Three dead, 35 injured in Ukrainian strike on factory in Russia's Izhevsk, governor says
Brechalov did not name the targeted facility, but a Ukrainian security official earlier told Reuters that at least two long-range drones operated by the Security Service of Ukraine struck the Kupol plant, which manufactures drones and air defenсe systems, and caused a fire.
A column of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from the site of a fire at a cluster of buildings in videos shared by the Ukrainian official who said the plant's production facilities and warehouses had been hit.
Reuters could not independently verify the claim.
Brechalov said he had he informed Russian President Vladimir Putin about the incident.
Kupol is a research and development enterprise and part of the state-owned Almaz-Antey defense conglomerate. Izhevsk is also home to the world-renowned Kalashnikov defense manufacturing concern.
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Spectator
an hour ago
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The terrifying crimes of the Latvian KGB
For a gateway into hell, the innocuous brown wooden front door of 61 Freedom Street in downtown Riga is surprisingly narrow – just two feet across. Known as the Corner House, the two-foot-wide door into the old KGB Latvian HQ would be easy to miss amidst the wide boulevards and the ornate, art nouveau, balconied apartments and shops of the Latvian capital. But beyond that narrow threshold there is no mistaking that you've entered a world of terror. The tiny, barred reception area beyond the entrance door is no more than a human cage, where desperate relatives once came to enquire about the fate of their loved ones. A bleak antechamber whose further internal door serves only to hide the labyrinth of interrogation rooms, bars, spy holes, locks, and execution chamber, in the realm beyond. A portal into the vast hidden KGB terror machine to break the bones and bodies of those suspected of defying the Soviet regime. Like Latvia itself, the 1912 building has changed hands many times. It was a music school, a pharmacy, luxury apartments, before falling into the inventory of the KGB in 1940 during the Soviet occupation of Latvia, then the Nazis from 1941-44, before falling back into the thrall of its more permanent KGB landlord with the return of the Red Army until the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991. Inside, the Corner House building is falling apart, plaster and paint hang from the ceilings and walls – torturers don't bother with internal décor – and every floor, door frame, bar and lock is chipped and battered, uncared for. Only the elaborate chandeliers, hanging forlorn from the high ceilings, hark back to the building's former glory. The narrow doors, the narrow corridors, even the narrow elevator, where it is almost impossible to physically turn around, are all deliberate – a means of preventing escape or rebellion amongst the KGB's captives. A primitive touch pad alarm system lines each corridor once enabling a KGB guard to warn his fellow henchmen within moments of a prisoner revolt. The very architecture of terror. There are spyholes in the doors and in walls of the cells so the guards could easily check on the inmates. A primitive kitchen. And toilets without any cubicles or privacy where prisoners, stripped of all their possessions and dignity, had to relieve themselves under the eye of their Russian and co-opted Latvian communist captors. The Corner House was a waystation, an interrogation centre, rather than a permanent prison. The corridors lead to a maze of subterranean cells that held up to 30 to 40 prisoners in each cell in stifling heat, lights on 24/7, shitting in a communal bucket, for weeks on end as KGB interrogators tortured and broke them down to obtain confessions. Before Stalinist courts then rubber-stamped their victims to long penal sentences or transportation to Siberian prison camps. Compared to East Germany, where Putin first cut his KGB baby teeth in the 1980s, Riga and Latvia, long subjugated, must have been a relative backwater for an ambitious young KGB officer in the post war era – like being assigned to Leeds. But the Corner House remained the Latvian KGB HQ for over 50 years. For a regime dedicated to the perfection of New Soviet Man, the KGB still expended a huge effort to cover up its own crimes; arresting its victims at night, disappearing them into its vast gulag of prisons after secret trials and even building backyard walls around its Latvian HQ so curious neighbours in the adjoining apartments would never catch a glimpse of its captives in the tiny exercise yard. Now a museum, the Corner House remains an evocative charnel house of despair and an indictment of the bureaucracy of the KGB state terror machine. Even as they awaited their fate, the Latvian prisoners would have heard the sounds of the city all around them. But must have also known that no one was coming to their rescue. Hope itself was impossible. For those even less lucky, at the height of the Stalinist terror, the KGB built a special execution chamber with thrice padded walls inside the Corner House, just off the building's internal courtyard, where 186 Latvian nationalists or those deemed to be Nazi collaborators, were led in at night, shot in the forehead and then their bodies hurled into the waiting truck, its engine running to cover the noise, before their bodies were dumped in hidden forest burial grounds surrounding the city. Later on, as perestroika neared in the 1980s, the KGB, ever adaptive, converted their execution chamber into a special KGB shop, wallpapering over their bloodied bullet slugs in the walls, so the Communist Party nomenklatura elite could then buy western cigarettes and forbidden luxuries. Today the Corner House is part of Latvia's national Museum of Occupation dedicated to documenting the crimes of the Soviet occupation. For 15 euros you can cheekily fill up your Instagram with selfies taken from inside the KGB's cells. Though there is something about the sheer misery of the place that cannot be so easily digitally washed away. Thousands died in this place over decades in the grip of a tyranny whose successor regime menacingly lives on just a four-hour drive away along the common Latvian Russian border. Judging by the Ukrainian flags adorning every second flagpole in Riga, the fate of Ukraine and a future Latvia are conjoined. Allegedly the old KGB, the Committee for State Security, was dissolved in 1991 and replaced with the FSB, the Federal Security Service – though you might be forgiven for failing to notice the difference. Less easy to forgive though are Putin's western apologists, who so easily talk about ceding the Donbass and eastern Ukraine to the Russian state, whilst glossing over the Putin regime's present tyranny, and the fact that new Corner Houses have already opened in every captured Ukrainian town.
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Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 with the LNG trade crucial in bringing billions into the Kremlin to pay for Putin's 'special military operation' which has killed thousands of people. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Seapeak Maritime, based on Elliot Street in Glasgow, near the Clyde, operates tankers such as the Yakov Gakkel, which exports Russian gas from Yamal in Siberia – estimated to hold a quarter of the world's gas reserves – to Europe. We previously told how US-based billionaire investor Michael Dorrell is behind Seapeak. The Australian took overall control it in 2023 following it's acquisition by Stonepeak, the £100billion infrastructure investment giant he is founder and CEO of. Its tankers are part of Russia's 'shadow fleet' of an estimated 600 vessels shipping oil and gas around the world while evading western sanctions. Seapeak's work is technically legal but critics want the UK Government to close what it says is a sanctions loophole. Scottish Greens MSP Ross Greer – who was sanctioned by Russia for his work in solidarity with Ukraine – said: 'It's appalling that the UK Labour government refuses to shut Seapeak down. 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'Lelo - Strong Georgia' joins elections; rest of opposition slams move, calls for boycott
Georgia: Lelo runs in elections, opposition criticizes The first open statement from the Georgian opposition confirming participation in the October 4 municipal elections has been made. On July 5, Irakli Kupradze, a leader of the 'Lelo – Strong Georgia' coalition, announced at a special briefing: 'By taking part in these elections, we're entering another major battlefield against dictatorship and the Russian regime in Georgia.' Several other opposition parties and coalitions immediately responded, calling the decision 'highly regrettable.' The upcoming municipal elections have deepened Georgia's political tensions, already marked by sharp confrontation between the ruling Georgian Dream and the opposition. This time, the rift has emerged within the opposition itself. The question of whether to participate in the elections has also split pro-Western civil society, sparking intense debate. Eight opposition parties have declared a boycott, arguing that participation won't bring real political results because, in their words, 'Georgian Dream' has seized power at all levels, is carrying out political repression, and actively dismantling civil society and independent media. 'Opposition participation under these conditions would only help normalize the regime,' boycott supporters say. Three opposition parties take a different stance, seeing the elections as an opportunity to rally supporters, defend their positions, and challenge Georgian Dream. Mamuka Khazaradze, the jailed leader of 'Strong Georgia,' has called for opposition unity in the elections to prevent Georgian Dream from fully entrenching itself at all levels. Parties and coalitions boycotting the elections: United National Movement, Federalists, Liberty Square, European Georgia, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, Droa, Akhali, Girchi – More Freedom. Parties supporting participation: Lelo – Strong Georgia, Gakharia – For Georgia, Girchi (led by Iago Khvichia). Should Georgian opposition participate in 2025 municipal elections? So far, the opposition has not expressed a unified position regarding participation in the local elections. What 'Lelo – Strong Georgia' says 'We have our own plan, our own path that serves the interests of the people, and no one – especially Georgian Dream – can knock us off that path. Uncompromising, tireless struggle is the only way we can stand up to [oligarch and Georgian Dream founder] Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Russian regime in Georgia. We choose to fight on this front too. It's a crime to call these elections 'local.' This is a real election, and we will fight a real government. This fight will continue until the end – until victory,' said Irakli Kupradze, secretary general of the 'Lelo – Strong Georgia' alliance. Two leaders of the Strong Georgia coalition – Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze – have been sentenced to eight months in prison for refusing to cooperate with a parliamentary commission set up by Georgian Dream to investigate the previous government under president Mikheil Saakashvili. Altogether, six opposition leaders are currently imprisoned for similar reasons, with several others under arrest and awaiting verdicts. Other opposition forces have sharply criticized Lelo's decision, calling it 'moral death' for the party Tina Bokuchava Tina Bokuchava, leader of the Unity–United National Movement alliance: 'This is very sad. Deeply. Instead of resistance and struggle, Lelo chose compromise and cooperation with the regime. Let's call this decision what it is: a betrayal of our shared struggle. This is not a fight to save the country – this is a deal with the regime in exchange for an honorable second place. I wouldn't be surprised if Mikheil Kavelashvili (the Georgian Dream-backed president) now pardons Lelo's imprisoned leaders even without a request. That's a well-known Russian tactic – push for a morally rotten compromise and then expose it in the most cynical and brutal way. Today we witnessed Lelo's moral death. Politics cannot survive without moral grounding. In October, we'll see their electoral death as well. Freedom to political prisoners! In the end, we will win!' Bokuchava is referring to the July 4 statement by Mikheil Kavelashvili, who offered to pardon jailed opposition leaders if they ask for it and commit to participating in the upcoming local elections. Kavelashvili said he believes all opposition parties should take part and run full campaigns. Elene Khoshtaria Elene Khoshtaria, one of the leaders of the 'Coalition for Change': 'Lelo got four percent in the parliamentary elections—what can they do with that level of support? They certainly won't decide Georgia's future. Whether they're weak or traitors, history will judge. We have a lot of work to do, and we'll get it done. Ivanishvili couldn't break this country with all his money, and that's honestly laughable.' Levan Tsutskiridze, The political party 'Freedom Square' The political party 'Freedom Square': 'We disagree with Lelo – Strong Georgia's decision to participate in the so-called elections. It is their choice, but it poses a political risk for the entire opposition. Despite this, we do not intend to spend the coming months fighting internal opposition battles. Our main target is the Russian-backed party Georgian Dream. Freedom Square will focus on organizing an active boycott and promoting an alternative, democratic, and inclusive political process.' Tamar Chergoleishvili Tamar Chergoleishvili, leader of the Federalists party: 'The goal of our campaign to not recognize the regime will target not only the regime itself but also its accomplices. We will not allow our voters to be intellectually insulted. We will focus on everything that is wrong.' News in Georgia Georgia: Lelo runs in elections, opposition criticizes
