All posts tagged: Sochi

Baby fighting for life as Putin drone blows off leg in Russian attack | World | News

Baby fighting for life as Putin drone blows off leg in Russian attack | World | News

A nine-month-old baby girl is fighting for her life today after her leg was blasted off in a brutal strike on Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s forces. A woman pensioner, 65, and a man were killed in the same “cynical” Russian attack on Volodymyr Zelensky’s home city, Kryvyi Rih. A total of eight civilians were killed and 11 wounded across the Dnipropetrovsk region in savage new strikes after Putin ended a three-day partial ceasefire. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih Military Administration, said: “A small child, a nine-month-old baby girl, had her leg torn off.” Mr Zelensky slammed the “cynical and utterly senseless Russian drone strike on a regular residential building in Kryvyi Rih. “Two elderly people are known to have died. Their nine-month-old granddaughter is in the hospital with serious injuries. “Our doctors are doing everything possible to save her life.” He called for support in tackling bloodthirsty Putin. “After the end of a partial three-day ceasefire, Russia continues to kill and maim Ukrainians,” he said. “Pressure on it should not be weakened in …

Putting a happy face on Sochi controversy: A technicolor opening ceremony

Putting a happy face on Sochi controversy: A technicolor opening ceremony

This afternoon, as I streamed the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics from the BBC’s website thanks to a handy bit of VPN-manipulating software, I began to devise a drinking game for those in the States patient enough to wait for it to air at prime time/happy hour on NBC (and for those doing so, spoilers follow!). The game goes like this: Take a sip every time a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet appears. Take three sips any time the word “troika” is mentioned. Take a shot every time a correspondent points out the presence of palm trees in Sochi — a double if he or she wisely submits that said trees should make competing athletes from island climes feel more at home. And take three shots of your stiffest vodka whenever a commentator watching the razzle-dazzle cavalcade of Russian history parading across the stage at Sochi’s Fisht Olympic Stadium awkwardly draws attention to the tragedy that underscores any moment of that history. Russia attempted to outshine previous years’ ceremonies by updating the traditional Parade …