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The NRF was the last to hold out against the Taliban’s takeover of the country last year
Civilians have fled fighting in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley after an insurgent group launched an offensive against Taliban forces, according to weekend reports.
Russian troops are withdrawing from around Ukraine’s second-largest city after bombarding it for weeks, the Ukrainian military said Saturday, as Kyiv and Moscow’s forces engaged in a grinding battle for the country’s eastern industrial heartland.
Ukraine’s general staff said the Russian forces were pulling back from the northeastern city of Kharkiv and focusing on guarding supply routes, while launching mortar, artillery and airstrikes in the eastern province of Donetsk in order to “deplete Ukrainian forces and destroy fortifications.”
A rocket attack targeting a military bus in Syria killed 10 soldiers and wounded nine more in the northwest on Friday, state news agency SANA reported, in a deadly flare-up near the frontier with rebel-held territory close to the Turkish border.
The bus was hit in the Anjara area west of Aleppo at 9:30 a.m. (0630 GMT), SANA said. Militants had targeted the vehicle with an anti-tank rocket, it added, giving no further details.
Finland’s president and prime minister announced their support for joining NATO on Thursday, moving the Nordic nation which shares an 800-mile border with Russia one step closer to membership of the US-led military alliance. The Kremlin has responded by saying the move would be a threat to Russia and warned of possible retaliation.
The statement of support for NATO from President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin had been expected, after the Finnish government recently submitted a report on national security to the country’s parliament which outlined the path to joining the alliance as one of Finland’s options.
Around 65 junta soldiers have been killed in the last three days during intense firefights with resistance forces in Chin and Kayah states and Sagaing Region.
On Monday, the Chin Defense Force-Mindat (CDF-Mindat) said it attacked a junta convoy returning from Matupi in Chin State inflicting heavy casualties.