The 🇷🇺 Russian Ministry of Defense announced that a 🇺🇦 Ukrainian reconnaissance ship, Simferopol, was sunk in the Danube estuary by a Russian unmanned surface vessel (USV).
Ukrainian Navy's reconnaissance ship Simferopol, which was reportedly the largest ship commissioned by the country in over a decade, has been hit and sunk in a naval drone strike, the Russian Defence Ministry announced on Thursday.
According to the ministry’s statement, a high-speed unmanned boat was used to strike the Simferopol, a medium reconnaissance vessel of the Ukrainian Navy. As a result of the attack, the Ukrainian ship went down.
Military analysts noted that this incident marked the first major success in the use of Russian naval kamikaze drones against a large Ukrainian ship since the beginning of the special military operation.
The Simferopol, with a displacement of 1,220 tons, was converted in 2019 from a former trawler. Its reconnaissance suite was built around the Melkhior electronic intelligence station.
Among the likely additional systems on board were wideband direction-finding antennas supplied by Rohde & Schwarz, which Ukraine imported in May 2019. Until now, the ship had been officially listed as still undergoing factory trials.
🇺🇸 A shooter opened fire with a rifle Wednesday through the windows of a Catholic church in Minneapolis and struck some of the nearly 200 children celebrating Mass during the first week of school, killing two and wounding 17 people in an act of violence the police chief called “absolutely incomprehensible.”
Armed with a rifle, shotgun and pistol, 23-year-old Robin Westman approached the side of the church and shot dozens of rounds through the windows toward the children sitting in the pews during Mass at the Annunciation Catholic School just before 8:30 a.m., Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said at news conferences. He said the shooter then died by suicide.
The children who died were 8 and 10. Fourteen other kids and three octogenarian parishioners were wounded but expected to survive, the chief said.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds prayed, wiped away tears and held each other during a packed vigil at a nearby school’s gym where Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, along with Catholic clergy, joined the mourners.
Archbishop Bernard Hebda talked about the inscription at the front of the Annunciation Church that reads: “House of God and the gate of heaven.”
“How is it that such a terrible tragedy could take place in a place that’s the house of God and the gate of heaven?” he asked. “It’s unthinkable.”
Fifth-grader Weston Halsne told reporters he ducked for the pews, covering his head, shielded by a friend who was lying on top of him. His friend was hit, he said.
“I was super scared for him, but I think now he’s okay,” the 10-year-old said, adding that he was praying for the other hospitalized children and adults.
A 23-year-old 🇺🇦 Ukrainian refugee who recently fled her war-torn home for a safer life in the 🇺🇸 US was stabbed to death by a homeless career criminal at a North Carolina train station last week, according to family members and authorities.
Iryna Zarutska suffered multiple stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the East/West Boulevard light rail station in South End, Charlotte just before 10 p.m. Friday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Saturday.
Zarutska had “recently arrived in the United States, seeking safety from the war and hoping for a new beginning,” according to a GoFundMe page set up to fundraise for the young woman’s aunt and other family members during the “heartbreaking time.”
“Tragically, her life was cut short far too soon… This is an irreparable loss for her family,” the statement read.
Photos taken by local outlet WSOC-TV showed police tape cordoning off the platform and a train at the light rail station that night. Police have yet to confirm if the stabbing took place on the train, platform, or nearby, according to the Charlotte Observer.
Decarlos Brown Jr., 34, was identified as the suspect and transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Friday night. He has since been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, cops said.
Brown has been arrested a slew of times since 2011 for felony larceny, robbery with a dangerous weapon, and communicating threats, according to court records obtained by The Post.
He is homeless and served five years in prison for the robbery with a deadly weapon charge, according to WSOC-TV.
🇺🇸 US President Donald Trump has made four attempts to speak with 🇮🇳 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the phone in the past weeks but the latter did not take the calls, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported, citing sources.
The paper points out that earlier, Trump shocked India by imposing the country with 25% tariffs and calling it a "dead economy."
"There are signs indicating that Modi felt insulted," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes, adding that Modi’s unwillingness to hold a phone conversation with Trump demonstrates the extent to which the Indian premier was irritated by what the US president had done, TASS reported.
The newspaper also notes that the way Trump is perceived in India has considerably changed, particularly due to his statements about plans to boost relations with Pakistan.
India and the United States launched talks on a large-scale trade agreement in February, following Modi’s visit to Washington. The two countries seek to increase annual trade to $500 billion by 2030.
The document was expected to be signed in the fall. India’s delegation made several trips to Washington to hold talks on the document; a US delegation’s visit to India for the sixth round of talks, set for August 25, was canceled.
On August 6, the US raised tariffs on Indian goods by 25% to 50%, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products.
Trump criticized the South Asian nation for having always purchased the bulk of defense equipment from Russia and being the largest buyer of Russian energy, alongside China.
The Indian Foreign Ministry condemned criticism from the US and the EU over Russian oil imports as unjustified. The increased tariffs are set to take effect on August 27.
Foreign Affairs › Re: Russia Sinks Ukraine's Largest Ship Using Sea Drones, Crew Members Killed (Pics) by Kaliningrad(op): 7:37am On Aug 29, 2025
