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A group of 32 students from the United States have been selected to attend the University of Oxford as part of the prestigious Rhodes scholar program in the coming year among an international class representing more than 70 nations, scholarship officials announced.

The program provides scholarships covering all expenses at England’s storied university. The U.S. students include a Columbia University graduate who founded a group working to keep Brazilian youth in school; a Brown University student born in Mexico who has interviewed asylum seekers, and a Stanford University student and amateur boxer whose senior honor thesis focused on political violence in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nearly 3,000 U.S. students applied to pursue graduate degrees beginning in October 2025, the Office of the American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust in McLean, Virginia, said in a statement early Sunday.

The 32 recipients include students from 19 states and the District of Columbia attending 20 U.S. colleges and universities. During the application process, 865 students were endorsed by 243 colleges and universities. Committees in 16 U.S. districts then selected 238 finalists for interviews.

Ramona L. Doyle, American secretary of the Rhodes Trust, said in the statement that in addition to academic excellence, “a Rhodes Scholar should also have great ambition for social impact, and an uncommon ability to work with others to achieve one’s goals.”

“They should be committed to make a strong difference for good in the world, be concerned for the welfare of others, and be acutely conscious of inequities,” Doyle said.

The US scholars have eclectic interests

The Rhodes Trust touted the wide-ranging interests of the U.S. scholars.

The Stanford University amateur boxer, Kate Tully, from Sacramento, California, is completing a political science degree and mentors at-risk debate students. Fellow Stanford student Francesca Fernandes, of Saratoga, California, has taught physics to local high school students, sings soprano in an a cappella group and is an actress with the Stanford Asian American Theater Project.

At Brown University, Ariana Palomo, of McKinney, Texas, works at its Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, and her research interests include immigration policy. She also is lead violinist for Rhode Island’s only mariachi group.

From New York, Luiza Diniz Vilanova, with a political science degree from Columbia, is CEO of Tocando em Frente, the Brazilian group working to keep kids from dropping out of school. She also serves on an international youth council for the United Nations agency for children.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior David Oluigbo has volunteered at a brain research institute and the National Institutes of Health, researching artificial intelligence in health care while also serving as an emergency medical technician. He’s also “DJ Chidi,” performing in shows in all genres of music, including a Halloween funk night.

Paras Bassuk has published research on child development while studying psychology at the University of Iowa and serving as a local LGBTQ+ leader and with two transgender rights groups. They also are a jazz drummer, bass guitarist and classical bassist.

Some schools have their first scholars ever

The U.S. students include the first Rhodes scholars chosen from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia and the first from California’s Pepperdine University.

The Pepperdine student, Sean Wu, from Chino Hills, California, is a senior majoring in computer science and mathematics who also plays the tuba in the university orchestra. His research has focused on machine learning and medicine.

The Eastern Mennonite student, Meredith Lehman, of Dover, Ohio, has done research on cancer drugs funded by the National Science Foundation while majoring in biology and political science. She’s also active in the Virginia Young Democrats and provides legal services to asylum seekers.

Four recipients are from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, the most selected from the service academy in one year since 1959. One of them, Sarah Cao, from Plymouth, Minnesota, is part of a collegiate skydiving championship team at West Point.

Another U.S. Military Academy student, Gabriella Sorrentino, of Monroe, New Jersey, is a member of West Point’s boxing team and a philosophy and American history major whose research is due to appear in an upcoming book about West Point’s first black graduate.

Coe College in Iowa had its first scholarship winner in more than 53 years and North Carolina’s Davidson College placed a scholar after 25 years without one.

The Coe College student, Katherine Ameku, of Independence, Missouri, is a senior majoring in mathematics and statistics who is also Missouri’s youngest elected official. She serves as a Democratic precinct committee member.

Davidson College student Madeline Dierauf, a senior from Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, hosts weekly arts events on campus and has researched musical folk traditions. She’s also a professional fiddler and bluegrass musician.

The scholarships have a long history

The sponsorships were created in 1902 by the will of Cecil Rhodes, a founder of the diamond mining and manufacturing company De Beers. The inaugural class entered Oxford in 1903 and the first U.S. Rhodes scholars arrived the next year. Scholars pursue advanced degrees in subjects ranging from social sciences and humanities to biological and physical sciences, according to the trust.

The Rhodes scholarship is “the oldest and best-known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates,” Doyle said.

Sunday’s announcement brings the total number of Americans selected for Rhodes scholarships to 3,674 representing 329 colleges and universities, the trust said, noting 675 U.S. women have won the scholarship despite only having been eligible to apply since 1976.

The scholarships are typically for two to three years, but may extend to four. The award covers all fees, a living expense stipend and transportion between England and the recipient’s location. The scholarship is valued at about $75,000 annually, reaching to about $250,000 for scholars who remain in their departments for four years. —- Hannon reported from Bangkok and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia on Sunday launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine, described by officials as the largest in recent months, targeting energy infrastructure and killing civilians.

The attack came as fears are mounting about Moscow’s intentions to devastate Ukraine’s power generation capacity ahead of the winter.

Hours later, President Joe Biden authorized for the first time the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike inside Russia, after extensive lobbying by Ukrainian officials.

The weapons are likely to be used in response to North Korea’s decision to send thousands of troops to support Russia in the Kursk region where Ukraine mounted a military incursion over the summer.

It is the second time the U.S. has permitted the use of Western weapons inside Russian territory within limits after permitting the use of HIMARS systems, a shorter-range weapon, to stem Russia’s advance in Kharkiv region in May.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had launched a total of 120 missiles and 90 drones in a large-scale attack across Ukraine. Various types of drones were deployed, he said, including Iranian-made Shaheds, as well as cruise, ballistic and aircraft-launched ballistic missiles.

Ukrainian defenses shot down 144 out of a total of 210 air targets, Ukraine’s air force reported later on Sunday.

“The enemy’s target was our energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine. Unfortunately, there is damage to objects from hits and falling debris. In Mykolaiv, as a result of a drone attack, two people were killed and six others were injured, including two children,” Zelenskyy said.

Two more people were killed in the Odesa region, where the attack damaged energy infrastructure and disrupted power and water supplies, said local Gov. Oleh Kiper. Both victims were employees of Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator, Ukrenergo, the company said hours later.

The combined drone and missile attack was the most powerful in three months, according to the head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration, Serhii Popko.

One person was injured after the roof of a five-story residential building caught fire in Kyiv’s historic center, according to Popko.

A thermal power plant operated by private energy company DTEK was “seriously damaged,” the company said.

Russian strikes have hammered Ukraine’s power infrastructure since Moscow’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, prompting repeated emergency power shutdowns and nationwide rolling blackouts. Ukrainian officials have routinely urged Western allies to bolster the country’s air defenses to counter assaults and allow for repairs.

Explosions were heard across Ukraine on Sunday, including in the capital, Kyiv, the key southern port of Odesa, as well as the country’s west and central regions, according to local reports.

The operational command of Poland’s armed forces wrote on X that Polish and allied aircraft, including fighter jets, have been mobilized in Polish airspace because of the “massive” Russian attack on neighboring Ukraine. The steps were aimed to provide safety in Poland’s border areas, it said.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Sunday acknowledged carrying out a “mass” missile and drone attack on “critical energy infrastructure” in Ukraine, but claimed all targeted facilities were tied to Kyiv’s military industry.

Although Ukraine’s nuclear plants were not directly impacted, several electrical substations on which they depend suffered further damage, the U.N.’s nuclear energy watchdog said in a statement Sunday. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, only two of Ukraine’s nine operational reactors continue to generate power at full capacity.

Ukrainian drones strike Russia

A local journalist died Sunday as Ukrainian drones struck Russia’s embattled Kursk region, its Gov. Aleksei Smirnov reported.

Moscow’s forces have for months strained to dislodge Ukrainian troops from the southern province after a bold incursion in August that constituted the largest attack on Russia since World War II and saw battle-hardened Ukrainian units swiftly take hundreds of square miles (kilometers) of territory.

In Russia’s Belgorod province, near Ukraine, a man died on the spot after a Ukrainian drone dropped explosives on his car, local Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported.

Another Ukrainian drone on Sunday targeted a drone factory in Izhevsk, deep inside Russia, according to anti-Kremlin Russian news channels on the Telegram messaging app. The regional leader, Aleksandr Brechalov, reported that a drone exploded near a factory in the city, blowing out windows but causing no serious damage. A man was briefly hospitalized with a head injury, Brechalov said.

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MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — President Joe Biden has authorized the use of U.S.-supplied long-range missiles by Ukraine to strike even deeper inside Russia, the latest easing of limitations meant to prevent the conflict from further spiraling, according to one U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter.

The decision allowing Ukraine to use the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs, for attacks farther into Russia comes as thousands of North Korean troops have been sent into a region along Ukraine’s northern border to help Russia retake ground and as President-elect Donald Trump has said he would bring about a swift end to the war, expressing skepticism over continued support by the United States.

The weapons are likely to be used in response to the decision by North Korea to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to one of the people. The official and the people familiar with the matter were not authorized to discuss the decision publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and many of his Western supporters have been pressing Biden for months to allow Ukraine to strike military targets deeper inside Russia with Western-supplied missiles, saying the U.S. ban had made it impossible for Ukraine to try to stop Russian attacks on its cities and electrical grids.

Some supporters have argued that this and other U.S. constraints could cost Ukraine the war. The debate has become a source of disagreement among Ukraine’s NATO allies.

Biden had remained opposed, determined to hold the line against any escalation that he felt could draw the U.S. and other NATO members into direct conflict with Russia.

But North Korea has deployed thousands of troops to Russia to help Moscow try to claw back land in the Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year. The introduction of North Korean troops to the conflict comes as Moscow has seen a favorable shift in momentum. Trump has signaled that he could push Ukraine to agree to give up some land seized by Russia to find an end to the conflict.

As many as 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian assessments. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials say North Korea also has provided Russia with significant amounts of munitions to replenish its dwindling weapons stockpiles.

Trump, who takes office in January, spoke for months as a candidate about wanting Russia’s war in Ukraine to be over, but he mostly ducked questions about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.

He also repeatedly slammed the Biden administration for giving Kyiv tens of billions of dollars in aid. His election victory has Ukraine’s international backers worrying that any rushed settlement would mostly benefit Putin.

America is Ukraine’s most valuable ally in the war, providing more than $56.2 billion in security assistance since Russian forces invaded in February 2022.

Worried about Russia’s response, however, the Biden administration repeatedly has delayed providing some specific advanced weapons sought by Ukraine, only agreeing under pressure from Ukraine and in consultation with allies, after long denying such a request.

That includes initially refusing Zelenskyy’s pleas for advanced tanks, Patriot air defense systems, F-16 fighter jets, among other systems.

The White House agreed in May to allow Ukraine to use ATACMS for limited strikes just across the border with Russia.

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Long, Miller and Lee reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Will Weissert in West Palm Beach contributed to this report

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