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Ukraine Says it Downed 2 Missiles, 60 Drones During Russia's Overnight Attack

Rescuers stand at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
Rescuers stand at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
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Ukraine Says it Downed 2 Missiles, 60 Drones During Russia's Overnight Attack

Rescuers stand at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer
Rescuers stand at a site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine August 27, 2024. REUTERS/Stringer

Ukraine said it shot down two missiles and 60 drones over nine regions in an overnight attack, after Russia stepped up its assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure earlier this week.
More than 2-1/2 years since Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv is pushing the West for additional air defense and support in jointly shooting down targets over Ukraine to repel such attacks, Reuters said.
On Thursday, Ukraine destroyed 60 out of 74 Russia-launched attack drones and two out of five missiles. The air force said it lost track of 14 more drones, which likely fell on Ukrainian territory.
About 15 drones launched by Russia in its third attack on the Ukrainian capital in four days did not reach their targets, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, said on Thursday.
Drone debris damaged the windows and doors of an apartment building and caused a fire in a non-residential building which was extinguished, Popko said in a statement after the latest Russian airstrikes on Ukraine, which were mainly overnight.
Kyiv regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said the drones caused no damage to critical infrastructure in the Kyiv region, and city and regional authorities reported no casualties.
Falling debris also caused a fire on the grounds of a private enterprise in the central region of Cherkasy, the regional governor said. Some 75 rescuers tackled the fire that had spread over 2,700 square meters (29,00 square feet) by Thursday morning, Ukraine's state emergency service said.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, attacked energy facilities across Ukraine on Monday in airstrikes which Ukrainian officials said involved more than 200 missiles and drones.
The renewed assault on the power grid has forced Kyiv to rely on emergency and planned power cuts this week to try to stabilize the system.

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Ireland Urges EU to Rethink Ties with Israel Over Gaza

A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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Ireland Urges EU to Rethink Ties with Israel Over Gaza

A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)
A person holds a flag during a demonstration at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod, Israel July 3, 2023. (Reuters)

The European Union must rethink its relations with Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza and the West Bank and impose sanctions on some Israeli government ministers accused of fomenting racial hatred, Ireland said Thursday.

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Ireland’s foreign minister accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians as well as Hamas militants with the military campaign it launched almost 11 months ago.

“This is a war against Palestinians not just against Hamas. The level of civilian casualties and dead is unconscionable,” The AP quoted Micheal Martin telling reporters.

“It’s a war on the population. No point in trying to fudge this.”

Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed over 40,000 people, according to local health officials, displaced 90% of the population and destroyed its main cities. Hamas has lost thousands of fighters and much of its militant infrastructure.

Violence has also surged in the West Bank since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack inside southern Israel ignited the war there. Israel launched a large-scale operation in the West Bank this week, in which Hamas said 10 of its fighters were killed in different locations.

Martin said a legal opinion issued by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank is unlawful obliges the EU to take action. The Palestinians have hailed it as “a watershed moment for Palestine, for justice and for international law.”

“It cannot be business as usual,” Martin told reporters. “It is very clear to us that international humanitarian law has been broken.”

Ties between the EU and Israel – which are major trading partners – are governed by a so-called Association Agreement. Ireland and Spain have been pressing their EU partners to examine whether Israel has broken the rules.

The EU is the world’s top provider of aid to the Palestinians but holds little leverage over Israel, notably because the 27 member countries are deeply divided in their approach.

Austria, Germany and Hungary are staunch backers of Israel, while Ireland and Spain are more vocal in their support for the Palestinians. Nonetheless, the bloc does have credibility as a European project founded on peace.