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Swedish Foreign Minister Billstrom Steps Down

FILE - Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
FILE - Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
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Swedish Foreign Minister Billstrom Steps Down

FILE - Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
FILE - Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Billström speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Wednesday he will step down next week after almost two years in office, during which his traditionally non-aligned country joined NATO.
"It is with a mixture of sadness and pride that I have today informed the prime minister that I will leave the post of foreign minister at the opening of parliament next week," Billstrom, a member of the conservative Moderate Party, said in a post on X.
The 50-year-old, who became foreign minister in October 2022, said he would leave politics but had not decided what he would do next, reported Reuters.
"The government has under Tobias' lead clearly changed Swedish foreign policy's priorities," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Instagram.
Billstrom, who previously served as migration minister, said he had been considering stepping down for some time.

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Ukrainian Drone Hits Industrial Plant Deep Inside Russia

Explosions are seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 8, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Explosions are seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 8, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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Ukrainian Drone Hits Industrial Plant Deep Inside Russia

Explosions are seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 8, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Explosions are seen in the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine March 8, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

A Ukrainian drone hit an industrial facility overnight in Russia's Volga river region of Chuvashia, some 1,300 km (800 miles) from the border with Ukraine, the regional governor said on Sunday.
The strike - one of the deepest yet into Russia by a Ukrainian drone - caused no casualties, Chuvashia Governor Oleg Nikolayev said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters.
Emergency services were at the scene at the Kombinat Burevestnik facility in the region's capital, Cheboksaray, Nikolayev added. He provided no further details about the strike and the extent of any damage was unclear.
Russian authorities said earlier that air defense units had destroyed 88 Ukrainian drones overnight, with no injuries or other damage reported.
Russia's Defense Ministry said 52 of the drones were destroyed over the border Belgorod region, while 13 were over the Lipetsk region and nine were over the Rostov region, both in Russia's southwest.
The rest of the Ukrainian drones were downed over Russia's Voronezh, Astrakhan, Krasnodar, Ryazan and Kursk regions, the ministry said.
Russia's aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Telegram that the airports of Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod and Kazan had been closed for several hours overnight to ensure air safety.
Unofficial Russian news Telegram channels said the Ukrainian attacks on Ryazan and Lipetsk had targeted local oil refineries.
Ukrainian Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, who heads the Center for Countering Disinformation, part of the National Security and Defense Council, said, without providing evidence or saying directly that Ukrainian drones were involved, the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant in Lipetsk was under attack.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports on what was targeted in the attacks.
Ukraine has said its attacks in the war, which Russia started three years ago, aim to destroy infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in response to Russia's continued bombing of Ukraine.