Russian Glide Bomb Hits an Apartment Block and Kills 5 in Southern Ukraine

Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank installed with a grille and electronic warfare systems as combat drones protection near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 20, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank installed with a grille and electronic warfare systems as combat drones protection near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 20, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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Russian Glide Bomb Hits an Apartment Block and Kills 5 in Southern Ukraine

Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank installed with a grille and electronic warfare systems as combat drones protection near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 20, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
Ukrainian servicemen ride a tank installed with a grille and electronic warfare systems as combat drones protection near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine November 20, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

A Russian glide bomb slammed into a residential district in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing five people, officials said Friday, as Moscow’s forces continued to hammer civilian areas of Ukraine.

The overnight attack, which also injured 10 people including a teenage girl, occurred after details emerged of a US plan to end the war, nearly four years after Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor, The Associated Press said.

Ukrainian officials were weighing the proposals, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected to talk to US President Donald Trump in coming days.

The powerful glide bomb that hit Zaporizhzhia damaged some high-rise apartment blocks for the third time since the war began and also wrecked a local market, according to the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov.

The brute force of glide bombs, a retrofitted Soviet weapon launched by Russian jets flying at high altitude, has for months laid waste to Ukraine's front-line cities. Ukraine has no effective countermeasure against them.

A Russian drone assault on the southern city of Odesa also struck a residential area during the night, injuring five people, including a 16-year-old boy.

The attacks came two days after a Russian drone and missile barrage on Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil killed 31 people, including six children, and injured 94 others, including 18 children.

Emergency services say 13 people are still unaccounted for after the attack crushed the top floors of apartment blocks and started fires.



Israel Approves Closing of Military Radio

Israeli soldiers from Galei Tzahal, the Israeli army radio station, are seen through a window while producing a show at the station's studio in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias
Israeli soldiers from Galei Tzahal, the Israeli army radio station, are seen through a window while producing a show at the station's studio in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias
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Israel Approves Closing of Military Radio

Israeli soldiers from Galei Tzahal, the Israeli army radio station, are seen through a window while producing a show at the station's studio in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias
Israeli soldiers from Galei Tzahal, the Israeli army radio station, are seen through a window while producing a show at the station's studio in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv November 10, 2013. REUTERS/Nir Elias

Israel's government approved on Monday the closure of the country's military radio station, dismissing objections from the attorney general, who warned that the move threatened media freedom.

According to a government survey of audiences, it is Israel's third most listened-to station, with a market share of 17.7 percent.

"The government unanimously approved the proposal put forward by Defense Minister Israel Katz to shut down the military radio station Galei Tsahal," Katz's office said in a statement, adding that the closure would take effect before March 1, 2026, AFP reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had urged his ministers to back Katz's proposal, according to the statement.

"There have long been recurring proposals to remove Galei Tsahal from the military framework, abolish it, or privatize it," the statement quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who also serves as the government's legal adviser is currently facing dismissal proceedings initiated by the premier, said the decision "raises concerns about possible political interference in public broadcasting".

She added that it "poses questions regarding an infringement on freedom of expression and of the press".

Her office stated that closing the station would require a vote in parliament.

The government's decision "does not meet the required legal criteria and cannot be advanced in its current form", according to a 34-page document prepared by her office and seen by AFP.

Some of the programs broadcast on the radio station have been critical of the government's policies.

Katz justified the decision by arguing that Galei Tsahal "broadcasts political and divisive content that does not align with the values" of the military.

"A situation in which a radio station intended for all citizens of the State of Israel is operated by the military is an anomaly that does not exist in democratic countries," Katz said.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned the shutdown on X, saying it "is part of the government's effort to suppress freedom of expression in Israel during an election period."

"They cannot control reality, so they try to control minds," Lapid added.

Israel will hold a parliamentary election in 2026 and Netanyahu has announced that he would seek a new term in the office of prime minister.


Iran Holds Missile Drills in Various Cities, State Media Say

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Holds Missile Drills in Various Cities, State Media Say

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, before the beginning of a board of governors meeting, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, March 1, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran held missile ​drills in various cities on Monday, state media reported, citing unnamed sources and witnesses, in what was the second such reported exercise in a month.

NBC News reported on Saturday that US President Donald Trump was to be briefed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‌that any ‌expansion of Iran's ballistic ‌missile program ⁠poses ​a threat ‌that could necessitate swift action.

Western powers regard Iran's ballistic missile arsenal both as a conventional military threat to Middle East stability and a possible delivery mechanism for nuclear weapons should Tehran develop them. It denies any intent to build ⁠atomic bombs.

The Telegram channel of Iran's public broadcaster and semi-official ‌Nournews published videos of what ‍appeared to be missile launches, ‍without specifying the whereabouts, Reuters reported.

However, the outlets ‍said launches took place from the capital Tehran and the cities of Isfahan and Mashhad. Reuters could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

State media ​later on Monday cited "informed sources" as denying that missiles were tested and saying the ⁠circulated images were of "high-altitude aircraft". No clarification regarding the conflicting reports was provided.

NBC reported that Israeli officials are concerned that Iran is reconstituting nuclear enrichment sites the US bombed in June, and were preparing to brief Trump for options on attacking the missile program again.

Earlier this month, the navy of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards held a two-day exercise aimed at countering foreign threats, firing ‌ballistic and cruise missiles at simulated targets in the Gulf.


Germany Charges Suspected Former Syrian Intelligence Agent with Murder

German Police - May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
German Police - May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
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Germany Charges Suspected Former Syrian Intelligence Agent with Murder

German Police - May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
German Police - May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer

German prosecutors have charged a suspected former member of Syrian intelligence with crimes against humanity and the torture and murder of dozens of prisoners held in a Damascus prison under Bashar al-Assad, a statement said on Monday.

The accused, who was arrested in May and identified only as Fahad A. under German privacy rules, was suspected of working as a guard ⁠in a prison in the Syrian capital between the end of April 2011 and mid-April 2012, Reuters quoted it as saying.

"There, he participated in well over 100 interrogations during which prisoners were subjected to severe physical abuse, such ⁠as electric shocks or beatings with cables," it said.

"On the orders of his superiors, the accused also abused inmates at night, for example by hanging them from the ceiling, dousing them with cold water, or forcing them to remain in uncomfortable positions. As a result of such mistreatment and the catastrophic prison conditions, at ⁠least 70 prisoners died."

German prosecutors have used universal jurisdiction laws that allow them to seek trials for suspects in crimes against humanity committed anywhere in the world.

Based on these laws, several people suspected of war crimes during the Syrian conflict have been arrested in the last few years in Germany, which is home to around one million Syrians.