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Missiles pounded the Ukrainian capital on Friday as Russian forces pressed their advance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pleaded with the international community to do more, saying sanctions announced so far were not enough, Associated Press reported.

Air raid sirens wailed over the city of 3 million people, where some were sheltering in underground metro stations, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion that has shocked the world.

Ukrainian officials said a Russian aircraft had been shot down and crashed into a building in Kyiv overnight, setting it ablaze and injuring eight people.

A senior Ukrainian official said Russian forces would enter areas just outside the capital later on Friday and that Ukrainian troops were defending positions on four fronts despite being outnumbered.

Windows had been blasted out of a 10-storey apartment block near Kyiv’s main airport, where a two-metre crater filled with rubble showed where a shell had struck before dawn. A policeman said people were injured there but not killed.

“How we can live through it in our time? What should we think. Putin should be burnt in hell along with his whole family,” said Oxana Gulenko, cleaning broken glass from her room. A neighbour, Soviet army veteran Anatoliy Marchenko, 57, could not find his cat that had run away during the shelling.

“I know people there, they are my friends,” he said of Russia. “What do they need from me? A war has come to my house and that’s it.”

Witnesses said loud explosions could be heard in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-biggest city, close to Russia’s border, and air raid sirens sounded over Lviv in the west. Authorities reported heavy fighting in the eastern city of Sumy.

Nepal recorded 275 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Friday. 

With this, the country's active caseload mounted to 1,115,925. Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 11, 932. 

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 5, 452 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 158 returned positive. Likewise, 2,276 people underwent antigen tests, of which 117 tested positive.

The Ministry said that 555 infected people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours.

As of today, there are 9,280 active cases in the country. 

The Ministry said that 9, 026 people are staying in home isolation while 254 are in institutionalized isolation.

Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba and CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal held a meeting at the former’s official residence in Baluwatar on Friday.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Deuba sought help from Nepal to endorse the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

“You have made me the Prime Minister. We formed the coalition by ourselves. It is the responsibility of the alliance to take the MCC to a logical conclusion. It will not send a good message if the government’s proposal fails,” a source at Baluwatar said as PM Deuba saying.

In response, Nepal assured PM Deuba of necessary support to take the MCC to a logical conclusion.  

“We cannot go against the people. We will take a decision on the MCC after holding discussions with the party leaders,” Nepal said.

The government has signed an agreement with the World Bank (WB) for a second additional concessional loan of Rs 2.14 billion ($18 million).  

Finance secretary Madhu Kumar Marasini and WB country director Faris Hadad-Zervos on behalf of their respective sides signed the agreement amidst a programme at the Ministry of Finance on Friday.

The Ministry said that the loan is for COVID- 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness (CERHSP) Project. It hopes the use of the proposed loan assistance will further facilitate the expansion of the comprehensive vaccination campaign against COVID-19 by the government and will help in purchasing safe and effective vaccines for the age group above 5 years.

“Nepal has responded expeditiously to the continuously changing environment triggered by the pandemic. It has recorded impressive gains in both primary series COVID-19 vaccination for all populations: 12 years and above as well as booster doses for its most vulnerable populations. This second additional locan will support Nepal to scale-up its vaccination efforts to cover its child populations as well," stated Marasini on the occasion. 

According to the Ministry, the proposed second additional concessional loan and CERHSP project share a common objective of preventing, detecting, and responding to the threat posed by COVID-19 and strengthening the systems for public health preparedness in the nation. The CERHSP project and its additional financing will continue to be implemented under the leadership of the Ministry of Health and Population by the Department of Health Services and associated institutional bodies. RSS

The government has decided to carry out PCR tests free of cost for the people going abroad for work.

The Ministry of Health and Population by making a ministerial level decision decided to conduct the PCR tests free of cost.

The tests will be carried out in Sukraraj Tropical Hospital, Teku, Bir Hospital and Central Laboratory.

But, the people have to submit the authentic documents for the same.

CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Nepal said that the country’s politics has reached a critical juncture due to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

He said so while talking to journalists at the Parliament building on Friday.

“We urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to postpone the Parliament meeting,” adding, “We told him to have a broader discussion on the contemporary political issues like Millennium Challenge Corporation. We should take the decision in the interest of the nation.”

He further said that the $500 million grant agreement cannot be endorsed in its existing form.

The main opposition CPN-UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel said they will not take part in the Parliamentary process until their demands are addressed.

Talking to journalists while registering the party in the Election Commission, he said, “Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has derailed the political system. We will participate in the parliamentary process only if the Speaker corrects his mistake or the Nepali Congress addresses our demands.”

In a different context, he said that the UML is taking an initiative to bring the democratic system in line.

“The UML is trying to bring back the democratic process from the edge,” he said, adding, “Discussions should be held among the major political parties to bring democracy in line.”

The CPN (Maoist Centre) has decided that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) cannot be ratified in its current form. 

A party’s Central Office meeting held on Friday morning decided not to endorse the MCC in the status quo, Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s personal secretary Ramesh Malla said. 

The meeting has also decided to make every effort to keep the coalition intact. 

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has urged the coalition partners to endorse the MCC in the existing form. 

A meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for today has been postponed till 1 pm on Sunday after the parties failed to forge a common ground on the $500 million grant agreement.