Russian strikes killed two people and wounded dozens across Ukraine overnight Saturday and Sunday, while a Ukrainian drone attack killed three people in Russia’s Belgorod region.

More than four years after the start of Russia’s large-scale offensive against Ukraine, the two warring countries are ramping up long-range strikes, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

Russia is relying on “ballistic terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media, stating that 61 missiles of various types had been fired at his country this week.

“More pressure, more sanctions against Russia and more air defence for Ukraine are needed,” he said.

The two people killed by a Russian drone strike were in the major northeastern city of Kharkiv, where four floors of a residential building were also destroyed, Zelensky.

Twenty-three people were also injured, according to regional governor Oleg Synegoubov. Images he shared show a gutted building with emergency services working at the scene.

According to the Ukrainian president, eight people were also injured overnight in Odesa, where strikes damaged the power grid, the port, and residential buildings.

Zelensky condemned another “absolutely brutal” strike targeting energy infrastructure near a shopping centre in Pavlohrad, in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Nine people, including four children, were injured there, he said.

Images posted on social media Saturday evening — which AFP has not been able to verify — show buildings on fire in what appears to be a commercial area.

In Russia, a Ukrainian drone attack on the border city of Belgorod killed three people, according to the region’s acting governor, Alexander Shuvaev.

Twenty-five people, including children aged four and nine, were also injured, he added.

Fires broke out in cars, two apartment buildings, and a house, according to him.

A video released by Russian media shows an apartment building engulfed in flames at night, watched by residents gathered across the street.

On the front line, the Russian army claimed on Sunday to have captured two small villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The claim has not yet been independently verified.

One of them, Vasiutynske, is located about ten kilometres (six miles) from the city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian urban and logistical hub.

The Russian invasion, which began four and a half years ago, continues with prospects of a peace agreement largely stalled.

The South African Consul-General to Nigeria, Prof Bobby Moroe, has said Nigerian singer, Ayra Starr, was initially denied a visa because she submitted an inappropriate yellow fever certificate.

Moroe, who disclosed this in an interview with Saturday said the visa rejection was not a recent development as portrayed, but occurred in February 2024.

The envoy said the controversy resurfaced after reports alleged that Starr and her team were denied entry visas to South Africa, prompting the South African mission to meet with her team and clarify the requirements that needed to be fulfilled.

According to him, the rejection was based on failure to meet visa requirements and was not related to the singer’s personality or status as a Nigerian seeking entry into the country.

He said, “I do not see the relevance of that rejection to the development of today, except for using that rejection to sow division.

“One of the challenges was that they did not submit an appropriate yellow fever certificate. They submitted the yellow fever certificate of another country when they were supposed to submit the yellow fever certificate of their home country.

“Subsequently, the matter was resolved amicably and they were granted a one-year visa to go and perform in South Africa in 2024, and I think that was what they forgot to mention.”

The professor said applicants were assessed based on immigration requirements regardless of their status.

South African Consulate, Patrick Matshisevhe; Project Manager of Blak Dave, TRUFOM, Elienai Julius; Consul-General of South Africa to Nigeria, Prof Bobby Moroe; Creative Director of Alpheria, Akabike Kosi and DJ Solomon Akinkunmi during the presentation of Visas at the South African Embassy in Lagos on Wednesday. Photo: Daniel Ayantoye
“If you meet the requirement for a visa, whether you are a star or not, tall, short, black or white, if you qualify, you will get it. But if you don’t, regardless of who you are, the immigration section will uphold the immigration law of the country,” he said.

He explained that travellers applying for visas are required to submit relevant documents, including a yellow fever certificate from their home country, as proof of vaccination before travelling to South Africa.

The clarification comes amid renewed concerns over alleged visa restrictions on Nigerians travelling to South Africa following claims that some Nigerian entertainers had faced difficulties obtaining entry permits.

The South African diplomat dismissed claims that the country had stopped issuing visas to Nigerians, saying visa decisions were based strictly on requirements.

He said, “Whether you are Ayra Starr or anyone, if you qualify, you will get it. The narrative that we have stopped issuing visas to Nigerians is false. We are not politicians; we don’t get into politics. Whether there are unrest or not, if you qualify for the visa, you will be given.”

Moroe also disclosed that visa applications from Nigerians had increased compared with previous years.

He said applications, which previously averaged between 40 and 60 monthly, had risen to between 60 and 80 monthly.

“The visa applications have increased compared to the past. Before now, it used to be between 40 and 60 applications monthly, but now it has increased to between 60 and 80 applications monthly,” he added.

Meanwhile, the South African Consulate in Lagos on Wednesday issued visas to five Nigerian disc jockeys travelling to the country for an event.

One of the DJs, Solomon Akinkunmi, who spoke with our correspondent at the embassy, confirmed the development.

He said, “We were five that were given visas. I was given a one-year visa, while others were given three months each.”

An appeals court on Friday upheld an order halting work on Donald Trump’s prized White House ballroom, enraging the US leader and setting up another Supreme Court battle over the limits of presidential authority.

The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, which had allowed construction to continue while it considered the case, agreed with a lower court that such a massive White House overhaul required the explicit consent of Congress.

It stayed its own decision for two weeks to give Trump time to ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

The Republican president lashed out after the 2-1 ruling, calling it “horrendous, politically motivated, and unlawful.”

The two majority-court judges were appointed by Democratic presidents, while the dissenter was nominated by Trump himself.

The president vowed in a lengthy social media post to immediately appeal to the Supreme Court.

“This decision, made after much of the work has been done and paid for, is a National Security Threat at the highest level. It is also a National Disgrace,” Trump said in another post on his Truth Social platform Friday night.

Trump initially touted the construction of the ballroom as being necessary to host galas, but has since repeatedly pointed to the concurrent addition of an underground military bunker and other security features.

Under the district judge’s initial order, work was to be allowed to continue only on a limited set of structures, including those that were underground.

“This holding has nothing at all to do with whether the proposed ballroom is desirable, or not, as a matter of policy. This ruling does not even necessarily mean that the Defendants may not ultimately construct the ballroom,” the majority wrote Friday.

“What it does mean is that the Defendants may not do so during the district court’s expeditious litigation without securing Congress’s authorization, as the Constitution and laws require.”

Trump, who has repeatedly complained that the White House lacks sufficient space for grand galas such as state dinners, unilaterally ordered construction of the massive ballroom.

Work on the project began last year with the sudden demolition of the White House’s entire historic East Wing.

Since then, photos have shown significant work on a basement complex, with some concrete walls rising up above ground.

Trump has insisted that the ballroom will be privately financed, but media reports in June showed that significant taxpayer funds were going to the project, which could cost as much as $600 million.

While the White House initially cited a $200 million price tag for the project, it quickly doubled the estimate to $400 million.

The ballroom is just one of Trump’s pet projects to leave his mark on Washington by the time he leaves office in 2029, along with a renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and other parks, as well as the construction of a gigantic arch.

Several of the projects have similarly faced legal challenges, but the ballroom project would be the first to reach the Supreme Court.





AFP