G7 Abandons Joint Ukraine Statement as Zelenskiy Says Diplomacy in Crisis 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
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G7 Abandons Joint Ukraine Statement as Zelenskiy Says Diplomacy in Crisis 

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney poses for a family photo with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, France's President Emmanuel Macron, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, European Council President Antonio Costa, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, World Bank President Ajay Banga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during the G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 17, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy leaves the Group of Seven summit on Tuesday with new aid from host Canada for its war against Russia but without a joint statement of support from members or a chance to meet with US President Donald Trump.

The G7 wealthy nations struggled to find unity over the conflict in Ukraine after Trump expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and left a day early to address the Israel-Iran conflict from Washington.

Canada dropped plans for the G7 to issue a strong statement on the war in Ukraine after resistance from the United States, a Canadian official told reporters.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa would provide C$2 billion ($1.47 billion) in new military assistance for Kyiv as well as impose new financial sanctions.

Zelenskiy said he had told the G7 leaders that "diplomacy is now in a state of crisis" and said they need to continue calling on Trump "to use his real influence" to force an end to the war, in a post on his Telegram account.

Although Canada is one of Ukraine's most vocal defenders, its ability to help it is far outweighed by the United States, the largest arms supplier to Kyiv. Zelenskiy had said he hoped to talk to Trump about acquiring more weapons.

After the summit in the Rocky Mountain resort area of Kananaskis concluded, Carney issued a chair statement summarizing deliberations.

"G7 leaders expressed support for President Trump’s efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine," the statement said.

"They recognized that Ukraine has committed to an unconditional ceasefire, and they agreed that Russia must do the same. G7 Leaders are resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions."

Canada holds the rotating G7 presidency this year. Other leaders do not need to sign off on G7 chair statements. "There would be things that some of us, Canada, included, would say above and beyond what was said in the chair summary," Carney said at a closing news conference.

Trump did agree to a group statement published on Monday calling for a resolution of the Israel-Iran conflict.

"We had a declaration given the exceptional, fast moving situation in Iran," Carney said. "We concentrated on that as a specific one. I held this (Ukraine)for my chair summary."

A European official said leaders had stressed to Trump their plans to be hard on Russia and Trump seemed impressed, though he does not like sanctions in principle.

Three European diplomats said they had heard signals from Trump that he wanted to raise pressure on Putin and consider a US Senate bill drafted by Senator Lindsey Graham, but that he had not committed to anything.

"I am returning to Germany with cautious optimism that decisions will also be made in America in the coming days to impose further sanctions against Russia," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said.

G7 leaders agreed on six other statements, about migrant smuggling, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, wildfires, transnational repression and quantum computing.

KREMLIN SAYS G7 LOOKS 'RATHER USELESS'

Trump said on Monday he needed to be back in Washington as soon as possible due to the situation in the Middle East, where escalating attacks between Iran and Israel have raised risks of a broader regional conflict.

A White House official on Tuesday said Trump explained that he returned to the US because it is better to hold high-level National Security Council meetings in person, rather than over the phone.

Upon arriving at the summit, Trump said that the then-Group of Eight had been wrong to expel Russia after Putin ordered the occupation of Crimea in 2014.

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Trump was right and said the G7 was no longer significant for Russia and looked "rather useless."

Many leaders had hoped to negotiate trade deals with Trump, but the only deal signed was the finalization of the US-UK deal announced last month. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent remained at the summit after Trump left.

Carney also invited non-G7 members Mexico, India, Australia, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil, as he tries to shore up alliances elsewhere and diversify Canada's exports away from the United States.

Carney warmly welcomed Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Tuesday, after two years of tense relations between Canada and India.



A Russian Drone Hits a Kyiv School as Moscow Presses Its Aerial Campaign against Ukraine

A police bomb squad member works at a site of a damaged school hit by a Russian jet-drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
A police bomb squad member works at a site of a damaged school hit by a Russian jet-drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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A Russian Drone Hits a Kyiv School as Moscow Presses Its Aerial Campaign against Ukraine

A police bomb squad member works at a site of a damaged school hit by a Russian jet-drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
A police bomb squad member works at a site of a damaged school hit by a Russian jet-drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 1, 2026. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

A Russian drone struck a school in Kyiv on Thursday, city officials said, as the Ukrainian capital endured another night and day of relentless aerial attacks.

Children and staff at the school were in shelters when the drone hit, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said, although the drone's warhead didn’t explode. There was no immediate report of casualties. The building’s brick frontage showed a large hole and black burn mark alongside smashed windows.

Kyiv has in recent weeks lived through repeated air raid alerts, punctuated by loud bangs and palls of black smoke as drones and missiles hit, making it feel like a city under siege. The Russian onslaught aims to terrorize civilians, officials and analysts say, and break their will to resist 4 ½ years after Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

The strain is showing among Kyiv residents. Maryna Lystopad, 35, said her hair has started falling out due to the strain of escalating attacks and never knowing where a drone or missile will hit.

"It’s really horrible. I can’t take it anymore. I think, I think that soon we’re all going to leave. I’m really not doing well,” she told The Associated Press.

“I’m constantly anxious. I can’t relax,” she said. “I keep thinking that if something happens, if something hits, one of my relatives could be killed.”

She recently had to go to another part of the city, she said, and was “genuinely stressed the whole way there.”

“I kept checking, like, whether anything was flying in, where it was going, where am I supposed to go? Where am I supposed to run?”

Russia's missiles and drones are stretching Ukraine's air defenses The war on the ground hasn’t seen major shifts since last year, but Ukraine is struggling to fend off Russia’s intensified aerial attacks on cities that include speedy ballistic missiles and high-flying jet-powered drones.

In response, Ukraine has fired its long-range drones at manufacturing plants deep inside Russia and has targeted Russia’s drone launch sites. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Kyiv’s forces struck a site in Russia’s southwestern Oryol region that is used to store and launch attack drones.

To turn the tide, Ukraine needs US-made Patriot missiles that can effectively defend against ballistic missiles, but they are in short supply since the Iran war began. A plan to produce them inside Ukraine could take years to bear fruit.

Kyiv is currently racing to produce new interceptors that can bring down fast-moving jet-propelled drones as the swift cycle of military innovation during the war continues.

Ukraine also wants tougher sanctions imposed on Russia to prevent it from getting key high-tech components for its arsenal.

Moscow, meanwhile, is pressing its advantage before Ukraine comes up with an answer to the latest challenges.

Russia steps up its campaign against Ukraine's power grid Ukrainian officials didn’t report any energy infrastructure being hit Thursday, a day after what officials said was the biggest Russian attack on the power grid since last spring.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said Wednesday's barrage marked “the beginning of Russia’s strike campaign aimed at degrading Ukraine’s energy security ahead of winter ... and forcing Ukraine to capitulate.”

Russia is expected to step up attacks on the electricity supply as the weather gets colder. It was 19 degrees Celsius (66 F) in Kyiv on Thursday, and mild temperatures were set to continue.

In a surprise development, Russia used a new jet-powered drone for the first time Wednesday, fitting it with a warhead designed to sever high-voltage pylons, said Serhii Beskrestnov, an adviser to Ukraine’s president on defense technology.


Musk Returns to US Govt for Pentagon War Study

ELON MUSK AFP
ELON MUSK AFP
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Musk Returns to US Govt for Pentagon War Study

ELON MUSK AFP
ELON MUSK AFP

Tech billionaire Elon Musk will make a return to officially advising US President Donald Trump's government by co-leading what the Pentagon called a study on the future of war.

Musk served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) before departing in May 2025, having publicly fallen out with Trump, said AFP.

In a speech at the Quantico military base, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said "Project Meridian" will be "an effort led by America's best minds to study the future of warfare".

"We are leveraging a unique source of American advantage, one our adversaries do not have: our innovators, our senior leaders and our technologists," Hegseth said.

Musk will be a co-leader of Project Meridian alongside Palmer Luckey, the 34-year-old co-founder of defense technology company Anduril Industries, and Newt Gingrich, the 83-year-old Republican former House speaker.

Musk threw his support behind Trump and helped his return to the White House, but the men later had a high-profile blow-up over the president's spending legislation.

He later resumed giving to Republican causes, including multimillion-dollar donations to individual candidates and conservative political groups.

Hegseth said the project's purpose is to "creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer and capabilities we must master".

Project members will include hand-picked private sector leaders and subject matter experts from across the innovation, academic and policy ecosystems.

Hegseth said he has directed Project Meridian's findings to be completed and submitted within 120 days.


Türkiye Nabs Suspect in 2013 Attack by Syria Border

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye, September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye, September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Nabs Suspect in 2013 Attack by Syria Border

A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye, September 30, 2020. (Reuters)
A Turkish flag with the Bosphorus Bridge in the background, flies on a passenger ferry in Istanbul, Türkiye, September 30, 2020. (Reuters)

Türkiye's intelligence agency has captured a key suspect from a deadly 2013 attack near the Syrian border while he was attempting to flee to Europe, state media said Thursday, citing a security source.

The twin bombings in the southern Reyhanli district, which killed 53 people, was the deadliest attack in Türkiye linked to fallout from Syria's civil war that began two years earlier, said AFP.

Omar al-Khatib, a Syrian who was the subject of an Interpol red notice, is believed to have coordinated between the attackers and intelligence officials loyal to Syria's then president Bashar al-Assad, Anadolu news agency reported.

Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) detained al-Khatib as he prepared to leave for Europe by sea, Anadolu said, without saying exactly where or when he was caught.

Ankara blamed Turkish extremist groups allegedly backed by the Syrian government for the Reyhanli attack, accusations Damascus denied.

Türkiye was a strong supporter of Syrian rebels seeking to overthrow Assad and has hosted millions of Syrians who fled the conflict.

Since Assad's ouster nearly two years ago, Ankara has built close ties with Syria's new leadership under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.