Kyiv mourns after a Russian attack that killed 31 people, including 5 children
The youngest victim in Thursday's strikes was 2 years old, and 16 of the injured were children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
It was the highest number of children killed and injured in a single attack on Kyiv since aerial attacks on the city began in October 2022, according to official casualty figures reported by The Associated Press.
The death toll rose overnight as emergency crews continued to dig through rubble. The Russian barrage demolished a large part of a nine-story residential building in the city, while more than 100 other buildings were damaged, including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and universities, officials said.
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukrainian cities in recent months, ignoring calls from Western leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump to stop striking civilian areas after more than three years of war.
Russian forces are also pressing on with their grinding war of attrition along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where incremental gains over the past year have cost the lives of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
Zelenskyy said that in July, Russia launched over 5,100 glide bombs, more than 3,800 Shahed drones, and nearly 260 missiles of various types, 128 of them ballistic, against Ukraine.
He repeated his appeal for countries to impose heavier economic sanctions on Russia to deter the Kremlin, as U.S.-led peace efforts have failed to gain traction.
'No matter how much the Kremlin denies (sanctions') effectiveness, they are working and must be stronger,' Zelenskyy said.
His comments Friday appeared to be a response to Trump's remarks the previous day, when the Republican president said the U.S. plans to impose sanctions on Russia but added, 'I don't know that sanctions bother him,' in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine also called for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting to be convened Friday, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said, in an effort to push Putin into accepting 'a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.'
Russian forces bear down on a key eastern Ukrainian city
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are under heavy pressure in the strategic hilltop city of Chasiv Yar, in the eastern Donetsk region where Russia is making a concerted push to break through defenses after some 18 months of fighting.
Zelenskyy said that Russian claims of capturing Chasiv Yar on Thursday were 'disinformation.'
'Ukrainian units are holding our positions,' Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Thursday evening. 'It is not easy, but it is the defense of Ukrainians' very right to life.'
Even so, the Institute for the Study of War said that Ukraine's hold on the key city is weakening.
'Russian forces will likely complete the seizure of Chasiv Yar in the coming days, which will open several possible avenues for Russian forces to attack Ukraine's fortress belt — a series of fortified cities that form the backbone of Ukraine's defensive positions' in the Donetsk region, the Washington-based think tank said.
Ukraine has tried to pressure the Russian army by striking rear areas with long-range drones that target rail networks, oil depots and arsenals.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses shot down 60 Ukrainian drones overnight. More than half were destroyed over Russia's Belgorod region on the country's border with Ukraine, it said. Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said that one person was injured.
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Greene talks about her ‘genocide' comment and being an ‘early indicator' of GOP discontent
The Movement is a weekly newsletter tracking the influence and debates steering politics on the right. Sign up here or in the box below. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) says that Republicans should take her vocal criticisms of the GOP — which she insists are not criticisms of President Trump — as a warning about coming troubles with their base. 'I'm an early indicator, and my complaints are felt and being said far and wide among your average American people who voted for the President and Republicans in 2024,' Greene told me in a phone interview on Monday. 'The Republican Party is the one drifting away from what we campaigned on.' Greene also expanded to me on being the only Republican in Congress to call Israel's actions in Gaza a 'genocide.' Far from backing away from the term, Greene said: 'It's easy to call it a genocide.' More on that in a moment. I had reached out to the firebrand Georgia congresswoman in wake of her comments to the Daily Mail that the GOP had 'turned its back on America First' and that she was unsure of whether 'the Republican Party is leaving me, or if I'm kind of not relating to Republican Party as much anymore.' The comments surprised some, given Greene's ardent support of Trump, who is the leader of the GOP. She told me it is 'ridiculous' to suggest she does not support the president. But they are part of a pattern of Greene breaking with leaders in the GOP, including Trump. In recent weeks, she called the crisis in Gaza a genocide; raised the alarm about U.S. strikes in Iran; critiqued the U.S. continuing to sell weapons to help Ukraine; and pushed for more Jeffrey Epstein disclosures despite resistance from Trump, among other gripes. Just on Monday, Greene in a post lamented that there have been zero arrests in a number of MAGA-amplified scandals like the 'Russian Collusion Hoax,' 'COVID,' 'Mar-A-Lago Raid,' and 'Epstein Pedophile Arrest,' among others. She posted: 'Don't talk about it if you aren't going to do it.' Who was she talking about in that post, and who needs to change? Greene declined to name specific names. 'That criticism is to everyone, literally everyone, and no one's left out of that,' Greene said. 'If you're going to go on television — and this is for everybody — and point their fingers at all these people and call them criminals, say they committed treason, then do something about it,' Greene said. 'If they make these accusations, but yet hold no one accountable, they're going to lose everybody. They're going to lose a vast majority of people who really were told they had to care about this, and they cared about it, but yet nothing got done.' After Greene and I spoke on Monday, CNN reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi was directing federal prosecutors to start a grand jury probe into Obama administration officials over their role in the 2016 Russia election interference investigation. The question is whether Greene is a canary in the MAGA coal mine, or whether her criticisms just put her on an island. She is a giant figure in terms of followers and attention, but some could dismiss her concerns as representing only a minor faction on the right. Greene said she is reflecting what she is hearing in her deep-red Georgia district. But there is clearly some annoyance with the criticism from Greene. Asked about Greene's comments in the Daily Mail and on X, a White House official told me: 'President Trump campaigned on securing the border, signing tax cuts, and ending the genital mutilation of minors. He's accomplished all three within the first 200 days. Those are all promises MTG campaigned for and should be happy about.' Greene in response told me that she had posted over the weekend praising zero crossings in the past three months, and noted that she voted for Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' that locked in tax cuts. But she pushed back by saying Trump has not had the opportunity to sign her bill, the Protect Children's Innocence Act, to codify Trump's executive order to ban gender-affirming care for minors because it hasn't yet gotten a vote in the House or Senate. 'I'm not criticizing the President on this. I'm criticizing everyone around him. They're actually working against the president by making his executive orders, his accomplishments only temporary,' Greene said. Greene's 'America First' critique of U.S. foreign policy — going as far as to call the crisis and conflict in Gaza a 'genocide' — is perhaps the most notable break. Greene said she dubbed the situation a 'genocide' by 'simply looking at the truth and being willing to speak,' saying that there are 'many others' who agree but 'they're afraid to say it.' 'I support Israel, and we want to see every single hostage released …. It was horrific what happened on October 7,' Greene said. 'But it's also horrific what's happening in Gaza and many innocent people are being killed, have been killed. Christians have been killed, and children have been killed and are being starved.' 'It's easy to call it a genocide. And I think Israel has made clear what they want to do. They really want to, basically, move all the Palestinians out of Gaza, and that's what they're in the process of systematically doing,' Greene said. I noted that even many progressive Democrats critical of Israel have not used the term 'genocide' to describe what's happening in Gaza, since the term implies targeted destruction of an ethnic group based on their identity. American Jewish groups, not to mention Israel itself, strongly reject accusations of 'genocide.' 'I think it's pretty easy to understand. It's targeted at who they are, so that's their identity,' Greene said. 'I mean, they've bombed it to the point where it's unlivable … They are in talks of trying to get other countries to take Palestinian refugees. So I don't think it can be any more clear.' Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I'm Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. Tell me what's on your radar: ebrooks@ STRANGE BEDFELLOWS FOR 'ORGASMIC MEDITATION' CONVICTS Can the right-wing outrage over 'weaponized' prosecution give a boost to those involved with a salacious case? Those defending the sexual wellness company OneTaste are finding strange bedfellows on the right as they fight convictions of the group's founder and former CEO Nicole Daedone and its former head of sales Rachel Cherwitz. Daedone and Cherwitz were convicted in June for 'forced labor conspiracy in connection with their coercive scheme to obtain the labor and services of certain OneTaste employees.' The company, which taught 'orgasmic meditation,' turned from a start-up celebrated for its focus on female sexuality to being criticized for alleged abuse of employees. It was the subject of a controversial 2022 Lena Dunham -produced Netflix documentary, 'Orgasm Inc.' It's not the type of case that immediately invites a conservative defense, but defenders of Daedone and Cherwitz see an opening with those skeptical of overzealous prosecutors — like those in the MAGA movement supportive of Trump and outraged about his prosecutions, as well as those of Jan. 6 rioters. 'The bulk of the support has come from the conservative movement,' said Juda Engelmayer, the crisis publicist for Daedone and Cherwitz. Getting others to take a deep look at the underlying legal issues, he said, requires 'getting your head around that concept is an ick factor.' The libertarian magazine Reason's senior editor Elizabeth Nolan Brown in February outlined a key argument of those defending OneTaste heads: 'The two face a single count of conspiracy to commit forced labor … Neither woman is charged with actually forcing labor or engaging in other criminal acts.' Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who was once investigated by the DOJ for alleged sex trafficking but never charged, has criticized the case on his One America News show. Trump adviser Roger Stone has critiqued the FBI over the case, as well. And it doesn't end in the conservative media space. There are people privately pressing the DOJ to look into the case. One member of Congress wrote to FBI Director Kash Patel with concerns about the case earlier this year, the Daily Mail reported. 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The Young Republicans honored four leaders at its national convention in Nashville, Tenn., over the weekend, inducting them into the 1856 Society: Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Political Affairs Matt Brasseaux; former National Director of Election Integrity for the Trump Campaign and RNC Christina Norton; The Washington Reporter Editor-in-Chief Matthew Foldi; and Trump 2024 National Delegate Selection Director John Findlay. Douglass Mackey, whose conviction over posting memes about the 2016 race was overturned by an appeals court this year, was celebrated at a bash at MAGA Capitol Hill hangout Butterworth's on Friday. Napkins at the event featured the meme telling voters to text to vote that Mackey posted under an anonymous Twitter account that was the center of the conviction of conspiracy to suppress voters. WHAT I'M READING
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