Russian missiles strike Kyiv, injuring two, city officials say
(LONDON) — Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv early on Monday, injuring at least two people, the city’s administration said.
Moscow fired cruise and ballistic missiles at the city beginning at about 3 a.m., officials said in a message posted on the Telegram messaging app.
At least two people were injured, including one who was hospitalized, according to Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s administration.
About 34 cruise and ballistic missiles were fired, along with about 23 Shahed drones, the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security of Ukraine said.
Air defenses in Ukraine destroyed at least nine ballistic and 13 cruise missiles, the government group said. Twenty of the drones were destroyed and three “did not reach their targets,” it added.
A Russian missile struck one of the city’s Islamic Cultural Centers, located in a mosque, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, adding that “Russia has no regard for spiritual or human values, and no respect for any religion or faith.”
“The world must see that Russia’s war is not only against Ukraine, but also against humanity, dignity, and human life,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “Such barbaric acts have no place in our modern world. They must be strongly condemned and met with firm action by the international community.”
The early morning attack arrived a week after Russia launched a countrywide assault on Ukraine, strikes that were among the largest such aerial attacks since the war began in 2022, according to Zelenskyy.
Russia last Monday fired at least 127 missiles and 109 drones in an attack that lasted over eight hours.
The strikes on Monday arrived on the first day of a new school year for children throughout Ukraine, “despite the war and all the challenges,” Zelenskyy said.
“Ukraine is doing everything possible to provide children with maximum opportunities,” he said on social media. “All of our schools and higher education institutions that are operating today are a testament to our people’s resilience and Ukraine’s strength.”
(NEW YORK) — The planet reached the hottest day on record for the second day in a row, according to preliminary data from Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service.
Earth’s daily global average temperature hit 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, setting a new record for the warmest day in the organization’s dataset, which started in 1940.
This beats the previous record of 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit) set the day before, Copernicus announced Wednesday in an updated report.
The top 10 highest annual maximum daily average temperatures on record all occurred in the last 10 years, according to Copernicus. Multiple years between 2015 to 2024 not only set new records but broke them by large margins, the data show.
Earth’s warmest days on record
1. July 22, 2024: 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. July 21, 2024: 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit)
4. Aug. 13, 2016: 16.80 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit)
Much of the U.S. will continue to experience scorching heat in the coming week
The global average temperature typically reaches its peak between late July and early August.
In the U.S., persistent, extreme heat will be blanketing much of the country for the foreseeable future, forecasts show.
July tends to be the hottest month in the U.S. The majority of the country will likely experience above-average temperatures for the remainder of July into early August, with several significant heat waves likely for parts of the Northeast and West.
The South typically sees peak average temperatures during the second half of August, while the West Coast sees its hottest temperatures into September.
Summer nighttime low temperatures in the U.S. are warming nearly twice as fast as summer daytime high temperatures, according to Climate Central.
Earth has experienced 13 consecutive months of record-breaking global temperatures, according to Copernicus.
(MIAMI) — The U.S. has seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
A Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) led investigation discovered the plane in the Dominican Republic, a source said.
After the U.S. government seized the plane, it was flown to Florida on Monday, according to the source. Maduro was no on board, the source said.
The plane is the Venezuelan equivalent to Air Force One, and flight records show it is a Dassault 900.
“This morning, the Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “The Department will continue to pursue those who violate our sanctions and export controls to prevent them from using American resources to undermine the national security of the United States.”
The head HSI agent in Miami also lauded the seizure.
“The seizure of this aircraft is another significant action by Homeland Security Investigations working with our domestic and international partners against the illegal activities of the Maduro regime,” said Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami.
Earlier, a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson confirmed the seizure of “an aircraft used by Maduro and his representatives.”
“Over the past month, as demonstrated by a wide variety of independent sources, Maduro and his representatives’ have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power by force,” the spokesperson said.
“Last week, one of Venezuela’s own National Electoral Council rectors further validated that Maduro has provided no evidence that he won this election. The United States, in coordination with our partners, is working to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people, as expressed through the July 28 election, is respected,” the spokesperson said.
“Today, the U.S. Department of Justice took action to enforce U.S. sanctions — seizing an aircraft used by Maduro and his representatives. This is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela,” the spokesperson said.
(LONDON) — At least 20 more people were killed and 450 injured in Lebanon on Wednesday after a series of new explosions of wireless devices rocked the South, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health and the Lebanese Red Cross.
More than 30 ambulances are providing treatment and evacuations to wounded people in Lebanon on Wednesday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The Lebanese Army command has asked citizens not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to allow medical teams to arrive.
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense are working to extinguish fires that broke out inside homes, cars and shops in the Bekaa, the South, Mount Lebanon and the southern suburbs due to the explosions, officials said.
All walkie-talkie devices were taken from security services members at the Rafiq Harir International Airport in Beirut after news of the devices exploding.
Pagers explode across Lebanon on Tuesday
At least 12 civilians were killed and at least 2,800 people injured in the explosions that took place Tuesday, according to Lebanese authorities. Around 460 of the injuries were critical and required surgery, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said. Most victims are suffering from eye and facial injuries, while others suffered injuries to hands and fingers, he said.
Israel was behind the deadly explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, sources told ABC News on Wednesday.
The Hezbollah militant group said it is conducting a “security and scientific investigation” into the explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said 11 of its members were killed on Tuesday, though — as is typical in its statements — did not specify how they died.
“We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the deaths of a number of martyrs and the injury of a large number with various wounds,” Hezbollah said of the pager explosions in a Tuesday statement.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Hezbollah said it would continue operations to “support Gaza,” and vowed a “reckoning” for Israel for the “massacre on Tuesday.”
The dead and injured included people who are not members of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials said that an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy are among the dead.
Israel has not commented on explosions
Israel has not commented on its alleged involvement in the apparent attack, which prompted chaos in the capital Beirut and elsewhere in Hezbollah’s south Lebanon heartland.
Around 100 hospitals received wounded people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said, with hospitals in Beirut and its southern suburb quickly filling to capacity. Patients were then directed to other hospitals outside the region.
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured in an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV. The diplomat said in a phone call that he was “feeling well and fully conscious,” according to Iranian state TV.
“I am proud and honored that my blood has become one with the blood of the honorable Lebanese people, as a result of the horrific terrorist crime that targeted our brotherly Lebanon yesterday. This noble country has stood with dignity and pride since the first day of al-Aqsa Storm,” Amani said Wednesday.
At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fears grow of Israel-Hezbollah escalation
The alleged Israeli operation has again piqued fears of escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ongoing since Oct. 8, when members of the Iranian-backed group began cross-border attacks in support of Hamas’ war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Frontier skirmishes, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket and artillery salvoes have been near-constant through 11 months of war in Gaza. Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to launch a new military operation against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border. Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in border regions due to the fighting.
The Israel Defense Forces said warplanes hit Hezbollah targets in six locations in southern Lebanon overnight into Wednesday. Artillery strikes were also conducted, it added.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to make a public address on Thursday afternoon to address the situation. In February, Nasrallah urged members to stop using their cellphones, describing the technology as “a deadly agent.”
Schools across Lebanon will be closed on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, citing the country’s Minister of Education. Schools and offices closed include public and private schools, high schools, technical institutes, the Lebanese University and private higher education institutions, Lebanese state media reported.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned “this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards.”
It added that “the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime.”
World reacts to pager attacks
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon condemned the attack on Lebanon, calling it an “extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context,” in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference in Egypt on Wednesday that the U.S. “did not know about and was not involved” in Israel’s pager attacks in Lebanon and Syria — but said that officials were still gathering information and did not directly blame Israel.
“Broadly speaking, we’ve been very clear, and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we’re trying to resolve in Gaza,” Blinken said. Its spread to other fronts, he added, is “clearly not in the interest of anyone involved.”
A cease-fire deal in Gaza, Blinken added, would “materially improve the prospects of defusing the situation” on the Israeli-Lebanese border and allow thousands of people living near the area on both sides of the divide to return home.
The U.S. and the European Union have both designated the Hezbollah militant group a foreign terrorist organization.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Shannon K. Kingston, Ghazi Balkiz, Morgan Winsor, Anne Flaherty, Nasser Atta, Joe Simonetti, Jordana Miller and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.