Putin unleashes a summer offensive to break Ukraine
AFTER WEEKS of nebulous ceasefire talks at the urging of a semi-engaged President Donald Trump, the war between Russia and Ukraine is intensifying again in savage style and with escalating stakes. In the last two weeks there have been record-breaking Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and spectacular Ukrainian drone raids on Russia's strategic bomber force, deep inside its borders. But all this is merely a prelude to the main event: a large-scale summer offensive by Russia that aims to break Ukrainian morale and deliver president Vladimir Putin a symbolic victory at almost any cost.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘We're not afraid of you': LA protesters, enraged by Trump, flood the streets
Thousands of Angelenos enraged by Donald Trump's decision to commandeer their state national guard swamped the streets around city hall and the federal courthouse on Sunday, bringing a major freeway to a standstill on Sunday. The demonstrators were met by law enforcement. But the national guard, hemmed in by the protesters and by dozens of Los Angeles police cruisers, played almost no role in any of it. A vocal, boisterous but largely peaceful sea of protesters engulfed the north-eastern corner of downtown Los Angeles, hurling insults at Trump and at the immigration enforcement teams who had conducted mass arrests of undocumented migrants in the area on Friday. They converged on the Metropolitan detention center, the federal lockup where many protesters arrested over the previous 48 hours were being held, and an adjacent loading dock that about 50 national guardsmen, in battle gear with riot shields and semi-automatic weapons, were using as their staging ground. The protesters did not hesitate to walk right up to the heavily armed me. 'We're not afraid of you!' one organiser with a bullhorn, John Parker, yelled. One of the many banners on display read: 'National Guard LOL.' Every building and wall in the immediate vicinity was covered in profane graffiti, the most common being 'Fuck ICE', 'LAPD can suck it' and 'Kill all cops.' Shortly after noon, the guardsmen, flanked by armed officers with Department of Homeland Security insignia, fired teargas into the growing crowd so a caravan of DHS and Border Patrol vehicles could push its way through. People backed off briefly and donned masks, only to come back in larger numbers within a few minutes. That was the extent of the national guard's involvement. Within a couple of hours, the crowd had swollen to several thousand, as marchers from earlier protests – one in Boyle Heights, east of downtown, and the other at city hall – moved on the federal complex from different directions, spilling so broadly into the surrounding streets that it brought traffic to a standstill. Several drivers caught in the snarl-up honked enthusiastically to show their support. At first, the Los Angeles police department issued orders to disperse and threatened to arrest anyone who did not comply. Dozens of patrol cars tore through downtown, forming a barricade just north of the protest and slowly pushing the crowd in the opposite direction. LAPD riot officers sprinted down the sidewalks and fired several rounds of flash-bangs, which alarmed the crowd but did not appear to harm anyone. Soon, the LAPD patrol cars had – whether by design or by accident – hemmed the national guardsmen into their staging area, making it impossible for them to make their own attempt at crowd control even if they had wanted to. The crowd, meanwhile, had split into two, with one group clustered so thickly along Alameda and Temple Streets that the police soon gave up on attempting to move them further. The other group sprinted down freeway off-ramps leading to the 101 freeway, bringing traffic on the major artery to a standstill. Police fired round after round of flash-bangs in an attempt to push the protesters back up the off-ramps. Thick clusters of onlookers gathered on the bridges above the action, shouting 'shame, shame!' at the police as well as profanity-laced slogans – in English and Spanish – directed at Trump and his immigration enforcement efforts. Unlike the national guardsmen, the LAPD appeared reluctant to resort to teargas. Unlike the county sheriff's department, who shot a news photographer in the leg on Saturday with a so-called 'less lethal' round, the city police also shied away from more drastic crowd control measures. California leaders including the governor Gavin Newsom and the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass have accused Trump of compounding the problems caused by his immigration raids by taking the unorthodox step of requisitioning the state national guard. By mid-afternoon Newsom was urging the president to rescind the order. 'We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved,' Newsom said. 'This is a serious breach of state sovereignty – inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they're actually needed.' Some of those frustrations showed on the street, as LAPD officers – even as they appeared determined not to inflame the crowds further – had to endure loud insults and a flurry of empty plastic water bottles thrown whenever they made an attempt to take control of the crowd. In isolated incidents, LAPD riot officers manhandled or arrested protesters who threw fists at them or beat on police cars. At one point, a black police cruiser moved through the crowd at high speed and was reported to have injured a bicyclist knocked to the ground. There were isolated episodes of vandalism – graffiti sprayed on buildings and vehicles, a Waymo driverless car seen with a smashed windshield, one protester who damaged the side mirror of a parked car he passed. But the vast majority of protesters seemed determined to vent their anger through slogans and placards only. 'People experiencing oppression are expressing their first amendment rights,' said a protest organiser who wanted to be identified only as Angelica R for fear of government reprisals 'This is not the making of a dictatorship,' she said of Trump's immigration crackdowns. 'This is the description of a dictatorship.' It was not clear what plan, if any, the national guard had going into Sunday. Newsom said about 300 guardsmen had deployed to the LA area – far short of the 2,000 requisitioned by the president. As the day began, two dozen of them appeared to news crews outside the federal complex as though intent only on posing for photographs. They had the visors of their helmets up, and many wore shades, even though the day started out cloudy. Mayor Bass, speaking to the Los Angeles Times, accused them of 'posturing'. Maxine Waters, the veteran congresswoman from south LA, taunted them by asking: 'Who are you going to shoot?' It was only as the crowds grew thicker that they donned riot shields and turned to face the street, not the television cameras. The size of the protests appeared to take everyone by surprise. LAPD squad cars tore towards city hall at one point, only to spin in circles and head back to the federal complex moments later. One protest organiser outside the Metropolitan detention center yelled at one point: 'This is only a distraction! We need to go to city hall!' But as soon as people started heeding her call, they ran into a sea of several thousand protesters moving in the opposite direction.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
LA protests: How city erupted over rumours of hardware store raid
Juan and several friends huddled in the car park of a hardware store near Los Angeles, where protests have erupted against US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Typically, their gatherings include dozens of day labourers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants, seeking work from shoppers or on Sunday, only two small pickups advertised that they could help with roofing, repairs or paint jobs outside this branch of Home Depot in the suburb of Paramount, whose population is more than 82% was one day after the store became the centre of immigration protests, sparked by rumours that day labourers here had been rounded up and who live in the community told the BBC they saw immigration enforcement vehicles in the caused instant fear and panic. Then came reports about raids and arrests of day labourers at Home Depot, a place where many undocumented migrants across the US go to find erupted in this Hispanic-majority city, turning violent as rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown. Authorities used pepper spray, rubber bullets and smoke bombs to subdue the the demonstrations in Paramount appear to have spawned out of misinformation. While dozens of migrants have been detained by authorities elsewhere in the area, the rumours of raids at the store were misinformation, according to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."Despite false reports, there was no ICE 'raid' at a Home Depot in LA," the DHS told the our live updates on the LA protestsA political fight Trump is eager to haveAs he leaned on the bed of a small Toyota pickup with his two friends, Juan said: "No-one really knows what happened. Everyone is afraid."The unrest in Paramount, which also saw a car set ablaze and businesses looted, became a catalyst for what federal authorities have described as riots throughout the Los Angeles Saturday, President Donald Trump used his authority to call in the California National Guard, something typically decided by a state's governor, as a second day of protests convulsed the city. As the protests flared up for a third day on Sunday, armed National Guard troops guarded a gated business park across the street from the hardware parked Humvees blocking the area and squared off with protesters hurling insults and waving Mexican flags and banners. "You're not welcome here!" one man with a Los Angeles Angels ball cap shouted to the soldiers as another protester uncapped spray paint and wrote an obscenity directed at US Immigration and Customs told the BBC that the guarded area is home to one of their offices and authorities were using it "as a staging area and rioters found it".The agency told the BBC they have arrested 118 illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles area this week, including five they say are gang agency said some of these migrants had previous criminal histories that included drug trafficking, assault and can a president deploy National Guard on US soil?As he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday, Trump told reporters there were "violent people" in Los Angeles "and they're not gonna get away with it".Dora Sanchez was still in disbelief from the shocking images that transformed her city the night gathered on Sunday with others in the community at the Chapel of Change church, less than a block from the centre of protests the day and others at the church talked about how this Hispanic community was revitalised over the years and became a close-knit community where neighbours know and watch out for one protests felt like a "breaking point" for the immigrant community, she Angeles is one of the biggest minority-majority cities in the US. Hispanics not only make up a larger share of the population than any other ethnic background, but immigrants, specifically those from just south in Mexico, are a core part of the history and culture city boasts its status as a sanctuary city, which means it does not co-operate with federal immigration here said they felt a bubbling tension that seemed to erupt when the Republican president's administration targeted LA's undocumented immigrants."It was time to stand up," said Maria Gutierrez, who protested in Paramount. "These are my people."She said she was born in Mexico, but has lived here since she was a - like many here - say they have family members who are in the US illegally."This is LA," she said. "It touches us all. "Everyone has family or knows someone who doesn't have papers."
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: California's Newsom compares Trump to a ‘dictator' over national guard deployment
California's governor, Gavin Newson, is leading criticism of Donald Trump over his decision to send 2,000 national guard troops to Los Angeles, likening his actions to those of a 'dictator'. National guard troops clashed with demonstrators protesting Trump's controversial anti-immigration program on Sunday, while police fired teargas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Trump and his defense chief, Pete Hegseth, have also threatened to send in the Marines. Newsom has demanded Trump rescind the order and accused the president of inciting and provoking violence, creating mass chaos, militarizing cities and arresting opponents. 'These are the acts of a dictator, not a President,' he wrote in a social media post. He also shared a sharp rebuke signed by all of the country's Democratic governors describing deployment as 'an alarming abuse of power'. Here are the key stories: US national guard troops clashed with demonstrators in Los Angeles on Sunday as police used teargas and 'less-lethal munitions' to disperse massive crowds of people protesting against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. There were scenes of chaos amid tense confrontations between authorities and protesters outside the Metropolitan detention center in downtown LA, and a large group of demonstrators brought traffic to a stop in both directions of the 101 freeway. Footage captured on Sunday afternoon showed protesters holding signs on the freeway facing off against law enforcement in tactical gear as the sound of firing munitions echoed through the area. Read the full story Bernie Sanders warned of the US's slide into authoritarianism following Trump's national guard deployment. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, the leftwing Vermont senator said: 'We have a president who is moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism … My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles did not request the national guard but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants.' Read the full story In another face-off between Newsom and the Trump administration, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent warned the California governor he would be guilty of 'criminal tax evasion' if he withholds his state's tax payments to the federal government, amid threats of a funding cut by Trump. Newsom had threatened to cut tax payments to the federal government two days ago, after reports that Trump was preparing huge federal funding cuts targeting Democrat-dominated California, including its state university system. Read the full story A sweeping travel ban on citizens of 12 countries will come into effect at 12am ET on Monday, in a move that Trump said would protect the country from 'foreign terrorists'. The ban represents one of the most ambitious attempts to reshape the US's approach to global mobility in modern history and will potentially affect millions of people coming to the US for relocation, travel, work or school. Read the full story A US marshal was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents in Arizona after being mistakenly identified as a man that agents were looking for, according to a statement from the US Marshals Service. The deputy marshal matched the 'fit the general description of a subject' being sought by Ice and was detained at a federal building in the Old Pueblo in Tucson. Officials said the detainment was brief and the deputy marshal was released after his identity was 'quickly confirmed' by other law enforcement officers. Read the full story ABC News has suspended its senior national correspondent Terry Moran after he described top White House aide Stephen Miller as 'richly endowed with the capacity for hatred' and that he and Trump were both 'world-class' haters. Read the full story Without naming names, newly installed Pope Leo has criticised the emergence of nationalist political movements and their 'exclusionary mindset'. Leo, the first pope from the US, asked during a mass on Sunday with tens of thousands in St Peter's Square that God 'open borders, break down walls [and] dispel hatred'. Read the full story Senator Cory Booker says he supports anyone opposing Trump's tax-spending bill, even Elon Musk, but confirmed he would never accept campaign donations from the tech billionaire. A former OpenAI board member says that US attacks on science and research are a 'great gift' to China on artificial intelligence. Eight US states are seeking to outlaw chemtrails – even though they aren't real. Catching up? Here's what happened on 7 June 2025.
