France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has confirmed two French aid workers were killed in a Russian strike in Ukraine, condemning the attack as “outrageous”. In Paris, the prosecutors’ anti-terrorist office announced on Friday that it had opened a war crimes investigation. Aid workers are non-combatants under international law.
Ukrainian officials said the men died in a drone attack in Beryslav, southern Ukraine. “The brave French aid workers assisted people and we will always be grateful for their humanity,” said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “My condolences go out to their loved ones.”
Zelenskiy has welcomed the arrival of two new air defence systems that he said could “shoot down anything”, though he could give no details. Separately, US under-secretary of state Victoria Nuland said in Kyiv this week that a new “small-diameter” bomb able to hit targets at greater distances would soon arrive.
Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrii Yusov said Russia continued to refuse to hand over the bodies of prisoners of war who Moscow claims were killed in the downing of a Russian military transport plane. Russia has produced no proof that PoWs were onboard.
The Ukrainian general staff said its forces had repelled 19 attacks around Avdiivka in the Donetsk region and a further 10 in nearby areas.
The top UN court, the international court of justice (ICJ), has confirmed its jurisdiction to rule in most parts of a case brought by Ukraine over Russia’s 2022 invasion.
US Senate negotiators have reached a deal on a proposal to overhaul the asylum system at the US border with Mexico. It clears the way for Democratic and Republican Senate leaders to begin the difficult task of convincing Congress to pass a national security package that will include tens of billions of dollars for Ukraine and immigration enforcement, as well as funding for Israel and other American allies.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Rustem Umerov, announced he had suspended Toomas Nakhkur, who led the defence ministry’s department for technical policy and weapons development, while authorities investigate suspected corruption in the procurement of weapons.
