Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Overnight Air Attacks on Border Regions

 A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
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Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Overnight Air Attacks on Border Regions

 A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)
A resident walks with a bicycle past a building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Yampil, in Sumy region, Ukraine September 6, 2024. (Reuters)

Ukraine and Russia accused each other of overnight air attacks on their border regions, with Ukrainian officials saying that two people died and four were injured in the Sumy region, and Russia saying three civilians were injured in Belgorod.

Two children were among those injured in Sumy, the military administration of the northeastern Ukrainian region said on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app. Several residential houses and cars were damaged, it said.

Across the border, in Russia's southwestern region of Belgorod, three civilians, including two children were injured in Ukraine's air attack, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region, said on Telegram.

He said two residential buildings were destroyed and more than 15 buildings in total were damaged.

The Russian defense ministry said on Telegram that it destroyed two Ukraine-launched drones over Belgorod overnight.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Both Sumy and Belgorod regions have been subject to frequent attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians, saying the attacks are aimed at destroying each other's infrastructure critical to war efforts.

Thousands of civilians have died in the war, which Russia started with full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. Millions of Ukrainians have also been displaced, while their cities and villages have become piles of rubble.



Vatican Says It Will Not Participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ 

Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
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Vatican Says It Will Not Participate in Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ 

Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Pope Leo XIV speaks after leading a Mass during a visit to the parish of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido, Rome, Italy, February 15, 2026. (Reuters)

The Vatican ‌will not participate in US President Donald Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations.

Pope Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump's policies, was invited to join the board in January.

Under Trump's Gaza plan that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza's temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would ‌be expanded to ‌tackle global conflicts.

The board will hold its ‌first ⁠meeting in Washington ⁠on Thursday to discuss Gaza's reconstruction.

Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board.

The Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States," Parolin said.

"One concern," he said, "is that ⁠at the international level it should above all ‌be the UN that manages ‌these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted."

The ⁠Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated with hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October.

Israel's assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza's entire population.

Multiple rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defense after Hamas-led fighters killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack.

Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the United Nations.


Poland Bars Chinese-Made Cars from Military Sites Over Data Security Fears 

A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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Poland Bars Chinese-Made Cars from Military Sites Over Data Security Fears 

A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)
A soldier from the 18th Mechanized Division stands guard on a Light Strike Vehicle "Zmija" during a media tour organized by the country's military to demonstrate the security measures on the Polish Belarusian border, near Bialowieza, Poland, January 10, 2025. (Reuters)

Poland has barred Chinese-made vehicles from entering military facilities due to concerns their onboard sensors could be used to collect sensitive data, the Polish Army said on Tuesday evening.

The army said in ‌a statement ‌that such vehicles ‌may ⁠still be allowed onto ⁠secured sites if specified functions are disabled and other safeguards required under each facility's security rules are in place.

To ⁠limit the risk ‌of ‌exposing confidential information, the military has ‌also banned connecting company ‌phones to infotainment systems in vehicles manufactured in China.

The restrictions do not apply ‌to publicly accessible military locations such as hospitals, ⁠clinics, ⁠libraries, prosecutors' offices or garrison clubs, the army said.

It added that the measures are precautionary and align with practices used by NATO members and other allies to ensure high standards of protection for defense infrastructure.


Starmer, Trump discussed Russia-Ukraine, Iran after Geneva Talks, Downing Street Says 

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
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Starmer, Trump discussed Russia-Ukraine, Iran after Geneva Talks, Downing Street Says 

US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announce an agreement between the two countries as they hold a press conference at Chequers at the conclusion of a state visit on September 18, 2025 in Aylesbury, Britain. (Reuters)

British ‌Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday night about US-mediated Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Geneva, as well as talks between the US and Iran on ‌their nuclear ‌dispute, a Downing Street ‌spokesperson ⁠said.

Starmer also discussed ⁠Gaza with Trump and stressed on the importance of securing further access for humanitarian aid, the spokesperson said.

Negotiators ⁠from Ukraine and ‌Russia ‌concluded the first of two days ‌of the US-mediated ‌peace talks in Geneva on Tuesday, with Trump pressing Kyiv to act fast ‌to reach a deal.

Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister ⁠Abbas ⁠Araqchi said Tehran and Washington reached an understanding on Tuesday on "guiding principles" aimed at resolving their longstanding nuclear dispute, but that did not mean a deal is imminent.