World News Roundup: Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin with drone attack on Kremlin; Explainer-Sudan's conflict: Who's backing the rival commanders? and more

Scores of firefighters battled a huge fire that Russian authorities blamed on a Ukrainian drone crashing into an oil terminal on Russia's side of the bridge it built to occupied Crimea. Serbia school shooting: boy kills nine in Belgrade classroom A 14-year-old boy opened fire in his Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning, shooting dead eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a pre-planned attack and wounding seven others, Serbian officials said.

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin with drone attack on Kremlin

Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of attacking the Kremlin with drones overnight in a failed bid to kill President Vladimir Putin. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities on the statement from Moscow, the most dramatic accusation it has levelled against Kyiv since invading its neighbour more than 14 months ago.

Explainer-Sudan's conflict: Who's backing the rival commanders?

Military rivals locked in a conflict that erupted in Sudan on April 15 both courted foreign backing in the years leading up to the fighting. That support could now influence the course of the power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the leader of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, commonly known as Hemedti, as well as efforts to stop the violence.

Israeli-Palestinian Gaza truce holds after hunger striker's death

A truce along the Israel-Gaza border appeared to be holding on Wednesday morning following a brief bout of fighting triggered by the death of a jailed Palestinian hunger striker. After Palestinian militants fired rockets at Israel through the night and Israeli jets struck in Gaza, a ceasefire mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations appeared to hold as the sides signalled little interest in further escalation.

Factbox-Serbia school shooting and other major killings of children

A 14-year-old boy shot his teacher in a Belgrade classroom on Wednesday before opening fire on other students and security guards, killing eight pupils and a security guard, Serbia's interior ministry said. Here are details of some previous school shootings and mass killings of children around the world:

Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week in Gulf -U.S. Navy

Iran has seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Gulf waters, the U.S. Navy said, the latest escalation in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019. The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy said the Panama-flagged oil tanker Niovi was seized by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) at 6:20 a.m. (0220 GMT) while passing through the narrow Strait of Hormuz.

Huge fires at oil depots in Russia and Ukraine as sides press drone war

Oil depots were ablaze in both Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday as both sides escalated a drone war targeting infrastructure ahead of Kyiv's planned spring counter-offensive to try to end Moscow's all-out invasion. Scores of firefighters battled a huge fire that Russian authorities blamed on a Ukrainian drone crashing into an oil terminal on Russia's side of the bridge it built to occupied Crimea.

Serbia school shooting: boy kills nine in Belgrade classroom

A 14-year-old boy opened fire in his Belgrade classroom on Wednesday morning, shooting dead eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a pre-planned attack and wounding seven others, Serbian officials said. Using his father's handgun, the boy fired first at the security guard and three girls in the hallway and then entered a history class and shot at the teacher and classmates, police said. The teacher and six pupils were hospitalised, some with life-threatening injuries.

UN says aid trucks looted in 'volatile' Sudan, calls for safe passage

U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Wednesday he was seeking assurances from Sudan's warring factions on the safe delivery of aid after six trucks of humanitarian supplies were looted and air strikes in Khartoum undermined a new ceasefire.

"We will still require agreements and arrangements to allow for movement of staff and supplies," Griffiths said from Port Sudan, where many people have fled as the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have battled for three weeks.

Iranian president in Damascus for first visit since Syrian war began

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi landed in Damascus on Wednesday for talks with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, Syrian state media reported, in the first visit by an Iranian head of state since war broke out in Syria in 2011. With military and economic support from both Iran and Russia, Assad regained control of most of Syria from rebels that were backed by regional countries now seeking dialogue with him.

Russian attacks kill eight in Ukraine's Kherson region - officials

Russian forces killed eight civilians in attacks on the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Wednesday, striking a hypermarket and railway station in the regional capital and hitting villages nearby, officials said. Three were killed in an apparent artillery strike as people did their morning shopping in the hypermarket in the city of Kherson, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office said.