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Armed clashes occurred overnight in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory. This was reported by High Commissioner Louis Le Franc, the representative of the Paris government, during a press conference.
“Large caliber weapons, hunting rifles, were used to shoot at the gendarmes,” said Le Franc, according to whom “there were no deaths”.
Fierce fighting has continued for a second day on the fringes ofthe Kharkiv region in north-east Ukraine. Moscow said it had captured five villages, while Kyiv said it was pushing back against the attacks and battling for control of the territory.
Russia launched the armoured incursion early on Friday, in an attack that may presage a broader push into the Kharkiv region, or aim to draw away overstretched Ukrainian forces in the east where Moscow’s offensive is focused.
Russia has amassed up to 25,000 soldiers around the strategic settlement of Chasiv Yar, the Ukrainian military said on Sunday, as the Kremlin claims to have seized another village in the Donetsk region.
“The enemy has amassed a grouping of 20,000-25,000 servicemen” around Chasiv Yar, Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Khortytsia grouping of forces, told Ukrainian television in remarks reported by domestic media.
The Kremlin has claimed Isis terrorists involved in last night’s horrific attack on a concert hall had “relevant contacts” in Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to “punish” anyone standing behind the plot.
As many as 143 people were killed at a large gathering on the outskirts of Moscow in Krasnogorsk, Russian security officials have claimed.
Three Ukraine-based Russian paramilitary groups say they have crossed into Russia and are now fighting government troops there.
The Freedom of Russia Legion (FRL) and Siberian Battalion (SB) posted videos purportedly showing their fighters in Russia’s Belgorod and Kursk regions.