KYIV: A drone struck a high-rise residential building in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, sparking a fire and damaging apartments on at least three floors, authorities said.
An AFP reporter on the scene saw what appeared to be a drone buzzing overhead before crashing into the building, erupting in a fireball.
There was no immediate information about casualties, but authorities said an emergency response was under way.
“In the Solomianskyi district, the upper floors of a high-rise building hit by an enemy drone are on fire. Emergency services are at the scene,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
“Apartments on the 17th, 18th, 19th floors are damaged. All emergency services are at the scene,” he said.
The Solomianskyi district is in the west of the city.
Ukrainian cities including Kyiv have been subjected to drone and missile attacks throughout Russia’s two-and-a-half year invasion.
Kyiv has been asking for more air defenses from its allies ahead of what is likely to be its toughest winter yet, as Russia ramps up strikes on energy infrastructure.
Drone sparks fire on high-rise residential building in Kyiv
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Drone sparks fire on high-rise residential building in Kyiv
- There was no immediate information about casualties
- “In the Solomianskyi district, the upper floors of a high-rise building hit by an enemy drone are on fire,” Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said
TikTok finalizes deal to form new American entity
TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years.
The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the new TikTok US joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.
Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.
The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.
In addition to an emphasis on data protection, with US user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on US user data, the company said in its announcement.
Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX are the three managing investors, who each hold a 15 percent share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9 percent of the joint venture.
