By SAMYA KULLAB, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with missiles and drones overnight, killing at least nine people, including a 6-year-old boy, and wounding 124 others, authorities said Thursday.

Ten children, the youngest being a 5-month-old girl, were among the wounded, Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said. A large part of a nine-story residential building collapsed after it was struck, he said.

Rescuers work in a destroyed apartment building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Rescue teams were at the scene searching for people trapped under the rubble.

Yana Zhabborova, 35, a resident of the damaged building, woke up to the sound of thundering explosions, which blew off the doors and windows of her home.

“It is just stress and shock that there is nothing left,” said Zhabborova, a mother of a 5-month-old infant and a 5-year-old child.

Russia fired 309 Shahed and decoy drones, and eight Iskander-K cruise missiles overnight, the Ukrainian air force said. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted and jammed 288 strike drones and three missiles. Five missiles and 21 drones struck targets.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Thursday that it had shot down 32 Ukrainian drones overnight.

A drone attacked had sparked a blaze at an industrial site in Russia’s Penza region, local Gov. Oleg Melnichenko said. He didn’t immediately give further details other than to say that there were no casualties.

In the Volgograd region, some trains were also halted after drone wreckage fell on local railway infrastructure, state rail operator Russian Railways said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry also said that its forces took full control of the strategically important city of Chasiv Yar in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.

Russian and Ukrainian troops have battled for control of Chasiv Yar for nearly 18 months. It includes a hilltop from which troops can attack other key points in the region that form the backbone of Ukraine’s eastern defenses.

Women react outside a destroyed apartment building after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Victor Trehubov, a Ukrainian military spokesperson, told The Associated Press that Russia’s claim was untrue.

“Just a fabrication, there wasn’t even a change in the situation,” he said.

A report on Thursday from Ukraine’s Army General Staff said there were seven clashes in Chasiv Yar in the past 24 hours. An attached map showed most of the town as being under Russian control.

DeepState, an open-source Ukrainian map widely used by the military and analysts, showed early Thursday that neighborhoods to the south and west of Chasiv Yar remained as so-called gray zones, or uncontrolled by either side.

The attack targeted the Kyiv, Dnipro, Poltava, Sumy, Mykolaiv regions, with Ukraine’s capital being the primary target, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

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“Today, the world once again saw Russia’s answer to our desire for peace with America and Europe,” Zelenskyy said. “New demonstrative killings. That is why peace without strength is impossible.”

He called on Ukraine’s allies to follow through on defense commitments and pressure Moscow toward real negotiations.

Plumes of smoke emanating from a partially damaged building and debris strewn on the ground. The force of the blast wave was powerful enough to leave clothes hanging limply from trees.

At least 27 locations across Kyiv were hit by the attack, Tkachenko said, with the heaviest damage seen in the Solomianskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts. More than 100 buildings were damaged in Kyiv, including homes, schools, kindergartens, medical facilities and universities, he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s giving Russian President Vladimir Putin a shorter deadline — Aug. 8 — for peace efforts to make progress, or Washington will impose punitive sanctions and tariffs.

Western leaders have accused Putin of dragging his feet in U.S.-led peace efforts in an attempt to capture more Ukrainian land.

Vasilisa Stepanenko and Illia Novikov contributed to this report.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and MELANIE LIDMAN, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — President Donald Trump’s special envoy arrived in Israel on Thursday to discuss the disintegrating humanitarian situation in Gaza, as the death toll of Palestinians waiting for food and other aid continued to climb.

At least 91 Palestinians were killed and more than 600 wounded while attempting to get aid in the past 24 hours, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. This includes 54 people killed while awaiting food in northern Gaza near the Zikim crossing on Wednesday, the ministry said. The toll is expected to rise further as many of those killed or wounded were brought to isolated, smaller hospitals in northern Gaza and have not yet been counted.

The Israeli military said Palestinians surrounded aid trucks and the Israeli military fired warning shots into the crowd, but that it isn’t aware of any injuries stemming from Israeli fire. A security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in line with military regulations said the gunfire came from within the crowd and altercations between Palestinians attempting to access aid.

A diplomatic push

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel on Thursday afternoon as the U.S. imposed new sanctions on officials from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. He is expected to speak with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and a possible ceasefire, according to an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

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This is the first meeting between Witkoff and Netanyahu since both Israel and the U.S. called their negotiation teams home from Qatar one week ago. Witkoff said at the time that Hamas “shows a lack of desire” to reach a truce. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Hamas started the war with its attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which terrorists killed around 1,200 people and abducted 251 others. They still hold 50 hostages, including around 20 believed to be alive. Most of the others have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry operates under the Hamas government. The U.N. and other international organizations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties.

In Jerusalem, about 50 people, including families of some of the approximately 50 hostages still being held in Gaza, demonstrated on Thursday in front of Netanyahu’s office calling for an end to the war.

Aid trickles into Gaza

Under heavy international pressure, Israel announced a series of measures over the weekend to facilitate the entry of more international aid to Gaza, but aid workers say much more is needed.

The Israeli defense body in charge of coordinating humanitarian aid in Gaza said 270 trucks of aid entered Gaza on Wednesday, and 32 pallets of aid were airdropped into the Strip. That amount is far lower than the 500 to 600 trucks per day that aid organizations say are needed.

The international community has heaped criticism on Israel over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza. International organizations said that Gaza has been on the brink of famine for the past two years, but that recent developments, including a complete blockade on aid for 2 1/2 months, mean that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in Gaza.”

Criticism of Israel in Gaza comes from staunch allies

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was also due in Israel later Thursday on a two-day trip that will also take him to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Germany, traditionally a staunch ally of Israel, has been increasingly critical recently of Israel’s actions in Gaza. It has insisted that Israel must do more to increase aid supplies and pushed for a ceasefire.

Berlin hasn’t joined major allies France, Britain, and Canada in saying it will recognize a Palestinian state in September. But in a statement ahead of his departure Thursday, Wadephul underlined Germany’s position that a two-state solution is “the only way” to ensure a future in peace and security for people on both sides.

“For Germany, the recognition of a Palestinian state stands rather at the end of the process. But such a process must begin now. Germany will not move from this aim,” Wadephul said.

U.S. revokes visas of Palestinian officials

Palestinian officials linked to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization will no longer be able to travel to the U.S. after their visas were revoked Thursday, marking a further deterioration of their relations with the United States.

The State Department said the organizations had violated longstanding agreements not to undermine the peace process or globalize the conflict through international courts. It accused them of inciting violence and supporting attackers and their families.

It did not specify which officials would be sanctioned, but similar actions taken during President Donald Trump’s first term led the group to shutter it’s Washington-based office in 2018.

Some of the recent recognitions of Palestinian statehood have been predicated on reforming the PA, which is mired in corruption and widely unpopular at home. The PA has also clashed bitterly with Hamas, the group that controls Gaza.

The PLO, the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people, oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

PLO member Mustafa Barghouti called the move a response to nations recognizing Palestine and said it proved the U.S. couldn’t be a neutral mediator in the peace process.

“It is time for everyone — including the Palestinian Authority, which along with the PLO is facing U.S. sanctions — to realize that it is futile to bet on the illusion that the United States can act as a mediator,” he said in an interview. “The U.S. is completely and absolutely biased toward Israel and is complicit in its war crimes.”

Sam Metz in Jerusalem and Imad Isseid in Ramallah, the West Bank, contributed reporting.

This version corrects the number of people who protested Wednesday outside Netanyahu’s office.

By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas police charged a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the killing of a married couple who were hiking with their children at Devil’s Den State Park, finding him in a nearby city after a five-day search and public pleas for trailgoers to look through their photos.

State Police arrested Andrew James McGann at a barbershop in Springdale, said Col. Stacie Rhoads, commander of the department’s criminal investigation division. He was charged with two counts of capital murder and was being held without bond Thursday in the state’s Washington County jail.

The map above locates Devil’s Den State Park in Arkansas. (AP Graphic)

Police announced the arrest at a Wednesday night news conference but would not discuss a motive. McGann had been hired at Springdale Public Schools as a teacher candidate for the upcoming year but had not yet come into contact with any of its families or students, the district said in a statement.

A lawyer couldn’t be located for McGann, and a message was left for a number listed for him. His first court appearance was scheduled for Friday.

“If you commit a violent, senseless act here in our state, our law enforcement will hunt you down and bring you to justice, because that’s what the people of Arkansas frankly deserve,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters.

Springdale is roughly 30 miles north of the state’s remote Devil’s Den park, where trails have remained closed since Saturday’s killings.

Police flooded with tips

Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, were found dead on a walking trail at Devil’s Den. Their daughters, who are 7 and 9, were not hurt and are being cared for by family members, authorities have said.

The State Police have released few details about the investigation, including how the couple was killed. In the days after the attack, police released a composite sketch and then a photo of a person of interest that showed them only from behind. Authorities urged trailgoers who had been at the park to check their camera rolls for photos or video that might help point to a suspect.

Rhoads said the public’s help and video footage they received was instrumental in capturing McGann. Tips came in from as far away as Washington state, she said.

“It was overwhelming,” she said.

Suspect taught in Oklahoma before Arkansas job

McGann was a teacher at a small Oklahoma school district until May and then resigned to take a job in another state, according to a statement from Sand Springs Public Schools, which is near Tulsa. It added that McGann had passed all background checks.

This photo provided by Washington County Sheriff’s Office shows Andrew McGann. (Washington County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

McGann had not yet started his new job in Arkansas at Springdale Public Schools, said Jared Cleveland, the district superintendent. He said the district could not provide more information, citing the investigation.

“Our entire team extends our deepest condolences to the Brink family. Their children are especially in our thoughts and prayers,” Cleveland said.

Sierra Marcum said three years ago, her son was a student in McGann’s fourth grade classroom in Flower Mound, Texas, and described him as the “most standoff teacher she had ever met.” Her son’s yearbook includes a photo of McGann.

“Pretty cold. You could ask him a question and he would give you a one word response,” she said. “Overall just pretty disinterested in his students.”

Victims had recently moved before hike

Clinton and Cristen Brink had just moved from South Dakota to the small city of Prairie Grove in northwest Arkansas. Their water had been connected less than two weeks ago, Mayor David Faulk said.

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Clinton Brink had been scheduled to start a job as a milk delivery driver Monday in the nearby Fayetteville area, according to Hiland Dairy, his employer. Cristen Brink had been licensed as a nurse in Montana and South Dakota before moving to Arkansas.

The Brink family said the couple died “heroes protecting their little girls.”

“Our entire state is grieving for the tragic loss and senseless and horrific crime that’s taken place in this area,” Sanders said.

Devil’s Den is a 2,500-acre state park near West Fork, about 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, the state capital.

The park is known for its hiking trails and rock formations, and it is a short drive from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Walmart’s Bentonville headquarters.

It was selected as a state park site in the 1930s and the park’s trails lead to the surrounding Ozark National Forest.

Associated Press reporter Hallie Golden contributed from Seattle.

(Ben Sargent)

To see more political cartoons from Ben Sargent, visit our Loon Star State section or find Observer political reporting here.

The post Loon Star State: Render unto Trump… appeared first on The Texas Observer.