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       Ahead of a highly anticipated Spring offensive by Russia, Ukrainian troops have been training in Poland on Leopard 2 tanks, just weeks after Berlin gave the green light for the German-made tanks to be sent to Ukraine.

       On Monday, Poland's President Andrzej Duda attended the training showcase at Swietoszow Military Base in western Poland, where Polish, Norwegian and Canadian instructors have been working with Ukrainian soldiers.

       President Duda praised the troops who have been battling the Russian invasion since 24th February 2022, almost a year ago.

       He said, "these are very experienced tank drivers, who arrived here straight from the front" in Ukraine."

       According to Polish instructor Krzysztof Sieradzki, training normally lasts two months, but given the imminence of Russia's fresh assault, the 105 Ukrainian troops will be completing the course in just one month.

       Russia is likely to try to secure territory it illegally annexed in late September, where it claims Kremlin rule is welcomed due to 'referenda', such as Donetsk.

       They claim to have taken the village of Krasna Hora near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk Oblast, using 'volunteer assault units', a rare admission from Russia's army that fighters from the Wagner paramilitary group were involved.

       President Zelenskyy, 13.02.23

       President Zelenskyy continued his 'diplomatic marathon' on Monday, speaking with the presidents of Norway, the Republic of Cyprus, and the Philippines in an attempt to bolster international support.

       In his nightly address he said: "Now, more than ever, it feels like Ukraine's European goals are becoming a reality. Finally, there are more real achievements than political declarations. For decades, Ukraine and the European Union have been moving towards this."

       Zelenskyy praised the work of soldiers defending the Luhansk region and the Donetsk region, adding "Let's remember: every new result achieved for Ukraine means a shorter time to victory."

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       Syria’s president agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country’s rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment to help millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced late Monday.

       UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the agreement by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Raée for an initial period of three months. Currently, the UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa, at Syrian ally Russia’s insistence.

       The announcement followed a meeting in Damascus earlier Monday between Assad and UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who spent the weekend viewing the devastation caused by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria.

       In this photo released on the official Facebook page of the Syrian Presidency, President Bashar Assad meets with UN Under-Secretary-General Martin Griffiths in Damascus.AP/AP

       Guterres’ official announcement came during a closed meeting of the UN Security Council where diplomats said Griffiths announced Assad’s agreement to open the two new crossings during a virtual briefing.

       Syria’s UN ambassador, Bassam Sabbagh, told reporters while the meeting was taking place that Assad held a “positive and constructive meeting” with Griffiths and “confirmed the need for urgent aid to enter all regions in Syria, including those under occupation and under control of the armed terrorist groups.”

       Brazil and Switzerland, which oversee Syria's cross-border issues in the council, asked for “quick implementation" of the agreement to open the two new crossings.

       “We certainly hope Assad is serious about this," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said. It would be “a good thing for the Syrian people," he said, noting the Syrian regime's previous opposition to additional humanitarian crossings.

       The United Nations has been under intense pressure to get more aid and heavy equipment into Syria’s rebel-held northwest since the earthquake struck a week ago, with survivors lacking the means to dig for other survivors and the death toll mounting.

       The toll in the northwestern rebel-held region has reached 2,166, according to the rescue group the White Helmets, while the Syrian Health Ministry in Damascus said 1,414 people have died in government-held areas. The overall death toll in Syria stands at 3,580.

       Could Turkey and Syria earthquakes be behind these whale deaths in Cyprus? ‘Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we just wait’: Grief turns to anger in Antakya over earthquake response Time is running out — those saving lives in earthquake-hit Turkey and Syria desperately need us Watch: Drone images of Antakya devasted by the earthquake

       UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric cited difficulties due to Syria’s 12-year war.

       To criticism that the UN hadn’t responded quickly enough to the quake, he said some aid is getting into the northwest, pointing to 58 trucks that arrived with aid through the Bab Al-Hawa crossing.

       But he stressed that the United Nations doesn’t have heavy equipment or search and rescue teams, “so the international community as a whole needs to step up to get that aid where it is needed.”

       Guterres said in a statement that with the rising death toll “delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency.”

       For more watch Euronews' report in the video above.

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       The United States National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, said in a press conference on Sunday that China has "a high-altitude balloon programme for intelligence collection connected to the People's Liberation Army".

       Kirby did not, however, disclose the origin or purpose of the three latest aerial devices shot down over America over the weekend and said it is vital to make a distinction between the 'spy balloon', and the following devices, which were smaller and did not have propulsion systems.

       The White House did put rumours to bed of alien involvement, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre clarifying that there is no evidence of aliens or extraterrestrial activity in the appearance of multiple UFOs; a joke for some, but not for others.

       The relationship between the United States and China has become increasingly strained since the first sighting of a 61-metre-high balloon flying over Montana earlier this month.

       China claimed that the balloon shot down on the 4th of February was engaged in meteorological research.

       Kirby was careful to not disclose details, but said the aerial devices posed a "very real" risk to civilian air traffic, given the altitude at which they were flying, and that President Biden, therefore, directed the military to take them down "out of an abundance of caution".

       Earlier on Sunday, Beijing claimed that the US had been flying balloons in its airspace over the last year, which the White House denied.