A secret unit of Ukrainian forces launched attacks on a Russian oil tanker while operating in western Libya, officials in the north African country said.
In a suspected sea drone attack, Ukrainian forces hit the Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, carrying 61,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, causing it to suddenly explode in a massive fire early in March.
The oil tanker, part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet, was transporting oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
It was badly damaged and its crew evacuated, leaving it to drift towards Libyan waters.
While Ukraine has not issued a direct comment on the Arctic Metagaz incident, it says Russia uses its oil export revenues to help fund the invasion, making its tanker fleet legitimate targets.
Earlier, ex-CIA chief David Petraeus said Vladimir Putin’s forces “no longer ha[ve] the upper hand” in the war with Ukraine.
He told CBS News: “Russia heavily outnumbers Ukraine. It outguns Ukraine. It has an economy 10 or 12 times the size of Ukraine’s. And yet the Ukrainian forces right now are stopping the Russians cold on the front lines.”
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Ukraine welcomes US-Iran ceasefire, calls for same pressure on Moscow
Ukraine is among the latest countries to welcome the ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran and the unblocking of the Strait of Hormuz.
Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said on X: “We welcome the agreement between President Trump and the Iranian regime to unblock the Hormuz strait and cease fire, as well as Pakistan’s mediation efforts. American decisiveness works.”
Sybiha, a close aide of Volodymyr Zelensky, called for similar efforts from Washington in stopping Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We believe it is time for sufficient decisiveness to force Moscow to cease fire and end its war against Ukraine,” he said.
Russia threatens Baltic nations over Ukraine’s attack on oil terminals
Russia has threatened a "response" to the Baltic nations after accusing them of supporting Ukraine’s drone campaign attacking Russian oil facilities.
Moscow claimed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had permitted Ukraine to send drones through their airspace in order to hit Russian oil terminals on the Baltic Sea coast.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia's northwestern Leningrad region, which is situated on the Baltic Sea and neighbours Estonia.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Baltic states "have received an appropriate warning”.
“If the regimes of these countries have enough sense, they will listen. If not, they will have to deal with a response," Zakharova said, without stating what exactly the response will be.
Russian TV hosts openly discuss striking Ukraine with nuclear weapons
Hosts on Russia's state run Rossiya 1 TV station have called for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine, arguing that Vladimir Putin's current strategy was not bringing success.
Mikhail Khodarenok, a war pundit who regularly appears on TV discussions of the war, said Russia should abandon "caution", according to The Express.
"The task isn't solvable with conventional weapons, the ones we have, so perhaps we should switch to special [nuclear] weapons and end this conflict within ten days, by 1 May?" he said.
“The Ukrainian leadership will be faced with the question of whether the country will be left in complete ruins, or we move to some kind of peace agreement.”
Another host responded: "Welcome to our Nuclear Maniacs Club. I've been calling for this for a long time."
Russia says 16 Cameroonian soldiers have died in Ukraine
Cameroon says Russia has confirmed the death of 16 of its nationals in the war in Ukraine, according to a memo addressed to the Russian Embassy in the central African country.
Russia has recruited fighters from a number of African countries after its own supplies of conscripts became stretched by four years of war.
Ukraine has said it believes more than 1,700 Africans have been recruited to fight for Russia, and several African nations have said some of their citizens have been tricked into fighting for Russia by offers of lucrative jobs or skills training.
The Russian foreign ministry said "necessary arrangements" had been made to contact the families of the deceased soldiers.
A separate message sent the same day invited the families of six other Cameroonian nationals living in Russia to come to the ministry for "urgent matters" concerning them. It did not give further information.
In March last year, Cameroon's defence minister instructed the country's various military high commands to take "strict emergency measures" to prevent further defections by active or retired Cameroonian soldiers.
Ukraine says Russian satellites helped Iran target US military sites
Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike US forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.
The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the US launched their assault on 28 February.
Russian satellites, the undated assessment said, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from 21 March to 31 March, covering 46 "objects", including US and other military bases and sites including airports and oil fields.
Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment said, in what it described as a clear pattern.
The Ukrainian assessment said that the exchange of satellite imagery was being organised through a permanent communications channel used by Russia and Iran and could also be facilitated by Russian military spies stationed in Tehran.
Ukraine evacuates cat and dog from frontline using drone
Ukrainian troops deployed a drone to rescue a cat and dog that were stuck on the frontline.
Thermal footage shared by Ukraine’s 14th Separate Mechanised Brigade yesterday showed soldiers approaching the animals, before a later clip shows them petting and stroking the pets in a shelter following the “dangerous” rescue.
The animals were flown 12km (7.5 miles) using a drone that was originally returning from a food supply mission.
“The tailed ones recovered from the ‘flight’ and have a good appetite!” said the brigade as they shared the footage.
Watch the rescue here:
Ukrainian troops fly cat and dog 7.5 miles by drone to evacuate them from front line
Ukrainian troops used a drone to rescue a cat and dog that were stuck on the front line. Thermal footage shared by Ukraine’s 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade on Tuesday (7 April) shows soldiers approaching the animals, before a later clip shows them petting and stroking the pets in a shelter following the “dangerous” rescue. The animals were flown seven-and-a-half miles using a drone that was originally returning from a food supply mission. “The tailed ones recovered from the ‘flight’ and have a good appetite!” said the brigade as they shared the footage.Arpan Rai8 April 2026 08:50
Vance accuses EU of meddling in Hungary's election as he backs pro-Kremlin Orban
US vice president JD Vance took a shot at the EU once again as he openly endorsed prime minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of both president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin, days before the Hungarian election.
Vance's visit to Budapest came ahead of Sunday's vote, which independent public opinion polls show Orban is likely to lose.
The trip, which is a rare endorsement by a sitting US official, underscored how crucial Trump deems the veteran Hungarian nationalist's reelection.
“What has happened in the midst of this election campaign is one of the worst examples of foreign election interference that I’ve ever seen or ever even read about,” Vance said in a press conference.
"The bureaucrats in Brussels have tried to destroy the economy of Hungary. They have tried to make Hungary less energy-independent. They have tried to drive up costs for Hungarian consumers, and they've done it all because they hate this guy (Orban),” he said.
Vance's intervention is the latest example of Trump administration officials going against long-held US norms around interference in foreign elections.
His remarks against Brussels come at a time of increasing transatlantic tension over Trump's war on Iran, criticism of Ukraine, threats to withdraw from the Nato alliance and stated desire to take control of Greenland from Denmark.
Ukrainian forces operating in Libya attack Russia's shadow fleet tanker
Ukrainian forces are operating in western Libya under a covert deal endorsed by the West, and they used the Northern African country's territory to strike a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean last month, two Libyan officials said.
The Russian-flagged Arctic Metagaz, carrying 61,000 tons of liquefied natural gas, was badly damaged in a suspected sea drone attack near Maltese waters early in March. It has since drifted off Libya.
All 30 crew members were rescued and put on another vessel heading to the Libyan city of Benghazi, the Libyan Maritime Authority said.
The tanker is part of Russia's so-called shadow fleet transporting oil in violation of international sanctions over Moscow's more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.
A recent temporary US waiver on those sanctions is aimed at easing supply shortages amid the Iran war.
Russia blamed the attack on Ukrainian sea drones. Ukraine says the oil export revenue is helping fund Moscow's invasion.
Russia blames Ukraine sea drones for attacking tanker that sank in the Mediterranean
Previous Ukrainian attacks on Russian ships have reportedly come from the Libyan coastArpan Rai8 April 2026 08:10
Our maritime defence expertise helping Middle East, Zelensky says
The Ukrainian military is participating in consultations on the Strait of Hormuz, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said, adding that Ukraine's maritime defence expertise is also of interest in Asia.
Kyiv sent several hundred specialists to the Middle East in the wake of the war in Iran, aiming to share its battle-tested approach in downing Iranian drones, which Russia used in the early years of its full-scale invasion.
"Ukrainian military personnel are taking part in consultations on the further operation of the Strait of Hormuz. Safe navigation is a global value; we know this from our experience defending the Black Sea," Mr Zelensky said in his evening address.
Throughout the war, Ukraine foiled Russian attempts to fully block its access to the Black Sea, critical for the country's economy and military.
Having no powerful fleet of its own but relying on innovations such as naval drones, it forced Russia's Black Sea fleet out of its home base in Moscow-occupied Crimea.
Port infrastructure in Ukraine's Izmail damaged by Russian drone
A Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine's largest Danube river port, Izmail, damaged a port facility, Ukraine's regional development ministry said on Telegram this morning.
"Fires broke out on the territory of warehouse premises," the ministry said, adding that they had been extinguished by rescuers.
