Alex Ritson

It's claimed well over 300 attacks, including some very ambitious assaults on military bases across parts of the country.

But you could make the case that if the U.S.

was wanting to strike the Islamic State in Nigeria, it hit the wrong side of the country, because all of that activity has been right up in the northeastern corner of

The latest attacks were right on the other side of the country, about a thousand kilometers away in Sokoto state.

Now, the target seems to have been what is known as the Laka Ara group, which there have been unconfirmed reports that it may have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

But there really is nothing sort of out there in the public domain confirming that allegiance or connections between the two entities exist.

So we have been monitoring Islamic State affiliated channels that have actually been monitoring U.S.

military flights over the country over the past month.

And we'd noticed the prevalence of flights over the Sakoto region, as well as Borno areas where Islamic State has very well-known camps.

So it's entirely possible the U.S.

could be planning to follow up with attacks on these better established, better known Islamic State centres across Borno states, sort of based on this reconnaissance and movement of U.S.

planes.

Barry Marston from BBC Monitoring.

In an interview with US media, President Trump appeared lukewarm compared to the Ukrainian president's optimistic appraisal of peace efforts to end the war with Russia.

Mr Zelensky said the peace agreement being brokered by President Trump was 90% ready.

The Ukrainian president is expected to hold talks with Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday in the latest push to secure a deal before the new year.

Our correspondent Samira Hussain sent this report from Kiev.

In speaking with U.S.

media, President Trump is certainly striking a different tone to that of President Zelensky.

We've heard from President Zelensky that, in fact, he believes that the peace plan is about 90% there, that only the thorniest issues remain.