Traumatised Sudan evacuees describe ‘horrendous’ scenes in Khartoum as they arrive in Cyprus
Many people are arriving in Cyprus utterly traumatised and too upset to talk about what they’ve been through to get here.
We watched a hundred or so, slowly walk down the ramp off the back of an RAF Hercules aircraft into the Mediterranean sun on this holiday island. What a culture shock that must be.
They’re met by British government staff from the Foreign Office’s rapid reaction team – many of them are pulling 20-hour shifts as aircraft land at all hours of the day.
Medics and aid workers are on standby for anyone who needs help. The Cypriot authorities have experience of this – the exodus from Lebanon in 2006 – and they’re working closely with the British.
The process is quick once they land. They’re taken through immigration and then fast-tracked to a departures lounge away from most passengers, ready for a chartered flight back to the UK.
Some are giddy with the elation of making it to safety. Most are exhausted, silent and close to tears.
We met Dr Abdraman, his four sons and his wife, just as they were about to board their flight home.
His wife had to leave her parents behind. She buried her head in her scarf and sobbed as her children told us what they’d experienced.
Dr Abdraman
Two of Dr Abdraman’s sons
“It was kind of tiring because we had to go upstairs and downstairs when we heard bullets and bombs because downstairs is more safe because they normally hit upwards, and it might hit us.”
If there is space, the RAF flights are bringing out other nationalities too.
We met an Australian, Eltayeb Eltayeb, who’d made it out overnight.
He said the situation in Khartoum was “horrendous” and “horrific”.
Eltayeb Eltayeb
“In the middle of the city there were dead bodies everywhere, it was starting to smell like a lot of carcasses.
“[There were] a lot of buildings knocked down, a lot of homes shattered, a lot of people displaced from their homes, and a lot of people dead,” he said.
“It’s saddening because it’s right on your front doorstep, you can hear the gunshots outside, the bullets, the tanks firing, the missiles falling down hitting their targets.
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Tears as Sudan evacuees reunite with families
“Your house vibrating, the windows shaking, it’s a pretty daunting and traumatic experience.”
Mr Eltayeb was staying with his family around 20 minutes from the centre of Khartoum. His house was opposite what he believed was one of the headquarters for the Rapid Support Forces – one of the two groups involved in the fighting.
“You look into the road and you see someone holding an AK looking at you and you just walk right back home.
A plane carrying British nationals evacuated from Sudan
“There’s a famine going on right now. There’s shortages of food, water, supplies. Nothing’s open, no-one is bringing supplies in, people are running out. Sooner or later they’re going to start jumping on the doors and extorting houses.”
The British military says they will be able to continue operating rescue flights, even if the fighting resumes.
They might have to. The 72-hour ceasefire is quickly running out and hundreds more Britons are still trapped in Sudan.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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