Day: July 22, 2026

The images, published by the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, show large fires burning at Wildberries warehouses in Nevinnomyssk and Krasnodar after strikes that triggered significant blazes at both facilities, News.Az reports, citing RBC-Ukraine.

The first satellite images have emerged following drone attacks on Wildberries logistics centers in Russia’s Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk pic.twitter.com/9r7OqRo2Ze

— RBC-Ukraine (@NewsUkraineRBC) July 22, 2026

One satellite image, taken at 11:05 a.m. local time, shows thick smoke and active flames consuming the Wildberries logistics center in Nevinnomyssk, located in Russia’s Stavropol region.

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Additional satellite imagery from Krasnodar also shows a large fire at another Wildberries distribution hub, highlighting the scale of the damage following the reported drone strike.

According to the published imagery, the blaze in Krasnodar appears to have extended beyond the logistics center, with signs suggesting nearby railcars at the Krasnodar-Sortirovochny railway station may also have been affected.

Cloud cover over the area has made it difficult to fully assess the extent of the destruction, and the overall damage has not yet been independently verified.

The satellite images follow overnight attacks on July 22 that targeted two major Wildberries logistics centers.

The first strike hit the company’s warehouse in Krasnodar, sparking a massive fire. Hours later, another drone attack struck a large Wildberries logistics facility in Nevinnomyssk, where firefighters also battled a major blaze.

The attacks underscore the increasing vulnerability of Russia’s logistics and commercial infrastructure as long-range drone strikes continue to reach targets deep inside the country.

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According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, reports of Instagram issues began climbing sharply at around 6:30 a.m., with complaints quickly exceeding 2,000 before peaking at roughly 4,000, News.Az reports, citing Tomsguide.

User reports suggested that Instagram’s Direct Messages (DMs) were the primary feature affected during the outage, with many saying messages failed to send or were not delivered.

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The messaging issues appeared to last for approximately two hours before reports began declining.

While Instagram accounted for the vast majority of complaints, smaller spikes were also reported for other Meta-owned platforms.

Downdetector recorded several hundred reports involving Messenger and Facebook, although neither service experienced disruptions on the same scale as Instagram.

The simultaneous increase led some users to speculate that the problems were linked to Meta’s messaging infrastructure.

Despite the widespread reports, Meta did not publicly acknowledge the incident on its official status page during the disruption.

By the time reports subsided, the service appeared to be recovering, with most users regaining access to Instagram’s messaging features.

The incident marks another reminder of how outages affecting major social media platforms can quickly disrupt communication for millions of users worldwide.

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According to Reuters, citing three grain industry sources, authorities have temporarily banned vessels from entering or leaving the port of Novorossiysk between midnight and 5 a.m. local time because of the threat of Ukrainian drone strikes, News.Az reports, citing RBC-Ukraine.

The sources said the order was delivered verbally, with no formal government document issued, while the port continues operating normally during daytime hours. Grain exports have not been affected by the overnight restrictions, they added.

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Novorossiysk is Russia’s busiest port by cargo volume and handles roughly one-third of the country’s grain exports. It also serves as a major hub for oil shipments, metals and containerized cargo.

The reported nighttime restrictions follow earlier limits on vessel traffic in the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, reflecting growing efforts by Moscow to protect critical maritime infrastructure from increasingly frequent Ukrainian drone attacks.

On July 21, Russian authorities also prohibited ships from docking in areas without air defense protection at the ports of Azov and Kavkaz, further tightening security around key export routes.

Novorossiysk is expected to receive additional grain shipments redirected from ports in the Sea of Azov, making its uninterrupted operation increasingly important for Russian exports.

Following reports of the nighttime shipping restrictions, September wheat futures on the Euronext exchange climbed 4.5%, highlighting market concerns over potential disruptions to grain supplies.

The Black Sea port has repeatedly been targeted during the war.

In April, a nighttime Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a Transneft facility in Novorossiysk that services some of Russia’s largest oil tankers.

The latest restrictions come as Russia’s average monthly oil exports have fallen to their lowest level in eight months, largely due to the prolonged shutdown of the Sheskharis oil terminal in Novorossiysk, underscoring the growing economic impact of attacks on Russia’s energy and export infrastructure.

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In a statement released Wednesday, the AFA described the reports as “completely untrue,” saying neither official had received a U.S. court summons and that no mobile phones or other electronic devices had been seized, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

The denial came after Argentine media reported that FBI agents had stopped Tapia before a charter flight carrying Argentina’s national football team departed New York and requested access to his devices.

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According to the football association, the U.S. court order referenced in media reports was not directed at Tapia or Toviggino but at an unnamed third party.

The AFA said the individual had been instructed to appear before a grand jury and could be asked to provide documents and communications involving several people, including officials from the Argentine football federation.

The organization did not identify the individual or provide additional details about the legal proceedings.

Argentine outlet Infobae reported that U.S. authorities are investigating more than $300 million in commercial contracts linked to the AFA.

The report said the inquiry is part of broader scrutiny of Argentine football finances following money-laundering investigations that included raids carried out in December.

U.S. authorities have not publicly confirmed the reported investigation, and no charges have been announced against Tapia, Toviggino or the AFA. Reuters could not independently verify the claims beyond the association’s statement.

The post AFA rejects claims FBI detained Claudio Tapia or seized his devices​ appeared first on azeritimes.com.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Sidi M’Hamed Court in Algiers said Wednesday that the suspects were detained following three separate investigations into fires allegedly set in state-owned forest areas in the eastern province of Constantine, News.Az reports, citing Anadolu Agency.

In a rare move for wildfire-related cases, prosecutors publicly released the names and photographs of the four suspects as authorities intensified their investigation.

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Officials said Saber Ayoub Ben Fougal and Abderrahmane Fouaizia were arrested after investigators recovered video footage that allegedly showed them setting fire to brushland near Constantine’s Pine neighborhood.

A third suspect, Farouk Lemouissi, was accused of igniting shrubs and trees along Soummam Road in Constantine, with prosecutors saying surveillance footage captured the incident.

The fourth suspect, Saif Eddine Ben Khalifa, was allegedly caught setting fire to two piles of copper wires along the highway connecting Constantine and Annaba. Prosecutors said the blaze spread to nearby woodland, burning about two hectares of forest.

All four suspects appeared before judicial authorities on Wednesday and were placed in pretrial detention while formal investigations continue. They face charges including sabotage endangering lives, public safety and property, as well as intentionally setting fire to state-owned forest land.

Although Algerian law allows the death penalty for sabotage offenses, the country has observed a moratorium on executions since 1993. Courts continue to hand down death sentences in some cases, but they are not carried out and are generally commuted to life imprisonment.

The arrests come as Algeria struggles to contain one of its worst wildfire seasons in recent memory.

Authorities evacuated residents from threatened communities and transferred patients from a hospital in the eastern town of Seraidi after fast-moving fires advanced toward populated areas. Civil Protection said all available firefighting personnel, equipment and aerial resources had been deployed to combat the blazes.

The Interior Ministry said at least six people have died in forest fires affecting multiple provinces in recent days. Firefighters had extinguished 104 of 170 reported wildfires by Tuesday evening but were still battling 66 active fires across 19 provinces.

The wildfire crisis has unfolded during more than two weeks of extreme heat, with temperatures climbing to 49 degrees Celsius (120.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mediterranean coastal cities, fueled by strong, hot southerly winds.

According to Civil Protection, Algeria recorded 3,719 wildfires between May 1 and July 20, compared with 1,501 during the same period last year—an increase of nearly 150%.

The General Directorate of Forests said the fires have destroyed more than 1,666 hectares (4,117 acres) of vegetation so far this season, the country’s highest level of vegetation loss since the catastrophic wildfires that devastated Algeria in 2021.

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