Drones hitting Odesa in Ukraine daubed with ‘for the Kremlin’ | First Thing

Ukraine downs 18 drones, two of which are found to carry pro-Russian slogans, as Ukrainian residents prepare for curfew after night of heavy shelling. Plus, the dazzling, troubling history of California superbloom tourism

Good morning.

There's been another night of substantial Russian missile attacks and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, which has become something of a pattern in the last week or so after a period of relative calm. In the aftermath of Russia's claims that Ukraine targeted the Kremlin with its own drones and tried to assassinate Vladimir Putin, Moscow launched a wave of kamikaze drones mainly targeting Kyiv and Odesa.

What has Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about the Kremlin attack? He has denied Russian claims that Ukraine was involved in a drone attack on the Kremlin that Russia says was intended to kill Vladimir Putin. Zelenskiy said on Wednesday: We don't attack Putin or Moscow, we fight on our territory and defend our towns and cities. We leave it to the tribunal."

What else is happening? Zelenskiy will have a meeting at the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague during a visit to the Netherlands today, the court has said, Reuters reports.

What did Sandy Senn say? We told them: Don't take us down this path again for the third time in six months - you will regret it.' And so we made them regret it," said the state senator of the male Republican senators continuously pushing abortion restrictions in her state - including in an earlier attempt this year to make abortion a crime punishable by the death penalty. Abortions remain legal until 22 weeks in the state, which has become a safe haven for abortion in a region with increasingly limited options.