Russia sets new drone attack record in overnight Ukraine barrage
Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia launched a record-high 188 strike drones into Ukraine on Monday night and Tuesday morning, expanding its long-range campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure to coincide with the onset of winter.
Ukraine’s air force said on Telegram that it downed 76 drones. Another 95 were lost in flight — possibly due to jamming efforts — and five flew into Belarus.
Russia also fired four Iskander-M ballistic missiles as part of the assault, the air force said. None were shot down.
“Unfortunately, critical infrastructure objects have been hit, and private and multi-apartment buildings have been damaged in several regions due to a mass attack by UAVs,” the air force wrote.
Recent weeks have seen a clear intensification of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine, with the scale and regularity of such attacks on the rise. The previous largest attack of 145 drones occurred on Nov. 10.
As in previous winters, Russia is attacking critical energy infrastructure in a bid to deny Ukrainians power and warmth through the coming freezing months. Temperatures in Ukraine have already fallen below freezing and will remain low until early spring.
Monday night’s drone attack damaged energy infrastructure in the western city of Ternopil, Serhii Nadal — the head of the local regional defense body — said on Telegram.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, reported the downing of at least 39 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions on Monday night. The ministry reported no damage or casualties.
(LONDON) — Scientists have pinpointed a time frame in which Neanderthals began “mixing” with modern humans, based on the DNA of early inhabitants of Europe.
Analysis of the oldest-known genomes from early modern humans who lived in Europe indicates that the mixing occurred more recently than previous estimates, according to a paper published in Nature on Thursday.
The mixing likely occurred between 45,000 and 49,000 years ago — meaning the two genetically distinct groups overlapped on the European continent for at least 5,000 years, according to the paper.
Radiocarbon dating of bone fragments from Ranis, Germany, were shown to have 2.9% Neanderthal ancestry, which the authors believe occurred from a single mixing event common among all non-African individuals.
The mixing event likely occurred about 80 generations before those individuals lived, the researchers said.
The group from Ranis also represents the oldest-known family units, Arev Sumer, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and co-author of the paper, said during a news conference on Wednesday. Six individuals from the group were found to have a close kinship, including a mother and daughter.
The findings imply that the ancestors of all currently sequenced non-African early humans lived in a common population during this time, stretching from modern Great Britain to Poland, Johannes Krause, a biochemist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and co-author of the study, said during the news conference.
“This was rather surprising, because modern humans had just left Africa a few thousand years earlier and had reached this northern part of Europe where climatic conditions were rather cold — much colder than today,” Krause said. “It was the middle of the Ice Age.”
Groups of early humans previously studied in Europe showed very few cases of mixing between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, according to the paper.
The groups were represented by individuals from the Bacho Kiro region in Bulgaria and a woman named Zlaty kun from Czechia — believed to be part of the earliest population to diverge from the “Out-of-Africa” lineage, a small group of Homo sapiens that left the African continent about 80,000 years ago.
Within those two groups, the individuals from Bulgaria only suggest two mixing events with Neanderthals, while Zlaty kun’s lineage only suggests one mixing event, according to the paper.
Zlaty kun was found to have a fifth- or sixth-degree genetic relationship with two Ranis individuals, Sumer said, adding that the Ranis group was part of a small population that left no descendants among present-day people.
Neanderthals are believed to have become extinct about 40,000 years ago, Krause said.
The findings offer researchers a much more precise window of time in which the mixing occurred, as well as more insights into the demographics of early modern humans and the earliest Out-of-Africa migrations, according to the paper.
More research is needed to explore the events following the Out-of-Africa migration and the earliest movements of modern humans across Europe and Asia, Sumer said.
After being held by Hamas terrorists for 470 days, the first three hostages released on Sunday as part of the ceasefire deal were reunited with their mothers and airlifted to a hospital, according to Israeli officials.
The now-former captives — Romi Gonen, 24; Emily Damari, 28, and Doron Steinbrecher, 31 — were turned over by Hamas to the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of the ceasefire and hostage release deal that has been in the works for months.
“Today’s ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages is a result of a principled and effective policy that we’ve presided over for months,” President Joe Biden said in an address from the White House on Sunday. “And we got it — we got here without a wider war in the Middle East [that] many predicted.”
The first phase of the deal will see the release of 33 hostages being held in Gaza, dead and alive, starting with women, children and the elderly, officials said. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel will also be released in exchange for the hostages. Biden said that by the 16th day of the deal, talks will begin about the second phase of the agreement, which will include releasing remaining Israeli male hostages, civilians and soldiers.
Israel and Hamas reached a ceasefire deal on Wednesday, marking an end to more than 15 months of deadly conflict. The agreement was announced in Doha, Qatar, after months of negotiations between Israel and Hamas were mediated by facilitators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar. It was approved by the Israeli Cabinet on Friday.
Here’s what we know about the freed hostages so far:
Romi Gonen, 24
Gonen was kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, from the Nova music festival that was attacked by Hamas terrorists, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters.
Gonen, of Kfar Vradim in northern Israel, is known for her love of dancing, traveling and enjoying life, according to the organization. One of five children of Meirav and Eitan Gonen, Romi Gonen was described by the organization as energetic, funny, family-oriented and full of life.
Doron Steinbrecher, 31
Steinbrecher is a veterinary nurse who has cared for animals since childhood when she helped at the school’s petting zoo, the organization said. She loves sports and was known to jog every Saturday morning around her kibbutz, according to the group. Her family described her as a devoted aunt, who is beloved by her nephews. Her parents are Roni and Simona, and she has one sister, Yamit, and a brother, Dor.
Steinbrecher is an Israeli-Romanian dual national who turned 31 in captivity, officials said.
Steinbrecher and Damari were both captured on Oct. 7 by Hamas militants who attacked their Kfar Aza kibbutz close to the Gaza border.
Emily Damari, 28
Damari is a British citizen who was living at the Kfar Aza kibbutz. Her friends describe her as well-loved and popular, a friend to everyone, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters. The organization said Damari enjoys barbecuing and karaoke nights, and loves hats.
Damari was also a central figure in the local Kfar Aza youth community and was praised for always being there for her friends, the group said.
Damari was kidnapped from her home along with Steinbrecher and two other friends, Gali and Ziv Berman, who remain in captivity, the organization said.
In over a year of war between Israel and Hamas, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza and almost 110,000 injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. That figure does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, more than 14,000 children and 8,000 women have been killed, according to the health ministry.
The Israel Defense Forces said they have killed more than 15,000 combatants throughout the course of the war, which was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel. More than 1,200 people were killed and another 253 were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities.
During a weeklong ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in late November 2023, Hamas freed more than 100 people. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Several hostages in Gaza have also been freed in the months since, while the bodies of others have been recovered.
The release of three American-Israeli hostages who are alive will be included in the ceasefire agreement, though in two different phases, a senior White House official told reporters on Wednesday.
Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, and Keith Siegel, 65, are both expected to be released, with Sigel qualifying for release due to age, and Dekel-Chen qualifying because of injury, according to the official, who said Dekel-Chen was shot on Oct. 7, 2023, when the conflict began with a terrorist attack by Hamas in southern Israel.
Edan Alexander, 20, will be in the second phase of releases because of his service with the IDF, according to the official. The official said he spoke with Alexander’s father recently and that the U.S. remains fully committed to getting him released.
“We are committed to getting all Americans, these are American-Israeli citizens, all of them out of Gaza, whether living or remains. That is our commitment,” the official said.
Following the ceasefire announcement last week, Biden released a statement noting how American citizens held hostage by Hamas will be included in the ceasefire release agreement.
“This deal will halt the fighting in Gaza, surge much-needed humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians and reunite the hostages with their families after more than 15 months in captivity,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden said he is determined to bring seven American hostages home, three of whom are believed to be alive, he said.
Hostages with American citizenship who have died and whose bodies are believed to remain with Hamas include Itay Chen, 19; Omer Neutra, 22, and married couple Judith Weinstein, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 73.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Former Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday made his first official statement since being topped by a rebel offensive and fleeing the country for Russia, declaring that he left Syria after a Russian request to do so.
“My departure from Syria was neither planned nor did it occur in the final hours of the battles,” Assad said in a statement posted to the presidency’s official Telegram channel.
“As terrorist forces infiltrated Damascus, I moved to Latakia in coordination with our Russian allies to oversee combat operations,” Assad said.
“Upon arrival at the Khmeimim air base that morning, it became clear that our forces had completely withdrawn from all battle lines and that the last army positions had fallen,” the statement continued.
“As the field situation in the area continued to deteriorate, the Russian military base itself came under intensified attack by drone strikes. With no viable means of leaving the base, Moscow requested that the base’s command arrange an immediate evacuation to Russia.”
“This took place a day after the fall of Damascus, following the collapse of the final military positions and the resulting paralysis of all state institutions,” Assad said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
