BRUSSELS (AP) — Senior officials from almost 50 nations gathered Wednesday to drum up more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, with the Pentagon’s chief absent for the first time since the group organizing the military aid was set up three years ago.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters is going to be chaired by the United Kingdom and Germany. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would only arrive in Brussels after it’s over. He will participate in a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday.

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His absence is the latest in a series of steps that Washington has taken to distance itself from Ukraine’s efforts to repel Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.

More than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, according to U.N. estimates, as well as tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.

Before Wednesday’s meeting, the U.K. said that it plans a tenfold increase in drone production to help Ukraine. Drones have become a decisive factor in the war, now in its fourth year.

U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said that British companies are using lessons learned from the battlefield “to develop advanced new drones to help protect Ukraine’s civilians and also strengthen our own national security.”

Hegseth’s predecessor, Lloyd Austin, created the group after Russia launched all-out war on Ukraine in 2022. Since then, Ukraine’s backers have collectively provided around $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S.

The United States hasn’t chaired a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group since the Trump administration took office in January.

European NATO allies are concerned that the U.S. might withdraw troops from Europe to focus on the Indo-Pacific. French President Emmanuel Macron has warned that abandoning Ukraine would erode U.S. credibility in deterring any conflict with China over Taiwan.

By WAFAA SHURAFA, Associated Press

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — An Israeli- and U.S.-backed group paused food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health officials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israeli strikes across the territory, meanwhile, killed 26 people overnight and into Wednesday, officials said.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said it was in discussions with the Israeli military on better guiding foot traffic near the distribution hubs and enhancing military training procedures to promote safety.

The move came a day after Israeli forces acknowledged opening fire as people headed toward a GHF site in the now mostly uninhabited southern city of Rafah, a military zone off limits to independent media.

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Gaza health officials, the Red Cross and the U.N. rights office said 27 people were killed on Tuesday, and witnesses blamed Israeli forces. Israel’s military said it fired near people it described as suspects who it said approached its forces and ignored warning shots. It says it is looking into reports of casualties.

At least 80 people have been killed since the sites opened last week, according to hospital officials, including dozens in similar shootings at roughly the same location on Sunday and Monday, when the military also said it had fired warning shots.

GHF says there has been no violence in the aid sites themselves but has acknowledged the potential dangers people face when traveling to them on foot. Thousands of Palestinians walk to the sites early each morning, desperate for food and hoping to beat the crowds, and pass near Israeli forces in the predawn darkness.

GHF said it asked the Israeli military, which is sometimes referred to as the IDF, to “introduce measures that guide foot traffic in a way that minimizes confusion or escalation risks near IDF military perimeters; develop clearer IDF-issued guidance to help the population transit safely; enhance IDF force training and refine internal IDF procedures to support safety.”

In a separate development, Israeli strikes across Gaza killed at least 26 people, according to hospital officials. One of the strikes hit a tent in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women and a 7-year-old girl, according to Shifa Hospital.

The military said it was looking into the reports. Israel says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because the group is entrenched in populated areas.

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

A controversial new aid system

Israel and the United States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid and selling it to finance its activities. Israel has not claimed that Hamas fired in the area of the GHF sites.

The United Nations, which operates a longstanding aid system that can deliver to hundreds of locations across the territory, denies there has been any systematic diversion of aid by Hamas, saying it has mechanisms to prevent that.

The U.N. has refused to take part in the new system, saying it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who gets aid and by forcing Palestinians to travel to just three distribution hubs, two of which are in the southernmost city of Rafah.

Israel imposed a complete ban on food and other imports for 2 1/2 months before easing the restrictions in May. U.N. agencies say lingering restrictions, the breakdown of law and order inside Gaza, and widespread looting have made it difficult to deliver assistance.

Experts warned earlier this year that Gaza is at risk of famine if Israel does not lift its blockade and stop the military campaign it renewed in March, when it shattered a ceasefire with Hamas.

The war began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They are still holding 58 hostages, around a third believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed over 54,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The offensive has destroyed vast areas, displaced around 90% of the population, and left people almost completely reliant on international aid.

By AIJAZ RAHI, Associated Press

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Several people were feared dead and many more injured in a stampede on Wednesday outside a cricket stadium in southern India’s Karnataka state.

The incident happened as thousands of cricket fans gathered outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru city to celebrate the winners of the Indian Premier League, which is the world’s most popular T20 cricket tournament.

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The Times of India newspaper reported at least seven people had died in the crush. Local TV news channels showed visuals of police shifting the injured persons and those who fell unconscious to ambulances.

D.K. Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka state, told reporters that “the crowd was very uncontrollable.”

The event was being held to celebrate Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first Indian Premier League title win on Tuesday.

Stampedes are relatively common in India when large crowds gather at a place. In January, at least 30 people were killed as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river during the Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering.

By JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday criticized an initial proposal from the United States in negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea of agreement with Washington.

The remarks by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei colored in the red line expressed over recent days — one that says Tehran refuses to give up enriching uranium in any possible deal with the U.S.

That demand has been repeatedly made by American officials, including President Donald Trump, though it remains unclear just how much U.S Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff brought it up in his initial proposal to Iran.

In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves to the crowd as he arrives for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1989 death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, shown in the poster in background, as Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandson Hassan stands at right, at his shrine just outside Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

But what Khamenei did not say in his speech matters as well. He didn’t reject the talks, which Iran views as crucial for its economy to lift some the crushing economic sanctions it faces.

Khamenei also did not insist on any specific level of nuclear enrichment. Iran now enriches uranium up to 60% — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has led the talks with Witkoff, said Tehran soon will offer its response to the U.S. Khamenei’s speech Wednesday at the mausoleum of Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini may serve as a preview.

“If we had 100 nuclear power plants while not having enrichment, they are not usable for us,” Khamenei said. “If we do not have enrichment, then we should extend our hand (begging) to the U.S.”

Khamenei touched on previous remarks

The 86-year-old Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in Iran, often balances his remarks over the demands of reformists within the country who want the talks against hard-line elements within Iran’s theocracy, including the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

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Late in August, Khamenei in a speech opened the door to possible talks with the U.S., saying there is “no harm” in engaging with the “enemy.” The supreme leader later tempered that, saying that negotiations with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable,” after Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran.

Khamenei’s speech on Wednesday, marking the anniversary of Khomeini’s death, offered an opportunity to discuss Witkoff’s proposal. He described it as “100% against the idea of ‘we can,’” borrowing from an Iranian government slogan. He described the U.S. as having long sought the dismantling of Iran’s entire nuclear industry.

“The impolite and insolent American leaders keep repeating this demand with different wordings,” Khamenei said.

He added, using a slogan he’s said before: “Those currently in power, Zionist or American, should be aware that they can’t do a damn thing about this.”

Some nuclear power nations do get uranium from outside suppliers, however. Experts long have viewed Iran as using its nuclear program as a chip in negotiations with the West to get sanctions relief.

Details of American proposal are still murky

The details of the American proposal remain unclear after five rounds of talks between Iran and the U.S.

A report by the news website Axios on the American proposal, the details of which a U.S. official separately confirmed, include a possible nuclear consortium that would enrich uranium for Iran and surrounding nations. Whether Iran would have to entirely give up its enrichment program remains unclear, as Axios reported that Iran would be able to enrich uranium up to 3% purity for some time.

A failure to get a deal could see tensions further spike in a Middle East already on edge over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Iran’s long-ailing economy could enter a free fall that could worsen the simmering unrest at home. Israel or the U.S. might carry out long-threatened airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities. And Tehran may decide to fully end its cooperation with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog and rush toward a bomb.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.