
B-52 crashed shortly after takeoff at Edwards air force base in southern California’s Mojave Desert, officials say
Eight people are presumed dead after a B-52 bomber crashed shortly after takeoff on Monday morning at a US air force base in California’s Mojave Desert, officials said.
“An Air Force B-52 Stratofortress carrying eight people on a routine test mission crashed today shortly after take-off at 11:20 a.m,” Edwards air force base said in a statement Monday afternoon. “Initial indications are that the crash was not survivable. Emergency response personnel are on scene, and officials are working to account for all personnel.”
Continue reading...Leaders urge Donald Trump to stand behind Ukraine and pressure Putin to negotiate; Russia allows sale of substandard fuel amid supply crisis. What we know on day 1,574
World leaders were lining up in support of Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the G7 summit began in France. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, vowed to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions, writes Alexandra Topping, and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine including enriched uranium for its nuclear power plants.
Summit host Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said as he prepared to meet with Donald Trump that he wanted the US to say “we are with you, we will continue to support Ukraine, and we will increase the pressure on Russia to achieve a meaningful negotiation … The right negotiation is one in which Ukraine and Russia are at the table, but with Europeans and Americans present as well.”
Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, expressed hope that “for the first time, a window can open for diplomacy” on ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. He added that he wanted to discuss this further with Trump. The US president, who arrived for the summit on Monday, said: “We had a very good conversation yesterday with President Zelenskyy and President Putin, and I think maybe we can do something there. I really do. I think they’re both open to it.”
A Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bomber plane of the type used to attack Ukraine crashed on Monday in Siberia’s Irkutsk region during a training flight, the Russian defence ministry said. The aircraft’s four-person crew ejected safely, the ministry said. The bombers are used to fire cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said two Russian drones “deliberately” targeted Kyiv’s monastery quarter in a mass overnight barrage that set the Unesco-listed Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra site ablaze and killed 11 across the country. Amid a chorus of international condemnation, Zelenskyy described the cathedral attack as “one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date” and urged G7 leaders meeting in France on Monday to take “decisive and substantive” action against Moscow. “More pressure on the aggressor and more support for Ukraine’s air defence, especially anti-ballistic capabilities,” the Ukrainian president said.
Continue reading...LOS ANGELES (ANP) - Bij het ongeluk met een bommenwerper in Los Angeles zijn mogelijk acht doden gevallen. De luchtmachtbasis Edwards, waar het toestel kort voor de crash vandaan was vertrokken, zegt er in een verklaring rekening mee te houden dat alle acht bemanningsleden zijn omgekomen, omdat het ongeluk "niet te overleven was".
De B-52, een langeafstandsbommenwerper, van het Amerikaanse leger stortte maandag neer tijdens een "routinemissie". Op beelden van CNN is een zwartgeblakerde plek bij de landingsbaan te zien, maar er is geen vliegtuigwrak op te onderscheiden.
De B-52 is volgens CNN een van de oudste vliegtuigen van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht. Het type toestel werd in de jaren 50 geïntroduceerd en kan ook nucleaire wapens dragen.
De VS zetten de bommenwerper onder meer in in Vietnam, de Golfoorlog, Irak, Afghanistan en recent nog Iran.
Het laatste fatale ongeluk met een B-52 van de Amerikaanse luchtmacht was in 2008, toen zes bemanningsleden omkwamen bij een crash in de Stille Oceaan.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Thomas Hawk posted a photo: