Zelenskyy says no talks if Russia holds referendum in occupied areas

A lot of the war is now concentrated in the industrial Donbas areas

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ ITDC NEWS An Egyptian-enforced ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants took effect late Sunday in a bid to end nearly three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis. The flare-up was the worst fighting between Israel and Gaza militant groups since Israel and Hamas fought an 11-day war last year, and adds to the destruction and misery that have plagued blockaded Gaza for years.

Israeli strikes and militant rockets continued in the minutes leading up to the beginning of the truce, and Israel said it would respond strongly if the cease-fire was violated.

 Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip were exchanging fire in the worst bout of cross-border violence since an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas last year. Israeli airstrikes on Saturday killed 11 people, including a senior commander from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Iran-backed militant group, who was slain in a targeted attack. Militants have fired dozens of rockets at Israeli cities and towns, disrupting life for hundreds of thousands of people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that all talks with Russia will be called off if the country proceeded with referendums in occupied areas.  A lot of the war is now concentrated in the industrial Donbas areas, with Russian troops occupying large portions of land.

Russian forces shelled a Ukrainian city close to Europe's biggest nuclear power plant Thursday, reinforcing warnings from the UN nuclear chief that the fighting around the site could lead to a disastrous accident. Dnipropetrovsk's regional governor said Russia fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has been under Russian supervision since Moscow's troops seized it early in the war.

Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000, and residents were left without electricity. Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had warned on Tuesday that the situation was becoming more perilous daily at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of Enerhodar. Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated at the plant, he said. What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous.