Moldovan President Maia Sandu arrived in Ukraine on Monday, according to the UNIAN news outlet.

Ukraine has terminated two agreements with Russia in the field of nuclear safety, the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine said in a statement on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Germany on Monday in a video call with G7 leaders. 

Zelenskyy told G7 leaders that he wanted Russia-Ukraine conflict to end before the winter sets in, two European Union diplomats told news agencies.

The three-day gathering kicked off Sunday in the Bavarian Alps against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

The United States on Monday announced new G7 sanctions targeting Russia's defense industry.

"G7 leaders will align and expand targeted sanctions to further restrict Russia's access" to Western technology that can support the Russian arms industry, the White House said in a statement.

A second earthquake hit Afghanistan's Paktika province at around 10 a.m. local time on Friday, killing at least five people, local media outlet RTA reported.

The death toll has risen to 1,150 after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday, chief of Bakhtar News Agency said. 

In the early morning of June 22, a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan's Paktika Province, killing over 1,000 people. CGTN Global Stringer visits a village in the quake zone. Locals say the village has suffered heavy casualties and needs help with a shortage of tents, medicine and other relief supplies.

Photos taken by CGTN reporter Parwaiz Karokhail show the aftermath of the powerful earthquake in Azaar and Wachkai villages of Afghanistan's Paktika Province.

The death toll has risen to about 1,100 following the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan, while the number of injured persons has climbed to 1,600, TOLOnews reported on Friday, citing Taliban-led government officials.

Local officials and residents said more than 1,000 houses had been destroyed in the earthquake.

Earthquake search and rescue operations in Afghanistan have now concluded in major regions, but continue in some far-flung areas, reported Reuters, citing an official.

The Ministry of State for Disaster Management said 18 people have been killed and 200 injured in recent floods in 10 provinces, CGTN correspondent Zmaryalai Abasin reported on Thursday.

CGTN reporter Parwaiz Karokhail in Afghanistan boarded a helicopter to the quake-hit areas from Khost airport. Vehicles loaded with food items will also be carried to the affected regions.

The death toll has risen to 1,500 after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika Province early on June 22, with more than 2,000 others injured.

A deadly 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika Province shortly after 1:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, killing more than 1,000 people, injuring 1,500 more and destroying at least 500 homes. The earthquake was the country's deadliest in two decades.

South Korea will give $1 million in humanitarian aid for victims of an earthquake that killed at least 1,000 people in Afghanistan, the foreign ministry in Seoul said on Thursday.

The death toll has risen to 1,500 after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika Province early on Wednesday, with more than 2,000 others injured, Al Jazeera reported, citing Afghan officials.

Early reports said the powerful earthquake in eastern Afghanistan had killed at least 1,000 people and injured 1,500.

The Afghan government has yet to confirm the new figures but interior ministry official Salahuddin Ayubi warned previously that casualties are likely to rise.

The Taliban-run administration's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said Thursday that a massive relief effort is underway inside and outside the quake-hit areas.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed his sadness by the tragic loss of life in the earthquake that struck Afghanistan earlier in the day.

"My heart goes out to the people of Afghanistan who are already reeling from the impact of years of conflict, economic hardship and hunger. I convey my deep condolences to the families of the victims and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," he said on Wednesday.

The earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday and has killed over 1,000 people, with more than 1,500 others injured.

Guterres said the United Nations in Afghanistan is fully mobilized, and several UN teams are already on the ground assessing the needs and providing initial support.

"We count on the international community to help support the hundreds of families hit by this latest disaster. Now is the time for solidarity," Guterres said.

Guterres' deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said later on Wednesday that the World Health Organization and several nongovernmental organizations are deploying mobile health teams, medicines and medical equipment to Afghanistan's Paktika and Khost provinces and mobilizing additional medical supplies.

The UN Children's Fund has deployed at least 12 teams of health workers to the worst-hit district of Giyan in Paktika, and several mobile health and nutrition teams to Barmal district of Paktika, and Spera district in Khost. The World Food Programme, along with its humanitarian partners, is conducting a vulnerability assessment mission in the remote areas hit by the earthquake.

UN humanitarians said the Taliban are responding, including with search-and-rescue efforts. But heavy rain and wind are hampering efforts with helicopters reportedly unable to land on Wednesday afternoon, according to Haq.

Those whose homes have been damaged or destroyed are seeking shelter with family and friends, with some reportedly living in the open. The Taliban have delivered food and emergency tents to some of these families. But more assistance is required, he said.

Given the unseasonable heavy rains and cold, emergency shelter is an immediate priority. Other immediate needs include emergency trauma care, non-food items, food assistance and water and sanitation hygiene support, said Haq.

(With input from Xinhua)

In the early morning of June 22, a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck near the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan's Paktika Province. The interim government disclosed at a press briefing that more than 1,000 people have been killed. CGTN Global Stringer sent footage from the front line.

The death toll has surpassed 1,000 after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika Province early on Wednesday, according to a local official.

More than 1,500 people were injured in the Gyan and Barmal districts of the province, Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, head of the Information and Culture Department in Paktika, told reporters.

The number of casualties may increase, he said. 

The death toll from an earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday has reached 920, while 610 people have been injured, an official said, adding the number of casualties might further rise.

The Chinese Embassy in Afghanistan hasn't received reports of Chinese casualties in Afghanistan's earthquake, Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu told CMG on Wednesday.

A magnitude-6.1 earthquake hit Afghanistan early on Wednesday, killing at least 920 people, Reuters reported citing disaster management officials. 

More than 600 people injured and the tolls are expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages.

Photographs published by Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in blankets lying on the ground.

Helicopters were deployed in the rescue effort to reach the injured and fly in medical supplies and food, said an interior ministry official, Salahuddin Ayubi.

"The death toll is likely to rise as some of the villages are in remote areas in the mountains and it will take some time to collect details."

Wednesday's quake was the deadliest since 2002. It struck about 44 kilometers from the southeastern city of Khost, near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGC) said.

Most of the confirmed deaths were in the eastern province of Paktika, where 255 people were killed and more than 200 injured, Ayubi added. In the province of Khost, 25 were dead and 90 had been taken to hospital.

Haibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the ruling Taliban, offered his condolences in a statement.

Mounting a rescue operation could prove a major test for the Taliban, who took over the country in August and have been cut off from much international assistance because of sanctions.

Shaking was felt by about 119 million people in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Twitter, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in Pakistan.

The EMSC put the earthquake's magnitude at 6.1, though the USGC said it was 5.9.

Adding to the challenge for Afghan authorities is recent flooding in many regions, which the disaster agency said had killed 11, injured 50 and blocked stretches of highway.

The UN's office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Afghanistan had asked humanitarian agencies to help with rescue efforts, and teams were being dispatched to the quake-hit area.

A spokesman of Afghanistan's foreign ministry said it would welcome international help. Neighboring Pakistan said it was working to extend assistance.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.

Scores of people were killed and injured in January when two quakes struck rural areas in the western province of Badghis, damaging hundreds of buildings.

In 2015, more than 380 people were killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan when a magnitude-7.5 earthquake ripped across the two countries, with the bulk of the deaths in Pakistan.

(With input from Reuters, AFP)

The Afghan interim government is holding a press briefing in Kabul after a powerful magnitude-6.1 earthquake killed at least 280 people on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Defense has sent a medical team with first aid as well as six helicopters to transport the injured to military and civilian hospitals following the earthquake.

The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.1 earthquake shook the city of Khost in eastern Afghanistan on June 22. Aftershock was also felt in Afghanistan's capital Kabul as well as Pakistan's capital Islamabad. CGTN's correspondent Zmaryalai Abasin has the latest in Kabul.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday extended condolences over the lives lost and the people injured in an earthquake in Afghanistan and said China is willing to provide needed emergency humanitarian aid.

At least 280 people were killed and 595 injured after a magnitude-6.1 earthquake struck Afghanistan's Paktika Province early on Wednesday, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported. The quake damaged dozens of houses in the region and also caused landslides in Paktika, local sources said.

At least 280 people were killed and 595 others injured after an earthquake hit eastern Afghanistan, Bakhtar news agency reported on Wednesday.

At least 255 people were killed and 155 others injured in an earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, Bakhtar news agency reported on Wednesday.

A powerful earthquake in Gayan District of Afghanistan's Paktika Province has claimed at least 255 lives and injured 155 others, Afghanistan's state-run news agency reported.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 hit parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the early hours of Wednesday, said the U.S. Geological Survey.

Photographs posted on social media showed several heavily damaged mud houses in remote rural areas.

Afghanistan is frequently hit by earthquakes, especially in the Hindu Kush mountain range, which lies near the junction of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates.