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ATHENS — Around 25,000 people marched through Athens on Sunday in closely watched demonstrations to mark the 51th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising that helped topple military rule in Greece, police said.

The protests are held every year to commemorate the 1973 Athens Polytechnic protests that killed 24 people, when the ruling junta sent troops to break up an anti-government uprising.

As the commemoration is often marred by far-left violence on the sidelines, more than 5,500 officers were deployed on Sunday.

They were backed by riot squads, drones and helicopters monitoring key locations, including the US and Israeli embassies, police said earlier.

More than 110 people were detained during checks made before the march, according to police sources.

Much of the city centre was closed off to traffic and central Athens metro stations closed early.

The brutal crackdown on the 1973 student-led, anti-junta demonstrations shocked Europe, and is generally considered to have broken the dictatorship's grip on power, leading to the restoration of democracy months later.

Sunday's march left from the Polytechnic campus headquarters of the uprising, and was fronted by students carrying a bloodstained Greek flag that flew over the Polytechnic's iron gate the night it crushed by a tank. Many protesters also carried Palestinian flags.

Various civil society groups, anti-authoritarian collectives, opposition parties, workers' unions headed towards the US embassy, to protest against Washington's support for the Greek military dictatorship during the Cold War, and then to the Israeli embassy.

Student associations chanted "The Polytechnic uprising lives on, calling us to fight" and "Freedom in Palestine".

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Sunday stressed the importance of free parliamentary democracy.

"The message of resistance emanating from the Polytechnic uprising is an enduring symbol of progress which is neither trapped in the past nor sacrificed to party exploitation."

"That is why, 51 years later, it still shines. To signal loyalty to democracy. Faith in unity. And the prospect of a better life," he said in a message posted in social media.

Protests were held nationwide, including in the cities of Thessaloniki, Patras in the Peloponnese and Heraklion in Crete.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia on Sunday pummelled Ukraine with a "massive" aerial barrage of missiles and drones in the largest attack in months that Kyiv branded "hellish". 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow launched 120 missiles and almost 100 drones, targeting the capital as well as southern, central and far-western corners of the country. 

Civilians were killed in the Mykolaiv, Lviv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions in what officials in Kyiv called it one of the biggest barrages of the almost three-year long Russian invasion. 

The attack comes at a time when Moscow has been steadily advancing in Ukraine's east and with the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House raising fears over the future of US support for Kyiv.

"A hellish night," the spokesman for Ukraine's airforce Yuriy Ignat said on social media, adding that Kyiv downed "144 targets". 

The giant attack followed two days after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the first time in almost two years, calling on the Kremlin chief to end Moscow's devastating offensive. 

Kyiv had slammed Scholz for reaching out to Putin and Sunday said the attack was the Kremlin's real answer.

"This is war criminal Putin's true response to all those who called and visited him recently," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga said after the attack. 

"We need peace through strength, not appeasement." 

Scholz on Sunday defended the call and insisted that Berlin's backing for Kyiv was unwavering.

"Ukraine can count on us," the German leader said ahead of flying to a G20 meeting in Brazil, promising that "no decision will be taken behind Ukraine's back" on ending the conflict. 

But Poland's prime minister joined the backlash on Sunday.

"No-one will stop Putin with phone calls. The attack last night, one of the biggest in this war, has proved that telephone diplomacy cannot replace real support from the whole West for Ukraine," Donald Tusk wrote on X.

Civilian deaths across Ukraine 

The strikes caused massive power cuts across the country, with fears of a precarious winter to come. 

"A massive attack on our country," Zelensky said. 

"Over the past week, the aggressor used nearly 140 missiles of various types, more than 900 guided aerial bombs, and over 600 strike drones," he said, accusing Moscow of trying to "intimidate us with cold and blackouts". 

AFP journalists heard explosions in the early morning in Kyiv and close to Sloviansk in the Donetsk region. 

Moscow, meanwhile, said it had hit all its targets, claiming it had targeted an "essential energy infrastructure supporting the Ukrainian military-industrial complex".

But civilian deaths were reported across the country. 

Officials in Kherson said a 51-year-old woman was killed by a drone. 

In the southern Mykolaiv region, local leader Vitaliy Kim said two women were killed in a night attack and that seven people -- including two children -- were wounded. 

The death toll included two employees of the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia in the city of Nikopol, who were killed when a depot was hit, the Dnipropetrovsk region's governor Sergiy Lysak and the operator said. Three more people were wounded in the bombing.

Two people were also killed in the Odesa region, where a teenager was wounded. 

Russian drones also made their way to Zakarpattia -- a mountainous region rarely hit -- with officials saying fragments fell in the village of Pavshyno, near the border with Hungary and Slovakia. 

The head of the Lviv region, Maksym Kozytsky, said a 66-year-old woman was killed in her car in the village of Sheptytsky -- some 20 kilometres from the Polish border. 

That prompted NATO-member Poland to scramble fighter jets and mobilise all available forces on Sunday in response.

Warsaw puts its armed forces on alert whenever attacks against its neighbouring country are deemed likely to create a danger for its own territory. 

Two killed in Russia 

In the border Kursk region, where Kyiv has held onto swathes of Russian land since the summer, Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone strike killed a local journalist.

Kursk leader Alexei Smirnov said Yulia Kuznetsova, the editor of the local "People's Paper" was killed in the Bolshesoldatskiy district of the Kursk region as she "took archives to her editorial office". 

The West and Ukraine says thousands of North Korea soldiers are in Russia, with some in the Kursk region, to reinforce Moscow's forces. 

Russia also said a man was killed by a Ukrainian drone in its border Belgorod region. 

Ukraine's energy operator DTEK on Sunday announced emergency power cuts in the Kyiv region and two regions in the east.

Energy grid hit 

Russia's relentless aerial bombardment has destroyed half of Ukraine's energy production capacity, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

With the harsh Ukrainian winter fast approaching, the country is already suffering from major energy shortfalls, while its outmanned and outgunned forces have been steadily ceding ground to the Kremlin's troops for weeks.

Kyiv has implored its Western allies for help to rebuild its energy grid -- a hugely expensive undertaking -- and to supply its outgunned forces with more aerial defence weapons.

But many in Ukraine fear that Western help will not be as freely given when Trump returns to the White House in January. 

BERLIN — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to engage in peace talks with Ukraine, in the first call between the leaders in almost two years.

In the call, Scholz "condemned Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and called on President Putin to end it and withdraw troops", the chancellor's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.

The German leader "urged Russia to show willingness to negotiate with Ukraine with the aim of achieving a just and lasting peace", Hebestreit added in a statement.

Scholz also stressed "Germany's unwavering determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression for as long as necessary".

The call comes at a crucial juncture in the war. Ukrainian troops are coming under pressure and the election of Donald Trump in the United States has cast doubt over Washington's continued support for Kyiv.

The call between the two leaders was the first time they have been in contact since December 2022. The conversation lasted "for an hour", a German government source told AFP.

Scholz "particularly condemned the Russian air strikes against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine", said a government source.

"He made it clear that sending North Korean soldiers to Russia for combat missions against Ukraine would lead to a serious escalation and expansion of the conflict," the source added.

The Kremlin, in its readout of the conversation, said the two leaders had had a "frank exchange of views", adding that the call had been initiated by Germany.

"Possible agreements should take into account the security interests of the Russian Federation, proceed from the new territorial realities and, most importantly, address the root causes of the conflict," the Kremlin added.

- Limited contact -

Before picking up the phone to Putin, Scholz spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Hebestreit said. 

The German and Ukrainian leaders spoke "beforehand and will do so again after the conversation with the Russian president", the spokesman said.

Launched in February 2022, Russia's full-scale of invasion of Ukraine is headed into its third winter, with Kyiv's troops increasingly on the back foot. 

Germany has been one of Ukraine's biggest military supporters, second only to the United States in the aid it has sent to Kyiv. 

But the election of Trump, who criticised aid to Ukraine on the campaign trail, has called into question Washington's continued support.

Scholz's December 2022 call with Putin was the last known phone call between the Kremlin chief and the leader of a major Western country.

Putin has not spoken to most NATO and Western leaders since 2022, when the EU and the US imposed massive sanctions on Russia for launching its shock Ukraine offensive.

Within the NATO bloc, Putin maintains contact with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- who is critical of Western policy on Russia -- and with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Putin has not met other Western leaders in person since days before launching the offensive in February 2022, when a flurry of Western officials visited Moscow in a bid to deter the Kremlin chief from attacking Ukraine.

He will skip a meeting of G20 leaders in Brazil next week, which Scholz will attend, on the grounds that his presence would "wreck" the gathering.

Putin denied an International Criminal Court warrant out against him, for Russia's actions in Ukraine, was a factor in his decision to steer clear of the summit, where Moscow will be represented by Russia's foreign minister.

The German and Russian leaders "agreed to remain in contact", the German government source added.

THE HAGUE — The Netherlands' right-wing government averted collapse on Friday after a junior minister resigned over alleged racist comments by cabinet colleagues related to last week's attacks on Israeli football fans.

Deputy Finance Minister Nora Achahbar handed in her resignation late Friday, setting in motion crisis talks between leaders of the four-party Dutch coalition government. 

Achahbar decided to exit the government after a heated cabinet meeting discussing the violence that flared on the streets of Amsterdam after a football match between local club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv.

"The polarising interactions of the past weeks made such an impact on me that I am no longer able to effectively carry out my duties as deputy minister," Achahbar said in her resignation letter to parliament.

Her departure prompted speculation that other members of her New Social Contract (NSC) party would follow, with the acting party leader Nicolien van Vroonhoven saying before emergency meetings that "we will see" about continuing in the ruling coalition.

After a five-hour scramble, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced late Friday that the coalition was intact, and his not-yet-five-month-old government had survived.

"Nora Achahbar has decided not to continue as deputy minister," the premier said after the coalition leaders' talks at his official residence in The Hague.

"We have as a cabinet decided that we have the confidence to continue together."

Addressing "the incidents in Amsterdam last week", Schoof said: "There is a lot of upheaval in the country. It was an emotional week, a heavy week and a lot has been said and a lot happened."

But he added: "There has never been any racism in my government or in the coalition parties."

 'Racist statements' 

The Netherlands is grappling with the political fallout of what Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema called a "poisonous cocktail of anti-Semitism and hooliganism".

In attacks that sparked outrage around the world, Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters were briefly hospitalised after coming under assault following a match with the local Ajax team on November 7.

Prime Minister Schoof described the attackers as men "with a migration background", while far-right leader Geert Wilders claimed that the perpetrators were "all Muslims" and "for the most part Moroccans".

Dutch authorities have however reported that Maccabi fans set fire to a Palestinian flag before the match, chanted anti-Arab slurs and vandalised a taxi.

On Monday, during a cabinet meeting to discuss the violence, "things reportedly got heated, and in Achahbar's opinion racist statements were made," the NOS public broadcaster reported.

"Achahbar reportedly indicated then that she, as a minister, had objections to certain language used by her colleagues," NOS added.

Achahbar's exit threw into question whether the fragile coalition could retain the numbers needed to govern. 

Wilders's anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) won the most seats in Dutch elections a year ago, but shares power with the centre-right NSC, the Liberal Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), and the agriculture-friendly Citizen-Farmer Movement (BBB). 

The coalition would lose its majority if the NSC pulled out.

'Hard action' 

During a debate on Wednesday, Wilders further exacerbated tensions by calling for the attackers of the Israeli football fans to be prosecuted "for terrorism".

Premier Schoof has promised "hard action" against those guilty.

Many opposition politicians and commentators have meanwhile stressed that although anti-Semitism is abhorrent, the violence in Amsterdam was not one-sided.

Police have launched a massive probe into the incident which Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said was "racing ahead", although much remained unclear about the night's events.

The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarised Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the war in Gaza.

The Dutch government late Thursday said it needed "more time" to flesh out a strategy to fight anti-Semitism.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Hundreds of protesters marched in support of Palestinians in Rio on Saturday, in a demonstration aimed at world leaders about to converge on the city for a G20 summit.

The march, held peacefully under constant rain along Copacabana Beach, was watched by dozens of police and soldiers deployed as security for the summit to be held Monday and Tuesday.

The meeting will see heads of state and government, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, discuss coordination on international issues.

The Rio protesters, a few wearing Arabic keffiyeh scarves, held aloft the Palestinian flag and banners, including one reading "Break Brazil-Israel Relations" and demands that Israeli allies stop financing its military offensives in Gaza and in Lebanon.

"We're here to make a contrast with the G20 summit," said Tania Arantes, 60, from one of the Brazilian unions organizing the protest.

She said the march embraced a number of other leftist issues too, such as climate change, the fight against poverty and a demand to tax the super-rich, because the leaders at the summit "have economic control over nations they believe are subordinate in this globalized world."

One marcher, Giancarlo Pereira, a 43-year-old veterinarian, said the multiple leftist issues converged with the Palestinian cause "because the big companies fueling the war (being conducted by Israel in Gaza) are the billionaires of the world."

A short distance along Copacabana Beach, another protest was being staged with activists placing rows of plates with red crosses on them in the sand.

The 733 plates laid out represented the 733 million people in the world the UN says suffered from hunger last year.

Another demonstration was to take place in Rio later Saturday organized by a Brazilian Indigenous umbrella group, the Articulation of Indigenous People of Brazil, to underline a perceived lack of effort by rich countries to combat climate change.

The various protests were taking place as activists, NGOs and civil society bodies took part in a pre-summit G20 Social event in Rio promoted by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Lula was to receive a list of action points drawn up by that event to help inform summit discussions on Monday and Tuesday.

Headline talks to take place at the summit include an initiative by Lula for a Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, and international efforts to mitigate global warming.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian infantry managed briefly to re-enter the formerly occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk before being beaten back by Kyiv's army, local authorities told AFP on Thursday.

The advances on the town in the eastern Kharkiv region that had a pre-war population of around 27,000 people, come as Ukrainian forces are steadily losing territory across the sprawling front.

The head of the Kupiansk military administration said the Russian assaults one day earlier as "very difficult" but said the Russian troops retreated and the situation was again under control.

The official, Andriy Besedin, said that Russian infantry had "partially entered" Kupiansk before "they were destroyed".

"The vehicles were destroyed on the way in," he added.

The military in Kyiv said separately that Kupiansk was "fully" under Ukrainian control.

Russian forces gained control of Kupiansk just days after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when the then-mayor of the town ceded control to Russia.

Ukraine recaptured it in September the same year as part of a lightning offensive that saw them regain large swathes of the Kharkiv region.

In recent months, Ukrainian authorities have issued several mandatory evacuation orders for civilians as Russian troops again close in on Kupiansk and the surrounding territory.

"Since September 2022, the enemy has been trying to recapture the town and the community, and they have been unsuccessful," Besedin said, voicing confidence that Ukrainian forces would hold Kupiansk.

Besedin told AFP on Thursday that at the moment there are around 4,000 civilians still still in Kupiansk and the surrounding vicinity.