Ukrainian hit on occupied southern village kills 3: Moscow-installed official

Russian occupational authorities in southern Ukraine said Saturday that a Ukrainian strike on a Moscow-held village in the Kherson region killed three people. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 25 January 2025
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Ukrainian hit on occupied southern village kills 3: Moscow-installed official

  • “Ukrainian terrorists shelled Oleshky with cluster munitions and remote mine-clearing systems,” Saldo said
  • “At the moment, we know about three killed civilians”

MOSCOW: Russian occupational authorities in southern Ukraine said Saturday that a Ukrainian strike on a Moscow-held village in the Kherson region killed three people.
Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-installed leader of the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Kherson region, accused Kyiv of using cluster munitions in a strike on the village of Oleshky.
Oleshky lies close to the city of Kherson and near the Dnipro river, which forms the frontline in southern Ukraine.
“Ukrainian terrorists shelled Oleshky with cluster munitions and remote mine-clearing systems,” Saldo said in a post on Telegram.
“At the moment, we know about three killed civilians,” he added, saying the victims are being identified.
He called on villagers to stay in their homes or in shelters.
Both sides in the almost three-year war have accused each other of using cluster munitions.
The US has supplied cluster munitions — which rights groups say are particularly deadly and have long-term effects — drawing criticism even from its allies.
Kyiv, meanwhile, said that four people were wounded by Russian attacks in the Kherson region on Saturday.


Military drone strike in Niger killed 17 civilians in January: HRW

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Military drone strike in Niger killed 17 civilians in January: HRW

  • An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday
ABIDJAN: An apparent Niger military drone strike killed 17 civilians, among them children, in western Niger near the Burkina Faso border last month, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
Niger is plagued by jihadist violence in the western Tillaberi region, a flashpoint zone where the country’s borders converge with that of its allies Burkina Faso and Mali.
Jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group have made the region a fiefdom, carrying out deadly attacks for nearly a decade.
“An apparent Nigerien military drone strike killed at least 17 civilians, including four children, and injured at least 13 others at a crowded market” on January 6, HRW said in a statement.
Three Islamist fighters were also killed in the strike, it said.
It took place in the village of Kokoloko in the Tillaberi region, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) west of the capital, Niamey, and less than three kilometers from the border with Burkina Faso, HRW said.
Witnesses spoke of having seen a drone flying over the village twice during the morning and then drop munition on it when hundreds of people were in the market, HRW said.
“The strike, which also killed three Islamist fighters, violated laws-of-war prohibitions against indiscriminate attacks and might amount to a war crime,” it added.
Niger’s military leaders, who came to power in a 2023 coup, have struggled to contain jihadist groups in Tillaberi, despite maintaining a large army presence in the region.
The Daesh group claimed an attack that targeted Niamey airport last month.