Latest news with #UkrainianConflict
ABC News
a day ago
- General
- ABC News
Ukraine launches major drone attacks on Russian military bases
Emergency service members work at the site where Russian drones damaged several private houses, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, June 1, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter (Reuters: Thomas Peter)
NHK
a day ago
- General
- NHK
Ukrainian drone strikes hit 41 aircraft at Russian airfields, media report
Ukrainian media report that the country's security agency has launched drone strikes on airfields in Russia and struck 41 strategic aircraft, including bombers. Moscow has confirmed such attacks. The media on Sunday quoted sources as saying the operation was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine. A photo that purportedly shows the agency's head, Vasyl Maliuk, directing the operation was also published. The media reported that it took more than 18 months to prepare the operation. The sources explained that the agency concealed drones in truck-mounted wooden mobile cabins inside Russian territory. They added that the roofs of the cabins were remotely opened to allow the drones to take off to launch the attacks. The security agency said on social media that it carried out an operation codenamed "Spider Web." It estimated the value of the damage to Russian strategic aircraft as 7 billion dollars. The agency also claimed that 34 percent of the strategic cruise missile carriers at Russia's main airfields were hit. It stressed that Ukraine is doing everything it can to drive the enemy out of its homeland. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media, saying the "most long-range operation" conducted by his country produced an "absolutely brilliant result." Zelenskyy wrote that the people involved in the mission had been "withdrawn from Russian territory in time." He added that the operation "will undoubtedly be in history books." Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry acknowledged on Sunday that the Ukrainian military mounted drone attacks on airfields in five regions of Russia. The ministry said several aircraft at airfields in the eastern Siberian region of Irkutsk and the northern region of Murmansk caught fire, but no casualties occurred. It added that some people involved in the "terrorist attacks" were detained. The governor of Irkutsk said on social media that the drone attack was the first of its kind in Siberia.
Sky News
a day ago
- General
- Sky News
Russia 'investigates bridge collapses as terrorist attacks' as seven people killed
Why you can trust Sky News Seven people have been killed and dozens are injured after two bridges collapsed overnight in different Russian regions bordering Ukraine. The Russian investigative committee said the incidents in the west of the country were being investigated as potential terrorist attacks. The top criminal investigation agency had previously said explosions were the cause but hours later it edited its statement to remove the words "explosions", without explanation. Debris from a road bridge came down on to railway tracks at 10.50pm local time on Saturday (8.50pm in the UK), derailing an approaching passenger train in Bryansk's Vygonichsky district. The driver and six others died. At least 69 people were injured in the crash, with the train travelling from Moscow to Klimov at the time. Local authorities blamed "illegal interference". At around 3am local time on Sunday (1am in the UK), a railway bridge came down in Kursk's Zheleznogorsk district, causing a passing freight train to fall on to the road below. The driver and his two assistants were injured in the crash, according to the committee. Its spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said: "These incidents are qualified as terrorist attacks." Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federation Council, Russia's upper chamber of parliament, said the Bryansk incident showed that "Ukraine has long lost the attributes of a state and has turned into a terrorist enclave". There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale invasion that Russia launched more than three years ago, there has been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes, and covert raids by Ukrainian forces into the Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions that border Ukraine. Emergency workers are at the scene of the train derailment in Bryansk, attempting to pull survivors from the wreckage. Images from the scene showed passenger carriages ripped apart amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge. Other footage on social media appeared to be taken from inside vehicles which narrowly avoided driving on to the bridge before it collapsed.
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Antenna made by Irish company found in Russian glide bombs and drones used in Ukraine
An Irish company has said it is unable to stop its equipment being used in Russian glide bombs and drones. A Ukrainian anti-corruption non-governmental organisation, NAKO, has identified antennas supplied by Taoglas in the wreckage of Russian bombs. NAKO said the patch antenna arrays cost just $7 (€6.16) each and are an important component in allowing Russian bombs to evade Ukrainian jamming systems. They are part of the Kometa (comet) module being used to evade Ukrainian air defences. READ MORE They are fitted to ordinary free-falling, unguided aerial bombs, also known as dumb bombs, transforming them into a planning, guided high-precision munition. The bombs are known as UMPKS (universal planning and correction module). They can be launched from deep inside Russian territory outside the range of Ukrainian air defences and are part of the Russian war machine. [ A Ukrainian in Dublin: 'People are less direct in Ireland. There are 50 shades of great' Opens in new window ] NAKO has concluded that Russia needs so many antennas for their UMPKs that it is cheaper and easier for them to import them from abroad. NAKO said it has taken the information from the war and sanctions portal managed by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Taoglas parts have also been found in Shahed-136 drones, reconnaissance drones and other types of drones. Intact Taoglas antennas are being recovered from Russian missiles and sold on the internet by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. At least two additional modules with Taoglas components have been sold online this year, indicating that the modules are still being used in Russian munitions, NAKO believes. Kometa module with eight Taoglas antennas sold online and recovered from the wreckage of a Russian glide bomb Between 2022 and 2024 Taoglas products worth $752,928.49 (€663,000) were imported into Russia mostly from suppliers in China, Hong Kong, India and Turkey. Taoglas was founded in 2004 in Enniscorthy by Dermot O'Shea and Ronan Quinlan. A majority share in the company, which makes antennas, connectors and audio speakers, was sold to private investment firm, Graham Partners, in 2023. Taoglas said it has sold millions of its antenna worldwide and has imposed a ban on directly trading with Russia since the start of the invasion in 2022. However, it cannot stop third parties from breaching international sanctions and selling the antenna to the Russian military. 'As a global company, Taoglas distributes products to customers and partners worldwide. Unfortunately, we know some of these components may have ended up in unauthorised or nefarious applications beyond our control,' the company told The Irish Times in a statement. 'Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Taoglas immediately implemented sanctions on all its Russian customers in February 2022. We do not condone the use of our products in unauthorised activities. [ US and Russia clash in public as the Ukraine war heats up Opens in new window ] 'Taoglas ensures the utmost due diligence with customers and distributors, including but not limited to taking measures to cease business with Russian companies immediately following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and implementing internal due diligence processes to manage our internal compliances. 'However, any exchange of hands after a sale is made between Taoglas and a purchaser cannot be fully controlled.' Mr O'Shea, who remains the chief executive of Taoglas added that the components which featured in the NAKO report were sold to a Chinese customer in 2017. 'Since then we have implemented transaction screening software, and new processes and systems to ensure it does not happen again,' he added. 'We never sold to Iran (these are Iranian drones) and sanctioned Russia as soon as they invaded Ukraine. The board in the picture was designed and implemented in China and sold to Iran by a Chinese company. 'We have co-operated with the Irish and US governments on this and hence implemented additional screening processes and partner with them now on trying to maximise compliance.' The export, sale, supply or transfer of dual-use items to Russia has been banned under EU sanctions since 2014. The restrictions apply even if the items are intended for civilian end users or applications in Russia.
The Independent
5 days ago
- General
- The Independent
AP PHOTOS: Three Ukrainian Siblings Buried in Aftermath of Russian Missile Strike
Three open coffins, one adult-sized, one medium and one child-sized, lay inside the Soviet-era Palace of Culture in a northern Ukrainian city. They were surrounded by dozens of bouquets Wednesday as a church choir sang farewell prayers, and hundreds of residents stood in grim silence. The siblings, aged 8, 12 and 17, were killed over the weekend when debris from a Russian cruise missile slammed into their home in Korostyshiv, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Kyiv, during an aerial barrage. The attack came at 3 a.m. as they slept in their beds. The children's deaths underscore the mounting toll on Ukrainian families as Moscow ramps up its strikes amid faltering peace efforts. It was one of several recent tragedies in which children and teenagers have died, revealing a grim pattern as Russian attacks continue to target civilian areas. Moscow denies targeting civilians, but abundant evidence shows otherwise. The children's father, still bearing fresh injuries, was released from the hospital to attend the funeral. He and his two surviving children sat beside the coffins — a scene that has become heartbreakingly familiar in a war now grinding through its fourth year. Their mother remained hospitalized. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
