Russia Says it Thwarted Ukrainian Drone Attack over its Territory

A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian tank on his screen while operating a drone to conduct a reconnaissance operation on the outskirts of Kreminna, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian tank on his screen while operating a drone to conduct a reconnaissance operation on the outskirts of Kreminna, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
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Russia Says it Thwarted Ukrainian Drone Attack over its Territory

A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian tank on his screen while operating a drone to conduct a reconnaissance operation on the outskirts of Kreminna, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)
A Ukrainian soldier looks at a Russian tank on his screen while operating a drone to conduct a reconnaissance operation on the outskirts of Kreminna, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Bram Janssen)

Russia's defense ministry on Thursday said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory, the RIA news agency reported.

Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia's southern Belgorod region, citing the defense ministry.

The Ukrainian military on Thursday claimed more success in its counter-offensive against Russian forces on the southeastern front, a day after announcing the liberation of a village that had served as a Russian strongpoint.

The military said Ukraine had made progress to the south of Urozhaine, a village in Donetsk region that Kyiv said on Wednesday it had retaken as it tries to build momentum for a southward push into occupied areas towards the Sea of Azov.

"In the direction south of Urozhaine they (Ukrainian troops) had success," military spokesman Andriy Kovaliov said on national television.

He gave no more details.

Urozhaine was the first village Kyiv said it had retaken since July 27, a stretch of time that signaled the challenge Kyiv faces in advancing through heavily mined Russian defensive lines without powerful air support. It lies about 100 km west of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.



Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
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Russia: Man Suspected of Shooting Top General Detained in Dubai

An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova
An investigator works outside a residential building where the assassination attempt on Russian Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev took place in Moscow, Russia February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Anastasia Barashkova

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Sunday that the man suspected of shooting top Russian military intelligence officer Vladimir Alexeyev in Moscow has been detained in Dubai and handed over to Russia.

Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, deputy head of the GRU, ⁠Russia's military intelligence arm, was shot several times in an apartment block in Moscow on Friday, investigators said. He underwent surgery after the shooting, Russian media ⁠said.

The FSB said a Russian citizen named Lyubomir Korba was detained in Dubai on suspicion of carrying out the shooting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of being behind the assassination attempt, which he said was designed to sabotage peace talks. ⁠Ukraine said it had nothing to do with the shooting.

Alexeyev's boss, Admiral Igor Kostyukov, the head of the GRU, has been leading Russia's delegation in negotiations with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi on security-related aspects of a potential peace deal.


Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
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Factory Explosion Kills 8 in Northern China

Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo
Employees work on an electric vehicle (EV) production line at the Volkswagen Anhui factory in Hefei, Anhui province, China, February 4, 2026. REUTERS/Florence Lo

An explosion at a biotech factory in northern China has killed eight people, Chinese state media reported Sunday, increasing the total number of fatalities by one.

State news agency Xinhua had previously reported that seven people died and one person was missing after the Saturday morning explosion at the Jiapeng biotech company in Shanxi province, citing local authorities.

Later, Xinhua said eight were dead, adding that the firm's legal representative had been taken into custody.

The company is located in Shanyin County, about 400 kilometers west of Beijing, AFP reported.

Xinhua said clean-up operations were ongoing, noting that reporters observed dark yellow smoke emanating from the site of the explosion.

Authorities have established a team to investigate the cause of the blast, the report added.

Industrial accidents are common in China due to lax safety standards.
In late January, an explosion at a steel factory in the neighboring province of Inner Mongolia left at least nine people dead.


Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Warns Will Not Give Up Enrichment Despite US War Threat

Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
Traffic moves through a street in Tehran on February 7, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran will never surrender the right to enrich uranium, even if war "is imposed on us,” its foreign minister said Sunday, defying pressure from Washington.

"Iran has paid a very heavy price for its peaceful nuclear program and for uranium enrichment," Abbas Araghchi told a forum in Tehran.

"Why do we insist so much on enrichment and refuse to give it up even if a war is imposed on us? Because no one has the right to dictate our behavior," he said, two days after he met US envoy Steve Witkoff in Oman.

The foreign minister also declared that his country was not intimidated by the US naval deployment in the Gulf.

"Their military deployment in the region does not scare us," Araghchi said.