Russia targets Ukraine with ‘massive’ aerial attack, including hundreds of drones, Zelenskyy says
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LONDON — Russia targeted Ukraine with a “massive” aerial attack, including waves of drones, launching so many of them that “there was not a single hour when our skies were clear” for most of Wednesday and into Thursday morning, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Hundreds of attack drones were fired between midnight and 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, the president said.
“It is obvious that Russia deliberately chose to escalate its attacks after receiving sanctions relief and seeing attempts to pressure Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said. “Russia exploits every such opportunity and must be held accountable for what it does.”
The overnight attack followed Ukrainian officials saying this week that the U.S. government-owned Starshield satellite infrastructure used by Ukraine’s military for drone navigation and air defense was not operating at its normal functionality.
Those systems are used in part for early warnings when Russia launches a projectile.
“Strong decisions are needed to end this war. Ukraine needs steady support, above all in defending our skies,” Zelenskyy said on Thursday. “We need HONESTY from our partners about this war: It is important that everyone in America stand not with the aggressor, but with our efforts to protect lives, end this war, and guarantee security.”
President Donald Trump had said in a statement on Sunday that both sides had agreed to an “energy ceasefire.” Russia in the following days continuedstriking energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine, according to Kyiv.
Russia’s Ministery of Defense on Thursday said Ukraine had also resumed its strikes on energy infrastructure, saying that Kyiv had overnight “attempted a massive attack on the oil refinery in Ryazan.”
Illustration of the Ebola virus, a deadly pathogen that causes severe hemorrhagic fever. )RUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Americans will no longer be able to fly directly home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) under a new process outlined by U.S. officials amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security are working together on a “Do Not Board” process for Americans in the DRC, the CDC said in a social media post Wednesday.
“The Do Not Board list prevents a person from obtaining a boarding pass for any flight into, out of, or within the United States,” the CDC website reads.
Previously, only non-citizens had been barred from traveling back to the U.S. from the Ebola outbreak regions, and American travelers were being screened at select airports for any signs of the virus.
Now, under the new measure, Americans departing from the DRC will only be able to return to the U.S. 21 days after leaving that country.
The moves comes as the DRC has seen over 2,000 cases and 750 deaths from Ebola, making it the third largest outbreak on record.
Earlier this week, the CDC announced a second American infected with Ebola in the DR had been transferred to Germany for care. The CDC said the unnamed patient works for a humanitarian aid organization.
The first American infected with Ebola was a doctor who contracted the disease while treating patients in the DRC. Dr. Peter Stafford was evacuated to Germany at the time to receive specialty care.
Stafford was discharged from the hospital in June, and the family has since returned to the United States.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at a joint press conference in the East Room at the White House on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Carl Court – Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office — Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 — urged the country’s next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.
The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party’s Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.
Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.
Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands — among them the cultivation of the so-called “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump’s two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.
Trump has already described Burnham — who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester — as “extremely liberal.” During Starmer’s time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister’s policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy. May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump’s first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer’s successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.
“Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand,” May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.
Of the special relationship, May said, “We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it’s not just about the prime minister and the president. It’s also about our security relationships, our defense relationships … It’s not just about the two people at the top.”
The same is true of the U.K.’s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. “It’s not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that’s problematic,” she said.
“What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they’re doing, what their policies are,” May said.
The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America’s European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.
The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran “greatly disappointed me,” Trump said in March. Starmer’s response in particular, the president said, was “very disappointing.”
Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict “is not finished.”
Still, she — like many other current and former European leaders — noted that European nations have previously shown their “commitment to the United States,” not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.
When asked about Trump’s repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, “There have been other times when there’s been more of that sense of isolationism,” specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.
“But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us,” May said.
A policeman stands guard as smoke and flames rise from the building adjacent to the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra after a large scale attack overnight on June 15, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russian drones and missiles targeted Kyiv in a major attack on Sunday night, Ukrainian officials said on Monday morning, killing several people in the capital and setting a fire at a historic cathedral and UNESCO world heritage site.
At least five people were killed and 28 people injured by the strikes on Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in posts to social media.
Zelenskyy said that Russia launched more than 60 missiles at the capital.
The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, an 11th-century cathedral located in the heart of the city, was among the sites damaged in the attack, Zelenskyy wrote.
The roof of the church was set on fire by strikes, he reported, though said that emergency responders extinguished the blaze. “This is one of the biggest Russian crimes against Christian culture to date,” the Ukrainian leader added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the attack as “barbaric” in a post to X. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “has forever put his name on the list of history’s worst barbarians.”
In total, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 70 missiles and 611 drones into Ukraine overnight, of which 50 missiles and 582 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed. Twenty ballistic missiles and 27 drones impacted across 42 locations, the air force said in a post to Telegram.
Sunday night’s attack was the largest combined Russian strike recorded since the night of June 1, according to Ukrainian air force data analyzed by ABC News.
Zelenskyy said that at least five more people were killed and nine people injured by Russian strikes In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, while other attacks were also reported in the Kyiv, Dnipro, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Mykolaiv regions.
“Russia is showing the world its intentions to continue the war,” Zelenskyy wrote. “It is very important that there be a response from the G7 countries, which are currently gathering for a summit, and that it be decisive and meaningful: more pressure on the aggressor, more help for Ukraine with air defense, especially with anti-ballistic missiles.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the overnight attacks as “a massive strike with high-precision weapons” in a post to Telegram. The ministry claimed that its targets included “objects of the defense-industrial complex” and military facilities in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Dnipro.
The ministry denied responsibility for the strike on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, claiming — without providing evidence — that the cathedral was hit by an interceptor missile fired by a Ukrainian-operated U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system.
The latest Russian attack came as leaders of the G7 — a grouping made up of the U.S., France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K. — prepared to gather for the bloc’s annual summit, which this year is being held in France.
Zelenskyy is expected to attend the event as a guest and meet with President Donald Trump and European leaders. While touring the damaged cathedral on Monday afternoon, the Ukrainian president said he invited Putin for talks at the summit. Moscow has not yet commented on the invitation.
The Russian Defense Ministry also claimed the shooting down of at least 123 long-range Ukrainian drones overnight into Monday morning.
Russia’s federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, said in posts to Telegram that temporary flight restrictions were introduced at airports in Sochi, Volgograd, Kaluga, Yaroslavl and Nizhny Novgorod overnight.
Flight restrictions were also introduced at three of Moscow’s four international airports — Domodedovo, Ivanovo and Zhukovsky — amid the latest attacks, Rosaviatsiya said.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in a post to Telegram that four Ukrainian drones were shot down en route to the capital in the early hours of Monday, marking the eighth consecutive day of Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow.
ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Yulia Drozd and Anna Sergeeva contributed to this report.
