Ukraine Destroys 25 of 38 Drones in Russian Attack

A Ukrainian serviceman belonging to the attack drones battalion of the Achilles, 92nd brigade, launches a mid-range reconnaissance type drone, Vector, for flying over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a Kharkiv region, Ukraine June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
A Ukrainian serviceman belonging to the attack drones battalion of the Achilles, 92nd brigade, launches a mid-range reconnaissance type drone, Vector, for flying over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a Kharkiv region, Ukraine June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
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Ukraine Destroys 25 of 38 Drones in Russian Attack

A Ukrainian serviceman belonging to the attack drones battalion of the Achilles, 92nd brigade, launches a mid-range reconnaissance type drone, Vector, for flying over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a Kharkiv region, Ukraine June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia
A Ukrainian serviceman belonging to the attack drones battalion of the Achilles, 92nd brigade, launches a mid-range reconnaissance type drone, Vector, for flying over positions of Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in a Kharkiv region, Ukraine June 19, 2024. REUTERS/Inna Varenytsia

Ukrainian forces destroyed 25 Russian attack drones out of 38 launched overnight, Ukraine's air force chief said on Thursday.
"Last night, the enemy used 38 Shahed-131/136 attack drones, attacking Ukrainian infrastructure in several areas, including the south of Odesa region and central Ukraine," Mykola Oleshchiuk said.
The air force chief said three other drones "were lost after crossing the state border with Romania". He gave no more details, Reuters said.
Romanian territory is just a few hundred meters from the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail, in Odesa region, which was attacked by drones for the second night in a row.
Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said two people were wounded when drone debris hit a private house in Izmail district.
Authorities in the capital Kyiv and in the Zhytomyr region said those regions had also been targeted.
Zhytomyr's governor said that air defense systems hit most of the 10 aerial targets overnight, but drone debris damaged 10 private houses and one infrastructure facility.
The head of Kyiv's military administration, Serhiy Popko, said that drones attacked the capital from different directions, but all of them were destroyed by air defense forces on the approaches.
Popko said there were no reports of damage or casualties in Kyiv.
Authorities in the southern region of Kherson said that a man had been killed in the street in a separate attack after a drone dropped explosives on him.
Ukrainian troops regained control of much of the Kherson region in late 2022, but Russian forces still shell Ukrainian-held areas from positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River and launched drones.



Bangladesh Relaxes Curfew as Unrest Recedes 

People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Relaxes Curfew as Unrest Recedes 

People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)
People shop at a market as the curfew is relaxed after the anti-quota protests, in Dhaka on July 25, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh further eased a nationwide curfew Thursday as students weighed the future of their protest campaign against civil service hiring rules that sparked days of deadly unrest last week.

Last week's violence killed at least 191 people including several police officers, according to an AFP count of victims reported by police and hospitals during some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's tenure.

Thousands of troops are still patrolling cities and a nationwide internet shutdown remains largely in effect, but clashes have subsided since protest leaders announced a temporary halt to new demonstrations.

Hasina's government ordered another relaxation to the curfew it imposed at the height of the unrest, allowing free movement for seven hours between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm.

Streets in the capital Dhaka, a sprawling megacity of 20 million people, were choked with commuter traffic in the morning, days after ferocious clashes between police and protesters had left them almost deserted.

Banks, government offices and the country's economically vital garment factories had already reopened on Wednesday after all being shuttered last week.

Student leaders were set to meet later Thursday to decide whether or not to again extend their protest moratorium, which is due to expire on Friday.

Students Against Discrimination, the group responsible for organizing this month's rallies, said it expected a number of concessions from the government.

"We demand an apology from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the nation for the mass murder of students," Asif Mahmud, one of the group's coordinators, told AFP.

"We also want the sacking of the home minister and education minister."

Mahmud added that the estimated toll in the unrest was understated, with his group working on its own list of confirmed deaths.

Police have arrested at least 2,500 people since the violence began last week, according to an AFP tally.

Protests began after the June reintroduction of a scheme reserving more than half of government jobs for certain candidates, including nearly a third for descendants of veterans from Bangladesh's independence war.

With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the move deeply upset graduates facing an acute jobs crisis.

Critics say the quota is used to stack public jobs with loyalists to Hasina's Awami League.

The Supreme Court cut the number of reserved jobs on Sunday but fell short of protesters' demands to scrap the quotas entirely.

Hasina, 76, has ruled the country since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January after a vote without genuine opposition.

Her government is also accused by rights groups of misusing state institutions to entrench its hold on power and stamp out dissent, including the extrajudicial killing of opposition activists.