Kyiv Attack, Hungarian Shift, Trump's Religious Gambitactive

The head of the Patrol Police Department, Yevhenii Zhukov, has submitted his resignation following the terrorist attack in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district that occurred on Saturday.

Law enforcement authorities have launched a criminal case regarding the improper performance of official duties by police officers during the terrorist act in Kyiv on April 18.

Trump appears to have crossed a line with his Christian supporters. Will it come back to bite him in the midterms? Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US. The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor. Continue reading...

Hungary’s incoming Prime Minister Peter Magyar presented the first steps he plans to take to regain access to European Union funding frozen due to corruption and rule of law concerns related to his predecessor’s policies.

In Plato's allegory of the cave, the shadows offer a lesson for politics, applicable in all times and places, because what is presented is not always what is actually happening, nor what we can expect in the near future. Often, after an election, enthusiasm and good intentions outweigh objective data. In my opinion, this might be what is happening in Hungary today with Viktor Orbán's resounding defeat, which brought an end to 16 consecutive years in power as prime minister (2010-2026), and twenty years if one includes his previous term (1998-2002). Even more so than in Budapest, there was joy abroad at this eloquent result, because he was not just any leader, but the embodiment of what was called "illiberal democracy." This term, despite being proudly coined and used by Orbán himself, is an oxymoron, combining two words or concepts with opposing meanings. Democracy does not have adjectives; when it does, it is simply not democracy, but something else, such as the "popular democracies" that were applied to the Cuban dictatorship. Its enthusiastic supporters, who almost always live outside the island, define it as a "different" kind of democracy. Furthermore, it is difficult to find other opportunities where so many people from the left, liberals, and even those from the "woke" movement...

Eight people injured in a shooting in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district on Saturday, April 18, are currently being treated in hospitals in the capital.

In 2016, Florent Montaclair stepped into the spotlight when he received the Gold Medal of Philology, a sort of Nobel Prize for the discipline. In fact, the award was created by Montaclair himself. It took an investigation by Romanian journalists to uncover this hoax, which is now the subject of a judicial inquiry in France.

Hungary’s Tisza party increased its parliamentary majority by three seats after the final votes were counted in last Sunday’s election. The latest results strengthen Hungarian Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar’s mandate to dismantle changes made by outgoing leader Viktor Orbán during 16 years in power. The final tally gives Tisza 141 seats out of 199 in the Hungarian national assembly, up from 138 in previous projections. This result places the party well above the two-thirds special majority that is required to pass constitutional reforms. Orbán’s Fidesz party came in a distant second with only 52 seats in the parliament. “Here are the results of the 2026 parliamentary election: an unprecedented majority, an unprecedented mandate — and, at the same time, an unprecedented responsibility,” Magyar wrote in an X post on Saturday. He added that he could be officially sworn in as prime minister in mid-May. Magyar’s supermajority could facilitate the swift approval of democratic reforms necessary to unlock €17 billion of EU funds that were frozen over rule-of-law shortcomings under Orbán’s tenure. Under the current rules, the Hungarian government has to fulfill 27 EU-mandated conditions — officially known as “super milestones” — that will reform the country’s procurement rules, and increase judicial independence and academic freedom as a precondition to claim any funding. Over the weekend, Magyar and his future ministers held talks in Budapest with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s chief of staff, Bjoern Seibert, and several director-generals. The goal was to outline a roadmap to release the money and discuss a €90 billion loan to Ukraine that was vetoed by Orbán. “The meetings were an early opportunity for practical discussions on how to move forward and make real progress to unlock EU funds earmarked for Hungary, that are frozen due to corruption and rule-of-law concerns. This necessary work will continue,” the Commission wrote in a statement on Sunday. Time is of the essence as €10 billion in funding allocated to Hungary under the EU’s post-Covid recovery is set to expire after an Aug. 31 deadline. Meanwhile, the Commission signaled that it could release the first EU loan payment to Kyiv at the end of May, provided Magyar follows through on his pledge to lift the veto.

Hungary ended 16 years of Viktor Orban’s rule, Pope Leo XIV began his first African tour with a historic first papal visit to Algeria and US President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus. Here is a look back at some of the week’s most striking images.

Almost 15 ammunition shells were fired at the region

Ursula von der Leyen's right-hand man sent to Budapest to begin work for the release of €10 billion as Magyar races to unfreeze the cash in exchange of reforms. According to sources involved in the negotiations, the release of funds is not connected to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president did not mention the United States, but President Donald Trump's administration on Friday issued a month-long sanctions waiver allowing the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products that are at sea.

The Germany-based HiPP had recalled the jars, suggesting they were tampered with. The contaminated jars were also found in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Belarusian leader reminded us that Minsk and Moscow are legally bound together

The Russian President's assistant noted that the total number of Soviet citizens who died during the war was also calculated using the same formula

Siemens and Nvidia said the successful test advances their push to build factories where AI-powered machines can adapt and work with human staff

IMF projections show significant increases in GDP per capita in euro terms across Europe by 2030, but the rankings do not change significantly in terms of purchasing power.

The Black Sea country is holding its eighth election in five years, with Bulgarians yearning for the kind of prosperous life enjoyed by other Europeans.

World’s biggest asset manager had been more bullish on the region at start of year but says stocks are no longer cheap

The systematic destruction of culture, memory, and identity is another manifestation of Moscow's policy of intolerance and genocide against Ukrainians.

The perpetrator was killed by security forces inside the supermarket where he had barricaded himself. He was born in Moscow and had lived in the Donbass region.

The mass shooting, in a busy central district of the Ukrainian capital, left 14 others wounded, officials said.

The leader of the 5S movement spoke at a training event for activists in preparation for the May event. "Negotiations first, then we will buy Russian gas."

On the 18th, a shooting incident occurred in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, resulting in the deaths of six people. The suspect was shot and killed by police who responded to the scene. The suspect is reportedly from Russia, and investigative authorities are treating the incident as a potential act of terrorism.

The gunman, who killed six people in Kyiv before police shot him dead, was a Ukrainian citizen born in Moscow Ukrainian investigators are examining whether a terrorist attack in Kyiv was directed by Moscow after a man shot dead six people on Saturday before he was killed by police. The gunman, 58, opened fire on passersby before barricading himself in a supermarket and taking hostages. Detectives sealed off the area in the Holosiivskyi district and tried to negotiate with him. He refused and was killed after a 40-minute standoff. Continue reading...

Investigators from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have classified the mass shooting of civilians and hostage-taking in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi District as a terrorist attack, with a pre-trial investigation ongoing.

Ukraine is calling on the United States administration to reinstate sanctions restricting trade in Russian oil.

Four civilians were injured in Russian attacks in the Sumy region on April 18, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said.

The attacker has been identified as a "58-year-old Moscow man", but no motive has been established.

At least 10 people were hospitalized with wounds and trauma after the shooting, which took place in a residential district.

This refers to revanchism, "which assumes that they now want to carry out that very revenge that will allow them to still win in this very division of the world, the redrawing of the world’s resources for themselves," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman added

The gunman who opened fire in Kyiv, killing and injuring multiple people, was a native of Moscow.

A gunman opened fire on people in Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv on Saturday, killing five and wounding several others, Ukrainian authorities said. The gunman was killed by police, the authorities said. “Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko has just reported that the attacker in Kyiv who opened fire on civilians has been eliminated. All the circumstances are being established,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X. “At present, five people have been confirmed killed,” he said. “Ten people are currently hospitalized with injuries and trauma. All are receiving the necessary assistance.” Zelenskyy said the gunman had taken people as hostages and four of the hostages were successfully rescued. “We expect a swift investigation. Investigators of the National Police and the Security Service of Ukraine are working,” Zelenskyy added. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko city authorities had launched a “special operation” to apprehend the assailant, who he said entered a supermarket after the shooting.

The defeat of Hungary’s Viktor Orban is a warning conservative European leaders who may be tempted to align closely with Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, according to the European Commission’s most senior Social Democrat official.

Zelensky: "The investigation will be swift, and the authorities will make all information public."

In the Zaporizhzhia direction, fighters from the Department of Active Operations of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR) carried out a series of successful raids during which they destroyed and cleared Russian military positions.

Despite the war in Ukraine, the singer from Puglia has never broken his connection with his many Russian fans. However, every public statement he has made on the subject has always been met with controversy.

A gunman has shot dead "several" people and wounded others in the Ukrainian capital, authorities said. Police have launched a manhunt to find the suspect.

Russian forces carried out a missile strike on the center of Kharkiv.

The European Union continues to export pesticides that it has banned for health and environmental reasons – sending more than 122,000 tonnes abroad in 2024, as a promised EU law to stop the trade remains stalled.

Overall, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 671 Ukrainian combat aircraft, 284 helicopters, 135,370 unmanned aerial vehicles since the start of the special military operation, Russia’s Defense Ministry said

The Tisza party led by Hungarian prime minister-elect Peter Magyar further widened its parliamentary majority, a fresh tally showed Saturday, giving it an even stronger mandate for change after last weekend’s election.

Péter Magyar and his Tisza party are wasting no time preparing for the transfer of power after their dramatic landslide victory.

Rescuers in northern Germany are trying to save a sick humpback whale nicknamed 'Timmy', which has repeatedly become stranded off the Baltic Sea coast. Experts are using air cushions and tugboats to refloat the animal, amid debate over whether it can still be safely rescued.

Russian forces attacked a meat processing plant in the town of Bohodukhiv in the Kharkiv region using a Molniya-type drone, leaving three female employees with acute stress reactions.

Péter Magyar hopes building stronger relations with Poland will help restore ties with bloc after Orbán’s rule The Hungarian election winner, Péter Magyar, is eyeing a special relationship with Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk to draw on the neighbouring country’s experience of repairing relations with the EU after years of illiberal rule. Since 1989, the two countries have seemingly shared parallels in their paths. Now the two centre-right, pro-European leaders preside over the tricky task of restoring the rule of law and improving state institutions after years of democratic backsliding and clashes with the EU. Continue reading...

Ukraine is not conducting intergovernmental work with Germany to facilitate the return of Ukrainian men to the country, according to Minister of Social Policy, Family and Unity Denys Uliutin.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has outlined the priority areas of work for the A1 Defense AI Center.

The United States has issued a new license allowing the supply and sale of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products that were loaded onto vessels as of April 17.

Ukraine struck multiple Russian oil refineries with drones on Saturday while simultaneously repelling a 219-drone Russian assault on its own territory.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry plans to contract 25,000 ground robotic systems in the first half of 2026, according to Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.

Our reporter Andrew Higgins describes why Hungary’s voters chose Peter Magyar over Viktor Orban in a landslide, ending Orban’s 16 years in power.

Analysts and former diplomats say they fear the Kremlin's involvement in Bulgaria's election on Sunday, as Moscow seeks to maintain its influence within the European Union.

Released Jeffrey Epstein files expose how associate Jean-Luc Brunel used Czech and Slovak modelling agencies to recruit and traffic underage girls. Brunel leveraged his industry prestige to lure victims into Epstein’s network, often using professional contracts as legal cover. He ultimately died by suicide in a Paris prison in 2022.

During the night, Russian troops attacked port and industrial infrastructure in the Odesa region using strike drones. Administrative buildings, warehouses, buses, and storage tanks were damaged, and one person was injured.

On April 17, there were 151 combat engagements between Ukraine’s Defense Forces and Russian troops along the front line.

Bottlenecks in the system and parents' suspicions mean doctors expect another serious outbreak soon. By 10 am on a spring day, the corridor of the clinic in the Transylvanian town of Săcele was already crowded with parents and children. They were all waiting to see Dr. Mirela Csabai, one of only seven general practitioners serving a population of more than 30,000. Most of the cases that morning were routine: colds, checkups, chronic conditions. The calm, however, is recent. In 2024, a measles epidemic tore through this community and left one unvaccinated toddler dead. Continue reading...

Péter Magyar and his Tisza party are wasting no time preparing for the transfer of power after their dramatic landslide victory.

Russia is preparing to intensify information and hybrid attacks against the EU and NATO, as Vladimir Putin has been convinced that now is the right moment to "destabilize" them in order to reduce their support for Ukraine.

Intelligence officers intercepted a conversation between servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces who complained about the lack of food and water at their positions, indicating serious logistical difficulties.

Oleg Gaidukevich says there is interest in dialogue with Belarus from all sides, including the US

Rise in domestic tourism could provide relief for rural hospitality businesses struggling with higher costs

Stocks, bonds and the forint are up on hopes that Péter Magyar’s landslide victory will lead to pro-market reform

Russia-friendly former president Rumen Radev is projected to win the parliamentary vote on Sunday in the race to become Prime Minister.

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Gordon Repinski spaziert mit Forschungsministerin Dorothee Bär (CSU) durch das Berliner Regierungsviertel. Zwischen Ministeriumsbalkon und Charité erklärt Bär ihre Agenda: von Milliarden für die Kernfusion bis hin zum ersten Europäer mit deutscher Flagge auf dem Mond. Im Gespräch geht es unter anderem auch darum, wie die Ministerin den Gender Data Gap in der Medizin schließen will und warum die europäische KI-Souveränität für sie Priorität hat. Dazu gibt Bär persönliche Einblicke in ihr bayerisches Machtbewusstsein, klärt Söder-Zitate auf und verrät, warum ihr Puls beim FC Bayern auf 130 steigt. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es jeden Morgen ab 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team liefern Politik zum Hören – kompakt, international, hintergründig. Für alle Hauptstadt-Profis: Der Berlin Playbook-Newsletter bietet jeden Morgen die wichtigsten Themen und Einordnungen. ⁠Jetzt kostenlos abonnieren.⁠ Mehr von Host und POLITICO Executive Editor Gordon Repinski: Instagram: ⁠@gordon.repinski⁠ | X: ⁠@GordonRepinski⁠. POLITICO Deutschland – ein Angebot der Axel Springer Deutschland GmbH Axel-Springer-Straße 65, 10888 Berlin Tel: +49 (30) 2591 0 ⁠information@axelspringer.de⁠ Sitz: Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg, HRB 196159 B USt-IdNr: DE 214 852 390 Geschäftsführer: Carolin Hulshoff Pol, Mathias Sanchez Luna

In an interview with Le Monde, Italian historian Steven Forti, a specialist in far-right movements, says that while Péter Magyar's victory is good news for the European Union, it remains unclear what alternative this conservative figure represents for the right – a question that resonates elsewhere.

Oleg Gaidukevich says representatives of both the Republican and Democratic parties have been invited from the US side

The embassy said that Western countries were making accusations against Moscow to cover up their own interference

The Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine (ESBU) in the Chernivtsi region has notified 11 participants of a large-scale scheme for the illegal production of excisable goods of suspicion. Among them are a co-founder, company employees, and their accomplices who organized the underground manufacture of tobacco products in the Poltava region.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is willing to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey to discuss a peace plan.

Sources within the US administration told the news portal that US representatives had traveled to Havana "to advocate for democratic and economic freedoms" on the island.

In Barcelona, a "global" mobilization of the left. The Secretary of the Democratic Party stated: "It is up to us to build a different world."

The National Resistance Center has warned that the Sea of Azov is facing a potential environmental disaster, as Russian authorities are preparing a large-scale jellyfish harvest.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and Ben Black, CEO of the U. S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), have discussed expanding the capabilities of the U. S.-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF).

General Frederik Vansina said earlier that the EU intended to continue the conflict in Ukraine until 2030

A 13-year-old stumbled upon a coin from ancient Troy — an extremely rare find in Germany. Experts say it may offer new clues about little-known links between ancient Greece and northern Europe.

In the "Accelerate" plan, there are also cuts to heating subsidies. Salvini criticizes this, stating that "these measures are not normal."

A month of efforts to help a stranded humpback escape the Baltic Sea have culminated in a tourist and media spectacle, with no guarantee of success.

The Polish government had urged organizers "not to make public space available to promoters of a criminal ideology." Kanye has disavowed and apologized his previous pro-Nazi stance, linking it to his bipolar disorder.

The UK government blocked the rapper from entering the country over his history of making pro-Nazi and racist statements.

Robert Fico condemned the European Commission’s attempts to secure an EU-wide decision to abolish member states’ veto rights on foreign policy issues

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work! Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support. A planned concert by rapper Kanye West in Poland has been cancelled by the venue where it had been due to take place. Its decision followed criticism by the country’s culture minister, who had threatened to have West banned from entering the country if the event went ahead. She had pointed to his history of antisemitism, praise for Hitler, and use of the Nazi swastika symbol, saying that such actions are particularly unacceptable in Poland, on whose territory millions of Jews were killed by Nazi Germany in the Holocaust. West had only added the Polish date to his tour two days ago, following news that his appearance at a festival in the UK this summer had been cancelled after the British authorities denied him entry, while a planned concert in France was also delayed amid talk of a potential entry ban. He had been scheduled to perform on 19 June at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, which has a capacity of 85,000 for concerts. But, in a brief statement posted on social media on Friday afternoon, the venue said that the concert had been cancelled for “formal-legal reasons”. Its decision came after strong condemnation of the concert by culture minister Marta Cienkowska”. “We are talking about an artist who has publicly expressed antisemitic views, downplayed atrocities, and profited from selling T-shirts featuring swastikas,” she wrote. “These are not ‘controversies’. This is a deliberate crossing of boundaries and the normalisation of hatred.” “In a country scarred by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” she added. “Culture cannot be a platform for those who exploit it to spread hatred.” When it was under German occupation from 1939 to 1945, Poland was the primary location where the Nazis carried out the Holocaust, with around three million Polish Jews among the victims. A similar number of non-Jewish Poles were also killed by the German occupiers. Click here to help us continue providing news free from paywalls and ads “I cannot imagine that in Poland, a country where people were murdered in Nazi German extermination camps, we can organise a concert of an artist who openly says that he likes Hitler,” said Cienkowska in further remarks on Friday. She added that she “hoped the concert organisers will come to their senses”, and said that she had been in touch with them to express this view. But, if not, “the Polish state has tools to block people from entering the country…[and] we will use them”. Cienkowska said she would write to interior minister Marcin Kierwiński asking for West to be banned from entry if the concert was not cancelled. She added that she had the full support of foreign minister Radosław Sikorski. Promoting fascism, including the display of Nazi symbols, is a criminal offence in Poland, punishable by up to three years in prison. Kanye West ma wystąpić w Polsce. Minister kultury: możemy zablokować jego wjazd#PAPinformacjehttps://t.co/1QKVdv1a2H — Polska Agencja Prasowa/Polish Press Agency (PAP) (@PAPinformacje) April 17, 2026 West has branded his planned series of concerts this year an “apology tour”. In January, he took out a full-page advert in the Wall Street Hournal apologising “to those I’ve hurt”, saying that he “loves Jewish people”, and blaming his previous actions on bipolar disorder. However, earlier this month, the Wireless Festival in London, where West had been due to headline this summer, was cancelled entirely after the British authorities refused him the right to enter the country. Soon after, West announced that his planned concert in Marseilles, France, was postponed “until further notice” after reports the French interior minister Laurent Nunez was seeking to prevent it from taking place. An auction of Holocaust items in Germany has been cancelled following international criticism and intervention by the Polish government. Poland says it will now "demand the return of objects" that are found to be part of the country’s historical heritage https://t.co/3y0rIFgwkc — Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 16, 2025 ​ Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support. Main image credit: NRK P3/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Former Bulgarian president Rumen Radev (2017 to January 2026) seems poised for a return to politics, this time potentially as prime minister. The former air force commander, known for his pro-Russian views, resigned from the presidency in January to run in Sunday's snap parliamentary elections. He is promising a fight against the pervasive "mafia state," which he claims is undermining the European Union's least developed member state.

The annual Paris Book Festival is honouring Iceland this year, and Icelandic author Jón Kalman Stefánsson will be doing a book signing. He tells us about his latest novel, "Celestial Bodies at the Edge of the World", which sheds light on a little-known dark chapter in Icelandic history. He also tells us why Icelandic literature is booming in France.

“More and more often, responsibility for the state of Russia’s collapsing economy is being assigned to Putin. This was unthinkable a year ago,” wrote journalist Christo Grozev.

Israeli authorities have allowed a Russian vessel suspected of carrying wheat stolen from Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories to dock, despite Kyiv's requests to seize the bulk carrier.

The United States ranked first with its LNG supplies, accounting for 30.5% and 1.8 bln euro

The leader of Hungary’s Tisza party held consultations with Zsolt Hernadi on April 16 as regards energy security, oil supplies to Hungary

Ukraine has received approximately $45 billion, which represents 90% of the expected funding secured through revenues generated from frozen Russian assets.

EC Spokeswoman Anitta Hipper stated that Sergey Shoigu’s remarks amounted to "misinformation" aimed at creating conditions for escalation and regional instability

Russia will not attack Europe, Frederik Vansina noted

The European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), an organization advancing European supercomputing, and the Digital Autonomy with RISC-V in Europe (DARE) consortium, an initiative

China has lodged a protest with New Zealand about the activities of a military aircraft near its coast, suggesting it had put commercial airlines at risk. During a regular press conference on Friday, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said a P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft had “conducted continuous close-in reconnaissance and harassment in the airspace and waters of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea”. He said such actions undermined China’s security interests, heightened the risks of...

The parties agreed to update the legal framework for interregional cooperation amid Vietnam’s recent administrative-territorial reform, the Foreign Ministry added

"China has always firmly opposed the use of military force to infringe on the sovereignty and security of other countries," said Guo Jiakun.

Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev emphasized that enterprises with Russian participation were already operating successfully in Azerbaijan’s industrial zones

The foreign minister stressed that Russian armed forces had been accomplishing objectives set by the supreme commander-in-chief as part of the special military operation

According to Shalva Papuashvili, he will carefully examine the information about the impending unrest in Georgia with the involvement of a Czech organization