Inside a dimly-lit storeroom in Tine’s central market, near the border of North Darfur and Chad, we are shown a haunting video.

Young men crouched on the ground and covered in sand stare up at a phone camera helplessly.

A loud male voice interrogates them and demands to know what they are smuggling into Al Fashir, the regional capital besieged by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

One responds with “rice” and another says “pasta”.

“I will swat all of you like flies,” the man says from behind the camera, before pointing his gun at each of their heads and feigning lethal headshots in a mock execution.

We are shown the clip by Ahmed* and Hassan*, who are using pseudonyms for their protection.

The young men in the video are just one of the many teams they coordinate to smuggle food and lifesaving supplies into Sudan‘s Al Fashir, where around 900,000 people are being forced into famine by an RSF blockade while being bombarded by deadly drone strikes and shelling.

The dangers of this work are extreme as smuggling routes rapidly open and close, and battles for control rage inside the city.

Some of the teams they send make it to Al Fashir, but many do not. The three men in the video are still missing and are feared dead.

“The situation in Al Fashir is catastrophic – you cannot afford to watch and do nothing,” says Ahmed in front of a stack of flour sacks piled up to the ceiling.

“We have no option but to offer what we can for people to eat and survive the shelling.”

Read more: Inside the epicentre of Sudan’s war

As we drive to the storeroom, their phones constantly ping with messages, voice notes and phone calls.

As Ahmed fires back a voice note requesting costings on bulk food items, Hassan brings his phone to his ear and listens.

He sighs with frustration and says: “We just received a message from HQ that one of our guys smuggling in insulin hasn’t arrived and was likely killed.

“He has been missing for three days. We have to count him among the dead.”

Hassan tells us they are being targeted by the RSF, adamant to uphold their siege.

“It happens a lot. Three days ago, we had a group of 12 people break up into three teams of four. Two of the teams arrived, but one group never surfaced.”

The number of dead is mounting and uncountable. They tell us they have lost 30 volunteers in the first week of September alone.

Their network of fearless first responders was born out of the resistance committees created to organise and assist targeted protesters during Sudan’s 2019 revolution.

Now, they carry the burden of feeding and treating war-impacted civilians across the country through the Nobel Peace Prize nominated Emergency Response Rooms.

The RSF are not just targeting these civilian volunteers but also aid convoys attempting to deliver food.

On 3 June, a World Food Programme (WFP)-UNICEF aid convoy approaching Al Fashir was attacked, with five convoy personnel being killed and several food trucks destroyed.

Last month, another WFP convoy approaching an RSF-held town, Mellit, was attacked, and three trucks were set on fire.

Near a makeshift displacement shelter in Tine, 24 WFP trucks full of food are parked at a transshipment point under the sun.

The trucks will set off to towns in North Darfur that are controlled by the RSF: Mellit, Kutum and Korma.

Korma is only 43 miles from Al Fashir, but aid trucks will not brave facing the RSF by approaching the besieged capital.

WFP Sudan’s country director Laurent Bukera says: “For months, the UN has been trying to secure guarantees for a humanitarian pause allowing safe delivery to the city.

“We received clearances from the government of Sudan’s humanitarian aid commission to deliver aid into Al Fashir and are renewing these, but the RSF has yet to communicate support for a humanitarian pause.”

Volunteers call for aid airdrops

Hassan, Ahmed and other volunteers we met are calling for food air drops, similar to those in Gaza and South Sudan.

“We need safe humanitarian passage for the delivery of aid – by road or by air drop,” says Hassan. “That is the responsibility of the international community as a neutral entity that can navigate the belligerents.”

But navigating these belligerents has proven difficult for mediators and the United Nations.

Read more from Sky News:
Catastrophic malnutrition in Sudan’s besieged city
War crimes are taking place in Sudan, ICC believes

Since the start of the war in April 2023, there has not been a single humanitarian pause or ceasefire that would allow for the guaranteed safe passage of aid.

“We are exploring every option to get aid into Al Fashir,” says Mr Bukera. “Airdrops are up to 10 times more expensive and extremely risky due to high risk of drone strikes, anti-aircraft weapons and shelling in and around Al Fashir.

“Also with the absence of humanitarian pause, to date, no aircraft and pilot have been willing to take the risk.”

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Until a safe corridor for aid is established, Al Fashir’s young volunteers will continue to face death to get food to their besieged and bombarded relatives in friends inside the city.

“If we don’t do it – it’ll be a slow genocide. So, better to die trying,” says Hassan.

“We have no other option but to take these risks.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s moment in the United Nations General Assembly chamber came a day after he told Sky News that Donald Trump’s language represented a “big shift” in America’s stance on Ukraine. 

The dust is settling on US President Trump’s social media post on Tuesday.

While it unquestionably represents a shift in position – now claiming Ukraine can take back all of the land lost – big questions remain about Mr Trump‘s personal and material commitment to a Ukrainian victory.

Mr Zelenskyy is taking the win that the language represents, but he, more than anyone, knows that Mr Trump can turn on a dime.

And so his speech was a warning, a message and a continued plea for help.

The Ukrainian leader cited history in warning that Russia won’t stop unless it is defeated.

Mr Zelenskyy said: “We have already lost Georgia in Europe. Human rights and the European nature of the state system are only shrinking there.

“Georgia is dependent on Russia and for many, many years, Belarus has also been moving towards dependence on Russia.”

“Putin will keep driving the war forward, wider and deeper… Ukraine is only the first. Russian drones are already flying across Europe.”

“Europe cannot afford to lose Moldova too,” he said.

UN latest: Zelenskyy tells UN ‘God saved’ Trump from assassination

Drawing on the experience of his country, he warned of what he said was a uniquely dangerous proliferation of weapons.

“We are living through the most destructive arms race in human history,” he said, warning specifically of the dangers of drones which will soon be controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).

But he also warned of the proliferation of the use of violence, whether it be from nation states or from political activists.

He cited the assassination attempts on Mr Trump and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

He included these moments not just because he believes they represent a dangerous and tragic shift but because he knows he needs to keep President Trump and his base of support on side. Showing empathy with them is important.

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He spoke in perfect English. Not long ago, he struggled with the language. He knows that now, more than ever, he needs to communicate in the language of those who hold the key to his country’s future.

“Of course, we are doing everything to make sure Europe truly helps, and we count on the United States,” he said.

He closed with a plea to the nations of the world, gathered in the chamber.

“Don’t stay silent while Russia keeps dragging this war on… Please join us in defending life, international law and order,” he said.

“People are waiting for action.”

An airport in Denmark has been forced to close after drones were spotted nearby, local police have said.

Incoming and departing flights from Aalborg Airport were halted following the incident on Wednesday night.

In a post on X, Nordjyllands Police said: “Drones have been observed near Aalborg Airport and the airspace is closed. The police are present and investigating further.”

The force said more than one drone was sighted in the airport’s airspace, adding that it was not known if they were the same ones that affected Copenhagen Airport earlier this week.

It said the purpose of the drones was unknown, and it was not clear who was controlling them, but they were flying with their lights on.

Aalborg is located in the north of the country, in the Jutland region, and is Denmark’s fourth-largest city by population.

Denmark’s national police said the drones followed a similar pattern to the ones that had halted flights at Copenhagen Airport.

It also said it had received notices of drones in other parts of the country. It said the Danish Armed Forces were also affected as they use Aalborg Airport as a military base.

Danish police later said the unidentified drones were no longer located over the airport’s airspace.

Southern Jutland police later said drones had also been observed near airports in the Danish towns of Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup. Fighter Wing Skrydstrup in Southern Jutland is the base for Denmark’s F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.

Denmark’s national police commissioner, Thorkild Fogde, said many people around the country had reported drone sightings to the police since the disruption earlier this week.

“Of course many of these reports do not cover activities that are of interest to the police or the military, but some of them do, and I think the one in Aalborg does,” he said.

The incident at Copenhagen Airport on Monday was described by the government as the most serious attack yet on its critical infrastructure and linked the drones to a series of suspected Russian drone incursions and other disruptions across Europe.

Authorities in Norway also shut the airspace at Oslo airport for three hours after a drone was seen there.

Denmark‘s prime minister later said she “cannot deny” that drones seen over the airport were flown by Russia.

Authorities in Norway and Denmark are in close contact over the incidents in Copenhagen and Oslo, but their investigation has not yet established a connection, Norway’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.

It also comes after disruption at Heathrow Airport last week following a cyber attack that also hit other major airports in Europe.