World

WASHINGTON — NATO allies announced on Wednesday they had started the long-promised transfer of F-16 jets to Ukraine as leaders meet for a summit in Washington clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.

With the pomp of the three-day gathering in the US capital, President Joe Biden is aiming to rally the West and also reassure US voters amid pre-election scrutiny on whether at 81 — six years older than the alliance — he remains fit for the job.

Biden individually welcomed the other 31 leaders of the alliance before urging them to keep pace with Russia's military production which has stepped up sharply in the two years since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.

"We can — and will — defend every inch of NATO territory and we'll do it together," Biden told the North Atlantic Council, the formal decision-making body of the alliance, convened in an air-conditioned convention centre as Washington sweltered in a heat wave.

Biden announced that Denmark and The Netherlands had begun sending US-made F-16 jets to Ukraine — making good on a key promise last year to Kyiv, which has struggled to gain parity in the air with Russia.

Biden earlier announced new air defense systems for Ukraine and said the United States had agreed to place long-range missiles periodically in Germany.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the F-16 transfer “concentrates Vladimir Putin’s mind on the fact that he will not outlast Ukraine, he will not outlast us and, if he persists, the damage that will continue to be done to Russia and its interests will only deepen”.

“The quickest way to get to peace is through a strong Ukraine,” Blinken said.

But Donald Trump, who is edging out Biden in recent polls, has mused about bringing a quick peace settlement by forcing Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia.

The Republican mogul has repeatedly questioned the utility of NATO — formed in 1949 as collective defense against Moscow — which he sees as an unfair burden on the United States.

‘Terror must fail’ 

On the eve of the summit, Russia fired a barrage of missiles on Ukraine, killing dozens, including in Kyiv where a children’s hospital was reduced to debris.

Biden invited to the summit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who voiced gratitude for the F-16s.

The new aircraft will “bring just and lasting peace closer, demonstrating that terror must fail”, Zelensky wrote on social media.

The summit will look for ways to “Trump-proof” the alliance including by having NATO itself take over coordination of arms delivery from the United States.

Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has also secured a pledge to keep supplying arms at the same rate — some 40 billion euros ($43 billion) annually — that NATO members have been since Russia invaded. 

“I expect that regardless of the outcome of the US elections, the US will remain a strong and staunch NATO ally,” Stoltenberg said as leaders gathered for the summit.

Biden has also invited four key Pacific partners — Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand — as he seeks to increase NATO’s role in managing a rising China.

 ‘Irreversible’ Ukraine path to NATO 

Ukraine wants firm assurances that it will one day join NATO, which considers an attack on any member an attack on all.

Several diplomats said negotiations had settled on wording of a statement that will voice support for Ukraine’s “irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership”.

Kyiv’s membership enjoys wide backing from Baltic and Eastern European nations still haunted by decades under the Soviet yoke.

But Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz have led opposition, concerned that the alliance would effectively be entering war with nuclear-armed Russia as it occupies swathes of Ukraine.

President Alexander Stubb of Finland — which, like Sweden, joined NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — hailed the language as a message to Putin that he is failing in his goal of pushing back the alliance.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, visiting days after his Labour Party swept to power, promised Zelensky that Britain — unlike the United States — was united across partisan lines on supporting Ukraine.

PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday put responsibility on parliament to negotiate a broad coalition reflecting France's "republican institutions" to break the stalemate following an inconclusive snap election.

"Nobody won," Macron said in a written message to voters published in French regional newspapers about the election. 

"I am asking all political forces who recognise themselves in the republican institutions, the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, a European orientation and the defence of France's independence, to start a sincere and fair dialogue to build a solid, and by definition pluralist, majority," Macron said.

The formulation appeared designed to exclude Marine Le Pen's far-right RN Party, but also implicitly far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon's France Unbowed (LFI), a big portion of the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance.

The election called by Macron with the aim of "clarifying" the political landscape in the end left France with a hung parliament.

Centrists allied with Macron were looking Wednesday for an alliance with the right to counter ambitions by the NFP which emerged, surprisingly, with most seats in the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal's government will remain in power as Paris makes final preparations for the Olympics, starting in just over two weeks.

But Attal's centrist group in parliament lost ground and the hunt is on for his successor.

French leftists believe that as the largest bloc in the new National Assembly with some 190 seats they are entitled to propose a new prime minister.

"Macron is clinging to denial and refuses to accept his defeat," LFI politician Manon Aubry posted on X.

But many in Macron’s centrist camp, which holds around 160 seats, would refuse to support a new government that includes figures from the hard left.

The president’s Renaissance outfit appeared divided as it sought allies in the lower chamber, with some seeking to include forces ranging from the centre left to the right in a broad coalition, and others only wishing to join forces with conservatives.

Aurore Berger, re-elected on Sunday and minister in charge of gender equality in the outgoing government, said her group wanted to ally with the conservative Republicans and other members of parliament near the centre.

Republicans parliamentary leader Laurent Wauquiez said his party would come up with a “legislative pact” it would propose to other groups.

‘Move forward’ 

Until Wednesday’s letter, Macron had laid low following the election, and was away on Wednesday for a NATO summit in Washington. 

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, who was also re-elected, told the CNews broadcaster he could support a “right-wing prime minister”.

Former prime minister Edouard Philippe, a Macron ally, has called for a deal between the centrists and the conservatives “to move forward and be able to manage the country’s affairs for at least a year”.

But Francois Bayrou, a centrist Macron supporter, urged the president to name a prime minister who could “bring together” both sides of parliament.

Any contender would have to survive a confidence vote in parliament when it opens for business next week.

The broad leftist NFP alliance including Greens, Socialists, Communists and LFI has said they would suggest a candidate for prime minister by the end of the week.

Divisive LFI leader Melenchon has put forward 33-year-old Clemence Guette, who prepared his programme when he ran for president in 2022.

The more moderate Socialist leader Olivier Faure has also said that he would be willing to lead a Cabinet himself.

Despite doing less well than expected, the anti-immigration RN and allies still gained ground in the National Assembly, from 89 seats in 2022 to more than 140 today.

Winning an absolute majority “has only been postponed”, she told reporters.

The party’s 28-year-old leader, Jordan Bardella, urged his members of parliament to be “perfectly beyond reproach” in their posts, after a campaign in which several RN candidates were exposed as ignorant about policy or for former extremist behaviour. 

PARIS — French parties sought to project strength and gather allies on Tuesday, with the government adrift following an election in which no one political force claimed a clear majority.

Having defied expectations to top the polls, new MPs from the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) alliance began showing up to visit their new workplaces in parliament ahead of a first session on July 18.

But the coalition of Greens, Socialists, Communists and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) is still debating over who to put forward as a potential prime minister and whether it could be open to working in a broader coalition.

Combined, the left-leaning parties' hold 193 of 577 seats in the National Assembly and are well short of the 289-seat threshold for a majority.

Nevertheless, members plan to name a potential prime minister "by the end of the week", leading LFI figure Mathilde Panot said.

In the French system, the president nominates the prime minister, who must be able to survive a confidence vote in parliament — a tricky proposition with three closely-balanced political forces in play.

Any left-leaning government would need “broader support in the national assembly,” influential Socialist MP Boris Vallaud acknowledged in an interview with broadcaster France Inter.

Macron’s camp came second in Sunday’s vote, taking 164 seats after voters came together to block the far-right National Rally (RN) from power.

This left the anti-immigration, anti-Brussels outfit in third place with 143 MPs.

The president has kept Prime Minister Gabriel Attal’s government in place for now, hoping horse-trading in the coming days and weeks could leave an opening for him to reclaim the initiative.

However, “there has been an institutional shift. Everyone thinks it’s up to the newly-elected National Assembly to bring forth a solution, which [Macron] would simply have to accept,” wrote commentator Guillaume Tabard in conservative daily Le Figaro.

‘None can govern alone’

In a sign that some divisions remain, the left parties’ MPs planned to enter the parliament at different times throughout the day.

The Socialists are still hoping to glean a few more members for their group to outweigh LFI and have a greater say over the alliance’s direction.

Meanwhile, members of Macron’s camp were eyeing both the centre-left Socialists and conservative Republicans as possible allies of convenience for a new centrist-dominated coalition.

“None of the three leading blocs can govern alone,” Stephane Sejourne, head of Macron’s Renaissance party, wrote in daily Le Monde.

“The centrist bloc is ready to talk to all the members of the republican spectrum,” he added — while naming red lines including that coalition members must support the EU and Ukraine and maintain business-friendly policies.

These requirements, he warned, “necessarily exclude LFI” and its caustic founder Jean-Luc Melenchon.

Markets are paying close attention to the EU’s second-largest economy.

Ratings agency Moody’s warned it could downgrade its credit score for France’s more than three-trillion-euro debt pile if a future government reverses Macron’s widely-loathed 2023 pension reform, echoing a Monday warning from S&P on the deficit.

What next?

Even as politicians struggle to define the immediate path ahead, eyes are also already turning to the next time French voters will be called to the polls.

Macron’s term expires in 2027 and he cannot run a third time — potentially leaving the way open for his twice-defeated opponent, RN figurehead Marine Le Pen, to finally capture the presidency.

The far-right outfit has been digesting a disappointing result after polls suggested it could take an absolute majority in parliament.

On Tuesday, party sources told AFP its director-general Gilles Penelle had resigned.

Penelle, elected last month to the European Parliament, was the architect of a “push-button” plan supposed to prepare the RN for snap elections, which ultimately failed to produce a full roster of credible candidates.

The far right outfit’s progress is undeniable, having advanced from just eight MPs soon after Macron’s first presidential win in 2017 to 143 today.

Greens and LFI leaders nevertheless called Tuesday for the RN to be shut out of key parliamentary posts.

“Every time we give them jobs, we increase their competence. It’s important not to give them jobs with responsibilities,” leading LFI lawmaker Mathilde Panot said.

“Today we represent 10 million French people with 143 MPs,” retorted RN representative Thomas Menage, calling the appeal “anti-democratic”.

As for Macron, he has sought to stay above the fray, planning for a trip to Washington for a NATO summit starting on Wednesday where allies may be in need of reassurance of France’s stability.

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.