The ships targeted in late-night ⁠attacks on Wednesday in the Gulf near Iraq were the Marshall Islands-flagged Safesea Vishnu and the Zefyros, which had loaded fuel cargoes in Iraq, two Iraqi port officials told the Reuters news agency. One Iraqi port security source said the Zefyros was flagged ‌in Malta.

“We recovered the body of a foreign crew member from the water,” one port security official said as Iraqi rescue teams continued searching for missing seafarers.

“A boat belonging to the Iraqi Ports Company rescued 25 crew members from the two vessels, and the fires are still burning on both ships,” Farhan al-Fartousi, director general of the state-run General Company for Ports of Iraq, told Reuters.

An Indian crew member on board a United States-owned crude oil tanker was killed when it was attacked near Basra, Iraq, on Wednesday, India’s embassy in Baghdad said on Thursday.

In a post on X, the embassy said the remaining 15 Indian crew members of the Safesea Vishnu have since been evacuated to a safe location.

It said the embassy was in regular contact with the rescued Indian sailors and Iraqi authorities and was offering all possible assistance.

Al-Fartousi told Iraq’s state news agency that oil ports have stopped all operations since the attacks while commercial ports continue to function.

Al Jazeera said officials described the attack on the two tankers as sabotage.

“Iraqi officials say this is a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty given the fact this act, they say, of sabotage has happened in Iraq’s territorial waters,” Abdelwahed said.

Reuters said reports of the use of explosive-laden unmanned surface vessels, which Ukraine has used with great effect in its war with Russia, come as Iran has blocked oil shipments from transiting the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of ⁠the world’s oil and gas transits but which has been blocked since the US-Israeli war on Iran began.

Reuters, quoting two unnamed sources, also reported on Wednesday that Iran ‌has deployed about a dozen mines in the strait while US President Donald Trump said US forces had struck 28 Iranian mine-laying vessels amid warnings by Trump of severe repercussions should Iran lay mines in the key waterway for global shipping.

Strait of Hormuz sealed

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that any ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted.

Early on Thursday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said an unidentified projectile struck a container ship, causing a small fire, 35 nautical ‌miles (64.8km) north ‌of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. The crew were reportedly safe.

The Thai-flagged Mayuree Naree dry bulk vessel was struck by “two projectiles of unknown origin” while sailing through the strait on Wednesday, causing a fire and damaging the engine room, the ship’s Thai-listed operator Precious Shipping said in a statement.

“Three crew members are ⁠reported missing and believed to be trapped in the engine room,” Precious Shipping said.

“The company is working with the relevant authorities to rescue these three ⁠missing crew members,” it said, adding that the remaining 20 crew members had been safely evacuated and were ashore in Oman.

Images shared by the Thai news outlet Khaosod English showed what were reported to be crew members of the ship after their rescue by Oman’s navy.

The IRGC said in a statement carried by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency that the ship was “fired upon by Iranian fighters”, suggesting the first direct engagement by the IRGC, which has previously fired missiles or drones.

The Japan-flagged container ship ONE Majesty also sustained minor damage on Wednesday from an unknown projectile 25 nautical miles (46km) northwest ⁠of Ras Al-Khaimah in the UAE, two maritime security firms said. Its Japanese owner Mitsui OSK Lines and a spokesperson for Ocean Network Express, its charterer, said the vessel was struck while at anchor in the Gulf and an inspection of the hull revealed minor damage above the waterline.

All crew members are safe, they said, adding that the vessel remains fully operational and seaworthy. The owner said the cause of the incident remained unclear and was under investigation.

A third vessel, a bulk ‌carrier, was also hit by an unknown projectile about 50 nautical miles (93km) northwest of Dubai, maritime security firms said.

The projectile had damaged the hull of the Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, the maritime risk management company Vanguard said, adding that the vessel’s crew was safe. Owner Star Bulk Carriers said the ship was hit in the hold area while it was anchored. There were no crew injuries and no listing.

The US Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry ⁠for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The incident took place at around 18:25 local time (19:25 GMT) on Tuesday in the centre of Kerzers – known in French as Chiètres – in Fribourg canton, about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Bern.

At least three people were taken to hospital, police said, and there were reports that a rescuer was also hurt.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but an investigation is under way into whether it was deliberately started.

There have been reports that a person doused themselves in gasoline but the authorities said they could not immediately confirm this.

Video posted by local media shows a bus in flames and a local resident described seeing a thick column of smoke.

The bus involved had reportedly travelled from the Düdingen municipality, 17km south of Kerzers.

A new report by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine says Russian authorities “at the highest level” have deported “thousands” of children from the occupied areas of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s “direct involvement” has been “visibile form the outset,” it adds.

Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus.

The UN Commission has so far identified 1,205 cases of children who were taken from Ukrainian territories by Moscow in 2022.

Eighty percent of these children have not yet been returned, the report says, and many parents and guardians are to this day unaware of the whereabouts of the minors.

This amounts to enforced disappearance and unjustifiable delay in repatriation, which are crimes against humanity and war crimes respectively, according to the UN.

The majority of the children mentioned in the UN report lived in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics – Ukrainian regions which Moscow illegally claims control over.

The report says that just before it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow evacuated these children to the Russian Federation, claiming they were at risk of an imminent attack by Ukraine. Then, the children were placed in families or institutions and given Russian citizenship.

Moscow has always dismissed accusations of forcibly removing children from Ukrainian territory.

Vladimir Putin once said that “the story of the ‘child abductions’… [was] exaggerated” and insisted that the children in question had been “rescued” from a war zone. At the time, he also insisted there was “no problem” returning the children to their homeland.

But Kyiv has always argued that was not the case and the UN report says that children have faced huge difficulties travelling back to Ukraine.

This forced removal and severed ties with their homeland, combined with a “coercive environment” in Russia, “has been a source of deep distress for the children”, according to the UN.

The children who manage to return suffer from “trauma, anxiety and fear of abandonment”, the report says, often due to harsh treatment in Russia. One child was told by staff in a Russian orphanage that his country, Ukraine, “does not exist anymore, everything has burnt down, and your parents have probably died”.

“I am still looking for my daughter, and I am terribly afraid of what she might think of me and how she survives [in Russia], where many people hate Ukrainians,” the report quotes a mother who has been unable to track down her child as saying.

In 2023 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin, accusing him and his commissioner for children’s rights Maria Lvova-Belova of the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Lvova-Belova gave an interview in which she described “taking in” a 15-year-old boy from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which Russia currently occupies, and “re-educating” him despite the fact he “did not want to go” to Russia.

Ukraine says it has so far recovered 2,000 children.

US First Lady Melania Trump has reportedly been involved in facilitating the reunification of children. Last year, she said she had an “open channel of communication” with Putin after he responded to her letter of concern about the child victims of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The war in Ukraine continues unabated despite several rounds of talks involving Moscow and Kyiv’s negotiating teams and, most recently, an American delegation.

The conflict – now in its fifth year – has killed more than 15,000 civilians, injured more than 41,300, and displaced 3.7 million.

The country’s culture minister said the work, a portrait of cleric Monsignor Maffeo Barberini – later Pope Urban VIII – was one of “exceptional importance” and its purchase part of a wider plan to prevent major artworks from being bought by private collectors.

The painting had been kept in a private collection in Florence and was first shown in public in Rome in 2024.

Caravaggio, master of a lighting technique to make his subjects seem to come alive, has about 65 surviving known works worldwide, only three of which are portraits.

The painting has been transferred to the permanent collection of the Palazzo Barberini – the historic home of the family of the portrait’s subject in Rome – where it was first exhibited.

It will be displayed alongside other works by the artist.

Painted in about 1598, it shows Barberini as a bearded cleric apparently issuing instructions with his right hand outstretched.

Barberini was elected to the papacy in 1623 and served until his death in 1644. He was known as a prominent patron of the arts.

Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement that the acquisition was “part of a broader project to strengthen the national cultural heritage that the Ministry of Culture will continue to pursue in the coming months, with the aim of making some art history masterpieces accessible to scholars and enthusiasts that would otherwise be destined for the private market”.

“I would like to thank all the institutions, officials, and technicians who have worked with great skill and dedication to achieve such an important result,” he added.

Caravaggio, whose real name was Michelangelo Merisi, died in 1610 at the age of 38.

He was renowned for his chiaroscuro technique, the dramatic use of light and shadow to bring deep psychological realism to the violent scenes that he generally depicted.

Regional governor Oleg Synegubov said the missile damaged a five-storey residential building on Saturday morning. He added that rescue workers are clearing up debris.

The latest overnight attacks triggered air alerts across Ukraine – including in Dnipropetrovsk and in Zaporizhzhia.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it used drones to carry out strikes on Ukrainian targets – adding its forces struck Ukrainian military compounds, airfields and energy facilities, the Interfax news agency said.

Separately, the Polish air force said it had scrambled military jets to protect its airspace in regions bordering Ukraine, as it usually does in the event of large scale Russian strikes.

Detailing the aftermath of the strikes, Synegubov said that in Kharkiv, a 65-year-old woman, a 40-year-old man, and a 13-year-old girl were among those killed.

The bodies of four more people were found, including a nine-year-old boy, he later said on Telegram.

Synegubov said seven apartment buildings were damaged as were power grids and an administrative building in the city.

Zelensky said at least ten more people – including children – have been injured.”There may still be people under the rubble,” Zelensky said.”All necessary services are working at the scene to rescue them.”

Zelensky added that overnight Russia used 29 missiles and 480 drones which he said “targeted energy facilities” in Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi regions, and the railway in Zhytomyr region.

“There must be a response from partners to these brutal attacks on life,” Zelensky said.

Elsewhere, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration, said one person had been killed and another wounded in a Russian attack overnight in the Nikopol district.

Ganzha said on Telegram that the Russian army targeted the area around 20 times using drones, artillery, and rockets.

A separate strike wounded a baby in Zaporizhzhia, while in Chuguiv in the Kharkiv region, Mayor Halyna Minayeva said two people were injured in a drone attack on a house in the city’s centre.

“The reasons are still unknown, as well as their current well-being,” Andrii Sybiha wrote on X. “We have already sent an official note demanding an immediate release of our citizens.”

According to Ukraine’s state savings bank, Oschadbank, the seven workers were in two vans carrying $80m (£60m) worth of cash and 9kg of gold in a regular transport between Austria and Ukraine. They were “unjustifiably detained” and GPS data showed their vehicles in Budapest, it said.

Hungary’s tax authority said on Friday that it was conducting criminal proceedings and added that one of the group was a former general of Ukraine’s intelligence service.

“This year alone, more than $900m, €420m and 146 kilograms of gold bars were transported to Ukraine through the territory of Hungary,” the national tax and customs administration said in a statement.

Relations between Ukraine and Hungary have deteriorated during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and have descended into a war of words over a halt to Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made no mention of the seven bank workers in his regular radio appearance on Friday, although he did say “transit shipments” important to Ukraine would be halted until a row over Russian oil supplies was sorted out.

Hungarian reports describe how black-clad officials from Hungary’s TEK counter-terrorism centre raided the Ukrainian-registered vehicles on Thursday and then their convoy headed to Budapest.

Responding to the incident, Ukraine’s foreign minister accused Hungary of “state terrorism and racketeering”.

“We are talking about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money,” said Sybiha on X.

Orbán, seen as Russia’s closest ally in the EU, has accused Ukraine of deliberately halting Russian oil through the pipeline. Kyiv says the pipeline was damaged in a Russian air strike in January and Orban has threatened to “force the Ukrainians to restart deliveries”.

The Hungarian leader, whose party is trailing in the polls ahead of next month’s pivotal elections, has also blocked a €90bn (£78bn) EU aid package seen as vital for Ukraine’s financing in a bid to force the resumption of oil supplies.

Orbán has repeatedly opposed EU funding for Ukraine, arguing it prolongs the war. He has focused much of his election campaign on an anti-Ukraine message.

Last month he ordered increased security for Hungary’s energy infrastructure, making unsubstantiated claims that Kyiv was preparing “further actions to disrupt” the energy system.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has criticised Orbán for blocking the aid package and said on Thursday that the Druzhba pipeline might only become operational again in another four to six weeks.

“To be honest, I would not restore it. This is my position. I expressed it to European leaders… because this is Russian oil,” he told a briefing. “Russians are killing Ukrainians and we have to give oil to Orbán, because he, the poor thing, cannot win the election without this oil.”

The Ukrainian leader also hinted that if Hungary’s prime minister continued to block EU funding for Ukraine, then Ukrainian armed forces would be given his address to “communicate with him in their own language”.

Orbán has said Budapest will use “political and financial tools” to force Ukraine to reopen the pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungarian refineries.

Druzhba is the main route for delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia and shipments of Russian oil to both countries have been cut off since 27 January.

In a separate development this week, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto travelled to Moscow and secured the release of two ethnic Hungarian prisoners of war.

Hungary says the men, who are from Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region, have dual Hungarian and Ukrainian citizenship and has accused Kyiv of conscripting them into the army.

Kyiv has described their transfer to Hungary as a “gross violation of international humanitarian law”.

Writing on X, Sybiha said: “Today in Budapest, Hungarian authorities took seven Ukrainian citizens hostage. The reasons are still unknown, as well as their current well-being.”

The employees were in two cars carrying $80m (£60m) worth of cash between Austria and Ukraine. The authorities had sent a note demanding the employees’ return, Sybiha said.

In a statement, Oschadbank said the employees “were unjustifiably detained in Hungary” and that GPS data showed their vehicles in Budapest.

“The amount of valuables in the stolen cars amounted to 40 million US dollars, 35 million euros, 9 kg of gold,” the Oschadbank statement continues.

“Oschadbank demands the immediate release of its employees and property and their return to Ukraine.”

Hungary maintains close ties with Russia, and has consistently opposed military aid for Ukraine.

Sybiha accused Hungary of “state terrorism and racketeering”.

“We are talking about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money,” Sybiha added on X.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for blocking a European aid package for Kyiv.

Orban has accused Kyiv of imposing an “oil blockade” on Hungary by deliberately delaying the reopening of the Druzhba pipeline.

Orban, who is trailing in opinion polls ahead of pivotal elections next month, has said Budapest will use “political and financial tools” to force Ukraine to reopen the pipeline carrying Russian oil to Hungarian refineries.

Ukraine says the pipeline was damaged by Russian strikes last month and its repair crews have been injured by further attacks.

Druzhba is the main route for delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia and shipments of Russian oil to both countries have been cut off since 27 January.

Hungary and ‌Slovakia, the only European ​Union countries still importing Russian oil, accuse Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of oil flows for political reasons.

Defence minister Antti Häkkänen Finland and Europe’s security environment had “fundamentally and significantly changed” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.

The Nordic nation abandoned decades of military neutrality to join Nato in 2023 over mounting concerns about the threat posed by Russia.

Under Finland’s 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, the import, manufacture, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives is prohibited on Finnish soil – even during wartime.

The government proposal would change that, making it possible to “bring a nuclear weapon into Finland, or to transport, deliver or possess one in Finland, if it is connected to the military defence of Finland”, Häkkänen said.

“The amendment is necessary to enable Finland’s military defense as part of the alliance and to take full advantage of Nato’s deterrence and collective defence,” he told a news conference on Thursday.

Nato’s founding principle of collective defence – that an attack on one member nation would be treated as an attack on all – underpins the alliance’s nuclear deterrence stategy.

As it contains several nuclear powers, this means a direct attack on a member brings with it the risk of a nuclear response. US nuclear weapons are stationed in several European nations, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.

The Finnish government’s proposal requires changes to both the country’s Nuclear Energy Act and the criminal code.

Its governing right-wing coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, said the proposal had been circulated for consultation until 2 April before it is formally laid out.

Finland shares a 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia – the longest of any EU or Nato member state – and its leaders have repeatedly warned that the country’s security environment had deteriorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Nordic nation became the 31st member of Nato in April 2023, widely seen as a strategic setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had long criticised the military alliance’s eastward expansion. Its neighbour Sweden joined Nato in 2024.

Since then, Nato has increased its military presence in the Arctic and Baltic Sea, as well as along the newly expanded eastern flank.

The proposal comes as European countries step up defence co-operation in response to the war in Ukraine and broader global instability.

Several Nato states suffered air traffic disruption after drones were sighted over airports and airbases last year, which some European officials attributed to “hybrid warfare” on the part of Russia.

Moscow denied involvement, but the incidents prompted renewed discussions about collective defence.

On Monday, France and Germany announced plans to deepen co-operation with European partners on nuclear deterrence.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said last week that the country’s doctrine of not stationing foreign troops or nuclear weapons on its territory “would not apply” if Sweden found itself “in a completely different situation”.

The small Eastern Mediterranean nation has found itself unexpectedly drawn into the aftermath of US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The UK has announced it is sending helicopters with counter-drone capabilities as well as the Type 45 Destroyer, HMS Dragon.

French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed in a televised address that a French frigate, the Languedoc, would arrive in Cyprus on Tuesday evening.

Greece has already agreed to send four F-16 fighter jets as well as two frigates, including the ship Psara which is equipped with a Greek anti-drone system called Centauros.

Visiting Nicosia on Tuesday, Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias promised that “Greece is present, and will continue to be present to assist in any way in the defence of the Republic of Cyprus”.

Such military assets, allies will hope, can prevent further drone incursions and avoid any casualties that could risk pulling Britain and the EU into a conflict from which they have so far tried to remain removed.

“The idea of sending a Type 45 [air defence destroyer] into the vicinity of Akrotiri is to build on a layered air defence system,” said former military strategist Mikey Kay.

The “very expensive equipment” the UK is sending is “highly capable”, Kay said.

“But how effective is it when it comes to cost-benefit ratio – and how many missiles do they have when it comes to multiple swarms of Shahed 136 drones?”

While Britain did not join US-Israeli strikes on Iran, British planes are taking part in what the government has described as “defensive operations” to protect UK citizens and allies in the Middle East.

On Tuesday night, the Ministry of Defence said that RAF F-35 jets flying over Jordan have shot down an Iranian drone.

The drone scare at Akrotiri on Sunday has led to British families being evacuated from the base, as well as hundreds of local Cypriots who live nearby.

It’s all sparked anxiety amongst British military families and some local people while Cyprus has criticised the UK’s handling of the situation.

Specifically, said a Cypriot government spokesman, an initial lack of clarity “that the British Bases in Cyprus would under no circumstances be used for anything other than humanitarian purposes”.

Cyprus has stressed it has no involvement in the widening Middle East conflict, and isn’t itself a target.

Lying off the coasts of Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, Cyprus is the easternmost nation among the European Union’s 27 member states.

Britain’s military presence in Cyprus is a legacy of the colonial past.

When Cyprus gained its independence in 1960, the UK retained sovereignty over sites, including on the Akrotiri peninsula.

Altogether, these sites cover just under 3% of land on the island, or 98 sq miles, and stretch beyond the restricted military zones.

But the British government is now facing questions over its readiness to protect its overseas bases.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the House of Commons that Britain has already brought in additional radar, air and counter-drone capabilities.

A drone struck RAF Akrotiri on Sunday night causing minimal damage and no casualties before two further drones were apparently intercepted on Monday.

The UK has not said where it thinks the drone that hit the base came from, but the Cypriot government suspects the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

British officials believe the first drone was launched before Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would allow the US to use British bases for “limited” and “defensive” strikes on Iranian missile sites.

Bases in Cyprus are not being used by US bombers, Starmer has told the House of Commons.

RAF Akrotiri was last attacked in 1986 by pro-Libyan militants, wounding three people.

Russia accused Ukraine of targeting the Arctic Metagaz with “uncrewed sea drones” launched from the Libyan coast.

Ukraine’s SBU state security service has not commented on the allegation and the Libyan port authority said the cause of the fire was unclear.

The Libyans said the tanker was carrying about 62,000 tonnes of LNG before the blasts and that it sank about 130 nautical miles (240km) north of the Libyan port of Sirte.

Russia’s transport ministry said 30 Russians were aboard the Arctic Metagaz. Maltese Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said they were all found “safe and sound in a lifeboat” during a rescue operation by Malta’s armed forces.

Unverified night-time footage has emerged purportedly showing the ship ablaze after the attack, which occurred on Tuesday.

Serhii Sternenko, a popular blogger and adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister, posted pictures on Wednesday morning of what he said was the tanker in the Mediterranean, which had a “serious hole in the engine room compartment and is beyond repair”.

He did not elaborate where the pictures came from and they have not been independently verified.

“This is a terrorist attack,” Russia’s Vladimir Putin told state TV. “This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered something like this.”

Russia’s transport ministry called it “an act of international terrorism and maritime piracy”, singling out the European Union for complicity.

Moscow said the Arctic Metagaz – which had been en route from Russia’s northern port of Murmansk – was carrying cargo cleared in accordance with international rules.

The tanker was apparently heading for Port Said in Egypt and is considered part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet. It has been widely sanctioned by Western countries.

The ministry provided no evidence to back up its claim that the tanker was attacked by Ukrainian sea drones, though there were earlier unconfirmed reports of attacks from the Libyan coast.

The SBU told media that it was not commenting on “the situation with the tanker in the Mediterranean”, although a Ukrainian government-linked social media account, United24, teased that the drones were “Definitely. Maybe” not part of the Ukrainian fleet.

Marine tracking data indicated that the day before the fire, the tanker had last reported that it was sailing off the south-east coast of Malta.

It had sailed some considerable distance by the time the fire was reported and it is assumed the crew deactivated its automatic identification system.

Russia has deployed a surging number of vessels to transport oil and gas in an attempt to avoid international sanctions, which are aimed at slashing revenues that have been critical for funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

Its shadow fleet is largely made up of aged tankers, many with obscure ownership or insurance.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began in 2022, Kyiv has carried out a number of attacks on such vessels using naval drones.

However, nearly all of such strikes have been in the Black Sea, which Russia and Ukraine both border.