Indian police find Russian woman and her 2 daughters living in an isolated forest cave
The woman, identified as Nina Kutina, 40, and her daughters, aged six and four, were found by police during a routine patrol to Ramatirtha Hill, a popular tourist site on the coast of Karnataka, on July 9. Police officer Sridhar S.R. said the family had been living in the cave for more than a week.
Police said they were taking steps to repatriate Kutina to Russia for overstaying her visa. She and her children have been moved to a nearby detention facility for foreigners living illegally in India.
Police said in a statement that Kutina spent her time in the cave meditating by candlelight, and that she told investigating officers she was 'interested in staying in the forest and worshiping God.'
Sridhar said Kutina told police that she had worked as a tutor of Russian language in Goa, a coastal tourist state in southern India.'It is nothing but her love for adventure that brought her here,' said Sridhar.
He said police found pictures of Hindu deities on the inside walls of the cave where Kutina had been living. In a photograph provided by the police, she is seen in front of makeshift curtains made of red saris that covered the entrance to the cave.
The Russian Embassy in New Delhi didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The police statement said Kutina sent a message to her friends after she was found.'Our peaceful life in the cave has ended — our cave home destroyed,' she wrote in the message, according to the statement.
The Associated Press contacted Kutina over the phone but she declined to comment.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Four people killed in Russia and Ukraine as countries trade aerial attacks
Ukraine's southern Dnipro and north-eastern Sumy regions came under combined rocket and drone attack, local officials reported. Head of the Dnipro regional administration Serhii Lysak said at least two people had died and five were wounded in the barrage. In the city of Dnipro, a multi-story building and business were damaged during the strike and in the region a fire engulfed a shopping centre. In Sumy, the military administration said three people were injured. Kharkiv sustained an intense aerial bombardment overnight with local authorities reporting Ukraine's second-largest city was hit by four guided aerial bombs, two ballistic missiles and 15 drones over a three-hour period. In a post on Telegram, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said high-rise residential buildings, local businesses, roads and the communication network were damaged in the attack. He said at least five people were injured, including three rescue workers who were wounded in a double tap strike — where a second attack targets emergency workers trying to help people wounded in the initial attack. According to the daily air force report, in total Russia targeted Ukraine with 208 drones and 27 missiles overnight. It said according to preliminary data, air defence and electronic warfare took down or intercepted 183 drones and 17 missiles but hits from 10 missiles and 25 drones had been recorded in nine locations. In Russia, officials said that Ukrainian drones targeted multiple regions overnight. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed two people, acting governor Yuri Slyusar reported. In the neighbouring Stavropol region, drones hit an unspecified industrial facility, governor Vladimir Vladimirov said on Telegram. He added that the attack sparked a brief fire, but did not specify where exactly. Mr Vladimirov said cellphone internet in the region was restricted because of the attack — a measure authorities regularly take across the vast country that critics say helps widespread online censorship. An unconfirmed media report said videos posted online by local residents showed that the drones hit the Signal radio plant that makes jamming equipment. The Associated Press was unable to verify the claim. Drones also targeted Moscow, but were shot down, according to mayor Sergei Sobyanin, and an unspecified industrial facility in the Penza region south-east of the capital, governor Oleg Melnichenko said. Russia's Defence Ministry said that its air defences shot down or intercepted a total of 54 Ukrainian drones, including 24 over the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, 12 over the Rostov region, six over the annexed Crimean Peninsula, four over the Azov sea, three over the Black Sea and a few others over the Orlov, Tula and Belgorod regions. Russian civil aviation agency Rosaviatsia overnight briefly halted flights in and out of airports serving the city of Kaluga, south-west of Moscow, as well as Vladikavkaz and Grozny in the North Caucasus.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a TV star and mascot for a German broadcaster
Vandals set fire to a mouse statue that's a TV star and mascot for children's programming at German broadcaster WDR, the television station said Saturday. The cartoon mouse, known only as 'Die Maus,' is the eponymous star of 'Die Sendung mit der Maus' (The Show with the Mouse) since it first aired in West Germany in 1971. Each short episode features other languages and educational segments. The statue — featuring the character's famous orange body with brown ears, arms and legs — greets families and children outside a media building in Cologne, Germany. A receptionist for WDR saw several young people standing around the statue in Cologne on a camera feed overnight Friday into Saturday. She then noticed flames and called the fire department, WDR said. The fire blackened parts of the mouse's face and arm, images show. The station said a police complaint had been filed against an unidentified person. Matthias Körnich, head of children's programming for WDR, said it's not just a figurine that was damaged. 'A piece of childhood, a symbol of joy and togetherness has been attacked,' he said. 'The mouse belongs to Cologne.'
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Five dead after Ukraine and Russia trade drone and missile attacks as talks stall
In Ukraine's Dnipro region, three people died in Russian shelling, while two were killed in Russia's Rostov region after a Ukrainian drone strike. Ukrainian officials said Russia launched 235 drones and 27 missiles in a 'massive combined attack' overnight. Ten missiles and 25 drones found their targets, striking nine locations, while air defences shot down or intercepted the rest, according to Ukraine's Air Force. 'A terrible night. A massive combined attack on the region,' Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, wrote on Telegram. An additional six people were injured, he said, posting photos of smashed buildings, burnt-out cars and firefighters battling blazes. In Dnipro city, a multi-storey building and a business were damaged, and a fire engulfed a shopping centre outside the city. Ukraine's southern Dnipro and northeastern Sumy regions also came under heavy rocket and drone attack. Officials in Sumy reported three people injured after Russian drones hit a central square and damaged the regional administration building. Kharkiv also sustained intense bombardment. Ukraine's emergency services said six people were hurt, including four rescuers injured in a so-called 'double tap' strike, where a second attack follows the first to target emergency workers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that Russia would feel the consequences. Russian military enterprises, Russian logistics, Russian airports must feel that the Russian war has real consequences for them,' he said. 'There can be absolutely no silence in response to such strikes, and Ukrainian long-range drones ensure this.' Ukraine's attacks on Russia have also intensified in recent months. Russia's Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted 54 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 24 over the Bryansk region and 12 over Rostov. Officials in Moscow and other areas also reported drone attacks, though most were shot down. In Russia's Rostov region, which borders Ukraine, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said a Ukrainian drone attack killed two people. Drones also struck an industrial facility in the neighbouring Stavropol region, sparking a brief fire, according to governor Vladimir Vladimirov. Officials also reported drone attacks on Moscow and the Penza region southeast of the capital, though they were intercepted. In Russia's Ingushetia region in the North Caucasus, a woman and three children were injured after a drone fell on a home, regional health officials said. On the battlefield, Russia's Defence Ministry claimed to have seized the village of Zelenyi Hai in the eastern Donetsk region and Maliivka in the Dnipro region. Kyiv did not comment on the claims. Mr Zelensky said he had been briefed by Chief of Staff Oleksandr Syrsky on 'active and long-range actions on Russian territory,' including clashes in Pokrovsky and efforts to repel Russian advances into the Sumy region. 'Our forces are consistently blocking Russian attempts to advance deep into the Sumy region from the border,' he said. Mr Zelensky added that drone production in Ukraine this year would 'significantly exceed' earlier forecasts. In Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that peace talks had never truly been on the West's agenda. 'If the West wanted 'real peace' in Ukraine, it would stop supplying Kyiv with weapons,' she said, according to state news agency TASS. Russia's Defence Ministry claimed its overnight strikes had hit Ukrainian military sites 'that manufacture components for missile weapons, as well as produce ammunition and explosives.' The Independent could not verify this claim.
