World

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian drones targeted a military airfield, an oil refinery and substation in southern Russia, a defence source in Kyiv said on Tuesday, after Moscow reported an overnight aerial barrage.

Kyiv has stepped up cross border aerial attacks on Russia in recent months, attempting to damage energy infrastructure and the Kremlin's war chest by hurting oil revenues.

Russia has launched drone and missiles attacks that have crippled Ukrainian power plants and halved the country's generation capacity.

In an operation coordinated by Security Services of Ukraine and the country's military intelligence, drone spurred explosions at the Akhtyubinsk military airfield in Russia's Astrakhan region.

It also said there had been blasts at an electrical substation in the Rostov region and an oil depot in the southern Volgograd region.

The source added that Ukrainian forces would pursue more strikes on "Russian military facilities working for the war against Ukraine."

There was no response in Moscow to the specific claims.

The Russian defence ministry however had earlier said that its air defence systems had destroyed 38 Ukrainian drones in regions near the border between the two countries, including Rostov and Astrakhan.

Rostov's governor Vasily Golubev in comments to state-run agency TASS acknowledged an electric substation had been damaged in a drone attack, saying repairs would take three days.

And Astrakhan’s governor Igor Babushkin said Ukraine had launched a “massive attempt to attack targets with drones” in the north of the region, adding that the attack had been “successfully repelled”.

Both sides have used drones, including larger self-detonating craft with ranges stretching hundreds of kilometres extensively throughout the conflict, which began in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a major ground offensive on Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region in May, an operation to create a buffer zone and push Ukrainian forces back to protect Russia’s border Belgorod region from shelling.

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron on Monday was to start efforts to extract France from its most severe political uncertainty in decades after the left defeated the far-right in elections with no group winning an absolute majority.

The outcome of the legislative elections, called by Macron three years ahead of schedule in a bid to reshape the political landscape, leaves France without any clear path to forming a new government three weeks before the Paris Olympics.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is due to submit his resignation to Macron on Monday but has also made clear he is ready to stay on in a caretaker capacity as weeks of political uncertainty loom.

The left is emerging as the biggest group in the new parliament but has yet to even agree on a figure who it would want to be the new prime minister.

The unprecedented situation is taking shape just as Macron is due to be out of the country for most of the week, taking part in the NATO summit in Washington.

"Is this the biggest crisis of the Fifth Republic?" that began in 1958, asked Gael Sliman, president of the Odoxa polling group.

"Emmanuel Macron wanted clarification with the dissolution, now we are in total uncertainty. A very thick fog."

After winning the June 30 first round by a clear margin, the results were a major disappointment for the far-right National Rally (RN) of Marine Le Pen, even if her forces are set to boast about their biggest ever contingent in parliament. 

Macron’s centrist alliance will have dozens fewer members of parliament, but held up better than expected and could even end in second.

The left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) — formed last month after Macron called snap elections — brought the previously deeply divided Socialists, Greens, Communists and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) together in one camp.

Projections by major polling agencies showed the NFP set to be the largest bloc in the new National Assembly with 177 to 198 seats, Macron’s alliance on 152 to 169 seats and the RN on 135 to 145 seats.

That would put no group near the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority and it remains unclear how a new government could be formed.

Macron, who has yet to speak in public about the projections, is calling for “prudence and analysis of the results”, said an aide, asking not to be named.

LFI lawmaker Clementine Autain called on the NFP alliance to gather on Monday to decide on a suitable candidate for prime minister.

In key individual battles, Le Pen’s sister Marie-Caroline narrowly lost out on being a lawmaker, but former president Francois Hollande will return to frontline politics as a Socialist member of parliament.

 ‘Muddle’ 

Firebrand leftist Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of LFI and the controversial figurehead of the NFP coalition, demanded that the left be allowed to form a government.

Only one week ago, some polls had indicated the RN could win an absolute majority with Le Pen’s 28-year-old lieutenant Jordan Bardella becoming prime minister.

Instead, he expressed fury.

Bardella dubbed the local electoral pacts that saw the left and centrists avoid splitting the anti-RN vote as an “alliance of dishonour”.

He said it had thrown “France into the arms of Jean-Luc Melenchon’s extreme left”.

Le Pen, who wants to launch a fourth bid for the presidency in 2027, declared: “The tide is rising. It did not rise high enough this time, but it continues to rise and, consequently, our victory has only been delayed.” 

The first round saw more than 200 tactical-voting pacts between centre and left-wing candidates in seats to attempt to prevent the RN winning an absolute majority.

This has been hailed as a return of the anti-far right “Republican Front” first summoned when Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie faced Jacques Chirac in the run-off of 2002 presidential elections.

The question for France now is if this alliance of last resort can support a stable government, dogged by a still substantial RN bloc in parliament led by Le Pen herself as she prepares a 2027 presidential bid.

Risk analysis firm Eurasia Group said there was “no obvious governing majority” in the new parliament.

“It may take many weeks to resolve the muddle while the present government manages current business.”

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine restart direct negotiations during a visit to Beijing branded a "peace mission" by the European leader.

Orban's trip to China comes a day before NATO is due to hold a summit to mark its 75th anniversary, with setbacks in Ukraine expected to dominate discussions, and follows surprise visits by the Hungarian premier to Russia and Ukraine in the past week.

Orban's trip to Moscow sparked criticism from the European Union, which said it threatened to undermine the bloc's stance on the conflict, while Kyiv's foreign ministry said the visit was made "without any agreement or coordination with Ukraine".

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as saying the "international community should create conditions and provide assistance for the two sides to resume direct dialogue and negotiations".

"Only when all major powers exert positive energy rather than negative energy can the dawn of a ceasefire in this conflict appear as soon as possible," Xi told Orban, according to CCTV.

CCTV said in a readout: "Xi Jinping stressed that it is in the interests of all parties to cease fire and seek a political solution as soon as possible."

"The current focus is to abide by the three principles of 'no spillover of the battlefield, no escalation of the war, and no fueling of the flames by all parties' to cool down the situation as soon as possible," it added. 

Following the talks, Orban wrote on social media platform X that China was "a key power in creating the conditions for peace" in the Russia-Ukraine war.

“This is why I came to meet with President Xi in Beijing, just two months after his official visit to Budapest,” he said. 

Orban — who said his unannounced trip to Beijing was a “Peace mission 3.0” — wrote on his Instagram page he would be heading to Washington after Beijing.

EU presidency 

Orban, the friendliest EU leader towards Moscow, held talks on Friday with President Vladimir Putin, who said Ukraine must withdraw its troops from regions that Russia has annexed if it wants peace.

Hungary took over the European Union’s rotating presidency at the start of July, and the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Orban’s trip to Russia was purely a bilateral affair and he “has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow”.

Close to both Xi and the Kremlin, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv, unlike his fellow EU leaders.

China and Russia’s strategic partnership has grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine. 

Beijing presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

It has however offered a critical lifeline to Russia’s isolated economy, with trade booming since the conflict began.

Major investment 

Xi visited Hungary in May this year, for the final leg of a European tour that also took him to France and Serbia.

Following a meeting then with Orban, Xi said Beijing placed “great importance” on its relations with the EU.

Despite its small size, the Central European country of 9.6 million people has attracted a flood of major Chinese projects in recent years, mostly related to battery and electric vehicle manufacturing.

The Hungarian government boasted about having around 15 billion euros ($16 billion) worth of ongoing projects originating from the Asian country.

Orban has been championing an “Eastern opening” foreign policy since his return to power in 2010, seeking closer economic ties to China, Russia and other Asian countries.

Last October, the Hungarian premier was the sole EU leader to attend the summit for Xi’s flagship Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

PARIS — French voters turned out in large numbers Sunday for the final round of a high-stakes election that is expected to leave the far-right as the biggest force in a deeply divided parliament.

By 5:00pm (15:00 GMT), according to interior ministry figures, some 59.71 per cent of voters had turned out — the most at this stage of a legislative race since 1981, with three hours of polling to go. 

President Emmanuel Macron called the snap elections three years ahead of time after his forces were trounced in June's European parliament vote, a gamble which seems to have backfired.

The mood in France is tense, with 30,000 police deployed to head off trouble and voters anxious about a potential electoral earthquake shifting the political landscape.

In the village of Rosheim, outside the eastern city of Strasbourg, an "anguished" 72-year-old Antoine Schrameck said he feared France would see "a turning point in the history of the republic".

And in Tourcoing, near the northeast city of Lille, 66-year-old retiree Laurence Abbad said she feared violence after the results are announced. “There’s so much tension, people are going mad,” she said.

The president was to assemble Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the leaders of the parties in his outgoing centrist coalition at the Elysee Palace while voting continued, sources in his camp told AFP.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) came top in the June 30 first round, and is on course to repeat the feat in Sunday’s run-off races.

But she may not win the outright majority that would force Macron to appoint Le Pen’s lieutenant, the RN Party leader Jordan Bardella, 28, as prime minister just weeks before Paris hosts the Olympics.

A hung parliament with a large eurosceptic, anti-immigration contingent could weaken France’s international standing and threaten Western unity in the face of Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

European Union officials, already learning to deal with far-right parties in power in Italy and The Netherlands, are watching France closely. 

And in Rome, Pope Francis chose the day of the French vote to warn against “ideological temptations and populists”, adding: “Democracy is not in good health in the world today.” 

With the country on tenterhooks, last week saw more than 200 tactical-voting pacts between centre and left wing candidates in seats to attempt to prevent the RN winning an absolute majority.

This has been hailed as a return of the anti-far right “Republican Front” first summoned when Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie faced Jacques Chirac in the run-off of 2002 presidential elections.

Opinion polls now forecast that the RN will fall well short of the 289 seats needed for an outright majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, while still becoming the largest party.

‘Catastrophic’ 

Such an outcome could allow Macron to possibly build a broad coalition against the RN and keep Attal as prime minister on a caretaker basis. 

But it could also herald a long period of paralysed politics in France, as it prepares to host the Olympics from July 26.

“Today the danger is a majority dominated by the extreme right and that would be catastrophic,” Attal said in a final pre-election interview with French television on Friday.

Many in France remain baffled over why Macron called an election that could end with the RN doubling its presence in parliament and his contingent of centrist MPs halving in number.

But the president, known for his theatrical gestures, appears intent on executing what he calls a “clarification” of French politics, which he hopes will eventually leave three clear camps of far right, centre and hard left.

The final opinion polls published by two organisations on Friday projected the RN would win between 170 to 210 seats, followed by the New Popular Front (NFP) broad left-wing coalition on 145 to 185 and Macron’s centrists on 118 to 150.

While Macron’s Ensemble (Together) alliance is forecast to come third, the more successful NFP is a fragile mix of several warring factions ranging from traditional Socialists to the hard-left France Unbowed of firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon.

‘Weaken France’s voice’ 

“France is on the cusp of a seismic political shift,” said analysts at the European Council on Foreign Relations, warning that even if Macron controlled the government after the election he would face “legislative gridlocks”.

This would weaken “France’s voice on the European and international stage”.

After voting began on Saturday in France’s overseas territories, polls opened in mainland France at 06:00 GMT and were due to close by 18:00 GMT. 

Projections — which usually give a very close idea of the final outcome — are published shortly afterwards, with the political leaders then reacting rapidly to any frenzy that grips the nation.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis decried the state of democracy and warned against "populists" during a short visit to Trieste in Italy's northeast on Sunday ahead of a 12-day trip to Asia — the longest of his papacy.

"Democracy is not in good health in the world today," Francis said during a speech at the city's convention centre to close a national Catholic event.

Without naming any countries, the pope warned against "ideological temptations and populists" on the day that France holds the second round of a snap parliamentary vote that looks set to see the far-right National Rally (RN) Party take the largest share of the vote.

"Ideologies are seductive. Some people compare them to the Pied Piper of Hamelin: They seduce but lead you to deny yourself," he said in reference to the German fairytale.

"The culture of rejection creates a city where there is no place for the poor, the unborn, the fragile, the sick, children, women, the young," he regretted, urging facilitation of social participation from childhood.

Ahead of last month's European parliament elections, bishops in several countries also warned about the rise of populism and nationalism, with far-right parties already holding the reins to power in Italy, Hungary and the Netherlands.

Francis also urged people to "move away from polarisations that impoverish" and hit out at "self-referential power".

After Venice in April and Verona in May, the half-day trip to Trieste, a city of 200,000 inhabitants on the Adriatic Sea that borders Slovenia, marked the third one within Italy this year for the 87-year-old pontiff, who has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.

Since travelling to the French city of Marseille in September 2023, the Argentine Jesuit has limited himself to domestic travel.

But he plans to spend nearly two weeks in Asia in September visiting Indonesia, Singapore and the islands of Papua New Guinea and East Timor.

He arrived in Trieste shortly before 9:00am (06:00 GMT) and embarked on meetings with various groups from the religious and academic spheres, along with migrants and the disabled.

Pope Francis concluded his visit with a mass in front of some 8,500 worshippers in the city’s main public square before heading back to the Vatican in the early afternoon.

WASHINGTON — NATO's 75th anniversary summit was meant to showcase the triumph of a larger, stronger alliance. Instead, leaders are coming together in Washington in the shadow of setbacks in Ukraine and electoral headwinds on both sides of the Atlantic.

US President Joe Biden, fighting for his political life after a disastrous debate against NATO skeptic Donald Trump, will turn his attention away from campaigning to welcome leaders of the 32-nation transatlantic alliance for three days from Tuesday.

Biden has also invited the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, a sign of NATO's growing role in Asia in the face of a rising China.

But the star of the summit is set to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is looking for firm signs of support although NATO will not be extending his country an invitation to join.

Founded in 1949 to provide collective defense against the Soviet Union, NATO returned in some ways to its original mission when allies rallied to Ukraine's defense after it was invaded by Russia in 2022.

Ukrainians heartened most of the West by repelling Russia in its push for a quick victory. But Moscow's troops have been grinding on, making advances in the east.

A European official acknowledged the mood ahead of the NATO summit has become "gloomy" with Ukraine slipping on a fragile frontline.

"This summit will be very different from the initial plans because it is happening at a critical juncture for European security," the official said on condition of anonymity. 

"Russia is today in a situation which is quite comfortable. They think they can simply wait it out," he said.

Trump casts shadow 

Max Bergmann, director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia programme at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the summit comes at "the best of times, and the worst of times".

“The best of times, in the sense that the alliance knows what it’s about — deterring Russia. Alliance members are spending more,” he said.

“But it’s also sort of the worst of times — obviously because of the war in Ukraine, challenges of ramping up European defense spending, concerns about the reliability of the United States.”

Trump, who has voiced admiration in the past for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, has long criticised NATO as an unfair burden on the United States, which spends far more than any other ally.

The 2024 Republican presidential candidate — whose first term was marked by an impeachment over his strong-arming of Zelensky — has insisted he can stop the war, with his advisors floating the possibility of conditioning future US assistance on Ukraine entering negotiations to surrender territory.

Trump has enjoyed a narrow lead against Biden in recent polls. Meanwhile France — where President Emmanuel Macron has mulled sending troops to Ukraine — is also facing a political shift with the strong gains in legislative elections by the far-right, which is historically close to Russia.

Those setbacks come as Putin recently hosted Viktor Orban, the Russia-friendly prime minister of Hungary, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

The NATO summit is also expected to mark a diplomatic debut for a new leader — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after his Labour Party’s landslide election victory. 

Finding a path 

for Ukraine 

NATO’s outgoing secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, has led efforts to put the alliance itself, not the United States, in the lead in coordinating military assistance for Ukraine.

Stoltenberg also wants allies to commit to provide at least 40 billion euros ($43 billion) per year in military aid to Ukraine, ensuring reliable and consistent support as Kyiv prepares for a long war against Russia.

Diplomats have dubbed such measures as “Trump-proofing” the alliance, although few believe that NATO or support for Ukraine could endure in the same way without the United States, which under Biden has approved $175 billion for Kyiv in military and other assistance.

The summit also comes on the heels of two more nations joining NATO — Finland and Sweden — which both overcame earlier reluctance to formally enter the alliance after witnessing the invasion of Ukraine, which had unsuccessfully sought membership.

Diplomats say that the United States is eager to stage a smooth, drama-free meeting and avoid the bitter recriminations at NATO’s summit last year in Lithuania, where Zelensky failed to win firmer commitments for Ukraine to join the alliance.

Ukrainian officials acknowledge there is no chance of a change of heart in Washington. Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have led opposition to Ukrainian membership, believing that admitting a country already at war would be tantamount to NATO itself confronting nuclear-armed Russia.

Biden instead has reached a 10-year security agreement with Ukraine, with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin saying the United States will soon announce $2.3 billion in new military assistance.