Russian air attacks kill four in Kharkiv, injure six in Kyiv

The attack followed a Russian guided bomb attack on Kharkiv late on Monday that shattered much of the Derzhprom building. (File/AFP)
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Updated 29 October 2024
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Russian air attacks kill four in Kharkiv, injure six in Kyiv

KYIV: At least four people were killed and another six injured in Russia’s multi-wave overnight attacks on Ukraine’s two largest cities of Kharkiv and Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Russia attacks Ukrainian regions almost every night with drones and the Ukrainian military reported that last night they shot down 26 out of 48 drones launched.
Four people were killed in Kharkiv after midnight on Tuesday in Russia’s bombardment of the city’s Osnovianskyi district, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on his Telegram messaging channel.
A local emergency service published a video showing rescuers removing the rubble of the completely destroyed building under floodlights and carrying a black bag in which the bodies of the dead are usually placed.
That attack followed a Russian guided bomb attack on Kharkiv late on Monday that shattered much of the Derzhprom building, one of the most celebrated landmarks in the city, dating from the 1920s.
In Kyiv, falling debris from a destroyed Russian drone injured six people and set a residential building on fire, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital said.
One of the people injured by debris in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district was taken to hospital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel. He said several cars were also on fire.
A Reuters witness saw smoke rising over the district’s residential area, which is located in Kyiv’s west. Photos posted by Kyiv’s military administration on its Telegram channel showed a residential building and nearby cars burning in the dark.
The administration said Ukraine’s air defense units were trying to repel a Russian drone attack on the city and that drone debris fell also onto the Sviatoshynskyi district in Kyiv’s west, but there was no immediate reports of damage.
The size of the Russian overnight attack was not immediately clear. There was no immediate comment from Russia about the attacks.
Moscow denies targeting civilians in the war sparked by its invasion of its neighbor Ukraine in February 2022.
The 2-1/2-year war has killed thousands of people, the vast majority of them Ukrainians and has turned cities and villages into piles of rubble.


Filmmakers defend Berlin festival chief in Gaza row

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Filmmakers defend Berlin festival chief in Gaza row

  • Actors and filmmakers rushed to defend the head of the Berlin film festival Thursday following a media report that her job was on the line over a director’s anti-Israel speech at the event
BERLIN: Actors and filmmakers rushed to defend the head of the Berlin film festival Thursday following a media report that her job was on the line over a director’s anti-Israel speech at the event.
Syrian-Palestinian filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib kicked off a controversy during Saturday’s closing ceremony by accusing Germany of being complicit in genocide in Gaza through its support for Israel.
German tabloid Bild had reported that Tricia Tuttle was due to be dismissed at an emergency meeting on Thursday, citing sources close to state-owned KBB, the company that runs the festival.
Culture minister Wolfram Weimer’s office confirmed the meeting had taken place but made no mention of Tuttle being sacked, stating that discussions had been “constructive and open” and would “continue in the coming days.”
A group of cinema luminaries including Tilda Swinton, Todd Haynes, Sean Baker and Tom Tykwer signed an open letter defending the Berlinale as a forum for free expression.
“As filmmakers in Germany and beyond, we are following the debates surrounding the Berlinale and the discussion about the dismissal of Tricia Tuttle with great concern,” they wrote. “We defend the Berlinale for what it is: a place of exchange.”
Angry rows over the Israel-Palestinian conflict have repeatedly rocked the Berlinale, held every February as Europe’s first major film festival of the year.
Environment Minister Carsten Schneider walked out of Saturday’s closing ceremony, labelling Khatib’s remarks “unacceptable.”
Germany, as it has sought to atone for the horrors of the Holocaust, has been a steadfast supporter of Israel, and criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza has been more muted than in many other countries.
Conservative lawmaker Ellen Demuth was among those who condemned the “antisemitic incident” at the awards ceremony and urged “a fresh start at the top of the film festival.”
The Berlinale Team in an Instagram post meanwhile defended Tuttle, praising her “clarity, integrity and artistic vision.”
The writers’ association PEN Berlin said Khatib’s comments were protected by freedom of expression and that if Tuttle were to be sacked over them, it would cause “immense damage” to the festival.
“Such wanton destruction of the German cultural scene, such self-inflicted insularity, must not be allowed to happen,” it said.
The backdrop of the Middle East conflict led to a tense 76th edition of the festival from the start.
More than 80 film professionals criticized the Berlinale’s “silence” on the Gaza war in an open letter, accusing the festival of censoring artists “who reject the genocide” they believe Israel has committed in Gaza.
Award-winning Indian writer Arundhati Roy withdrew from the festival after the jury president, German director Wim Wenders, said cinema should “stay out of politics” when asked about Gaza.