Ukraine ramps up drone attacks on Russia ahead of Trump-Putin Alaska summit

(LONDON) — A time capsule that was laid by Princess Diana in 1991 at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in London has been opened, with officials revealing a collection of 1990s artifacts just days before the 28th anniversary of her death on August 31st, 1997.

Jason Dawson, the hospital’s executive director who opened the capsule earlier this year as GOSH started its new project to develop a new children’s cancer center, called the moment “really quite moving, almost like connecting with memories planted by a generation gone by.”

Inside lay a snapshot of 1991 — a Kylie Minogue CD, Casio pocket television, solar calculator and other artifacts that were cutting-edge three decades ago.

As winners of a BBC competition 34 years ago, the items were chosen by David Watson, a then-11-year-old boy from Devon, and Sylvia Foulkes, a then-9-year-old girl from Norwich, to represent life in the 1990s.

Watson contributed the Kylie Minogue “Rhythm of Love” album and a European passport, along with a pocket TV and recycled paper.

Foulkes added British coins, tree seeds from Kew Gardens in London, a hologram snowflake and a solar calculator. Princess Diana included her own photograph and a copy of The Times newspaper that featured Gulf War headlines at the time.

As Great Ormond Street Hospital’s president from 1989 until her death, Diana played a central role in GOSH’s Wishing Well Appeal, raising £54 million — equivalent to £200 million today – considered the largest U.K. charity appeal at the time, according to GOSH.

Princess Diana famously made regular ward visits, sitting on children’s beds, holding hands and providing physical comfort at a time when many feared contact with seriously ill patients.

After her divorce in 1996, Diana reduced her charitable commitments from over 100 organizations to just six focused causes, with Great Ormond Street Hospital being one of the remaining ones.

Stephen Lee, director of the U.K. Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, called her impact “probably more significant than any other person’s in the 20th century.”

Modern royal philanthropy directly traces to Diana’s deeply personal approach, living on through Prince William’s homelessness work and Harry’s veteran advocacy, according to Emma Hart, director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who notes that notes Diana “forced the British monarchy to move into the 21st century” and that she “showed how the royal family could be a force for good.”

Meanwhile, following the opening of the capsule and the continuation of construction of the new cancer center, officials say that the new facility aims to increase patient capacity by 20% when it opens in 2028.

“Replacing outdated facilities on Great Ormond Street itself, the centre will be a national resource for the treatment of childhood cancers, with a focus on research and innovation,” GOSH said in a statement following the announcement of the time capsule being opened. “Developed with families and clinicians, the centre’s design will make it easier for clinical teams to develop kinder, more effective treatments, all delivered in a child-focused environment where children can play, learn and be with their family while at hospital.”

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(LONDON) — Russia launched its largest drone attack of the war on Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with 741 aerial attack vehicles used in the bombardment.

Ukraine’s air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 728 drones — a mix of attack drones and decoys — and 13 missiles into the country overnight, with the northwestern Volyn region and its city of Lutsk the main targets.

The air force said 711 of the drones were shot down or otherwise neutralized, with seven missiles also intercepted. Impacts were recorded in at least four locations, the air force said.

Zelenskyy said the “massive” attack represented “the highest number of aerial targets in a single day.” The president framed the assault as another signal from Moscow that President Vladimir Putin is not invested in U.S.-led efforts to end the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Damage was reported in the Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions, Zelenskyy said.

“This is a telling attack,” Zelenskyy continued. “It comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all.”

“This is yet another proof of the need for sanctions — biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow’s war machine with money for over three years of the war,” he wrote. “Secondary sanctions on those who buy this oil and thereby sponsor killings.”

“Our partners know how to apply pressure in a way that will force Russia to think about ending the war, not launching new strikes,” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone who wants peace must act.”

In Poland — which borders Ukraine to its west — the Armed Forces Operational Command said in a post to X that the Russian strikes prompted Polish and allied aircraft to be scrambled.

“Duty fighter pairs have been scrambled and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,” the command wrote in a post to X.

Two hours later, the command issued a new statement noting that the forces had been stood down “due to the reduced threat of Russian missile strikes.”

Russia’s massed drone and missile attack targeted “the infrastructure of military airfields,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a post to Telegram, claiming that “all designated targets were hit.”

Ukraine continued its own cross-border attacks into Russia overnight, with the Defense Ministry in Moscow saying in a post to Telegram that its forces downed 86 Ukrainian drones overnight. Four drones were intercepted over the Moscow region, the ministry said.

Artem Korenyako, the press secretary for Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, said in a post to Telegram that flight restrictions were temporarily put in place at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow.

The latest Russian barrage comes amid escalating aerial cross-border attacks by Moscow. June saw a new monthly record for the number of long-range drones and missiles launched into Ukraine — 5,438 drones and 239 missiles — according to figures published by the Ukrainian air force.

Despite the trend toward larger and more frequent strikes, President Donald Trump’s administration last week confirmed it had frozen the shipment of some air defense and precision guided weapons that were on track to be sent to Ukraine, citing concerns about U.S. stockpiles.

Among the munitions held up were interceptor missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot surface-to-air systems, which have proven invaluable in Kyiv’s defense against Russian drones and — in particular — ballistic missiles.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters he did not know who ordered the freeze. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?” the president responded when asked who was responsible.

One U.S. official told ABC News that officials are analyzing which weapons should be sent to Ukraine by using a stoplight chart — designating specific systems with red, yellow or green status. Red status suggests that U.S. supply of a particular munition is dangerously low, the official said.

Zelenskyy said Tuesday he had instructed his defense officials to “intensify all contacts with the American side” on the issue of continued military aid.

“This primarily concerns air defense, as well as all other elements of supplies from America,” the president said in a post to social media. “This is critical aid, on which the saving of lives of our people and the defense of Ukrainian cities and villages depend,” he said.

“I expect results from these contacts in the near future, and in particular, we are preparing meeting formats for our teams — both military and political — this week,” Zelenskyy said.

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty, Luis Martinez, Hannah Demissie, Will Gretsky and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — The repercussions of Israel’s surprise campaign against Iran’s nuclear program and military leadership launched last Friday were evident within hours.

“We are racking up achievements,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after the opening salvo, which appeared to have devastated Iran’s anti-aircraft defense network and decapitated its military, killing many among the top brass, according to Israeli officials.

Netanyahu, his top officials and the Israel Defense Forces have made clear some of their war goals — the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program plus the erasure of the country’s ballistic missile arsenal.

But, as in Israel’s operations in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, there are already signs of “rapid mission creep” in Iran, Julie Norman, a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K., told ABC News.

Iran’s weakened defense has prompted fresh questions about “regime change” — long a priority for Iran hawks in Israel and the U.S. seeking to topple Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the theocratic system he heads. Critics of such a policy, though, warn that government collapse in Iran could unleash regional chaos.

“The record of regime change is not great, to say the least,” Yossi Mekelberg of the Chatham House think tank in the U.K. told ABC News, warning that the regime’s collapse would more likely produce a dangerous power vacuum in Iran than a coherent and pliant successor.

“You want to experiment with chaos? Well, good luck,” Mekelberg said.

The nuclear front

Netanyahu faces significant challenges to achieve his two expressed goals — an end to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats.

On the nuclear front, Israel has inflicted damage at several of Iran’s key sites. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported damage to surface facilities at the Natanz and Isfahan enrichment sites. On Tuesday, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said the body “identified additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls at Natanz.”

But Israel does not have the capabilities needed to destroy the Fordow enrichment plant — where the IAEA says no damage has been reported — which is built deep inside a mountain outside the city of Qom. Only American strategic bombers could deliver a payload capable of punching through up to 300 feet of mountain to reach the underground facility.

Netanyahu is trying to press the White House into intervention.

“Today, it’s Tel Aviv, tomorrow, it’s New York,” the prime minister told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl on Monday.

Trump responded to Israel’s opening attacks by calling for Iran to return to negotiations over its nuclear program. He has since dismissed talk of a ceasefire, said he wants a “real end” to the Iran nuclear issue and warned residents of Tehran — of whom there are around 17 million in the wider metropolitan area — to evacuate.

On Tuesday, Trump raised the prospect of killing Khamenei and wrote on his social media platform that “we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” while lauding the impact of U.S. weaponry. The president has also demanded “unconditional surrender,” a concept Iran’s supreme leader rejected.

Despite Trump’s rhetoric, the U.S. has not joined Israel in attacking Iran offensively. Last year the U.S. twice assisted Israel in helping to shoot down Iranian drones and ballistic missiles Iran had launched in retaliation for Israeli attacks in Syria and Tehran. This marked the first time the U.S. actively participated in Israel’s defense, which has historically taken the form of weapons sales, transfers and intelligence sharing support.

As the conflict escalated this week, the U.S. deployed additional fighter jets and refueling tankers to the Middle East. The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has also been diverted to the region, to join the USS Carl Vinson carrier which was already deployed there. The deployments, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, are “intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region.”

President Trump told top advisers Tuesday that he approved attack plans for Iran that were presented to him, but said he was waiting to see if Iran would be willing to discuss ending their nuclear program and has not made a final decision on US involvement in the conflict, sources familiar with the matter said. The news of the attack plan approval was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“As President Trump said himself today, all options remain on the table,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.

Without destroying Fordow, Mekelberg said, the job of neutralizing Tehran’s nuclear program will be incomplete. “If you want to set it three years back, that is not a good enough reason to go for a war of such scale,” he said.

“If the idea was to push Iran to the negotiation table and to scare them — the Iranians are not easily scared. They fought eight years with Iraq in a much inferior situation, and they prevailed. This is not Hezbollah, this is not Hamas, this is not Islamic Jihad.”

Sina Toossi, a senior non-resident fellow at the Center for International Policy think tank, told ABC News that Israel and the U.S. — if Trump opts to engage militarily against Iran — could face a “quagmire.”

“To verifiably destroy what they’ve said they want to destroy, they need boots on the ground eventually,” Toossi said, referring to Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Ballistic missiles

Erasing Iran’s ballistic missile threat is another key goal, Netanyahu has said. The IDF claims to have destroyed at least one-third of Iran’s launch vehicles, along with an unknown number of stockpiled missiles.

The IDF estimated that Tehran started the conflict with 2,000 missiles and as of Tuesday had fired around 400 toward Israel. The number will have been further eroded by ongoing IDF strikes across the country.

“That capacity is going to be weakened,” Norman said, though added that Iran has “a pretty deep arsenal, and I think those will keep coming for some time.”

Toossi noted that American involvement would raise the stakes for Tehran, which still has the capacity to hit American and allied targets in Iraq, across the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. If faced with an existential conflict, “they can inflict a lot of damage in their periphery,” Toossi said.

As time wears on, the burden on Israeli and U.S. anti-missile systems will grow, Toossi said. Interceptor missiles are finite and expensive, plus their production takes time. “There’s an economics to this warfare right now that’s not necessarily in the favor of Israel and the U.S..” Toossi said.

“I think there’s sometimes an overestimation as to how quickly other groups will surrender, or in this case other states will surrender,” Norman said of Netanyahu and his government. While Israel sees its conflicts as existential, so do its enemies, Norman added.

Regime change

Pushing for regime change — a goal the IDF has explicitly denied and Netanyahu has dodged questions on — might prove the biggest gamble of Israel’s attack, experts told ABC News.

Such a policy makes two assumptions, Mekelberg said. “First, that you can bring down the regime, and second, that you’ll get the people that you want.”

Indeed, the 1979 revolution that birthed the Islamic Republic “started with the liberals, not with the religious,” Mekelberg said. “Look how it ended.”

“In any such episode, there is the best case scenario — which usually doesn’t happen — and there is the worst-case scenario,” he said. “And in between, there is the war with its own dynamics and momentum.”

Even if the regime is at risk of collapse, it would be hard to say when. Israel, Mekelberg said, will need to be prepared for an open-ended war of attrition with levels of destruction inside the country that “people are not used to seeing.”

Netanyahu has repeatedly appealed to the people of Iran to act against the government in Tehran. “This is your opportunity to stand up,” he said over the weekend.

But a population under fire may have different priorities. “People are going to be focusing on surviving and getting out, not on starting a revolution,” Norman said.

Continued attacks may also produce a rallying effect. “Many people do not like the Islamic Republic, the theocracy. But Iranians, despite their disgruntlement with the government, when it comes to Iran, its sovereignty, its stability, its territorial integrity, there’s a strong sense of nationalism across the board from secular to religious, to young to old,” Toossi said. “And that is really being stirred right now.”

Skylar Thomson of the Human Rights Activists in Iran NGO — which is based in the U.S. — told ABC News there is a “real atmosphere of fear” among Iranians she is in contact with.

“In the initial days, people were seeing the assassinations of these Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders that were notoriously cruel” and considered “the leading oppressors in their world,” Thomson said. But fear and uncertainty have spread as hospitals, residential areas, infrastructure and other non-military targets have been attacked, she added.

“You’re talking about a population of people that are already struggling because of external matters,” Thomson said. “And this is just another layer of that.”

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

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