Noontime News Recap: Russia hits Kharkiv and Lviv as Gaza, Ukraine and Black Sea tensions deepen

Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kharkiv and the Lviv region overnight, killing three civilians in Kharkiv after a four storey residential building was partly collapsed and rescue workers pulled three bodies from the rubble.  🔗

Sponsored

Ukraine said it would pause strikes on Russian oil refineries and other energy sites for two days, in what it described as an effort to create space for a proposed ceasefire, even as Russia continued hitting power infrastructure.  🔗

In the Black Sea, Bulgaria reported a fresh drone attack on two ships near its coast, with one vessel sinking and rescue operations under way, adding to concern over the spread of the war beyond Ukraine's borders.  🔗

Gaza marked the first anniversary of its ceasefire on 10 October with continued Israeli strikes and new displacement in Gaza City, underscoring how fragile the truce remains.  🔗

Sponsored

Israeli forces also raided the offices of several Palestinian non government organisations in Ramallah and deployed snipers around the entrances to a hospital, in a move that further heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank.  🔗

In Yemen and the wider Gulf security picture, Anthropic said Houthi militants used its Claude AI system to help develop weapons technology aimed at Saudi Arabia, after the company said the group had used the tool in support of military planning.  🔗

Elsewhere in the Middle East, a Delta Airlines flight from New York to Tel Aviv was evacuated at Ben Gurion Airport after an anonymous bomb threat triggered an emergency response, while Air France said it would comply with new Israeli rules limiting which crew members may operate flights into the country based on nationality.  🔗  🔗

In central Africa, former Democratic Republic of the Congo president Joseph Kabila announced a new political and military coalition with the Rwanda backed M23 armed group, a move that could further complicate the conflict in the east of the country.  🔗

Sponsored

#Russia #Gaza #Ukraine #BlackSea #Congo #breakingrecap #recapnoon