Russian drones target two Ukrainian cities, killing at least one person
The assault targeted the southern port city of Odesa and the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, hitting apartment blocks, officials said on Friday.
The barrage of more than 20 drones injured almost two dozen civilians, including girls aged 17 and 12, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The strikes came as a Kremlin official said he expected an announcement next week on dates for a fresh round of direct peace talks.
'Russia continues its tactics of targeted terror against our people,' Mr Zelensky said on messaging app Telegram, urging the US and the European Union to increase economic pressure on Moscow.
Russia has shown no sign of relenting in its attacks, more than three years after it invaded its neighbour. It is pressing a summer offensive on parts of the 620-mile front line and has kept up long-range strikes that have hit civilian areas.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the date for the next round peace talks is expected to be agreed next week.
Kyiv officials have not recently spoken about resuming talks with Russia, last held when delegations met in Istanbul on June 2, though Ukraine continues to offer a ceasefire and support US-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting.
The two rounds of brief talks yielded only agreements on the exchange of prisoners and wounded soldiers.
A fire caused by Russia's nighttime strike on Odesa engulfed a four-storey residential building, which partly collapsed and injured three emergency workers.
A separate fire spread across the upper floors of a 23-storey high-rise, leading to the evacuation of around 600 residents.
In Kharkiv, at least eight drones hit civilian infrastructure, injuring four people including two children, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service.
Russia launched 80 Shahed and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine's air force said, claiming that air defences shot down or jammed 70 of them.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
Hungary's LGBTQ+ community defies government ban on Pride march
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary's LGBTQ+ community is preparing for a face-off with the country's autocratic government, and plans to push ahead with a march in the capital on Saturday despite a government ban and threats of legal repercussions. The populist party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in March fast-tracked a law through parliament that made it an offense to hold or attend events that 'depict or promote' homosexuality to minors aged under 18. Orbán earlier made clear that Budapest Pride — marking its 30th anniversary this year — was the explicit target of the law. But on Friday, Pride organizers along with Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, European Commissioner Hadja Lahbib and Vice President of the European Parliament Nicolae Stefanuta said the march will take place Saturday despite official threats of heavy fines for participants and even jail time for the liberal mayor. They expect the march to be the largest ever Pride event in Hungary. 'The government is always fighting against an enemy against which they have to protect Hungarian people ... This time, it is sexual minorities that are the target,' Karácsony told a news conference. 'We believe there should be no first and second class citizens, so we decided to stand by this event.' A crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights Critics of the Pride ban and other Hungarian legislation targeting LGBTQ+ communities say the policies are reminiscent of similar restrictions against sexual minorities in Russia. Hungary's recent law allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify individuals that attend a prohibited event. Being caught could result in fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($586.) Orbán, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in the European Union, has in recent years prohibited same-sex adoption and banned any LGBTQ+ content including in television, films, advertisements and literature that is available to minors. His government argues exposure to such content negatively affects children's development. But opponents say the moves are part of a broader effort to scapegoat sexual minorities and consolidate his conservative base. Fines and facial recognition After police rejected several requests by organizers to register the Pride march, citing the recent law, Karácsony joined with organizers and declared it would be held as a separate municipal event — something he said does not require police approval. But Hungary's government has remained firm, insisting that holding the Pride march, even if it is sponsored by the city, would be unlawful. In a video on Facebook this week, Hungary's justice minister, Bence Tuzson, warned Karácsony that organizing Pride or encouraging people to attend is punishable by up to a year in prison. At the news conference Friday, Karácsony sought to dispel fears that police would impose heavy fines on Pride attendees. 'Police have only one task tomorrow: to guarantee the safety and security of those gathered at the event,' he said. Speaking to state radio on Friday, Orbán said that attending Pride 'will have legal consequences, but it can't reach the level of physical abuse.' 'The police could disperse such events, they have the right to do so. But Hungary is a civilized country,' he said. Right-wing counter-demonstrations On Thursday, radical right-wing party Our Homeland Movement announced it had requested police approval to hold assemblies at numerous locations across the city, many of them on the same route as the Pride march. Later, a neo-Nazi group said it too would gather Saturday at Budapest City Hall, from which the Pride march is set to depart. The group declared that only 'white, Christian, heterosexual men and women' were welcome to attend its demonstration. European officials respond Hungary's Pride ban has prompted a backlash from many of the country's partners and allies. Over 30 foreign embassies signed a joint statement this week expressing their commitment to 'every person's rights to equal treatment and nondiscrimination, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen posted on social platform X on Wednesday, calling on Hungarian authorities to allow Pride to proceed 'without fear of any criminal or administrative sanctions against the organizers or participants.' More than 70 members of the European Parliament, as well as other officials from countries around Europe, are expected to participate in Saturday's march. Lahbib, the European Commissioner, said Friday that 'all eyes are on Budapest' as Pride marchers defy the government's ban. 'The EU is not neutral on hate,' she said. 'We cannot stay passive. We cannot tolerate what is intolerable.'
ITV News
3 hours ago
- ITV News
Thousands turn out for 'illegal' Budapest Pride march
Words by Jamie Summers, ITV News Content Editor Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Budapest on Saturday to join the city's Pride event, despite it being outlawed by the Hungarian government. Organisers say it is the largest attendance ever for Budapest Pride, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, as people turned out in defiance of the law to support the country's LGBTQ+ community. Earlier this year, right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán's government passed a new law which effectively made Pride illegal by limiting citizens' right to assembly. It is the only country in the European Union to have banned Pride events. But the move became a lightning rod for public anger, with thousands of Hungarians taking part in weekly protests in March and April against measures which many saw as an attack on civil liberties. Supporters of Pride said consistently they would press ahead with the event, regardless of its legal status. Right-wing groups planned counter-protests along the march's route. Earlier this month, the Mayor of Budapest gave his approval for the parade to be held in a bid to sidestep the law, but he was subsequently overruled by police. Despite the threat of punishment, the circumstances around the event appeared to drive many to attend. 'It's very difficult to grow up as a gay man in such a conservative country like this, to become aware that you're different than others, and then accept that after all you're not different at all,' said Bálint, a 24-year-old gay man. 'I'm really angry at our government because they are tarnishing the rainbow so much. I came to previous Pride Parades with much less of a knot in my stomach.' But others from beyond the LGBTQ+ also attended in protest at the government's actions. Veronika, who regularly attends Budapest Pride, told ITV News this year's event is especially important. 'I came with the same love as in previous years, but this current government is so much against it. Why can't just everyone be happy?' Under the new law, police can use facial recognition technology to issue fines ranging from around 20 to 500 euros. It is not yet clear whether the threat to issue fines will materialise in the coming weeks - but opposition parties have indicated they will help to pay any fines or challenge them in court. David Bedő, an opposition MP from the centrist Momentum Party, helped to organise the protests in April and encouraged people to turn out on Saturday. 'I know personally a lot of friends, acquaintances who who've never been to Pride before and now they said they're joining,' he told ITV News. 'I think this year's Pride turned into an anti-government demonstration pretty much. In the current situation, the government and the police cannot afford that anything. It's a strong message for the government.' Bedő was banned from the Hungarian parliament for more than two months when the vote to ban Pride passed, after he and other opposition MPs let off smoke bombs in the chamber in protest – but feels the government have overreached. He said: 'My first Pride was back in 2012, more than 13 years ago now. "I was 20 when I first attended pride, I've been attending ever since, but I think this is probably going to be the most important Pride in the history of Hungary, so far at least.' Dozens of politicians from across Europe also attended the parade, including the Mayors or deputy Mayors of Oslo, Barcelona and Amsterdam, while some organisations from the UK also took part. 'What's happening in Hungary is part of a broader, deeply worrying global trend, where LGBTI rights are under attack and Pride marches are increasingly being cancelled, banned, or violently disrupted,' said Sacha Deshmukh, Chief Executive of Amnesty International UK. 'Hungarians will not be pushed back. We must all continue to fight for a free, equal, and rights respecting Hungary.' The Orbán government has previously been accused of targeting LGBTQ+ people, with bans on same-sex adoption and restrictions on people's ability to change their gender over recent years. ILGA-Europe, an advocacy group which promotes LGBTQ+ rights across the continent, recently awarded Hungary one of the lowest scores in the European Union for its approach, with the ban on Pride singled out as an example of an increasingly authoritarian measure. After 15 years in power, Orbán goes into a general election next spring amid poor polling and a resurgent opposition, indicating he may face an uphill battle to stay in power. The move to ban Pride marches is the latest issue which has invoked stinging criticism from the European Union, but the Hungarian government shows little sign of changing course - Orbán posted on X this week, calling on the EU to 'refrain from interfering in the law enforcement affairs of Member States, where it has no role to play.'
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Moment Putin's 'suicide bikers' roar into hell: Russian commanders send waves of motorbike troops into no-man's-land in desperate one-way missions
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