As thousands of weapon-wounded civilians flood hospitals in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and the surrounding areas, humanitarian agencies are express concern over the “humanitarian and medical toll of the violence,” stating that the situation has reached a “devastating level.”.
The March 23 Movement is an armed rebel group that has been dramatically increasing its territory and moving toward Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. As fighting between M23, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), and other armed groups intensifies, thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire have been forced to flee.
“We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe,” said Xavier Collard de Macquerh, head of programs at the International Committee of the Red Cross, in an interview with ABC News. “.
“People are being uprooted repeatedly and facing loss in a repetitive way,” he stated.
According to Collard de Macquerh, shifting frontlines are causing a wave of evictions, with the ICRC-supported hospitals in Goma witnessing an increasing number of injured civilian patients.
“We are seeing a significant rise in the number of weapon-wounded individuals that we are receiving, and this is concerning because shrapnel and explosive injuries are increasing. ****.
According to ABC News’ Collard de Macquerh, a large number of civilians are also escaping north to regions that are difficult for humanitarian organizations to access because of security.
“People need access to basics like food, water, hygiene, and access to health,” he said over the phone from Kinshasa to ABC News, urging armed actors to take all reasonable safety measures to shield innocent bystanders from harm.
The World Food Programme estimates that 25% of the people in this Central African country are suffering from “crisis levels of hunger or worse,” with many of them living in substandard conditions without access to food, healthcare, or education.
The World Food Programme (WFP) stated in a statement last week that the hunger crisis is driven by conflict.
UNHCR spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh stated at a press conference in Geneva that since “violent clashes” engulfed the town of Sake in Masisi territory in February, nearly 300,000 people have arrived in Goma and its environs.
People are fleeing “indiscriminate bombing and other human rights abuses,” which has resulted in a “swell” in both official and spontaneous displacement due to the mass displacement. “.”.
Right now, the DRC is home to the second-largest displacement crisis in the world, behind only Sudan and the U. N. stated, with more than 71 million people internally displaced—800,000 of them in the previous three months.
“Almost ten million individuals are in motion,” stated Saltmarsh.
A quarter of the population, or 25 point 4 million people, suffer from hunger and poverty.
The health of the populace is seriously threatened by the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases. “.
Children in the North Kivu region are living in chaos and are “putting themselves at risk of being recruited by armed forces,” according to Save the Children, an international children’s charity. The violence has also forced the closure of over 500 schools. ****.
Instructor kidnapping has occurred in at least two cases.
The US. S. has urged parties involved in conflicts to use the Luanda Process.
“The crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo cannot be solved solely by military means,” the U.S. s.
Ambassador to the U. N. Robert Wood stated during a briefing to the U.S. Not N. Security Council.
“As the most practical avenues for ending this thirty-year conflict, the United States fully supports the efforts spearheaded by regional players to resume the Nairobi and Luanda processes. ****.
The ambassador declared, “For the sake of their people, the region, and the world, the United States calls on the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC to make the decision to pursue peace.”.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin mocked the notion that his nation would attack a NATO member, calling it “sheer nonsense,” but he issued a warning that any Western air base housing U.S. s. Russian forces would view the F-16 fighter jets that are manufactured in Ukraine as a “legitimate target.”.
Putin remarked late on Wednesday, citing warnings in the U.S., “Their statements about our alleged intention to attack Europe after Ukraine is sheer nonsense.”. s. and Western Europe that unless it is stopped, Russia might turn its attention to other nations.
He pointed out that the U.S. s. The US defense budget exceeds Russia’s by more than ten times.
While visiting an air base, he asked military pilots, “In light of that, are we going to wage a war against NATO? It’s ravings.”.
Ukraine is waiting on its Western allies to deliver F-16s, which will put more military pressure on Russia. 42 F-16s were promised, according to remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last year. For months, Ukrainian pilots have been honing their combat aircraft skills in the West.
In order to shield the F-16s from bombing attacks while they are on the ground, elevated runway standards and reinforced hangars are necessary. It’s unclear how many Ukrainian air bases are able to meet those demands, but once the jets arrive, Russia will definitely move swiftly to target a few that do.
Putin forewarned the Western allies of Ukraine not to provide air bases within their borders from which the F-16s could conduct sorties against the forces of the Kremlin. He declared that those bases would turn into a “legitimate target.”.
“We will also need to consider that while planning our combat operations, as F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons,” Putin continued.
Although Ukrainian officials have welcomed the F-16s as a chance to retaliate against Russia’s air dominance, military analysts predict that the aircraft arrival won’t change much given Russia’s vast air force and advanced air defense systems.
The F-16s “won’t change the situation on the battlefield,” according to Putin. “.
“Their tanks, armored vehicles, and other equipment, including multiple rocket launchers, will all be destroyed, just as their warplanes,” he declared.
The ability of Ukraine to launch long-range missile strikes against Russian infrastructure can be strengthened with the help of F-16s. The lack of air cover during Ukraine’s counteroffensive last year left its forces vulnerable to Russian artillery and aircraft, which contributed to its failure.
Despite the availability of advanced Western air defense systems, which have forced Russian warplanes to avoid Ukrainian skies and launch attacks while remaining over Russia-controlled territory, Russia has managed to maintain air superiority in the conflict with Ukraine.
A Russian combat jet crashed into the Black Sea on Thursday near the Crimean Peninsula, which is under Russian occupation, according to Sevastopol Governor. According to Mikhail Razvozhayev. About 200 meters off the coast, the pilot ejected and was found by rescue crews, he said. Regarding the crash’s probable cause, Razvozhayev gave no information.
As Kyiv waits for more promised Western military support and considers a wider mobilization, the Kremlin currently has a battlefield advantage in terms of troops and weaponry, yielding recent incremental gains at points on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
Overnight, the Kremlin’s forces continued their attritional attacks against Ukrainian defenses, inflicting more than a dozen injuries as Russia launched salvos of drones and missiles at the country’s eastern and southern regions, according to authorities on Thursday.
Ukraine’s air force reported that 26 out of the 28 Shahed drones were intercepted by air defense systems. According to the report, five missiles were launched by Russian forces over night.
The ongoing missile barrages of Kyiv, the nation’s capital, and attacks on energy facilities all over the country have given the Kremlin’s forces’ regular bombardment of Ukraine during the war more impetus. As retaliation for Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian territory, the attacks also seek to demoralize the country.
“Deplete Ukraine’s inventory of ground-based air defense” is one of Russia’s objectives, according to a recent military assessment released by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
This would reduce Ukraine’s combat capacity while it awaits promised but postponed military assistance from the West, which would include ammunition for its air defense and artillery.
Ukraine faces the risk that, in the absence of sufficient backing from the U.S., an attritional war in the air domain will favor Russia more and more. S. and its allies, according to the IISS. “The outcome of the war depends on Ukraine’s ability to counter Russian air threats and impose costs on the Russian Aerospace Forces.”. “.
On Thursday, the defense and foreign ministers of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba and Rustan Umerov, pleaded with their international allies to send more missiles and air defense systems.
The NATO-Ukraine Council met extraordinary at ambassador level on Thursday at the alliance headquarters, according to the Ukrainian Mission to NATO, in response to Russia’s missile attacks on vital infrastructure.
In a video that was uploaded on X, formerly Twitter, Kuleba stated that “Ukraine urgently requires more air defense and interceptors,” particularly Patriot systems that can intercept ballistic missiles. According to him, ballistic missiles are launched nearly every day against Ukraine, making it the only nation on Earth.
Twelve people were hurt and six residential buildings were damaged in a Russian ballistic missile attack on the city on Wednesday afternoon, according to authorities in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, which is close to the Black Sea.
Two women, ages 72 and 74, were injured by Shahed drone strikes on a residential area during the course of an overnight attack in the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia, according to the local governor. Fedorov Ivan. Seven buildings were reported damaged by rescue services.
Three drone and missile attacks were thwarted, according to officials, in the Black Sea city of Odesa.
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