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Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,124

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,124

These are the key developments on day 1,124 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Here is the roundup of key events on Monday, March 24. Fighting Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed 97 of 147 Russian drones in an overnight attack on multiple Ukrainian regions. A further 25 drones were reportedly “lost” due to electronic warfare. Russian news agency Interfax reported Russia’s Defence Ministry as saying its forces captured the village of Sribne in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russian attacks on the Donetsk region killed four people, including three who were killed in a strike on Dobropillia, a town on the front lines of the war. At least one person was killed and several injured in an explosion at a police station in the Odesa region, southern Ukraine, local media reported. Witness statements cited in the reports said the explosion was caused by a woman who walked into the building with an explosive device in a plastic bag. Russia launched its third consecutive overnight attack on Kyiv, wounding a 37-year-old man and damaging several houses, Kyiv’s regional Governor Mykola Kalashnyk said. The man sustained injuries to his upper body and head from shrapnel and was later hospitalised, Kalashnyk added. In a separate attack in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, a 54-year-old woman was injured and several multistorey buildings were damaged, the region’s administration said. Advertisement Politics and diplomacy Steve Witkoff, United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, told Fox News that he does not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to invade Europe. “I just don’t see that he wants to take all of Europe. I take him at his word in this sense,” Witkoff said. Zelenskyy said Putin should be pressured to end his three-year invasion of Ukraine. “No matter what we talk about with our partners, we need to push Putin to give a real order to stop the strikes: The one who brought this war must take it away,” he said in a social media post. Ukrainian and US officials met in Saudi Arabia to discuss a partial ceasefire amid warnings by Moscow that negotiations would be “difficult” despite Washington’s hopes for “real progress”. Ukraine’s Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said the delegations were “working through a number of complex technical issues” but described the negotiations as “productive and focused”. He also said the discussions included proposals to protect Ukraine’s energy facilities and critical infrastructure. “We addressed key points including energy,” Umerov wrote on X, reiterating that the goal was a “just and lasting peace”. The Reuters news agency reported that the US delegation plans to seek progress towards a Black Sea ceasefire and a broader halt to violence when Washington sits down with Moscow in Saudi Arabia on Monday. Adblock test (Why?)

Hollywood takes shots at Trump while celebrating Conan O’Brien amid Kennedy Center shake-up

Hollywood takes shots at Trump while celebrating Conan O’Brien amid Kennedy Center shake-up

Members of Hollywood took shots at President Donald Trump on Sunday while gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to honor television host and comedian Conan O’Brien, weeks after Trump unveiled sweeping changes to the structure of the Kennedy Center.  Trump, who removed the Kennedy Center’s leadership in February, is now serving as the Kennedy Center Board Chair. New members on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees include second lady Usha Vance, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.  Comedian Sarah Silverman took aim at Trump several times on Sunday at the Mark Twain event, specifically citing a 2016 appearance of hers on Conan on TBS where she dressed up as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “They wrote a bit where Conan interviews Hitler, who comes on because he’s embarrassed that he’s being compared to Donald Trump,” Silverman said.  “I am actually not an obvious choice for Hitler. I mean, I am an obvious choice for Hitler,” said Silverman, who is Jewish. “Not an obvious choice to play Hitler. But they chose me, and it’s this way of thinking that makes Conan great again. I just really miss the days when you were America’s only orange a–hole.”  ‘HAMILTON’ STAR PUT ON NOTICE BY TRUMP’S KENNEDY CENTER PRESIDENT AFTER ANTI-GOP ‘PUBLICITY STUNT’ Silverman also recalled when she took a sideways photo of O’Brien’s mouth, and placed the image on her phone between her legs during an appearance on Conan in 2012, prompting TBS to censor the image because of its resemblance to female genitalia. She then instructed the audience to look under their seat, where they would find a copy of the image of O’Brien’s pursed lips.  “You can go ahead and leave those photos on your seat when you go – the guy who took over loves grabbing pussy,” Silverman said, a reference to the leaked Access Hollywood tape where Trump bragged about kissing and groping women due to his fame.  The tape, originally filmed in 2005, leaked ahead of the 2016 election. Silverman wasn’t the only comedian to poke fun at Washington at the ceremony. John Mulaney also directly referenced Trump’s Kennedy Center shake-up, joking that the president would rename the building after Roy Cohn, Republican Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel who supported the Wisconsin senator investigating suspected communists. Cohn also had ties to Trump, and served as an attorney for Trump in the 1970s and 1980s.  “It’s an honor to be here at the Kennedy Center, or as it will be known next week, the Roy Cohn Pavilion for Big, Strong Men Who Love Cats,” Mulaney said.  Comedian Will Ferrell, who previously won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2011, also took a jab at Trump’s executive order on Thursday to upend the Department of Education.  “I don’t have time for this. You know what I’m supposed to be doing right now?” Ferrell said. “Do you have any idea? I’m supposed to be shutting down the Department of Education.”  Comedian Nikki Glaser, who hosted the Golden Globes in January, told reporters on the red carpet it would be “insane” to not address Trump’s shake-up at the event, while also remembering that the purpose of the night was to celebrate O’Brien.  KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP WILL USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARTS’ UNDER TRUMP, RIC GRENELL PREVIEWS “I think it’s insane not to address the elephant in the room. And it’s like, it’s insane comedically, to not do that, because it’s, it’s right there,” Glaser said.  Glaser said the current political atmosphere provides comedians with an opportunity to seize a “rebellious moment.”  “It’s an easy laugh to just say anything about it, but also you get to say something and have a little bit of a rebellious moment, which is always a fun thing to work in,” Glaser told reporters on the red carpet. “But I’m not going to make a meal of it…that’s not what it’s about.”  Glaser also told reporters she previously didn’t want to discuss politics because she didn’t want to alienate any audience members, and while she is more inclined to do so now, she’s concerned about death threats and being doxxed.  O’Brien also addressed the Kennedy Center’s shake-up, and thanked the Kennedy Center’s former president Deborah Rutter and chairman David Rubenstein, as well as other staff members “who are worried about what the future might bring.”  “Thanks to my people who invited me here a few months ago: Deborah Rutter and David Rubenstein,” O’Brien said.  O’Brien also paid homage to author Mark Twain, whom the award is named after, claiming that “Twain was a patriot in the best sense of the world.”  KENNEDY CENTER SHAKE-UP WILL USHER IN ‘GOLDEN AGE OF THE ARTS’ UNDER TRUMP, RIC GRENELL PREVIEWS “He loved America, but knew it was deeply flawed,” O’Brien said. “Twain wrote, patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it.”  O’Brien, who hosted the Oscars this month and is slated to host the event next year as well, told reporters on the red carpet that his material for next year’s awards will depend on current events, and that ideas for content are always changing leading up to such events.  “I could no more tell you what next year’s Oscars would be now than I could three months out of it, you know, nine months from now,” O’Brien said.  Other comedians who’ve won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor include Ferrell, Tina Fey, Dave Chappelle, Ellen DeGeneres, Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart.  Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report. 

Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills Hamas leader, teen, officials say

Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills Hamas leader, teen, officials say

An Israeli air strike on a hospital in southern Gaza has killed at least two people, including a senior Hamas official and a 16-year-old boy, Hamas and health officials have said. Ismail Barhoum, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, was killed while undergoing treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis late on Sunday, Hamas said in a statement. “We condemn this latest crime, which adds to the occupation’s long record of terrorism, violating sanctities, lives and medical facilities,” the Palestinian armed group said in a statement. “It reaffirms its disregard for all international laws and conventions and its continued policy of systematic killing against our people and leadership.” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz confirmed that Barhoum had been the target of the attack. Israel’s military said the attack had been carried out with “precise munitions in order to mitigate harm”, following an “extensive intelligence-gathering process”. “Hamas exploits civilian infrastructure while brutally endangering the Gazan population – cynically using an active hospital as a shelter for planning and executing murderous terrorist attacks in a direct violation of international law,” the military said in a statement. Advertisement Barhoum’s assassination came just hours after Hamas said Israeli forces had killed Salah al-Bardawil, another member of the group’s political bureau, along with his wife, in a strike on a tent shelter in Khan Younis. Israel has killed four members of Hamas’s political bureau since Tuesday, when its forces resumed major military operations in the enclave following a weeks-long impasse over the next stage of its ceasefire with Hamas. Footage from outside Nasser Hospital showed a fireball exploding from the building’s upper floors as an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Rami Abu Taima was preparing to do a live broadcast at the scene. Reporting from Gaza’s Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said at least eight other Palestinians were wounded in the attack, all of whom had been receiving treatment for previous injuries. Khoudary said doctors at the hospital reported spending hours putting out fires in the department targeted in the attack. “Hospitals across the Gaza Strip are overwhelmed. There are no medical supplies or medicine as the Israeli forces continue to close the border crossing for 21 days now,” Khoudary said. “The situation is also escalating in different parts of the Gaza Strip, especially Beit Layhia in the north and Rafah in the southern parts of the Gaza Strip.” Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon volunteering at Nasser Hospital, said the 16-year-old boy killed in the attack was one of his patients. “I operated on him. I believe on March 18, I did an abdominal operation. He probably would have gone home tomorrow, but now he’s dead,” Sidhwa told Al Jazeera. Advertisement Sidhwa said the surgical ward for male patients had been destroyed and would need to be completely rebuilt. “The whole hospital smells like smoke now,” he said. “The [ward’s] entire electrical system was destroyed. Every door was blown off its hinges. Most of the windows were shattered. The ceiling has collapsed. It’s completely unusable. It’s going to have to be torn out and redone.” Sidhwa criticised Israeli forces for targeting the hospital. “Benjamin Netanyahu has been ill recently. Well, he stands accused of genocide. Nobody thinks Hamas can bomb a hospital because Benjamin Netanyahu happens to go there. That’s crazy,” Sidhwa said. “That’s completely insane. You don’t bomb hospitals. Everybody knows that.” Israeli forces have killed more than 600 people since resuming their assault on the enclave, including dozens within the last 24 hours, according to Palestinian health officials. On Sunday, the official death toll in Gaza since the start of the war topped 50,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, a figure that many experts believe is likely an undercount of the true number. Adblock test (Why?)