China's marine economy showed steady progress in the first three quarters of 2024, with a gross ocean product of 7.7 trillion yuan (more than 1.08 trillion U.S. dollars), a 5.4 percent year-on-year increase, according to the data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources on Thursday.
Approved sea-use areas grew 6.7 percent year on year, involving over 740 billion yuan (nearly 104 billion U.S. dollars) of investment in marine projects.
Marine energy production remained stable, with crude oil and natural gas output up by 5.9 percent and 8.8 percent respectively, and offshore wind power generation surged by 29.5 percent.
The output of domestic marine aquatic products rose over 4 percent.
Shipbuilding sustained its growth trend, with new orders, completed vessels and on-hand orders soaring over 45 percent, 31 percent and 31 percent from the same period of last year, respectively, keeping China in the lead in the global shipbuilding sector.
China's marine economy sustains stable growth in Q1-3
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russia's armed forces continued to strike Ukrainian forces in multiple directions and has taken control of one more settlement in the Donetsk region, while Ukraine, on the same day, reported strikes against several key facilities in Russia.
"As a result of decisive actions, units of the Southern Group of Forces liberated the settlement of Sviato-Pokrovske in the Donetsk region," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Russian troop clusters continued to strike Ukrainian forces in the directions of Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson.
Russian air forces, strike drones, missile units and artillery struck 142 areas of Ukrainian military airport and port infrastructure, strike drone production facilities, energy facilities supporting Ukrainian military operations, as well as temporary deployment points of Ukrainian forces and foreign mercenaries.
Additionally, Russian air defense systems shot down six aerial bombs, one U.S.-made HIMARS rocket, and 472 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles in the special military operation zone over the past 24 hours, the ministry added.
On the same day, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that to weaken the combat capabilities of the Russian armed forces, Ukrainian forces carried out strikes on several key facilities in Russia.
Two oil storage tanks caught fire at the southern Russian port of Temryuk after a drone attack.
The total fire area is approximately 2,000 square meters. And 70 personnel and 18 pieces of equipment are involved in the firefighting effort.
Temryuk is a major seaport on the Black Sea, vital to Russia's export of oil and petroleum products, and it is also one of the important logistics support hubs for the Russian military.
In addition, Ukrainian forces carried out strikes on the military airport located in Maikop City, claiming that the fire caused had a significant impact on the normal operation of the airport.
It also reported that Ukraine's air force struck the Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery in Russia's Rostov Oblast using Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles, triggering multiple explosions, with the extent of damage still being clarified.
Russia reports multi-directional strikes against Ukraine, Ukraine claims strikes on key facilities in Russia
