
At least 2 people killed, 24 hurt in Russian airborne strikes on Kyiv
Residential, healthcare, education, commercial and transport infrastructure was damaged across eight districts of the capital, including Podilskyi, where a 22-year-old woman police officer and a 68-year-old woman were killed, Kyiv Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said in a social media update.
"House-to-house inspections of the affected building are underway with the police checking whether anyone was left without help. About 400 rescuers and 90 units of fire and rescue, engineering and robotic equipment of the State Emergency Service are involved in clearing the rubble and dealing with the consequences of the shelling," he said.
Tkachenko said apartment blocks, vehicles, warehouses, offices and other non-residential buildings were burning.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that apartment buildings in Shevchenkivskyi and Darnytskyi were set ablaze, gas stations and garages damaged, and a primary healthcare center "almost completely destroyed" in Podilskyi district.
The attack started shortly after 1 a.m. local time when explosions were heard and a swarm of Shahed-type attack drones was detected over the Pechersk district in old Kyiv, kicking off a three-hour-long intense bombardment in which the city was also targeted with ballistic missiles.
The Ukraine Air Force said 18 ballistic, cruise and S-300 guided missiles, mostly targeting Kyiv, were part of a much larger attack targeting the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovohrad and Kharkiv regions that involved almost 400 real and decoy drones in an effort to throw off Ukrainian air defenses by swamping them.
However, air defenses succeeded in downing 14 of the missiles and while more than 350 drones were shot down, jammed or went the wrong way, at least two people, a man and a woman, were injured in the southern province of Kherson.
"This is a clear escalation of terror by Russia -- hundreds of 'shaheds' every night, constant strikes, and massive attacks on Ukrainian cities," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
"This demands that we speed things up. Sanctions must be imposed faster, and pressure on Russia must be strong enough that they truly feel the consequences of their terror. There's a need for quicker action from our partners in investing in weapons production and advancing technology," Zelensky wrote.
The latest attacks came as the United Nations released figures for June showing 232 people were killed and 1,343 injured in Ukraine due to enemy action, the highest number of civilian casualties in any month since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
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The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Senate leaving Russia sanctions power fully in Trump's hands
Republican senators are getting ready to leave Washington without advancing a major sanctions bill against Russia, giving President Trump sole discretion over whether to follow through on his threats against Russian President Vladimir Putin if he refuses to halt his war against Ukraine. Trump has given an Aug. 8 deadline for Putin to stop fighting or risk tariffs on countries that import Russian oil. As a preview, he announced 25 percent tariffs on India, a major importer of Russian energy. That's far below the 500 percent secondary tariff power Congress laid out in draft legislation. While Senate Ukraine hawks wanted to see their sanctions bill pass before the monthlong break, they ultimately left the decision entirely in Trump's hands, at least for the summer. 'I think he's going to be very careful about what he does,' Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said when asked by The Hill if Trump can be trusted to impose costs on Putin. 'But I think he is clearly disappointed in Putin and I think he is now coming around to recognizing that many of us were right.' Democrats have expressed skepticism Trump will punish Putin, even as the president has shown increasing frustration with the Russian leader's refusal to accept a ceasefire. Trump said Friday he ordered nuclear submarines to the region in response to threats of nuclear weapons use from Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, current deputy chair of the security council and frequent online provocateur. 'Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances,' Trump posted on his social media site Truth Social. Trump told reporters Thursday that his special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Russia following a visit to Israel on Friday. Trump described Russia's ongoing attacks against Ukraine as 'disgusting.' 'We have about eight days. … We're going to put sanctions,' he said. Even as Trump has shortened the deadline for Russia to get serious about peace talks, the president is hedging on the impact U.S. financial penalties will have on Putin's country. 'I don't know that sanctions bother him. You know? They know about sanctions. I know better than anybody about sanctions, and tariffs and everything else. I don't know if that has any effect. But we're going to do it.' While the U.S. has steadily ramped up sanctions on Russia throughout the war, the Senate bill would have marked a major economic escalation, seeking to isolate Moscow from trading partners that have kept its wartime economy afloat. 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Even if it's 100 percent, possibly. But you ought to impose bone-crushing sanctions that will stop them from fueling Russia's war machine,' Blumenthal said. The Connecticut senator said even as he holds out hope for Trump to give Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) the green light to bring the sanctions bill to the floor, the bill has already moved U.S. policy. 'It has given credibility and momentum to the idea of sanctions so that now, even President Trump, who was seemingly Putin's best buddy, is giving him deadlines to stop the war or face sanctions,' he said. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, pointed to Trump's 25 percent tariffs on India as further evidence of this impact. Indian state oil refiners have already moved to pause imports of Russian oil, with the tariff set to go into effect Aug. 7. 'Clearly, India was paying attention to that. 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Steve Daines (R-Mont.), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, said he wanted a Senate vote on the sanctions package so the House could be ready to take it up when they come back in September. 'I think having that tool in your tool chest, ready to go, would be a good thing and keep the pressure on Russia,' he said. 'I think it gives [Trump] more leverage. You can always hold it ready to go, send it over to the House if needed and then to the president's desk. I think that's not a bad strategy.' Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, agreed. 'I think that's why it's important for us to have this teed up and ready — it gives [Trump] an option, and the more options he has the better,' he said. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told The Hill on Wednesday that Thune was 'absolutely aware' of his desire to vote on the Russia sanctions bill before the August recess. 'I certainly think it would be an excellent thing to do.' Thune's office told The Hill on Friday it had no scheduling announcements related to the Graham-Blumenthal bill.


The Hill
28 minutes ago
- The Hill
Dark clouds emerge for Trump on economy
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Asked why they were so big, a representative for the department told The Hill that new information had come in and pointed to employment levels in the state and local government education sectors. Trump's response to fire the head of BLS raised major red flags from economists. 'This is awful. Reliable economic data is a key strength of the US economy,' Harvard economist Jason Furman, who chaired former President Obama's White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) wrote in a commentary. 'I don't think Trump will be able to fake the data given the procedures. But there is now a risk, plus an awful appearance.' White House economists admitted the numbers were bad, while pointing to 'anomalous factors' related to seasonal adjustments. 'This jobs report isn't ideal. There's no way around that,' White House Council of Economic Advisers chief Stephen Miran told CNN Friday. 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Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that will modify tariff rates for dozens of trading partners starting Aug. 7 — pushed back from Aug. 1 and July 9 previously — and ranging from 41 percent to 10 percent imposed on imports. The overall U.S. tariff level is now around 17 to 18 percent, according to various estimates. Some nations had negotiated trade agreements to lock in tariff rates, like 19 percent for Indonesia and Thailand and 15 percent for South Korea, Japan and the European Union. Others face a higher rate, like Canada with 35 percent and Brazil with 50 percent. Aside from the jobs numbers revealing a struggling economy, skeptics of the president's tariff plan already predicted this year will be one of 'pain' for the U.S. consumer, with companies passing off the cost of high tariffs to customers. 'That, in and of itself, is a recipe for slower economic growth and higher prices, and that's what he's got. So they did this, and we have been promised that it's going to be worth it. We should put up with this pain because we're going to get new steel mills and new aluminum factories,' said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum. 'It takes years for any of that to happen, so all you're gonna get for this year is the pain.' The messaging out of the White House to pitch the president's aggressive tariff policy has been that more goods can be made in the U.S., minimizing the dependency on foreign goods. But, the jobs report on Friday showed the manufacturing sector lost 11,000 jobs in July after shedding 15,000 in June. 'We're certainly not seeing a manufacturing renaissance. At this point, the data is showing the opposite,' Monica Gorman, former special assistant to President Biden for manufacturing and industrial policy, told The Hill. Trump also lashed out again Friday at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, urging the central bank board to wrest control from him. Such a move could dramatically shake markets after just the idea of Trump moving to fire Powell earlier this month caused stocks to dip. The Fed voted on Wednesday to keep short-term interest rates at a level of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, but that vote included the first double dissent from Fed board officials in more than 30 years. Trump leaned on the dissents, calling Powell 'stubborn' and saying 'the board should assume control' after months of the president calling for Powell to resign and flirting with moving to remove him. 'What the president is essentially saying is, ignore the fact that I'm raising every price in the economy. Don't worry about that. Cut rates and save the jobs. But he wasn't elected to have higher prices so he can't say that. So he's just beating up on Powell,' Holtz-Eakin said. Many forecasters predicted on Friday that the Fed will move to cut rates sooner given the newly apparent weakness in the job market. 'Today's figures should be a bombshell for Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who called the labor market 'solid' in the post-FOMC meeting press conference this week,' Preston Caldwell, U.S. economist at Morningstar, wrote Friday. Futures markets show an 80 percent chance of a rate cut at the Fed's next meeting in September. Aside from tariffs, the economy is in the middle of a gradual slowdown that's been going on since the soaring recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, which was bolstered by trillions in fiscal stimulus that's taken years to filter through the economy. The Friday jobs report suggests that the moderation in conditions could be further along than previously known. 'We're seeing a slowdown in the economy,' Gorman said. 'Whether that turns into a recession I think is too early to predict.' Gross domestic product grew by 2.9 percent in 2023, and by 2.5 percent in the first half of last year. In the first half of this year, it grew by just 1.2 percent. On top of that, prices are also starting to rise from tariffs, creating potential stagflation. Prices from personal consumption rose to a 2.6-percent annual increase in June, while the Labor Department's consumer price index rose to a 2.7 percent annual increase. Businesses are sounding increasingly worried about normalizing the new U.S. tariff levels. 'Institutionalizing the highest U.S. duties since the Great Depression, coupled with ongoing uncertainty, will ultimately make American businesses less competitive globally and consumers worse off,' the National Foreign Trade Council, a trade group, said in a Friday statement.

an hour ago
3 people killed in Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia
Ukrainian drone attacks overnight into Saturday killed three people, Russian officials said Saturday. Russia's Defense Ministry said air defenses intercepted or destroyed 112 drones across eight Russian regions and the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula. A drone attack on the Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, killed one person, acting governor Yuri Slyusar said. Further from the front line, a woman was killed and two other people wounded in a drone strike on business premises in the Penza region, according to regional governor Oleg Melnichenko. In the Samara region, falling drone debris sparked a fire that killed an elderly resident, regional Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia launched 53 drones and decoys at Ukraine overnight into Saturday. It said that air defenses shot down or jammed 45 drones. Eleven people were wounded in an overnight drone strike on the Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Saturday. The reciprocal drone strikes followed a day of mourning in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Friday, after a Russian drone and missile attack killed 31 people, including five children, and wounded over 150. The continued attacks come after U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress. Trump said Thursday that special envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to Russia to push Moscow to agree to a ceasefire in its war with Ukraine and has threatened new economic sanctions if progress is not made.