Top commander’s aide ‘killed in front of son after birthday gift exploded’

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhnyi has revealed that his assistant and close friend has been killed in an explosion apparently caused by a birthday present, writes The Independent.

Russian air strikes wound eight in Odesa, damage museum, port, Ukrainian officials say

Russia launched a major air attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa late on Sunday, wounding at least eight people, setting ablaze trucks loaded with grain and damaging one of the city's principal art galleries, officials said, Reuters reports.

Promo-LEX observers report over 800 incidents during local elections in the Republic of Moldova

Corruption of voters, cases of campaigning near the polling stations, photographing of ballots, as well as irregularities in the electoral lists, are cases reported by Promo-LEX observers throughout Sunday.

Russia strikes Ukrainian Military during award ceremony, killing at least 20

In a village near the front line in Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces have hit military of the Ukrainian 128th separate assault brigade with an Iskander-M missile, the Ministry of Defense and the Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed, Kyiv Post reports.

Candidate of MAN Ion Ceban wins the second term as mayor of Chisinau

The candidate of the National Alternative Movement, Ion Ceban, for the position of mayor of the municipality of Chisinau wins the mayor's seat of the capital in the first round. After processing all the minutes, Ion Ceban wins with a score of 50.62%. In second place is the candidate of the Action and Solidarity Party, Lilian Carp with 28.23% of votes.

Chisinau, 304 minutes processed out of 305: Ion Ceban - 50.58%, Lilian Carp - 22.27%

The current mayor of Chisinau, Ion Ceban, the president of MAN, got the most votes. With 50.58% of the votes, Ceban is ahead of the PAS candidate Lilian Carp who has accumulated 28.27% of votes and has a chance to win the elections in the first round, according to the preliminary data of the Central Electoral Commission. To date, the CEC has processed 304 minutes out of 305 for the municipality of Chisinau.

The mayor was elected in the first round in six municipalities in the Republic of Moldova

The municipalities of Orhei, Străseni, Soroca, Hîncești, Ceadîr-lunga and Cahul have elected their mayors.

LIVE TEXT // General local elections. In over 600 localities in the country, the mayors were elected in the first round

UPDATE 15:58 Mayors were elected in the first round in 623 localities in the country, said the president of the CEC, Angelica Caraman. In other 265 localities no candidate receives more than half of the number of validly cast votes, which is why within two weeks the second round of voting is organized with two candidates with the highest number of votes in the first ballot ".

Turkey recalls ambassador from Israel

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel on Saturday morning, citing the “humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza and “Israel’s refusal of calls for ceasefire”, Politico reports.

Dorin Recean: "Today we decide on the future of the Republic of Moldova"

We build the European future of the Republic of Moldova every day, and today we do it by offering our vote for European mayors and councilors, said Prime Minister Dorin Recean after voting. Also, the PM encouraged everyone to vote.

Ukraine orders investigation into Russian attack on assault brigade

Ukraine's defence minister ordered on Saturday an investigation into an alleged Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukrainian assault brigade, after reports that more than 20 soldiers were killed during an awards ceremony, Reuters reports.

LIVE // The Central Electoral Commission holds a briefing

The Central Electoral Commission holds a briefing on the conduct of general local elections.