Russian attacks kill at least 6 in Ukraine while US peace plan is discussed
Kyiv (AP): Russia launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least six people in strikes that hit city buildings and energy infrastructure, while a Ukrainian attack in southern Russia killed three people and damaged homes, authorities said.
Water, electricity and heat were knocked out in parts of the capital, Kyiv. Video footage posted to Telegram showed a large fire spreading in a nine-story residential building in Kyiv's eastern district of Dniprovskyi.
Mayor Vitalii Kitschko said two people were killed and five were injured in Dniprovskyi and another residential building in the central Pechersk district was badly damaged.
In a subsequent attack wave, four people were killed, and three were injured in a strike on a nonresidential building in Kyiv's western Svyatoshynyi district, according to the head of Kyiv city administration, Tymor Tkachenko.
Ukraine's energy ministry also said energy infrastructure had been hit, without describing the extent of the damage. Ukraine's emergency services said six people, including two children, were injured in a Russian attack on energy and port infrastructure in the Odesa region.
Three people were killed, and eight more were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's southern Rostov region overnight. The casualties occurred in the city of Taganrog, not far from the border in Ukraine, Gov. Yuri Slyusar said in an online statement Tuesday.
The attack damaged private houses and multistory residential blocks, unspecified social facilities, a warehouse and a paint shop, Slyusar said.
Russian air defences destroyed 249 Ukrainian drones overnight above various Russian regions, and the occupied Crimea, the Russian Defence Ministry said Tuesday, noting that 116 of the drones were shot down over the Black Sea.
The attacks followed talks between US and Ukrainian representatives in Geneva on Sunday about a US-Russia brokered peace plan.
Oleksandr Bevz, a delegate from the Ukrainian side, told The Associated Press the talks had been “very constructive”, and the two sides were able to discuss most points.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that it had not seen the updated plan.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll met with Russian officials for several hours in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday after the Trump administration jump-started negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, a US official confirmed to The Associated Press.
Driscoll, who became part of the US negotiating team less than two weeks ago, is now heading up the latest phase of talks involving the terms of a possible peace plan with Russia.
The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, also noted the Ukrainians were aware of the meeting.
The official wouldn't offer details on how long the negotiations were expected to last or what topics were being discussed, but noted all sides have indicated they wanted to reach a deal to halt the fighting as quickly as possible.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Man held for rape, assault of elderly woman in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): A 20-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping and assaulting an 85-year-old woman and abandoning her on the roadside in this district, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place under Venjaramoodu police station limit on Wednesday evening.
Agin, a lottery agent, was apprehended on Friday, they said.
According to police, the elderly woman was taken into a deserted building by the accused, raped, brutally beaten with a stick, causing injuries, and was later abandoned on the roadside.
Locals noticed the woman with severe head and facial injuries and rushed her to a nearby hospital, from where she was shifted to the government medical college later.
Though initially injuries suggested that she was brutally beaten up by someone, a detailed medical examination confirmed the rape.
Based on the statement of the woman and some local vendors in the area, the police identified the accused and nabbed him later.
"As per the statement of his family, he is suspected of having a mental disorder and the habit of committing such assaults following an accident. An investigation is on," a police officer said.
He was remanded to judicial custody by a local court and the woman was discharged from hospital, police added.
