The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine saw intensified clashes in the Kursk region in western Russia on Tuesday, as the Russian side claimed its forces have taken control of almost all the settlements in the region.
According to a report from the Russian news agency TASS on Tuesday, Deputy Chief of the Russian Armed Forces' Main Military-Political Department Apty Alaudinov said that Russian forces have re-captured almost all the settlements in the Kursk region with significant military advances.
On the same day, the Ukrainian side stated that its forces had repelled 18 Russian attacks in the Kursk region.
On other fronts, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported Tuesday that Russian forces had stricken Ukrainian personnel and equipment in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, Donetsk in eastern Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours. The Russian ministry also claimed to have targeted Ukrainian oil facilities, military airfield infrastructure, and drone warehouses.
Meanwhiles, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported attacks toward Russian forces in the directions of Kharkiv and Kupiansk.
Serhii Naiev, commander of a Ukrainian tactical group in Donbas, said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces have withdrawn troops from one frontline in the Donetsk region, which he described as an unfavorable position. He also added that this action would not only save the lives of soldiers, but also improve defensive capabilities.
Russia claims control of almost all settlements in Kursk region
Smart technologies have reshaped China's ecological and environmental monitoring system, Huang Runqiu, minister of Ecology and Environment, said Thursday in Beijing on the sidelines of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress(NPC).
"Regarding ecological and environmental monitoring, we have been promoting the digitalization, informatization, and intelligentization of the entire monitoring process in recent years, reshaping the ecological and environmental monitoring system. For instance, in water environment monitoring and sampling, we have used intelligent drones which can quickly locate sampling points, collect samples accurately, return rapidly, and they are safe and reliable, improving work efficiency by over 70 percent. They are particularly advantageous for sampling during flood seasons and in remote areas," Huang told the press.
"In terms of environmental sample analysis, we have developed 'lights-out laboratories' in recent years. As the name suggests, these labs operate without lights and are unattended. Through robotic arms, robots, and intelligent management systems, they achieve full-process automation and intelligence from sample handover, testing, and analysis to report generation. This has significantly enhanced work efficiency, increasing it by more than eightfold compared to traditional labs. More importantly, it reduces human interference, human error, and even data falsification," he said.
Thanks to the improved ecological and environmental supervision capabilities, the number of environmental violation cases nationwide has decreased from 130,000 five years ago to 43,000 last year, representing a decline of 68 percent, Huang said.
The minister said China has already applied environmental DNA technology in the biodiversity monitoring work.
"In the field of biodiversity monitoring, monitoring aquatic organisms remains a weak point. However, significant progress has been made in recent years as we have developed environmental DNA technology. Although this chip is very small in size, it contains DNA detection information for aquatic organisms, including the finless porpoise and the Chinese sucker, from 19 state-controlled sections in the Jiangsu segment of the Yangtze River. The results showed that over the past five years, more than 20 species of aquatic organisms have increased in this river section, fully demonstrating the tangible effectiveness of the ten-year fishing ban in the Yangtze River," Huang said while showing a chip to reporters.
The 14th NPC, China's national legislature, concluded its fourth session on Thursday.
Smart technologies reshape China's ecological, environmental monitoring system: minister
