Ukraine Drones Strike Crimea, Moscow, Oil Depot, Russia Says

 Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ukraine Drones Strike Crimea, Moscow, Oil Depot, Russia Says

 Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)
Smoke rises in the sky over a residential building destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine September 13, 2023. (Reuters)

Russia said it thwarted a coordinated Ukrainian attack on Crimea early on Sunday, while drones also targeted Moscow, disrupting air traffic in the capital, and caused a fire at an oil depot in the southwest of the country.

Ukraine in recent days has launched a series of strikes on Russian military targets in occupied Crimea and the Russian Navy Black Sea Fleet's facilities, seeking to undermine Moscow's war efforts in the critical region.

Attacks deep inside Russia, far from the front lines, have also increased, with Moscow's mayor saying at least two drones were shot down in the capital region early on Sunday.

Reuters could not independently verify Sunday's reports and there were no immediate comment from Kyiv.

In an opinion piece late on Saturday, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine's Security Council, urged Kyiv's allies to speed up the delivery of weapons, saying this was the only way to end the war.

"For example, the complete or partial elimination of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which is a doable task, should significantly accelerate the process of Russia's search for a way out of the ongoing war," Danilov wrote on the Ukrainska Pravda news site.

Russian air defense systems destroyed at least six drones targeting Crimea from different directions, Russia's defense ministry said on Sunday.

The report on the Telegram messaging app did not say whether there was any damage or casualties in the peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014, eight years before Moscow's full-fledged invasion.

In the Moscow region, a drone was destroyed over the Istra district and another over the Ramensky district, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram, adding there were no casualties or damage from drone debris.

At least 30 flights were delayed and six cancelled at Moscow's major airports, Russian state news agencies said - a frequent move by aviation authorities during drone strikes.

In southwestern Russia, a Ukrainian drone damaged an oil depot early on Sunday, sparking a fire at a fuel tank that was later extinguished, the regional governor said.

"There are no casualties, all emergency services are working on the territory of the facility," the governor of the Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, said on Telegram.

He did not specify whether the depot was hit by debris or targeted by the drone.



Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, Killing Driver

The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025.  REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
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Tesla Cybertruck Explodes Outside Trump Las Vegas Hotel, Killing Driver

The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025.  REUTERS/Ronda Churchill
The remains of a Tesla Cybertruck that burned at the entrance of Trump Tower, are inspected in Las Vegas, Nevada, US January 1, 2025. REUTERS/Ronda Churchill

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in flames outside the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas on Wednesday, killing the driver and injuring seven others, and the FBI was investigating whether the blast was an act of terrorism, officials said.
Videos taken by witnesses inside and outside the hotel showed the vehicle exploding and flames pouring out of it, as it sat outside the hotel, Reuters reported.
The incident occurred just hours after a man drove a truck into crowds of New Year's Day revelers in New Orleans, killing 15.
The Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas is part of the Trump Organization, the company of President-elect Donald Trump, who will return to the White House on Jan. 20. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was a key backer of Trump in his 2024 presidential campaign and is also an adviser to the incoming president.
"Obviously a Cybertruck, the Trump hotel - there's lots of questions that we have to answer," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill said at an afternoon press conference.
FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz later told reporters that it was not yet clear whether the blast was an act of terrorism.
"I know everybody's interested in that word, and trying to see if we can say, 'Hey, this is a terrorist attack.' That is our goal, and that's what we're trying to do," Schwartz said.
He added that the FBI had identified the person driving the vehicle, which had been rented in Colorado, but was not yet ready to publicly identify the driver.
Musk said the blast was unrelated to the Cybertruck itself.
"We have now confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself," Musk said in a post on X. "All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."
Telemetry involves the automatic collection of data from remote sources, transmitting it back to a central source so it can later be analyzed.
A person was found dead inside the 2024 model-year Cybertruck and seven people sustained minor injuries from the explosion, McMahill said. He added that both the Cybertruck and the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack had been rented through car-sharing service Turo.
A Turo spokesperson said the company did not believe either of the renters of the vehicles involved in the Las Vegas and New Orleans attacks had a criminal background that would have identified them as a security threat.
"We are actively partnering with law enforcement authorities as they investigate both incidents," the spokesperson added.
McMahill said the Cybertruck pulled up to the Trump building at 8:40 a.m. local time (1640 GMT). He said police were mindful of the New Orleans attack that occurred earlier on Wednesday. The FBI said a potential explosive device was found in the vehicle used in the New Orleans attack.
Las Vegas firefighters responded four minutes after the vehicle fire was reported and extinguished it. Two of the injured people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries. The Trump Hotel was evacuated after the incident and most of the visitors were moved to another hotel.
Eric Trump, executive vice president of the Trump Organization and a son of President-elect Trump, posted about the incident on X. "Earlier today, a reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas," he wrote, referring to the building's covered entrance area.