Ukrainian Drone Hits Upscale Moscow Highrise in Rare Attack

Debris dangles from a damaged apartment building on Mosfilmovskaya street after a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP)
Debris dangles from a damaged apartment building on Mosfilmovskaya street after a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP)
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Ukrainian Drone Hits Upscale Moscow Highrise in Rare Attack

Debris dangles from a damaged apartment building on Mosfilmovskaya street after a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP)
Debris dangles from a damaged apartment building on Mosfilmovskaya street after a Ukrainian drone attack in Moscow, Monday, May 4, 2026. (AP)

A Ukrainian drone hit a residential high-rise building in an upscale Moscow neighborhood overnight into Monday, the Russian capital's mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.

The rare attack on heavily protected Moscow comes just days before Russia's grand annual May 9th parade, which this year will be held without military hardware amid a heightened threat from Ukrainian strikes.

"A drone crashed into a building in the area of the Mosfilmovskaya (street). There are no casualties," Sobyanin said, referring to an expensive district next to the Moscow film studio and some 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Kremlin.

He added that the two drones that targeted Moscow have been repelled by the air defense forces.

Russian state broadcaster Rossiya-1 published a video showing collapsed walls and broken doors inside a damaged apartment.

Ukraine has fired drones into Russia throughout Moscow's more than four-year offensive, which has killed thousands and displaced millions.

Kyiv has in the past weeks stepped up its strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure hubs: refineries, ports and depots.

But Ukrainian drones rarely reach Moscow, which is heavily guarded by numerous air defense systems.

Talks to end the war between the neighbors have gone nowhere.

Moscow is gearing up to hold its May 9th parade, which marks the victory over Nazi Germany. It has become a central event under President Vladimir Putin's long rule.

- Drone attacks -

Ukraine said Sunday it had hit several Russian ships -- a cruise missile carrier and three shadow fleet tankers -- as both sides fired hundreds of drones in a spree that killed at least eight people.

The two neighbors have been firing waves of explosive-packed drones at each other daily throughout the four-year war, as talks to end the conflict have gone nowhere.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday vowed to step up retaliatory strikes on Russian energy sites if Moscow did not halt its invasion.

"Russia can end its war at any moment. Prolonging the war will only expand the scale of our defensive operations," he said on social media.

The Ukrainian leader said his troops had struck a vessel equipped with cruise missiles at the port of Primorsk, in Russia's northwestern Leningrad region.

The region's oil export terminals have been hit several times in recent weeks, triggering massive fires that billow plumes of toxic black smoke into the atmosphere.

Kyiv says the strikes have knocked out billions of dollars' worth of Russia's vital export earnings.

Zelensky said Sunday three of Russia's so-called shadow tankers -- ageing vessels that ferry its sanctioned oil around the world -- were struck, one at Primorsk and two off the southern Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

He posted night-vision footage of a naval drone approaching one tanker at Novorossiysk.

The Russian governor of the Leningrad region had earlier confirmed a fire at the port after Ukrainian attacks.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear and Russian officials gave no details.

- 600 drones -

On the Russian side of the front line, two people were killed in the Belgorod border region, one near Moscow and a teenager in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine in separate attacks overnight and throughout Sunday.

In Ukraine, two were killed in the coastal Odesa region, one in the frontline Kherson region and another in an attack on the industrial city of Dnipro.

Photos from Dnipro showed the roof of a five-storey apartment block destroyed, wooden beams exposed and debris scattered into partially collapsed top-floor apartments.

Russia fired 268 drones and one ballistic missile in the overnight barrage, Kyiv's air force said.

Ukraine's army launched 334 drones at Russia, Moscow's defense ministry said.

Kyiv calls its attacks on Russia fair retaliation for Russia's nightly barrages of its cities.

Both sides deny targeting civilians.

Tens of thousands have been killed -- the vast majority in Ukraine -- since Russia invaded in February 2022.

In April, Russia fired a record number of long-range attack drones at Ukraine -- an average of more than 200 a day -- according to AFP analysis of data from Kyiv's air force.



Israel Says France Bans Its Officials from Weapons Show

A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
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Israel Says France Bans Its Officials from Weapons Show

A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)
A convoy of military vehicles is seen in southern Lebanon from the Upper Galilee on the Israel-Lebanon border, 01 June 2026. (EPA)

Israel's defense ministry said on Monday France had banned Israeli government officials from a major weapons show in Paris, and had imposed restrictions on companies from the country exhibiting there.

France's defense ministry — which barred Israel from taking part in the 2024 Eurosatory arms exhibition over the war ‌in Gaza — ‌later said Israeli companies would ‌be ⁠limited to showing equipment ⁠and materials related to air defense and missile defense, but did not go into any detail on the reasons.

It did not address the report that Israeli officials would not be allowed to attend.

"This is a disgraceful decision, ⁠one that reeks of political and ‌commercial calculation, and ‌regrettably, it comes as no surprise," the Israeli defense ministry ‌spokesperson said.

"It fits a deeply troubling ‌pattern in French conduct in recent years — a pattern that has consistently placed France on the wrong side of history."

Israeli-French relations have deteriorated since late 2023, with ‌Paris criticizing Israel's conduct in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, and ⁠the ⁠decision by Israel and the United States to launch a war against Iran earlier this year.

Israel's right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also protested at President Emmanuel Macron's decision last year to recognize Palestinian statehood.

More than 2,600 exhibitors are due to take part in this year's Eurosatory — one of the world's largest weapons shows — which begins on June 15, according to its website.


Trump Says He Has Not Heard from Iran That They Are Suspending Talks

 President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump Says He Has Not Heard from Iran That They Are Suspending Talks

 President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP)

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had not heard from Iranians that they were suspending talks with the Washington, but added that silence would be fine and he was willing to wait.

"I think we've ‌been talking ‌too much if you ‌want ⁠to know the truth. ⁠I think going silent would be very good, and that could be for a long time," Trump said in an interview with NBC News.

"It ⁠doesn't mean we're going ‌to go ‌and start dropping bombs all over there," ‌Trump was quoted as saying. "We'll ‌just go silent. We'll keep the blockade."

"I think I can wait as long as they want. They're ‌losing a fortune."

The Iranian state news agency Tasnim reported earlier ⁠that Iran ⁠was halting indirect negotiations with the US after Israel ordered its troops to push deeper into Lebanon, complicating diplomatic efforts to end three months of war.

Trump said the Iranians were better negotiators than fighters, but that he had not been informed that they were suspending talks.


Türkiye’s Erdogan Distances Govt from Main Opposition Crisis, Warns Against Unrest

30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
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Türkiye’s Erdogan Distances Govt from Main Opposition Crisis, Warns Against Unrest

30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)
30 October 2025, Türkiye, Ankara: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Türkiye, speaks at the press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after talks at the presidential palace. (dpa)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the government would not be drawn into disputes within Türkiye's main opposition CHP and would not allow unrest on the streets, in ‌his first ‌public comments ‌since ⁠a court ruling last ⁠month annulled the party's 2023 congress and removed its leadership.

The court ruling effectively reinstated former CHP ⁠chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a divisive ‌figure ‌within the party who ‌lost a presidential election ‌to Erdogan in 2023.

Speaking after a cabinet meeting in Ankara, Erdogan said ‌the government had no part in a ⁠political ⁠and legal struggle that had "spilled from party congress halls into court corridors" and would not allow "the streets to be thrown into turmoil" or the public to be pitted against security forces.