Russia’s Saratov regional airport lifted flight curbs on Monday imposed after homes were damaged as a result of Ukraine’s drone attack that wounded a woman, Russian officials and news agencies said.
The lifting of the curbs at the Saratov regional airport, at about 9:30 a.m. (0530 GMT), was reported by Russia’s RIA news agency, which had earlier reported the clampdown, citing the airport’s press service.
A residential complex in the city had been damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia’s air defense systems, regional governor Roman Basurgin said on the Telegram messaging app.
“A woman was hospitalized in serious condition,” Basurgin said. “Doctors are fighting for her life.”
Russia’s defense ministry said its air defense systems destroyed nine drones over the Saratov region, which lies some 900 kilometers (560 miles) away from the border with Ukraine.
Earlier, Basurgin said emergency services had fanned out at affected sites in Saratov and Engels, key cities in the region several hundred kilometers southeast of the capital.
Russia has a strategic bomber military base in Engels that Ukraine has attacked numerous times since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in Feb. 2022.
There was no immediate information on damage at the base, or the scale of the Ukrainian attack on the region, which is several hundred kilometers away from the border with Ukraine.
Video posted on Telegram by the Russian news SHOT channel showed what it identified as a high-rise residential building in Saratov, with a damaged side and several windows blown out across three floors.
In Engels, the top floor of a residential building was damaged, it added.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their attacks, which they say aim to destroy infrastructure key to war efforts.
Russia’s Saratov airport lifts flight curbs after Ukraine drone attack
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Russia’s Saratov airport lifts flight curbs after Ukraine drone attack
- A residential complex in the city had been damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia’s air defense systems
- Air defense systems destroyed nine drones over the Saratov region, which lies some 900km away from the Ukraine border
Brazil Senate approves bill to cut Bolsonaro’s 27-year sentence for coup plot
- he bill was approved by the lower house last week and now goes to Lula
BRASILIA: Brazil’s Senate approved on Wednesday a bill to shorten the 27-year prison sentence of former President Jair Bolsonaro, although it is likely to face resistance from the Supreme Court and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The bill was approved by the lower house last week and now goes to Lula, who has not said whether he will sign it into law or veto it. It could cut the former president’s prison term to just over two years.
The text also establishes sentence reductions for those convicted for their roles in a January 2023 riot, when Bolsonaro supporters invaded and ransacked the presidential palace, Supreme Court and Congress.
“This is part of our path to peace, and we must all celebrate it,” said Senator Esperidiao Amin, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, following its approval in a 48-25 vote.
Last month, Bolsonaro began serving his sentence for plotting a coup against Lula after losing the 2022 election.
A preliminary version of the bill put forward by opposition right-wing lawmakers would have pardoned those involved in “political demonstrations” after Lula’s election, but the bill’s sponsor in the lower house ruled out granting them full amnesty.
About 2,000 people were arrested over the Brasilia attack, which drew comparisons to the January 2021 attack on the US Capitol in Washington. Many of those in Brazil have been convicted by the Supreme Court of attempting a coup, among other crimes.
“The government is against this proposal... for reasons that are already known: those who have attacked democracy must pay for their crimes,” Institutional Relations Minister Gleisi Hoffmann said in a post on X ahead of the vote.
Lula previously said that he would wait for the bill to “get to his desk” before a decision on whether to sign it into law, adding he would take “the best decision for Brazil.”
The bill was amended during an earlier vote on Wednesday in a Senate committee to make it clear that sentence reductions will only apply to those involved in acts related to the attempted coup, and not to other crimes.
Amin argued that the change did not force the bill to return to the lower house, as it was a simple adjustment to the wording.
