Russia, Ukraine continue air attacks with ceasefire prospects uncertain

Russia, Ukraine continue air attacks with ceasefire prospects uncertain
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters put out a fire at a apartment building following a Russian drone attack in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Updated 16 March 2025

Russia, Ukraine continue air attacks with ceasefire prospects uncertain

Russia, Ukraine continue air attacks with ceasefire prospects uncertain
  • Both sides have since traded heavy aerial strikes, and Russia moved closer on battlefield to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold

Russia and Ukraine continued aerial attacks on each other, inflicting injuries and damages, officials said early on Sunday, as the fate of a proposed ceasefire to the three-year-old war remained uncertain.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he supported in principle Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine but that his forces would fight on until several crucial conditions were worked out.
Both sides have since traded heavy aerial strikes, and Russia moved closer on battlefield to ejecting Ukrainian forces from their months-old foothold in the western Russian region of Kursk.
The Russian defense ministry said on Sunday that its air defense units destroyed a total of 31 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.
Of those, 16 were downed over the southwestern region of Voronezh, nine over the territory of the Belgorod region and the rest over the Rostov and Kursk regions, the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.
In a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian border region of Belgorod, three people were injured, including a 7-year-old, regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said earlier on the Telegram messaging app.
Two of the people were injured after a drone hit their house, sparking a fire in the Gubkinsky district of the region, while the other person was injured in a drone attack on the village of Dolgoye, Gladkov said.
Alexander Gusev, governor of Voronezh, said on Telegram that there was no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The acting governor of the southern Russian region of Rostov said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage reported there either.
In Ukraine, authorities reported several Russian drone strikes, including on the northern region of Chernihiv, where firefighters were battling a blaze at a high-rise building that was sparked by Russian drone attack, Ukraine’s state of emergency service said.
Ukrainian media reported a series of explosions in the region surrounding the capital Kyiv, after Ukraine’s air force issued warnings of a threat of drone attacks on Kyiv and a number of other central Ukrainian regions.
By 0300 GMT on Sunday, there was no official information about damage in the Kyiv region.


Gabon court sentences former first lady and president’s son to 20 years in prison

Gabon court sentences former first lady and president’s son to 20 years in prison
Updated 5 sec ago

Gabon court sentences former first lady and president’s son to 20 years in prison

Gabon court sentences former first lady and president’s son to 20 years in prison
  • Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were convicted of concealment and embezzlement of public funds
  • They were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for “crimes against the Gabonese state“

LIBREVILLE: Gabon’s former first lady and her son were sentenced in absentia by a special criminal court to 20 years in prison following a two-day trial in Libreville.
Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were convicted of concealment and embezzlement of public funds, money laundering, criminal association and forgery.
The court sentenced the duo late Tuesday, according to a judgment, and also issued an arrest warrant for them. They were ordered to pay millions of dollars in damages for “crimes against the Gabonese state.”


Valentin said the verdict had long been “predetermined” under the office of President Oligui Nguema and called the trial a “simple formality.”
Sylvia Bongo and Noureddin Bongo Valentin were influential during former president Ali Bongo’s 14 years in power of the central African country. Ali Bongo was ousted in a coup in 2023 after winning a disputed election that the military and opposition said was marred by fraud. The coup put an end to the Bongo dynasty’s 56 years in power. Ali Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, ruled for 42 years.
The prosecutor accused both defendants of manipulating the former president’s health issues to control state funds.
Valentin, who held the position of coordinator of presidential affairs, was described by witnesses during the trial as the main person giving orders at the presidential palace after his father suffered a stroke in October 2018. Following Ali Bongo’s ouster, both Valentin and his mother were detained for 20 months before being allowed to travel out of the country.
The Bongos, who live in London and hold French citizenship, refused to participate in the trial. During the trial, the prosecutor released images of two private jets allegedly procured with laundered money and listed land holdings including a mansion in London and Morocco.
“They reigned unchallenged, and tried to pass themselves off as victims of the system they shaped,” said Eddy Minang, prosecutor general at the Libreville Court of Appeal.