Sputnik Africa's editorial team brings you a roundup of the major stories making headlines this evening:
The course of escalating the conflict in Ukraine, taken by a number of Western countries, is connected with the desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin said;
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned NATO that in case of its aggressive actions or individual member states against Moscow, sitting back behind the ocean will not work, Russia will respond to the alliance's aggression adequately by using any means to ensure security;
On the eve of the rotation of IAEA observers at the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Station, the Armed Forces of Ukraine carried out a massive shelling of part of the route along which the mission is traveling to the station, the Russian Defense Ministry reported;
Howard University, US presidential candidate Kamala Harris's alma mater, will turn into a kind of campaign headquarters for the presidential candidate on election day; from there, Harris is expected to monitor the election results;
The US security forces have been guarding a Florida polling station since early morning, where US presidential candidate Donald Trump is expected to vote later today;
The EU is awaiting the results of the US presidential election, and the EU's future policy towards Ukraine will depend on them, a European representative said;
Twelve people were injured in a fire at an oil refinery in Turkey and were sent to hospitals, media reported.