A collision involving a minibus taxi and a truck killed at least 11 people in South Africa on Thursday, a local government official and emergency services said, just over a week after a similar road crash left 14 schoolchildren dead.

Thursday's crash happened near the city of Durban in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. Provincial transport department official Siboniso Duma said in a statement that 11 people, including a schoolchild, died at the scene, although that was according to preliminary information.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Emirati counterpart Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Moscow on Thursday ahead of a second round of talks on the Ukraine war in Abu Dhabi.

The UAE has emerged as a key mediator in the nearly four-year war, brokering a number of prisoner exchanges between the two sides and most recently hosting talks between U.S., Russian and Ukrainian officials on a U.S.-drafted plan to end the fighting.

Iran's army on Thursday added 1,000 drones to its combat regiments as its chief vowed a "crushing response" to any attack, state television reported, after the United States moved a strike force into regional waters.

"In accordance with the threats we are facing, maintaining and enhancing strategic advantages for rapid combat and a crushing response to any invasion... is always on the army's agenda," Iran's army commander Amir Hatami said, cited by state television.

A Russian drone attack killed three people in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region overnight, authorities said Thursday, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Moscow is planning another large-scale barrage despite plans for further U.S.-brokered peace talks at the weekend.

The Zaporizhzhia strike caused a major blaze in an apartment building, according to emergency services.

The Kremlin said on Thursday there was still room for negotiations in the standoff between ally Tehran and Washington, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new military strikes on Iran.

"It is clear that the potential for negotiations is not exhausted," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding: "any use of force can only create chaos in the region and lead to very dangerous consequences."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hailed the European Union on Thursday as an "alternative to imperialism and autocracy" that can forge deals with like-minded partners in a world of increasing great power rivalry.

Merz underlined the continuing value of a NATO in which Europe will intensify its defense efforts, and said it will always seek cooperation with the United States — but not as a "subordinate." He also joined other European leaders in pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front line during the war in Afghanistan.

Denmark's foreign minister said Thursday he was "more optimistic" after technical talks kicked off with the United States over Greenland.

"We have had the very first meeting at senior official level in Washington yesterday regarding the Greenlandic issue," Lars Lokke Rasmussen told journalists at an EU meeting in Brussels.

Turkey will offer to help resolve tensions between Washington and Tehran when Iran's top diplomat visits, a foreign ministry source said Thursday a day ahead of the visit.

"Turkey is ready to contribute to resolving the current tensions through dialogue," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was to tell his counterpart Abbas Araghchi when the pair meet on Friday, the source said.

Iran's foreign minister warned Wednesday its forces would respond immediately and forcefully to any U.S. military operation after President Donald Trump declared time was running out to avoid one, but did not rule out a new deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

The Islamic republic's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi warned its forces have their "fingers on the trigger" to "powerfully respond" to any U.S. strikes, but also used language strikingly similar to Trump's to describe a possible agreement to defuse the stand-off through a new nuclear deal.

The European Union on Thursday announced sanctions on 15 Iranian officials, including top commanders and officials of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, over Tehran's deadly crackdown on nationwide protests.

Six Iranian organizations, including bodies responsible for monitoring online content in Iran, were also included in the sanctions list.