Your Thursday Briefing

Explosions above the Kremlin

After a pair of explosions above the Kremlin early yesterday, Russia accused Ukraine of making an attempt to assassinate Vladimir Putin, the Russian chief, with a drone assault. Kyiv denied any involvement and asserted that Russia had manufactured the incident to distract consideration from Ukraine’s anticipated imminent counteroffensive and probably to justify an escalation of its personal assaults.

Video footage confirmed what gave the impression to be two drones detonating over the Kremlin quarter-hour aside, the primary shortly earlier than 2:30 a.m. Russia referred to as it an unsuccessful “attempt on the life of the president” by Ukraine that was foiled by Russian “electronic warfare systems” however didn’t launch any proof of a Ukrainian hyperlink.

A drone assault on the deeply symbolic coronary heart of Russian energy can be an audacious transfer by Kyiv, with the potential for critical repercussions. There had been no reviews of significant injury, and the Russian authorities mentioned that Putin had not been within the Kremlin on the time.

U.S. intelligence: Agencies had been nonetheless making an attempt to find out what occurred, based on officers. But the U.S. has previously voiced concern that Ukrainian assaults on Russian soil may provoke Moscow with out having a direct impact on the battlefield.

In different news from the struggle:

9 killed in class taking pictures in Serbia

A seventh-grade pupil armed with pistols and Molotov cocktails ​shot and killed eight youngsters and a safety guard yesterday in an assault in opposition to his faculty within the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The boy won’t be held criminally chargeable for the killings as a result of he’s below the age of 14, based on the authorities in Belgrade.

The assault passed off round 8:40 a.m. on the Vladislav Ribnikar major faculty, within the upscale neighborhood of Vracar. The pupil fatally shot seven ladies and one boy utilizing two handguns, which he had taken from his father. Six youngsters and a trainer had been additionally injured within the assault.

The attacker, whom officers mentioned had “showed no remorse,” has been arrested and brought to a psychological well being clinic. The boy’s dad and mom had been additionally arrested.

Quotable: “Today is one of the most difficult days in the modern history of our country,” President Aleksandar Vucic of Serbia mentioned in a speech. “Unfortunately, Serbia is united in grief.”

In the U.S.: A gunman killed one particular person and wounded not less than 4 others inside a medical workplace constructing in Midtown Atlanta. A suspect has been caught by the police.

Voters in England go to the polls

Local elections will likely be held throughout England in the present day in a take a look at of the recognition of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has stabilized Britain’s politics however whose Conservative Party trails the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls by double digits within the face of surging inflation, sluggish financial progress and labor unrest.

At stake are seats for round 8,000 representatives in decrease tiers of presidency. Turnout will likely be far decrease than at a common election, and parochial points like deliberate housing developments may sway some races. Still, this can be the biggest public vote between now and the following common election, which can almost certainly happen subsequent 12 months.

Keir Starmer, Labour’s chief, will want an honest consequence to maintain his hopes of turning into the following prime minister. Despite transferring his occasion near energy, he has did not excite voters. Some essentially the most carefully watched votes will likely be in so-called pink wall areas in northern England and the Midlands, as soon as heartlands of the Labour Party.

Timing: If the Conservatives do undergo, the prime minister has one factor going for him: On Saturday, all the British news media’s consideration will shift to the pomp and pageantry of the coronation of King Charles III.

Voter ID: Voters will, for the primary time, be requested for proof of identification. The transfer has unleashed a political storm in Britain, the place critics declare the change may cut back turnout, discourage younger folks from voting and disenfranchise some minority voters.

As in so many different locations in Britain, devotion to the monarchy in Bristol, the place the typical age is round 34, runs cold and hot.

“The royal family, when I was a young girl, they were everything, and now it’s different,” one 82-year-old resident mentioned. She added: “I don’t think we have so many people excited about the coronation now. There is that feeling of being a bit more removed.”

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

Lionel Messi’s run at P.S.G. ends right here. It’s the fitting name: There is unquestionably no method again now that Paris St.-Germain has suspended its famous person for 2 weeks. It could possibly be an impressed transfer.

This soccer crew outspent its rivals. Now it’s the worst within the Premier League: When not profitable trophies, Chelsea has taken nice relish in shattering the goals of its rivals. Not anymore.

From The Times: Tori Bowie, a sprinter who gained three medals on the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the following 12 months gained the world championship within the 100-meter sprint with a shocking comeback, has died at 32.

What do Kate Bush, Missy Elliott, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow and Rage Against the Machine have in frequent?

Along with George Michael and the Nineteen Seventies soul group the Spinners, these acts are this 12 months’s genre-spanning inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, voted in by greater than 1,000 artists, historians and music business professionals.

None of those musicians match neatly into essentially the most slim strictures of what constitutes rock. But the style and the establishment have proved more and more open to honoring rappers, pop singers and nation artists like Dolly Parton, who tried to take away herself from consideration final 12 months however was voted in anyway.

That’s it for in the present day’s briefing. Thanks for becoming a member of me. — Natasha

P.S. Yes, it’s Star Wars Day. (Hint: Say “May the 4th be with you” out loud.) If marathoning the films isn’t your factor, why not learn The Times’s unique critiques?

You can attain Natasha and the crew at briefing@nytimes.com.