Russia struck cities across Ukraine on Monday with a missile barrage that killed 31 people and heavily damaged a Kyiv children’s hospital in an assault condemned as a ruthless attack on civilians.
Dozens of volunteers, doctors and rescue workers were digging through debris of a part of Okhmatdyt paediatric hospital in a desperate search for survivors after the rare day-time bombardment, AFP journalists on the scene saw.
The first responders ran for cover when sirens and a explosion sounded after the initial strikes — a repeat attack that left four dead at a maternity hospital in a separate district of Kyiv, emergency services said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces fired more than 40 missiles toward at least five major civilian hub, mainly in the south and east of the country, as well as the capital.
Zelensky arrived in Poland as news of the strikes broke to sign a security deal with Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw, where the leaders held of minute of silence for the victims.
The Ukrainian leader in Warsaw called on allies to deliver “a stronger response to the blow that Russia has once again delivered on our population, on our land and on our children.”
The UN condemned the wave of strikes saying it was “unconscionable that children are killed and injured in this war,” while the EU’s Josep Borrell slammed Russia for “ruthlessly” targeting civilians.
France condemned the attacks, with the foreign ministry calling the bombardment of a children’s hospital in Kyiv “barbaric”.
Kyiv said the children’s hospital had been struck by a Russian cruise missile and claimed that it contained components produced in NATO member countries.
Russia however claimed the extensive missile damage in Kyiv was in fact caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile.
Moscow said its forces had struck their “intended targets”, which it added were only defence industry and military installations.
Natalia Svidler, 40, was in the hospital at the time of the strike with her two-year-old son, who was due to have surgery this week, when the air raid sirens sounded.
“The nurses told us to go down to the basement. After a while we heard a loud rumble and then the ceiling in the basement collapsed a little,” she said at the scene.
“Everyone got very scared, of course. Everyone started screaming and running,” she told AFP.
Officials in Kyiv said the attack had also damaged several residential buildings and an office block in Kyiv where AFP reporters saw cars on fire and shredded trees in charred courtyards.
DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said three electrical substations had been destroyed or damaged in Kyiv in the attack — the latest in series of strikes that have halved the country’s energy generation capacity in recent months, compared to one year ago.
Zelensky said that there were an unknown number of people trapped under the rubble of the children’s hospital. An AFP reporter saw one body at the scene, covered with a blanket.
Emergency officials said 20 people had been killed in the barrage that hit Kyiv and another 38 were wounded.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted the capital with massive barrages since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and the last major attack on Kyiv with drones and missiles was last month.
In Zelensky’s hometown Kryvyi Rig, which has been repeatedly targed by Russian bombardment, the strikes killed at least 10 and wounded over 41, officials there said.
In Dnipro, a city of around one million people in the same region, one person was killed and six more were wounded, the region’s governor said, when a high rise residential building and petrol station were hit.
And in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have taken a string of villages in recent weeks, the regional governor said three people were killed in Pokrovsk — a town that had a pre-war population of around 60,000 people.
“This shelling targeted civilians, hit infrastructure, and the whole world should see today the consequences of terror, which can only be responded to by force,” the head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, wrote on social media.
Zelensky and other officials in Kyiv have been urging Ukraine’s allies to send more air defence systems, including Patriots, to the war-battered country to help fend off deadly Russian aerial bombardment.
“Russia cannot claim ignorance of where its missiles are flying and must be held fully accountable for all its crimes,” Zelensky said in another post on social media.
AFP
A Finnish appeal court has reduced the prison sentence of Biafran separatist leader, Simon Ekpa, from six to four years.
Finnish newspaper Yle disclosed this in a report on Thursday.
However, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Päijät-Häme District Court, which found Ekpa guilty of terrorism-related charges last year.
The charges were related to Ekpa’s alleged activities aimed at re-establishing an independent state of Biafra in southeastern Nigeria.
Ekpa subsequently appealed the ruling, seeking to have his conviction and sentence overturned.
In a ruling that offered some relief to Ekpa, the Court of Appeal found him guilty of the same offences but reduced his prison term after considering the circumstances surrounding his actions. The court noted that the situation in the Biafran region closely resembled, but did not meet the definition of, a civil war.
Ekpa had told the court that his involvement was not motivated by terrorist intent, citing the political turmoil in the Biafran region.
The prosecutor in the case had also appealed the district court’s decision, arguing that the prison sentence did not reflect the seriousness of Ekpa’s offences.
The Federal Government has called for stronger international responsibility sharing and innovative arrangement to address the growing humanitarian needs of over 142,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 42 countries.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, made the call while delivering Nigeria’s national statement at the 77th Session of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), currently holding at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In a statement by his Senior Technical Adviser on Information Systems and Data Analysis, Dr. Abimbola Fasanu, the Minister disclosed that as of September 2026, Nigeria had received over 24,000 returnees and was managing a population of more than 6.7 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Doro reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to international refugee protection obligations, noting that the country continues to maintain an asylum system under the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) Act of 2022.
He stated that no case of refoulement had been recorded in Nigeria in 2026, reaffirming the country’s commitment to protecting people fleeing persecution from being returned to situations where their lives or freedom could be threatened.
Highlighting progress on durable solutions, the Minister disclosed that over 7,000 Nigerian refugees had voluntarily returned from neighbouring countries this year under Tripartite Agreements, while another 14,000 in Cameroon had registered their intention to return. An agreement covering the return of 2,000 Nigerians from Niger is also being finalised.
He acknowledged the continued hospitality of Cameroon, Chad and Niger in providing refuge to displaced Nigerians.
According to the Minister, improved security conditions in parts of the country are creating opportunities for voluntary return, while Resettlement Cities established in seven locations are supporting the phased closure of displacement camps in conditions of safety and dignity.
Beyond return and resettlement, Dr. Doro outlined measures aimed at promoting self-reliance and reducing prolonged dependence on humanitarian assistance.
He explained that refugees in five states are benefiting from access to land, agricultural inputs and skills training, while the newly established Public-Private Partnership Department of the NCFRMI is supporting efforts to expand livelihood opportunities.
The Minister also cited the successful local integration of former Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees, some of whom have established businesses and become economically active members of their host communities.
On access to essential services, he disclosed that displaced persons and host communities are being enrolled in Nigeria’s national identity system to facilitate access to banking, education and social services.
He added that refugees are being incorporated into state action plans and social registers, while ten mobile documentation buses are expected to extend identity services to underserved and remote communities.
Doro further highlighted the development of a Digital Gateway in collaboration with UNHCR to provide refugees with secure online access to information.
Addressing the growing pressure on humanitarian financing, the Minister urged the international community to strengthen support for refugee-hosting countries through expanded resettlement opportunities, complementary pathways and greater responsibility-sharing.
He specifically called on UNHCR to explore partnerships with regional and subregional financial institutions, including the African Development Bank and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, as a means of mobilising additional resources for refugee protection and durable solutions.
The Minister emphasised that the responsibility for addressing displacement could not rest on host countries alone, particularly at a time of increasing humanitarian needs and declining international resources.
The United States has listed Nigeria among 14 countries identified for recruiting or using child soldiers, warning that the designation could trigger restrictions on certain forms of military assistance.
The listing is contained in the 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, which covers the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026.
According to the report, restrictions under the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) could affect international military education and training, foreign military financing, excess defence articles, peacekeeping operations and licences for direct commercial sales of military equipment, unless a presidential waiver is granted.
Nigeria was listed alongside Afghanistan, Burma, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.
The report also retained Nigeria on Tier 2 for human trafficking, a category for countries whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards for eliminating trafficking but are making significant efforts to comply.
However, the US raised concerns about corruption and alleged official complicity in human trafficking crimes.
“The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years,” the report stated.
The report also faulted Nigeria’s efforts to protect trafficking victims, stating that 675 victims received assistance in 2025, compared with 2,058 in the previous year.
It said support services, particularly for male victims, remained limited, with only one dedicated non-governmental organisation shelter for adult male victims operating during the reporting period.
The report further stated that shelters operated by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) restricted residents’ freedom of movement, while access to certain protection services depended on victims cooperating with law enforcement proceedings.
Despite these concerns, the report acknowledged increased government efforts in investigating, prosecuting and securing convictions in human trafficking cases compared with the previous reporting period.
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