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Overnight, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck Russian command posts, ammunition depots, logistics hubs and a repair base in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories, including with US-supplied ATACMS missiles, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

The strikes are part of ongoing efforts to reduce Russia’s offensive capabilities by targeting critical command and supply infrastructure.
Command posts and logistics hit.

Early Tuesday, units of Ukraine’s Rocket Forces and Artillery struck an auxiliary command post of Russia’s 5th Army near Novopetrykivka in the occupied part of the Donetsk region, according to the General Staff

Additional strikes targeted an ammunition and logistics depot near Pryazovske in occupied Donetsk Oblast, as well as another ammunition warehouse near occupied Oleksandrivka in the Zaporizhzhia region.

In Yakymivka, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian forces struck a Russian repair base.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces also hit Russian command infrastructure in the occupied Donetsk region, including a command-and-observation post and a drone control center near Udachne, as well as another drone command post near Pokrovsk.

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President Trump delivered the first official State of the Union address of his second term on Tuesday night. The speech gave Trump the opportunity to tout accomplishments and outline his agenda for his administration's second year.

It comes at at time when Americans are divided on whether Trump's first year has been a success. A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll shows that six in 10 believe the country is worse off than last year and that a majority think the state of the union is not strong.

Reporters from across NPR's newsroom are fact checking his speech and offer context — on topics like immigration, the economy, tariffs and trade and foreign policy. (Newest fact checks show up first below.)

By topic: Immigration | Foreign policy | Economy | Energy | Government | Health | Crime

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Francisco Galicia paced his cell at Fort Hunter Liggett, a vast army base 160 miles south of San Francisco, on a Friday evening in January. His mind raced with thoughts of his five daughters waiting for him at home.

Over several hours, immigration agents brought six more men into the frigid, cement-walled cell. As the men shared eerily similar stories of their arrests, Galicia realized they had all driven straight into a trap.

Francisco Galicia paced his cell at Fort Hunter Liggett, a vast army base 160 miles south of San Francisco, on a Friday evening in January. His mind raced with thoughts of his five daughters waiting for him at home.

Over several hours, immigration agents brought six more men into the frigid, cement-walled cell. As the men shared eerily similar stories of their arrests, Galicia realized they had all driven straight into a trap.

All seven had been driving home from fishing at a popular county lake when an official in a white truck had pulled them over along the same stretch of Jolon Road, a public, two-lane road that, unbeknown to Galicia, cuts through a corner of the military installation.

The traffic stops appeared routine at first: a light out, an open gas cap, a trunk door ajar, driving over the line. But then the officer asked for a social security number. In each case, when the men didn’t give a number, immigration agents arrived within minutes to make arrests, then drove the men to a detention site on the base where they were held overnight before being transferred to an immigration facility, Galicia said.

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A top Senate Democrat alleged on Tuesday that FBI director Kash Patel’s personal travel and decision-making have undermined high-profile investigations, citing a whistleblower report.

Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, wrote in a letter to two government watchdogs that Patel has “seemingly engaged in what amounts to irresponsible joyriding on DoJ and FBI-operated aircraft at the expense of the American taxpayer and to the detriment of ongoing bureau operations”.

A whistleblower told Durbin’s staff that the FBI’s shooting reconstruction team was delayed in responding to the Utah university where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September because of a pilot shortage caused by Patel’s personal travel.

Pilots had to complete a mandatory rest period before flying the team of investigators, tasked with analyzing and reconstructing shooting scenes, to Utah, according to Durbin’s letter. Reuters could not independently verify the whistleblower’s claims.

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Democrats on the House oversight and government reform committee announced on Tuesday the launch of an investigation to determine whether the US Department of Justice (DoJ) purposely withheld materials that pertain to allegations against Donald Trump in the government’s release of the Epstein files.

The lawmakers pledged to look into a report that Trump had been accused by a woman of sexually abusing her decades ago when she was a minor, and that material relating to the allegation in the Epstein files has not been released to the public.

The latest report refers to documents allegedly within the official records known as the Epstein files, where more than 3 million documents have been released relating to the late sex offender and disgraced New York financier, Jeffrey Epstein.

Congressman Robert Garcia of California, a Democrat and the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement that he reviewed unredacted evidence logs at the justice department and that “Oversight Democrats can confirm that the DoJ appears to have illegally withheld FBI interviews with this survivor who accused President Trump of heinous crimes”.

“Under the oversight committee’s subpoena and the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these records must immediately be shared with Congress and the American public,” said Garcia. “Covering up direct evidence of a potential assault by the president of the United States is the most serious possible crime in this White House cover-up.”

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A federal judge has prohibited the justice department from searching electronic devices it seized from a Washington Post reporter, ruling that the court will search the devices for documents related to a national security investigation itself.

In his ruling, magistrate judge William Porter criticized the Trump administration for omitting relevant case law in its application for a search warrant to seize the devices in the first place, but acknowledged “the possibility that classified national security information may be among the seized material” complicated the matter.

On 14 January, the FBI raided the home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials. A self described “federal government whisperer”, Natanson has also reported on federal employees who were laid off by the Trump administration during Elon Musk’s Doge cuts – developing nearly 1,200 confidential sources from across 120 government agencies.

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A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

A federal judge appointed by President Trump held the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in civil contempt for violating the court’s order when they transported a detainee to a Texas facility in January.

In a Monday ruling, Minnesota District Court Judge Eric C. Tostrud required the federal government to compensate the detainee, identified only as “Fernando T.,” for his return flight to Minnesota.

Tostrud noted that Fernando, a Mexican citizen, was released from the Texas detainment facility in late January without his belongings and said federal officials “have not explained why they withheld Fernando’s belongings when they released him.”

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Pennsylvania Democrats are projected to win two special elections for state House, keeping their majority intact, according to Decision Desk HQ. 

Democrats Ana Tiburcio and Jennifer Mazzocco won their Tuesday elections to represent  Pennsylvania House Districts 22 in Lehigh County and 42 in Allegheny County, respectively.

The seats were vacated after former state Rep. Josh Siegel (D) was elected as Lehigh County executive and  ex-state Rep. Dan Miller (D) won a spot on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. 

Democrats were expected to keep both blue-leaning seats. But the party risked a tied 100-100 state House if they were to have come up short, which would have complicated Gov. Josh Shapiro’s (D) ability to pass his legislative priorities in the Keystone State.

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