Zelensky meets Meloni in Italy, presses for more arms

RAMENSKOYE, Russia: As a drone smashed into the side of her apartment block early on Tuesday, Russia’s full-scale offensive on Ukraine literally came home to Svetlana in a suburb southeast of Moscow.
Like for most Russians, Moscow’s three-year military campaign had until then felt distant — mostly constrained to television screens.
Despite militaristic propaganda and a mass recruitment of soldiers, authorities have tried to keep society at arm’s length from the conflict’s death and destruction — especially in and around the capital.
“You understand that it is war, but you don’t realize it properly,” Svetlana, wearing a winter coat with a fur collar, said. “But now, yes, it has come.”
In her town of Ramenskoye, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of central Moscow, police had cordoned off an area where a drone hit.
The attack shattered the sense of comfort that Svetlana — a supporter of the Kremlin’s offensive — had.
“Yes, we were weaving camouflage nets, collecting humanitarian aid, accompanying fighters there, but we still didn’t realize it. Now it has come,” Svetlana said.
“I’m scared for the children,” said Andrei, an electrician who lives on the 12th floor of a building that was hit.
He was sweeping up broken glass from his car, which was hit by falling shrapnel after the drone crashed into the 18th-22nd floors.
“My six-year-old daughter was sleeping with me, she woke up crying from the noise,” he told AFP.
Kyiv said it wants the attack — which involved more than 300 drones — to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to an aerial ceasefire.
The Kremlin has previously ruled that out.
Ukraine says the strikes are just a taste of what Russia has subjected its citizens to over the last three years, with Moscow having fired near daily bomb, missile and drone attacks across the country.
“There is not even any thought that tonight will be peaceful. It’s scary,” said Olga, a 21-year old who works in IT and lives in the adjacent building to one hit.
She ran out to the street after being woken at 5 am (0200 GMT) by the rumbling.
“People just have fear in their eyes,” she told AFP, the ground around her covered with shrapnel.
Unlike in Ukraine — where air alerts ring out practically every night in almost every city — there was no such warning of an incoming attack in the Russian capital or its suburbs.
“We don’t understand what to do in such situations,” said Olga.
“The news says that more and more drones are being shot down. It’s scary to even go to sleep after such a thing,” she added. “It could have been us.”
The idea of peace — previously seen as within reach amid US President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with Moscow — now felt far away in Ramenskoye.
“In my opinion, this attack won’t be the last,” said retiree Sergei, criticizing Ukraine’s “bloodthirsty” European backers who were supplying it with arms.
For 75-year-old Yulia, who lives next to the building that was hit, there was just frustration.
“My heart is bad. I don’t believe there will be peace,” she told AFP.
“Why can’t they agree? Why not? What are they thinking about?,” she said, through tears. “It’s terrible.”

ABUJA: At least 26 people have died from a meningitis outbreak in Nigeria’s northwest Kebbi state, a local health official said on Tuesday.
Nigeria is one of the hotspots of the deadly disease in Africa where at least 1,700 cases were reported last year, with more than 150 deaths recorded in seven states.
Kebbi state Health Commissioner Musa Ismaila confirmed the outbreak, citing a surge in cases in three local government areas.
“We are saddled with the unfortunate situation of an outbreak with a rising number of cases,” Ismaila said in a statement, detailing symptoms that include fever, severe headaches, and neck stiffness.
A total of 248 suspected cases have been line-listed, with 11 samples sent to the National Reference Laboratory in the capital Abuja. Two samples returned negative, while nine are pending, he said.
Meningitis is the inflammation of tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. It spreads mainly through kisses, sneezes, coughs and in close living quarters.
In response to the outbreak, the state government has distributed drugs to affected areas with isolation centers established with the support of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Gwandu, Jega, and Aliero, the three affected local government areas, Ismaila said.
Similarly, neighboring Sokoto state has issued a health warning following confirmation of an outbreak.
Last year, Nigeria became the first country in the world to roll out the “revolutionary” new Men5C vaccine against meningitis, according to the World Health Organization.