Latest news with #Russian-occupied


Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Times
Ukraine reveals ‘suicide drone' footage of Russian gas rig strike
Ukrainian commandos launched suicide drones from boats to strike a Russian-controlled gas platform near Crimea last year in the first such attack of its kind, Kyiv's military has revealed. The platform, located between Crimea and Odesa, had been occupied by Russia since 2015 and was turned into a forward operating base for surveillance and military activity after the full-scale invasion in 2022. Footage released by Ukraine's military intelligence agency, the HUR, shows the explosive drones flying low over the Black Sea before striking the Petro Hodovalets rig last September. The involvement of the first-person view (FPV) drones was previously unreported and marks the first confirmed instance of them being deployed from the sea rather than land or long-range naval drones. The attack helped Ukraine's military regain control of the Petro Hodovalets and Ukrainian drilling platforms, informally known as the Boyko towers, as well as two mobile rigs. The drones were launched by the HUR's elite Raven unit, who have previously carried out sabotage operations behind enemy lines, from small vessels. Ukraine has built up its maritime drone programme over the past year, sinking or damaging multiple Russian vessels and targeting infrastructure in Crimea. • Zelensky suggests drones for missiles 'mega-deal' to Trump• Juliet Samuel: Urgency of the drone wars is passing us by In recent months there have been a string of strikes on radar stations, air defences and ships, using a mix of sea and aerial drones to degrade Russia's naval dominance in the Black Sea. Naval drones have been used to sink or damage at least a dozen Russian vessels, including patrol boats and landing craft. Ukraine has also used sea drones to strike infrastructure in Russian-occupied Crimea, including oil depots, coastal radar stations and the heavily guarded Kerch bridge. In December, Kyiv revealed that it had used a sea drone to launch FPV drones against Russian air defences for the first time, but that attack occurred months after the gas rig strike. FPV drones are flown manually using live video feeds, allowing operators to guide them with precision towards their targets in real time. They have emerged as a relatively new and rapidly evolving technology in warfare, allowing for low-cost, targeted strikes. • Peace deadline shows Trump has run out of patience with Putin Both Ukraine and Russia have been increasingly adopting FPV drones since 2023, adapting commercially available models and fitting them with explosives for kamikaze-style missions. Their manual control and real-time video capability make them highly effective for striking moving or concealed targets. Ukraine has particularly embraced FPV drones as part of its asymmetrical response to Russia's larger arsenal, deploying them in large numbers on the battlefield.


AsiaOne
6 hours ago
- Politics
- AsiaOne
Russian airstrikes on prison, hospital kill 19 in southeastern Ukraine, World News
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine — Russian airstrikes on a prison and hospital in southeastern Ukraine killed at least 19 people, officials said on Tuesday (July 29), while US President Donald Trump said he would start imposing punitive measures on Russia within 10 days if Moscow showed no progress toward ending its war in Ukraine. Sixteen of the people were killed when Russia bombed a prison in the frontline Zaporizhzhia region in an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was deliberate. He said 43 people were injured in the incident. "The Russians knew it was a civilian facility. They could not have been unaware," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. "Each such Russian strike, each instance of Russian arrogance in response to global calls to end the war, all this only confirms that pressure is necessary." Separately, a missile strike on a hospital in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman and two others. Zelenskiy earlier said a total of 22 people had been killed over the past 24 hours. Russia, which denied targeting civilians in Tuesday's attacks, has intensified airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind the front lines of its full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year, as it gradually pushes ahead on the battlefield. Russian forces hold around a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Trump's new, shorter deadline Trump, underscoring his frustration with Putin, said in Scotland on Monday he was shortening his earlier deadline of 50 days to 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress towards ending the war. On Tuesday, aboard Air Force One, he said he had heard no reply from Russia and could begin slapping tariffs and other measures on Moscow within 10 days. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had "taken note" of Trump's earlier statement. "The special military operation continues," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, employing the term that Moscow uses for its war effort in Ukraine. Following Tuesday's attack on the prison, across the Dnipro River from Russian-occupied territory, injured inmates waded through rubble and broken glass. Bandaged and bloody, they sat stunned as guards yelled out a roll call. Ukraine's Justice Ministry said the prison's dining hall had been destroyed and other parts of the facility damaged in a strike that involved four high-explosive bombs and also wounded 42 people. It had originally said 17 people were killed, but later revised its tally. "People were screaming, moaning," said prisoner Yaroslav Samarskiy, 54, recalling the aftermath of the strike. "Some dead, some alive, some without legs — half of them burned." Separately, five people were killed on Tuesday morning in the northeastern Kharkiv region after a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid point in a frontline village, a senior police official said. [[nid:720729]]


Al Jazeera
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,252
Here is how things stand on Wednesday, July 30: Fighting Ukraine's Ministry of Justice said 17 people were killed and another 42 were injured in a Russian attack on a prison near the city of Zaporizhzhia. 'This attack once again demonstrates a gross violation of international humanitarian law by the armed forces of the Russian Federation,' the ministry said in a statement shared on Telegram. A Russian attack killed five people and injured three as they waited to receive humanitarian aid in the village of Novoplatonivka in Kharkiv, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a post on Facebook. A Russian air attack on a hospital killed three people, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, in the Ukrainian city of Kamyanske, Ivan Fedorov, the head of the Ukrainian military administration in Zaporizhia, said. A Russian missile attack on a Ukrainian military training ground killed three soldiers and wounded 18, Ukraine's Ground Forces said in a post on Telegram. Serhiy Lysak, head of the Ukrainian Dnipropetrovsk military administration, said two people were killed, including a 75-year-old woman, in separate Russian attacks on Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa. A Ukrainian bomb killed a man and wounded another in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, the head of the Moscow-installed authorities in Donetsk, said, according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency. Three people were killed and more than 50 apartments damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack on Salsk in Russia's Rostov Region, Acting Governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram. The drone attack also left 2,800 residents without power and saw train services suspended, Slyusar said. Russian forces seized the settlements of Temyrivka in the Zaporizhia region in southern Ukraine and Novoukrainka in the eastern Donetsk region, TASS reported, citing Russia's Ministry of Defence. Politics and Diplomacy United States President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the US would start imposing tariffs and other measures on Russia '10 days from today' if Moscow showed no progress towards ending the war, renewing the terms he set out a day earlier. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia had 'taken note' of Trump's deadline, which was shorter than the 50 days he had set out earlier in the month. Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday it had summoned Norway's charge d'affaires to protest over restrictive measures introduced by the Nordic country in July against Russian fishing vessels. Regional security A Colombian national acting on behalf of Russian intelligence carried out two arson attacks in Poland last year, before setting fire to a bus depot in the Czech Republic, the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Tuesday.

News.com.au
11 hours ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Ukraine says Russian strike on training camp kills 3 soldiers
A Russian strike on a military training camp killed at least three Ukrainian soldiers on Tuesday, following an overnight offensive in the south that killed a pregnant woman and a dozen prisoners. The Kremlin has come under intense pressure to end its war on Ukraine, now in its fourth year, with US President Donald Trump issuing a 10-day ultimatum to act or face sanctions. On social media, the Ukrainian army said a Russian missile hit one of the ground force's training units, without specifying the location. At least "three servicemen are dead and 18 wounded," it said Tuesday. Over the previous night, a series of Russian attacks killed at least 25 civilians, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen inmates at the Bilenkiska penal colony in southern Zaporizhzhia region. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately targeting the prison, which the justice ministry said killed 17 people and wounded another 42. The Kremlin denied the claim, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters, "the Russian army does not strike civilian targets". The attacks came hours after Trump said he was shortening the deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the war from 50 days to 10-12 days. Hours later, Trump solidified the 10-day timeline, threatening "tariffs and stuff", while also conceding to not knowing if the measures would work. Peskov said Moscow had "taken note", and that it remained "committed to the peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and secure our interests". - 'Prolonging the war' - The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched 37 drones and two missiles overnight into Tuesday, with 32 of the drones successfully downed. Zelensky also accused Russia of targeting a hospital in the town of Kamyanske in Dnipropetrovsk region, killing three people and wounding 22. Other Russian attacks killed six in the Kharkiv region, where the city of Kharkiv faced another attack at dawn on Wednesday. "Putin is rejecting a ceasefire, avoiding a leaders' meeting and prolonging the war," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga wrote on social media. "He will only end his terror if we break the spine of his economy," he added, calling on Western allies to impose sanctions. Kyiv has been trying to repel Russia's summer offensive, which has made fresh advances into areas largely spared since the start of the invasion in February 2022. The Russian defence ministry claimed advances across the front line on Tuesday, saying its forces had taken two more villages -- one in the Donetsk region, and another in Zaporizhzhia. Tuesday's prison strike fell on the third anniversary of an attack on the Olenivka detention centre in Russian-occupied Donetsk. Ukraine and Russia traded blame for that nighttime strike, which Kyiv said killed dozens of soldiers who had laid down arms after a long Russian siege of the port city of Mariupol.


Express Tribune
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Russian air strikes kill 19 in Ukraine
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) attend a joint press conference at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw, Poland July 8, 2024. PHOTO:REUTERS Russian air strikes on southeastern Ukraine killed at least 19 people overnight, officials said on Tuesday, hours after US President Donald Trump said he would shorten a deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace. Sixteen people were killed and dozens wounded when Russia bombed a prison in the front-line Zaporizhzhia region in an attack Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said was "deliberate". "The Russians could not have been unaware that they were targeting civilians in that facility," he wrote on X. "And this was done after a completely clear position was voiced by the United States." Separately, a missile strike on a hospital in the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region killed a 23-year-old pregnant woman and two others, Zelenskiy added. He said a total of 22 people had been killed over the past 24 hours. Russia, which denied targeting civilians in Tuesday's attacks, has intensified airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities behind front lines of its full-scale invasion, now in its fourth year, as it gradually pushes ahead on the battlefield. Russian forces hold around a fifth of Ukrainian territory. Trump, underscoring his frustration with Putin, said on Monday he would give 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress towards ending the war. The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had "taken note" of Trump's statement. "The special military operation continues," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, employing the term that Moscow uses for its war effort in Ukraine. 'SCREAMING, MOANING' Following Tuesday's attack on the prison, across the Dnipro River from Russian-occupied territory, injured inmates waded through rubble and broken glass. Bandaged and bloody, they sat stunned as guards yelled out a roll call. Ukraine's justice ministry said the prison's dining hall had been destroyed and other parts of the facility damaged in a strike that involved four high-explosive bombs and also wounded 42 people. It had originally said 17 people were killed but later revised its tally. "People were screaming, moaning," said prisoner Yaroslav Samarskiy, 54, recalling the aftermath of the strike. "Some dead, some alive, some without legs - half of them burned." Separately, five people were killed on Tuesday morning in the northeastern Kharkiv region after a Russian strike on a humanitarian aid point in a front-line village, a senior police official said.