President Vladimir Putin visited Russia’s Kursk region for the first time since Moscow claimed that it drove Ukrainian forces out of the area last month, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

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Putin visited the region bordering Ukraine the previous day, according to the Kremlin.

Ukrainian forces made a surprise incursion into Kursk in August 2024 in one of their biggest battlefield successes in the more than three-year war. The incursion was the first time Russian territory was occupied by an invader since World War II and dealt a humiliating blow to the Kremlin.

Since the end of 2023, Russia has mostly had the advantage on the battlefield, with the exception of Kursk.

Putin has effectively rejected recent U.S. and European proposals for a ceasefire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday accused Kyiv’s allies of seeking a truce “so that they can calmly arm Ukraine, so that Ukraine can strengthen its defensive positions.”

North Korea sent up to 12,000 troops to help the Russian army take back control of Kursk, according to Ukraine, the U.S. and South Korea. Russia announced on April 26 that its forces had pushed out the Ukrainian army. Kyiv officials denied the claim.

Ukraine says it stopped Russian attacks in Kursk

The Ukrainian Army General Staff said Wednesday that its forces repelled 13 Russian assaults in Kursk. Its map of military activity showed Ukrainian troops holding a thin line of land hard against the border but still inside Russia.

Putin’s unannounced visit appeared to be an effort to show Russia is in control of the conflict, even though its full-scale invasion of its neighbor has been slow and costly in terms of casualties and equipment.

Video broadcast by Russian state media showed that Putin visited Kursk Nuclear Power Plant-2, which is still under construction, and met with selected volunteers behind closed doors.

Many of the volunteers wore clothes emblazoned with the Russian flag and the Latin letters “Z” and “V”, which are symbols of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“What you are doing now during this difficult situation for this region, for this area, and for the country, will remain with you for the rest of your life as, perhaps, the most meaningful thing with which you were ever involved,” Putin said as he drank tea with the volunteers.

Ukraine’s surprise thrust into Kursk and its ability to hold land there was a logistical feat, carried out in secrecy, that countered months of gloomy news from the front about Ukrainian forces being pushed backward by the bigger Russian army.

Kyiv’s strategy aimed to show that Russia has weaknesses and that the war isn’t lost. It also sought to distract Russian forces from their onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region of Ukraine.

The move was fraught with risk. Analysts noted that it could backfire and open a door for Russian advances in Ukraine by further stretching Ukrainian forces that are short-handed along the roughly 620-mile front line.

The incursion didn’t significantly change the dynamics of the war.

Putin told acting Kursk Gov. Alexander Khinshtein that the Kremlin supported the idea of continuing monthly payments to displaced families that still couldn’t return to their homes.

Putin said that he would back a proposal to build a museum in the region to celebrate what acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein described as “the heroism of our defenders and the heroism of the region’s residents.”

Disgruntled residents had previously shown their disapproval over a lack of compensation in rare organized protests.

Putin last visited the Kursk region in March, when Ukrainian troops still controlled some parts of the area. He wore military fatigues – a rarely seen sight for the Russian leader, who usually wears a suit – and visited the area’s military headquarters where he was filmed with top generals.

Russia and Ukraine continue deep strikes with drones

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its air defenses shot down 159 Ukrainian drones across the country overnight, including 53 over the Oryol region and 51 over the Bryansk region.

Flights were temporarily grounded twice at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Zhukosky airports, according to Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency, or Rosaviatsiya, as officials reported Ukrainian drones being shot down in the area.

In Ukraine, Russian drone attacks killed two people and wounded five others in the northern Sumy region, the regional administration said.

In the Kyiv region, four members of a family were injured when debris from a downed drone hit their home, according to the regional administration.

Russia launched 76 Shahed and decoy drones overnight at Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said.

The Ukrainian army said that its drones struck a semiconductor plant overnight in Russia’s Oryol region, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of Ukraine. According to the General Staff, 10 drones hit the Bolkhov Semiconductor Devices Plant, one of Russia’s key producers of microelectronics for the military-industrial complex.

It wasn’t possible to independently verify the claim.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Hill-Murray has created a maelstrom among some of its most loyal alumni with the school’s decision to move on from longtime girls basketball coach Erin Herman.

One of seven active coaches with 600 career wins, Herman has taken nine teams to the state tournament, most recently in 2023, Her Pioneers teams were the Class 3A runners up in 2010 and 2011.

When reached by text, Herman declined to comment, and school officials including president Melissa Dan, athletics director John Pohl and communications manager Elise Langenfeld have not returned phone messages or emails requesting comment, but the Pioneer Press has obtained an email sent to faculty and staff last Friday that reads, in part, “We have made the decision to move in a new direction with our girls basketball program.”

The letter, sent by assistant athletics director and head football coach Rob Reeves, states that the Maplewood private school is “deeply grateful to coach Erin Herman for her extraordinary, 35-year career leading Hill-Murray Girls Basketball. Coach Herman’s commitment, passion, and love for the game — and her players — have left an indelible mark on our community.”

In January, Herman’s team beat South St. Paul, 67-39, to earn the coach her 600th career victory. The Pioneers (22-7) lost to DeLaSalle, 69-65, in the section final.

“What’s happened here isn’t just wrong; it’s a heartbreaking failure to honor a legacy built on excellence, strength, and decades of unwavering dedication,” program alumna Nicole Persby Giefer said in an email to the Pioneer Press. “Erin Herman is Hill-Murray basketball. More than that, she’s a transformative force in the lives of hundreds of young women who have passed through her program.”

Hill-Murray’s decision has set off a chain reaction among alumni who played for Herman, as well as others in the Pioneers and coaching community. Herman just finished her 36th year with the Pioneers and has been inducted into the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“Coach Herman’s termination marks not only the end of an era — but a heartbreaking and bewildering decision that has shaken the very foundation of the Hill-Murray basketball program,” former player Corrine McCallum said in an email to the Pioneer Press.

“Her influence extended far beyond the court,” McCallum said. “Under her leadership, Hill-Murray Girls Basketball wasn’t just a program — it was a family, built on grit, excellence, and unwavering commitment to her players.”

In his letter to faculty and staff, Reeves said the school “will soon begin the search for our next Girls Basketball Coach, who will continue to build on Hill-Murray’s commitment to excellence and tradition.”

By SARAH EL DEEB

Two of northern Gaza’s last functioning hospitals have been encircled by Israeli troops, preventing anyone from leaving or entering the facilities, hospital staff and aid groups said this week, as Israel pursued its renewed offensive into the devastated Palestinian territory.

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The Indonesian hospital and al-Awda hospital are among the region’s only surviving medical centers. Both have come under fire this week, including shelling at al-Awda that happened Wednesday as The Associated Press spoke to its director on the phone.

A third hospital, Kamal Adwan, is out of service, its director said, citing Israeli troops and drones in its vicinity.

Israeli authorities issued evacuation orders Friday for large parts of northern Gaza ahead of attacks intended to pressure Hamas to release more hostages. New evacuation orders followed Tuesday. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

All three hospitals and three primary health care centers are within the evacuation zone. Israel has not ordered the evacuation of the facilities themselves. Another two hospitals and four primary care centers are within 1,000 meters (yards) of the zone, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization.

Israeli military operations and evacuation orders “are stretching the health system beyond the breaking point,” he said.

Hundreds of attacks on health facilities

Only 20 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals remain partially functioning, serving the territory’s more than 2 million people, amid continued bombing, rising malnutrition rates, and dwindling medical supplies.

The WHO said hospitals in northern Gaza are “at a serious risk of shutting down completely.” The United Nations agency has documented nearly 700 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza since the start of Israel’s 19-month war against Hamas.

The Israeli military has raided or laid siege to hospitals throughout the war, accusing Hamas of using them as command centers and to hide fighters, though it has only provided evidence for some of its claims. Hamas security men have been seen in hospitals during the war, controlling access to certain areas, and in recent weeks Israel has targeted alleged combatants inside health facilities.

Palestinians say the latest attacks on hospitals in the north are part of a larger plan to displace the population to the south and eventually drive them from Gaza.

Israel has vowed to facilitate what it refers to as the voluntary migration of much of Gaza’s population to other countries, which many Palestinians and others view as a plan for forcible expulsion.

Israel wants to “ensure the forced displacement of people from the area” by putting hospitals out of service, said Rami Shurafi, a board member of al-Awda hospital.

The Indonesian hospital comes under attack

The Indonesian hospital, once the largest in northern Gaza, has been surrounded by Israeli troops, who were positioned about 500 meters (545 yards) away. Drones have hovered above, monitoring any movement, since Sunday, an aid group that supports the hospital said.

The Israeli military said its forces were operating around the hospital and targeting Hamas infrastructure but that troops had not entered the facility and ambulances were allowed to move.

Israeli bulldozers demolished a perimeter wall of the hospital, according to the aid group MERC-Indonesia and a hospital staff member who had since evacuated. The staffer spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Tuesday, airstrikes targeted the hospital’s generators, sparking a fire and damaging its main power supply. The strikes also caused damage to the hospital’s water supply, according to a video posted by MERC-Indonesia. Large flames were seen rising from the area before daybreak. A speaker in the video said the fire was close to the hospital fuel supply, but firefighters controlled the flames.

At least one staff member was killed, according to WHO, which said those who remained in the hospital were in urgent need of water and food. The U.N. said it was working to transfer remaining patients to other facilities.

Military activity around the hospital also damaged ceilings, the hospital roof and some equipment. At least 20 doctors and staff members decided to stay in the building, said MERC-Indonesia, and most patients evacuated themselves after fighting intensified in the area starting Thursday.

Doctors and staffers at the hospital were not immediately reachable for comment. A video posted by MERC-Indonesia that was shot from the hospital windows showed an Israeli tank a few meters (several feet) away from the hospital.

Israeli strikes isolate al-Awda hospital

Nearly a kilometer (about half a mile) away, Israeli drones fired Monday into the al-Awda hospital courtyard, preventing movement, Shurafi said. On Wednesday, the hospital was shelled while its director was on the phone with The Associated Press. A large boom could be heard on the call.

“They are bombing the hospital,” said Dr. Mohammed Salha, the facility’s director. He later said one security guard was wounded. Patients were not near to the area hit, he said.

A video shared with AP showed damage to the roof and debris in the corridors, with dust still rising from the area.

On Tuesday, Israeli drones fired at two ambulances that transferred three patients to Gaza City as the crews tried to return to the hospital, spokesperson Khaled Alhelo said.

Alhelo himself was unable to return to the hospital Tuesday because of military activity. There are currently no ambulances or internet lines at al-Awda hospital, according to Shurafi and Alhelo.

Israeli troops are about 900 meters (about half a mile) away from the hospital, Alhelo said. But the real risk, he said, is from Israeli drones flying over the hospital and preventing any movement in or out.

“Anyone moving in the hospital is fired at. They are all keeping low inside the hospital,” he said.

The Israeli military had no comment when asked on the situation at al-Awda and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday’s shelling.

About 47 patients, including nearly 20 children and several pregnant women, and some 140 doctors and medical staff members are still at the hospital, hospital board member Shurafi said.

He said the hospital board decided not to evacuate the hospital and called for supplies and the return of ambulances because there are still bombings and wounded people in the area.

“In light of the war, and conflict, it should remain functioning,” Shurafi said. He said the hospital has been besieged and raided several times since the war began in October 2023, but he called the current phase the “most critical.”

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led terrorists attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others. The fighters are still holding 58 captives, around a third of whom are believed to be alive, after most of the rest were returned in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive, which has destroyed large swaths of Gaza, has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count.

Associated Press journalists Fatma Khaled in Cairo and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

By BIANCA VÁZQUEZ TONESS of The Associated Press, NEAL MORTON and ARIEL GILREATH of The Hechinger Report and SARAH WHITES-KODITSCHEK and REBECCA GRIESBACH of AL.com

For the last two months of their life in the United States, José Alberto González and his family spent nearly all their time in their one-bedroom Denver apartment. They didn’t speak to anyone except their roommates, another family from Venezuela.

They consulted WhatsApp messages for warnings of immigration agents in the area before leaving for the rare landscaping job or to buy groceries.

But most days at 7:20 a.m., González’s wife took their children to school.

The appeal of their children learning English in American schools, and the desire to make money, had compelled González and his wife to bring their 6- and 3-year-old on the monthslong journey to the United States.

They arrived two years ago, planning to stay for a decade. But on Feb. 28, González and his family boarded a bus from Denver to El Paso, where they would walk across the border and start the long trip back to Venezuela.

Even as immigrants in the U.S. avoid going out in public, terrified of encountering immigration authorities, families across the country are mostly sending their children to school.

That’s not to say they feel safe. In some cases, families are telling their children’s schools that they’re leaving.

Classroom aid Zhour Boutyebi works with students in a second grade math class at Place Bridge Academy, May 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Rebecca Slezak)

Already, thousands of immigrants have notified federal authorities they plan to “self-deport,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump has encouraged more families to leave by stoking fears of imprisonment, ramping up government surveillance, and offering people $1,000 and transportation out of the country.

And on Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, potentially exposing them to deportation. Without Temporary Protective Status, even more families will weigh whether to leave the U.S., advocates say.

Departures in significant numbers could spell trouble for schools, which receive funding based on how many students they enroll.

“The amount of fear and uncertainty that is going through parents’ heads, who could blame somebody for making a choice to leave?” said Andrea Rentería, principal of a Denver elementary school serving immigrant students. “I can tell them as a principal that I won’t let anybody in this school. Nobody is taking your kid. But I can’t say the same for them out in the workforce or driving somewhere.”

FILE – As a neighbor documents with a mobile telephone, a woman is escorted by a law officials from an apartment during a raid, Feb. 5, 2025, in east Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Rumors of immigration raids on schools became a turning point

When Trump was elected in November after promising to deport immigrants and depicting Venezuelans, in particular, as gang members, González knew it was time to go. He was willing to accept the trade-off of earning just $50 weekly in his home country, where public schools operate a few hours a day.

“I don’t want to be treated like a delinquent,” González said in Spanish. “I’m from Venezuela and have tattoos. For him, that means I’m a criminal.”

It took González months to save up the more than $3,000 he needed to get his family to Venezuela on a series of buses and on foot. He and his wife didn’t tell anyone of their plan except the single mom who shared their apartment, afraid to draw attention to themselves. Telling people they wanted to leave would signal they were living here illegally.

They sent their children to their Denver school regularly until late February, when González’s phone lit up with messages claiming immigration agents were planning raids inside schools. That week, they kept their son home.

“Honestly, we were really scared for our boy,” González said. “Because we didn’t have legal status.”

A second grader uses his hands to do math at Place Bridge Academy, May 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Rebecca Slezak)

In the months following Trump’s inauguration, Denver Public School attendance suffered, according to district data.

Attendance districtwide fell by 3% in February compared with the same period last year, with even steeper declines of up to 4.7% at schools primarily serving immigrant newcomer students. The deflated rates continued through March, with districtwide attendance down 1.7% and as much as 3.9% at some newcomer schools.

Some parents told Denver school staff they had no plans to approach their children’s campus after the Trump administration ended a policy that had limited immigration enforcement at schools.

The Denver school district sued the government over that reversal, saying attendance dropped “noticeably” across all schools, “particularly those schools in areas with new-to-country families and where ICE raids have already occurred.” A federal judge ruled in March the district failed to prove the new policy caused the attendance decline.

Attendance dropped in many schools following Trump’s inauguration

Data obtained from 15 districts across eight additional states, including Texas, Alabama, Idaho and Massachusetts, showed a similar decline in school attendance after the inauguration for a few weeks. In most places, attendance rebounded sooner than in Denver.

From 2022 to 2024, more than 40,000 Venezuelans and Colombian migrants received shelter or other assistance from Denver. Trump said during the campaign he would begin his mass deportation efforts nearby, in the suburb of Aurora, because of alleged Venezuelan gang activity.

Students raise their hands to be called on by second grade math teacher Johanna Correa at Place Bridge Academy, May 20, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Rebecca Slezak)

Nationwide, schools are still reporting immediate drops in daily attendance during weeks when there is immigration enforcement — or even rumors of ICE raids — in their communities, said Hedy Chang of the nonprofit Attendance Works, which helps schools address absenteeism.

Dozens of districts didn’t respond to requests for attendance data. Some said they feared drawing the attention of immigration enforcement.

In late February, González and his wife withdrew their children from school and told administrators they were returning to Venezuela. He posted a goodbye message on a Facebook group for Denver volunteers he used to find work and other help. “Thank you for everything, friends,” he posted. “Tomorrow I leave with God’s favor.”

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Immediately, half a dozen Venezuelan and Colombian women asked him for advice on getting back. “We plan to leave in May, if God allows,” one woman posted in Spanish.

In Denver, 3,323 students have withdrawn from school through mid-April – an increase of 686 compared with the same period last year. Denver school officials couldn’t explain the uptick.

At the 400-student Denver elementary school Andrea Rentería heads, at least two students have withdrawn since the inauguration because of immigration concerns. One is going back to Colombia and the other didn’t say where they were headed.

School officials in Massachusetts and Washington state have confirmed some students are withdrawing from school to return to El Salvador, Brazil and Mexico. Haitians are trying to go to Mexico or Canada.

In Chelsea, Massachusetts, a 6,000-student district where nearly half the students are still learning English, a handful of families have recently withdrawn their children because of immigration concerns.

One mother in March withdrew two young children from the district to return to El Salvador, according to district administrator Daniel Mojica. Her 19-year old daughter will stay behind, on her own, to finish school – a sign that these decisions are leading to more family separation.

In Bellingham, Washington, two families withdrew their children after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in early April at a local roofing company, where agents arrested fathers of 16 children attending Bellingham schools. Both families returned to Mexico, family engagement specialist Isabel Meaker said.

“There’s a sense, not just with these families, that it’s not worth it to fight. They know the end result,” Meaker said.

Immigrant families are gathering documents they need to return home

Countries with large populations living in the United States are seeing signs of more people wanting to return home.

Applications for Brazilian passports from consulates in the U.S. increased 36% in March, compared to the previous year, according to data from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Birth registrations, the first step to getting a Brazilian passport for a U.S.-born child, were up 76% in April compared to the previous year. Guatemala reports a 5% increase over last year for passports from its nationals living in the United States.

Last month, Melvin Josué, his wife and another couple drove four hours from New Jersey to Boston to get Honduran passports for their American-born children.

It’s a step that’s taken on urgency in case these families decide life in the United States is untenable. Melvin Josué worries about Trump’s immigration policy and what might happen if he or his wife is detained, but lately he’s more concerned with the difficulty of finding work.

File – Law officials escort a suspect from an apartment to a waiting utility vehicle for transport during a raid Feb. 5, 2025, in east Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Demand for his drywall crew immediately stopped amid the economic uncertainty caused by tariffs. There’s also more reluctance, he said, to hire workers here illegally.

(The Associated Press agreed to use only his first and middle name because he’s in the country illegally and fears being separated from his family.)

“I don’t know what we’ll do, but we may have to go back to Honduras,” he said. “We want to be ready.”

The size of the exodus and its impact on schools remains unclear, but already some are starting to worry.

A consultant working with districts in Texas on immigrant education said one district there has seen a significant drop in summer school sign-ups for students learning English.

“They’re really worried about enrollment for the fall,” said Viridiana Carrizales, chief executive officer of ImmSchools, a nonprofit that advises school districts how to meet the needs of immigrant students and their families.

Education finance experts predict budget problems for districts with large immigrant populations.

“Every student that walks in the door gets a chunk of money with it, not just federal money, but state and local money, too,” said Marguerite Roza, a Georgetown University professor focusing on education finance. “If a district had a lot of migrant students in its district, that’s a loss of funds potentially there. We think that’s a real high risk.”

Trump’s offer to pay immigrants to leave and help them with transportation could hasten the departures.

González, now back in Venezuela, says he wouldn’t have accepted the money, because it would have meant registering with the U.S. government, which he no longer trusts. And that’s what he’s telling the dozens of migrants in the U.S. who contact him each week asking the best way home.

Go on your own, he tells them. Once you have the cash, it’s much easier going south than it was getting to the U.S. in the first place.

Bianca Vázquez Toness, who speaks Spanish and Portuguese, has spent a decade writing about immigration or education. Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.