World
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 754
As the war enters its 754th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.
Fighting
- Ukrainian air defence systems shot down 17 out of 22 Russian Shahed drones that targeted nine Ukrainian regions. The attack triggered a fire in a residential building in the central city of Kryvyi Rih, but emergency services were able to evacuate residents and disable the drone’s payload before it blew up. Russia also fired seven missiles at northeastern Ukraine, including the Sumy region.
- Authorities said the intensity of ground and air attacks on the Sumy region had increased since the start of the year. The regional government said the area had been struck more than 3,000 times, compared with a total of some 8,000 strikes in 2023. The number of aerial bomb attacks had tripled and Russian saboteurs were highly active, officials said.
- Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, said four people were killed after Ukrainian shelling hit a house in the village of Nikolskoye.
- Ukrainian Presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak told the Reuters news agency that Russian President Vladimir Putin planned to escalate the war after the Russian leader suggested a “security zone” be established in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region to “protect” Russian territory.
Politics and diplomacy
- China, India and North Korea congratulated Putin on securing a further six-year term after the Kremlin said the long-time leader got 87 percent of the vote. The election, which was also organised in four Ukrainian territories that Russia partly occupies and claims to have annexed, was condemned by Ukraine and its European allies as “illegal” and “undemocratic”.
- Putin appeared briefly in front of a flag-waving crowd at an open-air concert on Red Square to mark the 10th anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. The annexation of the Black Sea peninsula has been condemned as illegal by most countries at the United Nations.
- Russia’s state news agency TASS reported the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a 24-year-old Russian woman in Crimea who was allegedly attempting to sabotage rail infrastructure bringing military equipment to the front line in Ukraine.
- US Senator Lindsey Graham visited Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The two discussed the $60bn military aid package for Ukraine that is being held up by Republicans in the United States Congress. Zelenskyy said the package’s approval was “critically important”. Graham suggested that aid in the form of a no-interest loan might get more support.
Weapons
- South Korea’s Defence Minister Shin Won-sik told reporters that North Korea had shipped about 7,000 containers of weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine since the transfers began last July. Some had been sent by sea and others by rail as a result of UN sanctions on both countries, Shin added.
- The Council of the European Union ratified an agreement to increase the EU’s support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces by 5 billion euros ($5.44 billion) through a dedicated assistance fund.
- During a visit to Warsaw, Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany and Poland planned to work jointly on producing more ammunition for Ukraine. He did not go into detail.
World
Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more
Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25.
The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico.
On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January.
The Christmas season in Puerto Rico typically lasts around 45 days. (iStock)
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The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families.
One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations.
In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner.
Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple.
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Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with.
In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence.
Coquito is a popular beverage enjoyed during the holiday season in Puerto Rico. Coconut, vanilla and rum are among the ingredients. (Mayra Beltran/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
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A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source.
The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before.
In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast.
Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo.
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After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico.
Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico.
On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com.
For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
Gifts are primarily exchanged between loved ones on Christmas Eve in Puerto Rico. (iStock)
Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season.
The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.
This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades.
Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.
A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.
The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.
Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.
Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.
“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.
“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”
Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.
The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.
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