The United States government said it is spending more than US$7 million ($11 million) a year to maintain a superyacht it seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch.
US prosecutors on Friday, February 9, 2024 urged a New York court to let the government auction the huge vessel over the "excessive" costs, reports Reuters.
In June 2022, FBI agents took control of the $460 million Amadea and sailed it back to American waters after it docked in Fiji.
The 106-metre-long vessel, about the length of a football field, features a live lobster tank, a hand-painted piano, a swimming pool and a large helipad.
The FBI has linked the Amadea to the Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov who is under sanctions designed to pressure the Kremlin to end the Ukraine war.
But efforts to auction the yacht are being challenged by another Russian billionaire - Eduard Khudainatov - who claims ownership. He is not under sanctions by the US government.
Russian forces launched 45 drones over Ukraine on Sunday, February 11 in a five-and-a-half-hour barrage, officials said.
In a statement, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 40 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones over nine different regions, including on the outskirts of the country's capital, Kyiv.
The attack targeted agricultural facilities and coastal infrastructure, officials for Ukraine's southern defence forces wrote on Telegram.
On Saturday, February 10, seven people including three children were killed in the Russian drone attack, said the city administration.
Officials said at least 10 drones were launched at the north-east city of Kharkiv, eight of which were shot down.
Civilian infrastructure in the Nemyshlyan district of the city was hit, causing a massive fire that burned down 15 private houses. An oil depot was also hit in Kharkiv, causing the fuel to leak out, which prompted the fire.
Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the National Police, cited a local Kharkiv resident as seeing "a true hell: first the fuel flowed, then everything caught fire."
Bolvinov said a family of five, including three children, burned alive, trapped in their house as the fire raged.
In other news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued the reshuffle of his war cabinet in a bid to maintain momentum against attacking Russian forces.
Kyiv announced on Sunday, February 11, that former deputy defence minister Lieutenant-General Alexander Pavlyuk would become the new commander of Ukraine's ground forces.
The post was previously held by Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, pictured, who was named last Thursday as the replacement for Ukraine's outgoing military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Children in Ukraine have wishes beyond just toys this holiday season, as Russia continues to target cities and towns with drones and missiles.
Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure have escalated over the past month, a winter uptick that has severely impacted kids.
Solomiya, 11, has one wish from St. Nicholas this year: peace.
Five-year-old Maks wants victory for Christmas.
His letter is simple and short: "Dear Nicholas, bring us victory"
His mother says Maks picked up his strong patriotism and the importance of Ukraine's victory from overhearing adult conversations.
The family left Kyiv for western Ukraine when the war started.
He left his letter for St. Nicholas on the windowsill of their temporary new home.
Anastasia, 10, and her family escaped from their hometown in Ukraine's occupied Kherson region nearly two months ago.
Under Russian occupation, the family was forced to change their Ukrainian IDs to Russian ones.
Volunteers helped the family leave for Ukrainian-controlled territories.
They are currently living in a rehabilitation center in Kyiv, where Anastasia is engaged in art therapy to help her cope with everything she has been through.
She asked for fluffy ear warmers.
Artem, 7, and Tymofii, 6, are brothers who left with their family for Munich 18 months ago because of Russia's full-scale invasion.
In their short notes to St. Nicholas, the boys listed the most valuable things for them: "Peace, health, and a blooming Ukraine" for Artem and "peace, family, Ukraine, dad, God" for Tymofii.
A sanctioned Russian arms supplier displayed an attack helicopter flown in its war on Ukraine at the Dubai Air Show, on November 15.
Russian pilots sat inside a KA-52 attack helicopter as it was pulled down the runway at Al Maktoum International Airport.
Those helicopters have been repeatedly used in Ukraine and its manufacturer, Russian Helicopters, is sanctioned by the US government.
Other aircraft from the Russian company were also on display, such as this KA-32 helicopter.
Russian money continues to flood into Dubai's red-hot real estate market, in part by some who have fled Moscow over the war.
Inside a Russian pavilion on the runway, far away from the indoor stands of other airlines and suppliers, onlookers picked up and racked an AK-19 assault rifle on display.
Others look at miniature drones and other equipment used by Moscow.
Russian pilots associated with the manufacturer walked the halls of the inside displays in their flight suits.
This Russian Ilyushin Il-76 was also displayed at at Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest.
Daily flights between the Emirates and Moscow provide a lifeline for both those fleeing conscription and the Russian elite.
The US Treasury has expressed concerns about the amount of Russian cash flowing into the Arabian Peninsula country.
- Associated Press
Satellite photographs have shown the damage to a headquarters building for the Russian Black Sea fleet in the naval base of Sevastopol in Russian-controlled Crimea, after it was struck by Ukrainian missiles.
Ukraine's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, told Voice of America that at least nine people were killed and 16 others wounded as a result of Kyiv's attack on the Black Sea Fleet last Friday.
He claimed that Alexander Romanchuk, a Russian general commanding forces along the key southeastern front line, was "in a very serious condition" following the attack.
Ukraine's military also said the air force conducted 12 strikes on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters, targeting areas where personnel, military equipment and weapons were concentrated.
It said that two anti-aircraft missile systems and four Russian artillery units were hit.
This photo taken from video shows smoke rising over the headquarters building.
Sevastopol, the main base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet since the 19th century, has had a particular importance for navy operations since the start of the war in February 2022.
Earlier in September, the Russian-installed authorities in Crimea accused Ukraine of attacking a strategic shipyard in Sevastopol, damaging two ships undergoing repairs and causing a fire at the facility.
Russia's Defence Ministry said Ukraine launched 10 cruise missiles at the shipyard.
As the war in Ukraine rages on, Ukrainian forces have turned to a new kind of weapon to frustrate Russian forces.
They are created with one single aim in mind: to be destroyed as quickly as possible.
And in that, the steelworks company behind them boasts, these decoy weapons are remarkably successful: hundreds have been targeted by Russian forces almost as soon as they were deployed.
The aim, says the spokesman, is twofold: to save Ukrainian lives and to trick Russians into squandering their own, very expensive, kamikaze drones, shells and missiles.