News Wrap: NATO to discuss Ukraine’s bid to join alliance at upcoming summit

John Yang:

Good evening, I'm John Yang, as the leaders of NATO countries prepare for a summit later this week that will focus on Russia's war in Ukraine, Russia set had shopped at a cruise missile near the Crimean city of Kerch. The 11 mile long Kerch Bridge is a key Russian supply line linking Russia and the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.

Yesterday, Ukraine appeared to confirm the widely held assumption that they blew up the span last October leaving it out of commission for weeks. The NATO Summit will also discuss Ukraine's bid to join the Alliance although there aren't enough votes to approve membership.

Today on ABC's this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he wants at least security guarantees from NATO.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

It would be an important message to say that NATO is not afraid of Russia and I will be doing whatever I can in order to so to speak, expedite that solution to have an agreement with our partners.

John Yang:

President Biden who left today for Europe says Ukraine isn't ready for NATO membership. He told CNN Fareed Zakaria that it shouldn't happen while the war is going on.

U.S. Central Command says it killed Islamic state leader Osama al-Muhajer in a drone strike on Friday in northwestern Syria near Aleppo. Officials said the strike didn't appear to kill any civilians. They also said the drone was harassed by Russian military jets. The third straight day that Russian aircraft made close passes at U.S. drones. Russia says its forces are in the midst of six days of joint military training with Syria.

And there are more excessive heat warnings and advisories across the country. Millions of people from Southern California to Texas are affected. In Phoenix, Arizona, it was the ninth straight day that the high was above 110. In El Paso, Texas, the high has been over 100 every day for nearly a month. There's no end in sight is extreme heat is in the forecast for at least another week.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend how the military is using artificial intelligence on and off the battlefield. And a conversation with Gene Luen Yang creator of American Born Chinese.