Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Russia’s latest drone and missile attack on Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump feuding with tech billionaire Elon Musk, and Washington sanctioning the International Criminal Court.

Retaliatory Attack

Russia launched one of its largest aerial bombardments against Ukraine on Friday. According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat, more than 400 Russian drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles struck areas in six Ukrainian territories. Kyiv’s forces shot down around 30 missiles and up to 200 drones, but the operation still killed at least four people, including emergency responders, and injured some 50 others.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the assault targeted Ukrainian military sites with “long-range precision weapons,” including arms depots and drone factories. However, locals reported that the bombardment also hit apartment buildings and other nonmilitary locations. Moscow has consistently targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since launching its full-scale war in February 2022.

“Since the first minute of this war, they have been striking cities and villages to destroy life,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X on Friday. “Russia doesn’t change its stripes.”

The sweeping assault appears to be in direct retaliation for a massive Ukrainian drone attack, dubbed Operation Spider’s Web, against Russia’s long-range weapons capabilities last weekend. Using 117 aerial drones smuggled across enemy lines and positioned near Russian air bases, Ukraine damaged or destroyed several of Moscow’s strategic cruise missile carriers.

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, during which Trump said the Russian leader vowed to respond to Ukraine’s attack; however, Trump did not say whether he tried to discourage Putin from doing so.

And on Thursday, Trump appeared to prioritize a more hands-off approach to the conflict. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” Trump said, comparing Russia and Ukraine to misbehaving children and suggesting that the United States could impose sanctions on both countries if efforts to secure a peace deal seem insincere.

Such a peace agreement does not appear to be in the cards—at least, not in the near future. Kyiv is demanding an unconditional 30-day cease-fire as well as a face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and Putin. But Moscow remains adamant that it will not agree to a truce deal unless Ukraine concedes on several major points of negotiation, including abandoning its bid to join NATO and allowing Russia to control large swaths of Ukrainian land.

“The Kremlin continues efforts to falsely portray Russia as willing to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, despite Russia’s repeated refusal to offer any concessions,” the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said on Thursday.

In an effort to push Moscow to the negotiating table, Ukraine has prioritized aerial attacks against Russia. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Moscow’s air defenses intercepted 174 Ukrainian drones across 13 regions on Thursday and Friday as well as three Ukrainian Neptune missiles over the Black Sea. The Ukrainian General Staff said the operation successfully struck airfields, fuel storage tanks, and transport hubs.

Today’s Most Read

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What We’re Following

Relationship meltdown. The honeymoon period is over. After months spent touting a united agenda to remake Washington, Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s close relationship erupted in a dramatic—and public—feud on Thursday.

At the center of their dispute is a major Republican tax cut and spending bill—which Trump has dubbed the “big, beautiful bill”—that the White House is trying to get through Congress. Musk opposes the legislation because it would increase the federal budget deficit—by about $2.4 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office—and undo the cost-cutting efforts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative that Musk spearheaded.

Musk has made increasingly pointed posts on X, which he owns, slamming the bill and criticizing Republicans—and, implicitly, Trump himself—for supporting it. When asked about the posts on Thursday, Trump told reporters that he was “disappointed” by them and said he wasn’t sure if his good relationship with Musk would last.

Musk then fired back on X, and the jabs quickly escalated. Trump called Musk “CRAZY!” and suggested that the White House could terminate all government contracts with Musk’s companies; meanwhile, Musk took credit for Trump’s 2024 election victory and expressed support for impeaching him.

Their feud has already hurt Musk’s pocketbook; Tesla shares fell more than 14 percent on Thursday, and Trump is reportedly considering selling or donating his own red Tesla Model S.

ICC sanctions. The United Nations and European Union demanded on Friday that the United States lift new sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) justices. “Attacks against judges for performance of their judicial functions, at national or international levels, run directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law—values for which the U.S. has long stood,” U.N. human rights chief Volker Turk said.

The U.S. State Department froze the assets of the four ICC justices on Thursday in an effort to punish the court for undertaking investigations into whether Israel has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused the international body of being “politicized” and using its powers to “infringe upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel.” Neither Israel nor the United States are members of the ICC.

During Trump’s first term, he sanctioned individuals associated with the court for investigating alleged war crimes that U.S. troops reportedly committed in Afghanistan; U.S. President Joe Biden removed those sanctions in 2021. And in February of this year, the White House barred ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan from entering the United States and doing business with American partners.

Israel’s militia allies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Thursday that the Israeli military has been working with “clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas” to help defeat the militant group. He did not specify which groups this includes.

However, some experts have accused Israel of coordinating with Yasser Abu Shabab, who leads a small militia group in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Abu Shabab is known for allegations that he has looted humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian civilians and resold them; he has denied these claims as well as any involvement with the Israeli military.

“We’re talking about the equivalent of ISIS in Gaza,” opposition lawmaker and former Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said on Thursday. “No one can guarantee that these weapons will not be directed at Israel. We have no way of monitoring or following.”

Meanwhile, Israeli forces bombarded Gaza with heavy airstrikes on Friday, killing at least 38 people. Attacks were concentrated in the northern Gaza cities of Jabalia and Tuffah as well as the southern city of Khan Younis. Despite the Israeli- and U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation telling Reuters that it distributed some aid on Friday, locals have reported a continued lack of access to food and medical supplies in those areas.

On the way home. A Maryland resident wrongfully deported more than two months ago is being returned to the United States, ABC News reported on Friday, citing “sources familiar with the matter.” Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was transferred to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center mega-prison in March, along with more than 200 people accused of being members of Venezuelan gangs. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele resisted the court order for weeks.

Once Abrego Garcia returns, he will face a two-count federal indictment accusing him of participating in a yearslong conspiracy to transport undocumented migrants within the United States. Abrego Garcia denies these allegations as well as accusations that he is a member of the MS-13 gang.

What in the World?

Wednesday, June 4, marked the anniversary of which major Chinese historical event?

A. The end of the Chinese communist revolution
B. The Tiananmen Square massacre
C. The beginning of Mao’s Great Leap Forward
D. The end of the Boxer Rebellion

Odds and Ends

Accidents happen. The Australian navy acknowledged on Thursday that one of its largest ships, HMAS Canberra, accidentally disrupted internet and radio services across much of New Zealand’s North and South islands on Wednesday. “It’s not every day a warship takes your gear offline,” said Matthew Harrison, the managing director of Primo, a local wireless internet and telecommunications company. The disruptions are no longer active.

And the Answer Is…

B. The Tiananmen Square massacre

Material wealth and widespread digital surveillance have stifled grassroots democratic movements in China, argues Yang Jianli.

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