By Bonface Mulyungi

Russia pounded Kyiv with a large missile and drone attack early on Sunday, killing one person and wounding 21, authorities said, after President Vladimir Putin threatened retaliation for strikes in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

Multiple rounds of loud explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital throughout the early hours of the morning, AFP journalists said.

“Tonight Kyiv region is once again enduring a mass enemy attack with strike drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles,” said Mykola Kalashnyk, the head of the regional military administration.

The blasts caused a residential building near the government district to shake, while dozens of people took shelter in an underground metro station in the city centre, AFP reporters said.

Residents were instructed to stay in shelters, as city authorities warned fires had broken out and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said one person had been killed and at least 21 wounded, three of them in serious condition.

Ukrainian authorities and the US embassy had earlier warned of a possible significant attack on Kyiv, after Russia said it would “punish” those responsible for deadly strikes in a part of eastern Ukraine under its control.

Klitschko said damage had been recorded in every district of Kyiv, adding that a strike on a school had sparked a fire, and another on a business centre had led to people being trapped in a shelter.

Ukrainian authorities said Russian strikes had also wounded three people in the broader Kyiv region, 11 in the Cherkasy region and seven in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

– Warning –

Ukraine had been expecting a major attack after its own forces launched a drone barrage on Starobilsk, in the Russian-occupied east of the country, which Moscow said hit a college dormitory and killed at least 18 people.

Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, the drone salvo — one of Ukraine’s deadliest such strikes in months — also wounded 42 in the city, located in the occupied Lugansk region, trapping people beneath the debris.

Ukraine denied targeting civilians, saying it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the area.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday those responsible would face “inevitable and severe punishment”.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine was “seeing signs of preparation for a combined strike on Ukrainian territory, including Kyiv”.

He said on social media that Moscow may deploy “various types of weaponry”, including the nuclear-capable Oreshnik hypersonic missile. There were no initial reports that an Oreshnik had been used.

Similarly, the US embassy said it had “received information concerning a potentially significant air attack that may occur at any time over the next 24 hours”.

Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas of the country with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks.

– Occupied territory –

Russia’s emergency ministry said on Saturday it had pulled two more bodies from the rubble of the dormitory in Starobilsk, taking the death toll to 18.

Video shared by the ministry showed dozens of rescuers sifting through what remained of a section of the five-storey building.

Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a list of casualties published by the Moscow-backed governor of occupied Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik.

“The region and the entire country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families,” he said on Telegram.

The United Nations said on Friday it “strongly condemns any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur”, adding it could not verify details due to restricted access to the area.

Starobilsk lies about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the early months of the offensive in 2022.

Kyiv has recently expanded its drone capabilities and stepped up strikes on undisputed Russian territory, including residential areas and oil export infrastructure.

Moscow has launched mass barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine almost daily since invading the country in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths. It denies targeting civilians.

US-led efforts to negotiate an end to more than four years of war have slowed in recent months, with Washington’s attention diverted towards its conflict in the Middle East.

By Bonface Mulyungi

The death toll from a Ukrainian strike on a college and its dormitory in a Russian-occupied town in eastern Ukraine has risen to 18, Russian officials said on Saturday.

Launched overnight on Thursday to Friday, one of the deadliest Ukrainian drone barrages in months also wounded 42 in Starobilsk, the occupied Lugansk region, with some still remaining under the debris.

The strike has drawn a strong reaction from top Russian officials, with President Vladimir Putin ordering the army to prepare a response.

Ukraine denied targeting civilians and said it had hit a Russian drone unit stationed in the Starobilsk area.

Russia’s emergency ministry said that “two more bodies have been recovered from under the rubble. In total: 60 victims, of whom 18 have died.”

Video shared by the ministry showed dozens of rescuers sifting through what remained of a section of the five-storey dormitory building, now reduced to rubble.

Most of those killed and missing were young women born between 2003 and 2008, according to a list of casualties published by the Moscow-backed governor of the Lugansk region, Leonid Pasechnik.

“The region and the entire country share the fate of these people and the pain of their families,” he said on Telegram.

In Russia and on the occupied territories of Ukraine, a college is an equivalent of a vocational school, typically for students aged from 15 to 22 years.

Starobilsk is located about 65 kilometres (40 miles) from the front line in eastern Ukraine. It was captured by Russian forces in the early months of the offensive in 2022.

The Lugansk region is almost entirely occupied by Russia, which claims it as its own.

– ‘Severe punishment’ –

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Friday that those responsible would face “inevitable and severe punishment”.

The UN said on Friday it “strongly condemns any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur,” adding it couldn’t verify details due to restricted access to the area.

Ukraine regularly targets Russian-controlled areas of the country with drones, saying the strikes are retaliation for Russian attacks.

Kyiv has recently expanded its drone capabilities and stepped up strikes on conventional Russian territories as well, including residential areas and oil export infrastructure.

The Russian army said it has repelled 407 Ukrainian drones launched through Friday night to Saturday afternoon.

The Ukrainian army said Russia has launched 124 drones overnight, of which 102 were fended off.

Moscow has launched mass barrages of missiles and drones at Ukraine almost daily since the full-scale offensive began in 2022, also hitting infrastructure and causing civilian deaths.

Both countries deny targeting civilians.

The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded more than 60,000 civilian casualties since 2022, almost 90 percent of which were in areas controlled by Ukraine.

The conflict, the bloodiest in Europe since World War II, has devastated swathes of land in eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee.

US-led shuttle diplomacy aimed at brokering trilateral talks to end the war has stalled amid the Middle East conflict.

By Bonface Mulyungi

US President Donald Trump said Saturday a deal with Iran had been “largely negotiated,” with the proposal including opening the crucial Strait of Hormuz, though the agreement was “subject to finalization.”

“An Agreement has been largely negotiated, subject to finalization between the United States of America, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the various other Countries,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, listing a number of Middle East powers along with Turkey and mediator Pakistan.

“In addition to many other elements of the Agreement, the Strait of Hormuz will be opened.”

Among the Middle East countries whose leaders joined a call on Saturday to discuss the deal were Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, Trump said.

He added that he had a separate call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying it “likewise, went very well.”

“Final aspects and details of the Deal are currently being discussed, and will be announced shortly,” Trump said.

His optimistic post came after Iranian officials said gaps remained between the parties, and that the dispute over its nuclear program would not be part of the initial talks. Tehran said it was finalizing a 14-point framework for a deal.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei noted what he called “a trend towards rapprochement,” but said “it does not necessarily mean that we and the United States will reach an agreement on the important issues.”

“Our intention was first to draft a memorandum of understanding, a kind of framework agreement composed of 14 clauses,” he said on state television.

Baqaei added that he hoped the details of a final agreement could be worked out “within a reasonable timeframe between 30 to 60 days” after the framework is finalized.

– ‘Another act of folly’ –

Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had warned earlier that Washington would face a tough response if it resumes hostilities, after US media reports raised the prospect of new strikes and Iranian officials accused the US side of making “excessive demands.”

“Our armed forces have rebuilt themselves during the ceasefire period in such a way that if Trump commits another act of folly and restarts the war, it will certainly be more crushing and bitter for the United States than on the first day of the war,” Ghalibaf said.

He issued the warning after meeting in Tehran with Pakistan’s army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, a leading figure in international efforts to negotiate an end to the war, which broke out after the United States and Israel attacked the Islamic republic on February 28.

Weeks of negotiations, including historic face-to-face talks hosted by Islamabad, have still not produced a permanent resolution or restored full access to the Strait of Hormuz, choking vast quantities of global oil supply.

– ‘Neither war nor peace’ –

The impasse has left ordinary Iranians in limbo.

“The state of ‘neither war nor peace’ is far filthier than war itself,” 39-year-old Tehran resident Shahrzad told AFP.

“I’m about to start a new job, and I’m scared war might break out again — that I’ll end up leaving the job like before, running off to another city out of fear,” she said.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Tehran was engaged despite “repeated betrayals of diplomacy and military aggression against Iran, along with contradictory positions and repeated excessive demands” by Washington.

Araghchi held a bevy of diplomatic calls, speaking with counterparts from Turkey, Iraq, Qatar and Oman, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also spoke with Trump on Saturday, as well as with the UAE president and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

An official Qatari statement said Sheikh Tamim and the Saudi prince discussed efforts “aimed at calming the situation and promoting political solutions.”

On another front in the war, Lebanese state media said Israel struck the country’s south on Saturday, as fighting has not stopped despite an April 17 ceasefire.

Lebanon’s military said one strike targeted a Lebanese army barracks in the south and wounded a soldier.

Israel said one of its soldiers was killed Friday near the border with Lebanon.

Iran-backed Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the war on March 2 with rocket fire at Israel after US-Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader.

Hezbollah said Saturday its chief Naim Qassem had received a message from Araghchi indicating that Iran “will not give up its support” for the Lebanese group.