Russia said on Friday that its forces carried out six mass strikes on Ukrainian military targets with long-range precision weapons across air, sea, and land domains, as well as attack drones, while Ukraine reported that its military struck four Russian troop concentration areas.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a daily war report that strikes were carried out against Ukraine's military-industrial complex facilities, fuel, energy, and transport infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, as well as military airfields.
Over the past week, Russia's air defense systems intercepted and shot down 50 Ukrainian guided aerial bombs, eight HIMARS rockets, and 2,464 fixed-wing drones. In addition, Russian forces captured two settlements in the Kharkiv and Donetsk directions.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces said in an operational update that 194 combat engagements occurred along the front lines over the past day. Ukrainian forces repelled 36 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk direction in Donetsk and fended off multiple Russian offensives in the Oleksandrivsk direction in Luhansk.
Ukraine claimed to have destroyed 1,175 Russian drones, multiple tanks and armored vehicles, and several artillery and air defense systems.
Intense fighting between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbas region continued. Russia's Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov announced that its forces had fully taken control of the Luhansk region and would continue to advance military operations in the Donetsk region.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday rejected Russia's claim of full control over Luhansk. Zelenskyy said that since the start of this year, Ukraine has restored its position on more square kilometers of its land than it has lost.
The European Union announced on Thursday that it has approved a 90-billion-euro loan to Ukraine and adopted the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, including 36 new restrictive measures targeting Russian oil exploration, extraction, refining and transportation.
Russia's mission to the EU blasted the new sanctions as illegal and said Russia will respond appropriately in due course. Against the backdrop of current turbulence in the global energy market, the EU will suffer the backlash of its own sanctions, it said in a statement.
Russia claims strikes on Ukrainian military targets, Ukraine reports destruction of Russian equipment
The Sudan conflict now in its fourth year has pushed millions into poverty, even forcing some families to rely on animal fodder to survive.
Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in April 2023, following months of escalating tensions between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the army chief and head of Sudan's ruling council, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the RSF commander and al-Burhan's former deputy.
Nearly 6.9 million Sudanese were pushed into extreme poverty in 2023 alone, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Currently, around 70 percent of the population are estimated to live in poverty in the country, compared with 38 percent before the war, said UNDP Resident Representative in Sudan Luca Renda.
At the Tawila Camp in North Darfur State, Salha Musa, a displaced widow from El Fasher, is struggling to provide her six children with minimal resources.
Water is available from wells, but other essential services are absent. Inflation and scarcity have forced families to rely on unconventional foods. Everyday staples have disappeared from local markets, leaving vulnerable families at risk of malnutrition.
"Since we arrived in Tawila a month ago, we've been suffering from a severe lack of services, except for water, which we draw from wells. We have no other services here, and we desperately need assistance. Our children aren't receiving an education, and I'm a nurse, but I can't find work," said Salha.
The UNDP warns that Sudan's economy has collapsed under the weight of the ongoing conflict, with GDP falling sharply and more than 13 million people displaced. Extreme poverty rates now surpass those of the 1980s.
"Life is incredibly difficult for us poor people. If we don't have money, what are we supposed to do? Will we starve to death? After the price of corn flour became so high, we stopped buying it. I don't know why they're raising prices or hoarding goods. Flour has completely disappeared from the markets here. After that, flour became expensive and unavailable," said Summia Ahmed, another displaced woman from El Fasher, adding that her family has even started relying on "Ombaz", a kind of animal fodder, as their food.
UNDP projections show that peace could lift millions out of extreme poverty, but delays and continued conflict risk locking the country into decades of low growth and deprivation.
For families like Salha's and Summia's, the road ahead remains uncertain, as conflict continues to dictate daily survival in Sudan.
Sudan conflict pushes millions into poverty
