World
Exit polls show victory for Croatia's incumbent president Milanović
A poll by Ipsos shows Milanović leading with over 50% of the vote, with his main challenger Dragan Primorac, trailing far behind with 22%.
Croatia’s incumbent President Zoran Milanović has a sweeping lead in Sunday’s election and could win the five-year presidency in the first round, according to an exit poll released immediately after the voting.
The poll by Ipsos and released by state television HRT showed Milanović winning over 50% of the votes, while his main challenger Dragan Primorac, the candidate for the conservative HDZ ruling party trailed far behind at 22%.
Milanović thanked voters in a post on social networks.
The first official results are yet to be published.
Pre-election polls predicted that the two would face off in the second round on 12 January, as none of all eight presidential election contenders were projected to get more than 50% of the vote.
Left-leaning Milanović is an outspoken critic of Western military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. He is often compared to Donald Trump for his combative style of communication with political opponents.
The most popular politician in Croatia, 58-year-old Milanović has served as prime minister in the past. Populist in style, he has been a fierce critic of current Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and continuous sparring between the two has lately marked Croatia’s political scene.
Plenković has sought to portray the vote as one about Croatia’s future in the EU and NATO. He has labelled Milanović “pro-Russian” and a threat to Croatia’s international standing.
“The difference between him and Milanović is quite simple: Milanović is leading us East, Primorac is leading us West,” he said.
Though the presidency is largely ceremonial in Croatia, an elected president holds political authority and acts as the supreme military commander.
Milanović has criticised NATO and EU support for Ukraine and has often insisted that Croatia should not take sides, saying the country should stay away from global disputes, despite being a member of both alliances.
Milanović has also blocked Croatia’s participation in a NATO-led training mission for Ukraine, declaring that “no Croatian soldier will take part in somebody else’s war.”
His main rival in the election, Primorac, has stated that “Croatia’s place is in the West, not the East.”
His presidency bid, however, has been marred by a high-level corruption case that landed Croatia’s health minister in jail last month and featured prominently in pre-election debates.
During the election campaign, Primorac has sought to portray himself as a unifier and Milanović as divisive.
ADVERTISEMENT“Today is an extremely important day,” Primorac said after casting his ballot. “Croatia is going forward into the future. Croatia needs unity, Croatia needs its global positioning, and above all Croatia needs peaceful life.”
Trailing a distant third in the pre-election polls is Marija Selak Raspudić, a conservative independent candidate. She focused her election campaign on the economic troubles of ordinary citizens, corruption and issues such as population decline in the country of some 3.8 million.
Sunday’s presidential election is Croatia’s third vote this year, following a parliamentary election in April and the European Parliament balloting in June.
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it eliminated Hamas Commander Anas Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, who infiltrated Israel and participated in the Oct. 7 Nova Music Festival Massacre.
Hamed was killed during a targeted Monday strike in Gaza, the IDF announced Tuesday.
“The IDF struck yesterday in the center of the Gaza Strip and eliminated Ans Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, Nukhba commander in the Hamas terror organization, who raided the territory of the State of Israel and the Nova festival during the murderous massacre on October 7,” the IDF wrote in a Tuesday morning post on X.
The IDF called Hamed an “immediate threat to IDF forces operating in the Gaza Strip,” and said he was “eliminated in a precise airstrike.”
ISRAEL ANNOUNCES IT KILLED ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THE OCT. 7 ATTACKS
A poster of Hamas Nukhba Commander Anas Muhammad Ibrahim Hamed, who the Israel Defense Forces claim to have eliminated, Monday, May 4, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)
The IDF said it has forces “deployed in the area in accordance with the agreement and will continue to operate to remove any immediate threat.”
Nukhba, which is Arabic for elite, is the special forces for the Al-Qassam Brigades, which is Hamas’ military wing.
Both units were instrumental in the Oct. 7 massacre. The Al-Qassam Brigades planned and executed the attack, according to the IDF and the Counter Extremism Project. Of the 6,000 terrorists who invaded Israel during the attack, more than 3,800 were Nukhba fighters, the IDF stated in an August 2024 assessment.
The Oct. 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,300 Israelis and prompted a sprawling Israeli military campaign in Gaza. During this campaign, the IDF eliminated two commanders of the al-Qassam Brigades and numerous other members of the group’s military leadership.
ISRAELI MILITARY OPERATION IN GAZA EXPANDING TO SEIZE ‘LARGE AREAS’: ‘EXPANDING TO CRUSH AND CLEAN THE AREA’
Palestinian Hamas fighters of the al-Qassam Brigades participate in a military parade near the border in the central Gaza Strip on July 19, 2023, marking the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)
A July 2024 targeted strike killed then-al-Qassam Brigades Commander Mohammed Deif. In May 2025, another airstrike killed his replacement, Mohammad Sinwar.
The latest Israeli strike in Gaza comes just under seven months after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump in October. The IDF accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire in February by using ambulances to transport terrorists and weapons around the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire with daily airstrikes.
HAMAS TERRORISTS USE AMBULANCES, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS IN VIOLATION OF US-BROKERED CEASEFIRE, IDF OFFICIAL SAYS
Fox News’ Trey Yingst asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week if Hamas’ refusal to put down its weapons would prompt the Trump administration to support Israel resuming combat operations in Gaza.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio wait as President Donald Trump prepares to address the Knesset in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025. Trump visited Israel hours after Hamas released some Israeli hostages as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal in the Gaza conflict. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“Let’s hope we can avoid that. That’s not the outcome we want,” Rubio told Yingst. “The outcome we want is for Hamas to be demilitarized, and a Palestinian security force backed by an international security force is able to secure Gaza.
Fox News Digital reached out to the IDF and the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News’ Yonat Friling contributed to this report.
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Ukraine struck a critically important military-industrial complex in Russia on Tuesday, just days before the Kremlin’s Victory Day parade on 9 May.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy published a video of launches of domestically-made Flamingo cruise missiles, which he said covered a distance of more than 1,500km to strike a facility in Cheboksary in the Russian Federation’s Chuvash Republic.
The facility in question is a Russian state institute that produces components for high-precision weapons used by Moscow to attack Ukraine.
“The struck military production facility manufactured relay protection systems, automation equipment, and low-voltage apparatus,” Zelenskyy wrote.
“Russia must end its war and move to real diplomacy. We have made our proposal.”
Zelenskyy announced on Monday that Ukraine is declaring a ceasefire beginning at midnight on Wednesday. The proposal came in response to Russia’s unilateral declaration of a ceasefire for its Victory Day parade.
“We believe that human life is far more valuable than any anniversary ‘celebration’,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russia’s upcoming 9 May commemorations.
He warned that the timeframe of the proposed truce at midnight on the night of 5–6 May would be enough to test whether a genuine pause in fighting could be respected.
“We will act reciprocally starting from that moment,” Zelenskyy said.
“It is time for Russian leaders to take real steps to end their war, especially since Russia’s defence ministry believes it cannot hold a parade in Moscow without Ukraine’s goodwill.”
Victory Day blackout
Russia has reportedly started cutting off mobile internet services to many users starting from Tuesday.
Russian banks, including the country’s largest, Sberbank, also cautioned that there could be issues with mobile internet and cash withdrawals.
This year the parade in Moscow will also be significantly scaled back, according to the Kremlin.
It would not feature military vehicles or cadets due to what the Kremlin described as “current operational situation”.
“All measures are being taken to minimise the danger,” Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier as he referred to what Moscow called a “terrorist threat” from Ukraine.
The fact that the parade is scaled down is seen as an important indicator of the situation in Russia’s military and of personnel and equipment shortages.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank assessed that in April, Russian forces lost territory they occupied in Ukraine for the first time in over a year and a half.
The ISW said it has evidence that Moscow lost control of 116 square kilometres over the course of last month.
The think tank explained that the Russian rate of advance across the battlefield has been steadily declining since November 2025,” as continued Ukrainian ground counterattacks and mid-range strikes, the February block on Russia’s use of Starlink terminals in Ukraine, and the Kremlin’s throttling of Telegram have exacerbated existing problems within the Russian military.
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