Ukrainian officials reported on Friday that thousands of children and their parents were evacuated from frontline areas in the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions as Russian forces continued to advance.
Restoration Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram: “Due to the difficult security situation, over 3,000 children and their parents have been forcibly evacuated from 44 frontline settlements.” Evacuations are also ongoing in the northern Chernihiv region.
Kuleba added that since 1 June, a total of 150,000 people have been moved from frontline areas to safer regions, including around 18,000 children and more than 5,000 people with limited mobility.
Russian troops continue to push through the industrial Dnipropetrovsk region. The evacuation orders came after Russia launched a major drone attack on Zaporizhzhia overnight, with regional administration head Ivan Fedorov reporting that at least nine drones struck the city, damaging residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, but causing no casualties.
According to Ukraine’s Air Force, Russia fired 116 long-range drones overnight, 86 of which were intercepted, while 27 reached their targets.
Russian territorial gains
Data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project show that the Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in 2025. While this exceeds gains from the previous two years combined, it remains far below the more than 60,000 square kilometres taken in 2022.
Diplomatic efforts
Kyiv is hosting security advisors from allied states on Saturday, with representatives from the European Union, NATO, and the United States joining, the latter via video link. The talks will be followed by a summit of leaders from the “coalition of the willing” planned next week in France.
In his New Year’s Eve address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a US-brokered peace deal is “90 per cent” ready, but the key issue of territorial disputes remains unresolved.
The diplomatic push comes as Russia continues to press its advantage on the battlefield against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.
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Global oil prices reached a four year high on Monday (9 March), surpassing $119 a barrel, as conflict in the Middle East rumbled on. Meanwhile, the Turkish Military said NATO air defence systems destroyed a missile fired from Iran towards the country.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
China has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their dispute through dialogue after Chinese envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as fighting between the two neighbours entered its eleventh day.
Iranian civilian and military officials have pledged their obedience to the new leader, Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei, with President Masoud Pezeshkian saying his leadership “will herald a new era of dignity and authority for the Iranian nation.”.
Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is a hardline cleric with strong backing from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. His rise signals continuity in Tehran's anti-Western policies.
Global oil prices surpassed $119 a barrel on Monday (9 March, 2026), an almost four year high, as the Middle East conflict rumbled on.
Trump says the United States "don’t need people that join wars after we’ve already won," targeting his criticism at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Israel continues to fire missles at strategic sites in Iran and Gulf regions report more strikes from Iran.
China has urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to resolve their dispute through dialogue after Chinese envoy Yue Xiaoyong met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, as fighting between the two neighbours entered its eleventh day.
Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader on Monday (9 March), signaling that hardliners remain firmly in charge, as the week-old U.S.-Israeli war with Iran pushed oil above $100 a barrel.
U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke by phone on Sunday as tensions between Washington and Westminster deepened over the conflict involving Iran. The call came less than a day after Trump criticised Britain’s response to U.S. strikes on Iranian targets.
Norwegian police are searching for a suspect after an explosion at the U.S. embassy in Oslo on 8 March caused minor damage but no injuries, in what authorities say may have been a deliberate attack linked to the Middle East crisis.
An explosion damaged a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège early on Monday (9 March) in what authorities said was an antisemitic attack that caused damage but no injuries.
The Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers will meet on Monday to discuss a global rise in oil prices and a joint release of oil from emergency reserves coordinated by the International Energy Agency, the Financial Times reports.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 9th of March, covering the latest developments you need to know.
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