Russian Attack Kills 3 in Ukraine’s City of Dnipro, Governor Says

 A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russian Attack Kills 3 in Ukraine’s City of Dnipro, Governor Says

 A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)
A firefighter works at the site of a household item shopping mall which was hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the city of Kamianske, Dnipro region, Ukraine July 26, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in an overnight attack that killed three people in Ukraine's Dnipro and the nearby region on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said.

Moscow's troops launched 235 drones and 27 missiles, damaging residential and commercial buildings and causing fires, the Ukrainian Air Force said. It said in a statement that 10 missiles and 25 attack drones hit nine sites. The rest of the drones and missiles were brought down, the Air Force said.

"A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region," Serhiy Lysak, the Dnipropetrovsk regional governor, said on the Telegram app.

He said three people were killed in the attacks and six others wounded in the city of Dnipro and the nearby region.

Lysak posted pictures showing firefighters battling fires, a residential building with smashed windows, and charred cars.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed retaliatory strikes.

"Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, and Russian airports should feel that Russia’s own war is now hitting them back with real consequences," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app.

Ukraine's attacks on Russia have heated up in recent months, with Moscow and Kyiv exchanging swarms of drones and fierce fighting raging along more than 1,000 kilometers of the frontline.



Israel Army Confirms Struck Two Nuclear Sites in Iran

Emergency responders inspect the site of a residential building damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Emergency responders inspect the site of a residential building damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Israel Army Confirms Struck Two Nuclear Sites in Iran

Emergency responders inspect the site of a residential building damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Emergency responders inspect the site of a residential building damaged by a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 27, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

The Israeli military confirmed it struck a heavy water reactor and a uranium processing plant in central Iran on Friday, as it targeted nuclear sites in the country.

"A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force... struck the heavy water plant in Arak, central Iran," the military said in a statement, describing the site as a "key plutonium production site for nuclear weapons".

Iranian media had earlier reported that US-Israeli strikes hit the Khondab heavy water complex, saying they caused no casualties or radiation leak from the site.

Work on the reactor on the outskirts of the village of Khondab began in the 2000s, but was halted under the terms of a now-abandoned 2015 nuclear deal struck between Iran and world powers.

The core of the reactor was removed and concrete was poured into it, rendering it inoperative.

The research reactor was officially intended to produce plutonium for medical research and the site includes a production plant for heavy water.

The Israeli military also confirmed it struck a uranium processing site in central Iran's Yazd on Friday, after the country’s atomic energy organization said US-Israeli strikes hit the facility.

"A short while ago, the Israeli Air Force... struck a uranium extraction plant located in Yazd, central Iran," the military said in a statement, describing the site as a "unique facility in Iran used for the production of raw materials required for the uranium enrichment process".

Iran's atomic energy organization said the strike on the plant "did not result in the release of any radioactive material."

Israel and the US accuse Iran of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains that its program is for civilian purposes.

The heavy water plant in Arak was targeted by Israeli strikes during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel last June, during which the US also carried out bombings.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the site was "damaged" during the attacks and "is assessed not to have been fully operational since that time."

But the agency said it has not had access to the site since May 2025.

The Middle East was plunged into war on February 28 when the US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran, triggering retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and several countries in the region.


US, Israel Unlikely to Achieve ‘Regime Change’ in Iran, Says Merz

 27 March 2026, Hesse, Frankfurt/Main: Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at the "FAZ" Congress. (dpa)
27 March 2026, Hesse, Frankfurt/Main: Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at the "FAZ" Congress. (dpa)
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US, Israel Unlikely to Achieve ‘Regime Change’ in Iran, Says Merz

 27 March 2026, Hesse, Frankfurt/Main: Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at the "FAZ" Congress. (dpa)
27 March 2026, Hesse, Frankfurt/Main: Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz speaks at the "FAZ" Congress. (dpa)

The US-Israeli war against Iran is unlikely to lead to "regime change", German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, as the month-long conflict showed no signs of abating.

"Is regime change really the goal?" he said at a forum in Frankfurt organized by the FAZ newspaper.

"If that's the goal, I don't think you'll achieve it. It's mostly gone wrong" in past conflicts, he said, pointing to the Afghanistan war.

"I have serious doubts as to whether there is a strategy and whether that strategy is being successfully implemented," he added. "In that respect, it could take even longer."

Germany has pushed back at US President Donald Trump's criticisms of NATO members for failing to join the attacks on Iran, insisting that it is not their war.

Merz however said Friday he believed that Trump had accepted this stance.

He also said Germany would be open to helping provide military protection in the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and gas, which has been nearly totally blocked, in the event of a ceasefire.

"This requires an international mandate, it requires approval from the German parliament and, prior to that, a cabinet decision. And we are far from that."


More Than 300 US Troops Injured Since Start of Iran War

US Navy sailors taxi an F/A-18F Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 17, 2026. (US Navy/Handout via Reuters)
US Navy sailors taxi an F/A-18F Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 17, 2026. (US Navy/Handout via Reuters)
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More Than 300 US Troops Injured Since Start of Iran War

US Navy sailors taxi an F/A-18F Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 17, 2026. (US Navy/Handout via Reuters)
US Navy sailors taxi an F/A-18F Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 17, 2026. (US Navy/Handout via Reuters)

More than 300 US troops have been wounded since the start of the Iran war on February 28, US Central Command said on Friday.

"Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 303 US service members have been wounded. The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 273 troops have returned to duty," US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins said.

A US official who asked not to be identified told AFP that 10 troops remain seriously wounded.

A further 13 troops have been killed in the war, according to the latest figures, with seven killed in the Gulf and six in Iraq.

In a separate development Friday, Iran's military said that hotels housing US soldiers in the region would be considered targets.

"When all the Americans (forces) go into a hotel, then from our perspective that hotel becomes American," armed forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi told state television on Thursday.

Iran's government has not released an updated casualty toll, but a US-based activist group said on March 23 that some 1,167 Iranian troops had been killed and 658 troops' status is unknown. AFP is not able to independently verify tolls in Iran due to reporting restrictions.

The war began on February 28 when the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, killing its supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Since then, the conflict has spread across the Middle East. Iran has fired drone and missiles at Gulf states home to American military bases and other interests.

US President Donald Trump insisted on Thursday that talks to end the conflict were "ongoing" and "going very well".