A woman pinned beneath concrete, a man with a badly broken leg, a child trapped under the rubble.
The aftermath of Thursday’s Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv was grimly familiar: residents clawing through debris as rescuers arrived, against a backdrop of anguished cries and groans.
Among those who rushed to help was 19-year-old Vladislav Kalashnikov. Though his own flat had been torn apart in the blast, he ran to assist neighbours in a nearby block.
“I wasn’t frightened – I went straight to help,” he told Reuters outside the partly destroyed building on the eastern edge of Kyiv, where all but one of the at least 18 victims of the strikes across the city had been killed.
Footage filmed by the aspiring lawyer on his mobile phone showed a nightmarish scene of flames, twisted steel, shattered brickwork and broken glass.
Once he had checked on his family’s safety, Kalashnikov moved through the wreckage, where he came across a man lying helpless with a broken leg.
“He was screaming for help,” he recalled. “There was also a child crying for help. We helped the child first – she was trapped beneath the rubble.”
Kalashnikov, calm as he spoke, also described trying with others to pull free a woman with a severe head wound who was pinned under a concrete slab.
Explosions thundered in the distance as they worked, his video showed.
“We couldn’t lift the block,” he said quietly, lowering his eyes. It was not immediately clear if she had survived.
As he spoke, rescue workers carried away the dead in black body bags.
Kalashnikov said, like many Ukrainians, he had become accustomed to the increasingly frequent barrages that Russia which denies targeting civilians has launched against Kyiv and other cities.
Despite his close brush with death, he insisted he had no plans to leave Ukraine, even though the government this week lifted a ban on men aged 18 to 22 travelling abroad.
“I want to continue my studies,” he said. “My future is here.”
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Hundreds of people gathered for a second consecutive week at Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square, on Friday (12 December), to support the family of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining Israeli hostage whose body is believed to be held in Gaza.
Talks aimed at ending the war between Ukraine and Russia are set to continue in Berlin this weekend, with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior European leaders, a U.S. official said.
Thailand's leader vowed to continue military operations along the disputed border with Cambodia, as fighter jets launched strikes on Saturday, despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the two nations.
Türkiye’s Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Friday that discussions in Washington with U.S. officials have strengthened efforts to expand bilateral trade, moving closer to a $100 billion target.
Japan has lifted a tsunami advisory issued after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.9 hit the country's northeastern region on Friday (12 December), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said. The JMA had earlier put the earthquake's preliminary magnitude at 6.7.
Iran is preparing to host a multilateral regional meeting next week in a bid to mediate between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The United States issued new sanctions targeting Venezuela on Thursday, imposing curbs on three nephews of President Nicolas Maduro's wife, as well as six crude oil tankers and shipping companies linked to them, as Washington ramps up pressure on Caracas.
The resignation of Bulgaria's government on Thursday (11 December) puts an end to an increasingly unpopular coalition but is likely to usher in a period of prolonged political instability on the eve of the Black Sea nation's entry into the euro zone.
An extratropical cyclone has caused widespread disruption across Brazil’s São Paulo state, with powerful winds toppling trees and power lines, blocking streets and leaving large parts of the region without electricity.
Talks aimed at ending the war between Ukraine and Russia are set to continue in Berlin this weekend, with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior European leaders, a U.S. official said.
Türkiye’s Trade Minister Omer Bolat said Friday that discussions in Washington with U.S. officials have strengthened efforts to expand bilateral trade, moving closer to a $100 billion target.
Lebanon is prepared to demarcate its border with Syria, President Joseph Aoun said on Friday, while noting that the dispute over the Shebaa Farms could be addressed at a later stage.
Greek farmers blocked the Port of Thessaloniki on Friday (12 December) as part of nationwide protests demanding delayed European Union subsidies and compensation for rising production costs and livestock losses.
Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif held talks on Friday during the International Peace and Trust Forum in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, focusing on bilateral relations as well as regional and global issues
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