Your World Tonight - Massive drone strike on Kyiv, Returning to Whati, Operation Nanook, and more

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

People in Ukraine are on edge after Russia launched its largest air assault of the war so far. Kyiv's main government building was struck for the first time - and multiple people were killed. You’ll hear about the scale of the bombardment, and reaction from Ukraine’s western allies.Also: People are returning to Whati, Northwest Territories - after an evacuation order was lifted this weekend. But more than eighty wildfires continue to burn out of control across the Northwest Territories - leaving other communities are still under threat.And: High in the Arctic, the Canadian military and the Canadian rangers are taking part in Operation Nanook. The annual exercise aims to train the armed forces for any number of threats and challenges - including climate change. CBC News is on board a coast guard vessel taking part.Plus: Chicago protests potential National Guard deployment to the city, Israel destroys more high rise buildings in Gaza, Refugees return to Sudan’s capitol, and more.

All right, look, I am not going to lie to you. I love when an album drops, and it just, I know it's going to define my entire summer. And that is how I'm feeling about this new Lord album. My name is Alameen Abdul-Mahmood. I host a show called Commotion. And that is where we talk about the biggest stories in entertainment and pop culture, like this new Lord album, or the Haim album, or whatever great new music is defining our soundtrack for the summer. Come hang with us.

Follow Commotion wherever you get your podcast. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Stephanie Skanderas, and this is your world tonight. We all understand that we need additional pressure on Putin. We need pressure from the United States. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asks Western allies for help as Russia launches its largest airstrike yet, hitting a government building for the first time,

and hopes for peace talks plummet. Also on the podcast, some evacuees from the wildfires in the Northwest Territories return home, but they're not out of the woods yet. Spotfires are still igniting and some places remain on high alert. Plus, in the Arctic, there is minimal resources in infrastructure, and so the impacts of a large spill or potential pollution event in the Arctic could be very significant. So how is the Canadian military preparing for a potential event? you'll get on board a Coast Guard vessel to take part in Operation Nanook. Ukraine is on edge after Russia launched its largest air assault of the war. It struck Kiev's main government building for the first time,

killing at least four people, including a baby. J.P. Tasker has more on the scale of the bombardment and reaction from Ukraine's Western allies. Russia has unleashed its largest-ever drone assault of the war, blowing out critical infrastructure in Ukraine. A video surface showing the dramatic moment, a key bridge in the central region was turned to rubble. Further West Kyiv was also pummeled by the Russian war machine. More than a dozen missiles and some 800 drones raining

down destruction on the capital city. That familiar sound of air raid sirens sent residents scrambling for safety. For the first time in this conflict, a government building was among those targeted. Flames erupted in the space where the cabinet meets. Firefighters and helicopters raced to put out the flames after an assault on the Ukrainian center of power. The country's Prime Minister, Yulia Svi-Ridenko, was there as rescue workers cleared the debris. It looks like Russia is not ready for negotiations and is not seeking peace, she said in his social media video, we call in our partners to help protect the sky. Let's strengthen sanctions against Russia.

Civilians did not escape unscathed, at least for our dead, including an infant, 20 more people were injured. After a Russian drone hit an apartment building, leaving war-were residents terrified. I heard the drone descending, which was then followed by an explosion, sparks and glass shards. Curtains fell in us.

I was very scared, says Oleski, a local man who lived through it. The aerial attack follows Russian President Vladimir Putin's warning that he won't tolerate troops on the ground in Ukraine. Some allies, including Canada, France and the UK, are open to the idea of sending military personnel to keep the peace, if it can ever be reached. If some troops appear there, Putin said these will be legitimate targets for destruction. Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is undeterred, launching a strike of his own on a Russian oil pipeline. and in an interview with ABC News asking Western allies to do even more to help tamp down Russian aggression. We all understand that we need additional pressure on Putin. We need pressure from the United States.

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand reaffirmed Canada's support on Sunday through sanctions, oil price caps and billions in funding. U.S. President Donald Trump may be answering the call to do more soon, telling reporters he's ready to hit Russia with more sanctions as his push for peace falls flat. JP Tasker, CBC News, Ottawa. A Canadian soldier deployed in Latvia has been found dead. Warrant Officer George Hull went missing on Tuesday. He served nearly 20 years as a helicopter squadron vehicle technician. The Canadian Armed Forces is helping Latvian authorities investigate what happened. Around 2,000 CAF members remain in Latvia,

with Canada extending its mission there through 2029. Protests erupted across the U.S. this weekend over plans to send more National Guard troops into American cities. That pushback, as President Donald Trump again declared Chicago his next target. Aaron Collins has more from Washington. In Chicago, a rising resistance, protesters filling the streets to oppose the deployment of the National Guard there. We know that they're not going after criminals. The ones unthinkable, seeming more possible by the day. Protesters worry the U.S. is looking like a nation bracing for war with itself.

This is illegal. This is unlawful. This is racist. It makes me emotional that everybody's out here, you know, standing for what's right. Simmering fears stoked by an antagonistic president online. The day after renaming the Pentagon, the Department of Wants, war, Donald Trump seeming to toy with invading a major U.S. city on social media, posting that Chicago is about to find out why it's called the Department of War. Tammy Duckworth is a Democratic senator from Illinois. Let's make it clear. The President of the United States essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation. This is not normal. This is

not acceptable behavior. The president softening his tone, if not his goals, as he left Washington for New York to watch tennis. We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities. We're going to clean them up so they don't kill five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense. Troops have been on the ground in D.C. for nearly a month. But whether Trump will send the National Guard to other U.S. cities, Well, even some of the president's supporters like Chicago alderman Nicholas Bassato seem unsure. We know ICE is coming for good reason to get criminals out of our city, out of our country. But as far as the National Guard, I've always believed, and I still believe that, that they are not coming to Chicago.

Donald Trump has got to go. While the country waits to see if Donald Trump will deploy troops to more cities, protesters hit the streets of Washington to voice their opposition, too. Meanwhile, the question of whether any of this is legal lingers. A California judge has already ruled the deployment of troops to L.A. in June was illegal. A decision the White House is appealing. Now, Washington, D.C. has launched a lawsuit of its own, accusing the president of violating the Constitution when he sent troops to this city. Aaron Collins, CBC News, Washington.

South Korea says it has reached a deal with the U.S. to release workers, detainees. in a massive immigration raid. More than 300 South Koreans were among the 475 people detained Thursday at a Hyundai motor plant in Georgia. The officials say they plan to send a charter plane to bring them home. The raid came as a shock to many in South Korea,

which has been a strong ally to the U.S. Earlier this year, the country pledged to invest billions of dollars into the American economy. In Gaza City. Dozens of Palestinians stand around the rubble where a multi-story apartment building once stood. Israel's military says it raised the building because it was used by Hamas, a claim Hamas denies. It is the third high-rise building the IDF has destroyed in as many days. For more, I spoke to our Sasha Petrissik in Jerusalem.

Sasha, what can you tell us about this latest airstrike on Gaza City? Well, Stephanie, there were several dramatic strikes today, bringing down buildings in the center of Gaza City. And I'll give you one example, the Al-Roya apartment building, housing Palestinian families displaced from other parts of Gaza. First, today, there came a phone call from the Israeli military saying it would be targeted, and then this. Now, video from the scene shows. knows people injured, but it's not clear how many casualties there were. There was a lot of destruction, though. The other targets were also home to displaced families. Israel says all of these, as well as other residential high rises, hit Friday and Saturday were being used

by Hamas for cameras and other infrastructure. Hamas denies that. But there was another reason for hitting these buildings. The military calls super targets to send a message to the billion or so Palestinians here to get out before Israel launches a major offensive to occupy Gaza City. Promise to begin any day now. Okay. And Sasha, it's now been more than 700 days since October 7, the 23, and then Israel's retaliation after that. What's your sense of what the mood is like there in Israel and how much support there is for this war that continues to go on? Well, it's pretty grim here. People are afraid. and they are war-weary. Thousands took to the streets last night, as they have for months now,

to demand that the government end the fighting through some kind of a deal with Hamas that would see the remaining hostages released. There are 48 hostages left in Gaza, and 20 of these are believed to be alive. But they may well be held in Gaza City. So for the protesters, the military offensive is a dangerous move that could kill them. This is what two of the the protesters said a man named Avi, then a woman named Noreet Gordon. The first priority are the hostages. We have to bring them back and to end this war. I think it's criminal to send more soldiers into Gaza. I think the government needs to take responsibility and end the war. Now, as for those negotiations, it's not clear where they stand.

Hamas says it has accepted the deal, the U.S. presented weeks ago, but Israel has not responded publicly. Though today, U.S. President Donald Trump posted that Israel has agreed to it, and he warned Hamas to fall in line. So Trump's made similar statements before, and there is still no deal. Stephanie? Sasha, thanks so much. My pleasure.

CBC's Sasha Petrissik in Jerusalem. Still ahead, a slow rebuild in Sudan. take you to Khartoum, where more than a million people have returned home, with hopes of building back a city destroyed by war. That's coming up on your world tonight. Passengers on a WestJet flight from Toronto had a hard landing when arriving on the Caribbean island of St. Martin. The Boeing 737's right-side main landing gear collapsed upon touchdown. Westjet says in a statement all passengers and crew evacuated safely onto the tarmac and there are no reported injuries. More than 80 wildfires continue to burn out of control across the Northwest Territories, forcing hundreds of people out of their homes.

Some evacuees are now being allowed to return, but as Yasmin Renea tells us, other communities are still under threat. pillows and bags in hand residents of Wattie get off yellow school buses and hug their loved ones it's good to be back home i miss my house hundreds of people were ordered to flee on august 29th many sleeping in cots at an evacuation center about three hours away in yellow knife alex michael nitziza junior says he was homesick It didn't feel like home, you know, it's your way. And in a public eye with everyone's watching, it's, and it wasn't good. I didn't like it.

Back home, residents lined up, shaking hands with firefighters who protected their properties. If it wasn't for you guys, tired, endless fighting, wouldn't have a community to come home, Wattie Fire Chief Brian Docom says no structures were lost. He says crews conducted a backburn getting rid of fuel ahead of the fire. It was a bit scary because it was just a big fireball. And it's a good thing we had to north wind or they wouldn't have never done the backburn. They're eating fish, careful meat, all bannock, all the stuff. Volunteers like Luis and Nitziza stayed behind to feed the firefighters.

They eat gold, they like it. They're happy. Every day they're so thank you. Resident Isidore Ozo says he's excited to get back on the land. Right now, I was supposed to be out in the bush, probably doing some fishing, picking cranberries. But the work is not over. The fire is still mere kilometres away from the community.

Spot fires, some as high as three meters, have ignited in recent days. Chief Doakam says some home protection sprinkling will stay in place. Once this fire is totally contained and it goes colder, I think we'll start pulling all the sprinklers. Further southwest, the community of Jean Murray River is also on high alert, as a wildfire inches closer to a critical highway

and ferry crossing that connects the village of Fort Simpson and the Lidlaquay First Nation. Chief Kali Antoine says community members are choking under heavy smoke. It's putting a real strain on a lot of our elders and immunocompromise. people. Our community needs some assistance. We need some air

purifiers. Officials say Fort Simpson is not an immediate danger, but residents should be ready if conditions change. Yasmil Ganea, CBC News, Wattie, Northwest Territories. With much of the country experiencing abnormally dry

conditions, some Canadians are starting to think about what can be done to conserve water. They're already following the restrictions in place in many communities, but beyond taking shorter showers and not filling up pools and hot tubs, they're putting pressure on governments to do a better job of planning for the effects of climate change. Kayla Hounsel explains.

This is the well, and we think it's about 200 years old. As she peers over the edge of her well in Kraushtown on Nova Scotia's South Shore, Lita Hesom says this is the first time she's ever been able to see the bottom of it. I think it's about 35 feet deep. She started trying to conserve water. Packing up her towel and toiletries to take a shower at the provincial park six kilometers away. Saving up dirty clothes to take to a laundromat in a town 16 kilometers away. It's way more convenient than not being able to flush my toilet, and that makes it worthwhile.

She does it to make sure her well doesn't go dry, but it got her thinking. Is she really solving the bigger problem? If we keep consuming our water at the same rate, but just going to a different spot to consume it, we're still affecting the same water table and the same watershed. As parts of the Maritimes grapple with the driest summer on record, she's calling on governments for more effective planning for long-term water conservation. Just do something, so we're not stranded for water. Rochelle is doing the same.

She lives in West Hance, where the municipality has issued a man. mandatory water restriction, prohibiting the use of outdoor water for things such as watering the lawn, washing livestock and pets, and filling pools and hot tubs. If residents don't comply, they could have their water cut off. We all pay taxes, and yet you're going to threaten me with shutting my water off. We're the ones that have to deal with it because the powers that be haven't planned accordingly. The problem is, We're not as much water-rich as we think. Banu Ormagi is the director of the Global Water Institute at Carleton University.

She says Canada needs more efficient water distribution pipes so that we don't lose clean water on the way from the treatment plant to our homes. We need to build homes designed to capture rainwater and use more tiered water pricing, where the price per unit of water increases when someone uses more. The price of the water is one of the cheapest in. Canada. And so that kind of feeds the behavior that it is normal to waste a lot of water. In Europe, you wouldn't do that because it is expensive. It hurts your wallet.

As she puts the cap back on her well, hoping for rain before it runs dry, Lita Haysom is trying to be more mindful of how her water usage affects her wider community. And she's encouraging others to do the same. Kela Hounsel, CBC News, Kraustown, Nova Scotia. After years of civil war, some level of normality is returning to Sudan's cities as government forces take control. The government held its first meeting in two years in the capital Khartoum and is encouraging millions of people to voluntarily return, although fighting between Sudan's military and the rebel rapid defense forces continues in some areas.

Journalist Naba Mohedin is in Khartoum. The government has not been able to gather in Sudan since April 23 because of the civil war. So the recent meeting was remarkable in itself. Prime Minister Kamri-Dris is vowing to address people's concerns so they can return home. Civilians are worried about security and reconstruction plans, as well as their livelihood and basic day-to-day needs. The government's next priorities include reconstruction, strengthening the economy, preserving citizen security and encouraging the voluntary return of displaced persons and refugees. The plans are comprehensive, but so too is the rebuilding effort needed. Hurtum is a city in ruins and basic public infrastructure.

such as roads, power and water plants has been largely destroyed. Additionally, the city is already hosting thousands of internally displaced people. According to the United Nations, more than 1.3 million Sudanese have returned home since the army regained control of Central Sudan in January. Muhammad Tahr, a 35-year-old father of four, decided to come back from Egypt with his family in July, July after two years of displacement. Power and water issues are the main reason behind people being hesitant about returning to their homes. The government should focus on that immediately and also focus on the economy

and living. Other people like Ali Ahmed were internally displaced and despite all he's been through, he's hopeful for the future. The situation in the capital is getting better every day. It just needs more time and effort. People need to be patient and help in rebuilding their capital. The government should facilitate that too. Returnies also face danger from unexploded ordinance. The government has collected and destroyed more than 60,000 explosives and mines in August alone, but the risks resist. More than two years after it began, elsewhere in Sudan, war is still raging. But amongst the destruction, some hope. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees have fled the war into neighbouring South Sudan.

The government there relies heavily on foreign aid to feed those refugees as well as its own population. But recent cuts to foreign aid by the Donald Trump administration are starting to hurt. Freelance reporter Caitlin Kelly visited a refugee camp in South Sudan and brings us this story. At Gendrasa refugee camp in Maban, hundreds of families are. from Sudan wait in line for bags of sogum and small cash stipends. Aid workers scoop the dry grain into sacks with tins stamped with US flags. Holding her 12-day-old baby, Asura says the ration will only last her about a week. She says she borrow some others in the camp constantly to get by, but that just puts her in

more debt. Andrea Ugan, with the United Nations World Food Programme, says the ages has been forced to cut rations repeatedly in recent years, now down to half of what they once were. Because of this cutting of funding, we have now to reduce assistance only to the most who are vulnerable. That means around 117,000 people in this camp have lost out on assistance. A group of men ask where the world has been, why they've been forgotten, in a place where families weigh hunger against the risk of returning to a war zone. South Sudan is hosting more than half a million refugees from neighbouring Sudan.

A large portion of them are in areas like Havana, straining already limited resources in a country that relies heavily on aid. South Sudan ranks last on the UN Human Development Index. Conflict, corruption, displacement and climate shocks have left 9 million people. About 70% of the country reliant on assistance. And that dependence is now colliding with a looming hunger crisis. 7.7 million people in the country face acute food insecurity.

In the hospital, underway infants fill wards where nursing staff has been halved and critical medications are in short supply. In some facilities, Save the Children have had to lay off all their nutrition staff and close 15 of its 22 centres treating malnourished children across the country. It's one of the worst nutrition crises in the world, and we know that 2.1 million children will be facing acute malnutrition this year. That is like the population of Vancouver.

Canadian Danny Glenwright of Save the Children says the Group has lost nearly a third of its funding in South Sudan this year. The needs have increased dramatically in almost, every country where we work, everything costs more money to do, and we have less money than ever to do it. Aid workers say the cuts to U.S. foreign aid have hollowed out the wider system. Schools, job training and child protection services, the very programs designed to lift people out of poverty, are being cut first. Years of civil war still linger in the shadows, with fighting earlier this year in the north

of the country. This, coupled with poor governance and climate shocks, has taken a heavy toll on the economy. Floods have affected more than a million people cutting off village. and spreading disease, as the country also battles its worst cholera outbreak in decades. Aisha says she couldn't plant crops this season because the rains arrive late and hard. This is the worst year ever, she adds, pointing to soaring prices in the market, as the South Sudanese pound devalues. There are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems.

These are policy failures. Policy failures that are a matter of survival for millions. Caitlin Kelly for CBC News, Maban, South Sudan. You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. Hi in the Arctic, the Canadian military, and the Canadian military, and the Canadian, and rangers are taking part in Operation Nanak.

The annual exercise aims to train the armed forces for any number of threats and challenges, including climate change. David Common reports from a Coast Guard vessel near Baffin Island. Dust churned on the dirt runway as three Griffin military helicopters hover above the airport in one of Canada's northernmost communities, pond inlet Nunavut.

On board, troops who will spend several nights isolated, exposed, and in freezing temperatures, on a snowy mountaintop, watching the waterways below discreetly. As climate change opens up these waters to ever more ships, the risk of an environmental calamity grows. Way down from that mountain top, on the Arctic water peppered with small icebergs, Canada's Coast Guard is practicing the what if, deploying a lengthy plastic tube over a simulated spill. What they've done is basically bring out all of the equipment that we would use. Sue McLennan is the Coast Guard's director of response for the Arctic region. You would immediately try to contain whatever the spill would be. What is the risk if you can't contain?

Of course in the Arctic, there's minimal resources in infrastructure. And so the impacts of a large spill or potential pollution and vent, the Arctic could be very significant. It also means that response time could be in days, at least. It's why ships through these Arctic waters are required to carry their own equipment and deploy it should they leak or spill contaminants. The question though is whether the ever-growing number of cargo vessels would actually do that, especially in such a vast area where it may seem few are watching.

After that, we are going to be deploying our fuels upon completion of that task. On the command bridge of HMCS William Hall, one of the Navy's newest vessels, the crew is constantly on guard for ice even in summer. So this is our position now. Sub-Lieftainant Eric Muir Kressman tells us it's not always that warmer water means less ice. More than anything, it means more unpredictable ice upping the risk of a disaster. It's so random where the ice actually is, you know, converging and forming that those routes that used to be fairly consistent, like, even though you can get here through here this time and here, they're jam-packed ice. Or one that you thought was, you know, closed. It's completely open. Back on the mountaintop, the soldiers are left to keep watch.

Eyes on a major shipping channel, discreetly monitoring just who is passing through Canada's Arctic. David Common, CBC News, on board the Coast Guard vessel, Pierre Radisson, near Pond Inlet, Univore. Rikki-Tickey, Wanchuk. What are you doing? One, two, three. Holy, holy. Going out with a bang, literally. That was the final stunt for a fixture of rural rodeos.

Rick Wanchok, better known as Riky Tiki the Clown. After 48 years in his last rodeo in St. Paul, Alberta, he's putting away the clown makeup and hanging up his oversized wranglers. As he told CBC Edmonton, it's a bittersweet moment. My head wants to keep going, and the only reason I retire is my head wants to go, but my feet don't want to stay with me. Now in his 70s, Wanchuk spent decades performing at rodeos from B.C. to Manitoba and everywhere in between. He performed in Australia once, but wasn't interested in the U.S.

The local legend had a surprise for his final act, former helpers hiding in the crowd. All these guys come out of nowhere. As of right now, I'm still shoken. As for the future, the Wanchuk clan has a new clown. Nephew Casey has been working full-time with Rick for seven years and is ready to keep the family legacy alive. Even with size 13 feet like I've got, he's got some big shoes to fill, so I'm forever grateful for that man.

and he will always be my hero. In his retirement, Rick says he'll keep going to rodeos. He says it's a time to sit back, forget about everything else that's not right in the world, and so much more. There's another ode to the rode to the rode. This is Garth Brooks. on your world tonight. I'm Stephanie Scandaris. Thank you for listening.