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Kyiv — Russia launched dozens of missiles and drones at the Ukrainian energy sector, Kyiv said Wednesday, ramping up a months-long bombing campaign at a precarious moment of the war for Ukraine.

The barrage came just one day after Kyiv said it had carried out its largest ever aerial attack on Russian army factories and energy hubs hundreds of kilometres from the front line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow had fired more than 40 missiles and over 70 attack drones in an overnight barrage against sites including gas infrastructure.

"Another massive Russian attack. It is the middle of winter, and the target for the Russians remains the same: our energy sector," the Ukrainian leader said.

Ukrainian air defence systems shot down at least 30 of the Russian missiles, which included ballistic missiles, Zelensky said.

The statement came ahead of a meeting in Warsaw between Zelensky and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Ukrainian authorities in the west of the country said Wednesday that critical infrastructure facilities had been targeted in a "massive" Russian missile attack after air alerts sounded nationwide.

"Critical infrastructure facilities were targeted in Prykarpattia," the regional governor of the western Ivano-Frankivsk region wrote on social media.

"Air defence forces were working in the region," the official, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said, adding there were no casualties and that the situation was "under control."

 Emergency blackouts 

Authorities in the western Lviv region, which borders EU and NATO member Poland, said two critical infrastructure facilities had been hit in the Drogobych and Stryi districts, without elaborating.

"Fortunately, there were no casualties, but there was damage," governor Maksym Kozytsky wrote on social media.

The Ukrainian national grid operator meanwhile announced it was introducing emergency blackouts in seven regions including the eastern Donetsk region.

"Due to the massive attack, the transmission system operator is applying preventive restrictions," Energy Minister German Galushchenko said of the shutdowns.

Separately, the governor of the eastern Donetsk region said that critical infrastructure had also been hit in his region over the last 24 hours, but did not specify when the strikes had occurred.

The mayor of the southern city of Kherson meanwhile said that "part of our community is without electricity" as a result of the overnight barrage, without giving figures of those without power.

Ukrainian authorities had earlier issued air raid alerts for the entire country, warning of incoming cruise missiles.

The warning said that missiles were headed towards the central city of Kryvyi Rig, the northern Chernigiv region, central Poltava region, and southern Mykolaiv region.

A "group of cruise missiles" was also headed in the direction of the capital Kyiv, the air force said.

Moscow has pursued a months-long bombing campaign against Ukrainian energy infrastructure claiming the attacks are targeted against facilities that aid Kyiv's military.

The Russian military had accused Kyiv of using US- and British-supplied missiles for one of the strikes the previous day and promised it would "not go unanswered".

DAMASCUS — United Nations rights chief Volker Turk on Wednesday said transitional justice was "crucial" for Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, during the first-ever visit by someone in his post to the country.

"Transitional justice is crucial as Syria moves forward," the UN high commissioner for human rights said.

"Revenge and vengeance are never the answer."

The United Nations has said Assad's fall must be followed by accountability for him and others behind the crimes committed during his rule.

"The enforced disappearances, the torture, the use of chemical weapons, among other atrocity crimes, must be fully investigated," Turk said, alluding notably to accusations Assad used sarin gas against his own people.

"And then justice must be served, fairly and impartially," he said at a press conference in Damascus.

Since Islamist-led rebels seized Damascus last month, the new authorities have sought to reassure Syrians and the international community that they will respect the rights of minorities in rebuilding the country.

Turk said that, during his visit, he and the country's new leader Ahmed Sharaa had discussed "the opportunities and challenges awaiting this new Syria".

"He acknowledged and assured me of the importance of respect for human rights for all Syrians and all different components of Syrian society," Turk said.

He said Sharaa also backed "the pursuit of healing, trust building and social cohesion and the reform of institutions".

Turk also called for an easing of certain sanctions imposed on Syria under Assad's rule.

"I... call for an urgent reconsideration of... sanctions with a view to lifting them," he said, that they had had "a negative impact on the enjoyment of rights" of Syrian people.

Turk said he had visited Syria's notorious Saydnaya prison and met with a former detainee, "a former soldier suspected of being a defector".

"He told me of the cruel treatment he endured. I cannot even bear to share the stories of beatings and torture that he shared with me," he said.

BERLIN — The German cabinet has agreed plans to allow the army to shoot down suspicious drones after several sightings over military sites, the government said Wednesday, as tensions run high with Russia.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that "especially since [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine, we have seen that drones are being used more and more frequently, which poses an increasing challenge for the police and their current technology".

The ministry said that "security services have noted that reports of sightings of uncooperative drones over critical infrastructure and military properties in Germany are increasing". 

"Espionage or sabotage is regularly considered as a possible reason," it added in a statement.

Under current regulations, soldiers can assist the police in forcing an unmanned aerial vehicle [UAV] to change direction or land, threaten to shoot it down or fire warning shots. 

But under the new proposals, a drone could be shot down by the army if it is believed the device is being "used against the lives of people or against a critical facility, and the use of armed force is the only means of averting this present danger", the ministry said.

Unidentified drones have been spotted flying over several military bases and other sensitive sites in Germany in recent months, at a time when the country is on high alert for Russian espionage.

Police in the southern state of Bavaria this week said they were looking into several incidents in which drones had flown over military installations in Manching , Neuburg and der Donau.

The Manching site hosts a military aerodrome and is where the Eurofighter jet is developed by Airbus.

Several drones have also recently been spotted at an industrial zone near the North Sea and near the US airbase in Ramstein.

The changes must still be voted through in the lower and upper houses of parliament before becoming law.

SEOUL — Impeached South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first president to be detained in the nation's history.

Yoon, who faces charges of insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, said he would comply with investigators to avoid "bloodshed".

A former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party [PPP] to election victory in 2022, Yoon could face the death penalty or life in jail if found guilty of insurrection.

He had sought to evade arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service [PSS] who had remained loyal to him.

His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a "fortress".

Yoon, who had vowed to "fight to the end", managed to thwart a first arrest attempt on January 3 following a tense hours-long impasse between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police.

But before dawn on Wednesday, hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office again surrounded the residence, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.

After a standoff of about five hours, authorities announced Yoon had been arrested and the impeached leader released a pre-recorded video message.

"I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office," Yoon said in the message, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation but was complying "to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed".

Yoon left his residence in a convoy and was taken to the offices of the Corruption Investigation Office.

Investigators began questioning Yoon shortly after his arrest but they said he had exercised "his right to remain silent".

He refused to be filmed during questioning, a CIO official told reporters, and adding Yoon would spend the night at a detention centre.

In a later Facebook post that Yoon said he wrote while holed up in his residence, he repeated election fraud claims and spoke of "hostile" nations attacking the country, alluding to North Korea.

AFP reporters earlier witnessed brief scuffles at the gate of the residence, where Yoon's die-hard supporters had been camped out to protect him, as authorities first moved on the compound. 

His supporters were heard chanting "illegal warrant!" while waving glow sticks and South Korean and American flags. Some lay on the ground outside the residential compound's main gate.

HELSINKI — NATO countries on the Baltic Sea met in Helsinki on Tuesday, looking to boost security following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables, widely blamed on Russia.

They are expected to announce a NATO patrol mission monitoring activity "below, above, and on the sea surface", researcher Iro Sarkka of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs told AFP.

Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months, with experts and politicians accusing Russia of orchestrating a hybrid war. 

The sabotage has been blamed on a "shadow fleet" of vessels,  often ageing and operating under opaque ownership,  that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products, embargoed since the invasion of Ukraine.

Addressing the European Parliament, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte stressed on Monday the need to make clear that "such hostile actions" and such efforts "will not go unanswered".

"We will also strengthen NATO's military presence in the region, and of course, we will discuss the shadow fleet and what to do about it. So we are responding and will continue to ensure no country can exploit us, control our infrastructure or disrupt our societies," Rutte said, adding that he would be attending the meeting.

"It's clear that we have to be better prepared for different kind of threats and we can see many hybrid threats around us," executive vice-president of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen told reporters after arriving at the summit on Tuesday.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it was "totally unacceptable that these damages seem to have been increasing in numbers recently" but expressed caution in apportioning blame.

"We don't accuse anybody for anything so far. We don't do that easily without very firm proof," Kristersson said.

WARSAW — The number of irregular crossings into the European Union recorded in 2024 fell to the lowest level since 2021, the bloc's border agency Frontex said on Tuesday.

Warsaw-based Frontex, which regularly publishes statistics on irregular entries into the EU, said last year's preliminary data revealed "a significant 38-percent drop" in crossings.

The agency said in a statement the numbers were at "the lowest level since 2021, when migration was still affected by the COVID pandemic".

Frontex said the decrease in undocumented asylum seekers was mainly driven by a plunge in arrivals through the Central Mediterranean and the Western Balkans routes.

"Despite persistent migration pressure, intensified EU and partner cooperation against smuggling networks has significantly reduced crossings at Europe's external borders," Frontex said.

Overall, in 2024 the agency saw over 239,000 irregular entries into the EU.

The biggest fall was registered along the route through the Western Balkans, a 78-percent drop that Frontex attributed to "strong efforts by regional countries to stem the flow".

Irregular entries detected via the Central Mediterranean fell by 59 percent due to "fewer departures from Tunisia and Libya", Frontex said.

Despite the decrease, the route still accounted for about 67,000 crossings, the second highest among all routes after the Eastern Mediterranean route, it added. 

 'Weaponisation' 

Other routes used by undocumented asylum seekers, however, saw sharp increases.

The Canary Islands registering an 18-percent rise in arrivals to almost 47,000, the highest figure since Frontex began collecting data in 2009.

This was "fuelled by departures from Mauritania", Frontex said, adding that "flows from other departure points declined".

Spain has moved to the forefront of the European Union's migration flow as tighter controls in the Mediterranean push more asylum seekers to attempt the perilous trip from West Africa to the Canaries.

The agency also said a "threefold" rise in detections was registered at the EU's eastern land borders, including at Poland's border with Belarus. 

EU states along the bloc's eastern edge have accused Russia and its ally Belarus of pushing thousands of migrants over their borders in recent years as part of a campaign to destabilise Europe. 

In December, the EU said that member states bordering Russia and Belarus could limit the right to asylum for migrants in the event of their "weaponisation" by Moscow and Minsk.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last month the right to asylum "is being used today,  especially on the border with Belarus,  by Poland's enemies". 

Commenting on the latest figures, Frontex's executive director Hans Leijtens said that 2024 "highlighted emerging risks and shifting dynamics".

The agency said these involve smuggling networks adapting to new circumstances and rapidly shifting migration flows. 

It also warned against "increasing violence" by smugglers along the Western Balkans route.

LOS ANGELES, United States — Hot, powerful winds Tuesday threatened to rekindle and whip up major fires that have devastated the hills and suburbs of Los Angeles, killing at last 24 people and changing the face of America's second biggest city forever.

A week after blazes erupted and spread uncontained, forecasters predicted "particularly dangerous" dry Santa Ana winds would spike the wildfire threat for already exhausted firefighters.

"Stay aware of your surroundings. Be ready to evacuate. Avoid anything that can spark a fire," the National Weather Service warned.

A large part of Southern California was under a Red Flag warning, indicating that intense dryness and furious winds would make conditions ripe for wildfire.

Part of Los Angeles County and much of neighboring Ventura County were in a "Particularly Dangerous Situation," according to the NWS, a designation that was also declared before last week's deadly blazes erupted.

Officials insisted they were poised, with Los Angeles city fire chief Kristin Crowley telling reporters a huge firefighting operation was well placed.

"I have strategically pre-positioned engine strike teams and task forces which are dedicated to rapid response for any new fire that breaks out," she said.

The renewed danger comes with 24,000 acres of the upmarket Pacific Palisades in ruins and 14,000 acres of the city of Altadena badly charred.

More than 90,000 evacuees are desperate to get back to their homes -- or even just to see if anything at all survived.

"My house is gone, I know that. I've seen pictures and all that's left is the chimney. But I need to see it by myself to believe it," Fred Busche told AFP.

Among the desperation, there were stories of fortitude.

Jeff Ridgway told how he had refused to abandon the apartment complex he manages, defending it against the fires by hauling buckets of water from the pool.

"It was just a war," the 67-year-old told AFP, pointing to a eucalyptus tree he extinguished when it caught fire and threatened the building last week.

"But I was just stubborn. I was like: 'I'm not going to be defeated by you. I'm sorry, this is just not gonna happen.'"

A 'different experience' 

Search teams using cadaver dogs have been scouring the rubble for days, with Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna saying he expected more victims would be unearthed.

"Every day we're doing this, we're running across the remains of individual community members," he said. 

"I believe we'll continue to find remains."

With so many in dire straits, the city was clutching for any sliver of good news.

That was offered by the Los Angeles Rams, who beat the Minnesota Vikings in an NFL play-off game on Monday night to take them one step closer to the Super Bowl.

The game, which had been scheduled to take place in Los Angeles, was moved to Arizona to relieve pressure on stretched law enforcement.

Basketball fans also had a welcomed diversion from the fires when the Lakers played the San Antonio Spurs at home, although they lost 102-126.

The Lakers were among a dozen city sports clubs -- also including the Dodgers baseball team -- that have pledged $8 million toward wildfire relief.

The mainstay entertainment industry was also stepping up, with major studios and streamers including Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Warner and Universal parent company Comcast having all announced eight-figure donations to the recovery effort.

But there were also many stories of individual generosity.

At a converted parking lot in Arcadia, 600 people showed up in a single day to distribute donated supplies to evacuees, organizers said.

Many had been redirected from other shelters that also could not accommodate the extra help. 

"It's a very different experience than any other volunteering that I typically do. Because there's really no difference between the people that are helping and the people that are being helped," said 19-year-old student Gianna Karkafi. 

"It's just, like, luck."