a child. 

Russia's investigative committee called it a "terrorist attack" and opened a criminal investigation.

In the Vladimir region, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of Moscow, a village of around 800 people was evacuated after two drones there were shot down, local authorities said.

Russia's foreign ministry said it had taken OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu -- in Moscow on Tuesday -- to the site of one of the attacks.

'Signal to Putin' 

"This is an additional signal to Putin that he should also be interested in a ceasefire in the air," said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's National Security Council's Center for Countering Disinformation. 

Kyiv is set to present the United States with a plan for a partial ceasefire with Russia, hoping to restore support from its key benefactor, which under Trump has demanded concessions to end the conflict. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will take part in the Saudi talks, indicated the idea had promise.

Russia has previously ruled out partial ceasefires.

Russia's defence ministry said the attack, hours before the talks, were designed to "demonstrate" Ukraine's military capacity.

On the battlefield, Moscow said it retook 12 villages in its Kursk region from Ukrainian forces, territory Kyiv hoped to use as leverage in peace negotiations, but where it has been losing ground.

Russia also said it captured the village of Dachne in eastern Ukraine. 

Russia's military launched a ballistic missile and 126 drones at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's air force said. 

AFP journalists in Kyiv heard explosions overnight as air defence downed a wave of drones.

A Russian bomb attack on the eastern Donetsk region killed one and wounded four, the regional governor said.

MANILA - Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs.

The 79-year-old faces a charge of "the crime against humanity of murder", according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

"Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC," the presidential palace said in a statement. 

"As of now, he is under the custody of authorities."

The statement added that "the former president and his group are in good health and are being checked by government doctors".

But Duterte demanded to know the basis of his arrest in a video posted to his youngest daughter Veronica's Instagram account following his detention.

"So what is the law and what is the crime that I committed? Show to me now the legal basis of my being here," he said in the video.

"I was brought here not of my own volition but somebody else's ... you have to answer now for the deprivation of liberty."

While no location was given for the video, a photo released by his political party said he was being held at the Villamor Air Base next to Manila airport.

Duterte's former chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, called the arrest "unlawful".

"The (Philippine National Police) didn't allow one of his lawyers to meet him at the airport and to question the legal basis for PRRD's arrest," he said, adding a hard copy of the ICC warrant had not been provided.

Reactions from those who opposed to the drug war, however, were jubilant.

One group that worked to support mothers of those killed in the crackdown called the arrest a "very welcome development".

"The mothers whose husbands and children were killed because of the drug war are very happy because they have been waiting for this for a very long time," Rubilyn Litao, coordinator for Rise Up for Life and for Rights, told AFP.

"Now that Duterte has been arrested, (President) Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should make sure that he is actually delivered to the ICC for detention and trial," said Philippine rights alliance Karapatan, calling the arrest "long overdue".

Human Rights Watch also called on the government to "swiftly surrender (Duterte) to the ICC", saying the arrest was a "critical step for accountability in the Philippines".

A winding path 

Duterte's Tuesday morning arrest at Manila's international airport followed a brief trip to Hong Kong.

Speaking to thousands of overseas Filipino workers there Sunday, the former president decried the investigation, labelling ICC investigators "sons of whores" while saying he would "accept it" if an arrest were to be his fate.

The Philippines quit the ICC in 2019 on Duterte's instructions, but the tribunal maintained it had jurisdiction over killings before the pullout, as well as killings in the southern city of Davao when Duterte was mayor, years before he became president.

It launched a formal inquiry in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.

The case resumed in July 2023 after a five-judge panel rejected the Philippines' objection that the court lacked jurisdiction.

Since then, the Marcos government has on numerous instances said it would not cooperate with the investigation.

But Undersecretary of the Presidential Communications Office Claire Castro on Sunday said that if Interpol would "ask the necessary assistance from the government, it is obliged to follow".

Duterte is still hugely popular among many in the Philippines who supported his quick-fix solutions to crime, and he remains a potent political force. 

He is running to reclaim his job as mayor of his stronghold Davao in May's mid-term election.

Charges have been filed locally in a handful of cases related to drug operations that led to deaths -- only nine police have been convicted for slaying alleged drug suspects.

A self-professed killer, Duterte instructed police to fatally shoot narcotics suspects if their lives were at risk and insisted the crackdown saved families and prevented the Philippines from turning into a "narco-politics state".

At the opening of a Philippine Senate probe into the drug war in October, Duterte said he offered "no apologies, no excuses" for his actions.

"I did what I had to do, and whether or not you believe it or not, I did it for my country," he said.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis spent a quiet night in the hospital, said the Vatican Monday, a day after the 88-year-old pontiff thanked doctors for his care during the more than three weeks that he has been hospitalised.

The leader of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics has shown slight signs of improvement in recent days, appearing to respond well to his treatment for pneumonia, the Vatican said at the weekend. 

"The Pope spent a quiet night, he is resting," the Vatican said in a morning bulletin Monday.

On Sunday, the Argentine pope missed delivering the traditional Angelus prayer in person following mass at St. Peter's but issued a written one, thanking his doctors and others who help those in need. 

"I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and healthcare workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart," he said.

The pope has not been seen in person since he was admitted on February 14 to Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he is being cared for in a special papal suite.

But the Vatican has issued nearly daily medical bulletins about the state of his health, which has experienced incremental improvements marked by occasional setbacks.

Francis has suffered several respiratory crises, prompting fears that the road to recovery would be long, or might force the elderly pontiff to resign.

But the Vatican said Sunday that the pope's condition was "stable", with "slight improvements... in a complex overall picture."

Another medical bulletin is expected for Monday afternoon.

Though the pope does not have a fever, his doctors want to see more positive results in days ahead before offering a prognosis.

Catholics continue to gather at the Gemelli hospital to pray for Francis or leave flowers, candles and cards. 

SEOUL — North Korea on Monday condemned joint US-South Korean military drills as a "provocative act", warning of the danger of sparking war with "an accidental single shot," days after Seoul's air force mistakenly bombed a village on its own territory.

"This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot," said Pyongyang's foreign ministry, as quoted by state media.

The joint US-South Korea "Freedom Shield 2025" exercise was set to kick off on Monday, and will involve "live, virtual, and field-based training", according to a US statement.

The exercise will run until March 21, the statement said.

Military cooperation between Seoul and Washington regularly invites condemnation from Pyongyang, where the government sees such moves as preparation for an invasion, and often carries out missile tests in response. 

The latest exercise comes after two South Korean Air Force fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a village during a joint training exercise with US forces on March 6. 

Fifteen people, including civilians and military personnel, were wounded in that incident, South Korea's National Fire Agency said.

Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.

The two Koreas remain technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.

The United States stations tens of thousands of soldiers in the South, in part to protect Seoul against Pyongyang.

The large-scale Freedom Shield exercises are one of the allies' biggest annual joint exercises.

In its statement on Monday, North Korea's foreign ministry dubbed the exercises "an aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal".

Last week, Pyongyang slammed the United States for "political and military provocations" over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan.

KYIV/JEDDAH, Ukraine - Kyiv will propose an aerial and naval ceasefire with Russia during talks with US officials in Saudi Arabia this week, a Ukrainian official told AFP on Monday as President Volodymyr Zelensky was due to arrive in the kingdom.

The talks on Tuesday will be the first Ukraine-US meeting since a White House blow-up between Zelensky and US President Donald Trump that led to Washington halting military aid to Kyiv.

"We do have a proposal for a ceasefire in the sky and ceasefire at sea," the official told AFP on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Because these are the ceasefire options that are easy to install and to monitor and it's possible to start with them."

Ukrainian and US officials will meet in the Red Sea city of Jeddah to seek a way out of the conflict, more than three years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Britain's Financial Times newspaper, citing a source briefed on preparations for the talks, said Kyiv would propose a partial ceasefire hoping that Washington would resume military aid and intelligence-sharing.

Zelensky on Monday said Ukraine wants peace, insisting Russia was the sole reason that the war was carrying on.

"Ukraine has been seeking peace since the very first second of the war, and we have always said that the only reason that the war is continuing is because of Russia," he wrote on social media.

Zelensky will meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before his officials sit down with the Americans on Tuesday.

He said Ukraine is "fully committed to constructive dialogue", but wants its interests to be "taken into account in the right way". 

"We hope for results, both in terms of bringing peace closer and continuing support," Zelensky said in his evening address on Sunday.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said Washington wanted to use the talks "to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well".

In Jeddah, the port city close to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, dozens of Ukrainian and Saudi flags flew on a main roundabout near the airport and on thoroughfares.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will fly there on Monday, the US State Department said. Mike Waltz, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser, has also confirmed his participation.

Zelensky said his negotiators will include Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak and Pavlo Palisa, a military commander and Yermak's deputy. 

'Significant advantage' 

Washington has suspended military aid to Ukraine as well as intelligence-sharing and access to satellite imagery in a bid to force it to the table with Moscow, which launched its invasion in February 2022 on orders from President Vladimir Putin.

Russia could enjoy a "significant advantage" against Ukrainian troops if the US sustains its pause on sharing intelligence, a senior Ukrainian official told AFP.

"The main thing is how long it will last. If it lasts a long time, it will give the Russians a significant advantage," the source said.

Trump has renewed communications with Putin and criticised Zelensky, raising fears in Kyiv and among European allies that the US leader may try to force Ukraine to accept a settlement favouring Russia.

On Friday, however, Trump said he was considering further sanctions on Russia for "pounding" Ukraine on the battlefield.

Ukraine's European allies last week held a summit with Zelensky and announced they would greatly increase defence spending.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host virtual talks on Saturday for the "coalition of the willing" to build on last week's summit, his office said.

'Regrettable' 

The Saudi talks come after the White House clash saw Zelensky leave without signing the minerals deal demanded by Trump.

Zelensky later called the incident "regrettable" and said he was ready to work with Trump's "strong leadership". He also expressed readiness to sign the deal.

Witkoff said Trump received a letter from Zelensky, calling it "a very positive first step" and "an apology".

Asked if Ukraine would sign the deal in Saudi Arabia, Witkoff said: "I think Zelensky has offered to sign it, and we'll see if he follows through."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Rubio met in Riyadh last month, agreeing to resume dialogue and start talks on the Ukraine conflict. 

Zelensky has visited Saudi Arabia several times since Russia's invasion in 2022 but postponed a trip last month, saying he was not invited to the Russia-US talks. 

OTTAWA - Canada's incoming prime minister Mark Carney struck a defiant note as the former central banker vowed to win US President Donald Trump's trade war, saying his country will "never" be part of the United States.

Carney lost no time standing up for "the Canadian way of life" after the Liberal Party overwhelmingly elected him on Sunday to succeed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"We didn't ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves," Carney told party supporters in Ottawa.

"So the Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade as in hockey, Canada will win," he said.

"Canada never ever will be part of America in any way, shape or form," said the 59-year-old, who will take over from Trudeau in the coming days.

Carney may not have the job for long.

Canada must hold elections by October but could well see a snap poll within weeks. Current opinion polls had the opposition Conservatives as slight favorites. 

'Existential challenge' 

Carney warned in his victory speech that the United States under Trump was seeking to seize control of Canada.

"The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country," he said, adding "these were dark days brought on by a country we can no longer trust."

"We're all being called to stand up for... the Canadian way of life."

Carney previously led both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England. He soundly defeated his main challenger, Trudeau's former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who held senior cabinet positions in the Liberal government first elected in 2015.

Carney won 85.9 percent of the nearly 152,000 votes cast. Freeland took just eight percent of the vote.

Carney campaigned on a promise to stand up to Trump.

Trump has repeatedly spoken about annexing Canada and thrown bilateral trade, the lifeblood of the Canadian economy, into chaos with dizzying tariff actions that have veered in various directions since he took office.

Trudeau said "Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge."

Contending with Trump 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer congratulated Carney, saying: "I look forward to working closely with him on shared international priorities."

China, which has a turbulent relationship with Canada, also congratulated Carney but said it hoped the country could "pursue a positive and pragmatic policy towards China."

Celebrating the outcome in Ottawa, party loyalist Cory Stevenson said "the Liberal party has the wind in its sails."

"We chose the person who could best face off against (Tory leader) Pierre Poilievre in the next election and deal with Donald Trump," he told AFP.

Carney has argued that his experience makes him the ideal counter to Trump. He has portrayed himself as a seasoned economic crisis manager who led the Bank of Canada through the 2008-2009 financial crisis and the Bank of England through the turbulence that followed the 2016 Brexit vote. 

Data released from the Angus Reid polling firm on Wednesday shows Canadians see Carney as the favorite choice to face down Trump, potentially offering the Liberals a boost over the opposition Conservatives.

Forty-three percent of respondents said they trusted Carney the most to deal with Trump, with 34 percent backing Poilievre. 

The Liberals were headed for an electoral wipeout before Trudeau announced his plans to resign in January, but the leadership change and Trump's influence have dramatically tightened the race.

"We were written off about four months ago and now we're right back where we should be," former MP Frank Baylis, who also ran for the Liberal leadership, told AFP. 

Unproven 

Carney made a fortune as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs before entering the Canadian civil service. 

Since leaving the Bank of England in 2020, he has served as a United Nations envoy working to get the private sector to invest in climate-friendly technology and has held private sector roles. 

He has never served in parliament nor held an elected public office.

Analysts say his untested campaign skills could prove a liability against a Conservative Party already running attack ads accusing Carney of shifting positions and misrepresenting his experience. 

"He is unproven in the crucible of an election," said Cameron Anderson, a political scientist at Ontario's Western University. 

But he said Carney's tough anti-Trump rhetoric "is what Canadians want to hear from their leaders."

They are "viewing these things in an existential way."

SYDNEY — Gusts and torrential rain have blacked out more than a quarter of a million properties and swamped parts of Australia's east coast, officials said Sunday, with one driver confirmed dead and a dozen troops injured in the wild weather.

After days hovering off the coast as a category 2 tropical cyclone and battering a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coastline, Alfred weakened into a tropical depression before making landfall on Saturday evening.

But as the remnants of the cyclone moved inland, hundreds of thousands of people remained without power on Sunday, and video images showed knee-high water pouring through roads in some of the worst-hit areas of southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales.

A total of 23 centimetres of rain had descended on the Queensland resort of Hervey Bay in just a few hours, flooding homes and forcing emergency rescues in rapid waters, the state's premier, David Crisafulli, told a news conference.

The weather system "continues to pack a punch" as it moves inland, Crisafulli said, adding that more than 1,000 schools shuttered across the state would gradually start reopening on Monday.

Utility companies said about 268,000 homes and businesses in southeast Queensland and another 12,500 in northeast New South Wales were still without power on Sunday afternoon.

"Customers need to be prepared to be without power for several days," Queensland's Essential Energy said.

"The biggest challenges to getting power back on will be rising flood waters and swollen creek beds, fallen vegetation and mud slides impacting access roads," it said in a statement.

About 14,600 people are under emergency warnings related to the weather system in New South Wales, the state's emergency services said.

"In the last 24 hours, 17 incidents have occurred as a result of people driving into flood waters," said emergency services deputy commissioner Damien Johnson.

"Not only is it a danger to yourself and your family, it is also dangerous as well for the volunteers, the emergency services workers that need to rescue you."

A 61-year-old man's body was found Saturday, a day after his four-wheel-drive pickup truck was swept off a bridge into a river in northern New South Wales.

He had escaped from the pickup and tried in vain to cling to a tree branch in the river before disappearing into the rapid waters, police said.

KYIV, Ukraine - Ukraine said Sunday that Russia launched over one hundred drones overnight, targeting the capital and several regions at a crucial point in the war as Washington has frozen aid supplies.

The wave of attacks followed deadly strikes Friday and Saturday in eastern and northeastern Ukraine that killed at least 14 people.

Ukraine is set to hold negotiations with US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with Washington hoping to forge a deal on a ceasefire and a "framework" for a peace agreement after freezing arms shipments to Kyiv and blocking access to intelligence reports and satellite imagery.

Ukraine's air force said Russia launched 119 drones overnight, of which 71 were downed in a dozen regions and in Kyiv, while 37 others went missing without causing harm.

It said drones caused damage in six regions, without giving specifics.

On Saturday evening, a glide bomb attack hit residential buildings in the town of Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region, where the front line now lies close to several major towns, wounding 12 people including a 15-year-old girl, prosecutors said.

Multi-storey blocks of flats and a cafe were damaged, prosecutors said, posting images of blown-out windows and debris scattered on the ground.

Russia said that over the past day Ukraine had launched 131 drones on its Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, of which 101 were shot down. The region's governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said no one was hurt.