MOSCOW: Russia on Monday said its forces now fully controlled the town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine, which President Vladimir Putin hailed as a “success” that would mean less shelling on the nearby Russian-held city of Donetsk.
“Our assault units have today completely liberated the settlement of Maryinka,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin in a meeting shown on state television.
Piles of rubble and gutted apartment buildings over a wide area could be seen in drone images shown on Russian television that were said to be of Maryinka.
“I want to congratulate you,” Putin told Shoigu.
“This is a success” which gives Russian troops “the opportunity to move into a wider operational area.”
Shoigu said the control of Maryinka would enable his soldiers to “move further in this direction” and “make it possible to protect Donetsk more effectively from strikes” from Ukrainian forces.
But Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman for Ukraine’s army, said it was “incorrect” to claim that Maryinka was fully controlled by Russian forces.
“The fighting for Maryinka continues,” he said, adding that there were still Ukrainian soldiers within the borders of the district of Maryinka.
“The town is completely destroyed,” he said.
The claims could not be independently verified.
A counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces which started in June along the front line in the south and east of the country has largely petered out, with few successes.
Russian forces have increased pressure in recent weeks.
Russia says seized town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine
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Russia says seized town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine
- “Our assault units have today completely liberated the settlement of Maryinka,” Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin in a meeting shown on state television
School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and 25 on board are feared dead, government officials say
BANGKOK: A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday with 25 of those on board feared dead, according to officials and rescuers.
The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province to Ayutthaya for a school trip when the fire started around noon in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of the capital, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the number of fatalities as they have not finished investigating the scene, but based on the number of survivors, he said 25 people are feared dead. He also said the bus was still too hot for them to get inside safely.
Bodes were still inside the bus hours after the fire.
Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus being engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it was parked on the road.
The age and other details about the students were not yet known.
A rescuer at the scene told Suriya that the fire likely started after one of the tires exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier.
Rescue group Hongsakul Khlong Luang 21 posted on its Facebook page that they found at least 10 bodies on the bus.
Taiwan warns of storm surge from powerful Typhoon Krathon, mobilizes troops
- As the typhoon approached, helicopters lifted to safety 13 of 19 sailors forced to abandon ship when it took on water
- Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: Taiwan mobilized nearly 40,000 troops on Tuesday to be on standby for rescue efforts as powerful Typhoon Krathon approached its populous southwest coast, which is bracing for a storm surge.
As the typhoon approached, helicopters lifted to safety 13 of 19 sailors forced to abandon ship when it took on water.
Some flights were canceled, a rail line was closed and in the major port city of Kaohsiung, shops and restaurants shut and streets were mostly deserted.
Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific, but this one will make landfall on the island’s flat western plain.
Krathon is forecast to hit Kaohsiung early on Wednesday afternoon, then work its way across the center of Taiwan heading northeast and cross out into the East China Sea, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
Kaohsiung, home to some 2.7 million people, declared a holiday and told people to stay at home as Krathon — labelled a super typhoon by the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center — approached.
Li Meng-hsiang, a forecaster for Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, said the storm has reached its maximum intensity and could weaken slightly as it moves closer to Taiwan, warning of gusts of more than 150 kph (93 mph) for the southwest.
“The storm surge might bring tides inland,” Li said. “If it’s raining heavily it will make it difficult to discharge waters and as a result coastal areas will be subject to flooding.”
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, speaking to reporters after a disaster management meeting, said the strength and path of the storm were both on par with 1977’s Typhoon Thelma which killed 37 people and devastated the city.
“After the typhoon, the whole of Kaohsiung was without water and electricity, just like a war,” Chen said, recalling the decades-ago destruction. “As much as possible, limit going out.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had put more than 38,000 troops on standby, as Kaohsiung residents made their own preparations.
“It’s going to strike us directly. We must be fully prepared,” said fisherman Chen Ming-huang, as he tightened ropes on his boat in Kaohsiung harbor. “In the worst-case scenario the ropes might snap and my boat could drift away.”
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia and which has a large factory in neighboring Tainan, said it had activated routine typhoon preparations and did not expect a significant impact to its operations.
SEARCH FOR SAILORS
Off the southeast coast, Taiwan rescue helicopters lifted to safety 13 out of 19 sailors from a listing cargo vessel traveling from China to Singapore, with efforts continuing to get to the remaining six, the government said.
The transport ministry said 88 domestic flights and 24 international ones had been canceled, with boats to outlying islands also stopped. It added that all domestic flights — 234 in total — would stop on Wednesday.
The rail line connecting southern to eastern Taiwan was closed, though the north-south high speed line was operating as normal, albeit with enhanced safety checks for wind and debris.
In Kaohsiung, most shops and restaurants pulled down their shutters, and traditional wet markets shut with streets mostly deserted.
At a building in Siaogang district, home to the city’s airport, residents practiced how to rapidly set up metal barriers to stop water flooding into the underground parking lot.
“We will have only a few minutes to react if the flooding is coming,” said Chiu Yun-ping, deputy head of the building’s residents’ committee.
Chen Mei-ling, who lives near the harbor, said in past typhoons high tides reached just a few meters (yards) from her house’s main door and she had made preparations.
“We’ve got torches and emergency food supplies,” Chen said. “It’s a strong typhoon and we are worried.”
South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers
- South Korea’s weapons displays and warning come after its northern rival recently disclosed a new uranium-enrichment facility
SEOUL: South Korea unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons targeting North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony Tuesday, as the South’s president warned the North’s regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons.
South Korea’s weapons displays and warning against North Korea came after its northern rival recently rose regional animosities by disclosing its uranium-enrichment facility and tested missiles ahead of the US presidential election in November.
“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the (South Korea)-US alliance,” President Yoon Suk Yeol told thousands of troops gathered at a military airport near Seoul. “That day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
“The North Korean regime must abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them,” Yoon said.
During the ceremony, the South Korean military displayed about 340 military equipment and weapons systems. Among them was its most powerful Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, which observers say is capable of carrying an 8-ton conventional warhead that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers in North Korea. It was the first time for South Korea to disclose that missile.
The US flew a long-range B-1B bomber during the ceremony in an apparent demonstration of its security commitment to its Asian ally. South Korea also flew some of its most advanced fighter jets.
Later Tuesday, South Korea will parade its troops and weapons through the streets of Seoul, the capital, as part of efforts to boost military morale and demonstrate its deterrence capabilities against potential North Korean aggressions.
Also Tuesday, South Korea launched its strategic command that officials say integrates South Korea’s conventional capabilities with US nuclear weapons. South Korea has no nuclear weapons.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has put a stronger military alliance with the US and an improved trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation at the center of his security polices to cope with North Korea’s advancing nuclear program. In recent years, North Korea has performed a provocative of missile tests and threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States.
Last month, concerns about North Korea’s bomb program further grew after it published photos of a secretive facility to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. It was North Korea’s first unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars in 2010.
South Korean officials say North Korea will likely try to further dial up tensions with provocative weapons tests ahead of the US election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with a new US government. Experts say North Korea likely thinks an expanded nuclear arsenal would help it win bigger US concessions like extensive sanctions relief.
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, slammed the US for its temporary deployments of powerful military assets to South Korea and vowed strong responses. He cited the recent visit of a US nuclear-powered submarine and Tuesday’s B-1B flyover.
Kim threatened to bolster North Korea’s “powerful war deterrent,” an apparent reference to its nuclear capability, and take unspecified steps to stoke security concerns to the security of the US mainland. Observers say his comments implies North Korea may consider test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.
Indian Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls
- More than 55 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the first two rounds of the poll
- Unemployment and anger at 2019 changes to status of Kashmir have animated campaigning
Srinagar, India: Indian-administered Kashmir was voting Tuesday in the third and final round of polls to elect its first government since the insurgency-wracked territory was brought under New Delhi’s direct control.
Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government canceled Kashmir’s partial autonomy in 2019, a sudden decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communication blackout.
Since then the territory — which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in full — has not had an elected government, and has been ruled instead by a federally appointed governor.
More than half a million Indian troops are stationed around Kashmir and Tuesday’s vote saw a heavy security presence, with rifle-toting soldiers seen guarding polling stations in Baramulla district.
A high unemployment rate and anger at the 2019 changes have animated campaigning, and local parties have promised to fight for the restoration of Kashmir’s autonomy.
More than 55 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the first two rounds of the poll.
Prior elections saw lower turnouts after boycotts called by separatist groups, who have waged a decades-long insurgency demanding Kashmir’s independence or its merger with neighboring Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed since the conflict began in 1989, including dozens this year.
Islamabad controls a smaller portion of the mountainous territory, divided since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) says the 2019 changes to the territory’s governance have delivered a new era of peace to Kashmir and rapid economic growth.
That is disputed by homegrown political parties in Kashmir, who say the accompanying security clampdown brought a drastic curtailment of civil liberties.
The territory, officially titled Jammu and Kashmir, is split.
One part is the overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmir Valley. Another is Hindu-majority Jammu district in the south, geographically divided from the rest of Kashmir by mountains.
While the BJP has fielded candidates in all the constituencies of Jammu, it is contesting only about a third of the seats elsewhere.
Regardless of the outcome, key decisions about Kashmir’s governance will remain in the hands of Delhi, where Modi’s government can use its parliamentary majority to override any legislation passed by the 90-seat assembly.
Results will be announced on October 8.
Ukraine downs 29 Russian drones in overnight attack
KYIV: Ukraine's military shot down 29 out of 32 drones launched by Russia during an overnight attack, Kyiv's air force said on Tuesday.
It added that the Iranian-made drones were downed over parts of central, southern and northeastern Ukraine.
