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Ukraine attacks Shahed drone factory, oil refinery deep inside Russia

April 2nd 2024

KYIV — A drone-making facility deep inside Russian territory was bombarded on Tuesday morning, according to local officials. Drones attacked production facilities in Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk in Russia’s Tatarstan republic, some 1,500 kilometers from the border with Ukraine, local governor Rustam Minnikhanov said in a statement. “In Yelabuga, unfortunately, there are victims as a result of the destruction of the premises. They are provided with all necessary medical aid,” Minnikhanov said, revealing no additional details. Ukrainian media, citing sources in Kyiv’s HUR military intelligence agency, reported that Ukraine attacked a Shahed-type drone production factory in Yelabuga. HUR employees, granted anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly, told POLITICO that they “can neither confirm nor deny that Ukrainian drones attacked a drone production factory and an oil refinery deep in Russian territory.”

While the HUR was behind the attack on Yelabuga, the strike on the oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk was a joint operation of HUR and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) a Ukrainian law enforcement official familiar with the matter who was granted anonymity to speak freely told POLITICO. A Ukrainian long-range drone hit the primary oil processing facility at the Nizhnekamsk refinery, after which a fire broke out there. It is one of Russia’s largest refineries. “We continue to work systematically to ensure that Russia has fewer and fewer opportunities to finance the war of aggression against Ukraine. We will continue to cut off oxygen to the gas station country to minimize the flow of petrodollars to the military budget of the Russian Federation,” the official said. In July 2023 AP reported that Iran was helping Russia to build a drone factory in Yelabuga, citing U.S. intelligence data released by the White House. Russia uses home-produced Shahed-type drones it calls “Geran” to attack Ukrainian energy and civilian infrastructure almost daily.

SOURCE = Politico

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Ukraine super-drones can now fly more than 1,000km, says minister after ‘hit’ on oil refinery deep in Russia

April 2nd 2024

Ukraine has developed super-drones which can fly more than 1,000km, a minister said, after a big oil refinery was hit deep inside Russia. The drone attacks by Ukraine reportedly hit Russia’s third biggest oil refinery and a drone factory nearly 800 miles (1,200km) from the frontline, say military sources. A unit that processes about 155,000 barrels of crude a day was said to have been struck though an industry source said it had caused no critical damage. The drones attacked targets in Tatarstan, a highly industrialised region south-east of Moscow, in the early hours, Tatarstan’s head Rustam Minnikhanov said. There were reports of several people being injured.

A Kyiv intelligence source said a centre had been hit where Russia produces long-range “Shahed” attack drones used to bomb Ukraine. He added that significant damage was done to a military target. Unconfirmed video footage appeared to show a light aircraft having been turned into a drone for the attack. Industrial sites were also targeted. “Most of the drones that attacked Russian refineries have a range of 700 to 1,000 km, but now there are models that can fly more than 1,000 km,” Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Fedorov told German news outlet Welt. Ukraine is seeking to build a million drones this year, with a growing fleet of the unmanned aircraft which can strike at ultra-long distances.

SOURCE = Yahoo News

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Kyiv Confirms Ukrainian Drones Hit Drone Plant and Oil Refinery in Tatarstan – 1, 265 Kilometers Away

April 2nd 2024

Kyiv Post’s sources from Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR) confirmed that Ukraine had targeted a drone assembly facility in Yelabuga and an oil refinery in Nizhnekamsk, both in Tatarstan, more than 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from Ukraine. The source said that Yelabuga factory strike was a special operation of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (HUR) and that the strike caused significant damage to drone production facilities. Meanwhile, Russian officials claimed that the Ukrainians had failed to reach their targets, and succeeded only in injuring people. The press service of the head of the Tatar republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, wrote on Telegram:“Drone attacks took place against factories in Tatarstan at Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk.”

It added that the attacks: “did not cause serious damage and the activity in the factories was unaffected. Unfortunately, in Yelabuga, people were wounded.” The special economic zone near Yelabuga houses chemical, mechanical engineering and metal treatment factories, one of which is believed to be used for the assembly of Shahed/Geran kamikaze drones. Videos posted on Telegram allegedly show drones hitting targets in Tatarstan.

SOURCE = Kyiv Post

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Ukrainian drone strikes Tatarstan, deep inside Russian territory

April 2nd 2024

A Ukrainian drone struck Russia’s Tatarstan region, sending a giant fireball into the air and people scattering. Around a dozen people were injured in the attack that appeared to hit a dormitory in an industrial part of town, where an alleged factory that makes Iranian-designed drones is located.

SOURCE = Al Jazeera

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23-year-old who died after being shot by a Pima County deputy identified

February 25th 2024

TUCSON, Ariz. — A man approached authorities with a sword late Saturday evening and was shot. The man later died, authorities said. Pima County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a hotel near Palo Verde Road for a report of a suspicious person at around 10 p.m. Feb. 24. The 911 caller reported that a man was yelling outside a hotel room and waving a sword. When deputies got to the scene, they found the subject holding a sword. Deputies tried to talk with the man, who was identified as 23-year-old Devon Lewis, but he removed the sword from its sheath and approached the deputies. One deputy shot his handgun and hit the man. The man died at the scene, police said. No deputies or other community members were injured in the incident. The Tucson Police Department is the lead investigating agency for the shooting and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department will be conducting a separate investigation to determine if there were any policy violations. 

SOURCE = 12 News (MSNBC)

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Man wielding sword shot, killed by Pima County deputy at Tucson hotel

February 25th 2024

Pima County Sheriff’s deputies fatally shot a man accused of wielding a sword at a Tucson hotel on Saturday night. The deputies responded to a report of a suspicious person at about 10 p.m. Saturday at a Days Inn hotel near the Tucson International Airport. The Sheriff’s Department described a man yelling outside of a hotel room and waving a sword in a statement issued Sunday morning. Deputies tried to talk to the man upon arriving, according to the statement, at which point he removed the sword from its sheath and moved toward the officials. A deputy shot the man and then applied first aid until Rural Metro Fire Department personnel responded to the location of the incident. The man, identified later as 23-year-old Devon Lewis, was pronounced dead at the scene and no one else was injured.

SOURCE = AZ Central

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AG releases body camera footage of officer-involved fatal shooting in Rockland County

March 26th 2024

The state attorney general has released body camera video from the investigation into a deadly officer-involved shooting in Rockland County. The videos show the vantage points from both state troopers involved in the shooting of Rakim Tillery on Jan. 3 on the Thruway. Police say Tillery was being chased by officers after an incident in Albany. When they stopped him, state police say he opened fire at the troopers, and they returned fire.

Mr. Tillery was declared dead at the scene. A gun was recovered at the scene. AG Letitia James’s office says they released the footage to the public to increase transparency and strengthen public trust in these matters. It added that the release is “not an expression of any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of any party in a criminal matter or any opinion as to how or whether any individual may be charged with a crime.”

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