
Death toll from Russian strikes on Kyiv rises to 26 as Ukraine calls for UN security council meeting
Date: 2025-08-01T07:26:35.000Z
Title: Morning opening: Death toll in Kyiv rises to 26 as Ukraine calls for UN security council meeting
Content: The death toll from Thursday's Russian attack on Kyiv has risen to 26 with over 150 injured, making it one of the deadliest attacks on the capital since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
Responding to the attack, Ukraine called for an emergency meeting of the UN security council this afternoon as it seeks to unite its allies and ramp up pressure on Russia to end the war.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the meeting, scheduled for afternoon European time, will be a platform for countries to make it clear where they stand.
'Putin rejects peace efforts and wants to prolong his war. And the world has the necessary strength to stop him – by united pressure and principled position in favor of a full, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire,' he said.
Andriy Yermak, the most senior aide to president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, did not mince his words reacting to the news this morning as he spoke of 'Russian murderers.'
US president Donald Trump, who recently set a new deadline for Russia to end the invasion until 8 August, told journalists that it was 'disgusting what they are doing.'
'We're going to put sanctions. I don't know that sanctions bother him,' the US president said, referring to Putin.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who currently is in Israel, will be told to visit Russia next, he added.
Elsewhere, I will be keeping an eye on the latest on the EU-US trade, after Trump signed his executive order, but delayed the effects of sanctions by a week, until 7 August. You can follow market reactions on our business blog, too.
I will bring you all key updates from across Europe here.
It's Friday, 1 August 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
27 minutes ago
- BBC News
Why is Donald Trump discussing Sydney Sweeney and American Eagle
President Donald Trump is praising Sydney Sweeney in the wake of backlash against the American actress for her controversial American Eagle advertisement. "Sydney Sweeney, a registered Republican, has the HOTTEST ad out there," he wrote in a Truth Social post. "Go get 'em Sydney!"The Emmy-nominated actress for roles in Euphoria and The White Lotus stars in a denim jeans advertisement, where she states: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue." Critics have called out the blonde, blue-haired actress's wordplay in the commercial, using "genes" instead of "jeans" - sparking debate over race and western beauty Eagle has defended the advert and stated it was - and still is - only about the company's jeans. What is the controversy? The clothing store American Eagle released a jeans advertisement featuring Sweeney on 23 July. The slogan "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans" appeared on television, social media and on the outside of storefronts. Almost instantly, it received pushback from people on social criticised the "genes" pun coming from a blonde-haired, blue-eyed actress as echoing rhetoric associated with eugenics - the controlled selective reproduction of humans to improve future generations. Conservatives backed Sweeney and labelled the outrage as overblown and "woke". Reports then surfaced that Sweeney is a registered Republican. Shortly after, Trump made comments about the saga and expressed his support for her. Sweeney, herself, has not commented on the matter. What has American Eagle said? American Eagle has responded to the controversy and said the ad campaign "is and always was about the jeans". "Her jeans. Her story," American Eagle said. "We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone."Since Trump began speaking about the advertisement on Monday, the company's stock has skyrocketed, and was up as much as 20%. That did not surprise, Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce, who said American Eagle "nailed" the advertisement."It is exponentially harder than it was years ago," he told the BBC. "Success in marketing today is to get consumers sharing [advertisements] on social."But advertisements have to be "extraordinary" for people to share them, "whether that's extraordinary good or extraordinarily bad," he Adamson said the social media buzz American Eagle is getting from the advertisement is worth ten or 20 times what the store spent on creating it. Is Sweeney a Republican? Sweeney has been registered as a Republican in the state of Florida since 2024, records show. But she has not spoken out about politics. She made headlines in 2023 when videos and images from her mother's birthday party were shared online and showed some attendees in Make America Great Again hats. Sweeney responded and said people should "stop making assumptions" and turning the "innocent celebration" into an "absurd political statement."Months later, she was asked about it in an interview: "Honestly, I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation," she told GQ. "It's been turning into a wildfire, and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track," she added. What has Trump said about it? On Sunday, reporters travelling with the US president asked him about Sweeney. "You'd be surprised at how many people are Republicans," Trump said after a reporter stated that the White Lotus star is a registered Republican."That's what I wouldn't have known, but I'm glad you told me that. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic," Trump said on before Trump weighed in, the saga had been the focus of conservative media with some suggesting the advert had been not only a great promotion for American Eagle - but also for the political party.


The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump contorting justice department into his ‘personal weapon', experts warn
As Donald Trump's Department of Justice expands investigations of his foes and ousts dozens of lawyers and staff who worked on cases targeting himself and his allies, scholars and ex-prosecutors say the rule of law is under siege in the US as the department morphs into Trump's 'personal weapon'. The justice department's politicization to please Trump was underscored by an announcement on 23 July of a new ' strike force' to investigate unsubstantiated charges that ex-president Barack Obama and top officials conspired to hurt Trump's 2016 campaign and his presidency with inquiries into Russian influence operations to help Trump win, say critics. The announcement came the day after Trump dodged queries from reporters about the justice department's failure to produce long-promised files about the notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and pivoted to blast Obama without evidence for 'treason'. Trump's conspiratorial charge echoed dubious claims by his national intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, who days before called for a justice department inquiry into a purported 'treasonous conspiracy'. Likewise, the FBI earlier in July announced investigations into the ex-FBI director James Comey and ex-CIA director John Brennan, which critics see as political efforts to placate Trump who has often voiced anger at them for their roles in the Russia investigations before and during his first term. Legal scholars and ex-prosecutors say Trump and his loyal attorney general, Pam Bondi, have turned the justice department into his personal law firm to pursue his political and legal agendas. 'It's not unprecedented for presidents to deploy their powers for personal ends, but no one including Nixon has done this with the intensity of Trump,' Peter Shane, who teaches constitutional law at New York University, told the Guardian. Shane added: 'DoJ is now being used as a personal weapon on behalf of Trump to a degree that is without precedent. Trump has a team of sycophants and enablers at DoJ. They're not behaving the way office holders sworn to uphold the constitution are expected to behave. 'The idea that the Obama administration fabricated the story of Russian interference has been refuted multiple times, including by the Senate intelligence committee when, under the chairmanship of then senator Marco Rubio, the committee determined that Russia had indeed launched an aggressive covert effort to interfere in the 2016 election on Trump's behalf.' Other scholars raise similar alarms. 'Trump is using the justice department to target his perceived enemies and pursue his political goals,' said Randall Eliason, a former federal prosecutor who now lectures on law at George Washington University. 'The guiding principle for any DoJ prosecutor has always been loyalty to the constitution and the rule of law. Under this administration, it appears that the primary job requirement for any DoJ prosecutor, up to and including the attorney general, is loyalty to Donald Trump.' The premium that Trump has placed on loyalty at the justice department was revealed early by his choices of Bondi as attorney general, Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general and other senior officials. Bondi, an ex-Florida attorney general, helped defend Trump in the Senate during his first impeachment, and Blanche was his lead counsel in New York where Trump was convicted in 2024 of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to hide payments during his 2016 campaign to a porn star who alleged an affair with him. The justice department's drive to please Trump was evident in July when Bondi fired about 20 departmental employees. They included support staff and several prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases for special counsel Jack Smith, who charged Trump with improperly retaining hundreds of classified documents after he left office in early 2021, and for engaging in an 'unprecedented criminal effort' to stay in power after his 2020 election loss. Notably, Bondi this month abruptly fired without explanation the department's top ethics official, Joseph Tirrell, and Maureen Comey, a key prosecutor in New York who had worked on charges against Epstein and is James Comey's daughter. Several senior justice department and FBI officials were ousted in the first months of Trump's second presidency. For their part, Trump and Bondi have been blunt about axing lawyers and staff they deem political foes for allegedly politicizing the justice department against Trump. In February, for instance, Trump ordered the department to oust all remaining 'Biden-era' US attorneys, claiming the department 'has been politicized like never before' under Biden. In a similar vein, before taking office Bondi pledged during a confirmation hearing to eliminate what she blasted as 'the partisanship, the weaponization' of the Department of Justice under Biden. Some ex-prosecutors say Trump's charges that he was the victim of justice department weaponization stem from his penchant for conspiratorial thinking. 'The inane claims of weaponization we hear from Trump and his associates are particularly extraordinary because Trump regularly calls for the criminal investigation and prosecution of his political enemies,' said Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law professor at Columbia University. 'Baseless claims of crimes by his political opponents have always been a staple of Trump's rants. But now that he is president and has picked justice department leaders for their loyalty and not their competence or integrity, the risk of abusive investigations grows.' The justice department's intense focus on targeting Trump critics was evident after Bondi became attorney general when she quickly issued a memo establishing a 'weaponization' working group, say critics. Barbara McQuade, who teaches law at the University of Michigan and used to be a federal prosecutor, said Bondi's memo actually 'weaponizes law enforcement and undermines public confidence in government' because it pushes a 'false narrative' about the two special counsel investigations of Trump. McQuade stressed that 'federal grand juries returned indictments in both cases, meaning that they found probable cause that the crimes were committed.' Other justice department veterans have been appalled at its transformation including the wave of firings. Stacey Young, who spent 18 years as a federal litigator at the Department of Justice before leaving voluntarily in January, launched the group Justice Connection to help remaining justice department employees deal with ethical and legal headaches and find jobs for those who want to leave. 'These unprecedented firings at the justice department are growing exponentially,' Young told the Guardian. ' They happen with no notice and no opportunity to be heard, in violation of the Civil Service Reform Act and due process. Many people, and even their supervisors, have no idea why the firings targeted them or why now. Employees now wake up each day wondering if they're going to be next. 'It's screwing with people's lives, and it's also creating a culture of fear among the entire workforce. DoJ leadership is making clear the ability to keep your job is not tied to your performance, your expertise, or your commitment to uphold and defend the constitution.' On 24 July, three justice department officials including Tirrell who were abruptly fired this summer, filed a lawsuit against Bondi seeking reinstatement and back pay arguing that they were axed improperly and without cause. Other ex-federal prosecutors say the department is now being weaponized to please Trump. 'There is literally no reason to fire these people, other than to continue molding the department into Trump's personal law firm,' Mike Romano, an ex-justice department prosecutor who left voluntarily in March after almost four years working on prosecutions of Trump allies who stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021. 'Trump and Bondi are bringing us back to the spoils system, where the government is not staffed by merit but based on favors, and is not staffed with experts, but with hacks and cronies. As a country, we decided almost 150 years ago that the spoils system is terrible and corrupt.' Further, Bondi and Trump have stepped up attacks on judges who have rebuked justice department lawyers for presenting arguments in court that were specious or failed to respond to judges' queries, several of which have involved the administration's hardline anti-immigrant actions, say critics. 'There are certain things lawyers should avoid doing because they are sure to pique the ire of federal judges,' said ex-federal judge John Jones, who is president of Dickinson College. 'These include patronizing, temporizing, lying and making baseless arguments. The Trump DoJ lawyers have hit them all before multiple judges.' Likewise, Emil Bove III, a key Trump defense lawyer in 2024 who was the justice department's number three for several months before Trump nominated him as a federal appeals court judge that the Senate recently approved, was cited in one whistleblower complaint for telling department lawyers they could flout court orders to further Trump's immigration agenda. More broadly, scholars and justice department veterans see the Trump administration breaking sharply with historical norms and rewriting history to burnish Trump's image. 'The firing of the January 6 prosecutors and the pardons of the Capitol rioters are all part of an effort to whitewash what happened on January 6,' said Eliason. 'The goal is to portray the rioters as the true victims and falsely suggest that the law enforcement professionals who pursued these cases did something wrong. 'A key foundation of our constitutional system is adherence to the rule of law and the independence of the justice system from politics. That's all being discarded by the Trump administration.' Shane likewise stressed: 'Trump has placed his own lawyers in key justice department positions, expecting them to continue thinking of themselves as personal lawyers for Donald Trump, not government lawyers for the president as an office-holder bound by law.'


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Hundreds of ex-Israeli security officials urge Trump to help end war in Gaza
About 600 former Israeli security officials, including previous heads of the Mossad and the military, have urged Donald Trump to pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza as the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, considers expanding the conflict. In an open letter, the former officials said an end to the war was the only way to save hostages still held by Hamas. 'Your credibility with the vast majority of Israelis augments your ability to steer prime minister Netanyahu and his government in the right direction: end the war, return the hostages, stop the suffering,' they wrote. They added that they thought Hamas no longer posed a strategic threat to Israel. The letter comes as pressure mounts for the Israeli government to end the war, even as Netanyahu considers intensifying the offensive. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Israel over the weekend after two videos were released of emaciated hostages held in Gaza. One video in particular, which depicted a skeletal Evyatar David digging what he said could be his own grave, prompted a wave of outrage across Israel. On Sunday night, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum headquarters released a statement that accused Netanyahu of 'leading Israel and the kidnapped to doom'. Netanyahu said on Monday he would convene his security cabinet this week to discuss how to instruct the military to meet his war goals in Gaza, with Israeli media reporting the prime minister was inclining towards expanding the offensive and seizing the entire Palestinian territory. According to Israeli media, Netanyahu wants to try 'pushing for the release of the hostages through decisive military victory'. Intensifying military activity in the Palestinian territory would placate the far-right ministers in Netanyahu's governing coalition, who have consistently advocated against a ceasefire. The Israeli government is exploring the idea of intensified military operations as ceasefire negotiations seemed to have stalled – which it blames on Hamas. The US and Israel withdrew their negotiators from Doha 10 days ago and said they would explore 'alternative options' to retrieve the hostages. An expansion of the war would be contrary to what Trump's Middle East envoy told the families of hostages over the weekend was the US position. Steve Witkoff said Washington was backing a comprehensive end to the Gaza war that would bring hostages home and assured the families that would not mean more fighting. Any expansion of the conflict would risk worsening the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. A UN-affiliated humanitarian body said the territory was experiencing famine, as the approximately 2.1 million people who live there experience mass starvation. Despite the announcement of expanded aid measures in Gaza, humanitarian groups say Israel is still not letting nearly enough aid into the territory. Israel denies there is starvation in Gaza and blames the UN for not distributing aid efficiently. At least 40 Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire and airstrikes in Gaza on Monday, in addition to five people who died of starvation, health authorities said. At least 10 of those who were killed were shot as they queued for food outside distribution centres run by the private US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). A nurse at al-Aqsa hospital was also killed when an airdropped pallet of aid fell on him in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. Another man was taken to the hospital after a crate of aid fell on his tent. The World Health Organization announced it was delivering medicine and blood units to hospitals across Gaza – a rare delivery to bolster the Palestinian territory's devastated healthcare system. Almost 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war began. Israel launched the war in response to an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostage. Families of the hostages rejected the idea of further fighting in Gaza, which they said on Sunday 'endangers the lives of the kidnapped, who are already in immediate danger of death'. The former Israeli security officials also warned against an expansion of the war, arguing that Israel had long since achieved its military objectives in Gaza. 'At first this war was a just war, a defensive war, but when we achieved all military objectives, this war ceased to be a just war,' Ami Ayalon, the former head of the Shin Bet security agency, said in a video on Sunday night. 'This [war] is leading the state of Israel to the loss of its security and identity.' A demonstration was also held outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem in protest against plans to sack Israel's attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara. The government voted for her dismissal on Monday, despite the Israeli supreme court saying she should not be replaced until her term has ended. In March, the Israeli justice minister started the process of firing the attorney general. Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by the previous government, had come into conflict with Netanyahu on a number of issues including his indictments over allegations over bribery and fraud. The government has accused her of deliberately blocking its policy initiatives and for conducting politically motivated 'witch-hunts'. She has also made public statements against the undermining of the separation of powers, understood to be a response to Netanyahu's controversial judicial overhaul. Israel's high court of justice issued an injunction against the government's decision to dismiss the attorney general, leaving her in position for the time being. The government is expected to appeal against the decision to block the firing. Israeli ministers have said they will stop inviting Baharav-Miara to hearings and committee meetings, regardless of the injunction. The move to dismiss the attorney general has been widely criticised by opposition parties and rights monitors. The chair of the Democrats party, Yair Golan, accused the government of trying to fire Baharav-Miara to safeguard Netanyahu's political interests. 'The agenda for the upcoming meeting: increased security for Netanyahu and his family and the dismissal of the attorney general,' Golan said in a post on X, alleging the prime minister did not care about the lives of Israeli hostages.