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A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news:
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR — U.S. RESPONSE
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House of his plan to authorize a pause in weapons transfers to Ukraine last week, according to at least five sources. The move prompted President Trump to privately express frustration with Pentagon officials, as he felt that the decision was not properly coordinated with the White House, the sources add, while the U.S. Special Envoy to Ukraine, Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio learned about the halt from press reports. A Pentagon spokesperson said the effort to evaluate military aid shipments “was coordinated across government.” Natasha Bertrand and Zachary Cohen report for CNN; Aamer Madhani, Seung Min Kim, and Tara Copp report for AP News.
Trump yesterday harshly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, stating that “[w]e get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin” and that Putin “is very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.” Trump added that he is “not happy” with the Russian leader because “[he is] killing a lot of people” and that he was “very strongly” considering lending his support to a bill imposing sanctions on Moscow. Natalie Allison, Frances Vinall, David L. Stern, and Serhiy Morgunov report for the Washington Post; Eli Stokols, Jake Traylor, and Jordain Carney report for POLITICO.
Trump has asked the Pentagon for options for sending an additional Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, sources say. If approved, the move would mark the first time the Trump White House has authorized the transfer of a major weapons system to Kyiv beyond the number authorized by the Biden administration. Shelby Holliday, Lara Seligman, and Robbie Gramer report for the Wall Street Journal.
During a 2024 event, Trump told donors that he told Putin that the United States would “bomb the sh*t out of Moscow” if Russia invaded Ukraine, according to audio provided to CNN. Trump later claimed that he issued a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping over a potential invasion of Taiwan. Adam Cancryn reports.
RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Russia yesterday launched its largest drone attack since the beginning of its war in Ukraine, hours after Trump criticized Putin and promised to send more weapons to Kyiv. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, the assault involved 728 drones and 13 missiles and was largely repelled, with no immediate reports of deaths and limited damage. Lex Harvey and Kosta Gak report for CNN.
The European Court of Human Rights will today rule on four cases connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands, according to AP News. Although likely to be largely symbolic following Russia’s expulsion from the Council of Europe, the judgments will mark the first time an international court has ruled on Russia’s culpability for the conflict in Ukraine. Molly Quell reports.
European intelligence officials are concerned that a Russia-backed sabotage campaign is growing more dangerous, with untrained saboteurs setting fires near homes and businesses, planting explosives, or building bombs across Europe. A British court yesterday found three men guilty of arson over a 2024 fire in a London warehouse that prosecutors said was masterminded by Moscow’s intelligence services. Emma Burrows reports for AP News.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR
Trump yesterday met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the second time in two days to discuss the war in Gaza. Separately, the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, suggested that Israel and Hamas were “down to one” issue preventing them from reaching a ceasefire agreement and that he hoped that a temporary truce would be agreed by the end of the week. Nadine Yousif and Ottilie Mitchell report for BBC News; Andrea Shalal and Patricia Zengerle report for Reuters.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Monday told journalists that he had instructed the Israeli military to prepare a plan to confine all Palestinians in Gaza in a “humanitarian city” on the ruins of Rafah, Israeli media report. Palestinians would not be allowed to leave the zone, managed by international bodies and secured by the IDF, Katz said. Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard condemned Katz’s plan as “nothing less” than “an operational plan for a crime against humanity.” Ione Wells and David Gritten report for BBC News; Emanuel Fabian and Jacob Magid report for the Times of Israel; Emma Graham-Harrison reports for the Guardian.
Hamas used sexual violence “as a tactical weapon of war,” according to a report released yesterday by the Dinah Project, an Israeli team of legal and gender experts. Based on survivor and witness testimonies, accounts from first responders, and forensic, visual, and audio evidence, the report says that 15 former hostages either experienced or witnessed some form of sexual violence and that “most victims were permanently silenced,” creating “unique evidentiary challenges.” Hamas has previously denied its forces committed sexual violence. Tia Goldenberg reports for AP News.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin described the U.N. as “transparently antisemitic” in an internal forum for Google DeepMind employees on Saturday, according to screenshots and a forum member. Brin’s comments came in response to a U.N. report released last month that concluded that technology firms, including Google and its parent company Alphabet, had profited from “the genocide carried out by Israel” in Gaza by providing cloud and AI technologies to Israel. Nitasha Tiku and Gerrit De Vynck report for the Washington Post.
ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR — AID SUPPLY CRISIS
U.S. Agency for International Development officials last month raised “critical concerns” about the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) ability to deliver aid to Palestinians, days before the State Department announced a $30 million funding grant for the group, according to an internal government assessment obtained by CNN that outlines “a litany of problems” with GHF’s funding application. Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Jennifer Hansler report.
HOUTHI DEVELOPMENTS
A suspected Houthi attack on a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Red Sea killed three mariners and wounded two others yesterday, according to the European Union’s Operation Aspides naval force. Jon Gambrell reports for AP News.
OTHER GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS
The International Criminal Court judges yesterday issued arrest warrants for Sheikh Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the country’s chief justice, citing the Taliban’s targeting of “girls and women by reason of their gender” and “depriving them of fundamental rights and freedoms” as evidence of crimes against humanity. Elian Peltier and Marlise Simons report for the New York Times.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights yesterday said it had documented the deaths of at least 31 people and the arrests of more than 500 others arrested during anti-government protests across Kenya on Monday. Nimi Princewill and Catherine Nicholls report for CNN.
Finland and Lithuania are planning to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine due to a perceived military threat from Russia, according to officials from the two countries. Andrius Sytas and Anne Kauranen report for Reuters.
Then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina authorized the deadly crackdown on student-led protests in Bangladesh last year, according to audio of one of her phone calls verified by the BBC investigations team. Christopher Giles, Riddhi Jha, Rafid Hossain, and Tarekuzzaman Shimul report for BBC News.
U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
The Trump administration has failed to conclude a deal to free several U.S. citizens and dozens of political prisoners held in Venezuela in a swap with Venezuelan migrants held in El Salvador, in part due to the lack of coordination between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Richard Grenell, according to sources. The lack of coordination left Venezuelan officials unclear about who spoke for Trump and ultimately left both U.S. and Venezuelan detainees imprisoned, the sources add. In an email, Grenell denounced the reports of the cross-purpose talks as false. Frances Robles, Julie Turkewitz, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs report for the New York Times.
An unknown individual pretending to be Secretary of State Marco Rubio using AI-powered software has contacted three foreign ministers, a U.S. governor and a member of Congress in a campaign that started mid-June, according to a senior U.S. official and a State Department cable seen by the Washington Post. The cable suggests that the individual was probably motivated by the goal of “gaining access to information or accounts.” The State Department press office yesterday said the department is “currently investigating” the incident. John Hudson and Hannah Natanson report; Edward Wong reports for the New York Times.
The Italian authorities last week arrested a Chinese state-sponsored contract hacker at Washington’s request, the Justice Department said yesterday, adding that a nine-count indictment accusing the man of computer intrusions was unsealed yesterday. Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward report for Reuters.
The Agriculture Department yesterday announced a plan to limit Chinese and foreign purchases of American farmland, citing threats to national security. Linda Qiu reports for the New York Times.
U.S. IMMIGRATION DEVELOPMENTS
There will be “no amnesty” for migrants working in the agricultural sector and “mass deportations continue,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said yesterday, stating that “the promise to America to ensure that we have a 100% American workforce stands.” Casey Gannon and Molly Reinmann report for CNN.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The Director’s Initiative Group, a special team created by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, has sought to gain access to emails and chat logs of U.S. spy agencies and use AI tools to identify efforts to root out what the administration deems as efforts to undermine its agenda, several sources say. According to the sources, none of the agencies approached has shared the data requested. The effort has raised concerns among some career intelligence professionals that Gabbard may be allowing politics to direct intelligence work. Ellen Nakashima, Warren P. Strobel, and Aaron Schaffer report for the Washington Post.
The White House is planning to defund the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, a small federal agency that investigates the causes of chemical disasters, according to a budget document that states that the Board’s work “duplicates substantial capabilities in the Environmental Protection Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.” Hiroko Tabuchi reports for the New York Times.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed 3,424 complaints between March 11 and June 27, according to court documents filed last week. “That amount of dismissals in a three-month period is unheard of,” a former OCR official said. Bianca Quilantan, Rebecca Caraballo, and Juan Perez Jr. report for POLITICO.
The Trump administration is directing Congress-approved federal funds away from the Energy Department’s wind, solar, and electric vehicles programs, according to a document published on the agency’s website. It is unclear what authority Trump or the Energy Department are employing for the cuts. Zack Colman reports for POLITICO.
A group of staffers aligned with Elon Musk’s former top aide is seeking to preserve DOGE’s legacy and influence, in an effort that has pitted them against some in the White House who want to diminish DOGE’s role, sources say. Shalini Ramachandran, Scott Patterson, and Katherine Long report for the Wall Street Journal.
Multiple decisions taken by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby in the past six months have blindsided parts of the Trump administration and frustrated several of America’s foreign allies, sources say. Jack Detsch, Nahal Toosi, Paul McLeary, and Joe Gould report for POLITICO.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION LITIGATION
The Trump administration can move forward with its plans to fire tens of thousands of federal workers as the proceedings challenging their dismissals continue, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. In an apparent 8-1 ruling, the Court granted a stay of a lower court’s injunction blocking the downsizing efforts “because the Government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and Memorandum [directing the dismissals] are lawful.” Dissenting, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said that her colleagues were inappropriately reinterpreting the lower court’s factual findings. The Court noted, “We express no view on the legality of any Agency RIF and Reorganization Plan.” Josh Gerstein and Hassan Ali Kanu report for POLITICO.
A federal judge on Monday refused to issue a preliminary injunction that would prevent the Trump administration from rescinding nearly $800 million in grants for programs supporting violence reduction and crime victims, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction and the organizations had failed to state a constitutional violation or protection. AP News reports.
The case against a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant evade arrest can proceed, a magistrate judge recommended on Monday, writing that “a judge’s actions, even when done in her official capacity, does not bar criminal prosecution if the actions were done in violation of the criminal law.” The accused judge previously argued that her judicial immunity prevents prosecution for actions taken in her official capacity in and around her courtroom. Victoria Bisset reports for the Washington Post.
Los Angeles and seven nearby cities yesterday filed a motion to intervene in a federal class action lawsuit that alleges the federal government is using “unlawful tactics” including racial profiling and excessive use of force to carry out immigration rights in Los Angeles. Orlando Mayorquín reports for the New York Times.
Did you miss this? Stay up-to-date with our Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions
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ICYMI: yesterday on Just Security
Trump Administration’s Proposed Cuts to Accountability for Mass Atrocities Undermine Its Own Strategic Goals
By Michael Schiffer and Pratima T. Narayan
Our Duty to Explain Israel’s Operation to “Concentrate and Move Population” in Gaza is a Manifest War Crime
By Eyal Benvenisti and Chaim Gans
AI Copyright Wars Threaten U.S. Technological Primacy in the Face of Rising Chinese Competition
By Bill Drexel
Rethinking ICC Reform: Politics, Legitimacy, and the Perils of Expansion Without Consolidation
By Nema Milaninia
