Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of its invasion, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, just hours after US President Donald Trump pledged more military support for Kyiv and accused his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin of throwing “bullsh*t” over peace talks.

The massive aerial assault involved 741 drones, Ukraine’s Air Force said, eclipsing the previous record number of 539 drones, set on July 4, by hundreds – but it was largely repelled, with the damage limited and no immediate reports of deaths.

“This is a demonstrative attack, and it comes at a time when there have been so many attempts to achieve peace and cease fire, but Russia rejects everything,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

“Our partners know how to apply pressure so that Russia will be forced to think about ending the war, not new strikes. Everyone who wants peace must act.”

The barrage, which mainly targeted the city of Lutsk, in northwestern Ukraine, was so intense it caused Poland’s military to scramble aircraft in its airspace. It comes after weeks of intensifying aerial strikes on Ukraine by Russia.

“Last night, our region was again subjected to a mass attack,” Ivan Rudnitskyi, the head of the military administration in Volyn region, home to Lutsk, said on Telegram. “Virtually everything was flying towards Lutsk.”

Ukraine’s Air Force said it destroyed 718 of the drones. There were no immediate reports of fatalities. One woman was hospitalized with chest injuries in the city of Brovary, near Kyiv, its mayor said.

Ukraine launched 86 drones towards Russia overnight, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Moscow’s scaled up assault on Kyiv follows a remarkable 48 hours in the White House, where Trump vented his anger about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s lack of commitment to a peace deal and pledged more support for Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting. “He’s very nice all of the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Kyiv urgently needs more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles to repel Russian attacks.

“We’re going to send some more weapons (to Ukraine),” Trump said on Monday evening. “We have to — they have to be able to defend themselves.”

“They’re getting hit very hard. We’re going to have to send more weapons,” Trump added. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard.”

A Pentagon spokesman later said that “at President Trump’s direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform Trump before authorizing the weapons pause last week, according to five sources familiar with the matter.

More than 200 kindergarten students in northwestern China were found to have abnormal blood lead levels after kitchen staff used paint as food coloring, authorities said, in a case that’s stoked outrage in a country long plagued by food safety scandals.

Eight people, including the principal of the private kindergarten that the children attended, have been detained “on suspicion of producing toxic and harmful food,” according to a report released Tuesday by Tianshui city government, as cited by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

The principal and a financial backer of the school had allowed kitchen staff at the Heshi Peixin Kindergarten to use paint pigments to color the children’s food, leading to contamination, according to the report, which followed a days-long but ongoing probe into the cases.

Of the 251 students enrolled at the kindergarten, 233 were found to have abnormal levels of lead in their blood, the report found. The children were undergoing medical treatment with 201 of them currently in hospital, authorities said. Medical evaluation on the effects of their exposure, which can cause long-term and developmental harm, were not yet made public.

Local media cited a pediatrics professor as saying aspects of the case suggest there could be chronic lead poisoning, meaning exposure over a period of more than three months.

During the investigation, two food samples from the kindergarten – a red date steamed breakfast cake and a sausage corn roll – were found to have lead levels more than 2,000 times the national food safety standard for contamination, according to figures cited in the investigation report.

Authorities said they launched the probe on July 1 after becoming aware of reports that children at the school had abnormal blood lead levels. Lead exposure in children can lead to severe consequences, including impacting children’s brain development, behavior and IQ.

The government report did not disclose how long the exposure had gone on, with some affected parents interviewed by state media saying they had noticed abnormal signs in their children’s health and behavior for months – and clamoring for more answers about how the exposure happened.

“My mind went blank,” a mother of one affected student told state media after learning from a hospital in a nearby city that her child had a blood lead level of 528 micrograms per liter – a revelation that came after she said a local department in Tianshui told her the blood levels were normal, according to a report published by outlet China National Radio (CNR). China’s National Health Agency classifies “severe lead poisoning” as anything above 450 micrograms per liter.

“Right now, I’m not thinking about compensation – I just want my child to be healthy,” she was quoted as saying.

‘How could they be poisoned so seriously?’

The case has raised all-too-familiar concerns in China about food safety as well as the levels of transparency with which such cases are handled – especially in a system where independent journalism is tightly controlled and officials are under pressure to resolve issues quickly.

Earlier this month, after the school conducted tests on the students but did not issue individual results, many parents took their children to Xi’an – a major city a roughly four-hour drive from Tianshui – for testing, according to a report published by a news outlet affiliated with the official People’s Daily.

Reports from state-affiliated media found that 70 children who were tested in Xi’an had blood lead levels surpassing the threshold of lead poisoning, with six of those cases exceeding 450 micrograms per liter. According to China’s official guidelines, this level is classified as “severe.” A full picture of the results from all the students with abnormal levels was not publicly available.

One mother told the People’s Daily-affiliated outlet that she had been confused by her daughter’s constant stomach aches, loss of appetite and behavioral changes over the past six months, which didn’t improve after treating her with traditional Chinese medicine.

Others expressed skepticism about the results of the official investigation.

“The children only eat three-color jujube steamed cake and corn sausage rolls once or twice a week, how could they be poisoned so seriously?” one mother, who gave her surname Wu, told CNR. “If something like this happened to the children in school, at least give us an explanation. Now there is nothing.”

Earlier this week, Tianshui’s mayor Liu Lijiang said the city would “do everything possible to ensure the children’s treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up protection,” while vowing to close “loopholes” in Tianshui’s public food safety supervision.

‘Serious accountability’

The case has led to widespread expressions of outrage across Chinese social media, the latest among dozens of high-profile scandals have been reported by local media since the early 2000s.

“Serious accountability must be maintained and food safety issues cannot be ignored or slacked off. When it involves the life safety of young children, severe punishment must be imposed,” wrote one commentator on the X-like platform Weibo.

“Children are the hope of a family. I hope they can recover soon and grow up healthily,” said another.

Past scandals have also impacted children. In one of the most egregious examples, six infants died and some 300,000 others were sickened by milk powder formula containing the toxic industrial chemical melamine. Several executives found to be responsible for the 2008 case were ultimately handed death sentences, and the tragedy drove deep mistrust of domestic products and food safety in China.

Lead poisoning used to be a more widespread issue in China. In 2010, the central government for the first time allocated special funds for heavy metal pollution prevention in response to at least 12 high-profile cases the previous year that left more than 4,000 people with elevated blood lead levels, according to state media.

Officials have also moved to tighten food safety regulations in recent years, but pervasive cases have shown more needs to be done in terms of enforcement and to build back public trust, experts say.

Improving the food regulatory system calls for “more transparency, more thorough investigation of food safety cases,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and author of the book “Toxic Politics: China’s Environmental Health Crisis and its Challenge to the Chinese State.”

Huang also said a lack of public confidence in the safety systems could evolve into a “trust crisis.”

“Something can be born out of everything – if you want it to,” said Iris Haim, whose hostage son Yotam was killed in Gaza. Those words are helping her find hope.

The new beginning that Haim now longs for is a grandchild, created from sperm she had harvested from Yotam’s body upon its return home in December 2023.

Yotam, 28, was kidnapped by Hamas-led militants from kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023. After spending 65 days in captivity, he was mistakenly shot by Israeli troops on December 15, 2023 along with two other hostages, Alon Shamriz and Samer Talalka, as they attempted to flee their captors in northern Gaza.

Yotam is the only Israeli hostage whose sperm is known to have been retrieved posthumously, and whose family is lobbying to use it to have a child.

Haim says Yotam, a single man at the time of his death, always wanted children. “Yotam really wanted that – he talked about it a lot,” she said.

A total of 205 hostages have so far been returned, 148 of whom were released alive, and 57 returned dead, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Most had been dead for weeks, if not months, making the men’s sperm no longer viable for use – except for Yotam’s. That’s where his mother saw an unexpected opportunity to have what would be her first grandchild.

Chances of successful sperm retrieval are highest in the first 24 hours after death, with the cut-off time being 72 hours, according to the Israeli government.

There are currently 50 Israeli hostages held in Gaza, of whom at least 20 are believed to be alive. Both Hamas and Israel have accepted a new ceasefire proposal and indirect negotiations on a deal have restarted, raising hopes that more could return home soon.

Uncharted territory

Haim remembers with painful clarity the moment Israeli authorities came to her home and told her about her son’s death. “Yotam was killed. By friendly fire. While escaping Hamas captivity. He was mistakenly identified as a terrorist,” Haim recalled the officers saying.

Half an hour after they broke the news of Yotam’s death, one officer approached Haim and whispered, “you can request sperm retrieval,” Haim said. The process “immediately got started, immediately,” she said.

Yotam’s sperm was retrieved within the necessary window of time. Ten samples were extracted, “enough for five children,” Haim recalled being told by the doctor who performed the procedure.

Haim now faces an uphill battle to get approval to use his sperm to produce a grandchild. If she succeeds, her next challenge would be to find a woman to carry the child and raise it.

Sperm lives on briefly after death, which is why it’s possible for doctors to retrieve it from testicular tissue. Any live sperm cells found are transferred and frozen in liquid nitrogen.

None, however, can be used without approval from a family court, where Haim now faces an uphill battle to continue her son’s lineage.

In Israel, extracting sperm from a dead body is permitted, but there is no law that clearly defines the process of using the sperm for the purpose of producing offspring.

“In Israeli law, we don’t have a law for this procedure,” Nily Shatz, Haim’s lawyer, said, adding that family courts have only approved posthumous use of sperm by parents of the deceased to produce a child twice in the past; however, the second case was later overturned after an appeal brought by the state. “All the other cases were rejected.”

The first case was that of a woman who after years of court battles was able to have a grandchild after proving that her son, who was killed in Gaza in 2002, wanted children, according to Shatz. The court, however, declared that the ruling should not be perceived as a precedent, saying legislators must decide on the matter in the future. The second case was that of a couple who are still fighting in court to have a grandchild with retrieved sperm of their late son, who died in 2012.

Extreme caution

Meirav Ben-Ari, a lawmaker in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, is pushing for a bill that formally allows family members to use retrieved sperm even if the deceased had not specifically stated his wish to have a child posthumously, as long as they can prove the deceased would have wanted a child.

Netanyahu’s coalition is made up of some of the most religiously conservative parties ever to hold power in Israel, including ultra-Orthodox and far-right religious Zionist factions whose agendas are reshaping the country’s legal and social fabric.

Shatz, Haim’s lawyer, said that after the horrors of October 7, it was past time for parliament to pass a law on the issue, especially as families of hundreds of fallen soldiers retrieve the sperm of their dead.

But while Haim longs to be a grandmother, the issue of using the sperm of deceased men remains controversial. It raises ethical, religious and legal questions that lawmakers are yet to address.

For now, cases are assessed individually by the family courts, Shatz said. And since there are varying opinions in government about the practice, each case is viewed with extreme caution, she said.

At the moment, for families to use the sperm of their deceased, they must prove to the courts that the person who died wanted children, even after his death.

Yotam’s family is working to prove that he wanted children by providing testimony from relatives, friends and his therapist, but such intangible proof is likely to be harder for many others to present.

“There’s no logical way (where) usually people say that I want a child, even if I’m going from the world,” Shatz said, noting this isn’t something ordinary men think about, especially when young.

Sperm retrievals soared after October 7

Posthumous sperm retrieval (PSR) in Israel was previously open only to partners – provided other relatives did not object – while parents of the deceased had to apply for legal permission. Following the October 7 attacks, the Ministry of Health loosened the rules.

“In previous years, approximately 15–20 such retrievals were performed annually,” the ministry said.

For Haim, having a grandchild is a way to prove that Israel will keep growing despite the massacre.

“Every mother whose child was killed wants to have something from that child, not just photos. She wants something tangible,” Haim said, her eyes briefly filling with tears. “As the people of Israel, we need to understand today that, after October 7, we need to keep growing – to show our enemies that our way, this continuity of our lives here in this country, and in general, is through the creation of new life.”

“That forces you to be in this situation. That’s what war is doing to us,” he said.

Levine advocates for soldiers to decide early whether they’d like to have children, and for them to preserve their sperm while they are still alive.

Some have also called for soldiers to leave a “biological will,” a testament that lays out an individual’s wishes when it comes to posthumous use of eggs or sperm, whether they are retrieved after death or frozen while the person is still alive.

‘The knock on the door’

Bella Savitsky, whose son Jonathan died in combat on October 7, opted to retrieve his sperm and got approval for it, but it came too late.

Savitsky, a senior lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at Ashkelon Academic College, said studies show a maximum of 36 hours since time of death is the only time that retrieved sperm can be usable, a shorter timeframe than that cited by the Israeli government. This window is narrower in Israel because the hot weather can affect the sperm’s quality in dead bodies, she said.

On October 9, 2023, Savitsky received “the knock on the door” from authorities, telling her that her 21-year-old son had been killed in heavy fighting at an army outpost near Gaza.

“He wanted to get married, to have children, a dog, and a home in the countryside.”

It took many hours for Savitsky to obtain a court order allowing the harvesting of her son’s sperm.

“Altogether, it took 70 hours,” she said. “So, when the posthumous sperm retrieval was done, it was not intact. There was no live sperm.”

Ethical considerations

Sperm retrieval after death undoubtedly raises complex moral, ethical, judicial and religious questions. While technology has advanced, critics say the law has not kept up.

Experts say the controversy stems from the lack of clear consent from the father and the idea of bringing a child into the world who is fatherless from the outset.

“You are bringing into the world a child whose parent is known, named and deceased. This has a significant psychological impact and is different from a single-parent family,” Siegal said.

Some may also object to having children that effectively serve as a monument to the deceased father.

In that case, “the grandparents are seeking a ‘memorial’ – a form of commemoration – or trying to recreate something that cannot be recreated,” Siegal said. There are also religious considerations, as “retrieving sperm is an intrusive act, and in Judaism, there is a critical prohibition against desecrating the dead,” he said.

To mitigate these issues, Savitsky believes that young men should be asked whether they would want their sperm to be posthumously retrieved before they enter army service, but said the ministry of defense may be wary of implementing this as it could dent troop morale.

For Haim, despite the difficulties, the battle to have a grandchild gives her strength in the face of the tragedy she faces after October 7, as well as hope for the future.

In May, the State Attorney’s Office gave a green light in principle for Haim to use Yotam’s sperm. That was a first step towards what may be a long journey for her to have a grandchild. The family still needs to present evidence to prove that Yotam would have wanted a child, Shatz, Haim’s lawyer said.

“In the end, the reality did happen to us on October 7. So now – what will we do with that reality? Cry, wail, say, why did this happen to us?” she asked.

“Yes, a disaster happened. Period. But what else happened? A lot of amazing things also happened. That’s where I’m aiming (for).”

King Charles III will highlight the crucial bonds between the United Kingdom and France in the face of a “multitude of complex threats” as he welcomes President Emmanuel Macron for the first state visit by a European leader since Brexit.

The French leader’s three-day visit to the UK kicks off on Tuesday and sees Charles and Queen Camilla host Macron and his wife Brigitte at Windsor Castle, with a glittering banquet at the royal residence in the evening.

In his toast on Tuesday evening, the King is expected to praise the strength of Anglo-French relationship as “our two countries face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions,” according to Britain’s PA Media news agency.

“As friends and as allies, we face them together,” he will say.

Charles will also reflect on the “shared history and culture between our two peoples” and express his “awe of France’s extraordinary attributes and achievements.”

The Macrons were greeted off the plane by the Prince and Princess of Wales on their arrival at RAF Northolt, west of London, and will travel together to Windsor where they will be treated to a full ceremonial welcome by the King and his wife.

Rolling out the red carpet for the first visit by a French president to the UK since 2008, the pomp and pageantry that Britain is known for will be on full display.

The King is pulling out all the stops for Macron’s visit, with a carriage procession through the streets of Windsor to the historic castle. There in the quadrangle, the French president will be met with an honor guard while the regimental band plays the French and British national anthems, followed by a lunch in the lavish State Dining Room joined by additional members of the royal family.

Macron will have a busy afternoon, taking a trip into London to lay a wreath at Westminster Abbey’s Grave of the Unknown Warrior before giving an address to lawmakers in the Palace of Westminster’s Royal Gallery.

In the days ahead, the French leader will hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer as the pair seek to further heal the wounds after years of Brexit-fueled animosity.

Their talks are expected to focus on support for defense and security cooperation as well as tackling illegal migration across the Channel. On Thursday, the pair will join a UK-France Summit at Downing Street.

Support for Ukraine will also be a priority for the two leaders as they seek to build momentum around their “Coalition of the Willing” – the European peacekeeping force created in March. They are also expected to visit a military base in northwest London where they will dial into a meeting of the informal group of nations working to bolster support for Ukraine.

Both leaders have faced political challenges at home amid an increasing fractured landscape, and have suffered from decreasing popularity in recent polls. It’s likely they’ll be hoping the visit offers a much-needed, if fleeting, boost.

Major deals on Ukraine and curbing migrant boat crossings seem unlikely but even more humble announcements would illustrate a further resetting of the relationship between the two nations.