The wave of violent protests sweeping France has expanded to other European countries. Italian cities, including Milan and Turin, witnessed similar confrontations during demonstrations against the high cost of living, while protests escalated in Albania against the backdrop of accusations of corruption, lack of job opportunities, and deteriorating education.
In France, Saturday's events resulted in the death of a demonstrator and the injury of hundreds of police officers and protesters, while the authorities arrested about 1,800 people, a toll that reflects the extent of the tension that swept several cities, from Paris to Marseille, Lyon, and Bordeaux.
In the city of Limoges, protesters set fire to the historic municipal building listed as a protected heritage site, which burned to a large extent.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that “nothing justifies” the acts of violence that occurred during the protests, expressing “anger and shame” about what happened, and vowed to hold those who “destroyed and plundered” accountable.
Russia and Ukraine exchanged widespread attacks targeting energy facilities and vital infrastructure, in a new escalation that threatens to expand the repercussions of the war on civilians, with power outages for tens of thousands and fires breaking out in Russian oil facilities, despite US President Donald Trump’s announcement of reaching a truce in the energy sector between the two countries.
The simultaneous strikes reveal the fragility of efforts to limit the targeting of vital installations, at a time when Moscow and Kiev are exchanging accusations of violating the understandings, while fears are increasing about the impact of the attacks on electricity and fuel supplies as winter approaches.
Fires and attacks with hundreds of drones
On the night of Saturday - Sunday, Ukrainian drones targeted oil and industrial facilities in St. Petersburg and the surrounding Leningrad region, causing fires to break out in the St. Petersburg oil terminal, the Ruchi oil storage facility, and industrial warehouses in the south of the city.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said that the attack resulted in the death of one person and the injury of five others who were taken to hospital, while about 12 residential buildings and two houses were damaged. The Russian e-commerce company Ozone also announced that one of its logistics centers was hit by a drone.
In Leningrad Province, Governor Alexander Drozdenko said that air defenses shot down 145 drones during the night, which is the largest number of drones the region has witnessed since the start of the war in 2022. According to the Russian "TASS" agency. He added that the attacks caused a power outage for about 20,000 people.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that 1,015 Ukrainian drones were shot down over about 15 Russian regions during the night, including areas in the south and west of the country and the Moscow region.
The attacks extended to digital infrastructure; The Russian VK network announced that its data center in the region had been attacked, confirming that its services would continue normally. The Ukrainian company that manufactures drones, Firepoint, said that the Ukrainian army targeted the center.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the attack on St. Petersburg as evidence of Kiev's resistance, but said that this would not change the course of events, stressing that Russia continues to respond to Ukrainian attacks with broad strikes.
Kyiv accuses Moscow of violating the truce
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Russian forces targeted electricity facilities in the provinces of Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi and Odessa, which led to a power outage for tens of thousands of families.
Zelensky said that the Russian attacks during the past week included about 2,700 drones, 1,700 aerial bombs, and 66 missiles, most of them ballistic. He added that Russia has carried out 76 attacks on the Ukrainian energy, oil and gas sectors since Trump announced the truce a week ago.
According to Zelensky, the Russian strikes resulted in the death of two people and the injury of 12 others, including two children, while repair teams are working around the clock to restore electricity.
These developments come after widespread power outages that Ukraine witnessed during the past three weeks, at a time when the need for energy increases with the approach of winter.
US-Ukrainian dispute
Trump had repeatedly called on Zelensky to stop targeting Russian oil refineries and warehouses, considering that these attacks contribute to raising fuel prices. Kiev says its strikes come in response to the Russian bombing of Ukrainian energy facilities, and also aims to reduce Moscow's oil revenues, which finance the war.
But the declared truce did not prevent the resumption of attacks. On Thursday, Ukraine announced its intention to resume striking oil refineries, accusing Russia of not adhering to the understandings.
The tensions became more complicated after Trump signed an executive order on Friday suspending sanctions and customs duties targeting Russian oil revenues, following an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume Russian diesel exports to American and global markets in exchange for easing sanctions. The move was met with Ukrainian condemnation.
While Washington seeks to contain the escalation, the mutual strikes indicate that energy facilities are still at the heart of the military and economic confrontation, and that any truce that does not have a mutual commitment will remain vulnerable to collapse, with civilians continuing to be exposed to the risk of power outages and damage to fuel supplies and basic services.
