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Russia says forces seize part of key Ukraine town of Chasiv Yar as deadly airstrikes continue
Kyiv — Russia said Wednesday its forces had captured a district in the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has been pressing for months. The claim from Moscow came just after Kyiv said Russian strikes on the industrial city of Dnipro had killed five people and wounded nearly three dozen more, including a 14-year-old girl.
The Russian defense ministry said its troops had “liberated” the Novy district of Chasiv Yar, but it was unclear if it was claiming its forces had crossed a canal which runs through the eastern part of the town.
The capture of Chasiv Yar — a prized military hub once home to some 12,000 people — would pave the way for Russian advances towards the last Ukrainian-controlled civilian centers in the Donetsk region.
Alina Smutko/REUTERS
Russia’s capture of the district was also reported by the DeepState military blog, which has links to the Ukrainian army. It said the area had been flattened by Russian bombardments, and that withdrawing was “a logical, albeit difficult decision.”
There was no immediate reaction from officials in Kyiv.
CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata was in Chasiv Yar in February, for the second time in the space of a few months, and even then he found it ravaged by artillery fire and defended by exhausted Ukrainian troops, who were pleading for help. On one bombed-out building, someone had spray painted a message: “We are not asking too much, we just need artillery shells and aviation — the rest we’ll do ourselves.”
It was written in English. Ukraine’s forces knew exactly who to aim both their dwindling bullets, and their words at.
“We are counting on our American partners to help us with weapons, so that our guys do not have to sacrifice their lives,” Reuben Sarukhanian, a soldier with Ukraine’s 5th Assault Brigade, told D’Agata at the time.
The Russian attack on Dnipro prompted Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call yet again on his Western partners to help bolster his country’s air defences and provide more long-range weapons to thwart Russian strikes.
“As of now, five people have been killed. My condolences to the families and friends. Thirty-four people were wounded, including a child,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media.
Russian forces have targeted Dnipro and the surrounding region persistently since they launched their full-scale invasion two and a half years ago.
The regional governor Sergiy Lysak described the attack as “vicious” and said a 14-year-old girl was among those wounded in the attack. Amateur video of the attack published by Ukrainian media showed a huge plume of black smoke rising over the city and drivers speeding from the scene.
Mykola Miakshykov/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty
Ukraine’s air force said its air defense systems had downed six drones and five of seven missiles that had targeting the region, mostly aimed at Dnipro.
“The world can protect lives, and it requires the determination of leaders, determination that can and must make it the norm to protect against terror again,” Zelenksyy said in his online post.
Dnipro had a pre-war population of around one million people and lies about 62 miles from the nearest point along the southern front line.
More than 40 people were killed in a Russian strike on Dnipro in January 2023, in one of the worst single aerial bombardments by Russian forces.
Separately, officials in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv said two civilians had been killed in overnight Russian attacks.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
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Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.