Two Killed in Series of Russian Attacks on Ukraine

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area a day before, in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 03 January 2026. (EPA)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area a day before, in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 03 January 2026. (EPA)
TT

Two Killed in Series of Russian Attacks on Ukraine

Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area a day before, in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 03 January 2026. (EPA)
Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a residential area a day before, in Kharkiv, northeastern Ukraine, 03 January 2026. (EPA)

Russia bombarded Ukraine early Monday, killing two people in the Kyiv region, authorities said on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France.

A countrywide siren was issued just after midnight, while Ukraine's military said air defenses were operating in several places.

In the capital, a private medical facility caught fire as a result of the Russian strikes, killing one person and wounding three others, the State Emergency Service of Kyiv said. It released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building, said AFP.

Another pre-dawn attack on the neighboring city of Fastiv killed one man in his 70s, according to Kyiv regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.

The strikes caused power outages in the area, with backup systems activated to maintain water and heating supplies, the official said, as temperatures dropped to -8C.

The attacks came on the eve of a meeting of European leaders in Paris as they seek a breakthrough on a peace plan Kyiv says is "90 percent" ready.

To lay the groundwork, security advisers from 15 countries, including Britain, France and Germany as well as representatives from NATO and the European Union, gathered in Kyiv over the weekend.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff joined the talks virtually, a Ukrainian official told AFP, though the United States' large-scale military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.

Another preparatory meeting, between chiefs of staff, is scheduled for Monday.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent weeks, though both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.

Russia, which occupies around 20 percent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country's eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.

But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

Bombarded daily and losing ground, Ukraine has responded with its own drone attacks launched towards Russian territory, targeting in particular energy infrastructure that funds the war effort.

Russia's defense ministry said it has downed Ukrainian drones targeting the Moscow region every day of 2026, and claims to have shot several hundred -- an unusually high number -- over the weekend.

The Kremlin published a video of a downed drone it said Ukraine had launched at the home of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Novgorod region, adding that the property was not damaged and the leader was elsewhere at the time.

Kyiv refuted the allegation, and its European allies expressed skepticism.

Asked about it on Sunday, US President Donald Trump said that "something" had happened near Putin's residence, but after reviewing the evidence, American officials did not believe it had been targeted by Ukraine.

"I don't believe that strike happened," Trump said in response to a reporter's question aboard Air Force One.

Russia has also accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region early Thursday, killing what it said were 28 people celebrating the New Year. Ukraine says it was a military gathering.

Moscow accuses Kyiv of being insincere in its peace efforts, while Ukraine says Russia is trying to scupper the diplomatic momentum to end the conflict.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a "special military operation" to prevent the expansion of NATO.

Russia made bigger advances on the battlefield last year than any other year since it launched its invasion, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War.



Danish Prime Minister Says a US Takeover of Greenland Would Mark the End of NATO

File photo: Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to the media after a meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in London, Friday, October 24, 2025. Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP
File photo: Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to the media after a meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in London, Friday, October 24, 2025. Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP
TT

Danish Prime Minister Says a US Takeover of Greenland Would Mark the End of NATO

File photo: Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to the media after a meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in London, Friday, October 24, 2025. Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP
File photo: Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen speaks to the media after a meeting of the so-called "coalition of the willing" in London, Friday, October 24, 2025. Kirsty Wigglesworth, AP

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Her comments came in response to US President Donald Trump's renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under US control in the aftermath of the weekend military operation in Venezuela.

The dead-of-night operation by US forces in Caracas to capture leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife early Saturday left the world stunned, and heightened concerns in Denmark and Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of the Danish kingdom and thus part of NATO, The Associated Press said.

Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens Frederik Nielsen, blasted the president's comments and warned of catastrophic consequences. Numerous European leaders expressed solidarity with them.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2 on Monday. “That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.”

20-day timeline deepens fears Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for US jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the island. His comments Sunday, including telling reporters “let’s talk about Greenland in 20 days,” further deepened fears that the US was planning an intervention in Greenland in the near future.

Frederiksen also said Trump “should be taken seriously” when he says he wants Greenland. “We will not accept a situation where we and Greenland are threatened in this way,” she added.

Nielsen, in a news conference Monday, said Greenland cannot be compared to Venezuela. He urged his constituents to stay calm and united.

“We are not in a situation where we think that there might be a takeover of the country overnight and that is why we are insisting that we want good cooperation,” he said.

Nielsen added: “The situation is not such that the United States can simply conquer Greenland.”

Ask Rostrup, a TV2 political journalist, wrote on the station's live blog Monday that Mette previously would have flatly rejected the idea of an American takeover of Greenland. But now, Rostrup wrote, the rhetoric has escalated so much that she has to acknowledge the possibility.

Trump slams Denmark's security efforts in Greenland

Trump on Sunday also mocked Denmark’s efforts at boosting Greenland’s national security posture, saying the Danes have added “one more dog sled” to the Arctic territory’s arsenal.

“It’s so strategic right now,” Trump had told reporters Sunday as he flew back to Washington from his home in Florida. “Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place.”

He added: “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it."

But Ulrik Pram Gad, a global security expert from the Danish Institute for International Studies, wrote in a report last year that “there are indeed Russian and Chinese ships in the Arctic, but these vessels are too far away to see from Greenland with or without binoculars.”

US space base in northwestern Greenland

Greenlanders and Danes were further rankled this weekend by a social media post following the raid by a former Trump administration official turned podcaster, Katie Miller. The post shows an illustrated map of Greenland in the colors of the Stars and Stripes accompanied by the caption: “SOON.”

“And yes, we expect full respect for the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark,” Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s chief envoy to Washington, said in a post responding to Miller, who is married to Trump’s influential deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller.

The US Department of Defense operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland. It was built following a 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States. It supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the US and NATO.

On Denmark’s mainland, the partnership between the US and Denmark has been long-lasting. The Danes buy American F-35 fighter jets and just last year, Denmark’s parliament approved a bill to allow US military bases on Danish soil.

Critics say the vote ceded Danish sovereignty to the US

The legislation widens a previous military agreement, made in 2023 with the Biden administration, where US troops had broad access to Danish air bases in the Scandinavian country.


Gas Explosion Kills One in Western Russian City

Representation photo: Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2026. REUTERS/Maksym Kishka
Representation photo: Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2026. REUTERS/Maksym Kishka
TT

Gas Explosion Kills One in Western Russian City

Representation photo: Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2026. REUTERS/Maksym Kishka
Representation photo: Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Chernihiv, Ukraine, January 5, 2026. REUTERS/Maksym Kishka

A gas explosion in an apartment block in Russia's western city of Tver killed one person early Tuesday, regional authorities said, after earlier blaming a Ukrainian drone attack.

"The preliminary conclusion of experts is that the cause was a household gas explosion," Tver regional governor Vitaly Korolev said on Telegram.

"Initially, it was mistaken as the result of falling drone debris, since measures to repel an attack were indeed being taken in the region at that time," he added.

Household fires and gas incidents are not uncommon across Russia.

Moscow's defense ministry said Ukrainian drones were downed overnight in some 20 different regions, including six over Tver.

Last month, Ukrainian drone debris triggered a fire in an apartment block in Tver, a city some 180 kilometers (110 miles) from Moscow, wounding seven people.


Flash Floods in Indonesia Kill at Least 16 People and Sweep Away Homes

 In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, rescuers and villagers search for victims after flash floods hit Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. (BASARNAS via AP)
In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, rescuers and villagers search for victims after flash floods hit Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. (BASARNAS via AP)
TT

Flash Floods in Indonesia Kill at Least 16 People and Sweep Away Homes

 In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, rescuers and villagers search for victims after flash floods hit Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. (BASARNAS via AP)
In this photo released by the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency (BASARNAS) on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, rescuers and villagers search for victims after flash floods hit Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province, Indonesia. (BASARNAS via AP)

Flash floods triggered by torrential rain killed at least 16 people in Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province, officials said Tuesday. 

Days of monsoon rain burst riverbanks early Monday, triggering fast-moving torrents of water mixed with mud, rocks and debris that swept away people and submerged villages in Siau Tagulandang Biaro District, said Abdul Muhari, a spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Agency. 

Emergency rescue personnel supported by police and the military deployed to four devastated villages on Siau, a tiny island about 130 kilometers (80 miles) off the northern tip of Sulawesi, Indonesia's fourth-largest island. In some places, access was hampered by damaged roads and disrupted communications, Muhari said. 

At least seven houses were washed away and more than 140 homes were damaged when the deluge surged down hillsides. The flooding forced more than 680 residents into temporary shelters in churches and public buildings, Muhari said. 

As weather improved and floodwaters receded Tuesday, rescuers recovered 16 bodies and were searching for another three missing residents in areas where entire neighborhoods had been inundated, said Nuriadian Gumeleng, a North Sulawesi search and rescue office spokesman. 

Sitaro District Chief Chyntia Ingrid Kalangit declared a 14-day emergency response period beginning Monday to speed the delivery of aid, evacuations and infrastructure repairs after the flooding that injured 25 people. 

“We called on residents to remain alert as further rainfall could raise the risk of additional flooding or landslides,” said Kalangit, who added that heavy equipment and relief supplies were sent by the provincial government. 

Catastrophic floods and landslides in December struck 52 cities and regencies earlier on Sumatra, Indonesia's largest island, leaving 1,178 people dead and more than 7,000 injured, with 148 residents missing as of Tuesday, the National Disaster Management Agency said.