Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her record on handling Vladimir Putin in her first major interview since leaving office. She said she had “nothing to apologise for” over her response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, when she supported sanctions. She also defended her opposition in office to Ukraine joining […]

A number of explosions shook parts of Kyiv early on Sunday in the first assault on Ukraine’s capital for weeks. Russia claims it targeted a site storing tanks supplied by Europe, but Ukraine says rockets hit a train repair plant where no tanks were held. Columns of black smoke could be seen above the city […]

Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of ‘adding fuel to fire’ by supplying advanced rockets to Ukraine and said it did not trust Kyiv not to fire them into Russia. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that `we believe that the U.S. is deliberately pouring oil on the fire. The U.S. is obviously holding […]

Russian military on Tuesday said it has found the bodies of 152 Ukrainian fighters in the underground bunkers of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol it captured earlier this month after a protracted siege. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow said “152 bodies of fallen fighters and soldiers of the Ukrainian armed forces were […]

Maxsym Lutsyk looks older and more serious, and makes fewer jokes, than when I saw him in the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Back then, the 19-year-old had just put university on hold and volunteered to fight. Last week he made a difficult journey out of the Donbas front line, using back roads at […]

Paris is calling for investigation, as French journalist working in Ukraine has been killed near the battle-hit city of Severodonetsk in the east. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, 32, was covering an evacuation operation for broadcaster BFMTV when he died. Officials say he suffered a fatal wound to the neck after shrapnel pierced the armoured vehicle he was […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the soldiers that were injured in the war against Ukraine in a Moscow hospital. “He is visiting them and talking to them,’’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, according to the Interfax news agency. Meanwhile, Peskov dismissed speculation that Putin would use the visit to announce a new […]

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), says the displacement of more than 100 million persons, from the war in Ukraine and other conflicts, calls for more action. UNHCR further said the alarming figure should serve as a wake-up call to effectively tackle all causes of forced displacement in order to promote peace and ensure […]

A Russian diplomat has quit his job in protest at the “bloody, witless” war “unleashed by Putin against Ukraine”. Boris Bondarev, whose LinkedIn says he worked at the Russian mission to the UN in Geneva, told the BBC he knew his decision to speak out may mean the Kremlin now considers him a traitor. But […]

The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s Board has approved a US$ 1.5 billion facility to support African countries deal with the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war impacting food prices and availability. Mr Philip Boahen, AfDB’s Chief Agriculture Policy Economist and Coordinator of Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme at AfDB, said this at Tamale, Ghana, […]

Poland will assist Sweden and Finland, should they be attacked before obtaining membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Thursday. “I consider the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO as an important signal of strengthening security in Europe. “I want to make it clear that in the […]

*…say Nigeria spent N1.6trn on stimulus programme *…as Gbajabiamila says insecurity, biggest threat to future of Africa’s youths By Levinus Nwabughiogu, Abuja President Muhammadu Buhari, Monday, said that the effects of COVID-19 and the conflict in Ukraine were a wake up call on the Africa continent to collaborate amongst themselves for sustainable food production. The […]

DOZENS of people are feared dead after a bomb hit a school in east Ukraine, where government forces are battling Russian troops and separatists. Luhansk region’s governor, Serhiy Haidai, confirmed two deaths, saying 60 people were feared dead under the rubble of the school in Bilohorivka. About 90 people had been sheltering in the building […]

COVID-19 has ‘pushed back’ democracy in Africa and the war in Ukraine has introduced significant and worrying new risks likely to heavily impact Africa, UN development experts warned on Friday. According to the experts, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will effect food security on the continent, both through availability and pricing of imported food, along with […]

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the evacuation of the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the port city of Mariupol has stazelrted, with an initial group of 100 civilians en route to Ukrainian-held territory. “Evacuation of civilians from Azovstal began. The 1st group of about 100 people is already heading to the controlled area. Tomorrow we’ll […]