Explosions in Ukraine capital, other cities as Russia targets military infrastructure

News Network
February 24, 2022

ukrain.jpg

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia is attacking his country's "military infrastructure" and border guards, but urged citizens not to panic and vowed victory.

In a video message posted on Facebook on Thursday, Zelenskyy also introduced martial law across the country, adding that he had spoken by phone with US President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry confirmed it was targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure with precision weapons.

"Military infrastructure, air defence facilities, military airfields, and aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being disabled with high-precision weapons," it said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Ukraine will defend itself and will win: Minister

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia's Vladimir Putin of launching a "full-scale invasion".

"Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes," Kuleba tweeted on Thursday.

"This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now."

Weeks of diplomacy and the imposition of Western sanctions failed to deter Putin, who had massed between 150,000 and 200,000 troops along the borders.

"I have made the decision of a military operation," Putin said in a surprise television announcement that sent global tensions soaring.

Explosions heard in Ukraine capital, other cities

Explosions rang out before dawn on Thursday in Ukraine's capital Kiev and several cities near the frontline and along the country's coasts.

There were blasts in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, close to the frontline of a Russian-backed rebel enclave and just across the sea from Russian-occupied Crimea.

Explosions also rang out in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which lies 35 kilometres (20 miles) south of the Russian border and outside the eastern zone where Kiev.

Closer to the eastern war zone, four loud blasts were heard in Kramatorsk, which serves as the Ukrainian government's effective capital for the eastern war zone. 

More blasts rang out in Mariupol, a port on the Sea of Azov which provide a land bridge between Russia and the Kremlin-annexed Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine closes airspace to civilian flights, cites "high risk"

Ukraine said early on Thursday it had closed its airspace to civilian flights because of a "high risk" to safety, hours after a conflict zone monitor warned airlines should stop overflights over the risk of an unintended shootdown or cyber attack.

"The provision of air traffic services to civilian users of the airspace of Ukraine is suspended," Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise said on its website.

"We will additionally inform about changes in the use of Ukraine's airspace," the agency added, without providing further details.

Eurocontrol, which coordinates air traffic in Europe, said that Ukraine's airspace was not available because of military restrictions.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 18,2024

Advisors to US President-elect Donald Trump have instructed his allies and associates to refrain from using the inflammatory language they previously employed when discussing issues related to migrants and the deportation of asylum seekers, in a bid to avoid “looking like Nazis.”

US media reports said that Trump’s associates had been asked to stop using the word “camps” to describe potential facilities that would be used to accommodate migrants rounded up in deportation operations across the country.

The reports said the US president-elect’s allies had been ordered to stave off such charged terms as they would bring to mind “Nazis,” and be used against Trump.

“I have received some guidance to avoid terms, like ‘camps,’ that can be twisted and used against the president, yes,” one Trump ally told American monthly magazine Rolling Stone.

“Apparently, some people think it makes us look like Nazis.”

The presidential advisers also cautioned surrogates and allies to keep racist terms, which have dogged Trump’s campaign, out of their remarks.

They said with Trump’s heated rhetoric that used to compare undocumented immigrants to “animals” and his slight that they are “poisoning the blood of our country,” detractors did not need to reach too far to find parallels to Nazi Germany.

Stephen Miller, who Trump tapped to be his deputy chief of staff of policy, specifically used the word “camps” to describe holding facilities that he hoped the military could put together for immigrants.

Tom Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is chosen by Trump to be in charge of the US borders, was no stranger to such language.

“It’s not gonna be a mass sweep of neighborhoods,” he said in an interview earlier this week. “It’s not gonna be building concentration camps. I’ve read it all. It’s ridiculous.”

Becoming a little more forthright about the new government’s aggressive deportation plans, Homan likened the early days of the Trump administration to the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I got three words for them – shock and awe,” he said. “You’re going to see us take this country back.”

Trump made immigration a central element of his 2024 presidential campaign but unlike his first run, which was mainly focused on building a border wall, he has shifted his attention to interior enforcement and the removal of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

People close to the US president and his aides are laying the groundwork for expanding detention facilities to fulfill his mass deportation campaign promise.

The businessman-turned-politician deported more than 1.5 million people during his first term.

The figure do not include the millions of people turned away at the border under a Covid-era policy enacted by Trump and used during most of Biden’s term.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 18,2024

resort.jpg

Mangaluru: The Ullal police have arrested Manohar, the owner of Vazco Beach Resort, and its manager Bharath in connection with the drowning of three college girls from Mysuru at the resort’s swimming pool on November 17.

City Commissioner of Police Anupam Agrawal confirmed the arrests, stating that a case has been registered under Section 106 of BNS. The bodies of the victims, all in their twenties, have been handed over to their parents. The women had arrived at the resort for a weekend getaway on November 16.

Following the tragic incident, the resort was sealed by officials led by Mangaluru Assistant Commissioner Harshavardhan. The trade license of the resort, issued on June 13, 2024, has been suspended, and the tourism department has temporarily revoked the resort's registration. These actions prohibit the resort from engaging in any tourism-related activities until further notice.

Someshwara TMC Chief Officer stated that the suspension was due to the resort's failure to implement adequate safety measures, which resulted in the loss of three lives. Further investigations are underway.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.