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What We’re Watching: Russia pummels Kyiv, Deal or no deal, Budapest Pride Organizers Rebuff Orban

June 17, 2025
Riley Callanan
and
Zac Weisz
Rescuers carry a body at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025.
Rescuers carry a body at the site of an apartment building damaged during a Russian strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2025.
REUTERS/Anatolii Stepanov

With world’s attention on Tehran, Russia launches huge attack on Kyiv

Russia last night carried out its deadliest attack yet on Kyiv this year, firing 440 drones and 32 missiles at the Ukrainian capital, knocking down a nine-story apartment building, killing 15 people, and injuring 156. With so much of the world’s attention fixed on the escalating Israel-Iran war, keep an eye on whether the fighting in Ukraine, where peace talks have gone nowhere, worsens significantly as well.

Deal or no deal, G7 edition

US President Donald Trump signed a trade deal with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the G7 summit in Canada on Monday. The deal, first rolled out in May, lowers US tariffs on UK exports of cars and aerospace engines, in return for greater UK market access for US beef, ethanol, and industrial products. Other G7 members weren’t so lucky: Japan and the European Union both failed to strike a deal with the US, though Trump hinted that agreements with each could be in the works.

Rebuffing Orban, Budapest Set to Host Pride

Pride march is going full steam ahead in Hungary’s capital, despite Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party passing a law that empowers police to ban such ceremonies. Orban is a vociferous opponent of LGBTQ+ rights: He changed the country’s constitution such that it only recognizes two genders, and said Pride organizers “should not even bother” arranging a parade this year. The Pride event will take place on June 28 – we’ll be watching to see if Orban tries to preemptively halt it.

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