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Kyiv mayor says Russian drones, missiles trigger fires, injure eight

Reuters witnesses reported waves of drones flying over the city, which had been jolted by a series of explosions.  (Reuters)
Reuters witnesses reported waves of drones flying over the city, which had been jolted by a series of explosions. (Reuters)
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Updated 24 May 2025

Kyiv mayor says Russian drones, missiles trigger fires, injure eight

Kyiv mayor says Russian drones, missiles trigger fires, injure eight
  • Klitschko said fragments from one drone struck the top floor of an apartment building in the Solomyanskyi district

Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early on Saturday with drones and missiles, triggering fires, strewing debris in districts throughout the city and injuring at least eight people, the city’s mayor said.
Reuters witnesses saw and heard successive waves of drones flying over Kyiv, and a series of explosions jolted the city.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said two residents had required hospital treatment and that air defense units were in action.
Klitschko said fragments from one drone struck the top floor of an apartment building in the Solomyanskyi district on the west bank of the Dnipro River, which bisects the city. One apartment building was on fire in the area as was one non-residential building.
Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said a fire had also broken out on two floors of an apartment building in Dniprovskyi district on the opposite bank.
Officials also reported a fire in Obolon in the city’s northern suburbs and fallen debris on a shopping center in the same area. They said drone fragments hit the ground in a number of other widely separated neighborhoods.
An air alert remained in effect more than two hours after it was first declared.
The overnight strikes followed several days of Ukrainian drone attacks — some 800 attacks — on targets inside Russia, including capital Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had vowed on Friday to respond to those attacks.


Russia says Ukrainian drone targets Kursk nuclear site under construction

Updated 2 sec ago

Russia says Ukrainian drone targets Kursk nuclear site under construction

Russia says Ukrainian drone targets Kursk nuclear site under construction
The drone crashed into one of the buildings at the construction site, Khinshtein said

MOSCOW: A Ukrainian drone attempted to attack the Kursk-2 nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction in the town of Kurchatov, local governor Alexander Khinshtein said on Thursday.
The drone crashed into one of the buildings at the construction site, Khinshtein said, adding that there were no casualties and that the station continues to operate normally.

Polish PM warns against ‘illusions’ over Trump’s Ukraine rhetoric

Polish PM warns against ‘illusions’ over Trump’s Ukraine rhetoric
Updated 42 min 44 sec ago

Polish PM warns against ‘illusions’ over Trump’s Ukraine rhetoric

Polish PM warns against ‘illusions’ over Trump’s Ukraine rhetoric
  • Trump’s comments on Tuesday prompted relief among some but also suspicion among others that he is ready to leave Europe more to its own devices in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion

WARSAW: Poland’s prime minister cautioned on Thursday against having any “illusions” about Donald Trump’s stance on Ukraine, after the US president said in a rhetorical shift that he believed Kyiv could retake all its land occupied by Russia.
Trump’s comments on Tuesday prompted relief among some but also suspicion among others that he is ready to leave Europe more to its own devices in supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
“President Trump stated that Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, could reclaim its entire territory,” Tusk wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.
“Behind this surprising optimism lies a promise of reduced US involvement and a shift of responsibility for ending the war to Europe. Better truth than illusions.”
Poland’s nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, said on Wednesday that Trump’s remarks were “great.”
Nawrocki and Tusk agree on the need to help Ukraine in the war. But Nawrocki prioritizes relations with the White House and believes the EU should not get involved in defense, while Tusk says the bloc should play a role alongside NATO and the United States.


Russia ‘firmly rejects’ involvement in Denmark airport drones

Russia ‘firmly rejects’ involvement in Denmark airport drones
Updated 38 min 13 sec ago

Russia ‘firmly rejects’ involvement in Denmark airport drones

Russia ‘firmly rejects’ involvement in Denmark airport drones
  • Drones flew over multiple airports across Denmark and caused one of them to close for hours, police said Thursday after a similar incident this week prompted Copenhagen airport to shut

COPENHAGEN: The Russian embassy in Denmark said Thursday that Russia “firmly rejects” speculation that it was involved in drone flights that caused Danish airports to close twice this week, calling the incidents a “staged provocation.”

“It is evident that the incidents involving reported disruptions at Danish airports are a staged provocation,” the embassy said in post to social media.

“The Russian side firmly rejects the absurd speculations of involvement in the incidents,” it added.

Drones flew over multiple airports across Denmark and caused one of them to close for hours, police said Thursday after a similar incident this week prompted Copenhagen airport to shut.

The latest incidents in Danish skies follow similar events in Poland and Romania and the violation by Russian fighter jets of Estonia’s airspace, which have raised tensions in light of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Drones were spotted at Denmark’s airports in Aalborg, Esbjerg, Sonderborg and at the Skrydstrup air base before leaving on their own, police said.

Aalborg airport, located in northern Denmark and one of the country’s biggest after Copenhagen, was shut down before reopening several hours later.

“It was not possible to take down the drones, which flew over a very large area over a couple of hours,” North Jutland chief police inspector Jesper Bojgaard Madsen said about the incident in Aalborg.

“At this time, we have not apprehended the drone operators either,” he added in a statement.

South Jutland police said they had “received several reports of drone activity at the airports in Esbjerg, Sonderborg and Skrydstrup,” late Wednesday evening.

The Esbjerg and Sonderborg airports were not closed because no flights were scheduled there until Thursday morning.

Police there said the drones “flew with lights and were observed from the ground, but it has not yet been clarified what type of drones they are... or what the motive is.”

An investigation was underway with the Danish intelligence service and the armed forces to “clarify the circumstances,” police said.

The probe comes days after police said several large drones flew over Copenhagen airport, shutting the facility for hours.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Tuesday described the Copenhagen incident as the “most serious attack on Danish critical infrastructure” to date.

“This is part of the development we have recently observed with other drone attacks, airspace violations, and cyberattacks targeting European airports,” Frederiksen said.

This week’s drone incidents follow Denmark announcing it will acquire long-range precision weapons for the first time, citing the need to be able to hit distant targets as Russia would pose a threat “for years to come.”

Moscow’s ambassador to Copenhagen, Vladimir Barbin, had called the statement “pure madness.”


Indian authorities impose security restrictions in remote Ladakh after deadly clashes

Indian authorities impose security restrictions in remote Ladakh after deadly clashes
Updated 25 September 2025

Indian authorities impose security restrictions in remote Ladakh after deadly clashes

Indian authorities impose security restrictions in remote Ladakh after deadly clashes
  • Officials banned assembly of more than five people in Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil districts following the violent clashes Wednesday
  • Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled streets Thursday and enforced a curfew in Leh

SRINAGAR, India: Authorities in India enforced security restrictions in two main districts in the remote Ladakh region on Thursday. The restrictions came a day after four people were killed and dozens injured when police clashed with hundreds of protesters demanding greater autonomy from the Indian government for the Himalayan territory.
Officials banned assembly of more than five people in Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil districts following the violent clashes Wednesday. Hundreds of police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled streets Thursday and enforced a curfew in Leh. Police detained at least 40 people overnight in Leh following the clashes, officials said.
Shops and businesses shut in Kargil as a local group called for a strike against Wednesday’s killings.
Sajjad Kargili, a local leader, urged the government to “act with wisdom, resume dialogue at the earliest and address people’s aspirations.”
Lt. Gov. Kavinder Gupta, New Delhi’s top administrator in Ladakh, called Wednesday’s violence “heart-wrenching.”
“Curfew has been imposed as a precautionary measure to prevent more casualties,” Gupta said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Wednesday’s clashes erupted after protesters threw stones at officers trying to stop them from marching in the high-altitude town of Leh. Others set ablaze police and paramilitary vehicles and the local office of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and some other government buildings, police said.
Police fired bullets and tear gas and swung batons at demonstrators, killing four people and injuring dozens more, police and residents said.
Nestled between India, Pakistan and China, Ladakh was split from Indian-controlled Kashmir after New Delhi removed the disputed region’s statehood and semiautonomy in 2019. While Kashmir has largely been silenced through a crackdown on dissent and a slew of new laws, demands for political rights in Ladakh have intensified in recent years.
The protests are part of a larger movement in the federally governed region seeking statehood and constitutional provisions from the Indian government to gain autonomy over land and agriculture decisions.
The protests Wednesday were sparked by a local group’s call for a strike after two residents collapsed while participating in a hunger strike with more than a dozen residents who were making statehood demands.
India’s Home Ministry said in a statement late Wednesday that police fired in “self-defense” and blamed the violence on “provocative speeches” by a top climate activist, Sonam Wangchuk, who had led the hunger strike since Sept. 10. Wangchuk called off the strike after the clashes.
Shortly after the clashes, Wangchuk appealed for calm. He told reporters that their movement was peaceful and that they did not want instability in Ladakh.
“We held hunger strikes on five occasions and walked from Leh to Delhi, but today we are seeing our message of peace failing because of the incidents of violence and arson,” Wangchuk said.
Wednesday’s violence was the deadliest civil unrest in the Ladakh region in decades and signaled residents’ growing frustration with Indian authorities over the self-rule issue. Residents initially welcomed New Delhi’s 2019 changes, but their joy soon gave way to fears of land grabs, a loss of trade and damage to the fragile ecosystem of the region’s high-altitude deserts.
Ladakh representatives have held several unsuccessful rounds of talks with Indian officials. Another meeting is scheduled Oct. 6.
Roughly half of Ladakh’s residents are Muslim who are mainly concentrated in the Kargil district while around 40 percent are Buddhist, predominantly residing in the Leh district.
Ladakh’s sparsely populated villages have faced territorial disputes and suffered from the effects of climate change, including floods, landslides and droughts.
The rugged region’s thousands of glaciers have receded at an alarming rate, threatening the water supply of millions of people. Pollution contributing to the melting has worsened due to the region’s militarization, which has intensified since 2020 in a deadly military standoff between India and China.


Ukraine’s Zelensky says he is ready to leave office after war

Ukraine’s Zelensky says he is ready to leave office after war
Updated 25 September 2025

Ukraine’s Zelensky says he is ready to leave office after war

Ukraine’s Zelensky says he is ready to leave office after war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios news website that he would be ready to step down after the war with Russia is over.
“My goal is to finish the war,” not to continue running for office, Axios quoted Zelenksiy as saying.