Russia launches biggest drone attack on Ukraine, targets military airfield, Kyiv says, World News
It was the latest in Russian onslaughts since Ukraine destroyed a number of Russian bombers in drone attacks on air bases deep inside Russia earlier this month.
Ukraine's air defence units downed 460 out of 479 drones and 19 out of 20 missiles launched by the Russian forces, the air force said in a statement.
A military airfield close to Ukraine's western border was the key target, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said.
"The main strike was targeting... one of the operational air fields. There are some hits," Ihnat told Ukrainian TV, without elaborating on the damage.
The airfield is in the city of Dubno, about 60km from Ukraine's border with Poland, Ukrainian regional authorities said.
Polish and allied aircraft were activated early on Monday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace, the Polish armed forces said.
Russia's Defence Ministry said the attack was another strike in response to Kyiv's attacks on Russian bases this month, adding that "all designated facilities" had been hit.
The more than three-year-old war in Ukraine has been escalating as the peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow have so far failed to yield any significant results.
The two sides remain deeply divided on how to end the war. Ukraine is pushing for an unconditional ceasefire as a first step, something Russia has repeatedly rejected.
[[nid:718863]]
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Malaysia King will make state visit to Russia for Putin meeting
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Malaysia's king, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, will attend a state banquet hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Russia from Aug 5 to 10. Malaysia's king, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, will make the first state visit of a monarch from the country to Russia, in a trip at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin that runs from Aug 5 to 10, the palace said on Aug 2. 'This visit also reflects the important role of the Malaysian monarchy in driving the nation's diplomacy,' according to a statement from the palace. The visit will strengthen ties and enhance cooperation in sectors including trade, education and technology, it said. Sultan Ibrahim will attend a state banquet hosted by Mr Putin, and visit an automotive technology development company as well as the Tochka Kipeniya Technology and Innovation Hub, the statement said. After concluding the Moscow visit, the king travels to Kazan on Aug 8, where he will tour a helicopter manufacturing facility. The visit follows Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's trip to Moscow in May , where talks covered areas including education, agriculture, food security, energy and defence. During the meeting, Mr Putin had criticised a UN probe that found his country responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed all 298 passengers and crew in 2014. BLOOMBERG
Business Times
5 hours ago
- Business Times
India aghast at Donald Trump's ‘dead' economy jibe, 25% tariffs
[MUMBAI] Shock, dismay and angst swept across India as businesses, policymakers and citizens digested US President Donald Trump's sharp remarks and a surprise 25 per cent tariff rate earlier this week. While Indian government officials weighed a response and business groups tallied the cost of the trade barrier, the local social media flared up with users protesting Trump's comments and criticising Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking up. It started with Trump saying that India's trade barriers were the 'most strenuous and obnoxious', in a Truth Social post on Jul 30. He added the US may also impose a penalty for New Delhi's purchase of Russian weapons and energy. Less than a day later, he ripped into India again for aligning with Russia, calling them 'dead economies' in another post. With no imminent trade deal, the 25 per cent tariffs kicked in as at Friday. India is hardly alone in facing Trump's trade wrath, and not the subject to the very highest rates, but the news left business and political leaders wondering how to cope with the fallout. 'Blunt-force' message 'Overnight, the US-India trade equation shifted from tense to turbulent,' said Akshat Garg, assistant vice-president at Choice Wealth, a Mumbai-based financial services firm. The levies 'feel less like structured policy and more like a blunt-force political message'. Complicating the narrative around the India trade deal, or the lack of it, was the US pact with its traditional rival Pakistan that came through on the same day. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up As the US released rates across the world on Aug 1, India's relative disadvantage to competitor exporting countries became more apparent, dampening moods and stoking tempers further. 'The biggest blow is that Pakistan and Bangladesh got a better rate than us,' V Elangovan, managing director at SNQS Internationals, an apparel maker in the southern Indian manufacturing hub of Tirupur, told Bloomberg News. 'We were expecting something in the 15 to 20 per cent range.' India's annoyance can be traced back in part to Trump declaring himself the peacemaker that helped broker a ceasefire in the armed conflict between India and Pakistan in May. The move was seen as an effort to upstage Modi and put the two South Asian neighbours on an equal footing, despite India's larger military and economy. The events of this week have cemented that impression further in the eyes of some Indian observers. When the tariff rate news first dropped in late Wednesday evening in India, Ashish Kanodia recalls being 'very disturbed'. A director at Kanodia Global, a closely held exporter that gets over 40 per cent of its revenue from the US selling home fabrics to toys, the entrepreneur already has two of its largest US customers seeking discounts to make up for the levy. 'The next six months are going to be difficult for everyone,' Kanodia said, adding that profit margins will be squeezed. If the pain continues for 'months and months', he said that he will have to start cutting his workforce. The US is India's largest trading partner, with the two-way trade between them at an estimated US$129.2 billion in 2024. Compared with India's 25 per cent, Bangladesh was subjected to a 20 per cent tariff, Vietnam got a 20 per cent levy and Indonesia and Pakistan each received 19 per cent duties. 'We know that we have got a deal that is worse than other countries,' said Sabyasachi Ray, executive director at The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council. 'We will take it up with the government.' Trump's actions mark a 180-degree turn for New Delhi's hopes of preferential treatment over regional peers. It was among the first to engage Washington in trade talks in February, confident of hammering out a deal sooner than others. Trump had called India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'my friend' in a Feb 14 post on X and the bond between the two countries 'special'. India is now weighing options to placate the White House, including boosting US imports, Bloomberg News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, and many hope that the bilateral relationship and the tariff rate can still be improved. 'It is a storm in the India-US relationship at this moment, but I think there's a good chance that it will go away,' Vivek Mishra, deputy director of the Strategic Studies Programme at Delhi-based Observer Researcher Foundation, told Bloomberg News. Indian business and trade groups are supporting the government's stance on the deal as the negotiations for a US-India trade deal continue. Negotiating tactic Jewellery businesses 'are worried but they are not panicking' because they hope a more favourable deal can be worked out, said Ray of the gems export body. 'The negotiation that should be happening should be a win-win, not a win-lose.' The abrupt announcement by Trump over social media when negotiations with India were ongoing 'seems like a knee-jerk reaction', according to Rohit Kumar, founding partner at public policy research firm The Quantum Hub. 'This appears to be a negotiating tactic aimed at unresolved discussion points,' Kumar said. BLOOMBERG
AsiaOne
5 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Putin, facing Trump deadline, signals no change in Russia's stance on Ukraine, World News
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday (Aug 1) that Moscow hoped for more peace talks with Ukraine but that the momentum of the war was in its favour, signalling no shift in his stance despite a looming sanctions deadline from Washington. US President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Moscow and countries that buy its energy exports - of which the biggest are China and India - unless Russia moves by Aug 8 to end the 3-1/2 year war. He has expressed mounting frustration with Putin, accusing him of "bullshit" and describing Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine as "disgusting". Putin, without referring to the Trump deadline, said three sessions of peace talks with Ukraine had yielded some positive results, and Russia was expecting negotiations to continue. "As for any disappointments on the part of anyone, all disappointments arise from inflated expectations. This is a well-known general rule," he said. "But in order to approach the issue peacefully, it is necessary to conduct detailed conversations. And not in public, but this must be done calmly, in the quiet of the negotiation process." He said Russian troops were attacking Ukraine along the entire front line and that the momentum was in their favour, citing the announcement by his Defence Ministry on Thursday that Moscow's forces had captured the Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar after a 16-month battle. Ukraine denied that Chasiv Yar is under full Russian control. Ukraine for months has been urging an immediate ceasefire but Russia says it wants a final and durable settlement, not a pause. Since the peace talks began in Istanbul in May, it has conducted some of its heaviest air strikes of the war, especially on the capital Kyiv. The Ukrainian government has said the Russian negotiators do not have the mandate to take significant decisions and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Putin to meet him for talks. [[nid:720424]] "We understand who makes the decisions in Russia and who must end this war. The whole world understands this too," Zelenskiy said on Friday on X, reiterating his call for direct talks between him and Putin. "The United States has proposed this. Ukraine has supported it. What is needed is Russia's readiness." Russia says a leaders' meeting could only take place to set the seal on agreements reached by negotiators. Ukraine and its European allies have frequently said they do not believe Putin is really interested in peace and have accused him of stalling, which the Kremlin denies. "I will repeat once again, we need a long and lasting peace on good foundations that would satisfy both Russia and Ukraine, and ensure the security of both countries," Putin said, adding that this was also a question of European security. Putin was speaking alongside his ally Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, at talks on an island in Lake Ladoga that is the site of a famous Russian monastery. Russian TV earlier showed the two men greeting monks at the Valaam Monastery, where they have met several times before, and holding candles during the chanting of prayers.
