World
Ukraine breaches Russian border near major gas transmission hub, defense officials say
- Russian defense officials have reported battles with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region, marking one of the largest incursions into Russian territory since the war began.
- Ukrainian forces launched a counterattack on Tuesday, with battles continuing into Wednesday near the border town of Sudzha.
- President Vladimir Putin described the Kursk attack as a “major provocation” by the Kyiv regime during a meeting with the Russian government.
Russia said on Wednesday that it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces which had penetrated the Kursk region near a major natural gas transmission hub in one of the largest incursions into Russia since the war began in February 2022.
Russia has advanced this year after the failure of Ukraine’s 2023 counteroffensive to achieve any major gains, and has taken 162 sq miles of territory from Ukrainian forces since June 14, Russian officials said.
Ukraine struck back on Tuesday – and the battles continued through the night into Wednesday as Ukrainian forces pushed to the northwest of the border town of Sudzha, 330 miles southwest of Moscow, Russia’s defense ministry said.
KYIV’S FORCES ARE UP AGAINST A CONCERTED RUSSIAN PUSH IN EASTERN UKRAINE, A MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS
“The Kyiv regime has launched another major provocation,” President Vladimir Putin told members of the Russian government about the Kursk attack.
A damaged house is seen following what authorities called a Ukrainian military strike in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk Region, Russia, in this handout image released on Aug. 6, 2024. (Acting Governor of Kursk Region Alexei Smirnov via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS)
Sudzha is the last operational trans-shipping point for Russian natural gas to Europe via Ukraine: the Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline carried about 14.65 billion cubic meters of gas in 2023, or about half of Russia’s natural gas exports to Europe.
Ukraine’s gas transmission operator said Russian natural gas was transiting to European consumers normally. Just 60 km away to the northeast is Russia’s Kursk nuclear power station.
The battles around Sudzha come at a crucial juncture in the conflict, the biggest land war in Europe since World War Two. Ukraine is losing territory and Kyiv is deeply concerned that U.S. support could drop off if Donald Trump wins the November election in the United States.
A damaged house is seen following what authorities called a Ukrainian military strike in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk Region, Russia, in this handout image released on Aug. 6, 2024. (Acting Governor of Kursk Region Alexei Smirnov via Telegram/Handout via REUTERS)
Trump has said he would end the war, so both Russia and Ukraine are keen to gain the strongest possible bargaining position on the battlefield while pinning down Russian forces and showing the West that it can still mount major battles.
KURSK BATTLES
Russian military bloggers reported intense battles, with some suggesting that Ukraine had opened a new front. Ukraine has not commented on the battles. Russia sent reserves to help shore up Russian defenses.
The chief of Russia’s general staff, Valery Gerasimov, told Putin that Russian forces were battling Ukrainian forces near the border and that Russia would push them back to the border.
Russia’s defense ministry said it had already destroyed 50 armored vehicles, including seven tanks, eight armored personnel carriers, three infantry fighting vehicles and 31 armored combat vehicles in the area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with Russian Government members at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence, on Aug. 7, 2024. Russia said on Wednesday that it was fighting intense battles against Ukrainian forces which had penetrated the Kursk region near a major natural gas transmission hub in one of the largest incursions into Russia since the war began in February 2022. (SERGEI BOBYLYOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Putin said Ukrainian forces were firing “indiscriminately” at a range of civilian targets in the region, and said that he would shortly have a meeting with top defense ministry and Federal Security Service officials.
Both Kyiv and Moscow say they do not target civilians in the war, triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion nearly two and a half years ago.
Russian Telegram channels carried unverified footage of shelled houses. Alexei Smirnov, the acting governor of the Kursk region, said there were casualties but gave no exact toll, and called on citizens to donate blood.
Forces describing themselves as voluntary paramilitaries fighting on Ukraine’s side penetrated parts of Belgorod and Kursk regions this year, triggering a major push by Russian troops to carve out a buffer zone in Ukraine’s northeast.
World
Colin Jost Says ‘SNL’ Rejected Joke About Pete Hegseth Reading ‘Pulp Fiction’ Bible Verse Two Weeks Before It Happened in Real Life
Donald Trump’s defense secretary Pete Hegseth was widely mocked in April after he read a fake Bible verse from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 classic “Pulp Fiction” during a Pentagon worship service. It turns out Colin Jost sort of saw it coming.
During a recent visit to “The Tonight Show,” Jost revealed that before Hegseth’s viral gaffe he told the “SNL” writers room: “Would it be funny if Hegseth just did that Bible verse that they have in ‘Pulp Fiction’ Remember, from Ezekiel, Samuel L. Jackson?”
The writers shot down Jost’s pitch, deeming it “too ridiculous” and claiming it “would take up all this time in the cold open. “And then he for real did it, like two weeks later and I was like, ‘Well, the good news is, I’m being surveilled, so that’s a relief.’” Jost has been playing Hegseth on “SNL” this season to much acclaim from critics and viewers.
The real Hegseth was at a Pentagon prayer service in April when he read the altered version of Ezekiel 25:17 that’s delivered by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in “Pulp Fiction” before he shoots a man. Hegseth said the prayer was recited by the “Sandy 1” Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran.
Calling on everyone to pray with him, Hegseth then read a prayer that was nearly word-for-word the line delivered by Jackson in Tarantino’s film: “The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherds the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother, and you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee. Amen.”
Watch Jost’s full interview on “The Tonight Show” in the video below.
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A car reportedly drove into a crowd in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring several people.
The vehicle slammed into a store window, and its driver allegedly stabbed a passerby who attempted to intervene, Reuters reported, citing local Italian media.
Mayor Massimo Mezzetti told Italian TV no one was killed but eight people were injured, including four who were in critical condition, according to The Associated Press.
Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
He said a woman pinned against a shop window may require the amputation of both legs.
Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
The driver is a 31-year-old man born in Bergamo and raised in Modena with Maghreb origins, Mezzetti said.
The man was detained and was being questioned at police headquarters as authorities worked to determine whether he was under the influence of substances or acted deliberately, the mayor said.
Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Published on •Updated
A tragedy unfolded in the night between Friday and Saturday on the island of Lampedusa, where a newborn migrant baby girl just a few weeks old died of hypothermia immediately after disembarking and while being rushed to the island’s outpatient clinic.
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At 4.30 a.m., after being rescued by the V1307 patrol boat of the Guardia di Finanza, 55 people from Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone landed at Favarolo pier. Among them were seven women and six minors. The baby girl, whose condition immediately appeared critical, was taken together with her mother to the medical facility, where doctors could do nothing but declare her dead.
Investigation opened into the baby girl’s death
The Agrigento prosecutor’s office has opened an inquiry into the tragic case and ordered a post-mortem examination of the child’s body, a necessary step to confirm hypothermia as the actual cause of death.
The body is being transferred to the mortuary at the Cala Pisana cemetery, while in the coming hours the mother will be questioned by investigators to reconstruct the details of the crossing and establish exactly how and when the baby fell ill.
According to accounts from other migrants on board, the group had set off from Sfax-El Amra in Tunisia at around two o’clock yesterday morning, making the journey in a seven-metre metal boat that cost between 400 and 600 euros per person.
The baby girl’s mother, originally from Côte d’Ivoire, was later taken to the hotspot in the Imbriacola district together with her other daughter, aged around two. According to reports, the woman is currently in a severe state of shock over the loss of her child and is receiving continuous support from staff of the Italian Red Cross, which manages the island’s reception centre.
The centre’s director, Imad Dalil, confirmed to Italian media that psychosocial support measures had been activated. “The mother and the sister are here in the hotspot and are in good physical condition; for them and for the other people psychological support was activated immediately and in the coming hours the medical and psychosocial teams will continue their work,” he said.
NGOs’ reaction
The German NGO Sea-Watch voiced its outrage in a strongly worded post on X. “While the state attacks those who save lives at sea, investigating the captain of Sea-Watch, a one-month-old baby has arrived in LAMPEDUSA, dead in her mother’s arms, after a three-day crossing. Who will be held responsible for this injustice?” The outburst refers to the news, received by the NGO after arriving in Brindisi with 166 rescued people, that a criminal investigation has been opened against the captain of the Sea-Watch 5 on suspicion of aiding illegal entry.
The UN agency specialising in the protection and assistance of people forced to flee war, violence and persecution (UNHCR) also intervened to express deep condolences and grave concern over yet another victim claimed along the Mediterranean routes.
“A mother has lost her newborn daughter, who arrived dead this morning together with 54 other people in Lampedusa. Deep sorrow and concern for the many children and adults who should not be dying in the Mediterranean,” reads a post published on social media by UNHCR, which explains that the agency is on the ground providing assistance to the mother and all the other survivors of the landing.
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