Russia kills 22 civilians in Ukraine as the Kremlin remains defiant over Trump threats - War in Ukraine
Four powerful Russian glide bombs hit a prison in Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, authorities said. They killed at least 17 inmates and wounded more than 80 others, officials said.
In the Dnipro region of central Ukraine, authorities said Russian missiles partially destroyed a three-story building and damaged nearby medical facilities, including a maternity hospital and a city hospital ward. Officials said at least four people were killed, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman, and eight were injured.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that across the country, 22 people were killed in Russian strikes on 73 cities, towns and villages. 'These were conscious, deliberate strikes — not accidental,' Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Trump said Monday he is giving Russian President Vladimir Putin 10 to 12 days to stop the killing in Ukraine after three years of war, moving up a 50-day deadline he had given the Russian leader two weeks ago. The move meant Trump wants peace efforts to make progress by Aug. 7-9.
Trump has repeatedly rebuked Putin for talking about ending the war but continuing to bombard Ukrainian civilians. But the Kremlin hasn't changed its tactics.
'I'm disappointed in President Putin,' Trump said during a visit to Scotland.
Zelenskyy welcomed Trump's move on the timeline. 'Everyone needs peace — Ukraine, Europe, the United States and responsible leaders across the globe,' Zelenskyy wrote in a post on Telegram. 'Everyone except Russia.'
The Kremlin pushes back against Trump
The Kremlin pushed back, with a top Putin lieutenant warning Trump against 'playing the ultimatum game with Russia.'
'Russia isn't Israel or even Iran,' former president Dmitry Medvedev, who is deputy head of the country's Security Council, wrote on social platform X.
'Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country,' Medvedev said.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor, the Kremlin has warned Kyiv's Western backers that their involvement could end up broadening the war to NATO countries.
'Kremlin officials continue to frame Russia as in direct geopolitical confrontation with the West in order to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against NATO,' the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said late Monday.
Russia attacks with glide bombs, drones and missiles
The Ukrainian air force said Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles along with 37 Shahed-type strike drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight. It said 32 Shahed drones were intercepted or neutralized by Ukrainian air defences.
The Russian attack close to midnight Monday hit the Bilenkivska Correctional Facility with glide bombs, according to the State Criminal Executive Service of Ukraine.
Glide bombs, which are Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with retractable fins and guidance systems, have been laying waste to cities in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army is trying to pierce Ukrainian defenses. The bombs carry up to 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of explosives.
At least 42 inmates were hospitalised with serious injuries, while another 40 people, including one staff member, sustained various injuries.
The strike destroyed the prison's dining hall, damaged administrative and quarantine buildings, but the perimeter fence held and no escapes were reported, authorities said.
Ukrainian officials condemned the attack, saying that targeting civilian infrastructure, such as prisons, is a war crime under international conventions.
The assault occurred exactly three years after an explosion killed more than 50 people at the Olenivka detention facility in the Russia-occupied Donetsk region, where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners were killed.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of shelling the prison. The Associated Press interviewed over a dozen people with direct knowledge of details of that attack, including survivors, investigators and families of the dead and missing. All described evidence they believed points directly to Russia as the culprit. The AP also obtained an internal United Nations analysis that found the same.
Further Russian attacks hit communities in Synelnykivskyi district with FPV drones and aerial bombs, killing at least one person and injuring two others, regional Gov. Serhii Lysak said.
Russian forces also targeted the community of Velykomykhailivska, killing a 75-year-old woman and injuring a 68-year-old man, according to Lysak.
Ukraine launches long-range drones
Ukraine has sought to fight back against Russian strikes by developing its own long-range drone technology, hitting oil depots, weapons plants and disrupting commercial flights.
Russia's Defense Ministry said Tuesday that air defenses downed 74 Ukrainian drones over several regions overnight, including 43 over the Bryansk region.
Yuri Slyusar, the head of the Rostov region said a man in the city of Salsk was killed in a drone attack, which started a fire at the Salsk railway station.
Officials said a cargo train was set ablaze at the Salsk station and the railway traffic via Salsk was suspended. Explosions shattered windows in two cars of a passenger train and passengers were evacuated.
Follow us on:
Short link:
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Egypt Independent
10 minutes ago
- Egypt Independent
Inside Laura Loomer's hunt for disloyalty in Trump's government — and where she's looking next
Laura Loomer, the controversial far-right activist with a direct line to President Donald Trump, has taken credit for a slew of recent high-profile administration firings. But she sounds more exasperated than triumphant. In an interview with CNN last week, the Trump confidante touted her role in ousting the country's chief vaccine regulator, a senior national security lawyer and a decorated cybersecurity expert tapped for a post at West Point. It was a remarkable display of influence for someone with no formal government experience and whose online antics once resulted in a ban by social media companies. She said it's not nearly enough — and she's grown frustrated with White House officials ignoring her offers to help vet candidates. 'If I have to do it on the outside because of internal resistance, then so be it,' Loomer said in a phone call. Armed with more than 1.7 million followers on X and Trump's cell phone number, Loomer has taken on the self-appointed role of 'loyalty enforcer,' scrutinizing the backgrounds of various administration officials for any inkling they once harbored doubts about the president. She then amplifies her findings online, keeping up the drumbeat until White House officials — many of whom see her overtures as doing more harm than good — can no longer ignore it. 'She's a loose cannon,' said one Trump adviser who shares that view and was granted anonymity to speak candidly. 'But she has a following. It is what it is.' Inside the administration, recent episodes have only reinforced the growing perception that Loomer, despite aides' best efforts to limit her access within the White House, is nevertheless finding increasing success in influencing its decision-making from the outside. Her influence underscores the persistent personnel challenges, internal conflicts and frequent dismissals that have come to define the Trump administration since he first stepped foot in the White House. Trump, who values loyalty above all else, publicly praised Loomer's efforts on Sunday, describing her as a 'patriot.' Loomer sees disloyal operatives scattered throughout the administration, Cabinet officials misleading the MAGA faithful and a president who has yet to deliver on promises of retribution from his campaign. 'I'm not blaming Trump, but people will probably start to blame Trump if he doesn't use these opportunities to fire some Cabinet members,' she said. In a statement to CNN, White House spokesman Kush Desai did not engage on Loomer specifically, but asserted Trump 'has assembled the best and brightest talent to put Americans and America First.' 'It is not only appropriate, but critical for the Administration to recruit the most qualified and experienced staffers who are totally aligned with President Trump's agenda to Make America Great Again,' Desai said. Next targets Attorney General Pam Bondi may sit at the top of her blacklist — Loomer has publicly called for her firing several times — but she's not alone. Loomer also has doubts about Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, blaming her for Trump's softer tone of late toward undocumented farm workers. And Loomer has turned her sizable megaphone against people now working at the Department of Health and Human Services under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former Democrat whose alliance with Trump remains a source of her skepticism. Neither Bondi, Rollins nor Kennedy appear in immediate danger of becoming Loomer's next victims; Trump has expressed support for all three. Loomer said they have not reached out to her about her concerns, despite her ongoing efforts to dig up dirt on their hires. But one embattled Cabinet head has: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Loomer said she recently spoke with Hegseth, whom she's known for a decade, about her work finding disloyal employees within the Pentagon. Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the two spoke, telling CNN in a statement that Hegseth 'appreciates Laura Loomer's outside advocacy.' US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth waits for the arrival of Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar during an Honor Cordon at the Pentagon on July 1, in Arlington, Virginia.'Personnel is policy, and Laura has taken that motto to heart,' Parnell said, adding: 'Qualified individuals who love our country and support the Administration's priorities will continue to be integral to our efforts.' Loomer has presented three more targets to her audience: Miami Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez, whom she sparred with online, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, due to his sprawling overseas businesses; and Trump's nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, David LaCerte, over his legal work for big banks. The anatomy of getting 'Loomered' The recent ouster of a top public health official served as a window into how she pushes to oust Trump administration officials — what has become known in Washington as getting 'Loomered.' On July 20, Loomer began a relentless campaign against Vinay Prasad, the head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration, over his handling of key drug approvals and a series of years-old tweets expressing support for Democratic politicians and policies, claiming it was proof he was a 'leftist saboteur.' Within hours of posting her research online, Loomer sent it to the White House, she told CNN. A week later, Loomer unearthed audio of Prasad from a 2021 podcast where he joked he had stabbed a voodoo doll of Trump, along with other disparaging remarks about the president. Loomer said she sent the clip to Sergio Gor, the director of White House personnel. Prasad has not disputed the authenticity of the audio. Loomer's posts ricocheted quickly among Trump allies and heightened scrutiny of Prasad inside the administration. On day 10 of her crusade, the White House decided it'd had enough. Loomer is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 5. Greg Kahn/The New York Times/Redux White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told FDA Commissioner Marty Makary on Tuesday that he needed to let go of Prasad, his chief science officer and close confidant, putting an abrupt end to his tenure after less than three months, two people familiar with the matter said. Wiles and other top aides had determined that the Loomer-led campaign risked mushrooming into yet another distraction for the White House, those two people said. The sense was they needed to contain it before Trump faced the press after returning from a trip to Scotland. 'They knew that [Trump] was going to have to deal with this,' said one of the people familiar with the matter. 'So they made the decision to take him out.' The departure came over the objections of Makary and Kennedy, who had vehemently defended Prasad — a controversial figure in health circles handpicked for his willingness to overhaul the nation's vaccine protocols — to White House officials, lawmakers and other Trump allies in recent days, the two people familiar and a third person briefed on the matter said. The decision so significantly dismayed Kennedy and Makary that, even after Prasad's departure, they discussed enlisting Medicare and Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz — a longtime friend of Trump — to corner the president at a Wednesday health event and press him to reverse course, one of the people familiar with the matter said. But that plan was rendered moot once Prasad's ouster went public the night before. 'I understand the paranoia and the desire to root out bad people even if it involves taking out some good people,' one of the people familiar with the matter said. 'But it's just true: Laura Loomer fired the head drug regulator for the United States.' HHS spokesman Rich Danker said in a statement to CNN that 'the FDA informed the White House on Tuesday that Dr. Prasad had stepped down.' He did not respond to several questions seeking to verify the above details. Prasad could not be reached for comment. Other supporters of Prasad used their own online platforms to accuse Loomer of working in concert with the pharmaceutical industry and others who objected to FDA decisions he'd overseen on rare drugs. Loomer denied to CNN that she was working with Prasad's other detractors. She said her concerns about Prasad grew out of the FDA's decision earlier this year to approve a new Covid-19 vaccine manufactured by Novavax. (It later emerged that Prasad had objected to the FDA's decision and had overridden the agency's experts to recommend against the broad use of two other Covid-19 vaccines.) 'I don't trust anybody' Loomer's inflammatory rhetoric toward Muslims and promotion of conspiracy theories have made her a controversial figure in Trump's orbit for years, and his advisers have long attempted to minimize her interactions with the president. She has said aides repeatedly step in to block her when Trump has attempted to hire her over the years. A self-described investigative journalist, Loomer has also pushed for a White House press credential, to no avail. In this September 2024 photo, Laura Loomer arrives at Philadelphia International Airport on The Trump Organization's Boeing who runs a small team of researchers, argued she would be more effective if the White House let her oversee hiring from the inside. She said that lately she's become inundated with tips, including from within the administration, about certain staffers. She said she vets them all. 'Aren't they supposed to know these people are a problem before Susie has to waste her time dealing with this lack of vetting?' Loomer said. Prasad is just the latest of a growing collection of government officials to get 'Loomered.' In the administration's first six months, Loomer has claimed credit for helping spur the removal of several staffers at the White House and elsewhere in government, including a string of firings at the National Security Agency and on the National Security Council in early April that followed a phone call and an Oval Office meeting with Trump. Amid the fallout, national security adviser Michael Waltz, a regular target of Loomer's attacks, was pushed out of that position as well. Just days before Prasad's ouster, the NSA removed another top official, general counsel April Falcon Doss, after Loomer amplified a report criticizing Doss for previously working for the Senate Intelligence Committee's Democratic staff. On Wednesday, she celebrated after Trump's Army secretary ordered the US Military Academy at West Point to rescind its appointment of Biden-era cyber defense official Jen Easterly as a distinguished chair. Loomer had recently taken aim at Easterly on X, singling her out in a post that alleged without evidence that 'there are some serious moles' at the Department of Defense. Very few have demonstrated such unflinching loyalty to Trump as Loomer. With thousands of jobs to fill across Trump's administration, she concedes that some appointees will inevitably have what she considers checkered records, including past criticism of the president. Some of the most prominent figures in Trump's administration — Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for example — were once harsh Trump detractors. She said the concerns she is raising about certain hires go beyond ideological disagreements. Rubio and Vance, she noted, have publicly made amends and earned back favor with Trump and his supporters. Still, that doesn't mean they're immune from future scrutiny. 'I don't trust anybody. I'm not friends with anybody,' Loomer said. 'That's why I have four dogs.'
Al-Ahram Weekly
40 minutes ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Former Israeli security officials urge Trump to compel Netanyahu to end Gaza war - War on Gaza
A group of over 600 former Israeli security officials urged US President Donald Trump to compel Benjamin Netanyahu's government to end the war in Gaza, The Jerusalem Post reported. The group comprises former generals from the army and equivalents from Mossad, Shin Bet, the police, and the diplomatic corps. In an open letter shared later with the media on Monday, the group, known as Commanders for Israel's Security (CIS), asserted their professional judgment that Hamas no longer represents a strategic threat to Israel. Thereby, they urged Trump to "steer" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu towards ending the war in Gaza. 'Stop the Gaza War! ... We urge you to end the Gaza war. You did it in Lebanon. Time to do it in Gaza as well," the CIS directly appealed to Trump. The group contends that Israel has already achieved its core military objectives. "The army has long accomplished the two objectives that could be achieved by force: dismantling Hamas' military formations and governance," it stated. They emphasized that the "third, and most important, can only be achieved through a deal: bringing all hostages home.' This is not the first time the CIS has pressed for a shift in the government's policy. However, their latest intervention underscores the escalating international pressure on Israel regarding its acts in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, particularly given Trump's recent criticisms of Israel for causing starvation in Gaza, as reported by The Jerusalem Post. 'It is our professional judgment that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel. Chasing remaining senior Hamas operatives can be done later. Our hostages can't wait,' the group said. The former officials believe Trump's unique standing with the Israeli populace gives him significant leverage. '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, and forge a regional-international coalition that helps the Palestinian Authority (once reformed) to offer Gazans and all Palestinians an alternative to Hamas,' the letter read. The CIS proposed that Israel must announce its acceptance of an end to the war in exchange for the return of all remaining captives, a consistent offer by Hamas since the war started. Additionally, they urged Israel to accept the proposed international framework of Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, together with a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA), taking over the running of post-war Gaza. The CIS expressed hope that Trump will press Netanyahu to make such an offer despite the Israeli premier's repeated rejection of this position, trying to keep his hard-right coalition partners from toppling his government if he ends the war. According to JPOST, the CIS had successfully influenced the Biden administration's policy in the past, and previously, the Netanyahu government's policies. "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," said Ami Ayalon, former director of the Shin Bet security service. The war, nearing its 23rd month, "is leading the State of Israel to lose its security and identity," Ayalon warned in a video released to accompany the letter. On 18 March, the Netanyahu government unilaterally broke a ceasefire agreement brokered in January by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, resuming its genocidal war on Gaza. The renewed assault has killed thousands and left scores of Palestinian civilians wounded. Israel violated the truce after insisting on extending the first phase of the agreement and refusing to enter the second phase, which included more substantive steps toward ending the war. In recent weeks, Israel has faced mounting international pressure over its genocidal campaign in Gaza and a continued blockade that has plunged the strip into mass starvation. Since the war began in October 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 60,400 Palestinians. At least 1,400 of them were targeted near US- and Israeli-backed aid distribution centres. Israel's engineered famine has killed more than 170 Palestinians in Gaza, including 93 children, according to health authorities. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Egypt Independent
an hour ago
- Egypt Independent
Egypt pressing to open crossings, provides 70 percent of Gaza aid despite Israeli obstacles
CAIRO, Aug 3 (MENA) – Egypt plays a vital, exceptional, and consistent role in supporting the Palestinian cause, based on its historical responsibility, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdelatty said on Sunday. In an interview with Extra News on the sidelines of the 6th edition of the Egyptians Abroad Conference, Abdelatty described the humanitarian situation in the war-devastated Gaza Strip as 'catastrophic by all standards,' adding that the international community should be ashamed of this reality. He held the occupying power fully responsible under international law and the Geneva Conventions for the deteriorating situation, noting that while there are five crossings linking Israel to Gaza, all remain closed. Meanwhile, Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing open 24/7 from its side, although the Palestinian side of the crossing remains closed due to Israeli restrictions, and aid trucks are often targeted. The minister emphasized that Egypt is exerting maximum pressure on the Israeli side through its contacts with the United States to open the crossings and allow aid delivery. He added that Egypt is also working tirelessly to provide assistance, whether by land, with around 120 trucks delivered so far, or by participating in joint airdrops with Western countries and Jordan. The top diplomat stressed, however, that airdrops cannot substitute for access through land crossings, which remain closed by Israeli authorities. Abdelatty said that 70 percent of the humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza since October 7, 2023, has been provided by Egypt. He criticized misleading campaigns that downplay Egypt's efforts, saying such narratives only serve Israel's objective of easing international pressure. On ceasefire negotiations, the minister confirmed that talks are ongoing, and Egypt is intensifying its efforts to reach a deal. However, the main obstacle remains the absence of genuine political will from the Israeli side to agree on a comprehensive deal that would include the release of hostages and Palestinian detainees, along with the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid. He expressed hope that these efforts would soon bear fruit, allowing for the announcement of a date for the international Gaza reconstruction and early recovery conference. Abdelatty noted that many countries and international organizations have expressed their desire for Egypt to co-sponsor the conference. (MENA)
