A burnt-out van is covered in crime-scene tape where a series of explosions occurred on July 7, 2026 in Damascus, Syria.. (Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least two explosions were reported in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday, Syrian state media said, as French President Emmanuel Macron was visiting the city to meet with the country’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Syrian Arab News Agency said that the explosions occurred near the Ministry of Tourism building and that at least 18 people — including four security personnel — were injured.
Syrian authorities did not immediately comment on the report. The cause of the explosions was not immediately clear.
Writing on X after the explosions but without explicitly mentioning the blasts, Macron said, “Nothing can smother the aspiration of Syrian women and men to live in a fully sovereign, safe, pluralistic and united Syria. This morning I met Syria in all its diversity. I saw dignity, courage and determination. My visit continues.”
Macron is the first major Western leader to visit Syria since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. Assad was forced to flee the country after government forces collapsed in the face of a surprise offensive launched by a coalition of rebel groups, led by Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Macron arrived in Damascus on Monday. “I have come to express France’s commitment to the Syrian people. For a sovereign Syria, united in its diversity and at peace with its neighbors. Together, let us open a new chapter of stability and peace,” he wrote in a post to X.
Last week, a device exploded in a cafe near the Justice Palace in Damascus, killing at least 10 people and wounding 20.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
Ukrainian firefighters evacuate an elderly woman from the scene of an attack as Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight on Monday, killing at least ten people and heavily damaging apartment buildings on July 6, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A large Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region overnight, local officials said, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again appealing to foreign partners to ramp up the delivery of key anti-missile ammunition.
The Ukrainian air force said in posts to Telegram that Russia launched 68 missiles — among them 23 ballistic missiles — and 351 drones into the country overnight.
The air force said that 37 missiles and 326 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with impacts of 29 missiles and 18 drones reported across 34 locations.
The capital bore the brunt of Russia’s latest overnight strike, officials said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to Telegram that at least 12 people were killed and 46 people were injured, of which at least 26 were hospitalized.
A further six people were killed and 26 people injured across the wider Kyiv region, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
Klitschko reported damage in the Obolonskyi, Holosiivskyi, Podilskyi and Darnytskyi districts of the capital. In Podilskyi and Darnytskyi, the mayor said that rescue teams were searching for additional victims under the rubble of destroyed residential buildings.
Zelenskyy said in posts to social media that Ukrainian forces defending against the “massive Russian attack” intercepted many drones and cruise missiles, but not the more advanced ballistic weapons.
“The reason for this is precisely the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles. It is very important that the world, especially America and our European partners, come out of the NATO summit in Ankara with strong decisions to support our defense of the sky, and hence, the protection of ordinary people’s lives,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“As long as the missiles for the Patriots remain in the warehouses of allies, this only encourages Russia to continue destroying residential buildings,” the Ukrainian president added, referring to the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system which Kyiv often uses to intercept Russian missiles.
“The U.S. and Europe have enough power to stop this terror,” he added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, described the overnight attack in a post to Telegram as “a massive strike with high-precision long-range weapons of land, air and sea-based systems, as well as with strike drones.”
The ministry claimed to have targeted military-industrial and energy facilities in Kyiv, plus military airfield infrastructure.
The Defense Ministry also reported that its forces intercepted at least 625 Ukrainian drones overnight and into Monday.
Moscow was among the targets of the latest wave of Ukrainian long-range attacks, the city’s Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram. The mayor said that at least 15 Ukrainian drones were shot down en route to the capital since midnight on Sunday.
ABC News’ Natalia Popova, Natalia Kushnir and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
Smoke is seen as two major fires burn after a drone and missile attack by Russian forces on July 2, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LVIV, LONDON and NEW YORK) — At least 20 people were killed and dozens of others were injured after Kyiv came under attack from a “massive” barrage of Russian ballistic missiles and drones overnight, Ukrainian officials said, describing multiple explosions across the capital.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv City Military Administration, published an updated death toll on his Telegram channel. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the attack’s main target was Kyiv. More than 90 people had been injured across the country.
Kyiv’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as “massive.” President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said first responders in the capital were “clearing the rubble, searching for people, and providing assistance.”
“Damage has been reported at more than 20 sites across the city, most of them ordinary residential buildings,” Zelenskyy said. “There was also damage to an ambulance station, a research institute, a hotel, and businesses.”
Moscow targeted Ukraine with more than 70 missiles, nearly half of which were ballistic, along with almost 500 drones in the overnight attack, Zelenskyy said.
Damage has been reported in every district in Kyiv. The worst hit was the Darnytskyi district, where part of a nine-floor apartment building collapsed, leaving people trapped inside, Klitschko. Search and rescue teams are still looking for those thought to be under the rubble, including a 15-year-old girl and her family.
Another air raid alert has been issued in Kyiv right now due to Russian drones.
In Holosiivskyi district, the roof of a multi-story residential building was on fire, Klitschko said. In the Shevchenkivskyi district, in the center of the capital, there was a fire on the roof of a hotel.
During the strikes, the mayor urged residents to stay in shelters. Klitschko said earlier that of the 34 people initially recorded as injured in the strikes, 32 were taken to the hospital; two others were treated on the spot.
The strikes targeting Kyiv came hours after the Ukrainian military struck a large Russian oil refinery in Ufa, and a military complex in the Penza region, Zelenskyy said. The night before, Ukraine also struck a satellite communications center in the Moscow region, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine’s strikes on Russia came amid a mounting pressure campaign by Kyiv seeking to push Russia to end the war, which in February entered its fifth year.
An analysis from a U.S. think tank published on Wednesday said troop casualties in the war — missing, killed and wounded — had surpassed 2 million, including as many as 600,000 deaths.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in that report that the figures heavily skewed toward Russian losses, with roughly three Russians killed or wounded to every one Ukrainian killed or wounded.
Russian casualties amounted to 1.4 million people, according to the data, including 450,000 who had been killed in the war, the report said. Ukrainian forces have suffered 525,000 to 625,000 casualties, including 125,000 to 150,000 deaths, the study said.
Neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian military releases data detailing their own battlefield casualties.
The report’s authors, drawing on information collected from Western governments, including the U.S., and on open source information, said Russia also lost territory in April and May. Overall, the report’s authors said, 2026 has been counterproductive for the Russian military, and that Moscow may be losing the war.
Offering historical perspective, the report says Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all U.S. fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II.
Russia’s advances in key Ukrainian areas “are among the slowest rates of advance in any war over the last century,” the report stated.
In Kyiv on Thursday, Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine’s parliament, accused Moscow of using missiles and drones to deliberately target civilians, which turned “an ordinary night in the capital of a European state into a struggle for survival.”
“This crime, like every one before it, must be met not only with condemnation, but with a resolute response: stronger air defence for Ukraine, tougher sanctions against Russia, and inevitable accountability for everyone responsible,” he said on social media.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to pose for a family photo before a cultural performance and concert during the G7 Summit on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Ukrainian military struck a Russian oil refinery in Ufa on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Kyiv continues its pressure campaign seeking to push Russia to end the war.
“This is an entirely just response to everything Russia is doing against us,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “Peace is needed, and this is exactly what Russia’s leadership must realize. Russia must end its war.”
The Russian Defense Ministry did not appear on Wednesday to publicly comment on the attack, but said in a message on Telegram that its forces had shot down or otherwise destroyed at least 179 Ukrainian drones over Russian or Russian-occupied territory overnight.
The refinery, which Zelenskyy said was one of Russia’s largest producers of lubricants, sits more than 1,300 km, or about 800 miles, from the frontline.
Ukraine overnight also launched an aerial strike at a military complex in the Penza region, where Russia develops and manufactures components related to missiles, Zelenskyy said.
The General Staff of Ukraine’s military said the target was an aerospace facility known by its Russian acronym, NIIFI. The site is used to build sensors for some cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as satellite components, Ukraine said.
“Hits and smoke were recorded at the facility,” the General Staff said in a Ukrainian-language update posted on social media. “This is a leading Russian enterprise in the field of space, aviation and military instrument-making.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the G7 summit on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Isabel Infantes – Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Ukraine struck a satellite communications center in the Moscow region in an aerial attack on Tuesday, Kyiv said, as Moscow claimed to have shot down hundreds of drones launched into its territory overnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskyy said Ukraine struck the site, the “Dubna” space communications center, for the second time.
“This is a specialized satellite communications facility used, among other things, for intelligence gathering and coordinating the activities of Russia’s occupying forces in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on social media on Tuesday.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a morning update on its official Russian-language Telegram channel that air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed at least 419 Ukrainian drones since late Monday evening.
Those drones were shot down in at least 16 regions, including Moscow, along with Russian-occupied areas in Crimea, the ministry said.
Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said early on Tuesday that at least 61 Ukrainian drones had been shot down in the capital region overnight.
Zelenskyy in announcing the Ukrainian strike on the satellite communications center noted that the facility was more than 500 km, or about 310 miles, from the Ukrainian-Russian boarder.
“Recently, our Defense Forces of Ukraine already reached four such Russian centers, not only in the Moscow region but also in the Vladimir region,” he said on social media.
He added, “Step by step, we are implementing our plan of long-range sanctions and making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to carry out its invasion operations against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories.”
A crocodile sits on the bottom in the eel grass with school of fish above. teeth and tail are showing. (Gregory Sweeney/Getty Images)
(PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico) — A 28-year-old man was killed in a crocodile attack on a popular beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Friday evening, according to state authorities.
The victim, who was from Mexico, was on the beach in front of the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa when he was allegedly attacked by the reptile and dragged out to sea, Jalisco State Police said in a statement on Sunday.
The incident happened around 6 p.m. local time, police noted.
The victim’s body was recovered Saturday morning about 300 meters offshore after an overnight search and rescue operation at sea and on land.
Local authorities are reminding the public to obey warning signs and avoid entering the water where wildlife is known to be present, particularly in estuary and mangrove areas.
“The safety and security of our guests and associates are our top priority,” the resort said in a statement to ABC News. “At the Marriott Puerto Vallarta we have appropriate signage, as well as night patrolling and red flags to indicate caution in the area and all were and are properly in place.”
The resort said it reviews its “plans and procedures often” and works “closely with the appropriate authorities on an ongoing basis and our staff is trained in how to respond to safety matters appropriately.”
“We extend our thoughts to the individual and their loved ones during this difficult time and are providing appropriate support in line with our policies,” the resort said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Madeline Wheeler contributed to this report.
China’s national flag flutters in the wind next to the CITIC tower on May 12, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Maxim Shemetov Pool/Getty Images)
(BEIJING) — A small aircraft crashed into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper before falling down in front of the building, according to eyewitnesses who spoke with Reuters and the Associated Press.
Videos taken by people near the Citic Tower appeared to show the plane striking a high floor before it spun downward and crashed to the ground in front of the tower’s entrance.
Photos showed what appeared to be a hole or broken glass on one side of the building.
Authorities have yet to address the incident. Videos, images and search results of the crash are actively being scrubbed from the Chinese internet.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — When the first of two massive earthquakes hit Venezuela, American tourist Jason Wang said he was on a mountaintop outside Caracas, about to get on a cable car to head down.
It was just after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday when a 7.2 magnitude jolted the South American country’s coastal region, followed 39 seconds later by an even stronger 7.5 magnitude tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
High up on El Ávila mountain, about 7 miles outside the capital city, the 39-year-old Wang of Las Vegas said he was caught in a scene of confusion and panic, unsure what had just occurred.
“I was about to board the cable car. I started recording myself going in, and the whole building just started shaking. The floor under me was shaking, and then all of a sudden everyone started panicking,” Wang told ABC News on Thursday morning.
He said he and other tourists charged toward the exit of the cable car building.
“We were just rushing for the door to exit the building, and none of us knew what was going on until a few minutes afterwards,” Wang said. “We realized we got hit with a massive earthquake.”
Videos that Wang posted on social media showed him and others walking down the mountain back toward Caracas on a road blocked by numerous toppled trees. Wang said that as the sun was setting, he managed to get a ride back to his hotel in Caracas.
“I saw some people like cutting down trees that fell on the road to create a tunnel for us to get past,” Wang said.
He said that when he finally reached his hotel and was able to get a WiFi signal, he learned that the twin tremors were the biggest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in a century, causing massive destruction and widespread death across Caracas, a city of more than 2 million people.
“Once I got back on WiFi, I was able to contact my family and friends and tell them I was OK,” said Wang, adding that he was traveling out of the city to the jungle on Thursday morning to escape the danger being caused by numerous aftershocks.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, said that at least 188 people were killed in the earthquakes, and nearly 1,520 more were injured.
But the death toll is expected to grow. The USGS said there is a risk of more than 10,000 deaths, though official casualty tolls have been slow to be reported.
President Donald Trump said there could be a “devastating number of deaths,” as Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the U.S. is deploying rescue teams to Venezuela to help search for victims.
In Caracas, the scenes of devastation and desperation were evident in all directions. Online videos showed apartment and commercial buildings lying in heaps of rubble, houses knocked off foundations and thousands of people in the streets, shellshocked and watching as emergency crews searched for survivors.
At one point, more than 25,000 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
During the earthquakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street.
“It’s like a horror movie,” one frantic woman who escaped her damaged building said.
One Caracas resident, Armando Nori, posted a video on social media from inside an apartment building that began to shake violently during the earthquakes. The footage showed Nori and others in the building fleeing as walls and shelves collapsed, and items, including what appeared to be a water container, crashing to the floor.
Another Caracas resident, Gabriel Higuera, told ABC News that he lives on the top floor of an apartment building with his girlfriend, and described their harrowing race to escape. He said his girlfriend almost fell from one of the floors due to the violent tremors.
“The shaking made it impossible to move,” Higuera said.
Another video verified by ABC News showed people in an apartment building in Junquito, west of Caracas, falling to the floor and holding onto each other as the building started to collapse around them. The man filming the video was heard in the footage screaming for his mother as he started to run for cover.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said numerous buildings had been brought down in Caracas, and that the cities of Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua, and Miranda had also been affected.
There were reports of widespread power outages and cell phone disruptions throughout the country. Gas to many buildings was turned off to prevent fires, officials said.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency, saying the earthquakes had turned the coastal state of La Guaira into a “disaster zone.”
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodriguez said in a televised address to the nation, according to The Associated Press.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and that the heavily damaged Maiquetía “Simón Bolívar” International Airport is closed.
Video posted online and verified by ABC News showed people at the airport running for their lives as part of its roof collapsed, creating a cloud of dust. In the footage, people could be heard screaming as the sound of crashing glass and chunks of falling concrete echoed in the background.
Amid the devastation came reports of heroic efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Eighteen people were rescued from one of the two buildings that collapsed in the Chacao municipality, about 7 miles east of Caracas, authorities said.
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremors, forcing many people to sleep on the street on Wednesday night out of fear of more buildings collapsing.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles, of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky, Shannon Kingston, Victoria Beaule and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Two powerful earthquakes — a 7.2 magnitude quake followed just seconds later by a 7.5 — rocked the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday evening, killing dozens of people, knocking down buildings in the capital and sending residents racing into the street.
In an address the nation Wednesday night, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez said her office received reports of at least 32 deaths and more than 700 injuries. She declared a nationwide state of emergency and said there was severe damage in the capital Caracas and other areas in the aftermath of the quakes.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and the Maiquetía International Airport, which was earlier reported to have sustained damage, is closed.
At least 20 aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremor, she said.
Photos and videos from Caracas showed some crumbled buildings, rescue crews searching through rubble and people being cared for on the street.
Crews responded to collapsed buildings in the areas of Alta Mira and Palos Grandes, according to authorities.
The U.S was preparing to send search-and-rescue teams, according to the State Department.
In a post on social media, Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said the U.S. was “mobilizing assistance” for Venezuela.
“The US stands with the Venezuelan people in the aftermath of this evening’s devastating earthquakes. We’re in touch with the authorities and mobilizing assistance,” he said.
Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s under secretary for foreign assistance, said the department has “mobilized a disaster assistance team and task force to deliver and coordinate critical assistance to the Venezuelan people.”
He added: “Working with our partners in the interim Venezuelan government, the U.S. will be sending search and rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies and other resources in the crucial first days after this tragic natural disaster.”
Another State Department official confirmed that all staff at the U.S. embassy in Caracas are accounted for.
The first earthquake — a magnitude 7.2 — was what the U.S. Geological Survey calls a “foreshock,” recorded near San Felipe, Venezuela. Just 39 seconds later, a more powerful 7.5 “mainshock” was recorded in Yumare, according to the USGS.
The USGS estimated a “red alert” for potential fatalities from the quake, saying: “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread.”
Past red alerts have required a national or international response, according to the USGS.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) — Two powerful earthquakes — a 7.2 magnitude quake followed just seconds later by a 7.5 — rocked the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday evening, killing dozens of people, knocking down buildings in the capital and sending residents racing into the street.
In an address the nation Wednesday night, Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez said her office received reports of at least 32 deaths and more than 700 injuries. She declared a nationwide state of emergency and said there was severe damage in the capital Caracas and other areas in the aftermath of the quakes.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and the Maiquetía International Airport, which was earlier reported to have sustained damage, is closed.
At least 20 aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremor, she said.
Photos and videos from Caracas showed some crumbled buildings, rescue crews searching through rubble and people being cared for on the street.
Crews responded to collapsed buildings in the areas of Alta Mira and Palos Grandes, according to authorities.
The U.S was preparing to send search-and-rescue teams, according to the State Department.
In a post on social media, Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau said the U.S. was “mobilizing assistance” for Venezuela.
“The US stands with the Venezuelan people in the aftermath of this evening’s devastating earthquakes. We’re in touch with the authorities and mobilizing assistance,” he said.
Jeremy Lewin, the State Department’s under secretary for foreign assistance, said the department has “mobilized a disaster assistance team and task force to deliver and coordinate critical assistance to the Venezuelan people.”
He added: “Working with our partners in the interim Venezuelan government, the U.S. will be sending search and rescue teams, medical and humanitarian supplies and other resources in the crucial first days after this tragic natural disaster.”
Another State Department official confirmed that all staff at the U.S. embassy in Caracas are accounted for.
The first earthquake — a magnitude 7.2 — was what the U.S. Geological Survey calls a “foreshock,” recorded near San Felipe, Venezuela. Just 39 seconds later, a more powerful 7.5 “mainshock” was recorded in Yumare, according to the USGS.
The USGS estimated a “red alert” for potential fatalities from the quake, saying: “High casualties and extensive damage are probable and the disaster is likely widespread.”
Past red alerts have required a national or international response, according to the USGS.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
