
Bridge collapse, train derailment in Russia kills seven
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added.
Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation.
Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics.
Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers.
Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions.
with Reuters
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added.
Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation.
Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics.
Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers.
Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions.
with Reuters
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added.
Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation.
Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics.
Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers.
Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions.
with Reuters
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks after an "illegal interference," derailing a train in Russia's Bryansk region that borders Ukraine.
The train's locomotive and several cars derailed late on Saturday "due to the collapse of a span structure of the road bridge as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport", Russian Railways said on the Telegram messaging app.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region, said on Telegram that 44 people were hospitalised. Three children were among those injured with one in serious condition, he added.
Russia's ministry of emergency situations said on Telegram that efforts to find and rescue victims continued throughout the night, and that some 180 personnel were involved in the operation.
Among those killed was the locomotive driver, Russia's state news agencies reported, citing medics.
Social media pictures and videos showed passengers trying to help others climb out of the train's damaged carriages in the dark and firefighters looking for ways to reach passengers.
Russia's Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Reuters could not independently verify the Baza report and there was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Since the start of the war that Russia launched more than three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids from Ukraine into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine.
The train was going from the town of Klimovo to Moscow, Russian Railways said. It collided with the collapsed bridge in the area of a federal highway in the Vygonichskyi district of the Bryansk region, Bogomaz said. The district lies some 100km from the border with Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be "hit hard" by new US sanctions.
with Reuters
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The Advertiser
37 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Russia and Ukraine agree on POW swap, bodies handover
Russia and Ukraine say they have agreed at peace talks to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. The warring sides met for about an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with US President Donald Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and the US have all urged Russia to accept. Russia says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Ukraine says Putin is not interested in peace. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Russia's terms for a full ceasefire. Medinsky, who heads the Russian team, said his side had also suggested a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6000 dead soldiers to the other. In addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners of war after 1000 captives on each side were traded following a first round of talks in Istanbul on May 15. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Ukraine's delegation, said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people. Umerov also said that Russia had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Ukraine - which has drawn up its own version - would review the Russian document. Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June but believes that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukraine's delegation had requested the return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia. Russia says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting. Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the children had been "saved" not stolen. In Russia, before the talks began, angry war bloggers called on the country's armed forces to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Ukraine after it launched an attack on Sunday targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere. Ukraine and Russia have issued starkly different assessments of the damage done to Russia's fleet of strategic bombers - a key element in its nuclear arsenal - but it was clear from publicly available satellite imagery that Russia's military had suffered some serious equipment losses. Russia and Ukraine say they have agreed at peace talks to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. The warring sides met for about an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with US President Donald Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and the US have all urged Russia to accept. Russia says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Ukraine says Putin is not interested in peace. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Russia's terms for a full ceasefire. Medinsky, who heads the Russian team, said his side had also suggested a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6000 dead soldiers to the other. In addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners of war after 1000 captives on each side were traded following a first round of talks in Istanbul on May 15. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Ukraine's delegation, said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people. Umerov also said that Russia had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Ukraine - which has drawn up its own version - would review the Russian document. Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June but believes that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukraine's delegation had requested the return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia. Russia says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting. Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the children had been "saved" not stolen. In Russia, before the talks began, angry war bloggers called on the country's armed forces to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Ukraine after it launched an attack on Sunday targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere. Ukraine and Russia have issued starkly different assessments of the damage done to Russia's fleet of strategic bombers - a key element in its nuclear arsenal - but it was clear from publicly available satellite imagery that Russia's military had suffered some serious equipment losses. Russia and Ukraine say they have agreed at peace talks to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. The warring sides met for about an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with US President Donald Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and the US have all urged Russia to accept. Russia says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Ukraine says Putin is not interested in peace. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Russia's terms for a full ceasefire. Medinsky, who heads the Russian team, said his side had also suggested a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6000 dead soldiers to the other. In addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners of war after 1000 captives on each side were traded following a first round of talks in Istanbul on May 15. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Ukraine's delegation, said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people. Umerov also said that Russia had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Ukraine - which has drawn up its own version - would review the Russian document. Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June but believes that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukraine's delegation had requested the return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia. Russia says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting. Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the children had been "saved" not stolen. In Russia, before the talks began, angry war bloggers called on the country's armed forces to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Ukraine after it launched an attack on Sunday targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere. Ukraine and Russia have issued starkly different assessments of the damage done to Russia's fleet of strategic bombers - a key element in its nuclear arsenal - but it was clear from publicly available satellite imagery that Russia's military had suffered some serious equipment losses. Russia and Ukraine say they have agreed at peace talks to exchange more prisoners of war and return the bodies of 12,000 dead soldiers. The warring sides met for about an hour in the Turkish city of Istanbul, for only the second such round of negotiations since March 2022. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan described it as a great meeting and said he hoped to bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a meeting in Turkey with US President Donald Trump. But there was no breakthrough on a proposed ceasefire that Ukraine, its European allies and the US have all urged Russia to accept. Russia says it seeks a long-term settlement, not a pause in the war; Ukraine says Putin is not interested in peace. Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky said Russian negotiators had handed their Ukrainian counterparts a detailed memorandum outlining Russia's terms for a full ceasefire. Medinsky, who heads the Russian team, said his side had also suggested a "specific ceasefire of two to three days in certain sections of the front" so that the bodies of dead soldiers could be collected. Each side said it would hand over the bodies of 6000 dead soldiers to the other. In addition, they said they would conduct a further big swap of prisoners of war after 1000 captives on each side were traded following a first round of talks in Istanbul on May 15. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, who headed Ukraine's delegation, said the new exchange would focus on those severely injured in the war and on young people. Umerov also said that Russia had handed a draft peace accord to Ukraine and that Ukraine - which has drawn up its own version - would review the Russian document. Ukraine has proposed holding more talks before the end of June but believes that only a meeting between Zelenskiy and Putin can resolve the many issues of contention, Umerov said. Zelenskiy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said Ukraine's delegation had requested the return of a list of children who it said had been deported to Russia. Russia says such children were moved in order to protect them from fighting. Medinsky said there were 339 names on Ukraine's list but that the children had been "saved" not stolen. In Russia, before the talks began, angry war bloggers called on the country's armed forces to deliver a fearsome retaliatory blow against Ukraine after it launched an attack on Sunday targeting Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers in Siberia and elsewhere. Ukraine and Russia have issued starkly different assessments of the damage done to Russia's fleet of strategic bombers - a key element in its nuclear arsenal - but it was clear from publicly available satellite imagery that Russia's military had suffered some serious equipment losses.


The Advertiser
37 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Ukrainian strikes cut power to Russian-held areas
Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks have triggered power cuts over swathes of Russian-controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south of Ukraine. Russia-installed officials said on Tuesday there was no effect on operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - Europe's largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in the weeks after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. Russia-installed governors in the two regions said the Ukrainian attacks prompted authorities to introduce emergency measures and switch key sites to reserve power sources. Power was knocked out to all parts of Zaporizhzhia under Russian control, Russia-installed Governor Yevgeny Belitsky wrote on Telegram. "As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," Belitsky wrote. "There is no electricity throughout the region. The Energy Ministry of Zaporizhzhia region has been instructed to develop reserve sources of power. Health care sites have been transferred to reserve power sources." In adjacent Kherson region, farther west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages in Russian-held areas. Emergency crews working to restore power quickly, he said. For many long months in the winter, it was Ukrainian towns and villages that endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian attacks focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign that Russia was preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations. Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks have triggered power cuts over swathes of Russian-controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south of Ukraine. Russia-installed officials said on Tuesday there was no effect on operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - Europe's largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in the weeks after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. Russia-installed governors in the two regions said the Ukrainian attacks prompted authorities to introduce emergency measures and switch key sites to reserve power sources. Power was knocked out to all parts of Zaporizhzhia under Russian control, Russia-installed Governor Yevgeny Belitsky wrote on Telegram. "As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," Belitsky wrote. "There is no electricity throughout the region. The Energy Ministry of Zaporizhzhia region has been instructed to develop reserve sources of power. Health care sites have been transferred to reserve power sources." In adjacent Kherson region, farther west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages in Russian-held areas. Emergency crews working to restore power quickly, he said. For many long months in the winter, it was Ukrainian towns and villages that endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian attacks focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign that Russia was preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations. Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks have triggered power cuts over swathes of Russian-controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south of Ukraine. Russia-installed officials said on Tuesday there was no effect on operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - Europe's largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in the weeks after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. Russia-installed governors in the two regions said the Ukrainian attacks prompted authorities to introduce emergency measures and switch key sites to reserve power sources. Power was knocked out to all parts of Zaporizhzhia under Russian control, Russia-installed Governor Yevgeny Belitsky wrote on Telegram. "As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," Belitsky wrote. "There is no electricity throughout the region. The Energy Ministry of Zaporizhzhia region has been instructed to develop reserve sources of power. Health care sites have been transferred to reserve power sources." In adjacent Kherson region, farther west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages in Russian-held areas. Emergency crews working to restore power quickly, he said. For many long months in the winter, it was Ukrainian towns and villages that endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian attacks focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign that Russia was preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations. Ukrainian shelling and drone attacks have triggered power cuts over swathes of Russian-controlled territory in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in the south of Ukraine. Russia-installed officials said on Tuesday there was no effect on operations at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station - Europe's largest nuclear facility which was seized by Russia in the weeks after Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials running the plant said radiation levels were normal at the facility, which operates in shutdown mode and produces no power at the moment. Russia-installed governors in the two regions said the Ukrainian attacks prompted authorities to introduce emergency measures and switch key sites to reserve power sources. Power was knocked out to all parts of Zaporizhzhia under Russian control, Russia-installed Governor Yevgeny Belitsky wrote on Telegram. "As a result of shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, high-voltage equipment was damaged in the northwestern part of the Zaporizhzhia region," Belitsky wrote. "There is no electricity throughout the region. The Energy Ministry of Zaporizhzhia region has been instructed to develop reserve sources of power. Health care sites have been transferred to reserve power sources." In adjacent Kherson region, farther west, Russia-appointed Governor Vladimir Saldo said debris from fallen drones had damaged two substations, knocking out power to more than 100,000 residents of 150 towns and villages in Russian-held areas. Emergency crews working to restore power quickly, he said. For many long months in the winter, it was Ukrainian towns and villages that endured repeated electricity cuts as Russian attacks focused strikes on generating capacity. Each side has repeatedly accused the other of launching attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and running the risk of a nuclear accident. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said last week in response to a Ukrainian complaint that it saw no sign that Russia was preparing to restart the Zaporizhzhia plant and connect it to the Russian grid. The IAEA has stationed monitors permanently at Zaporizhzhia and Ukraine's other nuclear power stations.

Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Women won't be battered to death by men': JK Rowling hails Imane Khelif boxing ban
Rounding on Human Rights Watch, which said during the Paris Games that the International Olympic Committee were 'right to stand against sex testing', Rowling said: 'To paraphrase Marie Shear: Feminism is the radical notion that women, too, are humans with rights.' Juxtaposing an image of the Black Power salute at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 with a picture of Turkey's Esra Yildiz Kahraman making a double 'X' sign in Paris to denote XX chromosomes, she said: 'Some Olympics will be forever defined by photos the organisers would have preferred not to be taken.' While the International Boxing Association banned Khelif from its events on the basis of biology, strictly defining womanhood by chromosomes, the IOC allowed the athlete to compete on the grandest stage in global sport because of female passport status. The consequence was an international scandal, with both Khelif and Taiwan's Lin Yu-ting unanimously winning every bout in Paris en route to Olympic golds, despite both having failed sex tests the previous year. Lin, likewise, did not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over that verdict. The IOC failed to respond to multiple requests for comment on the leaking of Khelif's chromosomal results or the official certification of the Delhi laboratory that administered the tests. Mark Adams, the organisation's spokesman, described the tests at a Paris press conference last year as 'ad hoc' and 'not legitimate'. While president Thomas Bach has sought to portray the banning of Khelif as a Russian-led misinformation exercise. But the IBA, under Russian president Umar Kremlev, hit out strongly, calling on Khelif and Lin to apologise to the women whom they deprived of Olympic medals. 'The IBA remains unwavering in its decisions,' it said. 'We stand firmly by our assessments and intentions. Notably, as World Boxing is set to receive identical results from these evaluations, we anticipate a forthcoming gesture of accountability – a formal apology from those athletes whose actions, inadvertently or otherwise, diverted well-deserved Olympic accolades away from our rightful female boxers.' Kotinos, the Qatari PR company representing Khelif, said: 'Imane is a proven champion who has earned every step of her journey through hard work, discipline and heart.' The statement offered no suggestion that Khelif would submit to a further sex test.