On the shores of Lake Kivu, Goma residents were busy filling up plastic jerrycans with lake water. Less than a week since Rwanda-backed rebels claimed control of the city, basic services like water, internet and electricity were completely cut off.

In 2012, when M23 rebels appeared poised to seize control of a major city in eastern Congo, western countries suspended aid to put pressure on Rwanda to withdraw its support.

Missiles are flying above civilians' homes as fighters fire heavy artillery in Goma's city centre, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) spokesperson tells the BBC. "It is a very densely populated area... there are lots of victims in terms of civilians, Myriam Favier says.

Ukraine's foreign ministry summoned Slovakia's ambassador in Kyiv on Thursday to reject accusations that it is meddling in its neighbour's internal affairs and to accuse Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of being a "mouthpiece" for Russia.

The scene is the result of the invasion of Goma on January 27th by M23, an armed group under the control of Rwanda, Congo’s neighbour, which abuts the city. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, has escalated a crisis whose origins go back decades.

A rebel alliance claimed the capture of the biggest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region this week, pushing back against resistance from government troops backed by regional and UN intervention forces.

Hundreds of people in combat fatigues massed at Goma's Stade de l'Unité after M23 tells disarmed soldiers to report to stadium. Video credit: Social media.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy replaced the commander of the eastern front, the most heated battlefield of the Ukraine war, after Russian forces captured another strategic town there.

Rwanda-backed rebels claimed on Monday they captured eastern Congo’s strategic city of Goma, the hub of a region containing trillions of dollars in mineral wealth that remains largely untapped.

Ukraine is deeply concerned about the escalation of hostilities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Rebels, supported by Rwanda, have entered the largest city in the eastern region, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vladimir Putin grabbed Donbas, an eastern region of Ukraine, and pretended he had not. As a figleaf he used local separatist forces, which Russia armed, supplied and directed. These forces, he claimed,