Month: September 2024

In one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the war began, two ballistic missiles blasted a military academy and nearby hospital Tuesday in Ukraine, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 200 others. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian military forces on Tuesday launched missile strikes in the city of Poltava, a city of under 300,000 citizens located in Poltava Oblast in the east-central part of the country (about 75 miles from the Russian border, in a region known to be a regular target of Russian missile or drone strikes).

Reuters reports that Poltava Gov. Filip Pronon announced that at least 50 people were killed and 271 wounded in the strike as Ukraine’s defense ministry said that the missile strike caught people as they tried to evacuate.The missiles struck the Poltava Military Institute of Communication’s main building, causing several stories to collapse. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel: “People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved. They targeted an educational institution, and a nearby hospital, partially destroying one of the telecommunications institute’s buildings.” Zelensky said “all necessary services” had been deployed to aid in the rescue operation, adding that he had ordered a “full and prompt investigation into all of the circumstances of what happened .. The Russian scum will surely pay for this strike.”

The Ukrainian defense ministry called the strike a ‘barbaric attack’ and added in a statement: “We express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims. This tragedy is yet another evidence of the enemy’s cunning, which stops at no crime to try to intimidate Ukrainians.”  The ministry added that emergency personnel managed to save 25 people, 11 of whom were trapped underneath the debris.

Ukraine’s land forces said military personnel had been killed: “the Land Forces Command is conducting an investigation to determine whether enough was done to protect the lives and health of the soldiers at the facility.” The strike followed Sunday’s airstrikes also by Russian military forces on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv which injured more than 40 people including five children.

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Federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed Tuesday that Linda Sun – a former top-level aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul – schemed to advance the interests of China while working in New York State government. Sun had worked directly for Hochul’s administration for roughly 15 months following Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2021 resignation from the governor’s office amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

The indictment charges Sun with failure to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors added that Sun’s husband, Christopher Hu, also allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars in kickbacks for personal gain. According to federal prosecutors from the Eastern District of New York and the FBI,  Sun, 40, and Hu, 41, were arrested at their home on Long Island’s North Short on Tuesday morning on unspecified charges, after the FBI had searched the Manhasset home in July.

Sun worked in state government for about 15 years before she was fired last year from her job as deputy commissioner for strategic business development at the New York State Department of Labor. She previously served as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff and in the administration of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. According to Hochul’s press secretary Avi Small, Sun was hired by the Executive Chamber more than a decade ago, before being fired last year. Small said in a statement to ABC News: “we terminated her employment in March 2023 after discovering evidence of misconduct, immediately reported her actions to law enforcement and have assisted law enforcement throughout this process.”

The indictment alleges that Sun blocked Taiwanese government officials from having access to high-level New York State officers, acting at the request of Chinese government officials and representatives of the Chinese Communist Party. According to the indictment, it is also alleged that Sun changed New York State officers’ messaging about China and arranged meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with New York State government officials. In return for these and other actions, Sun allegedly received economic and other benefits from China, including the facilitation of millions of dollars in transactions for the China-based business activities of Hu; travel benefits; tickets to events; promotion of a close family friend’s business; employment for Sun’s cousin in the PRC; and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by a PRC government official’s personal chef that were delivered to the residence of Sun’s parents.

United States Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement: “As alleged, while appearing to serve the people of New York as Deputy Chief of Staff within the New York State Executive Chamber, the defendant and her husband actually worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP. The illicit scheme enriched the defendant’s family to the tune of millions of dollars.”

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