Civil society groups, under the aegis of the Civil Society Joint Action Group, said 17,469 Nigerians were abducted under the Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu administrations from 2019 to date.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Monday, the Civil Society Joint Action Group, revealed that 2,423 persons had been killed, while 1,872 others had been abducted since the inauguration of President Tinubu.

Speaking on behalf of the group, the Executive Director of the Civil Society Legislative and Advocacy Centre, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said insecurity had persisted over the last three administrations, with 24,816 Nigerians killed and 15,597 persons abducted in the last administration of President Buhari, between 2019 and 2023.

Out of the total number of 17,469 kidnapped from 2019 and to date, 90 per cent of the cases were recorded under Buhari, while 10 per cent have been recorded under Tinubu.

Punch

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers on Monday killed two Ekiti State monarchs on the Ipao-Oke Ako Road.

The gunmen killed the Onimojo of Imojo in the Oye Local Government Area, Oba Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in the Ikole Local Government Area, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, while the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba in the Ikole Local Government Area, escaped.

Sources said the traditional rulers were returning from a function in Kogi State when their vehicles ran into the suspected kidnappers, who had laid an ambush on the road.

According to sources, while the bandits chased the Alara in a bid to kidnap him, the two other monarchs also attempted to escape but were shot by the gunmen.

A source explained, “I called my father to inform him that I was coming to the village tomorrow (Tuesday) but he said I should not come because our monarch was killed by some unknown gunmen.

 “He told me the Alara of Ara-Ekiti, the Olumojo of Imojo-Ekiti and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti were coming from a function when their vehicle was accosted by the gunmen who shot at them.

“He told me that Elesun and Olumojo were hit by the bullets fired by the gunmen and they died instantly while Alara escaped.”

Chairman of the Ajoni Local Council Development Area, Micheal Ogungbemi, in whose domain the incident took place, said that the dead bodies of the two obas had been recovered from the scene and taken to a mortuary.

The council boss explained that information indicated that the traditional rulers, who were coming from Kogi State, were attacked in the Oke Ako area.

LG chairman speaks

Ogungbemi said, “I have mobilised the Divisional Police Officer, the Rapid Respond Squad, and Amotekun Corps to the place. We have recovered the corpses of the kabiyesis to the hospital. The perpetrators are bandits because Kabiyesi Alara saw them.

“Those killed were Kabiyesi Elesun and Kabiyesi Onimojo. They were shot at and they died instantly. Kabiyesi Alara escaped.

“They were travelling in a car; Kabiyesi Alara drove the car. When they ran into them, they chased Kabiyesi Alara to the forest. Kabiyesi Elesun and Kabiyesi Onimojo were trying to escape from the scene when the bandits coming from behind shot at them.

“The monarchs had driven past the checkpoint of the local security outfit when the incident happened. The Alara, upon escape, informed the local security of the development. The bandits were carrying sophisticated arms.”

The Onikun of Ikun Ekiti and Secretary of Majority Obas of Ekiti Land, Oba Olatunde David Olusola, who described the incident as unfortunate, said the two deceased monarchs were active members of the association.

Olusola said, “There is a need for government to rise, we have been paying lip service to the issue of security. We need to localise the security system and involve traditional rulers. The government must sit down immediately with traditional rulers to fashion out ways to secure our communities. We know what to do.”

When contacted about the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Sunday Abutu, said it was a case of suspected murder.

“It’s a suspected case of murder but details will be communicated as soon as it’s available. Necessary action is underway as the tactical and intelligence teams have been deployed in that axis,” he stated.

Punch

Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed its sadness over the pronouncement by the Military authority in the Republic of Niger indicating that the Republics of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have withdrawn membership of their countries from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

In a statement on Monday by Francisca K. Omayuli, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the FG said for half a century, ECOWAS had worked to promote peace, prosperity and democracy in the region.

The military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger had on Sunday withdrawn from the ECOWAS “with immediate effect”.

However, the statement from the foreign affairs ministry, said: “Nigeria stands with ECOWAS to emphasise due process and shared commitment to protect and strengthen the rights and welfare of all citizens of Member States.

“Nigeria has worked sincerely and in good faith to reach out to all members of the ECOWAS family to resolve the difficulties being faced.

“It is now clear that those seeking to quit the Community do not share that same good faith,” said the statement.

The FG accused the unelected leaders of denying their people the sovereign right to make fundamental choices over their freedom of movement, freedom to trade and freedom to choose their leaders.

The FG however expressed its desire to engage with Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger “so that all the people of the region can continue to enjoy the economic benefits and democratic values that ECOWAS embraces.”

Nigeria further appeals to the International Community to continue to extend its support for ECOWAS and the vision of closer partnership, cooperation and integration.

Daily Trust

Israel military operation destroys a Gaza cemetery. Israel says Hamas used the site to hide a tunnel

The Islamic cemetery in southern Gaza was demolished, graves excised from the earth. A skull with no teeth rested atop the sandy, churned rubble.

The neighborhood of Bani Suheila in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, which soldiers showed foreign journalists Saturday, was obliterated, transformed by the military’s search for underground Hamas tunnels. An Associated Press journalist saw a destroyed mosque and — where the cemetery had once been – a 140-meter-(yard)-wide pit that gave way to what the army called a Hamas attack tunnel underneath. The military said Monday that combat engineers had demolished part of the network, releasing a video showing massive explosions in the area.

As Israel moves forward with a ground and air campaign in Gaza that health officials in the besieged enclave say has claimed over 26,000 Palestinian lives, the military’s destruction of holy sites has drawn staunch criticism from Palestinians and rights groups, who say the offensive is also an assault on cultural heritage. Under international law, cemeteries and religious sites receive special protection — and destroying them could be considered a war crime.

Israel says Hamas uses such sites as military cover, removing them of these protections. It says there is no way to accomplish its military goal of defeating Hamas without finding the tunnels, where they say the militants have built command and control centers, transported weapons and hidden some of the 130 hostages it is believed to be holding. They say digging up the tunnels involves unavoidable collateral damage to sacrosanct spaces.

“We’re not naive anymore,” said Israeli Dan Goldfus, who led journalists around the site Saturday.

Israel has made similar arguments in operations in and around Gaza hospitals.

Goldfus brought journalists inside a tunnel shaft he said stretched underneath the mosque and the cemetery. The journalists walked down a long concrete tunnel that branched in multiple directions and arrived at a small collection of rooms soldiers alleged were used by Hamas militants as a command and control center.

It included three domed rooms — one with four chairs, one with a desk, and a kitchen with empty cans of beans and a spice rack. A military commander said the tunnel, which contained a power transformer, fans, piping with wires and light switches, stretched 800 meters (yards) and was connected to a larger tunnel network in southern Gaza.

The army says it has found similar warrens of rooms in tunnels all over the Gaza Strip. It alleged the quarters shown to journalists Saturday included the office of a Hamas commander, an operations room, and living quarters for senior members of Hamas. It said the tunnel was used to plan attacks against the military.

The demolished cemetery, according to a satellite analysis, appears to have been the Shuhadaa Bani Suheila graveyard.

Since Israel declared war against Hamas on Oct. 7, it has repeatedly accused the Islamic militant group of using Gaza’s civilian sites as cover for military use. It says that military operations — from raiding hospitals to digging up cemeteries and destroying holy sites — are necessary to dismantle the militants’ command centers and bunkers.

On Oct. 7, Hamas militants poured into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and dragging some 250 hostages back to Gaza. Over 100 hostages were exchanged for Palestinian prisoners during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive on Gaza has displaced most of the 2.3 million population. According to a U.N. monitor, the military has damaged 161 mosques in the course of its operations. The agency said it has not tracked the number of cemeteries that were damaged.

On Saturday, Goldfus swept his gloved hand across the moonscape surrounding him. The golden dome of the mosque was cracked and off-kilter, slumping down onto its shattered walls.

Goldfus said that Israeli forces destroyed the mosque after militants fired at them from within its grounds. Footage circulated on Israeli media showed soldiers using explosives to blow out the mosque’s first floor walls, collapsing it.

UNESCO has called on both Hamas and Israel to refrain from attacking culturally important sites.

Under the Rome Statute, the 1998 treaty that established the International Criminal Court, cemeteries and mosques receive special protection as “civilian property.” The destruction of these sites can be considered a war crime, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Israel argues the sites lose their protection when they are used for military purposes, and when the operational gain from targeting them outweighs the loss of civilian life and infrastructure.

Goldfus said that forces had found other traces of Hamas activity in the area, from confiscated AK-47s to a map of the border between Gaza and Israel that he said Hamas might have used for the Oct. 7 attack.

He said destroying the mosque and digging up the cemetery was integral to locating some 60 tunnel shafts in the area. The journalists were shown only one shaft.

Dismantling the tunnel network, Goldfus said, posed a “riddle” to forces. He said it is difficult to operate in the area without harming sacred sites and even human remains.

“We try to move them aside as much as possible,” he said when asked about the excavated bodies. “But remember, when we are fighting in this place, and your enemy is flanking you again and again and again, and using these compounds to hide in, there’s not much you can do.”

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian shelling kills four in northern Ukraine, one in devastated Avdiivka

Russian shelling in northern Ukraine killed four people in two villages in Sumy region near the Russian border, while a woman died in a fresh assault on the devastated eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, local officials said.

The local administration in Sumy region said three people died in mortar fire in the village of Znov-Novohorodske. A fourth was killed in another village to the southeast.

Reuters could not verify the reports, but officials in Sumy region report daily attacks from Russian forces.

In Avdiivka, a Ukrainian-held town near the front line, public broadcaster Suspilne said a woman died after suffering serious injuries in mid-afternoon shelling.

Avdiivka was seized briefly in 2014 by pro-Russian forces who captured large swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine, but was recaptured by Ukrainian troops who built fortifications.

It has remained in Ukrainian hands in Russia's slow drive through eastern Ukraine despite fierce onslaughts since mid-October. Virtually none of the town's buildings remains intact.

The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces, in its evening report said Ukrainian forces had repelled 13 Russian attacks in and around Avdiivka in the past 24 hours.

Military officials have spoken in recent days of increased Russian military activity on long stretches of the 1,000-km-long (600-mile) front line through eastern and southern Ukraine.

On the southern front, military spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk told a briefing that Ukrainian forces were extending the foothold they secured late October on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River despite intensified Russian attacks.

Russia forces advanced through Kherson region in the days after the February 2022 invasion, but by the end of the year had abandoned the region's main town and the Dnipro's west bank.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian army currently numbers 880,000 personnel, Zelensky discloses to German media

The Ukrainian army currently has a force level numbering about 880,000 troops, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said in an interview with Germany’s ARD broadcaster.

"We have 880,000 troops; that’s an army of almost a million," he said, when asked about the army’s force strength. "Besides, we currently have a workforce of 30 million people, even though I can’t provide the exact number. Some 6.5 million to 7.5 million people have moved abroad, and again, I can’t give the accurate figure," Zelensky added.

Earlier, the Ukrainian president said that the Ukrainian ground forces were 600,000 strong in December 2023.

In February 2022, the Ukrainian armed forces numbered about 260,000, including 250,000 ground troops.

Reuters/Tass

Recruiters spend very little time looking at each resume — “three-to-five seconds” before they decide if they want to keep going, says Simon Taylor, former Disney recruiter and author of the forthcoming leadership book “Build Smart.” “Five is generous,” he says.

To get the information they need in such a short period of time, recruiters become “master keyword scanners,” he says, zeroing in on exactly the elements of your resume that prove whether or not you should be moving along in the interview process.

Here’s what they’re really looking at.

‘The current job title’

First, recruiters are looking at your job titles. Specifically, they’re looking at “the current job title,” says Taylor.

They’ll be comparing to see how similar it is to the title of the role they’re looking to fill. That’ll give them a sense of the parallels between what you’re doing now and what you could be doing on the job in their company. The closer the role, the more seamless the transition could be and the more relevant skills you could be bringing.

If you’re not currently employed, hiring managers will be looking at your most recent job title, says Taylor.

Work experience at ‘companies that are reputable’

When recruiters scan your most recent job title, they’ll also be looking at the name of the company you’re working at or worked at.

“Maybe it’s a Fortune 500 company and they’re really looking for candidates coming from companies that are reputable that have similar size or scope,” says Taylor. Or it’s a startup and they want to see if you’ve been in that kind of hustle mentality.

The point is your previous company will give a sense of the kind of culture you’re accustomed to and could transitions to in the future.

‘It’s not always as black and white’

A candidate may include a summary such as “a couple of bullets at the very top of their resume summarizing the top six skills they have or types of experience,” says Taylor. This isn’t mandatory and not everyone includes one, but a recruiter might scan that as well.

“It’s not always as black and white” as these three elements, he says. If you have a relevant title but they haven’t heard of your most recent company, “then they might start reading a little bit further” to see what else you’ve accomplished. Big picture, though, job title, companies of employment and a resume summary are the three components recruiters are looking at in the three-to-five seconds they give you.

When you tweak your resume for a role, make your job titles and employers clear and mirror the language of the job description in your summary to the extent that it’s relevant to give you the best shot at moving forward.

CNBC

Defying pressure by leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to restore constitutional rule, junta leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso said on Sunday they were quitting the regional bloc.

The decision is a blow to regional integration after the bloc suspended the three countries following military takeovers.

Here is a summary of the situation:

WHY DID THE THREE COUNTRIES LEAVE THE BLOC?

The juntas said in a joint statement that ECOWAS had drifted from the ideals of its "founding fathers and the spirit of Pan-Africanism," and accused the bloc of failing to assist in their fight against Islamist insurgents and ending insecurity.

ECOWAS has imposed a raft of economic, political and financial sanctions on the three in a bid to force them to return to constitutional order, but that has only hardened their position.

The juntas called the sanctions illegal and inhumane.

CAN A MEMBER STATE LEAVE ECOWAS?

Under Article 91 of the ECOWAS Treaty, a member state can only withdraw its membership after giving a written one-year notice and abides by its provisions during that period. It is unclear for now if the three intend to do so.

WHAT WOULD BE THE IMPACT?

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are landlocked countries that depend on ports in their ECOWAS neighbours for imports and exports. Leaving the bloc could see an increase in tariffs and could impact the free movement of their citizens and financial flows within the rest of the bloc.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT

ECOWAS, headquartered in Nigerian capital Abuja, could call an emergency summit to discuss the withdrawal but may not have the leverage to stop them leaving.

The decision to depart is seen as a major test for current ECOWAS chair Nigeria, whose President Bola Tinubu has sought to re-assert the country's position as the dominant regional power.

ECOWAS, which has been trying to negotiate with the Niger junta leaders, has previously said it was ready to deploy troops to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts fail.

The bloc is yet to carry out its threat.

Reuters

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Saturday unleashed terror in some communities in Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State, killing eight people.

Residents of the affected communities, such as Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima, were reported to have fled their villages.

Agatu communities have consistently witnessed armed herders attacks in the past two weeks, with troops and civilians killed.

In the first attack, which happened on January 18, 2024, five people, including three troops, were ambushed and killed.

Force Commander of Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, Sunday Igbinowanhia, a major general, who later confirmed the killing of three troops to journalists in Makurdi, said that the troops engaged the armed herders in a gun duel that lasted for three hours and successfully repelled the armed herders who might have lost many people in their fold.

He said, “Three deceased comprising of two soldiers and one Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps personnel were recorded, and two other soldiers were wounded and receiving treatment at the  Nigerian Air Force hospital in Makurdi.”

Barely five days after, the former Commissioner for Information, Culture, and Tourism, Mike Inalegwu, who hails from the LG, confirmed another attack leading to the death of two people.

Saturday attack, the third in the past two weeks, was said to have lasted four hours, with the armed herders raiding several communities.

A resident of the local government who did not want to be mentioned said, “Residents of Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima have all deserted their homes into the forest.”

The member representing Agatu State Constituency in the State Assembly, Godwin Edoh, who confirmed Saturday’s attack to journalists through phone on Sunday, said the attack took place between noon and 4 pm on Saturday.

He said, “It’s true, these attackers invaded three communities of Ogwumogbo, Ikpele, and Ejima on Saturday between 12 and 4 pm, and they sacked the people; eight people were killed in this latest attack, and several people are still missing.

“Despite all our efforts, the killings have persisted. No one is coming to our aid and the governor is quiet. I do not understand this.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, said, “I do not have this report”.

Punch

Israel notes 'significant gaps' after cease-fire talks with US, Qatar, Egypt but says constructive

Israel said “significant gaps” remain after cease-fire talks Sunday with the United States, Qatar and Egypt but called them constructive and said they would continue in the week ahead, a tentative sign of progress on a potential agreement that could see Israel pause military operations against Hamas in exchange for the release of remaining hostages.

The U.S. announced its first military deaths in the region since the war began and blamed Iran-backed militants for the drone strike in Jordan that killed three American service members amid concerns about a wider conflict.

The statement from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on the cease-fire talks did not say what the “significant gaps” were. There was no immediate statement from the other parties.

The war has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, destroyed vast swaths of Gaza and displaced nearly 85% of the territory’s people. Israel says its air and ground offensive has killed more than 9,000 militants, without providing evidence. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and militants took about 250 hostages.

With Gaza’s 2.3 million people in a deepening humanitarian crisis, the United Nations secretary-general called on the United States and others to resume funding the main agency providing aid to the besieged territory, after Israel accused a dozen employees of taking part in the Hamas attack that ignited the war.

Communications Director Juliette Touma warned that the agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, would be forced to stop its support in Gaza by the end of February.

CEASE-FIRE TALKS TO CONTINUE

Sunday’s intelligence meeting included CIA Director Bill Burns, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel.

Ahead of the meeting, two senior Biden administration officials said U.S. negotiators were making progress on a potential agreement that would play out over two phases, with the remaining women, elderly and wounded hostages to be released in a first 30-day phase. It also would call for Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing negotiations.

More than 100 hostages, mainly women and children, were released in November in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, speaking to troops, said that “these days we are conducting a negotiation process for the release of hostages” but vowed that as long as hostages remain in Gaza, “we will intensify the (military) pressure and continue our efforts — it’s already happening now.”

At least 17 Palestinians were killed in two Israeli airstrikes that hit apartment buildings in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw the bodies at a local hospital. One hit a building in Zawaida, killing 13 people, and the other an apartment block in the Nuseirat refugee camp, killing four.

Also Sunday, 10 Palestinians were killed in a strike that hit a residential building in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, said Dr. Moataz Harara, a physician at Shifa Hospital, where the dead were taken.

Israel’s military said troops were engaging in close combat with Hamas in neighborhoods of the southern city of Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest.

US DEATHS HIGHLIGHT REGIONAL TENSIONS

The three deaths announced by Biden were the first U.S. fatalities in months of strikes against American forces across the Middle East by Iranian-backed militias amid the war in Gaza. U.S. Central Command said 25 service members were injured.

U.S. officials were working to conclusively identify the group responsible for the attack, but assessed that one of several Iranian-backed groups was responsible. Jordanian state television quoted a government spokesperson as contending the attack happened across the border in Syria. U.S. officials insisted it took place in Jordan, which U.S. troops have long used as a basing point.

The U.S. in recent months has struck targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to respond to attacks on American forces and to deter Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from continuing to threaten commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

The war in Gaza has sparked concerns about a regional conflict. The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has increasingly called for restraint in Gaza and for more humanitarian aid to be allowed into the territory while supporting the offensive.

A GAZA LIFELINE AT RISK OF ‘COLLAPSE’

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said “the abhorrent alleged acts” of staff members accused in the Oct. 7 attack “must have consequences,” but added the agency should not be penalized by the withholding of funding, and “the dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”

The United States, the agency’s largest donor, cut funding over the weekend, followed by eight other countries including Britain and Germany. Together, they provided nearly 60% of UNRWA’s budget in 2022.

Guterres said that of the 12 employees accused, nine were immediately terminated, one was confirmed dead and two were still being identified. He said they would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

UNRWA provides basic services for Palestinian families who fled or were driven out of what is now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding the country’s creation. The refugees and their descendants are the majority of Gaza’s population.

Since the war began, most of the territory’s 2.3 million people depend on the agency’s programs for “sheer survival,” including food and shelter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

A quarter of Gaza’s population is facing starvation as fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of aid, which has been well below the daily average of 500 trucks before the war

In the past week, hostages’ family members and supporters have blocked aid trucks from entering at the Kerem Shalom crossing. Dozens again blocked the entry on Sunday, chanting “No aid will cross until the last hostages return.”

The military later declared the area around the crossing a closed military zone, which would prohibit protests there.

With Gaza’s future being debated, thousands, including far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu’s coalition and senior Cabinet ministers, gathered in Jerusalem to call for renewing Jewish settlement in Gaza. Settlements there were evacuated in 2005, ending a 38-year-occupation, during a unilateral withdrawal of troops that bitterly divided Israel.

Crowds chanted “death to terrorists” as far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took the stage and declared it was “time to encourage immigration” of Palestinians from Gaza.

The international community, including the U.S., has said it will oppose any attempts to expel Palestinians from Gaza. It also overwhelmingly considers settlements on occupied territory illegal.

Netanyahu has said such views do not reflect official policy and he has no plans to resettle Gaza, but he has released few details of a postwar vision for the territory.

AP

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia's drones, missiles target Ukraine's critical infrastructure, Ukraine says

Russia launched drone and missile attacks targeting civilian and critical infrastructure across wide areas of Ukraine, Kyiv's Air Force said on Sunday.

Preliminary information did not show any casualties in the attacks, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks on each other's territory in recent months, targeting critical military, energy and transport infrastructure.

The air force said Russia attacked the central Poltava region with two ballistic missiles fired from the Iskander ballistic missile system, and three surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk region in the east.

Filip Pronin, governor of Poltava region, wrote on Telegram that the attack struck an industrial site in the city of Kremenchuk, sparking a fire. Pictures posted on social media showed emergency crews battling a blaze.

Further southeast in the Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Yuri Malashko said an infrastructure site had been hit in a drone attack. Emergency crews were at the site, Malashko said, but gave no details of damage or casualties.

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed four of eight Russia-launched drones overnight, the air force said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

** Russian missile hits Ukraine's Kremenchuk district for second day, no casualties

A Russian missile hit an industrial site in the central Ukrainian district of Kremenchuk on Sunday for a second straight day, the regional governor said, adding the strike had caused no casualties.

"For the second day in a row, the enemy is attacking Poltava region," Poltava Regional Governor Filip Pronin wrote on the Telegram messaging app, noting that the target was in Kremenchuk district.

Pronin later said there had been no casualties.

A missile attack on Saturday hit an industrial site in the same area, triggering a fire. No casualties were reported in that incident.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Russia open to substantive proposals for diplomatic settlement in Ukraine — MFA

Russia remains open to truly substantive proposals for a diplomatic settlement of the situation around Ukraine, said Alexey Polishchuk, the head of the Second Department of the CIS countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry.

He said there’s no hope now that the West will change its approach to the Ukrainian settlement.

"The current Kiev leadership are puppets, first of all, of Washington, London and Brussels. They benefit from escalating the Ukrainian crisis, which they are using not only to try to accomplish the goal of inflicting a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia, but also to implement measures that are aimed at weakening the economies of their competitors from continental Europe, who have been zombified by the ‘Russian threat’ and do not realize the real threats to their security," the diplomat said in an interview with TASS.

"On its part, Russia has always remained open to truly substantive proposals on how to overcome the current crisis through political and diplomatic methods," he said.

Reuters/Tass