Both Russia and Ukraine on Thursday reported intensified fighting and strategic gains, highlighting ongoing fierce battles in key regions.
Russia's Defense Ministry announced that its forces carried out strikes against Ukrainian military targets over the previous 24 hours. The attacks focused on the Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia directions.
According to the ministry, Russian forces targeted 162 locations, including Ukrainian military airfield infrastructure, drone production facilities, unmanned boat assembly sites, ammunition depots, and temporary deployment points for Ukrainian troops and foreign mercenaries.
Meanwhile, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that April had been a difficult month for Ukrainian forces. Despite the challenges, he said that Ukrainian troops successfully maintained their defensive lines, preventing major losses and Russian breakthroughs.
Syrskyi noted that Ukrainian forces had managed to reclaim 115 positions in April. He emphasized that Ukraine's main military efforts were concentrated in the directions of Sumy, Kursk, Pokrovsk, and Novopavlivka to counter Russian advances.
Russia, Ukraine report heavy fighting across front lines
The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.
The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.
Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.
"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.
Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.
Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.
"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.
Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight
