News – Page 15 – 105.7 WDNY

Collins denies allegations in corruption report: ‘Absolutely outrageous’

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins is vehemently denying a ProPublica report out earlier this week that says the FBI targeted her in a corruption probe, saying “it’s clearly a political hit job.”

The ProPublica report said that a Republican consultant asked defense firm Navatek and its former CEO Martin Kao for big donations to her campaign in exchange for millions in federal contracts. In 2024, the FBI sought to launch an investigation into Collins and the donor, but when President Donald Trump returned to office for his second term, the investigation died after he made cuts to the FBI, the report stated.

ABC News has not independently confirmed the reporting by ProPublica. Kao did not speak with ProPublica for its story.

“The Biden Justice Department found that there was no wrongdoing by any one of my campaign staff, my office, or me,” the five-term Maine senator said on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. “This is absolutely outrageous. It’s clearly a political hit job.”

Annie Clark, Collins’ deputy chief of staff, said that the Biden administration, FBI and Department of Justice had “thoroughly investigated the Navatek matter.”

“The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings,” Clark said in a statement on social media, adding that these “issues were resolved in 2021, and the FBI has not contacted us about Martin Kao since then.”

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson told ProPublica that the agency had investigated the claims against Collins years ago “and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”

Williamson did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about the alleged new, separate investigation launched in 2024.

Collins — who is running for reelection in the closely watched Maine Senate race, which could determine the balance of power in the upper chamber — said “it’s very frustrating and unfair to have it brought up this close to the election.”

Collins maintained that she learned the company was doing 3D printing research to build boats and were awarded the defense contracts because the Navy found its developments to be “valuable.”

“I’m telling you that this is completely false,” Collins said Tuesday of the ProPublica report’s allegations.

Clark on Tuesday also called the allegations in the report “categorically false.”

“The seven-year-old allegations made against Senator Collins and her staff in this piece are categorically false. There have never been any allegations of wrongdoing by the Collins for Senator campaign, and the campaign was never the target of the FBI investigation,” Clark wrote in a statement on social media.

Collins’ campaign manager, Steve Abbott, responded to the report and called the allegations false and outrageous.

“Not only false. I would say outrageous,” Abbott said.

Collins’ opponent in the Maine Senate race, Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, reacted to the report, saying “the jig is up.”

“This is corruption of the highest order,” Jackson wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Asked for comment, PacMar Technologies — formerly known as Navatek — told ABC News that it’s “a victim.”

“The point here is that PacMar is a victim, like others, of Martin Kao’s illegal conduct and we have dedicated great time and expense in prosecuting Martin Kao and his cabal for their damage to our former company’s good name and reputation,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Trump has not commented on the ProPublica report.

ABC News’ Sarah Beth Hensley contributed to this report.

Judge concludes Trump’s White House media ban hearing with no ruling

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — D.C. District Court Judge Tim Kelly ended a Wednesday hearing on whether President Donald Trump’s move banning three news organization from the White House violates the Constitution with no ruling after hearing arguments from both sides.

“I’ll consider what you’ve told me today and try to get you an answer as soon as I can,” Kelly told the attorneys.

This is a developing story.

Rep. Donalds downplays Trump connection on his governor campaign website

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — When Republican Rep. Bryon Donalds announced his campaign for Florida governor on Fox News in February 2025, he said he was “excited to have the full endorsement of President Trump,” and his campaign website described him as a “Trump-Endorsed Proven Conservative Fighter.”

This week, with Trump’s approval ratings hitting lows in the final stretch of the midterm campaign season, Donalds adjusted his website, removing several mentions of the president.

His site now features video of Donalds campaigning and appearing on stage in front of supporters with his family — with Trump’s endorsement reduced to one of several from prominent Republicans rolling across the page.

Responding to the attention to his updated site, Donalds shared an updated image of his endorsements page, saying, “I am proud to have President Trump’s endorsement.”

“While everyone is focused on our website, check out our policy proposals to make life more affordable for Floridians,” he added.

The changes, similar to other GOP candidates, come as some Republicans are taking steps to distance themselves from Trump amid voters’ frustrations with the Iran war and rising gas and diesel prices.

Donalds’ home page also no longer features a photo of Donalds and his wife posing with Trump, or a section called “On the Issues,” that says Donalds “is committed to implementing President Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda so that our state and our nation’s best days are still ahead.”

A spokesman for Donalds said the congressman is “proud” to have Trump’s endorsement. Donalds, unlike some Republicans running for re-election, appeared on stage at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month, helping the party sell Trump and Republicans’ legislative record.

“Our campaign website reflects Byron’s focus on the issues that matter most to Floridians — affordability, insurance costs, and government transparency. He’s running to be the next Governor of Florida, is proud to have President Trump’s endorsement, and has real policy proposals to tackle those issues,” Gates McGavick told ABC News in a statement.

Possible measles exposure at Busch Stadium, local St. Louis-area businesses, officials warn

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Missouri health officials are warning of a possible measles exposure at Busch Stadium and nearby local businesses in St. Louis and the larger county.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (MDHSS) said the possible exposures occurred between Sept. 12 and Sept. 14 and included local bars, a cafe, a restaurant, a sandwich shop, a grocery store and a convenience store.

The health department said exposed individuals should monitor for measles symptoms for 21 days starting from the date of exposure.

If symptoms appear, individuals are recommended to contact their local public health agency. Additionally, those who think they have measles should isolate themselves and call their healthcare provider before arriving to be tested.

The MDHSS did not immediately respond to an ABC News request for comment on the possible exposures.

Earlier this month, MDHSS announced a possible measles exposure at a train station in Sedalia, Missouri, after a vaccinated individual boarded a Chicago-bound train on Aug. 27.

About a week later, the St. Louis County Department of Public Health said a second individual who boarded the train on Aug. 27 was confirmed to have measles. The second individual was fully vaccinated and is the first case of measles in a county resident in 20 years, according to DPH.

The potential measles exposures at Busch Stadium and the St. Louis region is the third case linked to “train exposure in Missouri,” the health department said.

“Vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect ourselves, our families and our community from measles,” Dr. Kanika Cunningham, director of the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health, said in a statement. “We encourage residents to review their vaccination status, monitor for symptoms and contact their healthcare provider before seeking care if they believe they may have been exposed.”

Measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed 3,400 so far in 2026 with cases confirmed in 45 states and Washington, D.C., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective against preventing measles infection and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says.

However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years. During the 2025 to 2026 school year, 92.4% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 95.2% seen in the 2019 to 2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eating more ultra-processed foods linked to worse health, study finds

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Eating more ultra-processed foods is linked to higher health risks, including death, according to a new study published in Family Medicine and Community Health.

Researchers found that consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods increased the risk of heart disease, strokes, obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety, digestive issues, and cancer.

Ultra-processed foods contain “significant amounts of added sugars, salts, fats” and can be hyper-palatable, meaning they are engineered to taste especially appealing, Maya Feller, a registered dietitian, told ABC News.

Examples include packaged snacks, processed meat products, cookies, cakes, sugary drinks, and many ready-to-eat meals.

“Ultra-processed food is one of the major problems in public health,” Dr. Xiao Liu, lead author of the study, a physician at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital and research fellow at Duke-NUS Medical School, told ABC News.

In the study, researchers examined the intake of ultra-processed foods globally, by reviewing over 50 studies that evaluated the diets of nearly 9 million adults worldwide over a timeframe ranging from 2 to 32 years.

The risk of cardiovascular disease, which is the leading cause of death in the United States, was found to increase by 24% after consuming higher amounts of ultra-processed foods.

The more people ate ultra-processed foods, the higher their risk of poor health outcomes. Each additional 100 grams a day was linked to a 14% higher heart risk and an 11% higher blood pressure risk.

Higher consumption of ultra-processed foods was also linked to a higher risk of metabolic diseases, with the risk of diabetes increasing 24% and the risk of obesity increasing 23%.

More than 100 million Americans in the United States are living with obesity and more than 22 million have severe obesity, according to numbers from the CDC. The agency also found that the average American gets over half their daily calories from ultra-processed foods.

Not all processed foods are the same, Feller said, using an apple to explain the difference.

“You have a tree with apples, and the apples on the tree are in their whole form. You take the apple off the tree, and that is a step of processing. You slice the apple. That’s another step of processing. You puree the apple. You haven’t added anything to it. That’s also processing,” she said.

As more ingredients are added, the food becomes more processed, she explained.

Canned vegetables, cheese, and freshly made bread are considered processed because salt, sugar, or oil may have been added to preserve them. Unprocessed or minimally processed foods can include fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, beans, grains, meat, and fish that do not have salt, sugar, oils or additives.

When shopping, Feller said consumers can look at ingredient lists to get a better sense of how processed a food is.

“Flip the package over, and if the front says blueberries, then the ingredient list should say blueberries,” she said.

For people trying to limit ultra-processed foods without significantly increasing their grocery bills, frozen and canned foods can still be useful options.

“Go to the freezer section. Look for frozen vegetables, frozen fruits, frozen grains that have nothing added to them,” Feller added.

She also recommended lower-sodium canned foods and affordable staples such as pasta, rice and beans.

For parents trying to help children make healthier choices, Feller noted that strict control may be less realistic than education and modeling healthy habits at home.

“We can’t control what they do when they have at lunch,” she said. “Once they’ve left the house, it’s about education, positive modeling and open conversation.”

She added that family meals give parents more control over the foods children are exposed to at home, while conversations about nutrition can help guide the choices they make on their own.

Feller says that people do not need to eliminate all ultra-processed foods from their diets. Instead, the research points to the potential benefits of reducing overall intake as a more reachable goal.

“Don’t expect that you’re going to swap your pantry over or your refrigerator overnight,” Feller said. “Choose two or three things that you eat on a regular basis that are ultra-processed and think about swapping those out for things in their whole or minimally processed form.”

The researchers noted that people can lower their risk of these health conditions by improving their diets, which include limiting ultra-processed foods and eating more vegetables and fruits.

“In our modern society, our diet and food is maybe not safe… we should eat more vegetables and reduce the ultra-processed food to make us healthier,” said Liu.

Dr. Ashley Thomas is board-certified in internal medicine, board-eligible in occupational and environmental medicine, and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

What are the financial benefits of higher interest rates? Experts explain

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A key long-term Treasury rate hit its highest level in nearly two decades earlier this month, even before the Federal Reserve raised benchmark borrowing costs.

The Fed hiked interest rates a quarter of a percentage point in an effort to battle back a monthslong surge of inflation. The rise in borrowing costs pushed up rates for loans like credit cards and mortgages, threatening to worsen a budget crunch as shoppers weather price hikes for gas and other essentials.

Those dangers, however, come along with potential financial benefits, some experts told ABC News. The hike in borrowing costs directly benefits savers, who stand to gain from an uptick in the interest yielded by accounts held at banks, they said.

Financial products like high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit, or CDs, provide options for investors eager to take advantage of the favorable environment for savers, they added, though such products carry limitations of their own.

“Higher interest rates incentivize people to park money in the bank and spend less of it,” James Cox, a financial advisor and managing partner of Virginia-based Harris Financial Group, told ABC News. “If you’re a person who has accumulated assets, higher interest rates can be beneficial.”

Interest rate hikes make it more lucrative for banks to hold money, which in turn puts pressure on financial institutions to pass along some of those earnings to depositors through higher yields.

As a result, some banks have bid up each other’s yield offerings to attract customers.

The average return on a savings account in the U.S. registered at 0.64% annual percentage yield as of Tuesday, marking a slight increase from 0.62% annual percentage yield last month, before the Fed’s rate hike, Bankrate data showed.

An incremental uptick in interest rates for savings accounts or other funds may provide a modicum of financial benefit, but it is unlikely to dramatically improve a household’s income, Cox said.

“It’s not going to materially change the interest-rate picture for a family’s savings,” Cox said.

Even so, analysts said, investors can avail themselves of products that make the most of higher interest rates, such as high-yield savings accounts and CDs.

Financial institutions have not settled on what exactly constitutes a high-yield savings account. But the name indicates the key characteristics of this financial product: a savings account that delivers high returns.

While no specific threshold earns an account the moniker of “high-yield,” the enhanced savings from such accounts can prove substantial, some analysts said.

High-yield savings accounts offer customers as much as 4.2% annual percentage yield, Bankrate data showed, putting interest rates well above the nationwide average of 0.64% for savings accounts.

“As a saver, you can make more money in a high-yield savings account,” Kate Ashford, lead wealth writer at NerdWallet, told ABC News. “There’s no real downside.”

The annual inflation rate currently stands at 3.4%, meaning price increases outpace the average interest yielded by savings accounts at banks. As a result, the purchasing power of money kept in a savings account can drop, even as the total dollar amount increases, Ashford said.

“A high-yield savings account can prevent inflation from eating away the value of what you’ve got,” Ashford said.

In some cases, the interest rate on a high-yield savings account increases automatically in response to a rate hike at the Fed.

“A high-yield savings account of my own saw an increase within 24 hours of the Fed’s announcement,” Ashord said.

A CD, meanwhile, is a type of savings account that offers a fixed interest rate over a given period of time. If depositors remove their funds before their agreed-upon end date, however, they incur a penalty.

Financial institutions often offer CDs at elevated interest rates in the aftermath of a rate hike at the Fed. Typically, long-term CDs spanning three or five years deliver higher interest rates than short-term CDs, since a wider time horizon requires investors to part with their funds for a longer period.

High-yield savings accounts and CDs carry some downside, however. The interest rate promised by a high-yield savings account or a CD means it lacks the possibility of enormous gains, unlike a riskier instrument such as the stock market, some analysts said.

“In the stock market, you have the potential to make more on your money over time,” Ashford said.

Still, Ashford added, a high-yield savings account or CD “gets your money moving in a forward direction.”

DOJ defends White House news bans, saying access a ‘privilege’ and citing national security concerns

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice is defending President Donald Trump’s decision to ban CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House, pushing for a broad expansion of the president’s ability to determine which reporters and outlets can access the White House.

Responding to a lawsuit challenging the bans, the Trump administration argued that the decision was not only justified based on national security concerns, but also that the landmark case that affirmed journalists’ access to the White House should be overturned.

“After all, access to the White House is a privilege — not a right,” wrote DOJ senior counsel Michael Velchik.

Citing a ruling last year that allowed the Trump administration to bar The Associated Press from spaces like the Oval Office, the DOJ argued that the same logic should apply to the entire White House complex. They argue that the president should be able to “consider journalists’ viewpoints” when broadly determining access to the White House.

“In short, there is no principled way of easily distinguishing between rooms that are a nonpublic forum and those that are no forum at all — particularly where the White House is not obligated to respond to any questions by reporters in the first place,” the filing said.

The three outlets filed on Monday a First Amendment lawsuit to restore their access, which was revoked by Trump. Journalists for the outlets were turned away from the White House over the weekend.

In a joint statement issued on Monday, the three news outlets said the lawsuit aimed to “protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes.”

“Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,” the statement said. “Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.”

Trump said in a social media post later on Monday that the barring of journalists was not “an assault on the Free Press” but instead “an assault on the FAKE NEWS,” which he claimed was a national security “threat.”

The DOJ in its court filing also sought to push back on the outlets’ due process claims by providing the court with letters that lay out reasons their access was “preliminarily revoked” and giving the news outlets until Friday to contest the decisions.

Citing specific stories from each outlet, the letters claimed the news organizations violated “standards of professionalism and decorum” by “trafficking in verifiable falsehoods about national security and other issues, and publishing sensitive or classified information.”

Among the stories cited by the White House were reports on depleted munitions, negotiations to end the Iran war, security related to the East Wing renovation, and a Politico story that used “unnamed sources to paint the Republican midterm convention in Dallas as a disaster.”

“Publication of sensitive security information, and misinformation about national security information, diverts White House resources and those of the national security team in particular, which must evaluate whether the leaked information is classified, the source of any leak, and the security implications of any such disclosure. The spread of misinformation, especially relating to national security, is a threat that undermines the President’s ability to safeguard the national security,” the letters said.

According to the court filings, the letters from the White House Press Office were sent on Tuesday — four days after Trump announced his decision on social media — and gave each outlet until Friday to contest the decision. The letters were also unsigned and not on official letterhead.

The DOJ also argued that Trump’s actions were not retaliatory because the “President has not revoked access to other outlets that have equally criticized the President.”

At the same time, the filing argued that some presidents historically have been able to decide which reporters can cover them based on political concerns. The Trump administration argued that George Washington picked reporters to cover his farewell address “based on political considerations,” Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt rewarded sympathetic reporters, John F. Kennedy sought to “court star correspondents,” and Lyndon B. Johnson “tried to use personal interviews as a means of reward and punishment.”

“The White House is the official residence of the President. Significantly, Presidents have long decided which journalists should receive privileged access, which has varied substantially by administration,” the filing said.

Notably, the Trump administration argued that the landmark case of Sherrill v. Knight, from 1977, “is wrong and should be overruled.” The ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals established that credentials to enter or to cover the White House can only be stripped with “notice, opportunity to be heard, and a final written statement of the basis of denial.”

“Defendants, however, argue this precedent is wrongly decided and should be overruled because there is no such due process or First Amendment right attaching to these credentials,” the DOJ argued.

Vance’s anti-fraud task force to remove 750,000 allegedly fraudulent enrollments from Obamacare

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President JD Vance announced Tuesday that 750,000 people allegedly fraudulently enrolled in Affordable Care Act insurance plans will be kicked off the programs.

The effort comes from the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, chaired by Vance, which he said will save American taxpayers $2.2 billion by preventing what he called “rampant” fraud.

“We had a system in this country that rewarded brokers, that made people rich for enrolling fake people in programs that are meant to ensure that our fellow citizens have health care. This was a scandal,” Vance said.

The 750,000 “phantom people” were allegedly signed up for programs without their knowledge or without meeting the eligibility requirements to enroll. An additional 419,000 individuals are going through further verification.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said more than a third of those enrolled in the system have never used the program, suggesting potential fraud.

An estimated 19.2 million Americans were enrolled in ACA exchange plans in 2025, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.

“You cannot protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid if you’re allowing fraudsters to get rich off those programs and to steal the benefits that ought by right go to American citizens,” Vance said.

Vance urged Congressional Democrats to work with the fraud task force, saying “it’s up to them to actually care more about the American people than they do the fraudsters who are getting rich off of those same Americans.”

When asked by ABC News if there is a possibility that the task force is mistakenly tagging people as fraudulent even though they do qualify for the program, Vance said the task force is doing everything it can to identify the ways in which they say people are fraudulently enrolling in the program.

“And if we suspect that somebody is fraudulently enrolled or is enrolled without their own knowledge, we do a lot. As Dr. Oz said, we send them FedEx letters, we go to their house, we do everything that we can to ensure that their eligibility is actually viable,” Vance said.

In a statement, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, sharply criticized the move.

“Republicans have already created the worst health care crisis ever, but every decision by the Trump Administration is designed to keep making it worse,” he said. “As if making coverage harder to access through skyrocketing premiums and more red tape wasn’t painful enough, they’re doubling down to take it away entirely.”

The group Protect Our Care, a left-leaning group that advocates against cuts to the ACA, said the task force announcement was a distraction.

“At a time when millions of Americans are already losing coverage and facing skyrocketing costs, Vance and this administration are making the crisis exponentially worse,” Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse said in a statement. “They are piling on more red tape, more confusion, and more opportunities for people to lose the coverage they rely on. Families need coverage they can afford and count on when they get sick. Vance’s task force won’t accomplish that. It’s a smokescreen for an administration whose sole mission is to make it harder to get and stay covered and shower billionaires with tax breaks instead.”

Roman Colosseum closed for day after worker falls to death

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A technician working on a rope inside Rome’s Colosseum fell to their death on Tuesday night, officials said.

Italy’s Ministry of Culture named the technician as Andrea Moretti, describing them as “a skilled high-altitude rope access worker.”

Moretti died inside the ancient amphitheater following “a workplace accident,” officials said on social media on Wednesday morning.

ANSA, the semi-official newswire, said the 22-year-old had been installing a new lighting system when they fell about 10 meters, or about 32 feet.

The Colosseum was closed to the public on Wednesday, officials said.

“A tragic event that leaves us shocked and devastated,” Alessandro Giuli, the minister of culture, said in a statement. “The few words we can find are for Andrea, his family, and his loved ones: we offer our deepest, heartfelt condolences to all for the senseless death of a young man dedicated to his work.”

NATO jets scrambled in Poland, Romania as Russia strikes Ukraine

September 23, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — NATO military aircraft were deployed in Polish and Romanian airspace overnight and on Wednesday morning, in response to the latest wave of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, officials in both allied nations said.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 161 drones — of which 82 were jet-powered — and an unspecified number of Banderol cruise missiles into the country overnight. Air defenses intercepted or suppressed 119 drones and three cruise missiles, the air force said, with impacts recorded across 18 locations.

Poland’s Armed Forces Operational Command said in a post to X that Polish fighter jets were scrambled “to ensure safety” due to Russian “strikes using jet-powered unmanned aerial vehicles on targets in western Ukraine.”

The alert concluded after approximately an hour. The command said that no violations of Polish airspace were recorded.

In Romania, which borders Ukraine to the country’s southwest, the Defense Ministry in Bucharest said that two Romanian F-16 fighter jets were scrambled on Tuesday night “to respond to an aerial target maneuvering in the northeast of the locality of Valkove, on Ukrainian territory, near the border with Romania.”

Around an hour later, the ministry said that the alert had concluded and that “no incursions into national airspace have been reported.”

The scrambling of NATO assets in response to Russian air attacks in Ukraine has become commonplace in recent years. On multiple occasions, Russian drones have entered NATO airspace and have even crashed on NATO territory, most commonly in Poland and in Romania. Fighter jets have also downed incurring Russian drones over both nations.

NATO leaders have framed the growing threat of Russian drone incursions as part of Moscow’s so-called “hybrid warfare” strategy against Ukraine’s NATO backers. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has consistently denied any responsibility for drone violations of allied airspace.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry described its latest round of overnight strikes on Ukraine as having targeted military-industrial and energy targets sites in the Kyiv region and in the southern Odesa region, which borders Romania.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that one person was killed and seven people were injured by overnight attacks in the capital.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service reported that two people were injured by overnight Russian strikes in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia. Two more people were injured by attacks in the Zhytomyr region in northwestern Ukraine, the SES said, with eight people injured by Russian attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region.

The SES also reported strikes in the central Poltava region and in Odesa, though said there were no casualties reported in either location.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said its forces downed 514 Ukrainian drones overnight. The craft, it said, were shot down over 17 Russian regions, plus over occupied Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

In the Belgorod region of western Russia, which borders Ukraine, local Governor Alexander Shuvaev said that eight people were injured by Ukrainian drone attacks.

+ More