International

Russians point fingers after deadliest Ukraine attack

Published

1 year ago

January 4, 2023

Local military commander's wife Yekaterina Kolotovkina was among mourners in the centre of Samara

The deaths of dozens of Russian soldiers in a new year missile strike on a building in occupied eastern Ukraine have prompted recriminations among critics of the Russian military.

Russia’s defence ministry has so far conceded that 63 people were killed in the Ukrainian attack on Makiivka at around midnight on New Year’s Eve.

One commander’s wife accused the West of trying to destroy Russia.

But elsewhere military leaders were accused of incompetence.

Ukraine says as many as 400 people were killed or wounded at Makiivka, and numbers into the hundreds have been given by Russian nationalists on social media.

However, there is no way of verifying how many soldiers were killed when US-made Himars missiles hit a vocational college packed with conscripts. Ammunition was also being stored close to the site, which was reduced to rubble.

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Whatever the number, this is the highest number of deaths acknowledged by Russia since it invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022.

Rallies were held in several cities in Russia’s south-western region of Samara, where governor Dmitry Azarov said many of the conscripts had lived.

The biggest commemoration took place in the city of Samara itself, with at least 200 people taking part. Other official events were held in the industrial city of Tolyatti and in Syzran and Novokuybyshevsk.

No criticism was reported at the Samara rally, where the main remarks came from Yekaterina Kolotovkina, who said “neither we nor our husbands wanted war; the entire West united against us to eliminate us and our children”.

Hers was very much an official voice as her husband, Lt Gen Andrei Kolotovkin, commands the 2nd Guards Combined Arms Army based in Samara.

The commander’s wife remarks prompted anger on social media with independent journalist Dmitry Kolezev pointing out that her husband did not die in Makiivka.

“Could we have at least some evidence?” he asked, in response to her claim that the West intended to kill Samara’s children. Another blogger condemned her comments as a “pack of lies”.

The governor of Samara met defence ministry officials in Moscow on Tuesday and was expected to visit some of the wounded in hospital in the city of Rostov-on-Don the next day.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s armed forces said they killed 500 Russian troops in another attack on New Year’s Eve, on a village in the occupied southern region of Kherson.

There was no independent verification of the attack at Chulakivka, some 20km south of the River Dnipro.

Russian forces retreated across the Dnipro in November and Ukrainian officials have posted video of a flag being hoisted on an island between the eastern and western banks of the river.

Ukraine’s southern military command has warned that it is too early to talk of Velyky Potyomkinsky island being completely liberated.

Commander in chief Valerii Zaluzhny said on Monday that Ukraine had liberated 40% of the territories seized by Russia since last February, and 28% of all territories occupied by Russia since 2014.

BBC

International

Iranian rapper sentenced to death for supporting anti-hijab protests

Published

1 hour ago

April 25, 2024

Trends Admin

Iranian rapper sentenced to death for supporting anti-hijab protests

An Iranian court has sentenced a dissident rapper to death for supporting protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022.

According to the reformist Shargh newspaper the artist’s lawyer Amir Raisian on Wednesday said, “Branch 1 of Isfahan Revolutionary Court… sentenced Toomaj Salehi to death on the charge of corruption on Earth.”

Iranian Government had said it had proof that the U.S. and other Western countries were behind the protests that were held across the country over the death of Amini.

Mahsa Amini, 22, a Kurdish woman, was arrested in September 2022 for not wearing her hijab properly. She died three days after her arrest, sparking violent protests in the country.

Salehi, 33, was arrested in October 2022 after publicly backing the wave of demonstrations which erupted a month earlier, triggered by Amini’s death in custody.

Months of unrest following Amini’s death in September 2022 saw hundreds of people killed including dozens of security personnel. Thousands of people were arrested.

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The Revolutionary Court had accused Salehi of “assistance in sedition, assembly and collusion, propaganda against the system and calling for riots,” Raisian said.

The nation’s Supreme Court had reviewed the case and issued a ruling to the lower court to “remove the flaws in the sentence,” Raisian said.

However, the court had “in an unprecedented move, emphasised its independence and did not implement the Supreme Court’s ruling,” according to Raisian.

Raisian said that he and Salehi “will certainly appeal against the sentence.”

“The fact is that the verdict of the court has clear legal conflicts,” the lawyer was quoted as saying. “The contradiction with the ruling of the Supreme Court is considered the most important and at the same time the strangest part of this ruling.”

Nine men have been executed in protest-related cases involving killing and other violence against security forces.

Iranian rapper sentenced to death for supporting anti-hijab protests

International

Large-scale earthquake hits Taiwan

Published

1 day ago

April 24, 2024

Trends Admin

Large-scale earthquake hits Taiwan

A cluster of earthquakes struck the island republic of Taiwan early Tuesday, the strongest having a magnitude of 6.1, U S Geological Survey reported.

There were no reports of casualties in the quakes, although there were further damages to two multi-story buildings that had been evacuated following a magnitude 7.4 quake that hit the island earlier this month, killing 13 people and injuring over 1,000. That earthquake was centred along the coast of the rural and mountainous Hualien County.

It was the strongest earthquake in the past 25 years in Taiwan and was followed by hundreds of aftershocks. The quakes Tuesday’s are considered the latest of those.

According to the USGS, Tuesday’s quake of 6.1 magnitude had its epicentre 28 kilometres (17.5 miles) south of the city of Hualien, at a depth of 10.7 kilometers. The half-dozen other quakes ranged from magnitude 4.5 to magnitude 6, all near Hualien. Taiwan’s own earthquake monitoring centre put the magnitude of the initial quake at 6.3. Such small discrepancies are common between monitoring stations.

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The largest among them were two earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and 6.3 that occurred at 2:26 a.m. and 2:32 a.m. Tuesday, respectively, according to the Taiwan center. Numerous of the scores of aftershocks could be felt on the upper floors of apartment buildings in the capital, Taipei, about 150 kilometres (93 miles) across steep mountains to the northwest.

The Full Hotel in downtown Hualien partially collapsed during the quakes and was left leaning at a severe angle. However, it had been undergoing renovations and was unoccupied at the time. The nearby Tong Shuai Building was also empty, having been marked for demolition after being heavily damaged in the April 3 quake.

Schools and offices in Hualien and the surrounding county were ordered closed on Tuesday as hundreds of aftershocks continued to strike on land and just off the coast in the Pacific Ocean, the vast majority below magnitude 3. Authorities advised anyone whose home had been damaged in the last quake to move out until the aftershocks subsided, and some decided to wait in their cars.

Large-scale earthquake hits Taiwan

International

Stormy flood: Dubai airports return to operations after flights cancellation

Published

3 days ago

April 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Stormy flood: Dubai airports return to operations after flights cancellation

Emirates Airlines, in conjunction with FlyDubai, has resumed its regular flight operations from Dubai International Airport, marking a pivotal moment in the restoration of normalcy following the recent disruptions.

The decision on flight resurgence was finalised on Saturday, April 20, 2024, after the unprecedented rainfall, resulting in significant flooding across the city, inflicted substantial challenges on Dubai International Airport, disrupting flight schedules and causing numerous cancellations and delays.

Emirates Airlines, the largest carrier at the airport, bore the brunt of the impact, with approximately 400 flights cancelled, exerting strain on passengers and airport infrastructure.

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Tim Clark, President of Emirates, acknowledged the gravity of the situation, highlighting the formidable obstacles presented by the adverse weather conditions. The inundation prompted Emirates and FlyDubai to temporarily halt check-in and transit services at Dubai International Airport, leaving thousands of travelers stranded amidst the chaos.

Speaking via a statement in his open letter addressed to passengers, Clark recognized the frustration stemming from congestion, lack of information, and confusion within the terminals.

“Most sincere apologies to every customer who has had their travel plans disrupted.” With the airport struggling to manage the aftermath of the flooding, hundreds of thousands of passengers found themselves stranded, exacerbating the challenges faced by Emirates, the world’s busiest international aviation hub.