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Russian Drone Attack on Ukraine's Odesa Kills One

Residents gather next to their destroyed cars and a damaged apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine November 9, 2024. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
Residents gather next to their destroyed cars and a damaged apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine November 9, 2024. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
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Russian Drone Attack on Ukraine's Odesa Kills One

Residents gather next to their destroyed cars and a damaged apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine November 9, 2024. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok
Residents gather next to their destroyed cars and a damaged apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine November 9, 2024. REUTERS/Nina Liashonok

Russian drones attacked Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa overnight, killing one person and injuring 13 others, including two boys, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Saturday.
Several residential apartment buildings, private houses, commercial buildings and dozens of private cars were damaged in what was the second day in a row of Russian drone attacks on the city, Reuters quoted Kiper as saying.
"At night the enemy again attacked Odesa and the nearby region with attack drones. One person died and 13 were wounded. Among the injured there were two children," he said on the Telegram messaging app.
Prosecutors said the children were boys aged four and 16.
Russia launched 51 drones, focusing its attack on Odesa and the nearby region in the south of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said, adding that Ukrainian air defense units and mobile drone hunter groups shot down 32 Russian drones.
It also said that 18 drones were "lost", most likely meaning they had been thwarted electronically.
Russian drones also triggered a large fire in one of Odesa's districts, public broadcaster Suspilne reported, quoting residents.
Other media outlets in the city posted video footage showing cars and buildings ablaze and thick smoke billowing skyward.
As the war against Russia nears its 1,000-day mark, Moscow's forces have intensified air attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, sending swarms of drones almost every night.
Ukraine's military said that Russia launched more than 2,000 attack drones at civilian and military targets in October.
Moscow says it does not target civilians. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine had verified 11,743 civilian deaths in conflict-related violence from Russia's full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022 to the end of August this year. The Ukrainian government says the toll is likely to be much higher due to difficulties accessing parts of the country.

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Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
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Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)

Members of the public paid their respects Wednesday to people killed by a driver who rammed into people exercising a sports complex in southern China, as the country mourned, but little information was available about the suspect or the victims in the attack.

The crash Monday night in Zhuhai killed 35 people and severely injured 43 others, and the driver was detained as he was trying to escape. Authorities said the 62-year-old man with the surname Fan was upset over his divorce settlement.

Members of the public had started bringing flowers in honor of the victims Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday.

There was a light police presence in the morning at the Zhuhai sports complex, which was closed until further notice, but the number of officers increased as the morning passed.

While police allowed people to leave bouquets of flowers in memory of the dead just outside the entrance of the sports complex, volunteers then quickly moved the flowers inside to the sports center.

“May there be no thugs in heaven,” said the message on one bouquet. “Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.”

The attack occurred on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, an aviation exhibition sponsored by the People's Liberation Army that is held every two years.

China authorities often make extra efforts to tightly control information around major or sensitive events like the airshow. Censors also take extra care around major catastrophes or violence, often censoring eyewitness accounts. Clear information on the death and injury toll was not available for almost 24 hours after the attack.

Videos were quickly censored inside China, though they circulated outside the Great Firewall. They were posted by Teacher Li, an artist turned dissident who runs a X account with 1.7 million followers that posts crowdsourced videos about news in China.

Articles from Chinese media featuring interviews with survivors were quickly taken down Monday and Tuesday. The news that trended about the attack was largely based on official statements from authorities.

Police said their preliminary investigation found Fan was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce. Beyond that description, further information was not available on his divorce or alleged motive.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the “strict” punishment of the perpetrator according to law, in a statement Tuesday evening.

He also called on all local governments “to strengthen prevention and control of risks at the source, strictly prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.