Ukraine war: Russian warplane accidentally bombs own city - BBC

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By Steve Rosenberg

Russia Editor

A Russian Sukhoi-34 fighter-jet has accidentally bombed the Russian city of Belgorod, around 40km (25 miles) from the border with Ukraine.

The bomb left a 20m (60ft) crater and caused an explosion so large it blew a car on to the roof of a nearby shop.

Regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said authorities had ordered the evacuation of a damaged nine-storey block of flats as a precaution.

Three people were injured and several buildings were damaged, he said.

Video posted on social media showed the impact of the blast, lifting a vehicle on to the roof of a supermarket as traffic streamed along Prospekt Vatutina, close to the centre of the city.

In a brief statement, the Russian defence ministry admitted that one of its Su-34 fighter bombers had "accidentally discharged aircraft ordnance" at 22:15 local time (19:15 GMT) on Thursday.

It was a bureaucratic way of saying that the jet had mistakenly fired a weapon. It didn't specify which one.

The bomb landed at an intersection of two roads not far from the city centre and next to residential buildings.

Two women were taken to hospital for treatment, according to the governor. But with a Russian bomber hitting a busy residential district the consequences could have been far worse.

"Thank God no one was killed," he said on social media.

Getty Images

CCTV footage of the incident suggests that local residents did, indeed, have a lucky escape.

The video shows a series of cars passing a crossroads, before an object lands on the ground nearby.

There is no immediate explosion. The ordnance detonates approximately 18 seconds later, blowing up a section of the road, catching one of the cars as it passes and sending a parked car flying into the air before it lands on the supermarket roof.

Though embarrassing for the Russian military, the admission of "an accident" suggests that officials here do not believe the incident will negatively impact Russian public opinion of what the Kremlin still calls its "special military operation".

In times of war and conflict, accidents happen, sometimes with devastating consequences. Last October a Sukhoi fighter jet - again, an Su-34 - crashed in the Russian city of Yeysk killing at least 13 people.

The military says it has launched an investigation into the incident. Quoting a former military pilot, pro-government news site Moskovsky Komsomolets suggested "the conclusions [of the investigation] are unlikely to be made public, but lessons will be learned".

By morning maintenance workers had begun the work of repairing the busy intersection in Belgorod. The mayor said much of the work would take place at the weekend and the road would be resurfaced on Monday.

The regional governor said Belgorod's residents had endured a difficult night but would get through it.

Russian jets regularly fly over Belgorod, a city of 370,000, on their way to Ukraine.

It lies just north of Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, and has come under periodic Ukrainian attack since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine last year.

Getty Images

Related Topics

• Russia-Ukraine war
• Russia
• Ukraine

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2023-04-21 10:32:53Z
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NATO allies 'agree Ukraine will become member' - Sky News

All NATO allies have agreed that Ukraine will become a member, says secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group at Ramstein air base in Germany, he also told reporters that, once the war in Ukraine ends, Kyiv must have "the deterrence to prevent new attacks".

He said that the main focus is now to ensure the country prevails against Russia.

Image: Jens Stoltenberg speaks to the media at Ramstein air base

It comes after Mr Stoltenberg yesterday pledged continued support for the country during his first visit to Kyiv since Russia's invasion just over a year ago.

"Let me be clear, Ukraine's rightful place is in the Euro-Atlantic family," he told a news conference.

"Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO."

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0:55

'Ukraine’s rightful place is in NATO' Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that preventing Ukraine from joining NATO remains one of the goals of what Moscow calls its "special military operation."

He said that Ukraine's accession would pose a "serious, significant threat to our country, to our country's security".

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this year that he was grateful for an invitation into the alliance, but said his country needs a roadmap for becoming a member.

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In May, Finland joined the alliance, setting aside years of military nonalignment, in order to seek protection under the organisation's security umbrella after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The country's accession dealt a major political blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin as it doubled the size of NATO's border with the nation.

Neighbouring Sweden is also expected to join, but so far Turkey has blocked its approval due to "security concerns".

NATO allies have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops and provided €65bn (£57bn) of military aid alone.

On Friday, the Canadian government announced a further $28.9m (£23.3m) in military aid that will include 40 sniper rifles, 16 radio sets and a donation to a NATO fund to help Kyiv in the war.

A day earlier, both Denmark and the Netherlands said they plan to provide Ukraine with at least another 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks by early 2024 - tanks that the country pleaded Western nations for, in order to give its forces the firepower they need to retake occupied territory.

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2023-04-21 08:26:15Z
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‘Nobody is left’: brutal fighting lays waste to wealthy central Khartoum - The Guardian

On one street is a small cafe where diplomats, successful businesspeople and visiting dignitaries enjoyed smoothies and burgers under umbrellas set against the blistering sun. On another is a showroom for custom-designed kitchens imported from Europe, a once well stocked pharmacy and a fast-food joint. Down dusty potholed roads, there are villas behind high walls and apartment blocks where chandeliers hang above shining marble stairways.

These central Khartoum neighbourhoods, once the most sought-after addresses in Sudan’s capital city, are now so dangerous that residents cannot wait to flee. For almost a week, they have been the stage for a brutal power struggle, shattered by shelling, grenades and automatic rifle fire that trapped tens of thousands in their homes.

Some have managed to escape. On Thursday, people continued to stream out of central Khartoum and, to a lesser extent, the twin city of Omdurman across the Nile.

Omer Belal, a resident of Khartoum 2, a neighbourhood close to major ministries and the fiercely contested international airport, has sent his family to distant relatives in al-Hajj Yousif, on the eastern outskirts of the city.

“I could be the last person to leave. I am just waiting for the explosions to stop for a bit,” Belal said. “There was random artillery strike and my neighbour’s house was hit by a huge rocket. Entire neighbourhoods and the areas around us are empty … Nobody is left here.”

More than 400 people have been killed and thousands more injured since the fighting erupted on Saturday, according to numerous estimates. Medics say the true toll is likely to be much higher.

The conflict has pitted soldiers loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of Sudan’s transitional governing sovereign council, and the regular army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti. Their power struggle has derailed a shift to civilian rule and raised fears of a long, brutal civil war.

Both came to power in 2019 after the fall of the dictator Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for nearly 30 years. They then joined forces to marginalise civilians and crush the pro-democracy protest movement that had been crucial in the fall of the former regime. Now they have turned their guns on each other in an attempt to win uncontested control of Sudan’s precious resources and its crumbling but still powerful state.

The wealthy neighbourhoods in the centre of Khartoum have suffered most in this brutal fight because they are closest to key strategic locations, such as the defence headquarters where Burhan is believed to have his command bunker, the presidential palace and the airport.

But the damage also has another cause. Hemedti and his fighters see themselves as underdog insurgents from Sudan’s margins who are taking on an establishment that has monopolised power and wealth for too long. The young men who fill the ranks of the RSF are recruited in Hemedti’s home region – distant Darfur, 530 miles (850km) to the south-west of the capital – and see the streets where they are now fighting as bastions of the political, cultural and economic elite that has paid them little or no attention.

So too does their commander.

“Bashir kept the relatively affluent elite onside and Burhan has been trying to do the same … Hemedti seems less interested in their support and seems unconcerned about collateral casualties or damage to their neighbourhoods,” said Dr Nick Westcott, the director of the Royal African Society and a professor of diplomacy at SOAS in London.

“The RSF soldiers have little to lose. They are experienced and tough fighters. The Sudanese armed forces are used to living in barracks, regular meals et cetera, so Hemedti feels confident he can prevail.”

Of those fleeing the centre of Khartoum, many have headed for Wad-Madani, a city 80 miles south-east of the capital, where thousands spent their first night in their cars on the streets.

“People just took anything that was going on to the south of Khartoum and fled, whether on a lorry or a minibus … Many of us do not even have any cash,” said Majid Maalia, a human rights lawyer and former resident of Khartoum 2 whose apartment was hit by an airstrike shortly after he left on Thursday morning.

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Thursday became the latest foreign leader to call for an end to the conflict, in separate phone calls with Burhan and Hemedti. But even a temporary truce seems a distant prospect and successive ceasefires have collapsed within minutes.

“There is no other option but the military solution,” Burhan told the television network Al Jazeera.

In 2019, Hemedti made a chilling promise to a crowd of supporters in northern Khartoum. Speaking days after his RSF forces had attacked and dispersed a peaceful pro-democracy sit-in in front of the military headquarters, killing more than 200 people, the warlord said that if the protests had continued for a month rather than just the three days, his men would have reduced Khartoum to a “ghost town” resembling those in Darfur depopulated by decades of conflict. “These expensive buildings … [would] only be inhabited by cats,” Hemedti said.

For Belal and other residents of what has now become a battleground, this vision has been realised and there is little hope of any return to pre-conflict normality even when the fighting eventually stops.

“If you survive the shooting, you will die with hunger,” he said. “This is an absurd war.”

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2023-04-21 10:22:00Z
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Landlord cuts through front door with a CIRCULAR SAW as screaming tenant shouts 'are you mad?!' - Daily Mail

'I'll f***ing split you open!' Landlord cuts through front door with a CIRCULAR SAW as screaming tenant shouts 'are you mad?!' following row over rent

• Dr Muhammed Raheel Jethel and his family were left 'fearing for lives' over row
• Video shows the landlord using an electrical saw to cut through front door 

By Garreth Macnamee and Rachael Bunyan

Published: 11:11 BST, 20 April 2023 | Updated: 15:12 BST, 20 April 2023

A landlord allegedly lunged at his tenant with a circular saw after cutting through the front door following a row over rent. 

Dr Muhammed Raheel Jethel and his family were left 'fearing for their lives' after receiving the threats from the houseowner in Ballinasloe, County Galway, in Ireland.

Shocking video shows the man racially abusing the father-of-two before using an electrical saw to cut through the family's front door.

Dr Jethel screamed 'are you mad?' as the landlord, who has not been named, lunged at him with the saw while shouting, 'I'll f***ing split you open' on Monday.

The landlord had claimed the family, who are originally from Pakistan, had not paid rent on the property, despite Dr Jethel, who is a surgical registrar, saying the money sent to the original account had been bouncing back and he was unable to contact the landlord.

It was two weeks ago that the family started to experience the threatening behaviour. The landlord allegedly arrived at the property with a locksmith and started drilling into the door.

Dr Jethel was working at the time. His wife and two children, aged one and three, were in the house and thought somebody was breaking in.

The doctor then called the garda. He alleges he was told the incident related to a civil matter and that officers had no duty to intervene.

Following the arrival of the police, the apparent landlord calmed down and moved away from the property.

However, on Monday afternoon, the family was met by the same man brandishing a circular saw.

Dr Jethel then began filming the incident.

The video shows that, while holding the tool, the man believed to be the landlord said: 'You might be going to see Muhammed – you've more to lose than me. No matter where you go in this life I will follow you.'

As he used the circular saw to cut the door, he said: 'If I have to spend the rest of my life in jail, then I don't care.'

Also on the video he can be heard saying: 'I have a Quran in my car to burn. I don't care about your family.' 

In the video, Dr Jethel closed the door and then the man used the spinning blade to cut through the door, leading the doctor to open it and say he was calling police.

The man responds and is then seen lunging towards the door while working the heavy-duty equipment. Dr Jethel is forced to take cover before screaming 'you cannot do that' as he pushed the landlord back through the doorway. 

Dr Jethel screamed: 'Are you mad? Are you f***ing mad?'

The man, holding the saw, said: 'Yes I am mad, I'm mad at you!' He then raised the saw again and warned: 'You think I wouldn't do it? I'll f***ing split you open. You got it?'   

Dr Jethel then repeats to the man that he is going to call the garda to which the landlord responds: 'Well call the f***ing guards. I don't give a s**t about your family. You'll lose more than you ever lost.'

Dr Jethel's friend and colleague, Dr Liqa Ur Rehman told the Irish Daily Mail that the family is 'terrified' and does not know where to turn.

'They are by the door and they are terrified that the man will come back. They think their lives are in danger. The gardaí are telling him that it was not for them.'

According to Dr Ur Rehman, officers who arrived at the scene on Monday apologised for their colleagues' behaviour.

Speaking yesterday, Dr Ur Rehman said the family has remained at the property but are terrified to leave it.

'Last night, they all got no sleep. They were waiting by the door as they were afraid somebody would come back.' Dr Jethel now has a solicitor involved and believes that this is harassment.

'The landlord went wild. My friend does not want this to become more than it needs. He wants the landlord to apologise and then that can be the end of the matter,' he said.

Dr Ur Rehman said he felt compelled to put the video on social media due to the alleged action of officers during both incidents.

He said he was 'hugely disappointed and saddened by this attitude of local gardaí. If anything happens to him and his family, the situation might get out of control. Authorities must take action, before it's too late.'

He added: 'We are just worried that they will have nowhere to go.

'There is very little housing for any people working in the hospitals. So this is terrible. He had the money as well and there was no issue with paying for the rent. He just did not know how to get the money to the man as his phone number was not working and the bank account he was using did not work.'

Once these claims were put to gardaí, a spokesman said: 'An Garda Síochána are aware of a video in circulation online and can confirm that personal contact has been made with a private citizen. Inquiries are ongoing at this time. 

'Any person who believes they have been mistreated by any member of An Garda Síochána is entitled to make a complaint to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.'

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2023-04-20 10:11:31Z
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Almost 80 die in Ramadan crush in Yemen's capital Sanaa - BBC

Reuters

By David Gritten & George Wright

BBC News

At least 78 people have been killed in a crush at a school in Yemen's rebel-held capital, Sanaa, during a charity event for Ramadan, officials say.

The incident began after hundreds crowded into a narrow street in the Bab al-Yemen area late on Wednesday to get handouts of $9 (£7) from a merchant.

Video showed people screaming for help and others trying to pull them free.

Later footage appeared to show dozens of bodies on the ground, as well as shoes and clothing strewn over steps.

Officials from the rebel Houthi movement accused organisers of failing to co-ordinate with local authorities and said they had been detained.

Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that escalated in 2015, when the Iran-aligned Houthis seized control of large parts of the west of the country from the internationally-recognised government and a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an effort to restore its rule.

The fighting has reportedly left more than 150,000 people dead and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with two thirds of the population - 21.7 million people - in need of some form of aid.

Poor people made their way to the Maeen School in central Sanaa on Wednesday night after being told that a local merchant would be handing out zakat (alms) to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The head of the Houthis' Supreme Revolutionary Council, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, posted a photo on Twitter apparently showing hundreds of people queuing outside the school before the crush.

Mr Houthi said the merchant received people via a back gate that was reached by a narrow street and steps. This resulted in overcrowding and a crush when the gate was opened, he added.

He also blamed the Saudi-led coalition for causing an "economic catastrophe" with its military campaign against the rebels and blockade of the country.

The Associated Press quoted two witnesses who said Houthi forces fired into the air in an attempt at crowd control, apparently hitting an electrical wire which resulted in an explosion. This caused panic that led to the crush, they added.

However, witnesses told the BBC that the Houthis fired shots into the air after the crush began in order to clear a path to the casualties.

One of the witnesses said the crowd was forced to gather in the narrow street because the school's main gate was closed. The crush happened as people in the queue were pushed up the steps into others who had received their handouts and were trying to leave, he added.

Reuters

A health ministry official said women and children were among the 78 people killed in the crush.

Another 77 people were injured, according to the ministry. Thirteen were in a critical condition in hospital on Thursday, while the rest were discharged after receiving treatment, it added.

"It was a huge crowd. They fell on me, and I got hurt," a boy who was injured in the crush told rebel-run Al-Masirah TV at one hospital.

The president of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, expressed his condolences to the victims' families and ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, according to Al-Masirah.

The head of the Houthis' General Zakat Authority meanwhile said it would pay $2,000 (£1,600) to each family who lost a relative, while the injured would get around $400 (£322).

Are you in Sanaa? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

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Related Topics

• Yemen
• Ramadan
• Yemen crisis

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2023-04-20 13:47:35Z
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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 421 of the invasion - The Guardian

• Ukraine’s future lies in Nato, the western military alliance’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday during his first visit to the country since Russia’s invasion 14 months ago. He pledged continued military support for Ukraine, saying that, so far, Nato allies had trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops and provided €65bn ($71.31bn) of military aid alone. “Nato stands with you today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes,” Stoltenberg stated, before inviting Vladmir Zelenskiy to the Nato summit in Vilnius in July.

• Zelenskiy said Nato needs to invite Ukraine to become a member and give it a timeframe for accession. “I am grateful for the invitation to visit the summit, but it is also important for Ukraine to receive the corresponding invitation,” he told reporters. “There is not a single objective barrier to the political decision to invite Ukraine into the alliance and now, when most people in Nato countries and the majority of Ukrainians support Nato accession, is the time for the corresponding decisions.”

• Denmark, together with the Netherlands, is to donate 14 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Denmark’s acting defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said they are not Danish tanks, but tanks “which are bought in collaboration with the Netherlands”. Foreign minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen described it as “a very significant contribution”.

• Russian state-owned news agency Tass has cited Ismini Palla, spokesperson for the UN office at the joint coordination centre for the deal in Istanbul, saying that “inspections of vessels under the grain deal resumed on 19 April and are scheduled for 20 April”.

• The Donetsk People’s Republic, the Russian-imposed authority in Ukraine’s occupied Donetsk region, has claimed that overnight a woman has been killed in the city of Donetsk by shelling from Ukrainian armed forces.

• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine which Russia captured last year will stop using US-produced nuclear fuel as quickly as possible, the Interfax news agency quoted a Russian official as saying.

• The admiral of Russia’s Pacific fleet has left his position after a check of its combat readiness. Adm Sergei Avakyants left his post as commander on Thursday as it was announced he will oversee a new centre for military sports training and “patriotic education”. Units from the Pacific fleet had been taking part in inspection exercises that were announced by the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, last week.

• A flash in the sky over Kyiv prompted confusion and alarm as city authorities said it was caused by a Nasa satellite reentering the atmosphere, while the US space agency denied involvement. A “bright glow” was observed over Kyiv around 10pm local time and shortly after, the Ukrainian air force said the flash was “related to the fall of a satellite/meteorite”.

• Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, seems to be conducting “a large-scale overahaul of domestic security organs,” the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, reports in its update today. The overhaul appears to be related to leaks of data to Ukraine, the ISW reports.

• Switzerland will add the private military Wagner group and news agency RIA to its list of Russian sanctioned entities.

• Ukraine has received two types of air defence system ahead of the Ramstein military group meeting on Thursday, where it will ask for more supplies. A Patriot air defence system delivery was confirmed by the defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, on Wednesday. The second of four promised German Iris-T system were also delivered, according to a German newspaper which had spoken to government officials. No official announcements have been made.

• The United States announced $325m in new military aid for Ukraine, including additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, advanced missiles and anti-tank mines. It is the 36th security package since the war began in February 2022.

• The European Commission is proposing €100m (£88m) in compensation for EU farmers affected by the recent influx of Ukrainian grain as well as restrictions on selling wheat and maize in affected countries, in a move to calm tensions with central and eastern Europe. Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the commission, has written to the leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, setting out support measures after four of those countries banned the import or sale of grain and other food products inside their borders earlier this week. Bulgaria had confirmed its temporary halt on Wednesday.

• A Ukrainian military spokesperson accused Moscow of a “provocation” after Russian proxy forces said Ukrainian forces had blown up four buildings in the eastern city of Bakhmut, killing 20 civilians. The spokesperson said Ukrainian forces never target civilians. Russia also denies targeting civilians.

• The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on Wednesday during a visit to Sweden that the US looks forward to welcoming Sweden as a Nato member before the alliance’s summit in July, and will encourage Turkey and Hungary to ratify accession. Along with Finland, Sweden applied to join Nato in May last year. Finland’s application was processed in record time and it became the 31st member of the alliance earlier this month.

• A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.

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2023-04-20 13:12:00Z
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Nasa says mysterious flash over Ukraine was not caused by its satellite - The Independent

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Nasa has said the strange flash of light seen over Kyiv was not caused by one of the space agency’s satellites scheduled to crash on Earth, as has been claimed by Ukraine’s military administration.

Kyiv’s city military administration head Serhii Popko said citing “preliminary data” that a mysterious bright flash of light spotted in the sky over the city at about 10pm local time on 19 April was from falling Nasa satellite debris.

The city then turned on its air raid alert to prevent casualties from any of the suspected falling debris, but “air defence was not in operation,” Mr Popko noted.

“According to preliminary information, this phenomenon was the result of a Nasa space satellite falling to Earth,” he said in a post on Telegram.

Nasa had said earlier in the week that its retired 300kg (660 pound) RHESSI satellite used to observe solar flares would re-enter the atmosphere on Wednesday.

The US space agency predicted the spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere at about 8.50pm EDT on Wednesday.

It said it expected most of the spacecraft to burn up as it traveled through the atmosphere, with some components to survive re-entry.

“The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low – approximately 1 in 2,467,” Nasa said in a blog post.

Nasa’s Office of Communications, however, told the BBC that the satellite was still in orbit at the time the flash was reported from Ukraine, adding that the US defence department and the American space agency continued to track RHESSI.

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell also tweeted on Thursday that the bright flash seen over Kyiv had “NOTHING TO DO with the reentry of Nasa’s RHESSI satellite”.

He said the satellite’s orbit does not come within even “thousands of kilometres of Ukraine”, adding that the odds of it entering Kyiv were “zero”.

“RHESSI orbit did not pass over Ukraine at all,” he tweeted.

The astronomer, known for tracking orbit trajectories, said the Nasa satellites re-entry track to Earth included South America, northern Africa, central Asia, and China.

He said the satellite was only re-entering Earth 9.55 pm EDT on Tuesday.

“Re-entry window for RHESSI has now opened. It will reenter in the next 2 hours. However we may not know when and where it reentered for seveal hours after that, unless someone sees the reentry breakup fireball,” Mr McDowell tweeted few hours earlier.

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2023-04-20 05:39:53Z
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