Moscow buildings damaged in overnight drone attacks that Russia blames on Kyiv - The Guardian

Three Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early on Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said, in an attack that briefly shut an international airport.

While one of the drones was shot down on the city’s outskirts, two others were “suppressed by electronic warfare” and smashed into an office complex. A security guard was injured, Russia’s state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials.

“Ukrainian drones attacked tonight. Facades of two city office towers were slightly damaged,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted on Telegram.

Moscow and its surrounding area are more than 500km from the Ukrainian border and the ongoing conflict there, but have been targeted in several drone attacks this year.

The attack reported Sunday is the latest in a series of recent drone assaults – including on the Kremlin and Russian towns near the border with Ukraine – that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv.

Kyiv is yet to comment, but Ukraine typically declines to claim responsibility for attacks on Russia.

The defence ministry called it an “attempted terrorist attack”.

“One Ukrainian UAV was destroyed in the air by air defence systems over the territory of the Odintsovo district of Moscow region,” it said on Telegram.

“Two more drones were suppressed by electronic warfare and, having lost control, crashed on the territory of Moscow-City’s non-residential building complex.”

The TASS state news agency reported that the capital’s Vnukovo airport was “closed for departures and arrivals, flights are redirected to other airports”.

Within less than an hour, operations appeared to have returned to normal.

Earlier this month, a volley of drone attacks briefly disrupted air traffic at the same airport, to the city’s south-west.

The attacks on Moscow come several weeks into a Ukrainian counter-offensive to claw back territory captured by Russia since large-scale hostilities erupted in February 2022.

On Friday, Russia said it had intercepted two Ukrainian missiles over its southern Rostov region bordering Ukraine, with at least 16 people wounded by debris falling on the city of Taganrog.

Regions bordering Ukraine have seen regular drone strikes and shelling since Moscow launched its military campaign in February last year, but have rarely been targeted by missiles.

The ministry said the first S-200 missile was aimed at the “residential infrastructure” of Taganrog, a city of about 250,000 people.

On the other side of the border, at least one civilian was killed in a Russian missile attack on the north-east Ukrainian city of Sumy on Saturday evening, according to national police, who added that there were five injured.

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2023-07-30 12:58:02Z
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Niger coup leader warns regional and Western powers against military intervention - BBC

Getty Images

By Farouk Chothia

BBC News

Niger's coup leaders have warned regional and Western powers against military intervention to reinstate the ousted president.

A statement claimed that regional body Ecowas was preparing to approve a "plan of aggression against Niger".

The bloc of West African nations has not commented. It is meeting to discuss the coup, which it has condemned.

Meanwhile hundreds of coup supporters protested outside the French embassy in Niamey, after France stopped aid.

Some of them chanted "Long live Russia", "Long live Putin" and "Down with France", AFP news agency reports.

France would not tolerate any attack on its interests in Niger, and would respond in an "immediate and intractable manner", President Emmanuel Macron's office said in a statement.

The coup has prompted concern that Niger could pivot towards Russia. Neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali both moved closer to Russia since their own coups.

Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani - the head of the presidential guards unit who has declared himself Niger's new leader - warned Ecowas and unnamed Western nations against stepping in.

"We once again reiterate to Ecowas or any other adventurer our firm determination to defend our fatherland," the statement, which was read out on TV, said.

About two weeks ago the Ecowas chairman, Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, warned that terrorism and the emerging pattern of coups in West Africa had reached alarming levels and demanded urgent action.

The African Union and Western nations have also condemned the military takeover, but the leader of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has reportedly described it as a triumph.

"What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers," he was quoted as saying on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel, although his comments have not been independently verified.

Armies have also seized power in recent years in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.

The junta in Mali has brought in Russia's Wagner mercenary group to help it fight militant Islamists.

France, the former colonial power, announced the withdrawal of its troops last year amid growing hostility from the junta.

It subsequently moved its regional military headquarters to Niger.

In June, Mali's junta said the UN's 12,000 peacekeepers also had to leave following a decade of countering Islamist militants.

The UN agreed, saying the withdrawal would be completed by the end of the year.

On Saturday, France said it had suspended all development aid and budgetary support to Niger.

The European Union and the US have made a similar decision, while the AU has called on the army to return to base within 15 days.

• Simple guide to what's happening in Niger
• Niger coup makes a troubled region yet more fragile
• Are military takeovers on the rise in Africa?

Related Topics

• France
• Ecowas
• Niger

Around the BBC

• Focus on Africa podcast

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2023-07-30 12:28:28Z
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Drones strike towers in Moscow's business district - Financial Times

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2023-07-30 11:21:12Z
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Moscow drone attack briefly shuts Vnukovo airport - BBC

Reuters

By James Gregory

BBC News

Russia has accused Ukraine of a drone attack on Moscow that damaged two buildings and briefly shut one of the city's airports.

A drone was shot down over the Odintsovo district, west of the city centre, and two others were neutralised but crashed into offices, Russia's defence ministry says.

One person has been injured, Russia's state news agency Tass reports.

Ukrainian officials have not acknowledged the incident.

The city's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the facades of two office buildings were slightly damaged.

Photos from the scene show that several windows have been damaged at the corner of the buildings, with debris scattered on the ground below.

One eyewitness, who only gave her first name as Liya, told Reuters news agency she could see fire and smoke.

"We heard an explosion and it was like a wave, everyone jumped," she said.

"Then there was a lot of smoke and you couldn't see anything. From above, you could see fire."

Reuters

Flights were briefly suspended from Vnukovo Airport, southwest of the city centre, and incoming planes were redirected to other airports.

In a statement, the defence ministry said the "attempted terrorist attack" had been "thwarted".

The drone attack in the early hours of Sunday is the latest that Moscow has blamed on Kyiv. Ukraine rarely claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia.

Moscow, located about 500km (310 miles) from the Ukrainian border, has rarely been targeted since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But Russia has accused Ukraine of launching a series of drone strikes on its territory in recent months, including several on the capital.

The most notable was in May, when Russia claimed Ukraine used two drones to attack the Kremlin - the heart of the city. Ukraine denied attacking the Kremlin or targeting President Vladimir Putin.

• Russia does not reject Ukraine peace talks - Putin

Russia's defence ministry says Ukraine also carried out an overnight drone attack on Crimea - territory which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Officials say 16 drones were destroyed and a further nine were suppressed, Tass news agency reports.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile attack on the city of Sumy, in the north east of the country, has left one person dead and five injured.

A building was destroyed in an explosion at about 20:00 local time (17:00 GMT), according to public broadcaster Suspilne.

Officials also say two people were killed in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.

Related Topics

• Russia-Ukraine war
• Russia
• Ukraine

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2023-07-30 07:18:55Z
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Rotterdam: Two people shot and one other injured during summer carnival, police say - Sky News

Two people and a gunman have been injured in a shooting at a summer carnival in the Dutch city of Rotterdam.

Police say one of the victims who was shot has been taken to hospital, alongside the gunman who was shot by police several times moments after.

Both the suspect and the victim were arrested.

Police said a woman was also injured in a fall while walking away from the incident, which took place near Coolsingel - a street in central Rotterdam at around 8.45pm on Saturday.

Shortly after the incident, police officers arrested a third suspect near Van Oldenbarneveltplaats, who they say is suspected of involvement in the incident.

Earlier on Saturday, there was also a shooting incident in Coolsingel.

Police say that at the moment there does not seem to be a connection between the two incidents, but the possibility is being included in the investigation.

Zomercarnaval, a Dutch Caribbean festival, which is one of Europe's biggest street parties, had been taking place in the city on Saturday.

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2023-07-30 00:45:00Z
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Putin suggests African or Chinese peace initiatives could help end Ukraine war - The Telegraph

Vladimir Putin has indicated that African or Chinese peace initiatives could be the basis for ending the war in Ukraine.

But the Russian president on Saturday warned it was hard to implement a ceasefire when the Ukrainian Army was on the offensive.

It is not the first time that the suggestion over a peace deal has been made and comes in the wake of African leaders pressing him on Friday to forge ahead with their plan to end the Ukraine conflict.

Mr Putin said: “We do not reject talks on Ukraine.”

He said on Saturday he would not attend a summit of the BRICS nations in August in person as he did not see the visit as more important than him staying in Russia.

The Kremlin said last week that Mr Putin would instead dial into the summit by video call and that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be at the Johannesburg summit instead when it takes place on August 22-24.

The Russian leader revealed that Moscow carried out some preventive strikes after what it called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on the Crimean Bridge.

But he would not elaborate as to where the strikes had been staged or give more details.

Ukraine confirmed it was behind an attack on a bridge connecting the Russian-occupied part of Kherson and Crimea on Saturday.

“Ukrainian forces successfully struck Chongar Bridge in the morning of 29 July 2023,” the Strategic Communications Directorate of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a Telegram post.

The bridge, known as the “gate to Crimea”, is one of a handful of lines between the annexed peninsula and mainland Ukraine. 

Moscow also blamed Ukraine for an attack that led to a Russian couple being killed and their 14-year-old daughter being wounded last week in the strike on the road linking Russia to Crimea.

He further criticised the West for hypocrisy over the war in Ukraine and highlighted the conflict in Syria.

Mr Putin claimed Ukraine had lost 415 tanks and 1,300 armoured vehicles since June 4 and added there were “no serious changes” on the Ukrainian front for now.

Meanwhile, a Russian rocket attack killed one civilian and injured five more in the northeastern city of Sumy late on Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said.

“During the evening of July 29, an enemy missile hit an educational institution,” the ministry said on Telegram. 

“At least one civilian was killed and 5 civilians were wounded.”

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2023-07-29 23:30:00Z
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Ukraine-Russia war live: Russian missiles strike security service HQ in Dnipro - The Telegraph

Russian missiles slammed into a residential complex and a Ukrainian security service (SBU) building in Dnipro overnight, injuring at least nine people.

Two children were among the injured, according to Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor. The attack was branded as “Russian missile terror” by Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President.

Borys Filatov, Dnipro’s mayor, said it was the third time that the SBU building had been targeted.

Mr Filatov added that both of the buildings were mostly empty as the residential complex had only recently been completed and the apartments were in the process of being put up for sale.

“There were two hits in Dnipro at about 8.30pm, Iskander missiles, according to preliminary information,” Mr Lysak said.

“Part of the apartment building was destroyed. It was not even yet in use and there weren’t many people there. A few people were trapped but are now out. The security service building is partially destroyed.”

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2023-07-29 11:07:50Z
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