Russian military says it knocked out Ukraine air defences
Moscow(AP): The Russian military says it has knocked out Ukraine's air defence assets and airbases.
The Russian Defence Ministry said the Russian strikes have suppressed air defence means of the Ukrainian military, adding that the infrastructure of Ukraine's military bases has been incapacitated. It denied the claims that a Russian warplane was shot down over Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, reported that it has shot down five Russian aircraft while fending off the Russian attack on the country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he unleashed an attack on Ukraine in a televised address early Thursday, drawing international condemnation.
Beijing: China is advising its people in Ukraine to stay home because of ongoing military actions and chaos but made no mention of Russian forces.
The notice issued on its Kyiv embassy's social media account Thursday said: Social order is chaotic and out of control, especially in the cities where at times of serious unrest."
It said a person walking on the streets could be a target of attack and traffic could be stopped at any time. It added that people should remain calm and contact local authorities if they come into danger.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the military operation in eastern Ukraine early Thursday.
China has denounced sanctions against Russia, with which it has increasingly aligned its foreign policy to challenge the West, and blamed the US and its allies for provoking Moscow.
Brussels: The top European Union chiefs said the invasion of Ukraine will impose massive and severe consequences on Russia and that more sanction will be in the offing.
The 27-nation bloc already issued sanctions on Russia for its recognition of breakaway republics in Ukraine earlier this week, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell will outline a further sanctions package .
The 27 EU leaders will discuss them later Thursday at a summit meeting and they could be imposed soon after.
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A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia's Java Island, felt in Jakarta
Jakarta, Apr 27: A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia's main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck 102 kilometers (63 miles) south of Banjar city at a depth of 68.3 kilometers (42.4 miles). There was no tsunami warning.
High-rises in the capital Jakarta swayed for around a minute and two-story homes shook strongly in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung and in Jakarta's satellite cities of Depok, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi. The quake was also felt in other cities in West Java, Yogyakarta and East Java province, according to Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency.
The agency warned of possible aftershocks.
Earthquakes are frequent across the sprawling archipelago nation, but they are rarely felt in Jakarta.
Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in 2022 killed at least 602 people in West Java's Cianjur city. It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4,300 people.
In 2004, an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia's Aceh province.
