Latest news with #dronestrikes
Irish Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
‘I have Star Wars going on outside my window': How Kyiv is coping with upsurge in Russia's attacks
Kyiv residents who managed to sleep on another night of intense Russian air attacks woke to an increasingly familiar scene on Monday morning, as smoke wreathed several districts of the city, hospitals treated the wounded, and damage to civilian buildings and transport infrastructure made journeys to work slower and more stressful. At least one person was killed and eight injured during a night of drone and missile attacks on the city of 3.5 million. Apartment blocks, office buildings and a kindergarten were set on fire and the entrance to a metro station was hit, sending smoke pouring down on to platforms where people were taking shelter. Russian drone attacks on Ukraine – and particularly Kyiv – have intensified sharply in recent weeks, and the two heaviest strikes of the war took place this month, peaking overnight from July 8th-9th with the launch of 728 drones and 13 missiles. Graphic: Paul Scott/ IRISH TIMES GRAPHICS Ukrainian officials said on Monday morning that Russia fired 426 drones and 24 missiles overnight, most of which were shot down or electronically jammed. But the toll on the country and its people from direct strikes, falling debris and stress and tiredness accumulated over more than three years of full-scale war continues to mount. READ MORE A young girl takes a selfie as locals hide in a shelter during an air-raid alarm, near a site of a drone strike on a residential building in Kyiv. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/European Pressphoto Agency 'When people asked me whether I was worried about living in Kyiv, I would say that yes, it's being shelled and bombed, but it's well protected. That's how it felt until a few weeks ago. There were drone attacks every other night but they would hardly reach the actual city – they were usually shot down in the regions,' says Nazar, a Kyiv resident. 'But in the past month there have been lots of occasions when suddenly lots of drones have come into the city. I've started hearing explosions closer and closer, to the point where I couldn't ignore it like before. That's when it started feeling less safe.' In Kyiv and other towns and cities where air-raid alerts can last for most of the day and night, Ukrainians must decide whether to take a risk by doing what they had planned – from staying in bed and trying to sleep to following a normal work routine – or to seek shelter in a basement, underground car park or metro station. 'Seeing drones over my residential area, over my actual apartment building, is a scary thing. They make a particular annoying, threatening noise, which speeds up as they're about to hit a target. It sounds like something from a second World War movie,' says Nazar, who lives in a 16-floor flat in Kyiv's western Nyvky district. A local man carries his dog at a damaged stairwell after a drone strike on a residential building in Kyiv on Monday. Photograph: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA 'Now a few buildings have been destroyed not far from me and you hear about hundreds of these drones coming. You don't feel safe. So now I go to the underground shelter at 3 or 4am.' The Shahed drones fired at Kyiv and other cities are not the small, light models – similar to hobby drones but carrying explosives – that both sides use on the front line. The Iranian-made Shaheds are 3.5m long, have a wingspan of 2.5m and weigh 200kg, and can fly for some 2,000km before plunging into a target and detonating a 40kg warhead. Russia now mass produces its own version of the Shahed, called the Geran. A Ukrainian explosives expert examines parts of a Shahed military drone that fell following an air attack last month. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP 'It's a guessing game. A matter of luck,' Olesya, who lives on the eighth floor of an apartment building in northwestern Kyiv, says of the danger of being killed or hurt. 'While before I would have stayed in my flat during an alert, now, if there are too many drones flying overhead, I go into the corridor of the building (for greater protection) or to a lower floor,' she adds. 'People who have stayed in Kyiv tend to find some kind of rational decision in terms of everyday functioning. So if you stay in your apartment there is a chance that you'll be killed there, but there is also a chance that you'll get a good night's sleep and not be hit ... But sometimes it's very hard to sleep and function normally afterwards.' Russia's escalating attacks have coincided with fresh concerns over Ukraine's air defences, as the United States halted supplies of some crucial weaponry and then announced that some would be delivered after all. That was followed by a White House decision this month to send more air defence systems and other arms to Kyiv via a new deal with Nato. Germany and other European states are expected to provide Ukraine with advanced US-made Patriot air defence units from their stocks and then 'backfill' with equipment bought from the US. As ever during nearly 3½ years of all-out war – and 11 years of conflict since Russia occupied Crimea and created heavily armed militias in eastern Ukraine – the timing and scale of western help for Ukraine is still unclear. People with their belongings leave a damaged metro station after a Russian attack in Kyiv last week. Photograph: Oleksii Filippov/AFP 'I live on the 14th floor and I have Star Wars going on outside my window. Not just tracers but I can see Shaheds flying past,' says Viktoriya, whose flat on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river is on an approach route for many drones and missiles targeting Kyiv. 'Before, the majority was repelled. But now I don't think we have enough air-defence assets or manpower to track everything, so they do get through,' she adds, calling Russia's tactics 'terror for the sake of terror'. 'Now I see more people going at night to metro stations and other shelters with sleeping bags, mats, dogs, backpacks and other necessities. They're becoming more systematic and going fully prepared. But there are also those who don't go, and feel the chance of being hit while going to the shelter is higher than when being at home.' On July 8th – the night of the heaviest Russian air attack so far – 32,000 people took refuge in Kyiv's metro stations, including almost 2,200 children, according to city officials. Figures for night-time visits to the metro system in July are expected to surpass those for June, when 165,000 visits were recorded, up from 65,000 in May. A man carries a dog in a damaged metro station following a Russian attack in Kyiv last week. Photograph: Oleksi Filippov/AFP Russia has also launched intense drone and missile strikes on western Ukraine this month, shaking the residents of cities that are 1,000km from the frontline: the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk said it had suffered its heaviest attack of the war in the early hours of Monday, and that four people had been injured in nearby villages. There is fear in Kyiv and other cities, just as there is anger at the West's failure to back up rhetoric with action, but such feelings are by now familiar to Ukrainians – as are Russia's demands for a settlement that would amount to capitulation. 'I wouldn't say there's a catastrophic shift in how it feels ... But it does feel very targeted, very instrumentalised, this terror against civilians,' Olesya says. 'It feels very thought-out, to make people scared and panic and potentially put pressure on the authorities and demand talks – any talks just to stop this. I don't feel this is working for now, at least on a mass scale.' 'I don't think we are depressed or saying this is the end of Ukraine,' says Nazar. 'Surprisingly, I have more resilience than I thought, and I think people are on same page in that way.'
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Putin ‘ready for peace talks' with major conditions
Vladimir Putin is reportedly open to peace talks with Ukraine following a suggestion from Volodymyr Zelensky, though the Kremlin insists on achieving its objectives, including Ukraine's withdrawal from annexed territories and renouncing NATO membership. Zelensky's offer for new peace talks comes after Donald Trump set a 50-day deadline for a ceasefire or face sanctions, threatening severe tariffs on Russia 's trading partners and increased US military aid to Ukraine. Russia launched at least 57 Iranian-made Shahed drones at Ukraine overnight, with Ukrainian forces shooting down 18; drone strikes injured two women in Zaporizhzhia and two civilians in Kharkiv. Ukraine conducted a drone strike across Russia, causing 140 flight cancellations and the closure of Moscow 's four major airports. Russia's defence ministry claimed its forces shot down 93 Ukrainian drones targeting Russian territory, including at least 15 aimed at Moscow.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
As Palantir Makes a Big Bet on AI-Powered Weather, Is PLTR Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Palantir (PLTR) recently announced that it is partnering with weather-intelligence pioneer to turn global atmospheric data into a machine-readable, decision-making engine for defense departments, airlines, supply-chain giants, and federal agencies. At first glance, linking a company once known for tracking militants to something as prosaic as cloud cover feels almost whimsical. But keep in mind that weather data is increasingly important for satellite and drone-based surveillance, as well as drone strike missions. It's also another customer win for Palantir, which is trying to spread its tentacles over as many government agencies and commercial enterprises as possible. More News from Barchart Dear Google Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for July 23 Dear UnitedHealth Stock Fans, Mark Your Calendars for July 29 Peter Thiel Is Betting Big on This Ethereum Treasury Stock. Should You Buy Shares Now? Stop Missing Market Moves: Get the FREE Barchart Brief – your midday dose of stock movers, trending sectors, and actionable trade ideas, delivered right to your inbox. Sign Up Now! The U.S. tallied $183 billion in weather-related damages in 2024, so there is great incentive to leverage weather data in new ways. Palantir's Deal With Most forecasters still don't have their own constellation of small satellites purpose-built for atmospheric observation. Palantir is trying to solve not only that, but also build a proprietary AI stack that retrains itself and gives minute-by-minute forecasts. The deal also includes onboarding on Palantir's FedStart program. It is an accelerator that lets vendors run inside Palantir's pre-cleared, FedRAMP-compliant cloud so they can sell to federal agencies without the typical security accreditation process. can now sell into the federal workforce, and Palantir adds another high-demand data stream to its ecosystem. How Profitable Will This Be? The climate impact is around $38 trillion annually globally. It's rational to expect that Palantir could capture billions here in the long run if its weather product suite is good enough to court insurance, construction, offshore drilling, and most importantly, military-related clients. However, it remains to be seen just how significant will be for PLTR, as these are early days. The Navy and Air Force could save a lot of money with an all-in-one AI weather platform. Most would be surprised to know that the Air Force has multiple weather squadrons. The USAF and USN are unlikely to disregard a product if it gives them a greater advantage. Is PLTR Stock a Buy on the Weather Deal? This weather deal alone won't lead to a paradigm shift when valuing Palantir, but the relentless execution from management to win more business needs to be considered. Palantir's growth has been off the charts, and the company is consistently beating and raising every quarter. Wall Street no longer cares about the price-earnings ratio here. Instead, most analysts are looking at the horizon and the cash flow. It's a good idea to start doing the same so as not to fall behind. The Verdict Here's how I see PLTR stock now. Palantir's trailing 12-month free cash flow margin is at 42.3%, better than 97.19% of companies in the software industry. It has given free cash flow guidance between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion on $3.89 billion to $3.9 billion in revenue for 2025. In all likelihood, this is a lowball guidance due to Palantir's tendency to beat. But if we take that $1.8 billion FCF figure, you're paying 199 times forward FCF. Analysts expect the FCF margin to hold around 40% in the years ahead. Now, if we look a year ahead, analysts see $5 billion in full-year 2026 revenue. Again, it's likely to be higher if we take the current momentum into account. Regardless, I expect FCF to be around $2.2 billion in 2025 if we take the higher band of revenue estimates. That's 162 times 2026 earnings. And so on for the years ahead… If Wall Street holds the current FCF multiple, PLTR stock could shoot well past $200 next year. However, I'd still give it a 'Hold' rating due to the downside risk once the market cycle turns. That could happen well before 2026 rolls around. Analysts agree and have a consensus 'Hold' estimate on shares. On the date of publication, Omor Ibne Ehsan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Oil jumps after further drone attacks on Iraq oil fields
HOUSTON, July 17 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday after drones struck Iraqi Kurdistan oil fields for a fourth day, pointing to continued risk in the volatile region. Brent crude futures gained 84 cents, or 1.23%, to $69.36 a barrel by 12:10 p.m. CDT (1710 GMT), while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped $1.04, or 1.57%, to $67.42 a barrel. Officials pointed to Iran-backed militias as the likely source of attacks this week on the oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan, although no group has claimed responsibility. Oil output in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region has been slashed by between 140,000 and 150,000 barrels per day (bpd), two energy officials said, more than half the region's normal output of about 280,000 bpd. "Some of the gains are reaction to drone attacks in Iraq," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. "It shows how vulnerable oil supplies are to attacks using low technology." Markets have also been jittery while waiting for the imposition of tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump, which could shift oil supplies from the United States to India and China, Lipow said. Trump has said letters notifying smaller countries of their U.S. tariff rates would go out soon, and has also alluded to prospects of a deal with Beijing on illicit drugs and a possible agreement with the European Union. "Near-term prices (are) set to remain volatile due to the uncertainty over the final scale of U.S. tariffs and the resultant impact on global growth," said Ashley Kelty, an analyst at Panmure Liberum. The oil market was also reacting to a tightened inventory scenario, said John Evans, analyst at PVM Oil Associates. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.9 million barrels last week, government data on Wednesday showed, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 552,000-barrel draw. Last week, the International Energy Agency said that oil output increases were not leading to higher inventories, which showed markets were thirsty for more oil. "Oil thinking has been distracted from the Middle East, and the reminders of Israel's attacks into Syria and the drone attacks on oil infrastructure in Kurdistan are timely," Evans said. Markets were continuing to look for signals of tighter supply or higher demand, said Phil Flynn, senior analyst for Price Futures Group. Meanwhile, a tropical disturbance in the northern Gulf of Mexico was not expected to develop into a named storm as it makes its way west before moving onshore in Louisiana later on Thursday. Rainfall totals in Southeast Louisiana are forecast to be about four inches (10 cm), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Asharq Al-Awsat
11-06-2025
- Health
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Charity Accuses Israel of Deadly Strike on Gaza Office Building
Medical charity Medecins du Monde Wednesday accused Israel of violating international law with drone strikes on a building housing one of its offices in war-torn Gaza that killed eight people, none of them staff. The France-based aid group said in a statement the attack on Tuesday "constitutes a serious violation of international humanitarian law, which protects both civilian populations and humanitarian organizations operating in conflict zones". The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "Yesterday morning, at around 11:00 am local time, a building in Deir al-Balah housing a Medecins du Monde office was attacked by drones," the aid group said. Its staff had not been present as they had been off as part of the Eid al-Adha holiday, it added. "At least eight people were killed in the bombardment. All were on the last floor of the building," it said, without providing more details on those killed. "Medecins du Monde had informed the Israeli military of the presence of its office, which had officially been declared 'deconflicted', or shielded from Israeli military attacks under humanitarian coordination agreements," it said. "However, as during previous Israeli attacks, the team received no forward warning that would have allowed it to evacuate the building or take measures to protect anyone inside," it added. Several other non-governmental organizations as well as Palestinians displaced by the war are based in the same area, it said. - Risk of famine - Israel is facing mounting pressure to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, whose entire population the United Nations has warned is at risk of famine. Medecins du Monde last month, after more than two months of a total blockade on Gaza, accused Israel of using hunger as "a weapon of war" in the Palestinian territory. Israel recently allowed some deliveries to resume through the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. But the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality. Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza's civil defense agency. It said Israeli forces killed 31 people waiting for aid early on Wednesday. The Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023 attacked Israel, resulting in the deaths of 1,219 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says the retaliatory Israeli military offensive has killed at least 54,981 people, the majority civilians. The United Nations considers these figures to be reliable. Out of 251 taken hostage during the Hamas attack, 54 are still held in Gaza including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
