United News of Bangladesh

A damning report on a deadly London high-rise fire said Wednesday that decades of failures by government, regulators and industry turned Grenfell Tower into a “death trap” where 72 people lost their lives. The years-long public inquiry into the 2017 blaze concluded that there was no “single cause” of the tragedy, but said a combination of dishonest companies, weak or incompetent regulators and complacent government led the building to be covered in combustible cladding that turned a small apartment fire into the deadliest blaze on British soil since World War II. “We conclude that the fire at Grenfell Tower was the culmination of decades of failure by central government and other bodies in positions of responsibility in the construction industry to look carefully into the danger of incorporating combustible materials into the external walls of high-rise residential buildings and to act on the information available to them,” said the inquiry, led by retired judge Martin Moore-Bick. While the report may give survivors some of the answers they have long sought, they face a wait to see whether anyone responsible will be prosecuted. Police will examine the inquiry’s conclusions before deciding on charges. The fire broke out in the early hours of June 14, 2017, in a fourth-floor apartment and spread up the 25-story building like a lit fuse, fueled by flammable cladding panels on the tower’s exterior walls. The tragedy horrified the nation and raised questions about lax safety regulations and other failings by officials and businesses that contributed to so many deaths. “How was it possible in 21st century London for a reinforced concrete building, itself structurally impervious to fire, to be turned into a death trap?” asked the report. It concluded: “There is no simple answer to that question.” Grenfell Tower, built from concrete in the 1970s, had been covered during a refurbishment in the years before the fire with aluminum and polyethylene cladding — a layer of foam insulation topped by two sheets of aluminum sandwiched around a layer of polyethylene, a combustible plastic polymer that melts and drips on exposure to heat. The report was highly critical of companies that made the building’s cladding. It said they engaged in “systematic dishonesty,” manipulating safety tests and misrepresenting the results to claim the material was safe. It said insulation manufacturer Celotex was unscrupulous, and another insulation firm, Kingspan, “cynically exploited the industry’s lack of detailed knowledge.” It said cladding panel maker Arconic “concealed from the market the true extent of the danger.” The combustible cladding was used on the building because it was cheap and because of “incompetence of the organizations and individuals involved in the refurbishment” – including architects, engineers and contractors — all of whom thought safety was someone else’s responsibility, the report said. The inquiry concluded the failures multiplied because bodies in charge of enforcing Britain’s building standards were weak, the local authority was uninterested and the “complacent” Conservative-led U.K. government ignored safety warnings because of a commitment to deregulation. The inquiry, announced by the government the morning after the blaze, has held more than 300 public hearings and examined around 1,600 witness statements. An initial report published in 2019, looking at what happened the night of the fire, criticized the fire department for telling residents to stay in their apartments and await rescue. The advice was changed almost two hours after the fire broke out, too late for many on the upper floors to escape. The Grenfell tragedy prompted soul-searching about inequality in Britain. Grenfell was a public housing building set in one of London’s richest neighborhoods — a stones’ throw from the pricey boutiques and elegant houses of Notting Hill — and many victims were working-class people with immigrant roots. The victims came from 23 countries and included taxi drivers and architects, a poet, an acclaimed young artist, retirees and 18 children. The report said the inquiry had “seen no evidence that any of the decisions that resulted in the creation of a dangerous building or the calamitous spread of fire were affected by racial or social prejudice.” In the wake of the fire, the U.K. government banned metal composite cladding panels for all new buildings and ordered similar combustible cladding to be removed from hundreds of tower blocks across the country. But it’s an expensive job and the work hasn’t been carried out on some apartment buildings because of wrangling over who should pay. The report made multiple recommendations, including tougher fire safety rules, a national fire and rescue college and a single independent regulator for the construction industry to replace the current mishmash of bodies. The ruined tower, which stood for months after the fire like a black tombstone on the west London skyline, still stands, now covered in white sheeting. A green heart and the words “Grenfell forever in our hearts” are emblazoned at the top. Police are investigating dozens of individuals and companies and considering charges, including corporate and individual manslaughter. But they say any prosecutions are unlikely to come before late 2026. Sandra Ruiz, whose 12-year-old niece, Jessica Urbano Ramirez, died in the fire, said that “for me, there’s no justice without people going behind bars.” “Our lives were shattered on that night. People need to be held accountable,” she said. “People who have made decisions putting profit above people’s safety need to be behind bars.”

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine's most recognizable faces on the international stage, submitted his resignation on Wednesday before an expected Cabinet reshuffle. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed at least seven people in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began. Kuleba, 43, didn't give a reason for stepping down and his resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated that a Cabinet reshuffle was imminent last week as he tries to strengthen the government 2½ years into the war. During Russia’s war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through social media posts or meetings with foreign dignitaries. In July, Kuleba became the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to visit China since Russia’s full-scale invasion started in February 2022. He has been foreign minister since March 2020. More than half the current Cabinet will undergo changes, said Davyd Arakhamiia, a leader of Zelenskyy’s party in the Ukrainian parliament. Ministers will be resigning on Wednesday and new appointments will be made Thursday, he said. Russian attacks, meanwhile, killed at least seven people and wounded 35 others in an overnight strike on Lviv, Mayor Andrii Sadovyi said Wednesday morning. A child and a medical worker were among the dead and others are in critical condition, he said. An overnight strike also wounded five people in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown, regional head Serhii Lysak said Wednesday morning. Zelenskyy reacted to the attacks by urging Ukraine's allies to give Kyiv “more range” to use Western weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory. The attack happened a day after two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital in Poltava in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began. The missiles tore into the heart of the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several stories to collapse. The missiles hit shortly after an air-raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said, describing the strike Tuesday as “barbaric.” Poltava is about 350 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv, on the main highway and rail route between Kyiv and Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, which is close to the Russian border. The attack happened as Ukrainian forces sought to carve out their holdings in Russia’s Kursk border region after a surprise Ukrainian incursion that began Aug. 6 and as the Russian army hacks its way deeper into eastern Ukraine.

There was no summer honeymoon for Keir Starmer. Britain’s new prime minister, elected in a landslide less than two months ago, had to cancel a planned vacation after anti-immigrant unrest erupted across the country. He has spent his first weeks in office dealing with the aftermath, and issuing stark warnings about the state of the nation and the economy. As lawmakers returned to Parliament on Monday after a shortened summer break, Starmer’s left-of-center Labour Party government was preparing for a budget statement next month that's likely to include tax rises or public spending cuts — or both. The mood music is in stark contrast to the campaign song used by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, the last Labour leader to win an election: “Things Can Only Get Better.” “Frankly, things will get worse before they get better,” Starmer told voters in a televised speech last week. Starmer is seeking to hammer home the message that the right-leaning Conservative Party, booted out by voters in the July 4 election, presided over “14 years of rot” that’s left Britain weakened economically, structurally and even morally. During the election campaign, Starmer vowed to get the country’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service. Since winning power he’s said the situation is “worse than we ever imagined,” with an unexpected 22 billion pound ($29 billion) hole in the public finances. Labour has decided not to increase taxes on “working people,” but it has to find money somewhere. It has already scaled back a payment intended to help pensioners heat their homes in winter. Starmer said last week that a budget statement coming on Oct. 30 will be “painful” and involve “short term pain for long term good.” Conservative economy spokeswoman Laura Trott accused Starmer and his government of trying to “run from responsibility for the tax rises they always planned but hid from the public during the election.” Paul Johnson, who heads economic think-tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has said Labour is being “disingenuous” when it claims to be surprised by the state of the finances, but that the Conservatives had “left Labour a mess to clear up.” Rob Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said Starmer’s government was going to “have to grasp the nettle” and confront the fact that two key pledges – improving public services and not raising any of the main taxes – “aren’t both achievable.” Starmer faced a big test within weeks of taking office when anti-immigrant violence erupted after three children were stabbed to death in the town of Southport. The violence, fueled by online misinformation blaming a migrant and stirred up by far-right groups, spread across England and Northern Ireland over several days. Starmer responded firmly, condemning a “mindless minority of thugs” fueled by the “snake-oil of populism” and pledging swift justice and tough sentences for rioters. But he says he was hobbled by past Conservative spending cuts that have left courts overstretched and prisons overcrowded. Amid alarm from some Labour lawmakers about the gloomy messaging, the government is now trying to sound more positive. It notes that in his first weeks in office, Starmer scrapped the Conservatives’ stalled and controversial plan to send some asylum-seekers who arrive in the U.K. to Rwanda, struck deals with public-sector unions to end a wave of strikes and began to mend fences with the European Union after years of acrimony over Britain’s departure from the bloc. The government is promising what it calls a “packed” parliamentary agenda to address some of voters’ main bugbears, including unreliable trains, sewage-dumping water companies and soaring rents. In the coming weeks it plans legislation to take public ownership of the railways, set up a state-owned green energy firm, impose tougher rules on water firms and strengthen workers’ rights. “After 14 years of the Conservatives, we’ve had to act quickly and act drastically to stop the rot at the heart of our country’s finances, our public services and our politics,” House of Commons leader Lucy Powell said Sunday. The opposition Conservatives have questioned Starmer's judgment and accused him of cronyism after several Labour backers were given civil service jobs. But the defeated party is occupied with a leadership contest to replace Rishi Sunak, which may give Starmer some breathing room. Still, Ford said Starmer is taking “a big gamble on voters’ patience.” “If you look at all the polling, it suggests people are very aware of the severity of the crisis, and I think that will buy them some time,” he said. “But I think any strategy that is built around disappointing voters and asking them for patience is inherently risky.”  

Poland on Monday held a state burial of the remains of over 700 victims of Nazi Germany's World War II executions that were recently uncovered in the so-called Valley of Death in the country's north. The observances in the town of Chojnice included a funeral Mass at the basilica and interment with military honors at the local cemetery. The remains of Polish civilians, including patients of an asylum, were exhumed in 2021-2024 from two separate sites near Chojnice. Historians have established that the Nazis, shortly after invading Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, executed some of the civilians. Other remains are from an execution that took place in January 1945, when the Germans were fleeing the area. Poland lost 6 million citizens, or a sixth of its population, of which 3 million were Jewish, in the war. The country also suffered huge losses to its infrastructure, industry and agriculture.

Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed 158 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two over Moscow and nine over the surrounding region, the Defense Ministry said Sunday. Forty-six of the drones were over the Kursk region, where Ukraine has sent its forces in recent weeks in the largest incursion on Russian soil since World War II. A further 34 were shot over the Bryansk region, 28 over the Voronezh region, and 14 over the Belgorod region — all of which border Ukraine. Drones were also shot down deeper into Russia, including one each in the Tver region, northwest of Moscow, and the Ivanovo region, northeast of the Russian capital. Russia's Defense Ministry said drones were intercepted over 15 regions, while one other governor said a drone was shot down over his region, too. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that falling debris from one of the two drones shot down over the city caused a fire at an oil refinery. Ukrainian drone strikes have brought the fight far from the front line into the heart of Russia. Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has stepped up aerial assaults on Russian soil, targeting refineries and oil terminals to slow down the Kremlin’s assault. Also in Russia, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said 11 people were wounded in Ukrainian aerial missile attacks in the Russian border region of Belgorod on Sunday. These included eight in the regional capital, also called Belgorod. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it had taken control of the towns of Pivnichne and Vyimka, in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim. Russian forces have been driving deeper into the partly occupied eastern region, the total capture of which is one of the Kremlin’s primary ambitions. Russia’s army is closing in on Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub for the Ukrainian defense in the area. At least three people were killed and nine wounded on Sunday in Russian shelling in the town of Kurakhove, some 20 miles (33 kilometers) south of Pokrovsk, Donetsk regional Gov. Vadym Filashkin said. Also on Sunday, 44 people were wounded when Russia attacked the Kharkiv regional capital, also called Kharkiv, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The city was struck by 10 missiles, with a shopping center, a sports facility and residential buildings among those damaged. Elsewhere in Ukraine overnight, eight drones were shot down out of 11 launched by Russia, according to the Ukrainian air force. One person was killed and four wounded in shelling overnight in the Sumy region, local officials said, while Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said five other people had been wounded in his region.

Three people were dead after a small plane crashed into a row of townhouses Saturday morning in a neighborhood east of Portland, setting the homes ablaze, authorities told KATU-TV. Officials earlier in the day had said the plane was carrying two people and that at least one resident had been unaccounted for. Photos and videos published by KGW-TV in Portland showed one of the townhomes engulfed in flames while black smoke poured out of the adjoining houses. Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis said the fire had spread to at least four of the homes, displacing up to six families. He said two people were treated at the scene, but he didn't describe the type or severity of injuries. The Federal Aviation Administration identified the aircraft as a twin-engine Cessna 421C, which it says went down around 10:30 a.m. near Troutdale Airport, about a 30-minute drive east of Portland. As the plane went down, it knocked over a pole and power lines, causing a separate brush fire in a nearby field, according to the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. The plane was split into multiple parts as it crashed in the residential area in the city of Fairview, which is home to about 10,000 people. Lewis said the first call about the fire came from staff at the Troutdale Airport's control tower, who saw a thick plume of smoke rising in the air. But Lewis said that initial reports indicated “there was no mayday, no call for emergency” from the aircraft itself before it crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation into the crash. The agency has sent two investigators to the site of the crash who will document the wreckage, spokesperson Peter Knudson said. He did not release further details about the crash. The website for the Port of Portland, which oversees general aviation and marine operations in the Portland area, describes Troutdale Airport as a “flight training and recreational airport."

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Thursday announced a $3 billion deal to buy 12 French warplanes, in a move that shifts his country away from its dependence on Russian arms. The announcement about the Rafale multi-purpose fighter jets was made during a joint news conference in Belgrade with French President Emmanuel Macron during a two-day visit to Serbia as part of what French officials have called a strategy of bringing Serbia closer to the European Union. Macron called called the deal “historic and important,” and said it demonstrated Serbia's "strategic courage." "The European Union needs a strong and democratic Serbia at its side and Serbia needs a strong, sovereign Europe to defend its interests," Macron said. ″Serbia’s place is in the EU, and it has a role to play to be an example for all the region." Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but under Vucic’s increasingly autocratic rule it has made little progress in the fields of rule of law and democratic reforms, which are the main preconditions for membership in the 27-nation bloc. Selling Rafales to Russian ally Serbia, which has occasionally expressed an aggressive stance toward its Balkan neighbors, has raised some concerns, one of which is how France plans to prevent sophisticated Rafale technology from being shared with Russia. Asked about whether the warplane deal includes restrictions on Serbia’s sharing of Rafale technology to its ally Russia, or the use of the military hardware in the Balkan region, Macron said the deal included ″full guarantees like any defense agreement,” without elaborating. Russia has been a traditional supplier of military aircraft to Serbia, which has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Vucic described the purchase of the Rafale jets as a “big” development. “It will contribute considerably to improving operational capabilities of our army, a completely different approach and we are happy to become part of the Rafale club,” Vucic said. Vucic dismissed any concerns among Western nations of the possibility that Serbia would transfer technology to Russia because of the Balkan country's traditional close ties with Moscow. “For the first time in history Serbia has Western jets,” Vucic said. “You wish to have Serbia as a partner and then you voice suspicions?” The French maker of Rafale, Dassault Aviation, said in a statement that Serbia's decision to buy the warplanes confirms “Rafale's operational superiority and its proven excellence in serving the sovereign interests of a nation.” Serbia had been considering the purchase of the new Rafale jets for more than two years, since neighboring Balkan rival Croatia purchased 12 used fighter jets of the same type for about 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). The acquisition allows Serbia to modernize its air force, which consists mainly of Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters and aging Yugoslav combat aircraft.

Nighttime Russian drone and missile attacks struck across Ukraine, killing at least four people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday, a day after a heavy barrage pounded energy facilities throughout the country. Zelenskyy said the attacks included 81 drones, as well as cruise and ballistic missiles and that 16 people were injured. He did not say where the four deaths occurred, but two people died in a strike on a residential building in the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the city's military administration. “We will undoubtedly respond to Russia for this and all other attacks. Crimes against humanity cannot go unpunished.” Zelenskyy wrote on X. In the Kyiv region, which had struggled with blackouts after Monday's onslaught, five air alerts were called during the night. The regional administration said air defenses destroyed all the drones and missiles but that falling debris set off forest fires. After the Monday barrage across Ukraine of more than 100 missiles and a similar number of drones, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said "the energy infrastructure has once again become the target of Russian terrorists” and urged Ukraine’s allies to provide it with long-range weapons and permission to use them on targets inside Russia. President Joe Biden called Monday's Russian attack on energy infrastructure “outrageous” and said he had “reprioritized U.S. air defense exports so they are sent to Ukraine first.” He also said the U.S. was “surging energy equipment to Ukraine to repair its systems and strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s energy grid.” The Russian Defense Ministry said the attacks used “long-range precision air- and sea-based weapons and strike drones against critical energy infrastructure facilities that support the operation of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex. All designated targets were hit.” In Russia, meanwhile, officials reported four Ukrainian missiles were shot down over the Kursk region, where Russian forces are fighting Ukrainian troops that made a surprise incursion this month. The fighting in the region has raised concerns about the nuclear power plant there. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi arrived in the Kursk region on Tuesday intending to inspect the plant, Russian news agencies reported.

The Islamic State militant group on Saturday claimed responsibility for a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight more at a crowded festival marking this city's 650th anniversary. The extremist group said on its news site that the attacker targeted Christians and that as a “soldier of the Islamic State” he carried out the assaults Friday night “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.” The IS claim couldn't immediately be verified. It provided no evidence for its assertions. Police later detained a suspect, the internal affairs minister of North Rhein Westphalia state said early Sunday. “We have been following a hot lead all day,” Herbert Reul told “Tagesschau,” the news program of the German public television network ARD. “The person we have been searching for all day has been detained a short while ago.” He was being questioned, Reul said. Reul said police not only had “clues” but also collected “pieces of evidence.” Officials earlier said a 15-year-old boy was arrested early Saturday on suspicion he knew about the planned attack and failed to inform authorities, but he was not the attacker. Two female witnesses told police they overheard the boy and an unknown person before the attack speaking about intentions that corresponded to the bloodshed, officials said. Before the Reul announcement, Markus Caspers, senior public prosecutor from the counterterrorism section of the public prosecutors office, said at a news conference Saturday that authorities could not yet speak on the attacker's motivation. “So far we have not been able to identify a motive, but looking at the overall circumstances, we cannot rule out” the possibility of terrorism, Caspers said, though he did not offer further details. The three people who died were two men aged 67 and 56 and a 56-year-old woman, authorities said. Police said the attacker appeared to have deliberately aimed for his victims' throats. “We are seeing the first signs of a new wave of terrorist attacks,” said Peter Neumann, a professor of security studies at King’s College in London. IS “is trying to capitalize on the huge mobilization resulting from Hamas’ terror offensive on 7 October 2023, even though strictly speaking it had nothing to do with it,” he said. “The kind of attack we saw in Solingen is exactly the kind of attack that (IS) is trying to inspire. It’s calling on people over the internet to attack ‘unbelievers’ using simple methods. like cars and knives. That way, it is trying to create an impression that (the Islamic State group) is everywhere and could strike anytime,” Neumann told The Associated Press. Thorsten Fleiss, who headed police operations Friday night, said officers were conducting searches and investigations in the entire state of North Rhine Westphalia. He said police had found several knives, but added he was unable to confirm whether any of them were used during the attack. Police warned people to stay vigilant even as well wishers started to leave flowers at the scene. Authorities established an online portal where witnesses could upload footage and any other information relevant to the attack. Churches in Solingen opened their doors to offer a space for prayer and emergency pastoral care. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited the city Saturday evening and said the government would do everything possible to support the people of Solingen. “We will not allow that such an awful attack divides our society," she said, appearing alongside state Minister-President Hendrik Wüst and Reul. Wüst described the attack as “an act of terror against the security and freedom of this country.” But Faeser, the country’s top security official, had not classified it as a “terror attack.” People alerted police shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday that a man had assaulted several people with a knife on the city's central square, the Fronhof. Solingen, a city of about 160,000 residents near the bigger cities of Cologne and Duesseldorf, was holding a “Festival of Diversity” to mark its 650th anniversary. It began Friday and was supposed to run through Sunday, with several stages in central streets offering attractions such as live music, cabaret and acrobatics. The attack took place in the crowd in front of one stage. Hours later, the stage lights were still on as police and forensic investigators looked for clues in the cordoned-off square, but the rest of the festival was canceled. “Last night our hearts were torn apart. We in Solingen are full of horror and grief. What happened yesterday in our city has hardly let any of us sleep,” the mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, told reporters Saturday. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the perpetrator must be punished with the full force of the law. "The attack in Solingen is a terrible event that has shocked me greatly. An attacker has brutally killed several people. I have just spoken to Solingen’s mayor, Tim Kurzbach. We mourn the victims and stand by their families,” Scholz said Saturday on the social media platform X. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also spoke to the mayor Saturday morning. “The heinous act in Solingen shocks me and our country. We mourn those killed and worry about those injured and I wish them strength and a speedy recovery from all my heart," Steinmeier said in a statement. A decade after the Islamic State militant group declared its caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria, the extremists no longer control any land, have lost many prominent leaders and are mostly out of the world news headlines. Still, the group continues to recruit members and claim responsibility for deadly attacks around the world, including lethal operations in Iran and Russia earlier this year that killed dozens of people. Its sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq still carry out attacks on government forces in both countries as well as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.

A somber atmosphere pervades Ukraine's 33rd Independence Day Saturday, as the nation’s war against Russia’s aggression reaches a 30-month milestone. No fireworks, parades or concerts are planned and instead Ukrainians will mark the day with commemorations for civilians and soldiers killed in the war. Ukrainians have flooded social media with messages of gratitude and support, greeting each other and thanking the soldiers on the front lines. In the outpouring of unity, there’s a shared acknowledgment that the two-and-a-half years have been tough, with fatigue increasingly setting in. “Independence is the silence we experience when we lose our people,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said to the nation. “Independence descends into the shelter during an air raid, only to endure and rise again and again to tell the enemy: You will achieve nothing.” Zelenskyy pointed out that the war started by Russia has now spread to its own territory. “Those who seek to sow evil on our land will reap its fruits on their own soil,” he said, referring to Ukraine’s incursion earlier this month into Russia’s Kursk region. The president symbolically chose to record his address in the northeastern town of Sumy, just a few kilometers (miles) from the Russian border, where Ukrainian forces crossed into Russia on August 6. “913 days ago, Russia launched its war against us, partly through Sumy region,” Zelenskyy said. “They violated not only sovereign borders but also the boundaries of cruelty and common sense, driven by an insatiable desire to destroy us.” Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, gave the war a startling turn, adding a new front to the conflict to counter Russia’s grinding advances in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Ukraine quickly seized considerable Russian territory, including scores of small towns, and captured hundreds of Russian soldiers, moves that may influence the war’s trajectory. “And those who sought to turn our lands into a buffer zone should now worry that their own country doesn’t become a buffer federation,” he said. “This is how independence responds.” Ukraine's military claims to hold 1,200 square kilometers (480 square miles) of Russian territory in Kursk, and in the past week it has also launched drone attacks that have struck strategic bridges and Russian airfields and drone bases. Even as Ukraine presses its offensive into Russia, however, it is also evacuating residents from Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, as Russian forces are now 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the strategic city. Residents of Pokrovsk, once a city of 60,000, on Friday registered for evacuation at a central school and then, carrying bundles of belongings, boarded trains to take them to areas further from the conflict. Also on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the capital, Kyiv. After hugging Zelenskyy, Modi offered “as a friend” to help bring peace to Ukraine. The Indian leader's visit, although brief, raised hopes among many in the war-battered country that he will help pave the way for an Indian role in peace mediation.