Latest news with #Sochi
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Russia Today
Top Russian orchestra hits high note in new Sochi venue
The Mariinsky Theatre Symphony Orchestra, led by acclaimed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev, has held rehearsals in the main and chamber halls of the newly built Sirius Concert Hall, located in Sochi, southern Russia. It marked the venue's first full-scale acoustic test with a professional ensemble. On Saturday, the orchestra performed selections from its evening program, which was later presented in the Medal Plaza at Olympic Park. The concert formed part of the ongoing Sirius Summer Music Festival, which runs from July 15 to August 24. The rehearsal offered musicians and acousticians a valuable opportunity to assess the hall's performance qualities ahead of its official opening in October 2025. 'The acoustic properties of this still-under-construction concert complex didn't just please us – they truly amazed us,' said Gergiev, speaking to journalists after the rehearsal. He added that the venue offers new possibilities for staging productions with a full orchestra pit or adapting the space to accommodate more audience seating. Gergiev also highlighted the exceptional potential of the Chamber Hall, which is already fully operational. 'Accommodating up to 75 musicians is rare for a chamber hall – even among the world's best. I believe this space could easily stage works like Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.' According to the maestro, the hall is poised to become a cultural destination for lovers of theater, classical, and chamber music, especially during the velvet seasons of summer and autumn. Construction of the Sirius Concert Hall began in 2020. The venue features two world-class performance spaces, along with state-of-the-art acoustics designed by Yasuhisa Toyota, the renowned sound engineer behind over 100 iconic concert halls worldwide. 'This first rehearsal at the Sirius Concert Hall signals the beginning of a new era for the arts in Russia,' said Elena Shmeleva, chair of the Council of the Sirius Federal Territory and Director of the Talent and Success Foundation. 'We are building not just a venue, but a full ecosystem for artistic excellence and international collaboration.'
ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Ukraine and Russia exchange drone strikes hours after failed ceasefire talks
A displaced Ukrainian family-of-three has died and two Russian women have been killed as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged drone strikes just hours after ceasefire talks concluded in Istanbul. Ukraine's regional officials announced on Thursday that the bodies of a woman, her husband and their adult son had been discovered under the rubble of a house in the border region of Kharkiv. They said the family killed in the village of Pidlyman had fled the settlement of Boguslavka which was captured by Russian forces when they invaded in early 2022, but was later retaken by Ukrainian forces. A later drone barrage on Kharkiv city wounded 33 people, including a 10-year-old girl and a month-old infant, the governor said. Meanwhile in Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike left two women dead and several others wounded in Sochi in Russia's south, regional authorities said. The Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems had downed 39 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles mainly over southern regions of the country. This latest exchange followed a brief third round of peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, which failed to reach a ceasefire. A separate Russian drone and missile barrage wounded seven people including a child in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy, emergency services said. In the southern port city of Odesa, a Russian drone attack wounded four people and badly damaged the Pryvoz market. Ukraine's prime minister said some of the buildings targeted, including the famous market, were UNESCO protected. "Russia continues its terror and obstructs diplomacy," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a social media post. "[This] is why it deserves full-scale sanctions responses, as well as our strikes on their logistics, their military bases, and their military production facilities." He said Russia had launched 103 drones — mainly the Iranian-designed Shahed type of unmanned aerial vehicle — and four missiles. In a separate development in Ukraine's domestic politics, Mr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday he had approved a draft bill strengthening Ukraine's law enforcement system and the independence of its anti-corruption agencies. It comes after new laws to limit the independence of two key anti-corruption bodies passed this week in Ukraine, sparking large street protests and attracting rare rebukes from European allies. On Thursday, Mr Zelenskyy bowed to the mounting pressure. He said on X that the draft bill, which would be submitted to parliament later in the day, was well-balanced and "upholds the independence of anti-corruption agencies". The European Union earlier said a commitment to fight corruption is an important precondition both for EU financial aid as well as for potential EU membership. "We welcome the fact that the Ukrainian government is taking action," an EU spokesperson said. "We work with them to make sure that our concerns ... are indeed taken into account." ABC/AFP/Reuters
Russia Today
6 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Ukrainian drone strikes kill two in former Olympics host city
Two women were killed and at least 11 people injured in an overnight Ukrainian drone attack on the southern Russian city of Sochi, officials said Thursday. According to Veniamin Kondratyev, the governor of Krasnodar Region, the women died when debris from a downed drone fell on Aviatsionnaya Street in the Adler district. 'Both women died from their injuries at the scene,' he wrote on Telegram. The drone strikes also damaged a local oil terminal in the nearby Sirius district, a sprawling resort zone that includes parts of Sochi's former Olympic Park and now serves as a popular tourist destination. The area hosted the winter games in 2014 and now features many luxury hotels, including two operated by Belgium's Radisson. The head of Sirius, Dmitry Plishkin, confirmed that one drone had hit an oil facility on Tavricheskaya Street. Governor Kondratyev later added that 'drone fragments also struck the oil terminal.' Among the 11 wounded was a traffic police officer who is being airlifted to a regional hospital, the governor said. Four people in total were hospitalized. Local media and Telegram channels reported more than a dozen explosions in different areas, with footage showing air defense systems engaging multiple targets. Students and hotel guests in Sirius were temporarily moved to underground shelters and parking garages. The attack came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian officials concluded another round of negotiations in Istanbul. Moscow proposed a limited ceasefire to allow the evacuation of wounded troops and the recovery of the dead, as well as a large-scale prisoner exchange involving at least 1,200 captured soldiers from each side.
The Sun
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Battle of Black Sea erupts as Russia and Ukraine strike biggest resorts after peace talks fail to deliver ceasefire
A NEW front in Vladimir Putin's bloody war erupted as Ukraine and Russia traded deadly Black Sea strikes after peace talks collapsed. The tit-for-tat attacks were the fiercest in months and marked a chilling escalation in a war showing no signs of ending. 11 11 11 11 In the Russian resort city of Sochi - Putin's glittering showcase to the world and personal playground - massive Ukrainian drones tore through vital infrastructure. Explosions rocked oil depots, ignited railway warehouses, and tore apart road links in Sirius Federal Territory, where elite schools, luxury developments, and whispers of Putin's own children echo. In an embarrassing blow to the Kremlin, a Russian S-400 missile system misfired during the chaos, smashing into a residential block and killing at least two civilians. One woman was among the dead, and another 11 people were wounded. Tourists at Sochi's five-star beachside hotels were seen cowering in underground car parks as their luxury summer breaks were shattered by war. This was the first major Ukrainian strike on Sochi in almost two years - and the symbolism couldn't be clearer. The city is home to Russia's most elite gymnastics academy run by Alina Kabaeva, Putin's long-time secret lover. It's also just a stone's throw from the palace Mad Vlad is building after razing his last one - and only a mile from the Sirius school where he once held private talks with Donald Trump. Ukraine used Lyutyi‑196 long-range drones in the daring raid that lit up the night sky with fireballs. The Lukoil-Yugnefteprodukt oil depot exploded in flames as local officials scrambled to control the chaos. Warped Russian state TV parades 'drone death factory' packed with kamikaze killing machines after Ukraine blitzes Moscow Sochi airport was also shut down, delaying more than 100 flights. While Sochi burned, the heart of Odesa bled. The historic Ukrainian port city, often described as the soul of the nation, suffered yet another hellish night under a hail of Russian drones. A nine-storey residential building was torn apart from the fifth to eighth floors, and the city's beloved Privoz Market - a cultural landmark since 1827 - was engulfed in flames. Regional governor Oleh Kiper said: "There is damage to architectural monuments in the historic centre of Odesa, which is under UNESCO protection." Russia also launched drone strikes on Mykolaiv and a missile assault on Cherkasy, injuring seven people and a child. Fires raged across Ukrainian industrial sites as sirens screamed through the night. All this, just hours after peace talks in Istanbul collapsed into bitter recriminations. 11 11 Kremlin negotiator Vladimir Medinsky admitted the two sides were "quite far from each other". Ukraine's Rustem Umerov demanded an immediate ceasefire and face-to-face negotiations. He warned: "We emphasise that the ceasefire must be real. "It must include a complete halt to strikes on civilian and critically important infrastructure." 'Prepping for nuclear war' As the bloodshed on the ground escalates, Putin's propaganda machine turns even more apocalyptic. Leading Russian media outlets - or Kremlin mouthpieces - have begun preparing their citizens for nuclear war. Newspapers such as Komsomolskaya Pravda ran chilling features warning that war with the West could come before the end of the decade, fuelled by what they claim is Nato aggression. Accusing the West of wanting to "dismember" Russia to access its resources, Russian military analyst Andrei Klintsevich warned: "The aim is to provoke Russia… and launch direct confrontation." He called for a nuclear test in the Arctic - the first since the Cold War - in a move meant to terrify Western powers. The warnings coincided with threats from Putin's infamous crony Dmitry Medvedev, who claimed World War Three has already begun, and urged Russia to bomb the West. Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, raged that Nato and the West are effectively already at war with Russia as he pushed the Kremlin's view that his country is the victim. That's despite it being Russia who invaded Ukraine and is continuing to wage a bloody war. 11 11 The Kremlin's fury was further stoked after US General Christopher Donahue declared Nato could capture Kalinigrad - the strategic fortress Russia clings to in the heart of Europe - "faster than we've ever done before." It comes after Trump threw his own firepower to the mix. He pledged to arm Ukraine with advanced defence systems and slap Russia with brutal 100 per cent tariffs - unless Putin strikes a peace deal within 50 days. Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky has found himself facing a new kind of battle - not with Putin, but with his own people. The Ukrainian leader is under intense fire after signing a controversial anti-corruption bill that critics say hands him near-absolute power over previously independent watchdogs. Thousands poured into the streets of Kyiv in the biggest anti-government protest since the war began. "We chose Europe, not autocracy," read one handmade placard. Another one read: "My father did not die for this." Zelensky insisted the law was needed to purge Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies of Russian infiltration, claiming: "We all share a common enemy: the Russian occupiers… "Those who work against Ukraine must not feel comfortable or immune to the inevitability of punishment." But his assurances did little to calm protesters, which included Kyiv's mayor and former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, who said bluntly: 'Sapo and Nabu must remain independent institutions.' The protests have now spread to Lviv, Dnipro and even battle-hardened Odesa, adding political turmoil to an already exhausted nation. 11 11
Reuters
6 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Ukraine, Russia attack each other's Black Sea coasts after latest round of peace talks
July 24 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia launched air attacks along each other's Black Sea coasts early on Thursday, hours after brief direct talks between them failed to make any progress on steps to end nearly three-and-a-half years of war. Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass drone attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, injuring at least four people and causing several fires as well as damage in the historic centre, a UNESCO world heritage site. The famous Pryvoz market in Odesa was among the places hit, Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said. "It is not just a place of trade, it is the living heart of Odesa," he added. On Thursday morning, some residents were cleaning up shattered glass in the streets nearby. "So what if the (drones) are flying? We will shoot them down; they will not break us," Yevhen, a 20-year-old student among those helping with the cleanup, told Reuters. Emergency officials in Russia's Krasnodar region on the Black Sea said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district near the resort city of Sochi. A second woman was being treated in hospital for serious injuries, they said on the Telegram messaging app. The administrative head of the Sirius federal district south of Sochi said a drone hit an oil base, giving no further details. Russia's aviation authority said operations were suspended at Sochi airport for about four hours. Russia also attacked the central region of Cherkasy overnight, injuring seven people, including a nine-year-old, and damaging more than a dozen residential apartment buildings. Negotiators had earlier discussed further prisoner swaps at a brief session of peace talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul, but they remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders. "Yesterday, at a meeting in Istanbul, the Russian side was again presented with a proposal to immediately and completely cease fire. In response, Russian drones are striking residential buildings," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. He said Russia had launched 103 drones and four missiles during its overnight attack, which deputy prime minister Oleskiy Kuleba said struck civilian infrastructure, including seaports, transport hubs, and residential areas. Russian forces have in recent weeks intensified drone attacks on towns and cities far from the 1,000 km (620-mile) frontline across eastern and southern Ukraine. Ukraine's military has been targeting energy and military sites in Russia in response to concerted Russian attacks which have destroyed towns and cities and devastated its energy infrastructure.
