Europe

Black Sea shipping attacks hit 317 merchant and other vessels between May and October — more than four times the previous half-year, Ambrey Analytics told Reuters — as strikes on cargo ships off NATO members Romania and Bulgaria sank vessels in their exclusive economic zones, cut Ukraine's September port exports to 0.81 million tonnes from 2.1 million a year earlier, and left analysts saying Russia is testing NATO's red lines.

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), explained: when Charles II of Spain died childless, his will left a global empire to Louis XIV's grandson Philip — and the Grand Alliance of Britain, the Dutch Republic and the Emperor fought France and Spain for thirteen years to stop a Bourbon superstate. Philip kept Spain but renounced France, Spain lost its European empire, Britain took Gibraltar, Minorca and the asiento slave-trade contract, and compiled death estimates range from about 400,000 to more than 1.2 million.

A Russian jet-powered drone struck a crowded platform at Dnipro's main railway station on Thursday morning as a commuter train prepared to depart for Zaporizhzhia, killing at least 14 people, Reuters and CNN reported. Daytime strikes on two other Ukrainian cities killed five more people the same day — two teenagers on a central street in Chernihiv and three people in an apartment building in Kremenchuk — bringing Thursday's reported toll to at least 19, even as the US-brokered humanitarian ceasefire around Oleshky in the Kherson region held for a third day.

The Liberian-flagged container ship Contship Jet sank during the night after three maritime drones struck it off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on Wednesday, Bulgarian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Kiril Mihaylov said — after all 18 crew members, 14 Filipinos and four Ukrainians, were rescued uninjured and taken to Varna. Twenty of the ship's 421 containers fell overboard and are drifting, some carrying hazardous cargo; the navy says it does not know where the drones came from, and no one has claimed the attack.

Finland's President Alexander Stubb and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin for about 90 minutes on Tuesday to urge him to end the war in Ukraine, breaking with Western European leaders' longstanding practice of shunning direct contact with the Kremlin, Reuters reported. The two leaders linked the initiative to planned peace discussions between Russian, Ukrainian and US officials in Abu Dhabi next month, then spoke to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy — while the Kremlin's readout showed no softening of Putin's position, and Denmark's prime minister criticised the move.

The Kosovo War, explained: from 28 February 1998 to 11 June 1999, the Kosovo Liberation Army fought the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for Kosovo's independence, and NATO — acting without UN Security Council authorisation — bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days to force its forces out. About 13,500 people were killed or went missing, some 850,000 Kosovo Albanians were expelled, and Kosovo passed under UN administration — the war that produced the formula 'illegal but legitimate' and, nine years later, a declaration of independence Serbia still rejects.

The Bosnian War, explained: from 6 April 1992 to 21 November 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats — backed in turn by Serbia, Croatia and the Yugoslav army — fought the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945. About 100,000 people were killed and more than 2.2 million displaced. The war brought the term ethnic cleansing into common use, saw the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide, and ended only after NATO air strikes and the Dayton Accords divided the country 51 to 49.

The Comoros-flagged cargo ship Khoryv sank on Friday after a drone strike 13 nautical miles off Romania's port of Constanta, just outside Romanian territorial waters, the Romanian Naval Authority said. Nine of its 13 Ukrainian and Azerbaijani crew were rescued, one body was recovered and three sailors were still missing. President Nicusor Dan called the sinking part of Russia's escalation against NATO's eastern flank, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned it as another Russian escalation in the Black Sea. No Russian response had been reported in the coverage opened for this article.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, explained in one line: Russia, leading a coalition with Romania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgarian volunteers, defeated the Ottoman Empire in ten months, broke almost five centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, and won independence for three Balkan states — only for the Congress of Berlin to cut the peace settlement down and sow grievances that fed the Balkan Wars and the First World War.

The Greco-Turkish War explained: from the Greek landing at Smyrna on 15 May 1919 to the Turkish Great Offensive of August 1922, the war destroyed the Greek presence in Anatolia, ended the Megali Idea, and produced the Treaty of Lausanne and a compulsory population exchange. Military deaths are given by the official-history figures in the standard summary — 19,362 Greek and 9,167 Turkish soldiers killed — while civilian tolls, above all for the burning of Smyrna, remain disputed across a very wide range.

A Russian drone struck the central park of Nova Vodolaha in Ukraine's Kharkiv region on Monday afternoon, killing six people — children among them — and injuring at least 15, Ukrainian officials said. The drone hit a park near a café where families were playing with children, the interior minister said, and prosecutors opened a pre-trial investigation into a possible war crime.

Russia attacked Kyiv overnight into Monday with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and 269 drones in successive waves, killing one person and injuring eight, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine's Air Force said strikes were recorded at 25 locations. Two left-bank metro stations were damaged and closed, and Russia's Defence Ministry said it carried out a 'massive strike' on military-industrial targets in the capital and its region — and on a bulk carrier at sea southwest of Odesa.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Samarkand on Monday that there had been 'no pause' in intelligence sharing with Ukraine, directly contradicting President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who told NBC a day earlier that sharing had been interrupted and then 'de-blocked.' Rubio also declined to confirm a proposed Trump-Putin-Xi summit on Ukraine and warned of the war's risk of spreading into a neighbouring country.

Lithuania will increase security around critical infrastructure sites, Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius said on Monday, a day after an attempted arson attack on a SpaceX Starlink base station on the outskirts of Vilnius that the government's crisis chief called a Russia-linked act of sabotage aimed at undermining Ukraine's military capacity. Moscow says such accusations are baseless.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky 'doesn't want to end this war, and probably never did,' defending his decision to waive sanctions and tariffs on Russia a day after Ukraine's 1,015-drone attack on Russian oil sites. The Wall Street Journal reported that President Vladimir Putin has proposed a three-way summit with Trump and China's Xi Jinping on the sidelines of next month's APEC meeting — a format that would discuss Ukraine's future without Ukraine at the table.

Russia has attacked Ukraine's energy, oil and gas sectors 76 times in the week since President Donald Trump announced a halt to energy strikes, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, with the latest overnight strikes hitting substations in four regions. Ukraine's Air Force said Russia launched 180 drones and a ballistic missile overnight. The same morning, Poland scrambled aircraft and searched for a possible crashed object, Lithuania sent residents to shelters and closed Kaunas airport, and Latvia issued an air warning.

A Ukrainian drone attack on St Petersburg killed one person and injured five, the city's governor said on Sunday, with fires at the St Petersburg oil terminal, an oil depot and industrial warehouses. Russia's Defence Ministry said air defences downed 1,015 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight, and Moscow's mayor said 195 drones heading for the capital were destroyed.

Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine in 2026 amount to a net 144.5 square kilometres, the Institute for the Study of War assessed — about 45 times smaller than the 6,500 square kilometres President Vladimir Putin claimed on October 16. Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov claimed more than 1,800 square kilometres taken since September 1; ISW assessed a net Russian loss of 122 square kilometres over the same period. Ukraine's General Staff dismissed the claims as an 'illusion'.

Romanian F-16 fighter jets shot down two drones over Romania's territorial waters in the Black Sea on Saturday, minutes after each entered Romanian airspace near Sulina, the defence ministry said. The ministry did not specify the drones' origin. The interceptions came days after two chemical tankers were hit by drones near Romania's Black Sea coast, leaving seven crew members missing.

The Winter War explained: from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Finland to move the border away from Leningrad. Finland, outnumbered roughly three to one in men and a hundred to one in tanks, held for 105 days, inflicted Soviet dead put at 126,875 to 167,976 in later Russian archival work, then ceded 9 percent of its territory in the Moscow Peace Treaty — and kept its independence.

Millions of Ukrainians face a winter of hardship that could be the most difficult since the full-scale war began, the UN migration agency warned on Friday, as Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, damaged housing and rising living costs threaten to force more people from their homes. Nearly 3.6 million people remain internally displaced and 3.8 million have returned to often damaged homes, the International Organization for Migration said.

President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia is establishing a 660-kilometre 'security zone' inside Ukraine along their border and will not make it a subject of peace negotiations, while in Brussels President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned the US diesel deal with Russia before EU leaders and called Moscow's stance a 'parody' of peace talks. The Kremlin also said Putin had agreed in a call with Pope Leo to cooperate on getting supplies into the occupied town of Oleshky.

Russian attacks struck nine Ukrainian regions on Friday, causing emergency power outages for hundreds of thousands of households and wounding at least 15 people, officials told AP, while Reuters reported at least three people killed and around 370,000 people cut off in the northwest. The strikes landed the same day the UN human rights office in Kyiv reported at least 328 civilians killed and 2,105 wounded in September — 85% more than a year earlier — and called the first two weeks of October among the deadliest periods for civilians in years.

The order to slow SpaceX's Starshield service for Ukraine's military came from inside the White House, two US officials and a Western official told Reuters — a claim a senior US official answered by saying no such request was ever made by the president. The reporting landed as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrived at an EU summit in Brussels on Friday seeking winter energy, air-defence and funding support, a day after President Donald Trump called Ukraine's resumed strikes on Russian refineries a 'disgrace' in a Newsmax interview.

The European Union will probably have to provide a new loan to Ukraine to cover a budget gap of more than $70 billion for next year, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told Reuters on Friday. EU leaders agreed a 90 billion euro loan last December for 2026 and 2027, but Kyiv says it now faces a further gap for defence and regular spending, and a plan to use frozen Russian assets remains blocked by Belgium and other member states.

Bulgaria has formally asked NATO to deploy combat aircraft and anti-drone systems on its territory, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said on Friday, after a week in which drones sank a cargo ship off the Bulgarian coast, left 11 sailors missing, and set two more ships ablaze off Romania. Sofia has also proposed a moratorium on attacks on civilian ships and expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by October 30.

NATO's North Atlantic Council will hold a dedicated session on the wave of drone attacks on commercial ships in the Black Sea, Romanian President Nicusor Dan said on Thursday after meeting NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev in Brussels. NATO sources told Europa Press the issue will be on the agenda of next week's regular ambassador-level meeting. Neither Romania nor Bulgaria has invoked Article 4 consultations, and Bulgaria's leader said his country would not accuse any party without clear evidence.

Two chemical tankers caught fire overnight near the mouth of the Danube's Sulina Canal off Romania, and rescuers were searching on Thursday for seven missing crew from the San Marino-flagged Wine Trader, Romanian officials said. President Nicusor Dan said in Brussels that two air drones had hit the ships, but declined to say whether they were Russian. The BBC reported that Romanian officials had not said what caused the Wine Trader's fire. Reporting on the missing-crew tally differed between updates as the rescue effort continued.

A large Ukrainian drone attack set a fire at an oil refinery in Russia's Ryazan region on Thursday, the regional governor said, the first Ukrainian strike on a Russian energy facility since US President Donald Trump announced an energy ceasefire on Sunday. Separately, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Financial Times that Ukraine would resume strikes on Russian refineries after a pause of several days, saying the block on attacking refineries was over.

More than 360 drones struck Ukraine's central Kirovohrad region overnight into Thursday, in what Governor Andriy Raikovych called the largest attack on the region during the war, killing three people and wounding six, according to Reuters. Ukraine's air force said 580 drones attacked the country overnight and that 536 were shot down. The Kyiv Independent reported the same toll for Kropyvnytskyi, the regional capital, and said five of the wounded were hospitalised.

Bulgaria expects to join a NATO anti-drone initiative by October 30, Defence Minister Dimitar Stoyanov told a parliamentary hearing on Wednesday, a day after a drone attack sank the cargo vessel HS Dignity off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast and left 11 sailors missing. Bulgaria's transport ministry said the search for the missing sailors resumed on Wednesday after bad weather and darkness forced a suspension on Tuesday evening.

Elon Musk said on Wednesday that Starshield, the military satellite service Ukrainian forces use, is owned and controlled by the US government and that any limits on its speed or use are decided by the US military and ultimately the president. Ukraine's defence ministry said connectivity had improved for speeds up to 160 km/h by Wednesday evening but that SpaceX was still maintaining a 161 km/h cap, while a senior US official told Axios the Trump administration was not responsible for the restrictions.

Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that SpaceX had restricted its military-grade Starlink services without warning, cutting the connection of fast-moving terminals used to guide drones and disrupting several missions. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said Ukraine's defence forces received no warning of the limitation. SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters or CNN.

Russian missile and drone strikes overnight into Wednesday killed three people in Kyiv and damaged 30 energy facilities, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, leaving at least 600,000 people without power in an attack on Kyiv and Kharkiv. Russia's defence ministry said it struck four power plants in and around Kyiv and two in Kharkiv. Zelenskyy said the attack targeted infrastructure covered by the energy ceasefire announced by US President Donald Trump on Sunday, which neither Moscow nor Kyiv had confirmed as agreed.

The Nord Stream trial opened in Hamburg on Wednesday, with former Ukrainian military officer Serhii K. accused of organising the September 2022 explosions that ruptured three of the four Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. He denies any involvement, Kyiv denies ordering the attack, and the hearing — the first public test of the evidence — is expected to run into February.

Drones hit two merchant ships off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast overnight, sinking one vessel east of Krapets and leaving 11 of its 16 crew missing, Bulgarian officials said on Tuesday. All 15 crew of the second ship, the Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, were rescued and taken to Varna. Prime Minister Rumen Radev said there was no conclusive evidence of who carried out the attacks, but he summoned Russia's ambassador and informed NATO and the EU.

NATO's €1 billion Innovation Fund is expanding into Poland and hunting for direct investments in counter-drone systems and space-based surveillance, its president told Reuters on Tuesday, in the clearest sign yet that lessons from Ukraine's war are resetting the alliance's technology priorities. The fund, backed by 24 NATO nations, will open a presence in Warsaw and look beyond traditional defence contractors.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham told parliament on Monday that the suspected plot against RAF Fairford, the Gloucestershire base used by US bombers for strikes on Iran, was highly likely coordinated in Iran and almost certainly directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran's ambassador rejected any connection, and all seven arrested men have been released on bail without charge.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia on Monday of violating the energy ceasefire announced by Donald Trump, pointing to a strike on a Kharkiv thermal power plant, as EU ministers approved nearly 1,600 new sanctions listings and the Kremlin rejected Zelenskiy's offer of a 60-day ceasefire to hold elections.

The Peloponnesian War explained: from 431 to 404 BC, Athens and its Delian League allies fought Sparta and the Peloponnesian League for hegemony over Greece. Plague, the disastrous Sicilian Expedition, and Persian money decided a war that ended Athens' empire and its golden age.

An energy ceasefire is a limited deal to stop attacks on each other's energy infrastructure — power plants, grids, refineries and fuel depots — while the wider war continues. This explainer sets out how the Ukraine-Russia version announced by Donald Trump is supposed to work, why the two sides define it differently, and why previous announcements unravelled.

Russian attacks killed six people in two Ukrainian cities on Sunday, including three at a grocery store near Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said — the same day President Trump announced an energy ceasefire that Moscow has not confirmed. Britain, France, Canada and the EU backed the ceasefire call, while Canada's prime minister renewed criticism of the US-Russia diesel deal.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that Russian forces kept striking Ukrainian energy targets after President Donald Trump announced an 'energy ceasefire' — including a strike on a combined heating and power plant in Kharkiv during his nightly address. Kyiv says it supports the ceasefire and is awaiting details from Washington; Moscow has not reacted.

President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Russia and Ukraine have agreed an 'energy ceasefire' taking effect immediately, writing on Truth Social that 'both parties have agreed.' Reuters reported there was no immediate confirmation from Kyiv or Moscow, while President Volodymyr Zelensky said the announcement was 'news' to him but that Ukraine would agree 'if Russians agree.'

The death toll from Saturday's Russian glide-bomb strike on residential buildings in Zaporizhzhia rose to 20, including three children, President Zelensky said — with CNN later reporting 23 killed including four children. The attack, which Zelensky tied to the US-Russia diesel deal, was the third mass-casualty strike on Ukraine this week.

A senior Ukrainian official told the Financial Times that Kyiv will keep attacking Russia's oil refineries — 'We will burn [Russian] refineries' — despite Donald Trump's deal with Vladimir Putin to release Russian diesel onto world markets. The vow deepens a rift that has Trump suggesting Ukraine needs 'a new leader' and Kyiv warning the diesel deal is an 'investment in a war that must be ended.'

Yandex said on Sunday that a drone attack damaged its data centre in the Vladimir region, east of Moscow, forcing a complete shutdown with no injuries. The Associated Press reported it as a Ukrainian drone attack — the third Yandex facility hit in four days, after Sasovo on Thursday and Kaluga on Friday.

From 264 to 146 BC the Roman Republic and Carthage fought three wars — 43 years of actual fighting — for the western Mediterranean. Hannibal's march over the Alps and the slaughter at Cannae are the famous episodes; the endpoint was the siege and razing of Carthage and Rome's emergence as an imperial power.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday it was 'time for Ukraine to get a new president,' blaming Volodymyr Zelensky for the war's continuation and for Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries that he says drive up global diesel prices. The remarks mark the lowest point in the two leaders' relationship since last year's Oval Office clash.

Russian missiles struck Kyiv on Saturday afternoon, targeting energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said — hours after the Zaporizhzhia death toll rose to 12, including three children. The attacks came as US-Ukrainian talks in Miami ended ahead of schedule amid a dispute over Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.

More than 100 civilians were killed and at least 429 injured across Ukraine this week, the UN told the Security Council on Friday, as Russian strikes hit cities, power infrastructure, and — in a Saturday morning attack on Zaporizhzhia — residential buildings. In occupied Oleshky, civilians are surviving 'desperate conditions' with no water, electricity, or gas.

President Trump announced a Russian diesel-supply deal after a call with Vladimir Putin, with the US Treasury issuing a temporary sanctions license. Hours later, a reported drone attack set a fuel-loading terminal in Russia's Rostov region ablaze, and Zelenskyy condemned the deal as an investment in Russia's war.

At least seven people, including three children, were killed and 10 or more wounded when Russian aerial bombs struck residential areas of Zaporizhzhia in the early hours of Saturday, Ukrainian officials said, continuing a four-day bombardment that officials say has killed more than 55 people.

The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) was an intermittent 116-year struggle between England and France over the French throne and English lands in France. Opening English victories at Crécy and Poitiers gave way to a French recovery crowned by Joan of Arc — and a final French victory that reshaped warfare, taxation, and the modern state.

The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 — the Seven Weeks' War — was Bismarck's deliberately staged showdown for the leadership of Germany. Prussia crushed Austria at Königgrätz on 3 July, dissolved the German Confederation, created the North German Confederation, and settled the 'German question' on Prussian terms. Austria lost no territory but was expelled from German affairs; Italy gained Venetia.

Ukraine's General Staff said on Thursday that its forces struck the Gazpromneft refinery in Omsk, Russia's largest refinery, some 2,500 km from Ukraine — the second attack on the plant since a July drone strike halted its operations. The Omsk region governor said an industrial zone was hit by a drone, without giving details.

Top US and Russian officials — including special envoy Jared Kushner and Putin adviser Kirill Dmitriev — have held talks about bringing a US investor into the Nord Stream pipelines, Reuters reported on October 8, 2026. The White House downplayed the report.

The Liberia-flagged crude tanker Aframax Rio caught fire in the Black Sea off Sochi on October 6 after an attack by an unmanned vessel, Russia's transport ministry said; all 23 crew members were rescued. The incident extends a sharp escalation in strikes on commercial shipping in the Black Sea.

Russia launched a large overnight barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine on October 7, 2026, killing at least eight people, Ukrainian officials said. Moscow claimed a 'massive strike' on military-industrial sites including the Fire Point company that builds Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles.

In less than a year, two Balkan wars stripped the Ottoman Empire of almost all its European territory, doubled Serbia and Greece, and lit the fuse of 1914. Why the wars started, what they cost, and why historian Richard C. Hall calls them the first phase of the First World War.

Two merchant vessels were hit by air and sea drones in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone on October 6, 2026 — the first such attack in NATO-member waters. The Togo-flagged Alfa Watan sank and its crew is missing; 18 crew members of the Palau-flagged Able were rescued. Responsibility is unclaimed and disputed.

A Turkish-owned grain ship carrying corn caught fire and sank in Romania's exclusive economic zone on October 5, 2026, killing two crew members. Ukraine's president blamed Russian drones; Romanian authorities have not named a cause, and Russia has not responded.

Russian officials said more than 650 Ukrainian drones targeted Moscow and the surrounding region overnight on October 5–6, 2026, with the Volodarsk oil depot near the capital reported as one of the targets. Moscow region Governor Andrei Vorobyov said two people were killed and nine injured.

Russian bombs struck a residential area of Kharkiv on Monday, October 5, 2026, killing at least five people and injuring more than 50, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said — hours after spillover from a Russian attack on Ukraine injured a Moldovan border guard at the Palanca crossing with Moldova.

The Seven Years' War, explained: fought from 1756 to 1763 across Europe, North America, India, the Caribbean, and West Africa, it was the first truly global war — a conflict Winston Churchill's chapter on it calls 'The First World War.' It ended with Britain dominant, France's colonial empire destroyed, and Prussia confirmed as a great power.

The Pentagon confirmed Sunday that all twelve B-1 bombers stationed at RAF Fairford have been redeployed to the United States, a week after British police arrested six people over a suspected plot targeting the base — the airfield the US has used for strikes against Iran. Britain says there are 'strong indications' of Iranian involvement; Tehran denies it.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Reuters on October 3 that Ukraine will double down on attacks against Russian oil refineries in response to what he described as a new Russian doctrine of airstrikes meant to force civilians to abandon Kyiv — even as a Russian drone struck the capital's North Bridge during German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's unannounced visit on October 4.

Ukraine's sea ports administration said a Liberian-flagged cargo ship was attacked at a Black Sea port in the Odesa region on Saturday, killing one person and injuring three, with 13 other crew members evacuated to safety, Reuters reported. Ukrainian authorities attributed the strike to Russia.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday it would continue systematic strikes on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and urged foreign nationals, including diplomats, to leave the capital, warning that 'responsibility for any adverse consequences lies entirely with those who ignore this warning.'

Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow on October 1, Vladimir Putin said Russia would put "all weapons" in its arsenal — including nuclear weapons — on the agenda if its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad were attacked. It was his personal endorsement of a warning Moscow first issued to NATO in a diplomatic note earlier this week.

A Russian strike damaged Kyiv's Northern Bridge early Saturday, suspending traffic for a third straight day as Moscow's campaign against the capital's Dnipro crossings continues. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the strike hit the road surface and trolleybus cables; there were no casualties reported.

Ukraine's Third Army Corps says more than 250 Russian troops surrendered during the third phase of Operation Vivaldi near Lyman in northern Donetsk — a claim international monitors have not independently verified but which the Institute for the Study of War says is consistent with confirmed Ukrainian territorial gains in the sector.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday that Ukraine has used its domestically built FP-7 tactical ballistic missile in combat for the first time — a milestone for Kyiv's indigenous long-range strike program. Neither the target nor the location was disclosed, and the claim has not been independently verified.

Russian drones struck Kyiv's Southern Bridge for a second day on Friday, forcing the closure of the Southern and Paton bridges across the Dnipro, city authorities said — one person was killed and two injured in the capital. Hours earlier, Ukrainian drones hit industrial facilities in Volgograd, home to a major Russian oil refinery.

From the Defenestration of Prague in 1618 to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, a Bohemian revolt over religion mutated into a continental power struggle that killed an estimated 4.5–8 million people, redrew the map of Europe, and laid the foundations of the modern state system.

Counter-terrorism police arrested a 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national in London on Thursday, the sixth arrest in the probe of a suspected plot near RAF Fairford — the base US B-1 bombers have been using for strikes against Iran. PM Andy Burnham said there are 'strong indications' Iran played a part; Tehran denies any involvement.

Britain announced 31 new sanctions on October 1 aimed at Russia's war economy: LNG shadow-fleet vessels, Kremlin disinformation networks, and individuals accused of torturing Ukrainian civilians and militarizing deported Ukrainian children. The package comes as Russia's air campaign against Ukraine intensifies ahead of winter.

From July 1936 to April 1939, Spain tore itself apart between a Republican government backed by the Soviet Union and international volunteers, and Nationalist rebels armed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Around 500,000 people died — and the world watched a preview of the coming global war.

Russia sent NATO an informal document warning it would be ready to use its 'entire arsenal,' including nuclear weapons, if the alliance attempted to isolate the Kaliningrad exclave. Reuters reviewed the document; the Kremlin publicly confirmed sending it on September 30, and NATO denounced the 'irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.'

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 destroyed the Second French Empire, killed an estimated 180,000–200,000 soldiers, cost France five billion francs and Alsace-Lorraine, and created a unified German Empire — the power shift that shaped Europe until 1945.

World War II (1939–1945) killed an estimated 40–50 million people, making it the deadliest war in history. This explainer covers the causes of World War II, its casualties, economic aftermath, and the institutions — from the UN to the Marshall Plan — it left behind.

World War I (1914–1918) killed millions, toppled four empires, and redrew the map of Europe. This explainer covers the causes of World War I, its casualty figures, economic fallout, and lasting legacy.

Nine multinational battlegroups, a new German brigade in Lithuania, a German-Dutch corps taking command in the Baltics — NATO's eastern flank has become the alliance's biggest reinforcement in a generation. Here is how the buildup works.

From about 1800 to 1815, Napoleonic France fought shifting alliances across the continent, ending at Waterloo. The wars cost hundreds of thousands of lives, strained treasuries to breaking point, and redrew Europe's map at the Congress of Vienna.

Wartime sanctions on Russia hinge on a $44.10 oil price cap, a shadow fleet of aging tankers, and a cat-and-mouse game of evasion. How the sanctions machine works — and why enforcement keeps lagging behind.

Fought from 1853 to 1856 between Russia and an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia, the Crimean War introduced rifled guns, the war correspondent, and the telegraph — and its fallout reshaped Europe.

A no-fly zone is not a line on a map. It is a military operation: fighters on patrol, enemy air defences destroyed first, and a legal mandate behind it all. Here is how they work, where they have been tried, and why leaders hesitate.

Before analysts trust a video from a war zone, they check four things: where it was filmed, when it was filmed, whether the file is authentic, and whether it already existed online. Here are the methods.