Category: france24.com

In the early hours of Saturday, Russia carried out another series of crippling aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the assault involved more than 400 drones and around 40 missiles. The strikes hit two thermal power stations as well as crucial parts of the country’s electricity distribution system, as Ukrainians […]

Ukraine’s power grid operator says a massive Russian attack has knocked out electricity across the country, with President Volodymyr Zelensky stating that more than 400 drones and 40 missiles were involved. Officials say that in recent weeks hundreds of thousands of people have been left without heating or lighting in temperatures well below zero, as […]

The United States wants Kyiv and Moscow to end the nearly four-year war by June, and has offered to host talks between the two sides next week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. If the June deadline is not met, the Trump administration will likely put pressure on both sides to meet it, he added. Follow our […]

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Saturday said Kyiv had requested emergency assistance from Poland after what the state grid operator called a “massive attack” by Russia on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Two power plants in western Ukraine were among the targets hit in the attack.

Estonia’s Narva has become a tense microcosm of the NATO-Russia standoff. Since 2022, Estonia has fortified the border with anti-tank obstacles and moved to sever ties with Moscow. In this 95% Russian-speaking town, the government has mandated Estonian in schools and recently banned Russian citizens from local voting. Amid Russian provocations like removing border buoys, […]

Shared economic and security interests still bind Europe and the United States, even as trust has eroded, insults have flown and rhetoric has hardened in the transatlantic relationship, Brando Benifei, the chair of the delegation for relations with the United States at the European Parliament, tells FRANCE 24 in Talking Europe.

Ukraine said on Thursday that Starlink internet terminals used by Russian forces on the battlefield have been deactivated, disrupting Moscow’s military operations in several areas. The move comes after discussions between Ukrainian officials and Elon Musk. Russia had relied on thousands of Starlink units for mobile, hard-to-disrupt communications, particularly for drone operations, and has few […]

Europe has experienced numerous crises since Donald Trump returned to the White House: on trade and tariffs; on Ukraine; and perhaps the most surreal one – on Greenland. The latter was unprecedented: NATO’s leading member, the US, openly expressing its territorial designs on another NATO member, Denmark. With each emergency, the same calls have been heard for Europe to wake up and […]

Long confined to tourist clichés, Swiss yodelling is moving on from being a folkloric curiosity. This ancient Alpine vocal technique, which alternates between “chest voice” and “head voice”, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2025. Today, yodelling is sung in a multitude of contexts and crosses the boundaries of folk music […]

The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics open tomorrow following a frantic race to complete venues like the Cortina sliding centre and Milan ice hockey arena just in time. While the total cost has climbed to $6.7 billion—exceeding original estimates—it remains significantly lower than the record-breaking budgets of Sochi and Beijing. Despite these financial pressures, organizers view […]