The chief of India’s Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat, has urged Indian families to have three children each, warning of long-term risks linked to the country’s declining birth rates.

Despite being the world’s most populous nation with 1.46 billion people, India’s fertility rate has dropped below two children per woman, according to the UN Population Fund’s 2025 report, as the economy continues to grow.

Bhagwat, whose organization is the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, said the population must remain “controlled, yet sufficient.”

Speaking during a lecture marking the 100th anniversary of the RSS, he stressed that “in the national interest, every family should have three children and restrict themselves to that.”

His remarks highlight growing concern among nationalist leaders and some regional politicians over long-term demographic stability, economic capacity, and cultural identity.

Hardline Hindu groups have long raised alarms about higher birth rates among minority communities, particularly Muslims, though data shows that Muslim families in India are also having fewer children than in previous decades.

Bhagwat too said birth rates were declining across religious groups.

While the RSS officially describes itself as a cultural organisation promoting Hindu values, it wields enormous influence through its vast network of affiliates and millions of grassroots volunteers.

Many of Modi’s senior ministers, including the prime minister himself, are long-time members of the RSS.

Analysts say BJP’s policy priorities from cultural and education reform to citizenship laws frequently echo positions championed by the RSS, making the organisation one of the most powerful civil society groups in the world.

Bhagwat rejected criticism that the RSS was opposed to Muslims who make up about 14% of India’s population and other minorities saying the organisation viewed all of them as Indians.

“Our ancestors and culture are the same. Worship practices may differ, but our identity is one.

Changing religion does not change one’s community,” he said.

“Mutual trust must be built on all sides. Muslims must overcome the fear that joining hands with others will erase their religion.”

The United States on Thursday announced its approval of an $825 million sale of 3,350 Extended Range Attack Munition (ERAM) air-launched missiles and related equipment to Ukraine.

Kyiv will fund the purchase with support from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway, along with a US-backed loan guarantee, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in a statement.

“This proposed sale will enhance Ukraine’s ability to address current and future threats by further equipping it for self-defense and regional security operations,” DSCA added.

The agency also noted that the sale “supports the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by strengthening the security of a partner nation that contributes to political stability and economic progress in Europe.”

The State Department has approved the potential missile sale, and the DSCA has submitted the required notification to the US Congress, which still must approve the transaction.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin launched the full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022 and has shown little willingness to end the conflict despite pressure from the United States.

Under former president Joe Biden, Washington committed to providing more than $65 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, but his successor Donald Trump long skeptical of assistance for Kyiv has instead pushed for Europe to play a greater role in funding further military aid.

• EU, UK summon Russian envoys to protest over Kyiv attacks.
• White House spox says Trump will have more to say about strikes.
• Says perhaps both sides are not ready to end it themselves.

KYIV: US President Donald Trump has said that he was “not surprised” after Russia rained down missiles and drones on Kyiv, killing at least 21 people in the Ukrainian capital early on Thursday. 

The deadly strikes came as the US president continues to push for peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv, even as the war grinds on.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “was not happy about this news, but he was also not surprised,” given that the two countries had been at war for a long time.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike, the second-largest attack since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, was Moscow’s answer to diplomatic efforts to end its war.

US special envoy Keith Kellogg commented on X: “The targets? Not soldiers and weapons but residential areas in Kyiv – blasting civilian trains, the EU & British mission council offices, and innocent civilians.”

The European Union and Britain summoned Russian envoys to protest. There were no reports of casualties at either site.

Zelensky said the strikes also damaged a Turkish enterprise and the Azerbaijan embassy.

Leavitt told a regular briefing that Trump would have more to say about the situation later.

Leavitt said the Russian attacks had been deadly and that Ukrainian attacks had done significant damage in August to Russian oil refineries.

“Perhaps both sides of this war are not ready to end it themselves,” she said. 

“The president wants it to end but the leaders of these two countries need it to end and want it to end.”

The strikes took place less than two weeks after Trump hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin at a summit in Alaska, a meeting the US president hoped would advance his peace efforts.

“Russia chooses ballistics instead of the negotiating table,” Zelensky said on X, calling for new sanctions on Russia. “It chooses to continue killing instead of ending the war.”

Russia said its attack had hit military industrial facilities and air bases, and that Ukraine had attacked Russian targets. The Kremlin said it was still interested in pursuing peace talks.

Moscow has regularly denied targeting civilians. Ukrainian officials say scores of civilians have died in Russian strikes on densely populated areas in recent months, and thousands since the start of the war.

During the attack on Kyiv, explosions rang out as clouds of smoke rose into the night sky. Drones whirred overhead.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko described it as one of the biggest attacks on the city in recent months. At least 63 people were wounded in the hours-long assault, which damaged buildings in all city districts, officials said.

Across the country, Ukraine’s military said Russian attacks struck 13 locations. National grid operator Ukrenergo said energy facilities were hit, causing power cuts.

A push by Ukraine and its allies to end the invasion has yielded little, despite Trump’s meetings this month with Putin, then Zelensky.

Russia has stepped up air strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front lines and pushed a grinding offensive across much of the east in an effort to pressure Ukraine into giving up territory.

‘Another grim reminder’

“This is another grim reminder of what is at stake. It shows that the Kremlin will stop at nothing to terrorise Ukraine, blindly killing civilians and even targeting the European Union,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.

She said two missiles had struck near the EU office within 20 seconds of each other.

EU countries would soon come up with a 19th package of sanctions against Russia and were advancing work on how to use frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine, she added.

“We discussed our diplomatic efforts to stop the killings, to end this unprovoked Russian aggression, and to guarantee real security for our people,” Zelensky wrote on X after talks with von der Leyen.

Zelensky also said that he had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine with Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan and they would be set out on paper next week.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the assault, which he said had damaged the British Council building. “Putin is killing children and civilians and sabotaging hopes of peace,” he wrote on X.

Ukraine’s military said air defences downed 563 of nearly 600 drones and 26 of 31 missiles launched by Russia across the country.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said Russian air defences destroyed 102 Ukrainian drones overnight in at least seven regions.

Ukraine’s drone force said it had struck the Afipsky and Kuybyshevskyi oil refineries as part of that attack.