Month: August 2024

Tourist helicopter carrying 22 goes missing in Russia’s Kamchatka

Moscow, Russia — A helicopter with 22 people aboard, most of them tourists, has gone missing in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula in the far east, regional authorities said Saturday. “Today at about 1615 (0415 GMT) communication was lost with a Mi-8 helicopter … which had 22 people on board, 19 passengers and three crew members,” Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on Telegram. Rescue teams in helicopters have been searching into the night for the missing aircraft, focusing on a river valley that the helicopter was due to fly along, Russian authorities said. The Mi-8 is a Soviet-designed military …

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Ukrainian air defense downs 24 Russian drones, Kyiv says

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian air defenses shot down 24 out of 52 drones launched by Russia during overnight attacks on eight regions across Ukraine, the air force said Saturday. It said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app that 25 Shahed drones had fallen on their own and three others had flown toward Russia and Belarus. There were no reports of anybody being hurt in the attacks or of any major damage being caused. Ukraine uses electronic warfare as well as mobile hunting groups and aircraft defenses to repel frequent Russian drone and missile strikes. Air alerts sounded several times …

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‘Renaissance of illegals’: Since its war in Ukraine, Russia is relying more on bargain basement spies

Madrid/Washington — They are known as “illegals” — spies who operate under the guise of normal jobs. Since Russia lost many of its valuable spy assets when dozens of diplomats were expelled from Western countries after the invasion of Ukraine, these civilian agents have become essential. Experts in Russian intelligence told VOA that this was the “renaissance of illegals,” with 90% of operations now carried out by these shadowy figures. The August 1 hostage swap, in which American journalists and Russian rights activists were exchanged for an assassin and spies, exposed how some of these “illegals” operate. Many manage to avoid …

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With men at front lines, women watch Ukraine’s night sky for Russian drones

KYIV, Ukraine — When the air raid siren bellows in the dead of night, the women in arms rush to duty. Barely two months since joining the mobile air-defense unit, 27-year-old Angelina has perfected the drill to a tee: Combat gear fitted, anti-aircraft machine gun in place, she cruised behind the wheel of a pickup, singing along to a Ukrainian song about rebellion. The rest unfolded in seconds: Under a tree-lined position near Kyiv’s Bucha suburb, she and her five-woman unit mounted the gun, checked the salvo and waited. The chirp of crickets filled the silence until the Russian-launched Shahed drone …

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Війська РФ напередодні були активні на кількох напрямках, найгарячішим залишається Покровський – Генштаб

Штаб повідомляє про сім боєзіткнень на Харківському напрямку та 32 на Куп’янському. На Лиманському напрямку російські війська атакували 22 рази …

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Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate, says NATO’s Stoltenberg

BERLIN — Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region is legitimate and covered by Kyiv’s right to self-defense, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told German weekly Welt am Sonntag in his first reaction to the advance into Russian territory. “Ukraine has a right to defend itself. And according to international law, this right does not stop at the border,” Stoltenberg told the paper, adding that NATO had not been informed about Ukraine’s plans beforehand and did not play a role in them. The NATO chief said Ukraine was running a risk with the advance onto Russian territory but that it was up to …

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Germany repatriates first group of Afghan refugees since Taliban takeover

islamabad — A group of 28 asylum-seekers were repatriated to Afghanistan from Germany on Friday after being deported for criminal convictions. The deportees, on board a chartered flight, arrived in the capital of Kabul, where Taliban authorities promptly detained them for investigation and blocked journalists’ access to the airport, according to witnesses. The Taliban did not immediately issue a statement regarding the fate of the Afghan returnees or whether the repatriation resulted from mutual understanding between Kabul and Berlin. Earlier, a German government spokesperson said in a statement on its website that the Afghan nationals had been “convicted for criminal offenses,” …

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Від початку доби на фронті відбулося 179 бойових зіткнень – Генштаб ЗСУ

Найнапруженішим напрямком був Покровський, 30 боїв було на Куп’янському напрямку (з них чотири ще тривають), 23 – на Курахівському (один бій ще триває), 22 – на Лиманському (один бій триває), вказано у зведенні Генштабу ЗСУ …

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