Ukraine drone attack kills one in Russia as Kyiv claims refinery hit

Ukraine drone attack kills one in Russia as Kyiv claims refinery hit
Servicemen rest in a dugout, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Oleg Petrasiuk/Ukraine's 24th Mechanised Brigade via AP)
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Ukraine drone attack kills one in Russia as Kyiv claims refinery hit

Ukraine drone attack kills one in Russia as Kyiv claims refinery hit
  • Ukraine has stepped up its drone attacks deep behind the front lines, targeting Russia’s energy sector, but fatal strikes so far from the border are still relatively rare

MOSCOW: A massive drone attack on Russia’s southern city of Volgograd killed one person and caused a fire in an industrial area, a local official said Thursday, as Ukraine claimed to have struck a nearby refinery.
The attack hit a 24-story apartment block, damaging balconies and shattering windows of nearby houses, Volgograd governor Andrey Bocharov said on Telegram,
“A 48-year-old civilian man was killed by shrapnel from the attack,” he said.
“Falling debris caused a fire in an industrial area in the Krasnoarmeysky district,” he said, adding that the blaze had since been extinguished.
Volgograd, more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the fighting in eastern Ukraine, is an industrial hub home to gas and petroleum refining plants.
Ukraine has stepped up its drone attacks deep behind the front lines, targeting Russia’s energy sector, but fatal strikes so far from the border are still relatively rare.
Unverified images circulating on social media showed a large fire at an oil refinery in the region and an apartment block with charred black marks on the outside and smashed glass strewn across a parking lot.
Ukraine said it had successfully hit the oil facility.
“Explosions and a fire were recorded in the target area,” the Ukrainian General Staff said on Telegram.
Kyiv’s security chief said recently that Ukraine had carried out nearly 160 successful strikes on Russian oil facilities so far this year.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had downed 75 Ukrainian drones, the majority over the Volgograd region.
Moscow, whose forces launched a full-scale offensive on Ukraine in 2022, has also escalated aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and its rail network, triggering warnings the country could face a winter of power blackouts and disruption to heating supplies.
Russia fired 135 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday.
Eight people were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region when a drone hit a residential building, he said.
“The targets are our critical infrastructure — everything that supports ordinary civilian life,” Zelensky said, urging Western allies to slap more sanctions on Russia.


Shooting at start of Bangladesh election campaign kills one

Updated 4 sec ago

Shooting at start of Bangladesh election campaign kills one

Shooting at start of Bangladesh election campaign kills one
DHAKA: Gunmen on motorbikes attacked a Bangladesh political rally, killing one person and wounding two others, including a candidate, officials said on Thursday, after parties began campaigning for landmark elections.
Major parties opened their campaigns on Wednesday for the elections slated for February 2026, the first since a deadly uprising last year toppled the autocratic government of former ruler Sheikh Hasina.
Campaigning turned violent almost immediately.
The shooting took place at a rally on Wednesday for the powerful Bangladesh National Party (BNP) attended by hundreds in the port city of Chattogram on Wednesday, police said.
Senior BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said “it was an attempt to destabilize politics and disrupt the election.”
The BNP are widely seen as the frontrunner in the polls.
Police said the gunmen opened fire quickly on a crowd of hundreds at the rally but insisted that the BNP candidate was not the target.
“The miscreants... shot their target, and fled in a flash,” senior police officer Hasib Aziz told reporters late on Wednesday.
Candidate Ershad Ullah was shot and wounded, along with a supporter. A third man was killed.
“We would urge candidates to inform the police station at least 24 hours prior to any election campaign, so that more police can be deployed,” Aziz said.
The South Asian nation of about 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Hasina was overthrown by a student-led uprising in August 2024.
Campaigning is technically unofficial because the election commission is not expected to announce the voting day until December.
Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner serving as chief adviser, has repeatedly promised the elections will be held in February.
Yunus has ordered an investigation into the shooting, his media team said in a statement.
The interim government “calls on all political actors and their supporters to uphold calm, show restraint, and ensure that the February general election takes place in an atmosphere of peace, dignity, and fairness,” it said on Thursday.
Bangladesh police offered cash rewards on Wednesday for the surrender of more than 1,300 machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during last year’s uprising.