Day: February 23, 2026

The U.S. military said Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted “a lethal kinetic strike” on the boat that intelligence confirmed was “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes,” News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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Officials confirmed that no U.S. military forces were harmed.
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assert that the military campaign known as Operation Southern Spear is meant to disrupt cartel trafficking and prevent drugs from reaching the U.S. border.
SOUTHCOM oversees military operations and security cooperation in Central and South America and the Caribbean. The region has long been a major transit zone for illicit narcotics bound for the United States and other international markets.
The latest attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 150 people in at least 44 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

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The finding comes in the updated joint Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5) issued on Monday by the Government, the World Bank Group, the European Commission and the United Nations, News.Az reports, citing UN Geneva.
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It was released as the war enters a fifth year, with direct damage now reaching over $195 billion – up from $176 billion in the previous assessment published last February.
Rebuilding the nation 
RDNA5 covers the period from February 2022 to December 2025 and complements reform and investment efforts underway as Ukraine continues along the path to European Union (EU) accession. 
The sectors with the highest reconstruction and recovery needs are transport (over $96 billion), energy (nearly $91 billion) and housing (almost $90 billion).  Some $63 billion is needed to rebuild the commerce and industry sector, and over $55 billion for agriculture.
The cost of explosives hazard management and debris clearance is almost $28 billion, despite some progress in surveying and demining that helped to contain losses in the sector.
Attacks on energy and transport
Housing, transport and energy are the worst hit. Moreover, damage, losses and needs remain concentrated in frontline oblasts (administrative regions) and major metropolitan areas.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector, amid record winter temperatures. The result has been a roughly 21 per cent increase in damaged or destroyed assets since the last assessment.
Transport sector needs have increased by around 24 per cent due to intensified attacks on rail and ports over the past year, while 14 per cent of housing has been damaged or destroyed, impacting over three million households.
“Despite the widespread damage that continues to mount against Ukraine’s people, economy and infrastructure, the entire country continues to press on with remarkable strength and resolve,” said Anna Bjerde, World Bank Managing Director of Operations.
Private sector investment 
The partners noted that the private sector – which has faced unprecedented disruption – will play a critical role in recovery and reconstruction.
However, unlocking the full potential of both domestic and international private investment will depend on sustained reforms to improve the business environment, strengthen competition, expand access to finance, address labour constraints, and align production with EU green and digital standards.
“Russia’s war of aggression continues to have a devastating impact on Ukraine,” said EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
She underlined that the regional bloc “will continue to play a key role in supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery”, including by mobilising more private investments and encouraging key reforms that will attract investment and bring the country closer to EU membership.
Put people at the centre of recovery 
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, Matthias Schmale, stressed that people are central to the country’s recovery.
 “Ukraine’s most critical asset is its people,” he said. “Refugee return, veteran reintegration, and women’s labor force participation will shape economic recovery as much as capital flows and rebuilding infrastructure. Recovery must be human-centered and community-based.” 
RDNA5 notes that the authorities are taking significant steps, with support from development partners, to meet recovery and reconstruction priorities for 2026.
This includes investment in funding for destroyed housing, demining and economic support programmes, totalling more than $15 billion. Additionally, at least $20 billion in needs have already been met since the war began through urgent repairs and early recovery activities in essential sectors such as housing, energy, education and transport.
“Amid unprecedented Russian attacks on energy infrastructure and homes across Ukraine this winter, our people show resilience, our entrepreneurs keep working. We still manage to recover fast and develop further,” said Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, thanking the UN and partners for their support. 

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Six workers were trapped under the concrete and were pulled out by the locals. Though they were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital by locals, four of them succumbed to their injuries, a police official said, News.az reports, citing Xinhua.
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A probe into the incident is underway. 

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General Ricardo Trevilla Trejo said information from a confidante of one of the crime boss’s lovers helped officials quickly plan the raid at his hideout in Tapalpa, in the state of Jalisco, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
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“El Mencho”, the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), whose real name was Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, was wounded in the operation to capture him on Sunday and later died in a helicopter while being flown to Mexico City.
The US had offered a reward of up to $15m (£11m) for information leading to his arrest.
The CJNG is known for trafficking large quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine into the US.
It was designated a foreign terrorist organisation by Donald Trump’s administration in February 2025.
During the raid, cartel gunmen reportedly opened fire on security forces, before the fighting moved to a cabin complex in a wooded area, where the drug boss was wounded alongside two of his bodyguards.
The trio were transported by helicopter to Mexico City but “died on the way”, general Trevilla said.
He said several rocket launchers were found with them, but the men were not able to use them.Eight cartel members were killed in the raid, he said, while grenades, ammo and armoured vehicles were seized.
The operation sparked waves of violence across Mexico, as cartel members blocked roads, burned cars and carried out retaliatory attacks.
Mexico’s security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said 25 members of the National Guard had been killed in six separate cartel attacks, as well as an agent from the state prosecutor’s office, a security guard and a woman he did not identify.
The crime boss’s death triggered “27 cowardly attacks against authorities in Jalisco,” Mr Garcia Harfuch said, ⁠adding that 30 cartel operatives were killed ​as well as one bystander. At least ​70 people have been arrested in seven states.
“We ​are closely monitoring for any kind of reaction ⁠or restructuring within the cartel that could lead to violence,” he added.

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