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French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged moderate politicians from the left and the right to regroup to defeat the far right in the upcoming national legislative elections he had called for after his party's crushing defeat in the European parliamentary vote. A somber-looking Macron addressed French voters for the first time since his stunning decision on Sunday to dissolve the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament. His move triggered an early legislative election that will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, three weeks after the far-right National Rally party of Marine Le Pen triumphed at the vote for the European Union Parliament. During a press conference on Wednesday, Macron said he decided on the risky move because he could not ignore the new political reality after his pro-European party was handed a chastening defeat and garnered less than half the support of the National Rally with its star leader, Jordan Bardella. Unlike in his recent national addresses in which Macron focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine and ways Europe should forge a common defense policy, independent of the United States, and shore up trade protections against China, the French president stuck to his country’s internal issues favored by the surging right, including curbing immigration, fighting crime and Islamic separatism in France. Macron, who has three years left of his second presidential term, hopes voters will band together to contain the far right in national elections in a way they didn’t in European ones. He called on “men and women of goodwill who were able to say ‘no’ to extremes on the left and the right to join together to be able to build a joint project” for the country. “Things are simple today: we have unnatural alliances at both extremes, who quite agree on nothing except the jobs to be shared, and who will not be able to implement any program," Macron said during a press conference in Paris. While he seemed to project the kind of enthusiasm that helped bring him to the presidency in 2017, analysts say French voters are more pessimistic about their future, and see Macron as increasingly out of touch with real life and pocketbook problems. Macron acknowledged some faults committed by his pro-business centrist party while harshly criticizing parties on the right for teaming up with Le Pen’s National Rally, which has a history of racism and xenophobia. He scathingly called an alliance formed by parties on the left as “unusual and incoherent” after they included the hard-left France Unbowed of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who, Macon said “justified anti-Semitic policies” in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. “We’re not perfect, we haven’t done everything right, but we have results... and above all, we know how to act,” Macron said of his Renaissance party, adding that the “far right (is) the main danger” in the upcoming election. “The question is who will govern the country tomorrow?" he asked. “The far right and a few associates, or the democratic, progressive bloc? That’s the fundamental question.” The decision to send to the polls voters who just expressed their discontent with Macron’s politics was a risky move that could result in the French far-right leading a government for the first time since World War II. Potential alliances and France’s two-round voting system in national elections make the outcome of the vote highly uncertain. Macron was adamant in his faith in the French voters' intent to refuse to choose the extremes of both sides of the political spectrum. He assured that he was not falling into defeatism and said he would serve out his second presidential term regardless of the outcome of the legislative vote. “I think the French are intelligent, they see what’s being done, what’s coherent and what’s not, and they know what to do," Macron said. He added: "I don’t believe at all that the worst can happen. You see, I’m an indefatigable optimist.” He rebuffed accusations that his move to call snap elections would help the far-right take power in France. “It’s about allowing political forces chosen by the French to be able to govern,” he said, He added that it’s “awkward to think it has to be the extreme right or political extremes. Or maybe you’ve got the spirit of defeat spread everywhere.” “If that’s what people are afraid of, it’s time now to take action,” he said. Opposition parties on the left and right have been scrambling to form alliances and field candidates in the early legislative balloting. While sharp differences between parties remain on either side of the political spectrum, prominent figures calling for a united front appear to have one thing in common: They don’t want to cooperate with Macron. Despite their divisions, left-wing parties agreed late Monday to form an alliance that includes the Greens, the Socialists, the Communists and the far-left France Unbowed. National Rally leader Marine Le Pen is working to consolidate power on the right in efforts to translate the European triumph into a national win and come closer to claiming power. Her party is expected to win the most French seats in the European Parliament, potentially as many as 30 of France’s 81.

The British economy failed to grow in April, official figures showed Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has made the return of growth and a generally calmer economic backdrop a central pillar of the Conservative Party's election campaign. The Office for National Statistics said wet weather dampened consumer spending and construction during the month. The flat monthly reading came after a 0.6% increase during the first quarter of the year, which Sunak has made much of on the campaign trail following a period of muted growth. Though monthly figures are vulnerable to short-term factors, the flat reading is likely to be used by opponents of the Conservatives in the run-up to the election on July 4. While Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt insisted the “economy is turning a corner,” his opposite number in the Labour Party Rachel Reeves said the “economy has stalled.” The latest growth figures come a week before the next round of inflation data and the Bank of England makes its next interest rate decision. Hopes within the Conservative Party that the bank would lower its main interest rate from the 16-year high of 5.25% have diminished after inflation failed to fall as much as hoped in April. Though inflation is down at an annual rate of 2.3%, it remains slightly above the bank's target and is expected to tick up slightly in coming months. High interest rates — which cool the economy by making it more expensive to borrow — have helped ease inflation, but they’ve also weighed on the British economy. “A June interest rate cut looks improbable, with the Bank of England likely to be a little wary of shifting policy in the middle of a general election campaign," said Suren Thiru, economics director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. On Tuesday, Sunak pledged to cut taxes and reduce immigration in the Conservative Party's manifesto for government if reelected. Labour, which is ahead in opinion polls, is due to publish its manifesto on Thursday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed for short-term help in repairing his country's electricity network and long-term investment in its energy system as a conference to gather support for Ukraine's recovery from the destruction wreaked by Russia’s war opened Tuesday. Starting a week of intense diplomacy that will also see him travel to the Group of Seven summit of Ukraine's leading Western allies in Italy and a global peace summit in Switzerland, Zelenskyy also renewed his calls for more help in repelling missile attacks by Russian forces. The two-day Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin follows up on a similar gathering in London a year ago. The German hosts say it is bringing together 2,000 people from national and local politics, business and other areas, arguing that the task of supporting Ukraine’s recovery is too big for governments alone. Among other immediate problems, sustained Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid in recent weeks have forced energy companies to institute nationwide rolling blackouts. Zelenskyy told the conference that, in the coming month, Ukraine needs equipment for heating and electricity plants that are currently out of action. “This will allow us to respond to the situation here and now,” he said. According to the president, nine gigawatts of electricity generating capacity have been destroyed — including 80% of thermal power and one-third of hydroelectric power — while the peak consumption in Ukraine last winter was 18 gigawatts. Energy, he said, continues to be “one of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s main targets.” Looking beyond Ukraine's immediate problems, Zelenskyy said foreign investments in energy would be mutually beneficial. “Ukraine has all the natural foundations for modern energy, but without your financing and investments, we won’t be able to realize this,” he said. “This is not about grants, but about high-yield investments for your companies, about a large market for your equipment, about loan programs for your institutions,” all of which could create tens of thousands of new jobs, he added. That message was echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who said the World Bank has estimated that rebuilding and modernizing Ukraine will require investments of nearly $500 billion over the next 10 years. “The reconstruction of Ukraine is and also must be a business case,” Scholz told participants. He said that is illustrated by Ukraine having exported excess electricity to the European Union since 2022 — “that makes clear what goes for the reconstruction of Ukraine as a whole: it benefits all concerned.” Scholz, whose country has become Ukraine's second-biggest weapons supplier after the United States, appealed anew to other allies to help strengthen Ukraine's air defense, “because the best reconstruction is that which doesn't have to take place.” Since Russia launched a spring offensive around Kharkiv, Zelenskyy has insisted Ukraine urgently needs seven more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. The Berlin conference also focuses on support for reforms that Ukraine has embarked on in its bid to join the EU. On Monday, the head of the State Agency for Restoration of Ukraine, Mustafa Nayyem, announced his resignation on Facebook. He cited “systemic obstacles that prevent me from exercising my powers effectively” and accused the government of bogging his agency down in red tape. Ukraine hasn’t had a minister dedicated to reconstruction since Oleksandr Kubrakov was dismissed in May. Nayyem complained that Ukraine’s prime minister barred him from attending the Berlin conference. Zelenskyy, making his third visit to Berlin since Russia's full-scale invasion started in February 2022, is also expected to make a speech to the German parliament, or Bundestag. He made a video address to lawmakers a few weeks after the war started. The Ukrainian president last visited in mid-February, when he signed a bilateral security agreement with Scholz, one of a string of such accords that allies have reached with Kyiv to signal their long-term backing.

He has no political experience. No high-profile endorsements. No party affiliation. What Fidias Panayiotou does have are 2.6 million followers on YouTube and more on TikTok. And now he has won a seat in the European Parliament representing Cyprus, one of several unusual candidates who launched improbable campaigns only to snag membership in the 720-seat legislature. "I wasn't planning on voting, but since I've been seeing you on TikTok, I'll vote for you," said a driver Panayioutou stops, interviews and posts about. Social media played an outsized role in the victories of a few candidates, prompting chatter in the political classes about its apparent role as an equalizer for unknown hopefuls as voters in dozens of democracies go to the polls this year, including in Britain, France and the United States. Voters in the parliament's 27 countries in recent days also elected candidates who are in prison, have been kicked out of their delegation and withdrew from the election only to win seats, anyway. Here's a closer look at unusual candidates-turned-MEPs — members of the European Parliament, representing some 400 million eligible voters. Stranded migrants confront violence and despair as Tunisia partners to keep them from Europe CyprusPanayiotou's initial claim to fame was a hug he gave to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, plus an assortment of humorous videos. His election, fueled only by his popularity on social media posts, shook up the island nation's political class in what many saw as a snub to deep-rooted party culture. The 24-year-old who goes only by his first name, Fidias, won almost a fifth of the votes in Sunday's election, placing him third behind traditional party candidates of the center-right DISY party and the communist-rooted AKEL. It's a first in a country where the mighty political parties have long earned iron-clad loyalty by meting out favors. AKEL Secretary-General Stefanos Stefanou lamented the outcome, which he called a "new reality in which citizens opt for non-politics as a political choice" to register their disenchantment with the country's political culture. SpainArmed with a pair of social media accounts and staunch anti-immigrant discourse, a social media influencer rocked Spain's far right by snatching up three of the country's 61 seats in the European Parliament. The driver was a national-populist figure known by the pen name of Alvise Perez, 34, founder of the "Party is Over" party. The 34-year-old was completely unknown to Spaniards outside the tight internet circles of the country's far-right until election eve. Now he'll take along two allies to fill the seats he has won in the powerful European legislature that meets in Strasbourg, France and Brussels. Perez celebrated with some loud supporters in front of a backdrop covered with his party's unorthodox logo: a cartoon drawing of a squirrel wearing a Guy Fawkes mask popularized by the 2005 movie "V for Vendetta." Fawkes is the best-known member of the foiled 1605 plot to blow up the British Parliament and has since been associated with protest movements. Slovenia becomes latest European country to recognize a Palestinian state after a parliamentary vote "The party is over because, I am sad to say, Spain has become a party for criminals. Spain has become a party for the corrupt, mercenaries, pedophiles and rapists," Alvise told the hooting crowd. "The Party Is Over" won over 4% of the ballots cast in Spain and pulled in 800,000 votes. It matched the three seats won by other established parties, including the junior member of Spain's leftist coalition government. Spain's far-right Vox party scored six seats on Monday, doubling its 2019 share, but it would have likely done better if Alvise had not launched his rogue effort. GermanyMaximilian Krah, the top candidate for Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany, was kicked out of his delegation for a series of campaign scandals — and was elected anyway. The 47-year-old MEP since 2019 announced Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the newly elected lawmakers from his party voted to exclude him from their group. "I think this is wrong and sends a devastating signal to our voters, especially our young voters," Krah said. The Alternative for Germany, or AfD, finished second in Germany with 15.9% of the votes. That's better than its showing of 11% in 2019, but still some way short of its poll ratings at the beginning of the year. The party has seen a string of setbacks since then, including scandals surrounding Krah and the party's other top candidate for the European Parliament, Petr Bystron. Krah, who works at a law firm and lives in the eastern German city of Dresden, was under scrutiny after authorities in Brussels searched his offices at the European Parliament in connection with an assistant who was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China. German media have also alleged that he, as well as Bystron, has close links to Russia. Last month, Krah raised the ire of his party and beyond when he told an Italian newspaper that not all members of the Nazis' elite SS unit, which was involved in major war crimes during World War II, were war criminals. The party said said at the time that his missteps had led to "massive damage" and that he would resign from its board. Krah tried to downplay the decision. "It's not the end of the world," he said. GreeceA jailed politician won one of seven European Parliament seats earned by Greece's governing conservative New Democracy party. Fredi Beleris, a member of Albania's ethnic Greek minority who has dual citizenship, had been elected mayor of the Albanian town of Himare last year. But he was never sworn in because he was arrested on charges and sentenced to two years beginning in March. Beleris has denied the charges, and allies have described his detention as politically motivated. ItalyItalian activist Ilaria Salis, 40, was elected to the European Parliament as a candidate from the Green and Left Alliance (Italian acronym AVS) from house arrest in Hungary, where she is on trial and charged with assaulting far-right demonstrators. More than 170,000 voters wrote Salis' name in on the ballot in a bid to bring her home from Hungary, where she has been detained for a year and four months. Police break up pro-Palestinian camp at Amsterdam university as campus protests spread to Europe "She can't believe it. We need to complete the job, and do everything possible to bring her home as soon as possible,'' said Angelo Bonelli, spokesman for the European Greens and lawmaker for the AVS party. Salis became a cause célèbre in Italy after images emerged of her handcuffed and chained in a Hungarian courtroom. PolandTwo candidates from the opposition Law and Justice party won seats despite their previous convictions on abuse of power charges. Former Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski, 54, and his former deputy, Maciej Wasik, 58, were briefly imprisoned earlier this year before being pardoned by President Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the conservative party. A third, Grzegorz Braun of the far-right, anti-Ukraine Confederation party, won a seat after extinguishing candles on a menorah that were lit for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in the halls of the Polish Parliament in December.  

Ukraine may keep some of the F-16 fighter jets it's set to receive from its Western allies at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes, a senior Ukrainian military officer said Monday. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with over 60 U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it fend off Russian attacks. Ukrainian pilots are currently undergoing training to fly the warplanes ahead of the deliveries expected to start later this year. Serhii Holubtsov, head of aviation within Ukraine’s air force, said that "a certain number of aircraft will be stored at secure air bases outside of Ukraine so that they are not targeted here.” Holubtsov told the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that those F-16s could be used to replace damaged aircraft as they undergo repairs as well as for training Ukrainian pilots abroad. “This way, we can always have a certain number of aircraft in the operational fleet that corresponds to the number of pilots we have," he said. "If there are more pilots, there will be more aircraft in Ukraine.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Moscow could consider launching strikes at facilities in NATO countries if they host the warplanes used in Ukraine. “If they are stationed at air bases outside the Ukrainian borders and used in combat, we will have to see how and where to strike the assets used in combat against us,” Putin said last year. “It poses a serious danger of NATO being further drawn into the conflict.” In March, the Russian leader again warned Ukraine’s Western allies against providing air bases from where the F-16s could launch sorties against the Kremlin’s forces. Those bases would become a “legitimate target,” he said. “F-16s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons, and we will also need to take that into account while organizing our combat operations,” Putin stated. On Monday, Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the defense committee in the Russian Parliament's lower house told the state RIA Novosti news agency that NATO bases hosting Ukrainian F-16s would be “legitimate targets” for Moscow if the warplanes use them to launch attacks on Russia. The F-16s require a high standard of runways and reinforced hangars to protect them from attacks on the ground. It’s not clear how many Ukrainian air bases can meet those requirements, and Russia would be certain to quickly target a few that could accommodate them once the jets arrive. Holubtsov noted that the F-16s will help protect front-line and border regions from Russian glide bombs that have inflicted significant damage to both troops and residential areas, including Kharkiv. Glide bombs are heavy Soviet-era bombs fitted with precision guidance systems and launched from aircraft flying out of range of air defenses. “I think we will succeed, first of all, in pushing back the aircraft that drop glide bombs farther from the contact line," he said. “If we manage to push them back at least another 30-50 kilometers (19-31 miles), this can already be considered a turning point and an achievement, if not of superiority, then of parity in the airspace.” Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to bolster military support for Kyiv as Russian troops have launched attacks along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) frontline, taking advantage of a lengthy delay in U.S. military aid. Ukraine is currently fighting to hold back a Russian push near its second-largest city of Kharkiv, less than 30 kilometers (less than 20 miles) from the border. Russian troops have also continued their slow offensive in the eastern Donetsk region. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the Kremlin's forces had captured the village of Staromaiorske, the claim that hasn't been confirmed by Kyiv and couldn't be independently verified. Ukraine has struck back with regular missile and drone attacks on Moscow-occupied territories and areas inside Russia. In the latest strike, Ukrainian forces hit Russian air defense systems in Dzhankoy, Chornomorske and Yevpatoriya in the Moscow-occupied Crimea with missiles, Ukraine's General Staff said Monday. The Russian Defense Ministry hasn't commented on the Ukrainian claim, which couldn't be independently confirmed. The U.S. and other NATO allies have responded to the latest Russian offensive by allowing Ukraine to use weapons they deliver to Kyiv to carry out limited attacks inside Russia. The decision could potentially impede Moscow’s ability to concentrate its troops for a bigger offensive near Kharkiv and in other border areas. Last week, Putin responded by warning that Moscow “reserves the right” to arm adversaries of the West worldwide. "If they supply (weapons) to the combat zone and call for using these weapons against our territory, why don’t we have the right to do the same?” Putin said. He didn’t specify where such arms might be sent. The U.S. has said that Russia has turned to North Korea and Iran to beef up its stock of relatively simple weapons, but Moscow could dip into its stock of high-tech missiles to share with adversaries of the West if Putin decides to fulfill his threat.

President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the lower house of France's parliament in a surprise announcement sending voters back to the polls in the coming weeks to choose lawmakers, after his party was handed a humbling defeat by the far-right in the European elections Sunday. The legislative elections will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7. The announcement came after the first projected results from France put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union's parliamentary elections, handing a chastening loss to Macron’s pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes. Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, nationalist party was estimated to get around 31%-32% of the votes, a historic result more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, which was projected to reach around 15%. Macron himself wasn’t a candidate in the EU elections and his term as president still runs for three more years. He said the decision was “serious” but showed his “confidence in our democracy, in letting the sovereign people have their say.” President Macron’s speech on Europe at the Sorbonne “In the next few days, I’ll be saying what I think is the right direction for the nation. I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said. In latest legislative elections in 2022, Macron's centrist party won the most seats but lost its majority at the National Assembly, forcing lawmakers into political maneuvering to pass bills. With Sunday's decision, he is taking a big risk with a move that could backfire and increase the chances of Le Pen to eventually take power. A scenario in which an opposition party would eventually win a parliament majority could lead to a fraught power-sharing situation called “cohabitation,” with Macron to name a prime minister with different views. Le Pen, who head the National Rally group at the National Assembly, “welcomed” Macron’s move. ’We’re ready for it,” said Le Pen, who was the runner-up to Macron in the last two presidential elections. “We’re ready to exercise power if the French people place their trust in us in these future legislative elections. We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority.” Macron says recognizing a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France The EU elections results were a hard blow for Macron, who has been advocating for Europe-wide efforts to defend Ukraine and the need for the EU to boost its own defenses and industry. The National Rally’s lead candidate for the EU elections, Jordan Bardella, campaigned for limiting free movement of migrants by carrying out national border controls and dialing back EU climate rules. The party no longer wants to leave the EU and the euro, but aims to weaken it from within. “Tonight, our compatriots have expressed a desire for change,” Bardella said. “Emmanuel Macron is tonight a weakened president.“ An official at Macron’s office said the decision to dissolve the National Assembly was justified by the “historic score of the far-right” that could not be ignored and the current “parliamentarian disorder." “You’re never wrong when you give the people a say,” said the official, who spoke anonymously in line with the practice of Macron's office. EU elections' projections also show a resurgence of the Socialist Party, with about 14% of the votes. The party campaigned on more ambitious climate policies and protections for European businesses and workers, with about 14% of the votes. Reacting to Macron’s announcement, far-left politician Francois Ruffin called on all leaders from the left, including the Greens to unite under a single “Popular Front” banner. “To avoid the worse, to win,” he wrote on X. France gets its youngest-ever prime minister, Gabriel Attal, as Macron shakes up government France is electing 81 members of the European Parliament, which has 720 seats in total.

An aid group said Saturday it recovered the bodies of 11 migrants off the Libyan coast and transferred them to an Italian coast guard ship off Lampedusa island, where thousands are trying to reach from North Africa. The aid group, Doctors Without Borders, said its Geo Barents rescue ship had recovered the bodies following a search operation that lasted more than nine hours, after being alerted by German humanitarian organization Sea-Watch, which also rescues migrants at sea. The German group said it was unclear whether the migrants were victims of a previous shipwreck, adding they had tried to contact Libya’s coast guard to recover the bodies but received no reply. 5 migrants have died while crossing the English Channel, hours after UK approved deportation bill During Saturday’s mission, the Sea-Watch crew also discovered another body. “As we cannot determine the reason behind this tragedy, we know that people will continue to take dangerous routes in a desperate attempt to reach safety, and Europe must find safe and legal pathways for them,” Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, wrote in a post on X. The MSF vessel was ordered to transport the other 165 people onboard, who were rescued during its Mediterranean operations, to the northern port of Genoa. The group complained that the decision would significantly delay assistance to migrants. At least 16 migrants killed, 29 injured in a bus crash in southern Mexico Thousands of migrants leaving from North African countries try to reach Europe using Libya as a departing point, as they brave a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to escape war and poverty. The central Mediterranean route remains the world’s most dangerous crossing. In 2023, more than 3,000 people went missing on this route, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 4,000 migrants in the Lampedusa hotspot in Italy

Russia-installed officials in the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Luhansk said Ukrainian attacks left at least 28 people dead as Russia and Ukraine continued to exchange drone attacks overnight into Saturday. A Ukrainian attack Friday on the small town of Sadove in Ukraine’s partially occupied Kherson region killed 22 and wounded 15 people, Moscow-backed governor Vladimir Saldo said. Russian state news agency Tass cited Saldo as saying that Ukrainian forces first struck the town with a French-made guided bomb, then attacked again with a U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile. He said Ukrainian forces had “deliberately made a repeat strike to create greater numbers of casualties” when “residents of nearby houses ran out to help the injured." Officials declared Saturday a day of mourning in Luhansk, and public events will be similarly cancelled Sunday and Monday in Kherson. Further east, Leonid Pasechnik, the Russia-installed governor in Ukraine’s partially occupied Luhansk region, said Saturday that two more bodies had been pulled from the rubble following Friday’s Ukrainian missile attack on the regional capital, also called Luhansk. Russian state news agency Interfax cited regional authorities as saying this brought the death toll to six. Pasechnik also said 60 people were wounded in the attack. Ukraine did not comment on either assault. Meanwhile, drone attacks between Russia and Ukraine persisted. Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russian territory overnight Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Saturday. Twenty-five drones were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s southern Kuban and Astrakhan regions, the western Tula region, and the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula. On Saturday morning, officials said air defenses for the first time shot down Ukrainian drones over the North Ossetia region in the North Caucasus, some 900 km (560 miles) east of the front line in Ukraine’s partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that one drone had been destroyed, whereas regional Gov. Sergei Menyailo reported three downed drones over the region. Menyailo said that the target was a military airfield. Ukrainian air defense overnight shot down nine out of 13 Russian drones over the central Poltava region, southeastern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the Kharkiv region in the northeast, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday. Dnipropetrovsk regional Gov. Serhiy Lysak said the overnight drone attack damaged commercial and residential buildings. Later on Saturday, a Ukrainian military spokesman said Ukraine now controlled more than half of the town of Vovchansk, a flashpoint for fighting since Russia launched a renewed offensive in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region last month. “Most of the city is under the control of the defense forces,” Nazar Voloshin, spokesman for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, said on Ukrainian state TV. Independent confirmation of this claim wasn’t immediately possible. Russia’s Kharkiv push appears to be a coordinated new offensive that includes testing Ukrainian defenses in the Donetsk region further south, while also launching incursions in the northern Sumy and Chernihiv regions.

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that the Russian economy is growing despite heavy international sanctions and the country has expanded economic ties with countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as he sought to court investors. Addressing the presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe and business leaders at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said Russia “remains one of the key participants in world trade,” despite the fact that the country is under sweeping sanctions for sending troops into Ukraine. The forum has been used by Russia for decades as a showcase for touting the country's development, though Western officials and investors have steered clear of the session since sanctions cut off much of Russia’s trade with Western Europe, the U.S. and their allies. The main driver of Russia's economic growth is the fighting in Ukraine — now as important to the Kremlin economically as it is politically. Russians are finding a few imported staples, and most global brands have disappeared — or been reincarnated as Russian equivalents. But not much else has changed economically for most people, with massive state spending for military equipment and hefty payments to volunteer soldiers giving a strong boost to the economy. Putin has heavily controlled his media appearances since sending his forces into Ukraine but he took questions Wednesday from international journalists, including some from Western countries he has criticized, on the sidelines of the forum. At that meeting, Putin warned that Russia could provide long-range weapons to others to strike Western targets in response to NATO allies allowing Ukraine to use their arms to attack Russian territory. He also reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to use nuclear weapons if it sees a threat to its sovereignty. Last year, journalists from countries that Russia regards as unfriendly — including the U.S., the U.K. and the European Union — were not invited to the forum.

A military plane crashed during training on Tuesday, killing its two pilots on board, Turkey’s defense ministry announced. The SF-260D training plane crashed into an agricultural field in central Turkey, after taking off from a Air Force base near the city of Kayseri. Earthquake measuring 5.6 hits central Turkey The defense ministry said the cause of the crash remains unknown. The state-run Anadolu Agency reported that authorities have initiated an investigation. Television footage captured black smoke rising from the wreckage of the plane among the crops in the field.