Russian attack kills 3 in Odesa while Ukraine targets Russian oil infrastructure, officials say
Kyiv (AP): A Russian drone attack on Ukraine's southern port city of Odesa killed two women and a toddler, authorities said Monday, while Ukrainian long-range drones targeted Russia's key Black Sea port for oil exports.
The nighttime attack on Odesa heavily damaged an apartment block, killing the women and a 2-year-old child, officials said. Rescuers working under floodlights pulled four people from the rubble.
Eleven people were hospitalised, including a pregnant woman and two children — the youngest less than a year old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
Russia has pounded civilian areas of Ukraine since it invaded its neighbour just over four years ago, killing more than 15,000 people, according to the United Nations.
It has also taken aim at Ukraine's power grid, and the Russian overnight barrages also hit energy infrastructure in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, Zelenskyy said.
More than 300,000 households were without electricity in the northern Chernihiv region after distribution facilities were damaged in attacks, according to the regional power utility.
Over the past week, Russia has launched at Ukraine more than 2,800 attack drones, nearly 1,350 powerful glide bombs and more than 40 missiles of various types, according to Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy expressed concern in a weekend interview with The Associated Press that the war with Iran is draining stockpiles of weapons that Ukraine needs to defend itself, especially American-made Patriot air defence systems that can stop missiles.
Zelenskyy said Monday that the country's partners “need to strengthen air defence together so that the interception rate of drones and missiles continues to increase.”
With U.S.-led peace efforts stalled, Zelenskyy added: “Russia has no intention of stopping” its invasion.
Ukraine has fought back by developing its own long-range drones, which now reach targets some 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) inside Russia.
Ukraine has used them recently to hammer Russian oil facilities as Moscow looks to boost its exports after the Trump administration gave it a temporary waiver from sanctions to ease supply constraints. Kyiv officials complain that Russia will use the additional revenue on new weapons to hit Ukraine harder.
Russia's Defence Ministry said that air defences downed 50 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Krasnodar Gov. Veniamin Kondratyev said that eight people, including two children, were injured in a series of Ukrainian drone attacks on Novorossiisk, one of Russia's largest Black Sea ports. The attack damaged six apartment buildings and two private houses, he said.
Unconfirmed media reports said the drones targeted the Sheskharis oil terminal at the Black Sea port.
Last week, Ukraine's drones struck oil facilities in the Gulf of Finland, in northwest Russia.
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Web designer selling Diljit Dosanjh's concert tickets on fake Zomato website arrested
Gurugram (PTI): Gurugram police have arrested a web designer, accused of selling tickets for Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh's concert on a fake Zomato website in a 2024 case, police said on Wednesday.
Police said they arrested the two accused in the case, Nitin and Vishnu, earlier and have since been searching for the designer who was on the run.
According to police, Zomato filed a complaint on September 17, 2024, with the Cyber Police Station South, alleging that fraudsters created a fake website and Instagram page resembling Zomato's and were illegally selling tickets to Diljit's concert.
Zomato was the official ticketing partner for the concert.
The company said the fraud resulted in losses for both the company and fans.
Police arrested the third accused on Tuesday, identified as Priyanshu Kushwah (22), a resident of Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. He completed his BCA from Ghaziabad in 2024 and was currently working as a freelance website designer in Dehradun, police said.
"During interrogation, the accused confessed that he created the fake website at the behest of his friend Nitin, for which he received only Rs 5,000. We are questioning the accused," said the Gurugram police spokesperson. COR
