标签： Europe

Fresh deadly Russian strikes across multiple regions of Ukraine have left at least eight civilians dead and dozens wounded, marking a violent escalation just days before the Orthodox Easter holiday, as Kyiv officially confirms it remains open to a temporary holiday truce and warns of a dramatic shift in Moscow’s aerial attack tactics.

Local Ukrainian military officials first reported the wave of attacks early Friday, highlighting what they described as a massive combined assault of missiles and drones targeting communities near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Mykola Kalashnyk, head of Kyiv’s regional military administration, announced via Telegram that one civilian was killed and eight more injured in strikes on three satellite towns surrounding the capital: Bucha, Fastiv and Obukhiv. The attack came as Bucha residents just marked the somber fourth anniversary of widespread atrocities committed by Russian invading forces during their early advance on the capital in 2022.

Lesia Podoriako, a 37-year-old Obukhiv resident who was at work with her child when the strike hit her residential building, told the Associated Press she only learned of the damage through social media alerts. “I have no words,” she said, adding that the greatest relief was that all her family members emerged unharmed.

Deadly strikes were reported far beyond the Kyiv region. In northern Ukraine’s Sumy region, one civilian died after a Russian guided aerial bomb hit a local apartment block, according to regional governor Oleh Hryhorov. In eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, a midday Russian bombing of Kramatorsk killed two more people and left three injured, regional military head Vadym Filashkin confirmed. Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv, which has faced near-constant bombardment for months, saw two additional fatalities from sustained drone and missile strikes that stretched from Thursday into Friday, with at least five more civilians wounded. In the southern Kherson region, a Russian drone strike hit a public bus, leaving the driver critically injured and eight passengers hurt. Casualties were also reported in the Zhytomyr region, bringing the total nationwide death toll to at least eight.

Ukrainian officials have drawn sharp attention to what they call a deliberate change in Russian attack strategy. For months, Moscow relied heavily on large-scale nighttime barrages of missiles and drones, but in recent weeks, strikes have increasingly been carried out during daytime working hours. Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s defense ministry, said the tactical shift is an intentional choice to raise civilian harm. “The daytime strikes aim to increase civilian casualties,” Kovalenko wrote in a Telegram post Friday. “That is why the combined attack is carried out on a working day, using a large number of drones and missiles.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha criticized Moscow’s timing, noting that the large-scale assault came directly in response to Kyiv’s Easter truce proposal. “This is how Moscow responds to Ukraine’s Easter ceasefire proposals — with brutal attacks,” Sybiha wrote on social platform X, adding that nearly 500 drones and cruise missiles have been launched against Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Thursday that Kyiv remains willing to implement a temporary truce during Orthodox Easter, which falls on April 12 for both Ukrainian and Russian Orthodox churches following the Julian calendar. The proposal has been relayed to the Kremlin through U.S. diplomatic channels, Zelenskyy said, though Moscow has yet to deliver a formal response.

The Kremlin has already signaled skepticism of a temporary truce. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that Moscow is seeking a long-term peace settlement rather than a short holiday pause. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared a 30-hour Easter truce, but both sides quickly accused one another of violating the ceasefire.

Beyond the shift to daytime strikes, Zelenskyy warned that Russian attacks are also expected to expand beyond the energy infrastructure that has been the primary target of Moscow’s winter aerial campaign. Ukrainian intelligence indicates future strikes will target water supply networks, transportation and logistics hubs including key railway routes, and other critical civilian infrastructure that has so far been spared intense bombardment. “We are already making all necessary preparations to repel these potential attacks,” Zelenskyy added.

On a more positive note for Kyiv, Zelenskyy reported that the overall frontline situation has stabilized in recent weeks, with intelligence assessments from both Ukrainian and British MI6 services describing the current conditions as the most favorable for Ukraine in 10 months. While intense fighting continues across eastern front sectors, Ukrainian forces have successfully disrupted multiple recent Russian offensives and reclaimed small amounts of territory, he said.

As diplomatic efforts continue, Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukraine has invited senior U.S. negotiators to visit Kyiv for further talks on long-term security guarantees and a broader framework to end the full-scale invasion. Recent discussions have also included NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, with Ukraine pushing for clearer, more binding commitments on long-term defense support and collective responses to any future Russian aggression.

In tit-for-tat strikes across the border, Ukraine launched a wave of drone attacks on Russian territory Friday, hitting targets hundreds of kilometers from the shared border. In Russia’s Leningrad region, more than 1,100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border, a drone strike injured two people and set fire to an unoccupied building at the Morozov industrial zone, regional governor Alexander Drozdenko reported. The zone is home to a state-owned explosives and ammunition plant that produces solid fuel for Russia’s Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile systems, and has been under Western sanctions since the 2022 full-scale invasion. In border region Belgorod, 12 people including three Russian soldiers were injured in a late Thursday Ukrainian drone strike, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said. Four additional drones were shot down outside Moscow early Friday, with no casualties or damage reported, according to Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin. Russia’s Defense Ministry added that a total of 192 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and shot down overnight across Russian territory and occupied Crimea.

A dramatic incident unfolded on a German high-speed rail service Thursday evening, ending with the arrest of a male suspect accused of threatening a large-scale attack on the moving train, federal law enforcement officials have confirmed. The event left multiple people with minor injuries after homemade explosive devices were ignited onboard.

The train was traveling along a busy intercity route between the western German city of Cologne and the major financial hub of Frankfurt when the emergency broke out, according to reporting from Germany’s national news agency DPA. Responding to the threat, authorities ordered the full evacuation of all passengers and crew at the Siegburg station, a commuter stop located just a short distance outside Cologne, where the suspect was taken into custody.

Witness and law enforcement accounts detail that the suspect barricaded himself inside a train bathroom for a period before being restrained by officers. A search of his belongings following the arrest uncovered a knife stowed in his backpack. Mass-appeal German tabloid Bild additionally confirmed that the suspect ignited multiple firecrackers and threw the lit devices into the main passenger aisle of the train. The resulting blasts caused superficial flesh wounds to several passengers, none of which have been classified as life-threatening as of the initial investigation.

As of Thursday night, German federal police had not released any immediate additional details about the suspect, including his identity, possible motives, or any connection to extremist groups. Investigations into the incident remain ongoing, with authorities yet to issue further updates on whether the threat was tied to a broader plot or the actions of a lone individual.

Greece is grappling with two overlapping extreme weather events that have already claimed one life, upended travel and infrastructure, and put residents and tourists on high alert ahead of the key Easter holiday travel season. The deadly combination of Storm Erminio, which has brought gale-force winds, torrential rain and widespread flooding across much of the country, and an incoming Saharan dust storm that has turned Mediterranean skies a deep reddish-orange over the popular tourist island of Crete, has emergency services stretched thin.

The fatality was reported in the coastal town of Nea Makri, located roughly 30 kilometers northeast of Athens. Local fire department officials confirmed that the victim, a man in his 50s, was killed early Thursday after being swept away by fast-moving floodwaters while attempting to cross a submerged street. His body was later recovered trapped under a parked car, and the nearby Nea Makri police station also suffered significant basement flooding from the storm surge.

Across the country, Storm Erminio has left a trail of damage. On the Saronic island of Poros, a major bridge collapsed after being battered by floodwaters, and multiple vehicles were washed away by rushing currents. Regional authorities have closed schools in hard-hit areas to keep residents out of harm’s way, and high gale-force winds have forced all ferries to remain anchored at ports across the Aegean, halting inter-island travel for thousands of travelers. Greek media reports that some ferry departures could resume Thursday if weather conditions improve.

Between Wednesday and early Thursday, the Greek fire department received more than 670 calls for emergency assistance, the vast majority from the Attica region surrounding Athens. Most of the calls came from residents reporting downed trees and flood damage to homes and properties, with local media also documenting multiple incidents of motorists trapped inside their vehicles by rising floodwaters.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers south on Crete, Greece’s largest island and one of its top tourist destinations, a different weather hazard has disrupted daily life: a thick plume of Saharan dust carried north across the Mediterranean has blanketed the island, turning the normally bright blue sky a rusty reddish-orange. The dust plume forced the cancellation and diversion of multiple commercial flights into Crete’s major airports Wednesday as low visibility disrupted landing and takeoff operations.

Ahead of the Easter holiday, one of the busiest travel periods of the year for Greece, the travel disruptions have hit Crete particularly hard. Local residents and tourists have taken to wearing protective face masks to avoid inhaling the fine particulate dust, and Greece’s national meteorological service has issued a Level Red weather warning for western and southern Crete, effective from midday Thursday through late Thursday night. The warning notes that widespread infrastructure damage and significant risk to life are likely over the warning period.

Greece’s national weather service has also extended severe storm warnings to most of the rest of the country, cautioning that the long-lasting, intense rain and thunderstorm activity brought by Storm Erminio will continue through Thursday.

### Key Developments in the ICC Chief Prosecutor Sexual Misconduct Case
In a landmark ruling that has sent ripples through global judicial circles, a three-judge independent panel has concluded that a United Nations investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan failed to meet the legal standard to prove wrongdoing, clearing the way for the embattled British barrister to potentially resume his leadership duties.
The findings, reviewed by The Associated Press, mark a major turning point in a case that has roiled the world’s permanent war crimes court since allegations first emerged in late 2024. The ultimate decision on Khan’s future, however, now rests with the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the 123-member governing body that oversees ICC operations. On Wednesday, the ASP voted to extend the ongoing review process, as leaders grapple with an unprecedented situation that has sparked internal staff unrest and drawn intense external geopolitical pressure.
Khan first temporarily stepped aside from his post in May 2025, after the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Service (OIOS) launched a formal probe into claims of non-consensual sexual contact with a female junior ICC staff member. Khan has repeatedly and categorically denied all allegations, asserting he never engaged in any inappropriate behavior—either sexual or otherwise—toward the complainant, and rejecting even claims of a consensual relationship. Through his legal team, he reaffirmed this denial in a statement shared with AP this week.
The U.N. investigation’s final report, a copy of which has been obtained by AP, claimed there was evidence of “nonconsensual sexual contact” between Khan and the aide that occurred across multiple locations: his ICC office, his private residence, and during official overseas work missions. But when the three-judge panel, appointed specifically by the ASP to conduct an independent legal review of the U.N. findings, assessed the more than 5,000 pages of evidence collected by OIOS, it identified critical flaws that undermined the probe’s conclusions.
In its 85-page assessment, the panel noted that U.N. investigators “failed to indicate which witnesses’ testimony they found credible” and left multiple key “narrative inconsistencies” in witness accounts unresolved. The judges ruled that the U.N. probe did not meet the high legal bar of proving misconduct or a breach of professional duty under the ICC’s governing framework, writing that “the resolution of a number of disputes, which remains outstanding, would be necessary before a proper characterisation of the facts can be made.” The panel’s finding is advisory and not legally binding on the ASP, and OIOS was never tasked with making a formal misconduct determination—only with gathering evidence for the ICC’s governing body to evaluate.
### The Origin of the Allegations
The accusations against Khan first came to light in an October 2024 AP investigation, based on internal whistleblower documents reviewed by the news agency. Those documents allege that after Khan encountered the woman, who worked in a separate ICC department, he arranged to transfer her to his own office team. She subsequently became a regular member of his entourage on official international travel.
Specific claims laid out in the whistleblower materials include an incident on a foreign trip where Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on his hotel bed before sexually assaulting her, and another occasion where he banged on her hotel room door for 10 minutes in the early hours of the morning. Other alleged non-consensual behaviors include locking the door of his ICC office and reaching into the woman’s pocket, as well as repeatedly pressuring her to join him on a personal vacation.
Two of the woman’s colleagues first reported the alleged misconduct to the ICC’s internal oversight body in May 2024. At that time, the investigation was closed after just five days when the complainant declined to file a formal report, citing intense fear of professional retaliation. The case has inflicted severe harm on the complainant: the U.N. investigation confirmed that the woman was placed on suicide watch at one point during the proceedings. In an interview, she told AP, “I have been left with little dignity and no privacy.” AP has followed its standard policy of not identifying survivors of sexual misconduct.
### Internal Tension and Geopolitical Context
The panel’s ruling has done little to ease deep divisions within the ICC’s own ranks. A group of current prosecutor’s office staff sent an open letter to the ASP on Wednesday, warning that the U.N. investigation’s findings make it incompatible for the ICC community to maintain confidence in Khan’s leadership if he returns to office. Multiple current and senior ICC staff, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity over fear of retaliation, confirmed that many colleagues remain deeply unsettled by the situation, with widespread anxiety about potential retaliation against staff who spoke out in support of the complainant. The U.N. investigation itself noted that before Khan stepped aside, he was accused of retaliatory behavior toward two ICC staff members who backed the complainant.
This unprecedented disciplinary process, the first of its kind in the ICC’s 23-year history, has forced the ASP to draft new procedural rules from scratch to manage the review. The case also unfolded against a backdrop of intense geopolitical pressure on the court, just weeks before Khan requested historic arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip. A three-judge panel of the ICC approved those warrants in November 2024, prompting immediate retaliation from then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who imposed sweeping sanctions on 11 senior ICC staff including Khan. The sanctions resulted in the closure of judges’ and prosecutors’ U.S. bank accounts and the revocation of their U.S. travel visas, a move that has severely disrupted the court’s daily operations and battered already low staff morale.

After more than a year of high-stakes international investigation, a millennia-old Romanian golden treasure stolen in a brazen armed heist from a Dutch museum has been recovered, bringing partial closure to a cultural crime that sparked diplomatic friction and public outrage.

The Coțofenești helmet, a 2,500-year-old artifact widely regarded as one of Romania’s most precious cultural heritage pieces, and two accompanying golden bracelets dating to around 450 BC were officially unveiled at a press presentation this Thursday. The recovered treasures are now displayed in a secured glass case at the Drents Museum in Assen, guarded by two armed police officers — a visible reminder of the security failures that allowed the theft to occur 14 months ago. A third golden bracelet from the stolen collection remains unaccounted for, as cross-border investigations continue.

The artifact set was on loan from Bucharest’s National Museum of Romanian History for the museum’s popular exhibition “Dacia — Empire of Gold and Silver”, which explores the history of the Dacian civilization that inhabited modern-day Romania before the Roman conquest of 106 AD. In November 2024, an armed criminal gang used explosives to break into the Drents Museum, making off with the priceless treasures. The heist immediately triggered widespread anger across Romania, where the helmet is recognized as a defining cultural and political symbol of ancient Dacia, and ignited fierce debate over global cultural artifact loaning practices and museum security standards.

The theft also sparked a diplomatic rift between the Romanian and Dutch governments. After the loss, the Dutch government reportedly paid out 5.7 million euros in insurance compensation to Romania; Romanian officials have declined to comment on whether that payout will be adjusted following the recovery of most of the collection.

Prosecutors on both sides have confirmed that the helmet and two bracelets were formally handed over to law enforcement authorities earlier this week as part of a pre-trial agreement reached with defense lawyers representing three suspects in the case. Three men — two in their mid-30s and one 21-year-old — were arrested just days after the heist, but investigators found no trace of the artifacts at the time of arrest. The suspects are scheduled to go on trial later this month.

Robert van Langh, director of the Drents Museum, told reporters that the helmet sustained a minor dent during the theft but is fully restorable, while the two recovered bracelets remain in pristine condition. Romanian lead prosecutor Daniela Buruiană described the recovery as a long-awaited victory for cultural heritage protection. “We are happy that we are now witnessing here the recovery of the Romanian artefacts,” she said, adding that investigations remain active to locate the final missing bracelet.

Romanian prosecutor Rareș-Petru Stan praised Dutch law enforcement counterparts for their persistent work over the 14-month investigation, noting the massive cultural and public impact the theft had on Romania. “We are continuing the investigation to find the last bracelet, and we are grateful that we will be able to return this treasure to the Romanian people,” he said.

Art crime experts have theorized that the artifacts were stolen to order for a private collector on the black market, a common trend for high-value ancient cultural pieces. The heist also drew attention to systemic security gaps at small and regional museums across the Netherlands, which have increasingly become targets for art thieves in recent years. Just two years before the Dacian treasure heist, two Andy Warhol works were stolen from a southern Dutch gallery, and six years prior, a famous Frans Hals painting was stolen from a small municipal museum in Leerdam. In all of these cases, low-security display cases provided minimal resistance to raiders.

The aftermath of the 2024 theft also brought domestic political fallout in Romania: Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, the former head of the National Museum of Romanian History who approved the loan of the treasures to the Drents Museum, faced intense public criticism and stepped down from his position just days after the heist. Speaking to RTL Nieuws after the recovery, he expressed profound relief at the helmet’s return. “This is a unique item in European and even global cultural heritage,” he said. “The helmet is an important social and political symbol of Dacian civilisation.”