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Belgorod: Thousands evacuated in Russia as Ukraine increases military activity

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Ukraine's President Zelenskiy looks at an F-16 fighting aircraft marking the Day of the Ukrainian Air Forces in an undisclosed location in Ukraine © via REUTERS
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Russia on Monday began evacuating civilians in a second border region as Ukraine continued its surprise offensive inside the country.

Kyiv increased activity near the border just days after its biggest incursion into Russian territory since 2022.

A Russian official said 11,000 people in the Belgorod region have been told they must leave their homes because of military action.

District administration head Andrey Miskov said on social media that residents were moved on buses headed for temporary accommodation.

Around 500 people remain, he said.

The entire region is reportedly under a missile alert amid the threat from Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border last Tuesday, sweeping across some Western parts of Russia’s Kursk region and advancing up to 18 miles.

It is the deepest incursion into Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Apparently caught by surprise, Russia by Sunday had stabilised the front in the Kursk region, though Ukraine had carved out a sliver of territory where battles were continuing on Monday, according to Russian war bloggers.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the incursion into Russian territory was to “restore justice” and pressure Moscow’s forces.

In the neighbouring Belgorod region to the south, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said evacuations had begun from the Krasnaya Yaruga District due to “enemy activity on the border”.

“I am sure that our servicemen will do everything to cope with the threat that has arisen,” Mr Gladkov said.

“We are starting to move people who live in the Krasnaya Yaruga district to safer places.”

Vladimir Putin’s army has imposed a tight security regime in the Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions.

Its ally Belarus said it was bolstering its troop numbers at its border after Minsk said Ukraine had violated its airspace with drones.

Russian officials claim Ukraine’s attacks on Russian sovereign territory are aimed at showing its Western supporters that Kyiv can still muster major military operations while trying to gain a bargaining chip ahead of possible ceasefire talks.

Five Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Belgorod overnight, 11 over Kursk and two over Voronezh, according to Russia’s defence ministry, which said it was repelling Ukrainian attacks inside Russia.

It listed considerable heavy weaponry including tanks which it said it had destroyed.

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“Na my money I take build this place. Ogun kee you” – Singer Portable angrily slaps a clergyman for preaching at his bar.

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Singer Portable
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A  controversial incident has occurred involving Nigerian singer Portable.

According Ekwutosblog, Portable became enraged when a clergyman began preaching at his bar, and in a shocking move, he slapped the clergyman.

Portable was quoted as saying, “Na my money I take build this place. Ogun kee you” which translates to “I built this place with my own money. May Ogun (a Yoruba god) kill you.”

This incident has likely sparked debate and raised questions about the limits of free speech, religious proselytizing, and the rights of business owners. It’s essential to consider the context and the perspectives of all parties involved to understand the situation fully.

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Ukraine attacks Russia with 144 drones, killing one and closing airports

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A view shows a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov © Thomson Reuters
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MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Tuesday struck Moscow and western Russia in one of its biggest ever drone attacks, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing the closure of major airports in the capital, Russian officials said.

A view shows a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

 

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine on Tuesday struck Moscow and western Russia in one of its biggest ever drone attacks, killing at least one woman, wrecking dozens of homes and forcing the closure of major airports in the capital, Russian officials said.

A law enforcement officer stands guard near a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

 

Ukraine launched swarms of attack drones over the world’s biggest nuclear power. Russia said it destroyed at least 20 over the Moscow region, which has a population of over 21 million, and 124 more over eight other regions.

A view shows a damaged multi-storey residential building following an alleged Ukrainian drone attack in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Ramenskoye in the Moscow region, Russia September 10, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
© Thomson Reuters

 

Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for air traffic following the attacks, Russia’s aviation authority Rosaviatsia said. A major road leading to the capital was partially closed.

The drone attacks damaged at least two high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, Moscow’s governor Andrei Vorobyov said.

A 46-year-old woman died and three people were injured in Ramenskoye, Vorobyov said. He added that 43 people were evacuated to temporary accommodation centres.

Social media videos showed flames bursting out of windows of a multi-storey residential building, saying that dozens of flats were damaged in the Ramenskoye district.

“I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire,” Alexander Li, a resident of the district told Reuters. “The window got blown out by the shockwave.”

The Ramenskoye district, some 50 kms (31 miles) southeast from the Kremlin, has a population of around quarter a million of people, according to official data.

More than 70 drones were also downed over Russia’s Bryansk region and tens more over other regions, Russia’s defence ministry said. There was no damage or casualties reported there.

As Russia advances in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has been trying to take the war to Russia with a bold attack on Russia’s western Kursk region on Aug. 6 and increasingly large drone attacks deep into Russian territory.

Russia says the attacks are akin to “terrorism” as they target civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine says it has a right to strike deep into Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, though Kyiv’s Western backers have repeatedly said they do not want the war to escalate into a direct confrontation between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine about Tuesday’s attacks. Both sides deny targeting civilians yet civilians have died in attacks from both sides.

Ukraine’s domestic drone industry has been growing rapidly and Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure. Russia is the world’s second largest oil exporter.

Tuesday’s attack follows a deluge of drones Ukraine launched in early September targeting chiefly Russia’s energy and power facilities.

Authorities of the Tula region, which neighbours the Moscow region to its north, told Russian state news agency that a drone wreckage fell onto a fuel and energy facility, but that “technological process” of the facility was not affected.

(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)

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Ondo NULGE chairman, Oluwatuyi Olasoji, dies after collapsing at a filling station while trying to buy fuel.

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Oluwatuyi Olasoji
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Oluwatuyi Olasoji, the chairman of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Akure South local government of Ondo State, has sadly passed away.

Ekwutosblog reports that he  collapsed while waiting in line to buy fuel at a filling station in Akure, Ondo State, due to the ongoing fuel scarcity crisis in Nigeria.

Despite undergoing surgery at the Federal Medical Center in Owo, he unfortunately passed away on Monday, September 9.

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