Tajikistan and the UAE sign key air transport deal to boost connectivity

Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.

The former speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, Andriy Parubiy, has been shot dead in the Ukrainian western city of Lviv. Police received reports of the shooting in the Frankivsk district of Lviv, western Ukraine, at around midday local time on Saturday. Unconfirmed reports suggest he was shot multiple times by a gunman dressed as a courier on an e-bike. Parubiy, 54, rose to prominence during Ukraine's Euromaidan movement, which advocated for closer ties with the EU and brought down pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described it as a "terrible murder" and offered his condolences. Parubiy was a pivotal figure in the Euromaidan movement, which began after the Ukrainian government refused to sign an association agreement with the EU in late 2013. He later became secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council, during a period when pro-Russian separatists began fighting in eastern Ukraine - and when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the annexation of the Crimea peninsula. Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Parubiy joined Ukraine's territorial defence. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Parubiy as "a patriot and statesman who made an enormous contribution to the defence of Ukraine's freedom, independence and sovereignty". Sybiha added: "He was a man who rightfully belongs in the history books." Former President Petro Poroshenko said the killing of Parubiy was "a shot fired at the heart of Ukraine".