NATO scrambles warplanes as Russia hits near Romanian border in Ukraine
Romania's Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday that two German Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, stationed at Romania's Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base as part of NATO's Enhanced Air Policing mission, were deployed "to monitor the air situation," but noted that this time no Russian aircraft or projectiles crossed the NATO border.
Despite last week's talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump, Moscow has continued its aerial bombardment of Ukraine, including in an overnight attack that targeted oil and port facilities in the Odesa region on and near the Danube River, which separates the Ukrainian border with the allied NATO nation of Romania.
The deployment of NATO jets comes after numerous incidents in recent weeks have increasingly threatened, and even crossed, NATO borders as the U.S. and Europe continue to push for Russia to end its war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported early on Wednesday that more than 60 drones and ballistic missiles were fired across Ukraine overnight, including the northeastern region of Sumy, where a drone strike injured 14 people — though Ukraine's Air Force later increased the number of overnight drone strikes to 93, and noted that 62 of the Shahed-style drones were intercepted, as well as one ballistic missile.
"A family with wounded children — 5 months, 4 years, and 6 years old — sought assistance after the attack," Zelenskyy said.
A glide bomb in Donetsk damaged five apartment buildings, and three people were still trapped under the rubble as of Wednesday morning.
"The rescue operation continues," Zelenskyy added, though he did not confirm how many others were injured in the strikes.
"All of these are demonstrative strikes that only confirm the need to put pressure on Moscow, the need to impose new sanctions and tariffs until diplomacy is fully effective," Zelenskyy said on X. "I thank all partners who are helping to stop this Russian war. Together with the United States, Europe, and all those who seek peace.
"We need strong security guarantees to ensure a truly reliable and lasting peace," he added.
The strikes come as NATO nations prepare to meet virtually on Wednesday to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine following high-level talks first between Trump and Putin on Friday, and then Trump, Zelenskyy and top NATO leaders at the White House on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Canada's Carney spoke to Trump and discussed trade, Ottawa says
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday and had "a productive and wide-ranging conversation" on trade challenges and other issues, Carney's office said in a statement. The leaders agreed to reconvene shortly, the statement added, but did not give details.
American Press
24 minutes ago
- American Press
Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump
A New York appeals court on Thursday threw out the massive financial penalty a state judge imposed on President Donald Trump, while narrowly upholding a finding he engaged in fraud by exaggerating his wealth for decades. The ruling spares Trump from a potential half-billion-dollar fine but bans him and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. Trump, in a social media post, claimed 'total victory.' 'I greatly respect the fact that the Court had the Courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful Decision that was hurting Business all throughout New York State,' he wrote. The decision came seven months after the Republican returned to the White House. A sharply divided panel of five judges in New York's mid-level Appellate Division couldn't agree on many issues raised in Trump's appeal, but a majority said the monetary penalty was 'excessive.' After finding Trump flagrantly padded financial statements that went to lenders and insurers, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered him last year to pay $355 million in penalties. With interest, the sum has topped $515 million. Additional penalties levied on some other Trump Organization executives, including Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr. — bring the total to $527 million, with interest. An 'excessive' fine 'While the injunctive relief ordered by the court is well crafted to curb defendants' business culture, the court's disgorgement order, which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the State of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution,' Judges Dianne T. Renwick and Peter H. Moulton wrote in one of three opinions shaping the appeals court's ruling. Engoron's other punishments, upheld by the appeals court, have been on pause during Trump's appeal, and the president was able to hold off collection of the money by posting a $175 million bond. The court, which split on the merits of the lawsuit and Engoron's fraud finding, dismissed the penalty in its entirety while also leaving a pathway for an appeal to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals. Trump and his co-defendants, the judges wrote, can seek to extend the pause on any punishments taking effect. The panel was sharply divided, issuing 323 pages of concurring and dissenting opinions with no majority. Rather, some judges endorsed parts of their colleagues' findings while denouncing others, enabling the court to rule. Two judges wrote that they felt New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit against Trump and his companies was justifiable and that she had proven her case but the penalty was too severe. One wrote that James exceeded her legal authority in bringing the suit, saying that if any of Trump's lenders felt cheated, they could have sued him themselves, and none did. One judge wrote that Engoron erred by ruling before the trial began that the attorney general had proved Trump engaged in fraud. In his portion of the ruling, Judge David Friedman, who was appointed to the court by Republican Gov. George Pataki, was scathing in his criticism of James for bringing the lawsuit. 'Plainly, her ultimate goal was not 'market hygiene' … but political hygiene, ending with the derailment of President Trump's political career and the destruction of his real estate business,' Friedman wrote. 'The voters have obviously rendered a verdict on his political career. This bench today unanimously derails the effort to destroy his business.' In a statement, James focused on the part of the case that went her way, saying the court had 'affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud.' 'It should not be lost to history: yet another court has ruled that the president violated the law, and that our case has merit,' James said. The appeals court, the Appellate Division of the state's trial court, took an unusually long time to rule, weighing Trump's appeal for nearly 11 months after oral arguments last fall. Normally, appeals are decided in a matter of weeks or a few months. Claims of politics at play Trump and his co-defendants denied wrongdoing. At the conclusion of the civil trial in January 2024, Trump said he was 'an innocent man' and the case was a 'fraud on me.' The Republican has repeatedly maintained the case and the verdict were political moves by James and Engoron, both Democrats. Trump's Justice Department has subpoenaed James for records related to the lawsuit, among other documents, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the president's civil rights. James' personal attorney Abbe D. Lowell has said investigating the fraud case is 'the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign.' Trump and his lawyers said his financial statements weren't deceptive, since they came with disclaimers noting they weren't audited. The defense also noted bankers and insurers independently evaluated the numbers, and the loans were repaid. Despite such discrepancies as tripling the size of his Trump Tower penthouse, he said the financial statements were, if anything, lowball estimates of his fortune. During an appellate court hearing last September, Trump's lawyers argued that many of the case's allegations were too old and that James had misused a consumer protection law to sue Trump over private business transactions that were satisfactory to those involved. State attorneys said that while Trump insists no one was harmed by the financial statements, his exaggerations led lenders to make riskier loans and that honest borrowers lose out when others game their net worth numbers. Legal obstacles The civil fraud case was just one of several legal obstacles for Trump as he campaigned, won and segued to a second term as president. On Jan. 10, he was sentenced in his criminal hush money case to what's known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him jail, probation, a fine or other punishment. He is appealing the conviction. And in December, a federal appeals court upheld a jury's finding that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her, affirming a $5 million judgment against him. The appeals court declined in June to reconsider. Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. Trump also is appealing a subsequent verdict that requires him to pay Carroll $83.3 million for additional defamation claims.
UPI
25 minutes ago
- UPI
Appeals court throws out $500M judgment against Trump
Former President Donald Trump sat with attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove (R) in Manhattan criminal court in New York in 2024. On Thursday, an appeals court tossed out a $500 million judgment against Trump and his Trump Organization. Pool photo by Curtis Means/UPI | License Photo Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A divided appeals court threw on Thursday out the nearly $500 million judgment that President Donald Trump owed to the state of New York for a fraud ruling. "While harm certainly occurred, it was not the cataclysmic harm that can justify a nearly half-billion-dollar award to the state," wrote Peter Moulton, one of the five appeals judges to rule on Trump's appeal. The First Judicial Department of the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court upheld the fraud ruling, but eliminating the penalty means Trump can move the case to the highest state court, giving him another chance to fight the guilty verdict. The appeals court said the penalty, "which directs that defendants pay nearly half a billion dollars to the state of New York, is an excessive fine that violates the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution." But in the same ruling, the court said that other non-monetary sanctions imposed on Trump, the Trump Organization and others were "well crafted to curb defendants' business culture." In a 323-page opinion, all five judges agreed that the half-billion-dollar penalty should be thrown out. Two of the judges said Trump was properly held liable for business fraud, but the penalty was excessive. Two of the judges said the trial court was wrong to decide Trump committed fraud and the case should be retried. But those two judges said they joined the decision "with great reluctance" to allow the case to proceed on appeal. A fifth judge said New York Attorney General Letitia James should not have brought the case in the first place. James said she will appeal to the state Supreme Court. "The First Department today affirmed the well-supported finding of the trial court: Donald Trump, his company, and two of his children are liable for fraud," James said. "The court upheld the injunctive relief we won, limiting Donald Trump and the Trump Organization officers' ability to do business in New York," James said. Trump posted about the ruling on Truth Social. "TOTAL VICTORY in the FAKE New York State Attorney General Letitia James Case!" he wrote. "I greatly respect the fact that the court had the courage to throw out this unlawful and disgraceful decision that was hurting business all throughout New York State. Others were afraid to do business there. The amount, including interest and penalties, was over $550 million dollars. It was a political witch hunt, in a business sense, the likes of which no one has ever seen before." Eric Trump, the president's son and a defendant in the lawsuit, in a social media post, wrote, "Total victory in the sham NY Attorney General case!!! After 5 years of hell, justice prevailed!" Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. operate the Trump Organization. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron in February 2024 ordered Trump to pay around $454 million in total penalties after holding him liable for business fraud. Engoron found that Trump's statements of financial condition, signed between 2014 and 2021, overvalued his assets from between $812 million and $2.2 billion. With interest, the penalty imposed on Trump and other defendants in the case had grown to more than $500 million.
