Ukraine strikes a Russian oil hub as Zelenskyy says the war is in 'a very important phase'

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Ukraine strikes a Russian oil hub as Zelenskyy says the war is in 'a very important phase'

2024-10-07 21:16 Last Updated At：21:20

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s military said it struck a major oil terminal Monday in Crimea that provides fuel for Russia’s war effort as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the war has entered a key phase.

Both sides are facing the issue of how to sustain their costly war of attrition — a conflict that started with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that shows no signs of a resolution.

Ukraine’s General Staff said on social media that the oil terminal in Feodosia, on the south coast of the Russia-occupied Crimea Peninsula, has been supplying the Russian army with fuel and that the strike was part of an ongoing effort to “undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation.”

Russian-installed authorities in the city of Feodosia on the coast of the Black Sea reported a fire at the terminal on Monday morning but did not say what might have caused it.

Ukraine has increasingly targeted rear areas that are essential for Russia’s onslaught, now deep into its third year. It has developed long-range drones that have hit oil depots and refineries as well as armories.

Ukraine's aim is to impair Russia’s ability to support its front-line units, especially in the eastern Donetsk region where the main Russian battlefield effort is stretching weary Ukrainian forces.

Kyiv is still awaiting word from its Western partners on its repeated requests to use the long-range weapons they provide to hit targets on Russian soil.

Developments on that question could come next weekend at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, when defense leaders from the 50-plus partner nations that coordinate military aid to Ukraine are due to meet.

The conflict has largely been a war of attrition, which requires large amounts of ammunition. Late on Sunday, Zelenskyy said the war is in “a very important phase” as the Ukrainian army works hard to hold the bigger Russian forces at bay in the east while also holding ground in Russia’s Kursk border region, which it captured two months ago.

Ukraine needs to “put pressure on Russia in the way that’s necessary for Russia to realize that the war will gain them nothing," Zelenskyy said in a video statement.

“We will continue to apply even greater pressure on Russia — because only through strength can we bring peace closer,” he added.

Meanwhile, Russia fired six missiles of various types and 74 Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.

Missile debris fell in three districts of Kyiv, causing minor damage to civilian infrastructure and starting a fire, Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said. He said nobody was hurt. Three missile fragments fell on a kindergarten, he said without elaborating.

The acting head of the Communications Department of Ukraine’s Air Force, Yurii Ihnat, said that two of the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles that were shot down over the Kyiv region were aimed at the capital city.

“Despite the fact that it’s getting harder, despite (Russia's) improvements and the use of new tactics, today we have two shoot-downs,” Ihnat said.

Despite Ukraine’s high interception rates, some weapons still get through.

“They are learning from their mistakes and from our mistakes. They are improving their technology so that we are able to shoot down fewer of them,” Ihnat told AP.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down almost two dozen Ukrainian drones overnight.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Germans mourn attack on Christmas market with no answers about why

2024-12-21 15:18 Last Updated At：15:21

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans began Saturday mourning another violent attack and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor drove a black BMW into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers on Friday evening, killing at least two people, including a small child, and injuring at least 60 others in what authorities called a deliberate attack.

Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old who has been living in Germany for nearly two decades and practicing medicine there. He was arrested Friday evening at the site of the attack as medical officials tended to the injured, and was taken into custody for questioning.

But on Saturday there were still no answers as to what caused the man to drive into a crowd in the eastern Germany city of Magdeburg.

The violence shocked the country and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition. It prompted several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser were due to travel to Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is to take place in the city cathedral in the evening.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives," Scholz wrote on X. "We stand beside them and beside the people of Magdeburg.”

Magdeburg is a city of about 240,000 people, west of Berlin, that serves as Saxony-Anhalt’s capital. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Verified bystander footage distributed by the German news agency dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers soon arrived and took the man into custody.

The two people confirmed dead were an adult and a toddler, but officials said additional deaths couldn't be ruled out because 15 people had been seriously injured.

“As things stand, he is a lone perpetrator, so that as far as we know there is no further danger to the city," Saxony-Anhalt's governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters. “Every human life that has fallen victim to this attack is a terrible tragedy and one human life too many.”

Authorities identified the suspect as a 50-year-old Saudi doctor who moved to Germany in 2006 and who had been practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack on X but did not mention the suspect’s connection to the kingdom.

Christmas markets are a German holiday tradition cherished since the Middle Ages, now successfully exported to much of the Western world.

Hours after Friday's tragedy, the wail of sirens clashed with the market’s festive ornaments, stars and leafy garlands.

Magdeburg resident Dorin Steffen told dpa that she was at a concert in a nearby church when she heard the sirens. The cacophony was so loud “you had to assume that something terrible had happened.”

She called the attack “a dark day” for the city.

“We are shaking,” Steffen said. “Full of sympathy for the relatives, also in the hope that nothing has happened to our relatives, friends and acquaintances.”

The attack reverberated far beyond Magdeburg, with Haseloff calling it a catastrophe for the city, state and country. He said flags would be lowered to half-staff in Saxony-Anhalt and that the federal government planned to do the same.

“It is really one of the worst things one can imagine, particularly in connection with what a Christmas market should bring," the governor said.

Moulson reported from Berlin.

Ukraine strikes a Russian oil hub as Zelenskyy says the war is in 'a very important phase'

News

Ukraine strikes a Russian oil hub as Zelenskyy says the war is in 'a very important phase'

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