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.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
