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Russian drone hits Ukrainian gas production facilities

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Ukrainian state-run oil and gas firm, Naftogaz, and Energy Minister German Galushchenko on Tuesday said Ukraine’s natural gas production facilities were damaged in a Russian attack on the central Poltava region overnight.

Naftogaz, in a statement, said its production facilities in the Poltava region were damaged, however there were no casualties.

The company said it was taking all necessary measures to stabilise the gas supply situation in the Poltava region.

The Poltava regional military administration said earlier on Tuesday that as a result of missile strikes, nine settlements in Myrhorod district were left without gas supply.

Russia, which previously focused its missile and drone attacks on the Ukrainian electricity sector, has in recent months sharply stepped up its attacks on the Ukrainian gas storage facilities and production fields.

It was gathered that Ukraine’s underground gas storage facilities are located in the western part of the country, while the main Ukrainian gas production capacities are located in the east of the country in the frontline Kharkiv region, as well as in the Poltava region.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s state-run operator of the gas transmission system said on Tuesday the country would likely increase natural gas imports to more than 16.7 million cubic metres (mcm) on Tuesday from 16.3 mcm on Monday.

However, the former head of Ukrainian gas transmission system said that gas reserves in storage were close to critically low and this significantly reduced the ability to extract enough gas for daily consumption.

International

Putin announces May 8-10 ceasefire, Ukraine wants truce now

The White House said President Donald Trump wanted a permanent ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

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Image:Police officers inspect the site of a building hit by a Russian ballistic missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 24, 2025. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko.

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday declared a three-day ceasefire in May in the war with Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two.

The Kremlin said the 72-hour ceasefire would run on May 8, May 9 – when Putin will host international leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping for lavish celebrations to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany – and May 10.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, in response, said: “If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately. Why wait until May 8th?”A ceasefire should be “real, not just for a parade,” he posted on X.

The White House said President Donald Trump wanted a permanent ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

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International

Pope Francis finally laid to rest at Santa Maria Maggiore basilica

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Pope Francis has been laid to rest at the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica.

The late pontiff’s entombment was a private event which allowed those close to him to pay their last respects.

This was after a funeral Mass at the Vatican.

Thousands of people, including world leaders and monarchs witnessed Pope Francis’ funeral mass at St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday.

From there, the coffin carrying the pontiff’s corpse was transported to Santa Maria Maggiore basilica where it was entombed.

Mourners queued up along the streets to witness as his corpse was moved from the Vatican to his final resting place.

The late Argentine is the first in over a century to be buried outside the Vatican.

Speaking during the funeral, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, said the Catholic pontiff “touched minds and hearts” and wanted to “build bridges, not walls.

”Pope Francis died on Easter Monday at the age of 88. In his final moment, the deceased suffered a stroke, coma, and a heart failure.

Burying Pope Francis at St. Mary Major in the Pauline Chapel followed the request he wrote in his spiritual testament.

The Pauline Chapel houses the ancient icon of Maria Salus Populi Romani.

His death was confirmed through electrocardiographic thanatography.

Pope Francis was admitted at Gemelli hospital in Rome on February 14 after suffering from pneumonia in both lungs.

The Vatican, however, claimed that the Pope was making progress in recent days that followed.

He was later allowed to return home after his health condition improved.

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Crime

Drone attack hits displaced persons camp in Sudan, kills 11 people

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At least 11 people were feared dead after a drone strike by the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, hit a displacement camp in Sudan’s River Nile state in an attack that also took out the regional power station for the fourth time.

The RSF, which denied carrying out the attack has reportedly targeted power stations in army-controlled locations in central and northern Sudan for the past several months.

“This morning we heard a large explosion and we found two families that had been burnt completely inside their tents, while they were sleeping.

“We had left Khartoum fearful of the war and now the war has followed us here. I don’t know where I will go with my family and children, we have no shelter or place to go to,” teacher Mashair Hemeidan said as she shed tears.

The escalation of such strikes, which have hampered the country’s electrical grid and plunged millions into weeks-long blackouts, comes two years into a damaging war as the army has been pushing the paramilitary force out of central Sudan.

Ground fighting in the war is now focused in the Darfur region, where the RSF is fighting to seize the army’s remaining foothold, driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.

There has also been fighting in western Omdurman, part of the capital where the RSF remains present.

Some 179 families displaced by the fighting in the capital had been living in difficult conditions in an abandoned building and surrounding tents outside the town of al-Damer, receiving little in the way of humanitarian assistance.

The camp was located about three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the Atbara power station which was also struck.

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