Russia Resumes Strikes on Freezing Ukrainian Capital

A local resident clears up debris from his broken balcony after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
A local resident clears up debris from his broken balcony after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
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Russia Resumes Strikes on Freezing Ukrainian Capital

A local resident clears up debris from his broken balcony after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)
A local resident clears up debris from his broken balcony after a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Kateryna Klochko)

Russia resumed strikes on Kyiv on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said, as a brief truce announced by US President Donald Trump gave way to renewed attacks in freezing conditions.

Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to stop striking Kyiv and "various towns" during cold weather.

The Kremlin said the truce would last until Sunday but did not link it to the subzero temperatures. Ukraine said Moscow had kept up its strikes anyway.

Russia hit Kyiv "in the bitter cold with another massive strike" overnight, Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the city's military administration, said Tuesday on Telegram.

The emergency services said in a later post that three people in Kyiv had been wounded, reported AFP.

In the eastern city of Kharkiv, two people were wounded by Russian shelling, regional military chief Oleg Synegubov said.

The hours-long attack targeted energy infrastructure and aimed to "cause maximum destruction... and leave the city without heat during severe frost", Synegubov wrote on Telegram.

Authorities had to cut heating to more than 800 homes to prevent the wider network from freezing, he said, urging people to go to round-the-clock "invincibility points" around the city if they needed to warm up.

Overnight temperatures plunged to minus 17C in Kyiv and sank as low as minus 23C in Kharkiv.

- New talks planned -

Russia's invasion of Ukraine will hit the four-year mark on February 24.

Washington has sought to craft a peace settlement between both sides, but the first round of trilateral talks held in Abu Dhabi last weekend failed to yield a breakthrough.

A second round is due to begin on Wednesday in the Emirati capital.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday that recent "de-escalation" with Russia was helping build trust in negotiations, apparently referring to a break in attacks on energy facilities.

But territory remains a sticking point, and the warring sides have not yet shown willingness for compromise.

Russia wants full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which Kyiv has ruled out, saying such a move would only embolden Moscow.

After failing in its aim of a lightning offensive to capture Kyiv and topple Ukraine's leadership in a matter of days in 2022, Russia has been bogged down in the face of Ukrainian defenses and is now mounting a grinding advance that has come at huge human cost.

Moscow's troops accelerated their advance in Ukraine throughout January, capturing almost twice as much land as in the previous month, according to an AFP analysis.

Russia seized 481 square kilometers (186 square miles) in January, analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War, which works with the Critical Threats Project, showed.

The January gains were up from 244 square kilometers in December 2025 and one of the largest advances during a winter month since Russia invaded four years ago.



US Fighter Shot Down Over Iran as Trump Threatens to Hit More Infrastructure

A view of the B1 bridge is pictured, a day after it was destroyed by a strike in Karaj, around 20miles (35kms) southwest of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AFP)
A view of the B1 bridge is pictured, a day after it was destroyed by a strike in Karaj, around 20miles (35kms) southwest of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AFP)
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US Fighter Shot Down Over Iran as Trump Threatens to Hit More Infrastructure

A view of the B1 bridge is pictured, a day after it was destroyed by a strike in Karaj, around 20miles (35kms) southwest of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AFP)
A view of the B1 bridge is pictured, a day after it was destroyed by a strike in Karaj, around 20miles (35kms) southwest of Tehran, April 3, 2026. (AFP)

Iran shot down a US warplane on Friday, setting off a search by both sides for surviving crew as the war looked set to intensify with President Donald Trump threatening more attacks on civilian infrastructure.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said it was combing an area near where the plane came down in southwestern Iran. The regional governor promised a commendation for anyone who captured or killed the pilot.

A US military official confirmed that a fighter jet had been shot down and a search was under way.

Iranian news agencies said US helicopters were flying low on apparent search missions and carried videos of residents shooting at them.

DETAILS UNCLEAR OF US FIGHTER JET DOWNED BY IRAN

There were no confirmed details of the searches or the type of aircraft shot down, which the Iranian military said was an F-35, a single-seater. The Pentagon and US Central Command did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The loss underlined the risk still faced by US and Israeli aircraft over Iran, despite assertions by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that their forces had total control of the skies.

Nearly five weeks after the US and Israel opened the campaign with a wave of strikes that killed Supreme Leader ‌Ali Khamenei, there is ‌no sign of an end to the war, which has already killed thousands and threatened lasting damage ‌to the global ⁠economy.

On Thursday, Trump ⁠posted footage on social media showing dust and smoke billowing up as US strikes hit the newly constructed B1 bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj, which was due to open this year, and said more attacks would follow.

"Our Military, the greatest and most powerful (by far!) anywhere in the World, hasn't even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!" he wrote in a subsequent post.

Despite the pressure, Iran has been able to hit back at Israel and strike Gulf countries.

On Friday, as Trump threatened to hit its bridges and power plants, Iran struck a power and water plant in Kuwait.

Trump urged Iran's leaders ⁠to seek peace, saying on social media that Iran "knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!".

But ‌Tehran has shown no sign of acquiescence and Trump faces growing pressure to find a quick ‌resolution, with anger building at home and his Republican Party in danger of losing control of Congress at elections in November.

Negotiations conducted via intermediaries with new leaders in Iran have ‌shown little sign of progress, and polls indicate most Americans oppose the war.

'TAKE THE OIL AND MAKE A FORTUNE'

At the same time, the economic ‌impact has been global, with Iran's grip on the strategic shipping lane in the Strait of Hormuz giving it a choke hold on oil and gas.

Trump has expressed anger at US allies that have refused his calls to help re-open the strait, through which a fifth of global oil and liquefied gas passes in normal times. On Friday, he said reopening it would not be difficult.

"With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL,& MAKE A FORTUNE," he said on Truth Social.

The ‌US and Israel say they have degraded Iran's military capacity. But Iranian media have issued daily reports of attacks on civilian sites too, including schools, pharmaceutical suppliers and health facilities.

On Thursday, the century-old Pasteur Institute in the ⁠heart of Tehran was severely damaged, the ⁠Health Ministry said. On Friday, a drone hit a Red Crescent relief warehouse in the Choghadak area of the southern Bushehr province.

Over 100 American international law experts said the conduct of US forces and statements by senior US officials "raise serious concerns about violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, including potential war crimes".

For its part, Iran has continued to strike targets around the Gulf.

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been hit by drones. Other attacks were also reported to have been intercepted in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Missile debris landed near the Israeli port of Haifa, site of a major oil refinery.

IRAN WAR CAUSES GLOBAL ECONOMIC UPHEAVAL

Global financial markets have whipsawed in response to expectations of a possible end to the war and the re-opening of the Strait, which only isolated vessels have been able to transit.

The closure has also squeezed shipments of fertilizer, threatening a humanitarian crisis in developing countries in Asia and Africa, underlined by data showing a sharp rise in global food prices in March.

On Friday, a container ship belonging to the French shipping group CMA CGM passed through, MarineTraffic vessel tracking data showed, a sign that Iran may not consider France hostile. A liquefied natural gas ship belonging to Japan's Mitsui OSK Lines also transited.

Oil markets were closed after benchmark US crude prices gained 11% on Thursday following a speech by Trump that offered no clear sign of an imminent end to the war.

The UN Security Council is set to vote on Saturday on a Bahraini resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the strait, diplomats said, but veto-wielding China made clear its opposition to authorizing armed intervention.


White House Requests Giant $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Amid Iran War

A media representative walks past a heavily damaged building following a strike at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran on April 3, 2026. (AFP)
A media representative walks past a heavily damaged building following a strike at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran on April 3, 2026. (AFP)
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White House Requests Giant $1.5 Trillion Defense Budget Amid Iran War

A media representative walks past a heavily damaged building following a strike at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran on April 3, 2026. (AFP)
A media representative walks past a heavily damaged building following a strike at the Azadi Sport Complex in Tehran on April 3, 2026. (AFP)

The White House sent a spending proposal to lawmakers Friday calling for a massive $1.5 trillion US defense budget next year as it faces increased costs due to the war in Iran.

The total year-on-year increase in Pentagon spending would be the largest since World War II, US media reported, although presidential budgets are wish lists that have to be approved by Congress, rather than binding orders.

The request would represent a 42 percent hike in the Pentagon topline for 2026.

It is part of a proposal that asks Congress to slash non-defense spending by some $73 billion, or 10 percent, by "reducing or eliminating woke, weaponized and wasteful programs, and by returning state and local responsibilities to their respective governments."

The Pentagon isn't expected to release a detailed breakdown of the budget request until later this month, but the plan could form a fiscal framework that adds trillions to the already growing federal debt over the next decade, assuming Congress adopts the president's proposals.

Trump called on lawmakers to approve the bulk of the increase through the standard annual government funding process, while passing the remaining $350 billion via the same party-line legislative maneuver that allowed Republicans to secure tax cuts without Democratic support last year.

In the lead-up to releasing the proposal, the president and his advisors have emphasized the urgency of boosting defense spending, pointing to the need to replenish weapons stockpiles and other military resources during the ongoing conflict with Iran.

At a private lunch, Trump stressed that defense funding should take precedence over other federal expenditures, even if it meant scaling back social safety-net programs and other assistance.

"It's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things, they can do it on a state basis," he said, adding that the priority had to be "military protection."

The White House posted a video of Trump's remarks on its YouTube page and then deleted it.

Democrats and Republicans have recently voiced concern about increasing military spending to the levels Trump has proposed, noting that the administration has not provided sufficient updates on the five-week-long war with Iran.


NATO Chief to Meet Trump Amid Iran Tensions

 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gives a press conference about NATO's general annual report in Brussels on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gives a press conference about NATO's general annual report in Brussels on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
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NATO Chief to Meet Trump Amid Iran Tensions

 NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gives a press conference about NATO's general annual report in Brussels on March 26, 2026. (AFP)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte gives a press conference about NATO's general annual report in Brussels on March 26, 2026. (AFP)

NATO chief Mark Rutte will meet Donald Trump next week on a visit to Washington, as the US president lashes out at the alliance over the Iran war, NATO said Friday.

Trump has suggested he is considering quitting the 77-year-old military alliance due to the response by European nations to his war.

The US leader has criticized NATO members for limiting access for American forces to bases on their territories and refusing to lead efforts to open the Strait of Hormuz.

NATO said that Rutte will meet Trump on April 8 and will also see Secretary of State Marco Rubio and defense chief Pete Hegseth.

The alliance chief will give a speech on April 9 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Institute.

Former Dutch prime minister Rutte has been dubbed a "Trump whisperer" for his ability to keep the US leader onside throughout a string of crises since he returned to office last year.

Rutte has insisted that Trump has made NATO stronger by getting European countries to agree to ramp up defense spending.