???? Live: Russian shelling kills at least three people in Kherson, Ukraine says

Issued on: 11/03/2023 – 15:17Modified: 11/03/2023 – 15:18

2:46pm: Iran says deal reached to buy Russian fighter jets

Iran has finalised a deal to buy Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia, state media reported, as defence cooperation between the two countries deepens.

The air force of sanctions-hit Iran has an ageing fleet of aircraft and has struggled to acquire spare parts to keep its warplanes in use.

In a statement to the United Nations, Tehran said it began approaching “countries to buy fighter jets” to replenish its fleet in the wake of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

“Russia announced it was ready to sell them” after the expiry in October 2020 of restrictions on Iran purchasing conventional weapons under UN Resolution 2231, said the statement carried late Friday by Iran’s official IRNA news agency

2:33pm: Russia’s Wagner Group opens dozens of recruitment centres

Wagner has been spearheading offensives against cities in eastern Ukraine including Bakhmut, in what has become the longest and bloodiest fight of Russia’s year-long invasion. Both sides have suffered heavy losses around Bakhmut.

“Recruitment centres for PMC Wagner have opened in 42 Russian cities,” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a statement, referring to his private military company.

01:29

2:24pm: Russian shells kill three in Kherson, officials say

A Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Saturday left three people dead and two others wounded, authorities said.

“Russian terrorists are shelling Kherson again,” Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on messaging app Telegram. 

He posted a picture of firefighters next to a charred car.

Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of Kherson’s regional military administration, said the casualties occurred when a car was hit by a shell and caught fire.

The strike came two days after Russian artillery fire also killed three people in Kherson, according to the Ukrainian presidency. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)