Liberal Russian politician is detained in Moscow
A member of Russia's liberal Yabloko party, which opposes the war in Ukraine, has been detained in Moscow in connection with alleged donations to a banned organisation, the party said in a statement.
Elena Perepelitsa, 60, was detained eight days after Yabloko's deputy leader Maxim Kruglov was convicted of spreading lies about the Russian army and jailed for seven years.
Yabloko, once a leading liberal force in the post-Soviet period, now holds only a handful of seats in regional parliaments and none at national level.
In Russia's tightly controlled political system, it is unlikely to win seats in the elections for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, set to take place in September this year, but its participation gives it a platform for anti-war views the authorities have sought to curb.
Ukrainian drone injures two aboard Belarusian tourist bus travelling through Russia
A Ukrainian drone attack has injured two people travelling aboard a tourist bus from the Belarusian capital Minsk to the Russian Black Sea resort town of Anapa, Russian state media reported.
The government in Russia's Bryansk region, on the borders of Ukraine and Belarus, told Sputnik Belarus news agency that two drivers suffered minor injuries in the attack, which occurred at the Krasniy Kamen border crossing between Russia and Belarus.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
In photos: Emergency workers respond to massive Russian attack on Kyiv
Rescuers and medical workers in Kyiv carry an injured person found under debris of an apartment building hit by a Russian missile and drone strike. © Stringer, Reuters
A drone view shows rescuers working at the site of a private house damaged during overnight Russian missile and drone strikes. ©Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters
Rescuers work at the site of an apartment building damaged during overnight Russian missile and drone strikes ©Valentyn Ogirenko, Reuters
Death toll in Kyiv rises to at least 18, following Russian attack
The death toll in Kyiv following Russian attacks on the city overnight has risen to 18, emergency services said.
City officials said that more than 90 people, including children, paramedics and drivers at an ambulance station, were wounded and that some people were still trapped inside damaged residential buildings.
Kyiv mayor announces day of mourning for victims of attacks
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced a day of mourning inKyiv for Friday. He said that damage was recorded across theentire city of about 3 million people, with some buildingsheavily damaged.
Moscow starts feeling bite of fuel shortages as Ukraine ramps up attacks
French court fines seized Russia-linked tanker 1 million euros
The owner of a Moscow-linked tanker intercepted by France in May has been fined one million euros ($1.1 million), prosecutors said on Thursday.
Under a plea agreement, the tanker Tagor "will be allowed to leave French territorial waters", prosecutor Stephane Kellenberger said of the vessel fined for sailing without a valid flag and for failing to comply with orders.
German prosecutors charge a Ukrainian over Nord Stream pipeline explosions
German federal prosecutors on Thursday filed charges against a former Ukrainian army officer over undersea explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany four years ago.
The suspect, identified only as Serhii K. in line with local privacy rules, faces charges of causing an explosion, damaging property, disrupting public service and being an “accomplice to war crimes” by attacking civilian objects, prosecutors said in a statement.
The undersea explosions on Sept. 26, 2022, damaged pipelines that were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea.
They added to tensions over the war in Ukraine as European countries moved to wean themselves off Russian energy sources, following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Germany condemns major Russian attack on Kyiv, vows to back Ukraine
Germany's foreign ministry has condemned Russia's major attack on Kyiv in the strongest possible terms and vowed to continue supporting Ukraine in its struggle against Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "shows no willingness to negotiate," said the ministry in a statement, adding that continued backing for Ukraine would be the focus of next week's NATO summit.
Death toll in Kyiv rises to 17 after Russian attack, emergency services say
The death toll in Russia's massive drone and missile attack on Kyiv has risen to 17, according to Ukraine's emergency services.
Russia vows to up pressure on Kyiv after massive strike
Russia has said it would be ramping up the "pressure" on Ukraine after launching its largest ever attack on Kyiv overnight.
"Russia will continue to increase pressure on the Kyiv regime in order to achieve our set goals," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked about the EU saying it would look at new sanctions on Moscow over the latest strikes.
Russia waged a drone campaign in Europe, report says
Russia likely used shadow ships to launch drones over Europe that repeatedly disrupted civilian aviation, as it monitored military sites and tested the air defenses of NATO nations, according to a report by the International Institute of Strategic Studies think tank.
The report, which was shared before publication with The Associated Press, plotted 144 suspected drone sightings across Europe, including in NATO members Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the U.K., and Denmark, between 2024 and 2026.
Those sightings peaked in late 2025, forcing the temporary closure of several European airports, including in Germany, Spain and Denmark.
The IISS said the Russian campaign was designed to fall below the threshold of triggering discussions for a collective NATO response and was a “strategic failure” for Europe that exposed how the continent’s air defences are not fit to deal with the current threat.
Kyiv's Holodomor museum evacuates exhibits
In a dark hall of Kyiv's Holodomor museum, four men were carefully lifting the protective glass cases off robes, icons, books and metal agricultural tools.
The items are a memory to the millions that perished in the 1932-33 manmade famine under Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, which many in Ukraine and around the world call a genocide.
But with Russia stepping up its attacks on Ukrainian cultural and historic sites, the museum is just one institution fearful it could be targeted -- and is now packing up and relocating its collections.
"As the experience of recent weeks has shown, Russia is deliberately striking sites connected to cultural heritage and cultural institutions," the museum's deputy general director, Olga Melnyk, told AFP.
Most of the pieces being relocated to "safer locations" are family heirlooms from victims of the famine, passed down through generations -- often at personal risk during the Soviet era -- Melnyk explained.
Ukraine says nearly 2,000 cultural heritage sites and 2,500 cultural institutions have been damaged since Russia invaded in 2022.
- Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv
- Zelensky asks US for licence to make Patriot missiles after strikes on Kyiv
- EU top diplomat to propose new Russia sanctions over Kyiv strikes
EU top diplomat to propose new Russia sanctions over Kyiv strikes
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said she will propose new sanctions on "entities supporting Russia's military-industrial complex" in response to Russia's massive attack on Kyiv.
"We keep raising the cost until Russia understands it cannot win," Kallas wrote on X, adding EU staff in Kyiv were accounted for after the deadly barrage that killed at least 13 people and wounded dozens.
Zelensky asks US for licence to make Patriot missiles after strikes on Kyiv
President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked the United States on Thursday for licences to manufacture Patriot air defence missiles,
Air defence supplies for Ukraine are "an absolute and critical priority" said Zelensky on X. "It is especially important that we move forward with implementing our agreements on the production of anti-ballistic capabilities. We also very much count on a decision by the United States regarding licenses for Patriots and other forms of cooperation. These are the kinds of steps that can stop this war and prevent attacks like this."
Kyiv residents take to shelters as Russia launches 'several waves of missiles'
Reporting from Kyiv, FRANCE 24’s Emmanuelle Chaze said residents took to “various shelters, be it basements, be it underground parking lots, and of course, underground stations, subway stations” when the first explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital early Thursday.
“There were several waves of missiles that were launched by Russia against Ukraine that you could hear even in the shelters, even underground. There's even a ceiling of a subway station that partially collapsed following an impact over ground,” said Chaze. "Several districts have been impacted and we are talking about residential buildings," she added.
Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv
Russian missile and drone strikes hit Kyiv early Thursday, sparking fires across the Ukrainian, killing 13 people and injuring dozens, Ukrainian officials said, after President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Moscow was preparing a "massive attack".
