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Nagorno-Karabakh: Explosion kills 68 – as thousands flee over ethnic cleansing fears

The blast reportedly struck as people tried to fill up their cars to flee. Thousands of ethnic Armenians are leaving the disputed territory after it was reclaimed in a lightning offensive by the Azerbaijani military last week.

The blast occurred as people were lining up for fuel

At least 68 people have been killed and 105 more are missing after a powerful blast at a fuel depot in Nagorno-Karabakh, according to Azerbaijani media.

The explosion happened as people fleeing the disputed region to Armenia lined up for fuel, separatist authorities said.

Earlier, 20 people were confirmed to have died. It is not immediately clear what caused the blast.

Hundreds of others were reportedly injured in the explosion which happened near the regional capital of Stepanakert on Monday.

Thousands of ethnic Armenians are leaving the territory, saying they fear ethnic cleansing after the Azerbaijani military reclaimed control of it last week.

Lightning operation

The Azerbaijani military took control of the region in a 24-hour lightning operation last week, ending three decades of separatist rule.

At least 19,000 of the 120,000 resident ethnic Armenians have fled to Armenia so far, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan was quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency as saying. That amounts to roughly 16% of the population.

Armenia claims the mass exodus is due to a fear of reprisals – something strongly denied by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev has vowed to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and to restore supplies after a 10-month blockade.

Those lining up at the fuel facility were reportedly waiting for gas. It has been a scarcity alongside basic food and supplies since the blockade, according to Armenia.

The US has called on Azerbaijan to protect the rights of civilians.

“We are calling on Azerbaijan to maintain the ceasefire and take concrete steps to protect the rights of civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh,” US Agency for International Development (USAID) chief Samantha Power told reporters in Armenia’s capital Yerevan.

“We have heard very troubling reports of violence against civilians. At the same time given the chaos here and the trauma, the gathering of testimonies… of the people who have come across is something that is just beginning,” Ms Power said.

The Azerbaijani offensive last week forced separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and start talks on Nagorno-Karabakh’s “reintegration” into Azerbaijan.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/nagorno-karabakh-explosion-kills-20-and-injures-hundreds-as-thousands-flee-over-ethnic-cleansing-fears-12970161

Ukraine says Russia is ‘sinking ships’ to protect Crimean bridge – here’s what we found

Satellite images appear to show six “sunk” vessels at the Crimean bridge over a seven-day period. The bridge is strategically important for Russia and has come under repeated attacks throughout the war.

Russia has “sunk” a number of vessels by the Crimean bridge using what analysts call a “200-year-old strategy” to defend itself against the emerging threat of Ukrainian sea drones.

Satellite images gathered by Sky News show six dark objects in a row appearing over a seven-day period by the Crimean bridge, also known as Kerch Bridge.

The bridge is the only direct link between the transport network of Russia and the Crimean peninsula and has come under repeated attacks throughout the war.

It follows claims made by Ukraine’s intelligence ministry (GUR) that Russia planned to “sink at least six watercraft” by the bridge to create a “protective lane” in front of it.

The GUR also said Russia “intended to install barriers between the sunken ferries” to protect the bridge “from damage”, in a Telegram post last Tuesday.

In satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs PBC on 19 August, no objects are visible in the water south of the bridge, but on 21 August two vessels appear.

Two days later on 23 August another vessel can be seen on the surface of the water.

However, by 26 August, six objects in the exact same positions around 30 metres in length appear in a darker colour – which experts suggest could mean they have been sunk and are below the water.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-says-russia-is-sinking-ships-to-protect-crimean-bridge-heres-what-we-found-12950217

Russian shelling kills seven in Ukraine’s Kherson, including baby

Ukraine’s military reclaimed the western part of the Kherson region from Russian occupation last November but Kremlin forces have continued regularly shelling the area

File photo of Ukrainian State Emergency Service firefighters putting out a fire at a house destroyed in a Russian shelling. | Photo Credit: AP

Russian forces shelled two villages in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on August 13, killing seven civilians including a baby, Ukrainian authorities said.

A couple, their 23-day-old child and another man were killed in the village of Shyroka Balka, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. The couple’s 12-year-old son was critically wounded and died in hospital, he added.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/russia-shelling-kherson-many-killed-august-13-2023/article67190482.ece

Russian strike in eastern Ukraine kills eight including toddler

Sloviansk lies in a part of the Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control. It is close to territory controlled by Russia. (Photo: AFP/Ihor Tkachov)

Russia shelled a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday (Apr 14), killing eight people including a toddler who was pulled out of the rubble but died in an ambulance on the way to hospital, authorities said.

The strike on the quiet neighbourhood came as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a Bill that will make it easier to mobilise citizens into the army, and block them from fleeing the country if drafted.

Russia also said it was pushing further into the hotspot of Bakhmut, 45km south-east of Sloviansk, which is one of the cities that will be at risk if Kyiv loses the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

Sloviansk lies in a part of the Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control.

“Twenty-one people were wounded and eight people died,” Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said on Ukrainian television after the strike devastated an apartment building.

He said that the child who died was a boy.

AFP journalists saw rescue workers digging for survivors on the top floor of the typical Soviet-era housing bloc, and black smoke billowing from homes on fire across the street.

“A child died in an ambulance after being pulled out from the rubble,” Ukrainian police said on Twitter.

Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska said that the child was a two-year-old boy and sent her condolences to the family during this “indescribable grief”.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier decried Russia for “brutally shelling” residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight”.

The street below – including a playground – was covered in a layer of concrete dust and debris, including torn pages from school books and children’s drawings.

SHOCKED RESIDENTS

“I live on the opposite side of the street and I was sleeping a little when I heard this huge boom and I ran out from my flat,” 59-year-old resident Larisa told AFP.

“I was really scared and in a state of shock,” she said, adding that the impact of the shelling had broken her windows and sent shards of glass flying throughout her home.

“I heard a woman screaming: ‘There’s a child here, there’s a child here.’ She was screaming so much.”

At another impact site in a residential neighbourhood, an elderly woman in a purple cardigan – dazed from the blasts – was gathering blown-off shards of metal from the ground outside a shop.

A resident nearby, who declined to give her name, told AFP journalists that the strikes had blown out her windows and dislodged her front door from its frame.

“Usually when this happens we immediately take cover in the bathroom,” she said.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/ukraine-invasion-russian-strike-sloviansk-kills-six-including-toddler-3419131