Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deadly Russian aerial assault on Ukraine, continued Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, and the risk of a strong El Niño system.
73 Missiles, 656 Drones
Russia launched a massive overnight aerial operation against Ukraine on Tuesday, marking Moscow’s third heavy assault in less than a month. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces fired 73 missiles and 656 drones at Kyiv and other major cities, killing at least 22 people, including several children, and injuring nearly 140 others. The strikes, which reportedly damaged civilian and energy infrastructure, also forced more than 40,000 residents to shelter in Kyiv’s subway system—the largest number of people to do so in recent years.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deadly Russian aerial assault on Ukraine, continued Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon, and the risk of a strong El Niño system.
73 Missiles, 656 Drones
Russia launched a massive overnight aerial operation against Ukraine on Tuesday, marking Moscow’s third heavy assault in less than a month. According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces fired 73 missiles and 656 drones at Kyiv and other major cities, killing at least 22 people, including several children, and injuring nearly 140 others. The strikes, which reportedly damaged civilian and energy infrastructure, also forced more than 40,000 residents to shelter in Kyiv’s subway system—the largest number of people to do so in recent years.
Experts called Tuesday’s attack one of the most advertised bombardments of the war so far. On May 22, the Kremlin accused Kyiv of carrying out a drone strike on a college dormitory in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region of Ukraine, killing 21 people. Although Kyiv denied responsibility for the incident, Moscow vowed to launch sweeping attacks on “decision-making centers” in Kyiv in response, warning that the retaliation would be so fierce that diplomats and foreign citizens should flee the city.
The May 22 drone attack gave the war “a whole new dimension,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov adding that “systematic attacks on Ukraine’s military infrastructure, including targets in Kyiv and other cities, will continue.” The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Tuesday that the overnight bombardment hit military-industrial facilities in seven Ukrainian regions.
Foreign leaders were quick to denounce Moscow’s overnight assault. “Russia must pay,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna wrote on X. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen pledged Helsinki’s “unwavering” support, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide called it “yet another proof that [the] Kremlin does not seek peace.”
Analysts see Moscow’s escalating aerial campaign as an effort to take advantage of Ukraine’s shortage of U.S.-provided air defense systems. Washington is Kyiv’s largest single foreign supplier of weapons. But with U.S. stockpiles now being prioritized for the U.S. war against Iran, Ukraine is struggling to intercept Russian missiles; Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 40 missiles and 602 drones on Tuesday. Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent the U.S. Congress and President Donald Trump a letter asking for more air defense systems. As of Tuesday, Ukrainian officials had yet to receive a response.
This was a “large-scale attack and an absolutely clear statement from Russia,” Zelensky wrote on X in an appeal for more U.S. and European support. “If Ukraine is not protected from ballistic and other missile strikes, these attacks will continue.”
Still, Ukraine remains optimistic that the four-year war will end in its favor. “Moscow is losing on the battlefield,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Tuesday. “No number of missiles can change this.”
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What We’re Following
Israel’s attacks on Lebanon. Israeli drone strikes killed at least eight people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, less than one day after Beirut announced a partial cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Under the truce deal, Israel promised to refrain from targeting Lebanon’s capital or surrounding suburbs in exchange for Hezbollah pledging to halt its attacks. Yet Israel’s military claimed on Tuesday that it had already intercepted two projectiles targeting northern Israel, and in response, it issued a new evacuation order for Nabatieh, one of southern Lebanon’s largest cities.
Trump announced the partial truce on Monday after speaking separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and mediators representing Hezbollah. These phone calls followed threats from Iran that Tehran would suspend peace talks with the United States if Israel’s attacks on Lebanon continued. “The ceasefire between Iran and the US is unequivocally a ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on X at the time.
Although Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed on Tuesday that Israel is committed to the partial truce regarding Beirut, citing respect for the U.S.-Iran negotiations, he added that Israel would resume targeting the capital’s southern suburbs if Hezbollah continued to target northern Israel.
Israeli and Lebanese officials convened in Washington on Tuesday for another round of cease-fire talks, during which Beirut is expected to seek a full cease-fire extension. Hezbollah is not directly involved in the talks.
U.N. climate warnings. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Tuesday that a moderate to strong El Niño system has an 80 percent chance of forming before September and a 90 percent chance of forming before November. “We need to prepare for a potentially strong El Niño event, which will exacerbate drought and heavy rainfall and increase the risk of heat waves both on land and in the ocean,” WMO chief Celeste Saulo said. Several national weather services have also forecast that this year’s El Niño will be the strongest in a decade.
The last El Niño categorized as strong, which lasted from 2023 to 2024, contributed to making the latter year the hottest on record. On Tuesday, Saulo stressed that a repeat performance could heighten the risk of extreme weather, reduce food and water supplies, and accelerate the spread of vector-borne diseases. “Communities that were already struggling will be pushed further beyond their limits,” Saulo added.
Scientists have linked El Niño’s growing severity to worsening climate change. “El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world,” United Nations chief António Guterres said on Tuesday. “Impacts will hit even harder, travel even farther, and cross borders with devastating speed.” He added that the only effective response is to reduce the use of fossil fuels and accelerate the world’s shift to renewable energy.
Fostering closer ties. Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced on Tuesday that he is ready to meet with Zelensky next week so long as technical negotiations on the rights of Ukraine’s Hungarian minority are finished beforehand. The meeting is expected to mark a pivotal turn in Hungary-Ukraine relations as well as help pave the way for Kyiv to eventually join the European Union.
Under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Budapest aligned more closely with Moscow; Orban had blocked billions of euros in aid to Ukraine and prevented Kyiv from obtaining EU membership. But Magyar has a different approach. Having campaigned on improving ties with the West, he has vowed to approve Ukraine’s EU bid if Kyiv makes progress on the rights of ethnic Hungarians to use their native tongue. Around 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine.
But to pursue this new agenda, Magyar argues that he needs to remove Orban’s influence in Budapest—starting with President Tamas Sulyok. Magyar has pledged to amend the country’s constitution to remove Sulyok and other Orban-appointed officials from office, and on Monday, Magyar announced plans to launch legal proceedings against the president if Sulyok continues to refuse to resign.
Odds and Ends
The U.S. Defense Department confirmed on Monday that journalists will no longer have access to the Pentagon’s press office, as the area is now a classified space. There is “nothing controversial” about this move, acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez wrote on X, adding that the room is now off-limits because speechwriters who handle classified intelligence are using the office. “This is the most transparent War Department in history,” Valdez added.
The change is the latest move by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to restrict press coverage of the department. Already, to keep their credentials, journalists must be escorted at all times while on Pentagon grounds, and access to the department’s press secretary is by appointment only.
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