Medvedev Threatens to Turn Kyiv Into 'Giant Melted Spot'
Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev. EPA
Senior Russian security official and former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Saturday Russia could destroy Ukraine's capital Kyiv with non-nuclear weapons in response to the use of Western long-range missiles by Ukraine.
Medvedev said Moscow already had formal grounds to use nuclear weapons since Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk region, but could instead use some of its new weapon technologies to reduce Kyiv to "a giant melted spot" when its patience runs out.
"Holy shit! It's impossible, but it happened," he wrote in English on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Friday that his plan to achieve victory depended on Washington's decision, a clear reference to the authorization for long-range strikes that Kyiv has long sought from NATO allies.
Andriy Yermak, head of Zelenskiy's office, said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday: "Strong decisions are needed. Terror can be stopped by destroying the military facilities where it originates."
Kyiv has said such strikes are critical for its efforts to restrict Moscow's ability to attack Ukraine, but allies have so far been reluctant to permit them, citing fears Moscow will treat them as an escalation and doubting their efficiency.
Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Monthshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248742-netanyahu-trump-strike-defiant-tone-iran-says-can-fight-months
Netanyahu, Trump Strike a Defiant Tone as Iran Says Can Fight for Months
Explosions erupt following strikes in Tehran on March 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that the country's forces could fight an intense war for six months against the United States and Israel, which said it struck Tehran's commanders at a seaside hotel in the heart of Beirut.
Tehran accused the US and Israel of striking an oil depot in the Iranian capital on Saturday, the first reported assault on the country's oil infrastructure as stock markets have slumped and crude prices surged.
The Israeli military said it struck "a number of fuel storage facilities in Tehran" that were used "to operate military infrastructure".
Israel's military also launched a new wave of strikes "across Tehran" on Sunday, after carrying out a precision strike targeting "key commanders" in the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, at a hotel in an area of central Beirut popular with tourists.
Lebanon's health ministry said the strike killed at least four people at the hotel, where an AFP photographer saw shattered windows and charred walls.
First aid responders inspect a Ramada hotel room targeted by an Israeli strike, in Beirut's seaside Rawche area, on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Ibrahim AMRO / AFP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press on with the war against Iran "with all our force", with a plan to eradicate the country's leadership after joint US-Israeli raids killed supreme leader Ali Khamenei last week, sparking the regional conflict.
Despite the threat, the Revolutionary Guards said Sunday that Iranian forces could wage an "intense war" for six months at the current speed of fighting.
Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini said Iran had so far used "first and second generation" missiles, but will use "advanced and less-used long-range missiles" in the coming days.
Iran's security chief Ali Larijani accused the Trump administration of seeking to replicate a scenario similar to Venezuela where it ousted leader Nicolas Maduro.
"Their perception was that it would be like Venezuela -- they would strike, take control and it would be over -- but now they are trapped," he said in a pre-recorded interview broadcast on state TV on Saturday.
Netanyahu said Israel had achieved almost total control of the skies over the Iranian capital.
US President Donald Trump Trump struck a similarly defiant tone, repeating the claim that Iran had been close to developing a nuclear weapon.
He also suggested US troops could eventually be needed to secure Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles.
Separately, he blamed Iran for what the country's authorities said was a deadly strike on an elementary school in Minab last Saturday that killed at least 150 people. Iran has blamed Washington for the strike.
Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central UShttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248631-eight-dead-tornadoes-surge-across-central-us
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Eight Dead as Tornadoes Surge Across Central US
A tree is left uprooted following a tornado that hit several cities in rural southwest Michigan on March 7, 2026 in Union City, Michigan. (Getty Images/AFP)
Tornadoes tore through the central United States in a series of storms that continued into Saturday, leaving eight people dead and at least a dozen others injured, authorities said.
Four people were reported killed in Oklahoma, where the twisters gained strength, and four others died further north in the Midwestern state of Michigan.
The Branch County Sheriff's Office said a tornado touched down near Union City in southern Michigan on Friday, killing three people and injuring 12.
About 50 miles (80 kilometers) west, officials in Cass County said one person was killed and "several injuries" were reported after a tornado hit the area.
"Our thoughts are with those who have lost family, friends, and property during this incident," the Branch County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
Authorities in Cass County said a number of trees had fallen onto roads and buildings, and more than 500 people were reported to be without power.
"Emergency Management personnel will be conducting damage assessments in the affected area as required by the State of Michigan," the local sheriff's office said.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said Friday evening she was activating a state emergency operations center "to coordinate an all-hands-on-deck response to severe weather in southwestern Michigan."
In Oklahoma, the extreme weather led to fourth deaths late Thursday and Friday, and people were waking up Saturday to scenes of destruction and loss in several towns across the state.
"Severe weather struck Major County last night and tragically claimed the lives of a mother and daughter," Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt posted on X.
Okmulgee County Sheriff Eddy Rice said in a statement that two people died in a tornado that hit the town of Beggs on Friday night.
US Starts Using UK Bases for ‘Defensive’ Iran Operationshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5248624-us-starts-using-uk-bases-%E2%80%98defensive%E2%80%99-iran-operations
A US Air Force C-5 Galaxy lands at RAF Fairford in south west England on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
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US Starts Using UK Bases for ‘Defensive’ Iran Operations
A US Air Force C-5 Galaxy lands at RAF Fairford in south west England on March 6, 2026. (AFP)
The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK government announced on Saturday.
Britain's defense ministry said the US had begun using the military sites for "specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region".
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer annoyed US President Donald Trump for initially refusing to have any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, which started a week ago, on February 28.
He later agree to a US request to use two British military bases for a "specific and limited defensive purpose".
Those bases are Fairford in Gloucestershire, western England, and the UK-US Diego Garcia base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.
A US Air Force B-1 Lancer bomber landed at Fairford on Saturday, an AFP photographer saw.
An American C-5 Galaxy plane could also be seen on the runway of the base, as anti-war protesters demonstrated outside.
Trump had said he was "not happy with the UK" and mocked Starmer by saying "this is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with".
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, has defended his initial decision by saying any UK "must always have a lawful basis and a viable thought-through plan".
He has also insisted that he was right to change his position because Iran's retaliation with missiles and drones to the US-Israeli strikes have threatened British interests and allies in the region.
Lawmakers in Starmer's ruling Labour party remain haunted by former prime minister Tony Blair's disastrous support for the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
A Survation poll of 1,045 Britons published on Friday found that 56 percent of respondents believed Starmer was right not to involve Britain in the initial strikes. Only 27 percent said he was wrong.
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