Trump says that Ukraine didn't target Putin residence in drone strike as Kremlin claims
Aboard Air Force One (AP): President Donald Trump on Sunday told reporters that US officials have determined that Ukraine did not target a residence belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a drone attack last week, disputing Kremlin claims that Trump had initially greeted with deep concern.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov last week said Ukraine launched a wave of drones at Putin's state residence in the northwestern Novgorod region that the Russian defence systems were able to defeat. Lavrov also criticised Kyiv for launching the attack at a moment of intensive negotiations to end the war.
The allegation came just a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had travelled to Florida for talks with Trump on the US administration's still-evolving 20-point plan aimed at ending the war. Zelenskyy quickly denied the Kremlin's allegation.
Trump said that “something happened nearby” Putin's residence, but that American officials didn't find that the Russian president's residence was targeted.
“I don't believe that strike happened," Trump told reporters as he travelled back to Washington on Sunday after spending two weeks at his home in Florida. “We don't believe that happened, now that we've been able to check.”
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Trump addressed the US determination after European officials argued that the Russian claim was nothing more than an effort by Moscow to undermine the peace effort.
But Trump, at least initially, had appeared to take the Russian allegations at face value. He told reporters last Monday that Putin had also raised the matter during a phone call he had with the Russian leader earlier that day. And Trump said he was “very angry” about the accusation.
By Wednesday, Trump appeared to be downplaying the Russian claim. He posted a link to a New York Post editorial on his social media platform that raised doubt about the Russian allegation. The editorial lambasted Putin for choosing "lies, hatred, and death” at a moment that Trump has claimed is “closer than ever before” to moving the two sides to a deal to end the war.
The US president has struggled to fulfil a pledge to quickly end the war in Ukraine and has shown irritation with both Zelenskyy and Putin as he tried to mediate an end to a conflict he boasted on the campaign trail that he could end in one day.
Both Trump and Zelenskyy said last week they made progress in their talks at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
But Putin has shown little interest in ending the war until all of Russia's objectives are met, including winning control of all Ukrainian territory in the key industrial Donbas region and imposing severe restrictions on the size of Ukraine's post-war military and the type of weaponry it can possess.
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Mangaluru: Two arrested for collecting bank accounts for cyber fraud
Mangaluru: Mangaluru City police have arrested two persons for allegedly collecting bank accounts from the public and using them for cyber fraud.
The accused have been identified as Mohammed Aneesh (30) from Kasaba Bengre, Kuloor Post, and Saleeth Ahmed M (32) from Surathkal.
According to the Cyber Command Unit, a complainant Mohammed Sinan approached Mangaluru City Cyber Crime police station on Wednesday and alleged that the accused had taken his bank account under the pretext of using it for a trading business. However, the account was later used for cyber fraud.
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Based on this complaint, a case was registered under section 66(C) and 66(D) of the IT Act and under section 308 (5), 318(4), 319 (2), 3 (5) of BNS. During the investigation, technical evidence was collected and analysed.
According to police, the accused revealed that they purchased USDT from Indians at a lower price, and sold it at a higher price to scammers in China. The Chinese scammers allegedly transferred money obtained through cyber fraud committed against Indians into the bank accounts provided by the accused.
To facilitate these transactions, the accused collected bank accounts from general public in Mangaluru. The police seized four mobile phones, 18 debit cards, 17 bank passbooks, six cheque books, USDT 1,479.31 and a car from the accused.
It was also found that the accused had full knowledge of the cyber fraud. Whenever complaints were registered against the bank accounts used for cyber fraud, and the accounts were frozen, they allegedly collected new bank accounts and continued the fraudulent activities.
Further interrogation revealed that the accused had collected more than 70 bank account details from people in Mangaluru city and used them for cyber fraud. Out of these, 37 bank accounts were already reported on NCRP portal, with more than 88 complaints registered across the country.
Further investigation is underway.
