Ukraine’s Odesa forced onto backup power after overnight Russian attack: Officials
Nina Liashonok/Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Life support facilities and critical infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa were forced onto backup power by overnight Russian strikes on energy targets, Ukrainian officials said early Sunday.
“The enemy continues to deliberately strike civilian infrastructure in the southern part of the Odesa region,” Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.
“Despite active air defense efforts, last night strike drones again damaged energy facilities, including a solar power plant,” Kiper added. “Fires that broke out were promptly extinguished by the State Emergency Service units. Fortunately, there were no casualties.”
“Resilience points have been deployed in the affected area,” Kiper wrote. “Life-support facilities and critical infrastructure have been switched to backup power.”
The Ukrainian Energy Ministry confirmed Kiper’s report, saying in social media posts that there was “a power outage” in Odesa as a result of Russian strikes.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched one ballistic missile and 176 drones into the country overnight, of which 139 drones were shot down or suppressed. Thirty-seven drones impacted across 14 locations, the air force said.
Moscow is intensifying its strikes against critical infrastructure — particularly energy targets — all across Ukraine coinciding with the onset of wintry weather, according to Ukrainian officials. Russian forces have targeted energy infrastructure throughout Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement on Sunday that Kyiv is working to enhance its air defenses in cooperation with Western partners. “We have prepared new strong agreements with Europe to significantly strengthen our air defense, our resilience and our diplomacy,” he wrote on Telegram.
The president also said his government is bolstering its energy grid and securing more natural gas supplies in response to Russian attacks.
“We already have agreements in place for financing gas imports — and we will cover nearly 2 billion euros needed for gas imports to compensate for the losses in Ukrainian production caused by Russian strikes,” Zelenskky said in a statement posted to the presidential office website.
Zelenskyy announced a new deal for gas imports from Greece and said Kyiv is working with European Union, American, Norwegian, Polish and Azerbaijani partners to secure more supplies and arrange financing for additional imports.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy said in a statement that the government’s “winter support elements” include the fixing of electricity and gas prices for households, financing of gas imports and the building of equipment reserves for repairs after Russian strikes.
IDF soldiers prepare tanks on August 18, 2025 near the Gaza Strip’s northern borders, Israel. On Monday it was reported that Hamas has agreed to the most recent ceasefire and hostage release proposal with Israel. Meanwhile, Israel has continued carrying out strikes in Gaza as part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand the IDF offensive to fully occupy the enclave. The move has been met with widespread condemnation by the international community, as well as hostage families, who s
(LONDON) — Recent satellite images taken over and around Gaza City point to preparations for the expanded military operation there and show signs that people sheltering there have already been displaced.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said on Wednesday that the force had begun “preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City,” adding that the IDF is in control of the city’s outskirts.
The spokesperson said that the operation, which is dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots II,” is necessary to dislodge Hamas from Gaza City. The IDF announced on Wednesday the call-up of up to 60,000 reservists in connection with its expanded Gaza operation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the IDF’s aim is to defeat Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held by the group.
In a new statement on Thursday, the IDF said it had warned medical officials and aid organizations operating in northern Gaza, including Gaza City, to prepare to evacuate the population there to the south.
It comes nearly two weeks after Israel’s security cabinet approved plans offered up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupy Gaza City amid growing international scrutiny over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
International aid organizations have already recorded the movement of civilians out of Gaza City. According to a report issued on Wednesday by the Site Management Cluster (SMC), recent Israeli military operations in Gaza City have prompted many there to depart.
An estimate from the SMC pointed to 16,831 “displacement movements” between Aug. 12 and Aug. 20, most of them from the east of Gaza City.
The Site Management Cluster is a joint humanitarian body that coordinates assistance for displaced people.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, U.N. human rights officials condemned the IDF’s escalation in Gaza City. The officials said in the report that at least 87 Palestinians had been reported killed in Gaza City since Aug. 8, including 25 children, a figure the officials said was likely an undercount due to the difficult circumstances on the ground.
Growing military presence
A Planet Labs satellite photo taken on Aug. 16 shows a new military presence on the eastern edge of Gaza City, two experts told ABC News.
Vanderbilt University professor Andres Gannon, a military technology expert, said the photo shows a range of vehicles including tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as lines of plowed earth for concealment or protection.
Tony Reeves, founder of the private intelligence firm MAIAR, said he counted over 30 armored vehicles in the image along with equipment like bulldozers, as well as earthworks which he said could be used for protection.
Reeves also identified a building surrounded by armored vehicles which he identified as a likely headquarters, as well as vehicles possibly used for communications with their own fortifications.
“You protect important things when spooling up for battle,” Reeves said.
In a satellite image taken over the same area on Aug. 9, the military vehicles and earthworks are not visible.
Tent camps dismantled
Another Planet Labs image taken on Aug. 9 shows a large block and two smaller clusters of tents some 2,300 feet from the likely military position.
In an image from Aug. 17, the tents appear to have been mostly dismantled and many of the buildings surrounding them flattened.
In an image taken on Aug. 9, another large cluster of tents is visible about 1 mile from the likely military site.
On Aug. 17, many of the tents were no longer visible.
Some buildings apparently demolished
In a satellite photo taken on Aug. 8, a large number of demolished buildings are seen surrounding some that are still standing, including one large U-shaped facility identified in data from UNICEF as the Dar Al-Arqam Secondary Boys Private School.
In an Aug. 16 image, many of the buildings visible in the above image, including the boys’ school, are no longer standing.
Asked about the apparent demolition of buildings in Gaza, the IDF told ABC News, “There is no IDF doctrine that aims causing maximal damage to civilian infrastructure regardless of military necessity. IDF actions are based on military necessity and with accordance to international law.”
In response to a request for comment on internal displacement in Gaza, the IDF directed ABC News to a map issued on July 27 advising Gaza to leave areas including the northern Gaza Strip and the east of Gaza City for their own safety.
(LONDON) — As the alarms sounded at the Louvre Museum on Sunday morning, four suspects took off on two motorbikes, winding their way through central Paris, allegedly carrying with them a haul of “priceless” jewelry once worn by queens and made of sapphire, diamonds and emeralds.
They haven’t yet been found.
About 24 hours after the brazen theft of some of the most recognizable pieces of glittering French heritage, which were taken during daylight hours from the world’s most-visited museum, a manhunt and investigation are in full swing, according to state and law enforcement officials.
“The theft committed at the Louvre is an attack on a heritage that we cherish because it is our history,” President Emmanuel Macron said on social media on Sunday.
He and other French officials vowed that the pieces would be returned and the suspects apprehended.
The museum closed on Sunday morning as police swarmed the area in search of suspects and evidence.
“Following yesterday’s robbery at the Louvre, the museum regrets to inform you that it will remain closed to the public today,” officials said on social media on Monday. “Visitors who have already booked tickets will be refunded.”
7 minutes, in and out, authorities say The suspects arrive in pairs, with two in a truck and two riding motorbikes, authorities said on Sunday. The truck was equipped with a moving ladder, a “mobile freight elevator” of the type city furniture movers sometimes use, Paris police said.
The suspects allegedly parked the truck on a road that runs along the side of the museum, near the Seine, police said.
They were wearing yellow vests, dressed as construction workers might be, police said. They took the time to secure the area near the truck by placing orange construction cones around it, police said.
They then used the ladder to get up to the second floor, climbing onto a thin balcony with a metal railing outside the museum’s Apollo Gallery, where some of the French crown jewels were kept, according to police.
Once they had used an angle grinder to open the window, they clambered through it, police said. Their entrance triggered the alarm, which was still sounding when they left, the museum said in a statement.
“Inside, they then smashed two display cases, ‘Napoleon jewels’ and ‘French crown jewels,’ using the angle grinder and stole numerous pieces of high-value jewelry,” police said.
When they left through the same window about seven minutes later, they had with them nine pieces of jewerly of “inestimable” value, as France’s interior minister described them on Sunday. Other officials, including Rachida Dati, the culture minister, described them to French media as “priceless.”
According to the French Ministry of Culture, among the items stolen was a diadem, or crown, from the collection of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense; an emerald necklace and a pair of emerald earrings from the collection of Marie-Louise, Napoleon’s second wife; and a large bow brooch from Empress Eugenie’s bodice.
The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said the perpetrators tried and failed to set fire to the mobile freight elevator they used in the heist before they fled the scene.
A ‘total’ investigation is underway Officials at the museum said in a statement that an investigation had been launched into the “organized theft and criminal conspiracy to commit a crime.”
The Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office, which will oversee the case, tapped a specialized group of detectives, the Brigade for the Suppression of Banditry, which is part of the French National Police, to lead the investigation, according to the Louvre’s statement.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris prosecutor, told a local TV station on Sunday that about 60 investigators were working on the case, showing “total determination” to find those responsible.
As of Monday morning, police had not yet said whether they had any leads on the possible identities of the suspects.
Officials said the suspects appeared to have been professionals. Beccuau on Sunday described it as an organized crime, saying officials hadn’t ruled out possible foreign involvement, but also that investigators were treating it as a domestic case at the moment.
“Everything is being done to apprehend the perpetrators of this unacceptable act as quickly as possible,” Laurent Nunez, the interior minister, said on Sunday.
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Jamaica early Tuesday afternoon as a Category 5 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph — the most powerful hurricane to strike the Caribbean island nation and one of the strongest on record in the Atlantic Basin.
The storm is anticipated to bring catastrophic winds, rain, flooding and storm surge to Jamaica, where residents and tourists are sheltering in place.
But the island is no stranger to dealing with destructive storms. Several hurricanes over the past several decades have struck Jamaica, causing fatalities and billions of dollars of damage.
Hurricane Beryl: July 3, 2024 Hurricane Beryl — the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season — battered Jamaica when it passed just south of the island as a Category 4 storm.
Beryl slammed the island with up with 130 mph winds, between 8 inches and 12 inches of rainfall and a storm surge that sent ocean water rushing into coastal areas, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm ripped roofs off of buildings and sent several feet of floodwater onto roadways in low-lying areas.
At least four people died in Jamaica as a result of the storm, three due to freshwater flooding and one due to rain, while more than 1,000 people were evacuated to shelters, according to officials.
In the aftermath of the storm, about 60% of the island was without electricity, and 20% of the population lacked access to clean water due to the storm’s impact on the piped water network, according to a situation report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Healthcare on the island was also compromised, with 82 healthcare facilities reporting major damage. Minor damage was reported at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.
Beryl’s damage was especially extensive in rural parts of Jamaica, where debris from destroyed homes littered the landscape and banana and coconut farms were severely damaged, according to the United Nations. An estimated 45,000 farmers were impacted, with $15.9 million in damage done to farming infrastructure that led to food shortages, according to the report.
The storm tallied about $995 million in damage to infrastructure, homes and in lost revenue, according to the National Hurricane Center. Beryl caused also caused a 1.1% drop in Jamaica’s GDP, according to the U.K.’s Centre for Disaster Protection.
Beryl was the strongest storm to hit Jamaica since Hurricane Dean in 2007, Rhea Pierre, disaster manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in the aftermath.
Hurricane Dean: Aug. 20, 2007 Hurricane Dean passed just south of Jamaica on Aug. 20, 2007, bringing powerful winds, heavy rains and storm surge to the region.
The storm was so strong that there are “few authoritative observations” for its passage over Jamaica because many of the instruments did not survive the storm, according to the NHC.
The weather station tower at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston was blown over the day before the storm passed the island, and numerous rain gouges were either blown over or washed away.
The highest rainfall report was 13.5 inches in Manchester Parish in West-Central Jamaica, according to the NHC.
The NHC estimates that Dean was a Category 3 hurricane when it impacted Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 111-129 mph, per the Saffir-Simpson scale. The most severe impacts were reported in the southeastern parishes of Clarendon, St. Catherine, Kingston and St. Andrew. About two-thirds of the homes that were completely destroyed or required major repairs were located in those parishes.
Agriculture was also significantly impacted, particularly the banana crops, according to the NHC.
Six people died in Jamaica as a result of Hurricane Dean, according to the University of West Indies.
The storm caused damage in all 13 of the island’s parishes, according to USAID. More than 3,120 homes were damaged, while a significant portion of the island’s farmland was also affected, with about 40% of the sugarcane crop, 75% of coffee trees and 100% of the banana crop impacted.
Hurricane Gilbert: Sept. 12, 1988
Before Melissa, Hurricane Gilbert was the strongest tropical cyclone on record to make landfall on Jamaica.
The massive storm made landfall on the island’s east coast near Kingston around 1 p.m. on Sept. 12, 1988, as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The eye of the hurricane traversed the entire island, with its winds weakening only to 125 mph by the time is exited Jamaica’s western coast several hours later. The storm triggered a massive storm surge, mudslides and heavy rains that caused inland flash flooding, according to the NWS.
At least 45 deaths were attributed to Gilbert, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The eye of the hurricane traversed the entire island, with its winds weakening only to 125 mph by the time is exited Jamaica’s western coast several hours later. The storm triggered a massive storm surge, mudslides and heavy rains that caused inland flash flooding, according to the NWS.
At least 45 deaths were attributed to Gilbert, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Gilbert damaged 40% of Jamaica’s agricultural fields and 95% of the island’s medical facilities, according to Hurricanes: Science and Society. Two of Jamaica’s hospitals were completely destroyed, while only two of those remaining escaped with minimal damage. In addition, about 50% of the island’s water supply was destroyed, including storage and distribution facilities.
More than 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, as were hundreds of miles of roads and highways, The New York Times reported at the time.
The destruction amounted to an estimated $4 billion in damages to crops, buildings, roads, homes and other infrastructure, according to Hurricanes: Science and Society.
Jamaica Prime Minister Edward P. G. Seaga described Hurricane Gilbert at the time as “the worst disaster in our modern history.”
Hurricane Charlie: Aug. 17, 1951 The center of Hurricane Charlie skirted the southern coast of Jamaica on the night of Aug. 17, 1951, before it made landfall early the next morning as a strong Category 3 storm, bringing destructive winds to the entirety of the island, according to the NHC. The strongest winds at Kingston were measured at 110 mph.
Heavy rainfall that lingered after the hurricane passed caused landslides across the island, according to the University of West Indies.
Charlie was the deadliest storm of the 20th century to impact Jamaica, resulting in more than 150 deaths on the island, according to the NHC. About 2,000 people were homeless in the storm’s aftermath.
The hurricane caused about $50 million in property and crop damage to the island, according to the NHC. Banana farms, coconut plantations and citrus groves perished in the storm.
Considerable damage was also done to shipping in the Kingston Harbor, with five large vessels pushed ashore, according to the University of West Indies.
