Russian Forces Pound Avdiivka for Fourth Straight Day

Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (AFP)
Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (AFP)
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Russian Forces Pound Avdiivka for Fourth Straight Day

Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (AFP)
Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (AFP)

Russian forces pounded the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka for the fourth day in a row on Friday.

In attacks elsewhere in Ukraine, a Russian missile strike killed one person in the city of Pokrovsk, also in the east, while a drone attack in the south killed a women and seriously injured her husband.

"The fighting has been going on for four consecutive days," Vitaliy Barabash, head of the city's military administration, told Ukrainian national television.

"They have substantial reserves of personnel and equipment. Avdiivka is completely ablaze. They shoot, using everything they have. The hospital is again under fire, as are administrative buildings and our volunteer center."

Russia has focused its campaign along the 1,000-km (600-mile) front on the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia's representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, said the intensified battles in the east signified a new stage in its campaign.

"Russian troops have, for several days now, switched over to active combat action practically throughout the entire front line," Nebenzia told a session of the UN Security Council, Reuters reported.

"The so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive can therefore be considered finished."

Russian forces abandoned the western bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region late last year, but continue to shell towns there from positions on the eastern bank.



At Least 32 People Killed in Somalia Beach Attack

Relatives carry the body of a woman killed during an attack in Mogadishu on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Ali ELMI / AFP)
Relatives carry the body of a woman killed during an attack in Mogadishu on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Ali ELMI / AFP)
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At Least 32 People Killed in Somalia Beach Attack

Relatives carry the body of a woman killed during an attack in Mogadishu on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Ali ELMI / AFP)
Relatives carry the body of a woman killed during an attack in Mogadishu on August 3, 2024. (Photo by Hassan Ali ELMI / AFP)

At least 32 people were killed and 63 others injured in a beach attack in Somalia's capital Mogadishu late Friday, police said on Saturday.

"Over 32 civilians died in the restaurant attack," police spokesperson Abdifatah Aden told a press conference, adding that one attacker had blown himself up while three others had been killed. One attacker was captured alive, he added.

Al-Qaeda’s East Africa affiliate, al-Shabab, said through its radio that its fighters carried out the attack.

The explosion occurred while residents were swimming on Lido beach, former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said on his X account.