AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

We begin with the war in Ukraine and new developments on defense, diplomacy and accountability, first defense.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Berlin today, appealing to his country's biggest military backer in Europe.

Germany's new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, offered to help Ukraine build its own long-range missile systems that could strike deep into Russia, a move Moscow called provocative.

Zelenskyy said the military muscle is necessary.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): You can all see what Putin is doing every night, massive drone attacks, hundreds of drones.

In order to protect lives in our cities, we need constant support.

AMNA NAWAZ: Ukraine said that Russia's latest strikes on the city of Kharkiv overnight killed one person and injured seven others, including a child.

That comes as a United Nations panel today found that Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine's Kherson province amounted to crimes against humanity.

Its report concluded that -- quote -- "These acts were committed with the primary purpose to spread terror among the civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law."

Meantime, back in Washington, President Trump expressed frustration at the timing of recent attacks.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: I'm very disappointed at what happened a couple of nights now where people were killed in the middle of what you would call a negotiation.

I'm very disappointed by that.

AMNA NAWAZ: That frustration comes as Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, pushed a new round of talks for next Monday in Istanbul.

Ukraine has not yet committed to taking part.

A judge in Vermont today ordered the release of a Russian-born scientist and Harvard researcher, saying she was being unlawfully held by immigration authorities.

Kseniia Petrova, who recently spoke to "News Hour" from detention, still faces a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos after she failed to declare them at Boston's Logan Airport in February.

Petrova says she uses them for research.

An immigration officer stripped Petrova of her visa, and she was sent to an ICE facility in Louisiana.

At a hearing today, Judge Christina Reiss said -- quote -- "There does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer's actions."

Petrova is expected to face a bail hearing next week on the smuggling charge.

The White House said today that President Trump issued a full pardon for former Congressman Michael Grimm.

The Republican from New York's Staten Island was convicted in 2014 of tax fraud and related charges.

The former Marine and FBI agent had admitted to underreporting wages and revenues from a restaurant he owned before joining Congress.

He left office in 2015 and served eight months in prison.

Also today, Trump commuted the sentence of Chicago gang leader Larry Hoover, who's serving multiple life sentences for crimes including murder.

But it's unclear how soon he would be released as he still faces the remainder of a 200-year sentence on state charges.

A federal judge in Minnesota sentenced the ringleader of a human smuggling case to 10 years in prison today for his role in the freezing deaths of a family of four from India.

Canadian police found the bodies of the Patel family, including their 11- and 3-year-old children, just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota in January of 2022.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, no relation to the family, received half the jail sentence the prosecutors were seeking.

His accomplice, Steve Anthony Shand, received 6.5 years.

The two were found guilty last November.

Before sentencing, Patel's lawyer said his client maintains that he's innocent.

The World Food Program says at least two Palestinians died today when hundreds of people stormed its food warehouse in Central Gaza.

It comes after a U.S.-backed agency largely took over aid distribution from the U.N. earlier this week.

That had a chaotic start amid conflicting reports over casualties.

Gaza health officials say one person was killed yesterday and dozens more wounded when shots were fired into a crowd of Palestinians who had overrun a distribution site.

Israeli forces say they only fired warning shots in the area outside the compound.

And the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation insists that there were no deaths and only two minor injuries.

The agency also reported that today's operations were completed without incident.

But many Palestinians say the distribution sites are hard to access.

UMM MEHDAT, Displaced Gazan (through translator): With this mechanism, many people are left out.

Some of them can't get to the sites.

Some of them are paralyzed or have their legs amputated.

They are talking about going walking.

Not everyone can carry the aid boxes.

Some of them have their arms amputated.

AMNA NAWAZ: The GHF wrote in a statement that it's distributed more than 840,000 meals so far at two sites.

And it says it's working to open additional locations across Gaza.

Separately, Israel's prime minister today confirmed the death of the man believed to be the leader of Hamas' armed wing in Gaza.

Benjamin Netanyahu said Mohammed Sinwar was killed in an airstrike earlier this month.

Hamas has not confirmed his death.

Sinwar's brother, former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, helped mastermind the October 7 attacks.

He was killed by Israeli forces last year.

Prosecutors in the U.K. say that the influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been charged with rape, human trafficking and other crimes.

Officials say the charges were authorized last year and are only now being confirmed.

The Tates were arrested in Romania in 2022 and indicted last year on charges of sexually exploiting women.

Andrew Tate was also charged with rape there.

British prosecutors say the two will be extradited to the U.K. once the Romanian case is concluded.

The Tates are dual citizens of the U.S. and U.K. and they deny any wrongdoing.

Two of the world's top weather agencies are warning that temperatures across the globe are likely to hit new records in the coming few years.

Climate scientists at the World Meteorological Organization and its counterpart in the U.K. say there's an 80 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will surpass 2024 as the hottest ever recorded.

Officials say that means more wildfires and heat-related deaths, plus stronger hurricanes, droughts and downpours.

Just today, San Antonio saw record rainfall for a single day, stranding cars in high floodwaters.

On Wall Street today, stocks drifted lower after yesterday's strong gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 250 points on the day.

The Nasdaq fell nearly 100 points, or about half-a-percent.

The S&P 500 also closed in negative territory.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the impact of potential cuts to Medicaid under Republicans' budget bill; President Trump's media company seeks to invest more in cryptocurrency, an industry he's championed; and an ancient Indian musical tradition flips the idea of playing a violin on its head.