BUCHAREST — Tens of thousands protested in Romania’s capital on Sunday against a top court’s decision last month to annul the presidential election after an outsider candidate unexpectedly emerged as the frontrunner.

Many of the demonstrators in Bucharest honked horns and waved Romania’s blue, yellow, and red flags, while others brandished placards bearing slogans such as “Democracy is not optional” and “We want free elections.” Many also demanded the resumption of the presidential race from the second round.

The protest comes a month after the Constitutional Court made the unprecedented move to annul the election just two days before a Dec. 8 runoff. The far-right populist Calin Georgescu shocked many when he won the first round on Nov. 24, after which allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference emerged.

George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, said at the protest on Sunday, “We are protesting against the coup d’état that took place on Dec. 6.

“We are sorry to discover so late that we were living in a lie and that we were led by people who claimed to be democrats, but are not at all,” Simion, whose party organized the protest on Sunday, told reporters. “We demand a return to democracy through the resumption of elections, starting with the second round.”

The canceled presidential race last month plunged the European Union and NATO member country into turmoil and followed other controversies including a recount of first-round votes.

New dates have been set to rerun the vote with the first round scheduled for May 4. If no candidate obtains more than 50% of the ballot, a runoff would be held two weeks later on May 18. It is not yet clear whether Georgescu will be able to participate in the new election.

Georgescu has since challenged the court’s decision at a local appeals court and lodged a complaint at the European Court of Human Rights.

The Constitutional Court’s published decision to annul the elections cited the illegal use of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, as well as the use of “undeclared sources” of funding. Georgescu had declared zero campaign spending.

Many observers attributed Georgescu’s success to his TikTok account, which now has 7.2 million likes and 646,000 followers. Some experts suspected Georgescu’s online following was artificially inflated while Romania’s top security body alleged he was given preferential treatment by TikTok over other candidates.

On Friday, another protest in Bucharest was attended by thousands who also expressed anger over the canceled presidential race.
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Belgrade, Serbia — Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in Belgrade on Sunday switched on the lights on their mobile phones and stood in silence for 15 minutes to commemorate victims of a railway station roof collapse for which they blame authorities. 

The protest was organized and led by students from Belgrade state university who are demanding that those responsible for the roof collapse are brought to justice. 

They blame the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of President Aleksandar Vucic for corruption and nepotism, which he and the party deny. 

Students at state universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac and Nis have been blockading classes for weeks to demand the release of all documents relevant to the renovation of the station, as well as criminal prosecution of officials responsible for the disaster. 

Every day they block traffic in front of their faculties for 15 minutes to commemorate the 15 victims. 

The concrete awning of the recently renovated roof of Novi Sad station caved in on Nov. 1, killing 14 and injuring three. One of the injured died later. 

Opposition leaders and the public have taken to the streets repeatedly, blaming the accident on shoddy construction resulting from government corruption and nepotism. 

The ruling coalition denies those charges, and Vucic has said those responsible must be held to account. 

“We have been unhappy for years. We came here to express our revolt (with authorities), and to support students,” said Tamara Kovacevic, one of the protesters.
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ZAGREB, CROATIA — Croatia’s incumbent President Zoran Milanovic was the overwhelming favorite to win reelection as he faced a candidate from the ruling conservative party in a runoff presidential vote on Sunday.

The left-leaning Milanovic comfortably won the first round of voting on December 29, leaving his main challenger, Dragan Primorac, a forensic scientist who had unsuccessfully run for presidency previously, and six other candidates far behind.

The runoff between the top two contenders was necessary because Milanovic fell short of securing 50% of the vote by just 5,000 votes, while Primorac trailed far behind with 19%.

The election comes as the European Union and NATO member country of 3.8 million people struggles with biting inflation, corruption scandals and a labor shortage.

Milanovic, 58, is an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. He is the most popular politician in Croatia and is sometimes compared to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.

Milanovic served as prime minister in the past with a mixed record. He has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and the pair have long sparred with each other.

Milanovic regularly accuses Plenkovic and his conservative Croatian Democratic Union party of systemic corruption, calling the premier a “serious threat to Croatia’s democracy.”

Plenkovic has sought to portray Sunday’s vote as one about Croatia’s future in the EU and NATO. He has labelled Milanovic “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia’s international standing.

Primorac echoed this position as he cast his ballot on Sunday. He said the presidential vote was “very important” and “about the future of Croatia, … about the future of our homeland, our citizens, and, really, the direction that it would go from here.”

Political analyst Viseslav Raos said the increasingly outspoken Milanovic has no motive to “try to please someone or try to control himself.”

“If there was no cooperation with the prime minister for the first five years (of his presidency), why would it be now?” he added.

Though the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, an elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander.

Despite limited powers, many believe the presidential position is key for the political balance of power in a country mainly governed by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) since gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

During a TV debate ahead of the Sunday vote, Milanovic and Primorac exchanged barbs while exposing deep political differences.

Primorac, 59, entered politics in the early 2000s, when he was science and education minister in the HDZ-led government. He unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2009, and after that mainly focused on his academic career including lecturing at universities in the United States, China and in Croatia.

Milanovic denied he is pro-Russian but last year blocked the dispatch of five Croatian officers to NATO’s mission in Germany called Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine. He also pledged he would never approve sending Croatian soldiers as part of any NATO mission to Ukraine. Plenkovic and his government say there is no such proposal.

Milanovic accused Primorac of associating with “mass murderers,” referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates and the war in Gaza. He also claimed that Plenkovic was Primorac’s sponsor and dubbed Primorac “the last communist” — a reference to his membership of the former ruling Communist Party of Yugoslavia in the late 1980s.

Primorac meanwhile claimed that Milanovic’s only political allies were Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s populist leader Viktor Orban. 
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KYIV — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on allies on Sunday to honor all promises to supply Ukraine with weapons, including those to counter Russian air attacks.

Zelenskyy said that over the past week Russian forces had launched hundreds of strikes on Ukraine and nearly 700 aerial bombs and over 600 attack drones were used.

Ukrainian air defenses downed 60 out of 94 drones launched by Russia overnight, the air force said on Sunday. It said that 34 drones were “lost,” in reference to Ukraine’s use of electronic warfare to redirect Russian drones.

“Every week, the Russian war continues only because the Russian army retains its ability to terrorize Ukraine and exploit its superiority in the sky,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app.

He called on Ukraine’s allies to fulfill agreements already made.

“The decisions made at the NATO summit in Washington, as well as those adopted during the Ramstein meetings regarding air defenses for Ukraine, have still not been fully implemented,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s leader this week said he had discussed with partners and the United States the possibility of granting Ukraine licenses to produce air defense systems and missiles.

 
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MAMOUDZOU, FRANCE — Residents of the French territory of Mayotte braced Saturday for a storm expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain less than a month after the Indian Ocean archipelago was devastated by a deadly cyclone. 

Mayotte was placed on a red weather alert from 1900 GMT on Saturday in anticipation of the passage of Cyclone Dikeledi to the south of the territory. 

Authorities called for “extreme vigilance” following the devastation wrought by Cyclone Chido in mid-December.  

Meteo-France predicted “significant rain and windy conditions,” saying that very heavy rain could cause flooding. 

Residents were advised to seek shelter and stock up on food and water. 

The storm hit the northeastern coast of Madagascar on Saturday evening around 1630 GMT and was heading straight for the tourist island of Nosy Be.  

It is expected to pass to the south of Mayotte on Sunday morning, according to forecasts. 

“Nothing is being left to chance,” Manuel Valls, France’s new overseas territories minister, told AFP, referring to forecasts of “heavy and continuous rain” and winds of up to 110 kilometers per hour (kph). 

As it hit Madagascar, average winds were estimated at 130 kilometers per hour, with gusts up to 180 kph. 

The most devastating cyclone to hit France’s poorest department in 90 years caused colossal damage, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 5,600 in December. 

“We need to be seriously prepared for the possibility of a close passage of the cyclone,” the Mayotte prefecture said on social media platform X. 

Prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville, the top Paris-appointed official on the territory, said Mayotte would be placed on a red weather alert from 1900 GMT on Saturday.  

“I have decided to bring forward this red alert to 10 p.m. to allow everyone to take shelter, to confine themselves, to take care of the people close to you, your children, your families,” Bieuville said on television. 

Messages in French and two regional languages were broadcast on radio and television to alert the population. 

Bieuville told reporters Saturday that the cyclone was forecast to pass within 110 kilometers (70 miles) of the archipelago’s southern coast.  

“We even have systems telling us 75 kilometers. So, we have something that is going to hit Mayotte very closely”, he said. 

The storm intensified from a tropical storm to a tropical cyclone Saturday morning, but forecasters are not expecting it to further intensify. 

More than 4,000 personnel have been mobilized in Mayotte, including members of police and the army, said the interior ministry. 

The prefect has requested that mayors reopen accommodation centers such as schools and gymnasiums that sheltered around 15,000 people in December. 

He also ordered firefighters and other forces to be deployed to “extremely fragile” shantytowns in Mamoudzou and elsewhere. 

Potential mudslides were “a major risk”, the prefect said. 

“Chido was a dry cyclone, with very little rain,” he added.  

“This tropical storm is a wet event; we are going to have a lot of rain.”  

Mayotte’s population stands officially at 320,000, but there are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 more undocumented inhabitants living in shanty towns that were destroyed by the cyclone in December. 
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KYIV, UKRAINE — For weeks, Ukrainian troops braced for an unfamiliar enemy: North Korean soldiers sent to bolster Moscow’s forces after Ukraine launched a lightning-fast incursion and seized territory in Russia’s Kursk region over the summer.

Their arrival marked a new and alarming phase in the war. And while initially inexperienced on the battlefield, North Korean troops have adapted quickly — a development that could have far-reaching consequences as they gain combat knowledge in the war against Ukraine.

Unlike the Russian troops Ukraine has been battling for nearly three years, Kyiv’s forces were uncertain about what to expect from this new adversary, drawn into the war after Moscow and Pyongyang signed an agreement pledging military assistance using “all means” if either were attacked.

One Ukrainian soldier who has witnessed North Koreans in battle described them as disciplined and highly methodical, saying they were more professional than their Russian counterparts. The soldier spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the sensitive military issue.

However, other soldiers, including Ukrainian special forces, have shared battlefield drone footage on the Telegram messaging app mocking their tactics as outdated.

Nevertheless, there is consensus among Ukrainian soldiers, military intelligence and others monitoring developments on the ground: While Pyongyang’s troops lacked battlefield experience when they arrived, that has been changing quickly.

With 1.2 million troops, North Korea’s military ranks among the largest standing armies globally. But its post-Korean War foreign engagements have been limited, leaving them inexperienced with modern warfare technologies like drones.

“For the first time in decades, the North Korean army is gaining real military experience,” said Andrii Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency. “This is a global challenge — not just for Ukraine and Europe, but for the entire world.”

Identifying the presence of North Korean troops

Despite Ukrainian, U.S. and South Korean assertions that Pyongyang has sent 10,000-12,000 troops to fight alongside Russia in the Kursk border region, Moscow has never publicly acknowledged the North Korean forces.

While reports of their presence first emerged in October, Ukrainian troops only confirmed engagement on the ground in December.

Analysts say that without the influx of North Korean troops, Russia would have struggled to pursue its strategy of overwhelming Ukraine by throwing large numbers of soldiers into the battle for Kursk.

While Moscow’s counterattack in Kursk has inflicted thousands of Ukrainian casualties, Kyiv’s overstretched forces have managed to hold on to about half of the 984 square kilometers seized in August, though the situation remains dynamic. Besides the symbolic impact of Ukraine’s success capturing Russian territory, control of Kursk could also be a bargaining chip in any ceasefire negotiations.

According to Ukraine’s intelligence agency, the North Korean soldiers are operating alongside Russian units, with the latter providing reconnaissance and electronic warfare support.

The North Koreans wear Russian military uniforms with fake military IDs in their pockets, according to a report by a Ukrainian military unit that has observed them on the battlefield, and they could easily be mistaken for Russian soldiers.

The subterfuge means Moscow and “its representatives at the U.N. can deny the facts,” said Yusov, the Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson.

Among the things proving their presence is that they have been heard speaking Korean with North Korean accents in intercepted communications, Yusov said.

He said the North Korean troops are using their own weapons and equipment and have learned to cope with the improvised explosives-laden drones that have become emblematic of the war, first-hand experience even some NATO-member countries don’t have.

“This is a new level of threat,” Yusov said. “Regional countries must prepare for what this means in the future.”

North Koreans gain invaluable experience on the battlefield

The North Koreans’ early missteps were largely caused by inexperience, such as moving in large groups in open terrain, making them easy targets for drones and artillery strikes.

According to the Ukrainian military unit’s report, the North Korean soldiers were spotted easily as they moved in single-file columns through forest in groups of three, with 3 to 5 meters between soldiers. On open terrain, they moved in dispersed formations of five to 15 soldiers, making them vulnerable and leading to heavy losses.

However, during night operations, their movements were swift and units oriented themselves using red flashlights along routes, the report said.

“They’re fast, physically well-prepared, and act strictly according to their algorithms,” said the Ukrainian soldier who spoke to the AP. “If you drill the same routines for years, to the point where they can be executed blindfolded, it will yield results.”

Despite their discipline, their lack of combat experience hindered their effectiveness. The Ukrainian military reported that North Korean troops often sustained heavy losses, with many killed by drones.

On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy put the number of killed or wounded North Koreans at 4,000, though U.S. estimates are lower, at around 1,200.

“Much of their military doctrine and training is based on strategies and experiences from over half a century ago,” said Glib Voloskyi, a military analyst with the Ukrainian think tank CBA Initiatives Center.

The large-group formations date to when artillery accuracy was significantly lower, and observing troop movements much more difficult. Today, reconnaissance and so-called first-person view drones, or FPVs, that transmit video allowing soldiers to strike targets in real time have made the battlefield highly transparent, and anyone stepping onto it without cover, let alone moving in groups, is immediately spotted.

“But it is only a matter of time before they acquire the necessary skills to improve their combat effectiveness, which, combined with their discipline and training, could make them a significant military force,” Voloskyi said.

No surrender policy means few North Korean POWs

After weeks of fighting, Ukrainian soldiers have taken only two prisoners of war. In announcing the capture Saturday, Zelenskyy said taking them alive “was not easy” because of efforts to conceal the North Koreans’ presence and avoid their interrogation by Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers avoid surrendering at all costs, Zelenskyy said.

This may stem from North Korean internal propaganda that portrays capture as the ultimate disgrace, analysts said.

“To be captured alive is considered a betrayal of the country, the leader and everything they stand for,” said Seongmin Lee of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, who defected from North Korea in 2009.

This belief is instilled from a young age and reinforced throughout military training, he said. “Because of the disgrace associated with the capitulation, heroic soldiers are supposed to save the last of their bullets to kill themselves,” Lee said.

Lee said he shared photos of dead North Korean soldiers with contacts back home. “Most North Koreans don’t even know what is going on,” he said.

Dorothy Camille Shea, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., warned of the dangers posed by the rapidly improving battlefield skills the North Korean troops are gaining fighting in Kursk.

North Korea “is significantly benefiting from receiving Russian military equipment, technology and experience, rendering it more capable of waging war against its neighbors,” Shea told the 15-member U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

As an added potential benefit, she said, North Korea “will likely be eager to leverage these improvements to promote weapons sales and military training contracts globally.”
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RIESA, GERMANY — The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party set out a radical program Saturday at a party congress ahead of next month’s snap general election as thousands of protesters took to the streets to voice their opposition to the party. 

Demonstrators shouting “No to Nazis” outside the venue in the eastern town of Riesa succeeded in delaying the start of the congress by around two hours. 

Once it got underway just after 12 p.m. local time (1100 GMT) the party’s 600-odd delegates approved co-leader Alice Weidel as candidate for chancellor by acclamation ahead of the general election on February 23. 

In a fiery speech to the hall afterward, Weidel condemned the protestors outside as “a left-wing mob” and “red-painted Nazis” before going on to present her “plan for the future” for Germany. 

She said the first 100 days of a government containing the AfD would see the “total closing of Germany’s borders and the turning back anyone traveling without documents” as well as “large-scale repatriations.” 

“I say to you quite honestly, if this must be called remigration, then let it be called remigration,” she said. 

Turning to energy policy, Weidel advocated a return to nuclear energy and more coal power stations, as well as relaunching the Nord Stream pipelines for Russian gas. 

In keeping with the AfD’s denial of climate science, Weidel also attacked efforts to promote renewable energy. 

She branded wind turbines “windmills of shame” and promised to tear them all down. 

The AfD is currently in second place in opinion polls, averaging 20%, although one survey Saturday eagerly seized on by the party gave them 22%. 

The conservative CDU/CSU is leading at 31% while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats are fighting it out for third place with their Green coalition partners on 15% and 14% respectively. 

Weidel in her speech bashed the CDU/CSU, branding them a “party of cheats” and saying her goal was to overtake them. 

The congress caps an eventful week for Weidel, who on Thursday was hosted by Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a key Donald Trump ally, for a wide-ranging livestream on his X social media platform. 

Musk also boosted the livestream of Saturday’s congress by sharing it on his own X account, helping it gain a worldwide audience of more than 4 million as of the early evening. 

The AfD has also been buoyed by events in Austria in recent days, where the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) has been invited to try to form a government with the conservative People’s Party (OeVP). 

So far all of Germany’s other parties, including the CSU/CDU, have ruled out working with the AfD. 

Outside the congress venue, protestors braved the cold to shout slogans such as “No to Nazis.” 

Police said they numbered at least 8,000 while organizers put the number at more than 12,000. 

Among them was Julia, who declined to give her last name but said she wanted to turn out to oppose a party that represented “exclusion, discrimination and hatred.” 

“We want to show very clearly that we are the majority, that we are in favor of open borders and solidarity in society,” she told AFP. 

Dorothea, part of the Omas Gegen Rechts (“Grannies Against The Far-Right”) protest movement, called the AfD a “merciless downfall for Germany.” 

While doubting she and her fellow protestors could reach “those in the AfD bubble,” she hoped they could get through to “nonvoters and the undecided.” 

Earlier Saturday, demonstrators tried to breach police cordons with protest organizers accusing the police of using violence and pepper spray. 

Police said that six officers had suffered minor injuries. 

The far-left Die Linke party complained that one of its regional members of Parliament who was observing the protests was knocked unconscious by a blow to the face from police. 

The head of the region’s police force apologized for the incident and said it was being investigated. 

Observers are expecting heated debates over some points of AfD’s program as the party congress continues Sunday. 

Those include party leadership plans to replace its Junge Alternative (“Young Alternative”) youth wing, which has been classified as an extremist group by intelligence services.  
…

PARIS — France starts 2025 with a further drawdown of its military presence in its former African colonies, and fresh tensions ignited this week with controversial remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Chad, Senegal and now Ivory Coast have followed Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in asking France to withdraw its troops from their soil. The reasons vary — from growing anti-French sentiment to calls for greater sovereignty and strengthening ties with other foreign powers. But the impact is the same.

“There is a clear collapse of French policy in Africa,” said Thierry Vircoulon, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations’ Africa Center. “The withdrawal of the French troops and basically the end of the French military presence in Africa is a symbol of that collapse.”

French-African relations haven’t improved in recent days. On Monday, Macron suggested some Sahel countries had forgotten to thank French troops for spearheading a decadelong fight against Islamist insurgencies.

That drew sharp criticism from leaders in Chad and Senegal. French authorities say Macron’s remarks were taken out of context.

Jean-Pierre Maulny, deputy director of the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs think tank, said he believes France needs to be less focused on the immediate fallout and instead concentrate on longer-term ties with francophone African countries.

France should think more about development and sharing the future of Africa’s security, he said, and less about adopting a big brother attitude.

Macron’s government announced plans last year to reduce its military presence on the continent — where it also has troops in Gabon and Djibouti — and make it more responsive to countries’ demands.

France has also expanded ties beyond francophone Africa. Its two biggest trading partners, for example, are Nigeria and South Africa.

But analyst Vircoulon predicts France’s long-term influence in Africa will remain limited, at best.

“There’s very little that the French government can do, and it’s playing in favor of Russia and other countries that are not Western,” he said.

He said he believes France’s strategic priorities will shift to potential conflicts in Europe.
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ISTANBUL — A delegation from one of Turkey’s biggest pro-Kurdish political parties met a leading figure of the Kurdish movement in prison Saturday, the latest step in a tentative process to end the country’s 40-year conflict, the party said. 

Three senior figures from the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) met the party’s former co-chairperson, Selahattin Demirtas, at Edirne prison near the Greek border. 

The meeting with Demirtas — jailed in 2016 on terrorism charges that most observers, including the European Court of Human Rights, have labelled politically motivated — took place two weeks after DEM members met Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned head of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

While the PKK has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s, the DEM is the latest party representing left-leaning Kurdish nationalism. Both DEM and its predecessors have faced state measures largely condemned as repression, including the jailing of elected officials and the banning of parties. 

In a statement released on social media after the meeting, Demirtas called on all sides to “focus on a common future where everyone, all of us, will win.” 

Demirtas credited Ocalan with raising the chance that the PKK could lay down its arms. Ocalan has been jailed on Imrali island in the Sea of Marmara since 1999 for treason over his leadership of the PKK, considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and most Western states. 

Demirtas led the DEM between 2014 and 2018, when it was known as the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) and he is still widely admired. He said that despite “good intentions,” it was necessary for “concrete steps that inspire confidence … to be taken quickly.” 

One of the DEM delegation, Ahmet Turk, said: “I believe that Turks need Kurds and Kurds need Turks. Our wish is for Turkey to come to a point where it can build democracy in the Middle East.” 

The armed conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state, which started in August 1984 and has claimed tens of thousands of lives, has seen several failed attempts at peace. 

Despite being imprisoned for a quarter of a century, Ocalan remains central to any chance of success due to his ongoing popularity among many of Turkey’s Kurds. In a statement released on December 29, he signaled his willingness to “contribute positively” to renewed efforts. 

Meanwhile, in an address Saturday to ruling party supporters in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for the disbandment of the PKK and the surrender of its weapons. 

This would allow DEM “the opportunity to develop itself, strengthening our internal front against the increasing conflicts in our region, in short, closing the half-century-old separatist terror bracket and consigning it to history … forever,” he said in televised comments. 

The latest drive for peace came when Devlet Bahceli, leader of the far-right Nationalist Movement Party and a close ally of Erdogan, surprised everyone in October when he suggested that Ocalan could be granted parole if he renounced violence and disbanded the PKK. 

Erdogan offered tacit support for Bahceli’s suggestion a week later, and Ocalan said he was ready to work for peace, in a message conveyed by his nephew. 
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MOSCOW — Ukraine launched drone attacks across several regions of Russia, striking two residential houses in the Tambov region and injuring at least three people, Russia said on Saturday.

The regional head, Evgeny Pervyshov, said on the Telegram messaging app people were treated for injuries resulting from shattered windows as drones hit two houses in the town of Kotovsk, about 480 kilometers southeast of Moscow.

He said the buildings were only slightly damaged, the inhabitants were offered temporary housing, and an evacuation was not required.

“Three (people) had cuts from fragments of broken windows, another four complained of high blood pressure,” he said.

Separately, Russia’s defense ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 85 Ukrainian drones overnight in several regions of the country, including 31 drones over the Black Sea, 16 each in the Voronezh and Krasnodar regions and 14 over the Azov Sea.

Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said airports in the cities of Kazan, Nizhnekamsk and Ulyanovsk in the Volga River regions temporarily suspended flights.

A flight suspension in the city of Saratov was also later declared to ensure safety.

Kyiv’s air force said in a statement early on Saturday that Russia launched 74 drones at Ukraine overnight, adding it had downed 47 of them, while 27 others disappeared from radars without reaching their targets.

Both sides in the Ukraine conflict have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons and also increased their production.

Russian and Ukrainian soldiers alike have reported a visceral fear of drones, and both sides have used video footage of fatal drone strikes in their propaganda.

On Friday, Russia accused Ukraine of carrying out a missile strike on a supermarket in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. 
…

BERLIN — Germany was racing Saturday to secure a heavily loaded tanker stranded off its northern coast, towing the stricken ship it said was part of Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet” away from shore to avert an oil spill.

The 274-meter-long Eventin was sailing from Russia to Egypt with almost 100,000 tons of oil on board when its engine failed and it lost the ability to maneuver, according to Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies.

As the vessel drifted in coastal waters Friday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock slammed Russia’s use of “dilapidated oil tankers” to avoid sanctions on its oil exports, calling it a threat to European security.

Three tugs have linked up with the Eventin and are attempting to steer it northeast, away from the coast and toward a “safer” area where there is “more sea space,” the command said.

It said it had taken “safety measures” due to rough seas, with 2.5-meter-high waves and strengthening wind gusts.

The ship was intercepted off the island of Ruegen, having come within 14 kilometers of the coast.

No oil leaks were detected by several surveillance overflights, authorities said Friday, and responders have passed radios and flashlights to the stranded crew.

It will take around eight hours to pull the Eventin roughly 25 kilometers to safer waters northeast of Cape Arkona, the command said early Saturday, adding they expected it to arrive by mid-morning.

‘Rusty tankers’

Although the tanker was navigating under the Panamanian flag, the German foreign ministry linked it to Russia’s sanctions-busting “shadow fleet.”

Baerbock said that “by ruthlessly deploying a fleet of rusty tankers, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not only circumventing the sanctions, but is also willingly accepting that tourism on the Baltic Sea will come to a standstill” in the event of an accident.

Following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Western countries have hit Russia’s oil industry with an embargo and banned the provision of services to ships carrying oil by sea.

In response, Russia has relied on tankers with opaque ownership or without proper insurance to continue lucrative oil exports.

The number of ships in the “shadow fleet” has exploded since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to U.S. think tank the Atlantic Council.

In addition to direct action against Russia’s oil industry, Western countries have moved to sanction individual ships thought to be in the shadow fleet.

The European Union has so far sanctioned over 70 ships thought to be ferrying Russian oil.

The United States and Britain on Friday moved to impose restrictions on around 180 more ships in the shadow fleet. 
…