Thousands of Catholics began paying their respects on Monday to former pope Benedict XVI at St Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome, at the start of three days of lying-in-state before his funeral.

An aerial strike targeted the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in the early hours of Monday, after a New Year’s weekend marked by dozens of Russian drone and missile attacks that killed at least four people.

The European Union on Saturday urged Rwanda to stop supporting the M23 rebel group, which has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province in neighbouring DR Congo.