Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno State has criticised the tax reform bills, saying it will drag the northern part of the country backward.

The bills, transmitted to the National Assembly by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in September, have faced stiff opposition, especially from the north, with stakeholders calling for its withdrawal.

Daily Trust had reported how Northern governors, traditional rulers, and Northern Elders Forum rejected the proposed bills, saying they were not in the interest of the nation.

However, despite protests and rejections of the pieces of the legislation, the Senate passed the bills for second reading on Thursday despite rowdiness at plenary.

Weighing on the development in an interview with BBC Hausa service, the governor expressed displeasure over how the bills enjoyed speedy and smooth passage to the current phase when other bills had to spend several years to scale through.

“We condemn these bills transmitted to the National Assembly. They will drag the north backward, and not only the north, South East, South West and some states in the South West such as Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Ondo, will have problem with these bills.

“It is not opposition. This, based on our understanding, is something that will destroy the north in its entirety. Therefore, we call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and others to review this decision. He secured 60% of his votes in the north. He should not listen to those telling him that northerners are not supporting him. If our interest is served, that is all. What we need now is the withdrawal of the tax bills.

“Why all the rush! There’s a petroleum bill that was presented but it took almost 20 years before it was finally passed. But this one was transmitted and now receiving legislative attention within a week. What we are saying is that, let it be treated carefully and with caution so that even after our exit, our children would reap the benefits.

“How we see it is, if these bills scale through, we will not be able to even pay salaries. And if we paid, it won’t be sustainable the following year.”

Asked whether the bills would further exacerbate hunger and poverty in the north, Zulum answered in the affirmative, adding, “Including security. But they’re saying otherwise. We are against it, Lagos is against it; that it will drag it backwards. If this is the situation, then why won’t they rescind it? Our National Assembly members and even some from the Southern region are not in support of these bills.”

The governor, however, clarified that his objection of the bills was not a pointer of any opposition against the government, maintaining that it was only a call to reverse the decision.

“This is our stand and doesn’t mean that we are against the government. We supported and voted for him (Tinubu). But these bills will not mean good for us.”

Asked to comment on whether the lawmakers would pass the bills when lobbied and given kickbacks, Zulum said, “There are rumours around but we are not certain. But you know we are in Nigeria! What I am saying is that let us all be patriotic. We have children, grandchildren and relatives who are in villages, therefore, we should be careful not to endorse anything that would impede the progress of the north and other regions. We are appealing to the President to listen to us and address our concerns.”

Daily Trust

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETTFund) said it would from January 2025 halt its foreign scholarship funding for Nigerian academics under the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) scheme.

The Fund disclosed the decision on Thursday in a statement by its spokesperson, Abdulmumin Oniyangi.

Oniyangi noted that the suspension is in response to the “excessive cost” of training in foreign institutions as well as the “high rate of abscondment of foreign scholars”.

The TETFund spokesperson said the board of trustees of the agency has approved the suspension.

He added that the suspension is effective from 1 January 2025 with the exception of scholars already in the programme.

“TETFund scholars who have already enrolled in foreign institutions would continue to draw down on their scholarships till the end of their programmes,” he said.

“It is expected that the suspension will conserve and reduce the pressure on foreign exchange rate, boost investment and local capacity in Nigerian tertiary educational institutions and significantly increase the number of beneficiaries of the intervention.”

Transnational education

TETFund said it is collaborating with the National Universities Commission (NUC) to intensify efforts to implement the Trans-national Education Guidelines “recently approved by President Bola Tinubu”.

“Under the scheme, top ranking institutions from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Malaysia, Brazil, etc. will be encouraged to mount programmes in partnership with Nigerian institutions to offer the same standard and quality of courses that are obtainable in their home institutions,” he said.

“Beneficiary Institutions of TETFund have been advised to prioritise their training needs for implementation in Nigerian institutions and ensure strict compliance.”

The NUC has since 2022 noted that it developed a guideline for the implementation of a transnational education “to guide foreign investment and partnerships between foreign universities and their Nigerian counterparts.”

About TETFund

Established in 2011, TETFund administers, manages, disburses, and monitors the judicious utilisation of the now three per cent Tertiary Education Tax paid by all registered companies operating in Nigeria.

It was formerly the Education Tax Act (1993) with a mandate to operate as an intervention fund to all levels of public education – from basic to tertiary education.

However, in 2011, the Act was repealed and replaced with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Act which focuses only on public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

PT

Hamas attacker opens fire at Israeli bus in West Bank, injuring at least 8: report

An alleged gunman from the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas opened fire Friday at an Israeli bus in the West Bank, injuring eight people, including four soldiers, reports say. 

The incident near the settlement of Ariel ended when the attacker, identified by Hamas as 46-year-old Samer Hussein, was killed by Israeli troops. 

"As a result of the shooting attack, four IDF soldiers were lightly injured and were evacuated to a hospital to receive medical treatment," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement, adding that "an armed terrorist opened fire at an Israeli bus in Gitti Avisar [Junction], causing injuries and damage." 

Images and video taken from the scene showed numerous bullet holes in the front windshield of the bus and a heavily damaged car on the side of the road. 

"IDF soldiers eliminated the terrorist at the scene," the Israeli military said. 

Hamas’s armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said the assailant belonged to its ranks, according to Reuters. 

Elsewhere, Friday, two girls and a woman were crushed to death as a crowd of Palestinians pushed to get bread at a bakery in the Gaza Strip. 

The bodies of two girls aged 13 and 17 and the 50-year-old woman were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where a doctor confirmed that they died from suffocation due to crowding at the al-Banna bakery, according to The Associated Press. 

Food prices reportedly have been soaring in the Gaza Strip following a recent attack on nearly 100 U.N. aid trucks that crossed over from Israel. 

A woman in the city of Deir al-Balah told The Associated Press last week that the price of flour has now climbed to more than $100 a bag, if it can even be found. 

Fox News

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine asks NATO for membership invite next week, letter shows

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has urged his NATO counterparts to issue an invitation to Kyiv at a meeting in Brussels next week to join the Western military alliance, according to the text of a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

The letter reflects Ukraine's renewed push to secure an invitation to join NATO, which is part of a "victory plan" outlined last month by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to end the wartriggered by Russia's 2022 invasion.

Zelenskiy told UK-based Sky News that offering Ukraine NATO membership while allowing Russia to keep for the moment territory it had captured could be a solution to end the "hot stage" of the 33-month-old war.

Ukraine says it accepts that it cannot join the alliance until the war is over but extending an invitation now would show Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could not achieve one of his main goals - preventing Kyiv from becoming a NATO member.

"The invitation should not be seen as an escalation," Sybiha wrote in the letter.

"On the contrary, with a clear understanding that Ukraine's membership in NATO is inevitable, Russia will lose one of its main arguments for continuing this unjustified war," he wrote.

"I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on 3-4 December 2024."

Zelenskiy told Sky News an invitation had to be officially extended to the entire country as Ukraine had no legal right to recognise any of its territory as Russian. NATO membership could then initially apply to only the part of Ukraine that Kyiv controls.

"No one has offered us to be in NATO for one part or another part of Ukraine. The fact is, it is a solution to stop the hot stage of the war because we can just give NATO membership to the part of Ukraine that is under our control," Zelenskiy said.

"But the invitation must be given to Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders ... That's what we need to do fast and then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically."

NO NATO CONSENSUS

NATO diplomats say there is no consensus among alliance members to invite Ukraine at this stage. Any such decision would require the consent of all NATO's 32 member countries.

NATO has declared that Ukraine will join the alliance and that it is on an "irreversible" path to membership. But it has not issued a formal invitation or set out a timeline.

Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister in charge of NATO affairs, said Kyiv understood that the consensus for an invitation to join NATO "is not yet there" but the letter was meant to send a strong political signal.

"We have sent a message to the allies that invitation is not off of the table, regardless of different manipulations and speculations around that," she told Reuters.

In his letter, Sybiha argued an invitation would be the right response "to Russia's constant escalation of the war it has unleashed, the latest demonstration of which is the involvement of tens of thousands of North Korean troops and the use of Ukraine as a testing ground for new weapons".

In recent days, however, diplomats have said they do not see any changes of stance among NATO countries, particularly as they await the Ukraine policy of the United States - the alliance's dominant power - under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky changes position on ceasefire terms

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said for the first time that he might be willing to agree to a ceasefire with Russian troops still in control of the land claimed by Kiev.

Zelensky previously insisted that only “complete withdrawal” of Russian forces and the restoration of Ukraine’s 1991 borders should serve as precondition for any future peace negotiations. 

In an interview with Sky News on Friday, chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay asked Zelensky to comment on recent reports that US President-elect Donald Trump’s team is considering allowing Russia to keep the territory claimed by Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine becoming a NATO member. 

“Ukraine joins NATO, but Russia takes control and keeps the land that it has to date. Would that be a possibility?” Ramsay asked.

Zelensky said that it could potentially serve as a foundation for a ceasefire. “If we want to stop the hot phase of the war, we need to take under the NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control,” he said. 

“We need to do it fast. And then on the [occupied] territory of Ukraine, Ukraine can get them back in a diplomatic way,” he added.

Zelensky stressed that such an arrangement has never been officially offered to Ukraine. He clarified that Kiev will not formally renounce claims on Crimea and four other regions, which joined Russia following referendums in 2014 and 2022, respectively. 

“We cannot, by law, recognize any Ukrainian territory under occupation of Russia as Russian. That is impossible. That is against the Constitution of Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine applied to join the US-led alliance in September 2022. NATO has made it clear, however, that Ukraine could not become a member until its conflict with Russia is resolved.

Moscow has insisted that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the parts of Donbass it controls and recognize Russia’s current borders. Russia further said that Ukraine must abandon its plan to join NATO and become a permanently neutral country.

President Vladimir Putin has cited NATO’s expansion eastward and military cooperation with Ukraine as one of the root causes behind the conflict.

Reuters/RT

An Indian family recently went viral for their decision to send their old Suzuki Wagon to the grave rather than the scrapyard in a lavish burial ceremony attended by around 1,500 people.

They say you shouldn’t get too attached to material possessions, but try telling that to the Polara family in Padarshinga Village, Gujarat, who recently said goodbye to their 18-year-old Suzuki Wagon R by laying it to rest in a lavish burial ceremony attended by over 1,500 locals. The Polara believed the popular hatchback to be their “lucky” car so they wanted to say goodbye to it properly, rather than abandoning it at a scrapyard after nearly two decades of faithful service. Patriarch Sanjay Polara told reporters that he owns several more expensive cars, including an Audi, but credits the old Wagon R for being instrumental in achieving prosperity for his family, so he wanted to do something special for it.

The Polaras had a 15-foot-deep burial pit dug on their property and then slowly had the small hatchback lowered into it via a makeshift slope. The car was covered with flower petals and decorated with colorful garlands as music played from portable speakers. The family then covered it with a green cloth and performed several rituals as part of a ceremony that reportedly cost over $4,500. They even had a samadhi (shrine) erected for their beloved Suzuki Wagon R.

“This car was more than just a vehicle; it was part of our journey toward success. Instead of selling it, we wanted to honor it with a lasting memory for future generations,” Sanjay said.

After all the rituals were concluded, an excavator was used to cover the wagon with dirt and clay. Sanjay Polara, who owns a construction business in Surat, said that he also plans to plant a tree over the unusual grave to remind future generations that it is resting place of the family’s lucky car.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen someone bury their vehicle out of appreciation for its service. Back in 2017, we wrote about Alcides Ravel, a Uruguayan farmer who laid his Ford F-350 to rest after 48 years of service. We’ve also seen people bury their relatives in their favorite cars…

Oddity Central

The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) has raised concerns over the country’s severe shortage of mental health professionals, revealing that fewer than 200 psychiatrists are responsible for the mental well-being of Nigeria’s population of over 200 million.

The APN President, Taiwo Obindo, a professor, highlighted this alarming disparity during the opening of the association’s 55th Annual General Conference and Scientific Meeting in Ilorin. The event, themed “Prioritising Mental Health Needs of Nigeria in a Depressed Economy: An Urgent Call for Integrated, Comprehensive, and Sustainable Interventions,” emphasized the critical state of mental health care in Nigeria.

Obindo attributed the dwindling number of mental health professionals to the ongoing “japa syndrome,” a term referring to the emigration of skilled workers from Nigeria. He stressed that those remaining in the country are overburdened and underpaid, a situation that urgently needs to be addressed.

He further lamented the lack of governmental focus on mental health, contrasting Nigeria with countries like Canada, which has a dedicated Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. In Nigeria, however, mental health remains a sub-program under the Department of Public Health within the Federal Ministry of Health.

Obindo also pointed out that Nigeria’s budgetary allocation for health is less than 6%, far below the 15% minimum recommended by the 2001 Abuja Declaration.

Despite these challenges, the APN has made significant strides, notably with the establishment of the Mental Health Programme and the enactment of the Mental Health Act of 2021, which replaced the outdated Lunacy Act of 1958—a legislative breakthrough after more than 30 years of advocacy.

Delivering the keynote lecture, Owoidoho Udofia, a professor from the University of Calabar, highlighted a study indicating that 12% of Nigerians suffer from mental and behavioral disorders. He noted that cultural factors and somatic symptoms often obscure the diagnosis of mental illnesses, leading to underdiagnosis by general practitioners in teaching hospitals.

Udofia dismissed colonial-era misconceptions that Africans were not susceptible to depression, emphasizing that mental illness in Nigeria extends beyond conditions like schizophrenia and psychosis. He called for improved diagnostic practices and increased research to address the rising cases of substance abuse and other mental health issues.

“There is a need for better identification and management of mental illnesses in Nigeria’s healthcare system,” he concluded.

Amnesty International has reported that at least 24 protesters were killed and 1,200 others arrested during the recent #EndBadGovernance protests in Nigeria. The nationwide demonstrations, which lasted from August 1 to August 10, were driven by widespread frustration over the country’s economic hardship and governance issues.

The protests, initially peaceful, turned violent in several regions, with security forces reportedly using teargas and live ammunition against demonstrators and journalists. Cases of looting and vandalism of both public and private property were also reported, particularly in some northern states.

In a report titled “Bloody August: Nigerian Government’s Violent Crackdown on #EndBadGovernance Protests,” released on Thursday, Amnesty International accused Nigerian authorities of engaging in acts of torture and other forms of ill-treatment against protesters. The organization criticized the government for failing to uphold the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

“The Nigerian authorities killed at least 24 protesters and arrested over 1,200 during the nationwide protests,” the report stated. “Many of those arrested have been subjected to unjust trials based on fabricated charges, highlighting the government’s ongoing efforts to criminalize dissent and suppress protests.”

Speaking at the report’s presentation in Kano, Isa Sanusi, Amnesty International’s Country Director, revealed that among the victims were two children and 20 young adults. He described the protests as a period of severe lawlessness, with security forces allegedly firing live rounds at close range.

Sanusi also highlighted the physical and emotional toll on survivors. “Two protesters sustained gunshot injuries to their arms and legs, while others were suffocated by the indiscriminate use of teargas,” he said, adding that the actual death toll might be higher due to alleged efforts by authorities to conceal the extent of the violence.

He called on President Bola Tinubu to launch a thorough and transparent investigation into the human rights violations committed during the protests.

“Peaceful protest over government policies has become a matter of life and death in Nigeria,” Sanusi said. “The government must ensure that those responsible for these violations are identified and held accountable through fair and impartial trials. Victims and their families deserve justice and effective remedies.”

The British government earned over N40 billion processing visas for Nigerian nationals between June 2023 to the same month in 2024.

According to Marc Owen, director of visa, status and information services at UK visas and immigration, at least 225,000 UK visa applications from Nigeria were processed in the period under review.

Owen spoke at the launch of Africa’s biggest UK visa application centre (VAC) in Lagos.

“In the year to June 2024, we processed more than 225k UK visas for Nigerian nationals across all categories and this new partnership demonstrates our continued commitment to ensuring our visa services are accessible, efficient and meet the needs of all applicants,” the British High Commission in Lagos quoted Owen as saying in a statement.

“I’m delighted to be here in person as we celebrate this important moment together with our customers and partners.”

Although Owen did not reveal the exact figures of visa applications, an analysis using the UK six-month standard visitor fee of $150 against the 225,000 Nigerians cited as the least figure, shows that the UK realised over $34 million from processing.

Using an average exchange rate of N1,200 between June 2023 and June 2024, this would amount to over N40 billion.

Visa application fees are non-refundable even if processing turns out unsuccessful.

NIGERIA RECORDED HIGH REJECTIONS

Earlier this year, data from the British government showed that Nigeria was among five countries that saw a rise in study visa rejection rates in the second half of 2023.

In Q4 2022, Nigeria saw one in 31 applications rejected, while in Q4 2023, around one in eight were declined.

Vietnam, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia also saw high visa rejection rates, albeit at smaller accruals.

India was the only country where declined application numbers trumped Nigeria’s.

The data showed that issuances to Nigerians were down by 63 percent when juxtaposed with the last three months of 2022.

The increase in rejections came amid tightened visa restrictions for immigrants in the UK.

The British government said changes to policies on dependent visas stirred negative sentiments in both countries, following tweaks to the graduate route post-study work visa.

Many Nigerians are now turning to the United States for succour.

In the 2023/2024 academic year, Nigeria was the seventh largest source of international students globally and the highest in Africa, with 20,029 enrollees in the US.

The enrolment figures for Nigeria amounted to a 13.5 percent increase from the previous year for the country.

Editor’s note: This story has been adjusted to reflect the average exchange rate of the period — N1,200 to $1. 

The Cable

Israel and Hezbollah trade accusations of ceasefire violations

The Israeli military said its air force struck a facility used by Hezbollah to store mid-range rockets in southern Lebanon on Thursday, after both sides accused each other of breaching a ceasefire that aims to halt over a year of fighting.

Israel said it also opened fire on Thursday towards what it called "suspects" with vehicles arriving at several areas in the southern zone, saying it was a breach of the truce with Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, which came into effect on Wednesday.

Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah in turn accused Israel of violating the deal.

"The Israeli enemy is attacking those returning to the border villages," Fadlallah told reporters, adding "there are violations today by Israel, even in this form".

The Lebanese army later accused Israel of violating the ceasefire several times on Wednesday and Thursday.

The exchange of accusations highlighted the fragility of the ceasefire, which was brokered by the United States and France to end the conflict, fought in parallel with the Gaza war. The truce lasts for 60 days in the hope of reaching a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Israel's airstrike on Thursday was the first since the truce took effect on Wednesday morning. Lebanese security sources and the Al Jadeed broadcaster said it took place near Baysariyah, north of the Litani River.

The ceasefire deal stipulates that unauthorized military facilities south of the Litani River should be dismantled, but does not mention military facilities north of the river.

Earlier, Israeli tank fire hit five towns and some agricultural fields in southern Lebanon, state media and Lebanese security sources said, saying at least two people were wounded.

All the areas lie within 2 km (1.2 miles) of the Blue Line demarcating the border between Lebanon and Israel, in an area the Israeli military has announced as a no-go zone along the border, even after the deal was agreed.

The Israeli military said in a statement it had identified several suspicious activities that posed a threat and breached conditions of the ceasefire agreement.

"Any deviation from this agreement will be enforced with fire," said Chief of the General Staff Herzt.

Later on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had directed the military to be prepared for intense fighting if the ceasefire is violated.

"We are enforcing powerfully," Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel's Channel 14. "But if needed I gave a directive to the IDF - be prepared in case there is a violation of the framework of the ceasefire, for an intense war."

Lebanese families displaced from their homes near the southern border have tried to return to check on their properties. But Israeli troops remain stationed within Lebanese territory in towns along the border and Reuters reporters heard surveillance drones flying over parts of southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military on Thursday renewed a curfew restricting the movement of residents of southern Lebanon south of the Litani river between 5 p.m. (1500 GMT) and 7 a.m.

CEASEFIRE TERMS

The agreement, a rare diplomatic feat in a region racked by conflict, ended the deadliest confrontation between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in years. But Israel is still fighting its other arch foe, the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, in response to the deadly Hamas-led raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israeli strikes on Lebanon have killed at least 3,961 people and injured 16,520 others since October 2023, the Lebanese health ministry said on Thursday. The figures do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Hezbollah strikes have killed 45 civilians in northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. At least 73 Israeli soldiers have been killed in northern Israel, the Golan Heights, and in combat in southern Lebanon, according to Israeli authorities.

Under the ceasefire terms, Israeli forces can take up to 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon but neither side can launch offensive operations.

Netanyahu waged the offensive against Hezbollah, saying Israelis in the north of the country should be able to return after being evacuated because of rocket fire from Lebanon.

Some 60,000 people evacuated from homes in the north have still not been directed to return.

Hezbollah has said its fighters "remain fully equipped to deal with the aspirations and assaults of the Israeli enemy" and that its forces will monitor Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon "with their hands on the trigger".

The group has been weakened by casualties and the killing of its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and other commanders by Israel.

Announcing the Lebanon accord on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would now renew his push for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and urged Israel and Hamas to seize the moment. Months of efforts to negotiate a ceasefire have yielded scant progress.

Israeli military strikes killed at least 21 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, medics said, as forces stepped up their bombardment of central areas and tanks pushed deeper into the north and south of the enclave.

Reuters

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Oreshnik missiles could be used to strike Kiev – Putin

The Russian military is selecting targets in Ukraine for further possible strikes using the country’s new Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missiles, President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday.

Potential targets for the missiles could be “decision making centers” in Kiev, the Russian leader warned, during a meeting with Moscow’s key regional allies in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Military facilities could also be targeted, along with defense and industrial enterprises – “especially since the Kiev regime has repeatedly attempted to strike at facilities of national importance in Russia,”Putin explained.

Moscow already has several Oreshnik missiles at its disposal and has begun the large-scale production of the advanced weapon system, he added.

Addressing his counterparts from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Putin reiterated that the first Oreshnik launch last week had been Moscow’s response to Western countries granting permission for Kiev to fire long-range weapons deep inside Russia. This made NATO member states directly involved in the conflict, he added.

Last night, Russia launched around 90 missile and 100 drone attacks against military targets in Ukraine, he said. It came in response to Kiev’s continued attacks using Western weapons. More Oreshnik strikes may follow, he warned.

“Oreshnik has no counterparts in the world, of course, and I believe none will appear anytime soon,” he said.

“[The system has] dozens of homing warheads that attack their targets at Mach-10 speed… Their temperature reaches 4,000 degrees,” the president added. “Anything located in the strike center is obliterated into elemental particles, reduced to dust.”

Oreshik can destroy highly fortified targets buried deep underground, Putin said. A massive strike with such missiles would be comparable to a nuclear strike in its force, he added.

We have several units ready for use now. Certainly, should the strikes with Western long-range weapons on our territory continue, we will respond, including by launching more combat tests of Oreshnik systems.

Speaking at the CSTO meeting, Putin compared Russian systems with similar specifications to US ATACMS missiles and French/British SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles, which Kiev has used against Russia. Moscow’s weapons are superior in some aspects, and the country produces significantly more of them that the entire NATO bloc can, he claimed.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia hits Ukrainian energy facilities, Kyiv sees 'despicable escalation'

Russia unleashed on Thursday its second big attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this month, triggering deep power cuts across the country.

President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had struck in response to Ukraine's strikes on Russian territory with U.S. medium-range ATACMS missiles. He said Russia's future targets could include "decision-making centres" in Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of a "despicable escalation", saying it had used cruise missiles with cluster munitions.

Later in his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said he was speaking to Western leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, to forge a response to "Russia's attempt to make the situation more unbearable and drag out the war".

"Now is the time to strengthen our positions - the position of Ukraine and our partners," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden condemned the Russian attack as "outrageous," saying in a statement that it serves as a "another reminder of the urgency and importance of supporting the Ukrainian people in their defense against Russian aggression."

Over 1 million people lost power in the immediate aftermath of the strikes, and millions more had their existing schedule of rolling power cuts intensified.

Ukraine's air force said Russia used 91 missiles and 97 drones in Thursday's attack. It said 12 of those had hit their targets, most of which were energy and fuel facilities.

"The enemy is using a large number of missiles and drones. Their massive use in certain areas often exceeds the number of means of (air defence) cover," the air force said in a statement.

Infrastructure facilities were damaged in nine regions, Ukraine's Interior Ministry said.

POWER CUTS DURING WINTER

The attack reinforced fears of long power cuts during the winter months as temperatures hover around zero.

Officials said it was the 11th major strike on the energy system since March. Russia has knocked out about half Ukraine's available generating capacity during the war, damaged the distribution system and forced authorities to impose long blackouts.

The air force said it had shot down 79 missiles and downed 35 drones, while 62 drones were "lost", meaning it was likely they had been disrupted by electronic warfare.

A source in the energy sector said Ukraine had disconnected all nuclear power units from the grid before the attack to protect them. Ukraine gets more than half of its electricity from nuclear plants.

Ukraine's state grid operator Ukrenergo announced deep power cuts across the country because of damage from the attacks, warning of at least 12 hours without electricity for some consumers.

All missiles or drones aimed at the capital Kyiv were brought down, officials said.

THERMAL AND RADAR DECOYS

The air force said Russia was using thermal and radar decoys to trick Ukrainian air defences, and putting electronic warfare devices on its missiles.

"All this significantly complicates the operation of Soviet-made anti-aircraft missile systems ... Western systems work much more effectively in such conditions, but Ukraine does not have enough to reliably cover hundreds of critical infrastructure facilities," it said.

It said foggy weather conditions also made it harder for machine gunners to spot drones.

More than 33 months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Russian ground forces are advancing at their fastest pace in two years.

Russia fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine this month after the United States allowed Kyiv to strike Russian territory with advanced Western missiles.

"Putin does not want peace. We must force him into peace through strength," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, reiterating Kyiv's call for more air defence and long-range capabilities from Western allies.

In western Ukraine, Lviv regional governor Maksym Kozytskyi said Thursday's Russian strikes had cut off electricity to about 523,000 people. Power was also cut to nearly 500,000 people in the Volyn and Rivne regions, their governors said, and disrupted in the Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr regions.

State oil and gas firm Naftogaz said its facilities had been attacked in the morning airstrikes.

Officials across Ukraine said they were turning on generators to ensure emergency heat and water supplies to hospitals, schools and other critical facilities during bitter winter weather.

RT/Reuters