Russian president repeats justification for sending forces into neighbouring country as Moscow launches swarms of drones targeting Kyiv, other regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeated his reason for deploying the army into Ukraine as protecting Russian speakers from a “neo-Nazi dictatorship”, as his forces launched drone and missile attacks in various parts of the neighbouring country.

In a video message on Monday released to mark the second anniversary of what Russia calls “Reunification Day”, when it annexed four Ukrainian regions, Putin pledged that all the goals Moscow has set for itself in the war – now in its third year – would be “achieved”.

“The truth is on our side,” he declared. “Together, we are defending a safe and prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.”

The president also alleged the “neo-Nazi dictatorship” in Kyiv aimed to sever Russian speakers “forever from their historic Motherland, from Russia” – suggestions that the Ukrainian government and its allies have repeatedly rejected as a baseless pretext for a wider war of aggression.

Putin also said that “Western elites” after turning “Ukraine into their colony, into a military outpost aimed at Russia … systematically instilled hatred and radical nationalism, fuelled hostility towards everything Russia”, the Kremlin’s website quoted him as saying.

He added that Western countries supplied weapons and dispatched mercenaries to prepare Ukraine for a new war “so that again, as in the spring and summer of 2014, to launch a punitive operation in the southeast”.

Russia took military control of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea in 2014 and annexed it after a referendum that Ukraine and Western governments rejected as illegal. In the same year, it backed separatists who seized large parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Russia used Crimea as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has since proclaimed its annexation of four other Ukrainian provinces – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – after referendums that were also denounced as illegal. It does not fully control all the territory in these regions.

Putin has repeatedly said Russia will continue fighting in Ukraine until it secures the neighbouring country’s “demilitarisation”, “denazification” and neutrality.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities said on Monday Russia attacked Kyiv with swarms of combat drones overnight, triggering air raid sirens for five hours.

The drones attacked from all sides, the Kyiv military administration said on Telegram, adding that all the drones had been repelled.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said drone debris fell by a residential building with emergency services working on site. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties.

In a separate statement, the Ukrainian air force said a total of 73 drones, as well as three different varieties of missiles, including an Iskander ballistic missile, were launched by Russia on the country overnight.

The statement said 67 of the drones and a cruise missile were downed over the Kyiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions.

Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said a drone attack caused a fire at a critical infrastructure facility in the southern region.

Russia has launched air attacks on Kyiv and Ukraine throughout September, targeting Ukraine’s energy, military and transport infrastructure and killing dozens of civilians.

It has repeatedly said Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies attacking civilians or civilian infrastructure.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently urged Western countries to provide more air defence systems, for better protection of Ukrainian cities from constant Russian drone and missile attacks.

PARIS (AP) — The stakes are high for Marine Le Pen as she and other officials from the French far-right party National Rally go on trial Monday over accusations of embezzling European Union funds. The case has the potential to derail her political ambitions.

The nine-week trial will be closely watched by Le Pen’s political rivals as she remains a strong contender in the race to succeed Emmanuel Macron when the next presidential election takes place in 2027.

It comes as a new government dominated by centrists and conservatives just came into office in the wake of June-July legislative elections. Some observers expect the trial could prevent National Rally lawmakers, including Le Pen herself, from fully playing their opposition role in Parliament as they would be busy focusing on the party’s defense.

Since stepping down as party leader three years ago, Le Pen has sought to position herself as a mainstream candidate capable of appealing to a broader electorate. Her efforts have paid off, with the party making significant gains in recent elections at both the European and national levels. But a guilty verdict could seriously undermine her bid to take the Elysee.

The National Rally and 27 of its top officials are accused of having used money destined for EU parliamentary aides to pay staff who instead did political work for the party between 2004 and 2016, in violation of the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. The National Rally was called National Front at the time.

Le Pen, whose party has softened its anti-EU stance in recent years, is denying wrongdoing and claims the case is politically driven.

“Parliamentary assistants do not work for the Parliament. They are political assistants to elected officials, political by definition,” she argued in her defense. “You ask me if I can define the tasks I assigned to my assistants; it depends on each person’s skills. Some wrote speeches for me, and some handled logistics and coordination.”

If found guilty, Le Pen and her co-defendants could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of up to 1 million euros ($1.1 million) each. Additional penalties, such as the loss of civil rights or ineligibility to run for office, could also be imposed, a scenario that could hamper, or even destroy, Le Pen’s goal to mount another presidential bid after Macron’s term ends. Le Pen was runner-up to Macron in the 2017 and 2022 presidential elections.

She served as party president from 2011 to 2021 and now heads the group of RN lawmakers at the French National Assembly.

Despite her denial, her party has already paid back 1 million to the European Parliament, the Parliament’s lawyer Patrick Maisonneuve said. Of that amount, 330,000 euros were directly linked to Marine Le Pen’s alleged misuse of funds.

A longstanding controversy

The legal proceedings stem from a 2015 alert raised by Martin Schulz, then-president of the European Parliament, to French authorities about possible fraudulent use of European funds by members of the National Front.

Schulz also referred the case to the European Anti-Fraud Office, which launched a separate probe into the matter.

The European Parliament’s suspicions were further heightened when a 2015 organizational chart showed that 16 European lawmakers and 20 parliamentary assistants held official positions within the party — roles unrelated to their supposed duties as EU parliamentary staff.

A subsequent investigation found that some assistants were contractually linked to different MEPs than the ones they were actually working for, suggesting a scheme to divert European funds to pay party employees in France.

Alexandre Varault, a spokesperson for the National Rally who was elected to the European Parliament in June, told The Associated Press that Le Pen will attend the first day of the trial, adding that he hopes for the acquittal of all the defendants.

Misuse of public funds alleged

Investigating judges concluded that Le Pen, as party leader, orchestrated the allocation of parliamentary assistance budgets and instructed MEPs to hire individuals holding party positions. These individuals were presented as EU parliamentary assistants, but in reality, were allegedly working for the National Rally in various capacities.

The European Parliament’s legal team is seeking 2.7 million euros in compensation for financial and reputational damages. This figure corresponds to the 3.7 million euros allegedly defrauded through the scheme, minus the 1 million euros already paid back.

During the 2014 European elections, the National Front won a record 24 MEP seats, finishing first with 24.8% of the vote, ahead of the center-right and the Socialists. This surge resulted in a substantial financial windfall for the party, which faced severe financial problems at the time.

An audit of the party’s accounts between 2013 and 2016 revealed that it was running a deficit of 9.1 million euros by the end of 2016. Yet, the party still had a cash balance of 1.7 million euros and had lent 1 million euros to Le Pen’s 2017 presidential campaign, while also holding 87,000 euros in loans to Cotelec, its funding association.

At the time, the party was also indebted to a Russian bank for 9.4 million euros, a loan taken out in 2014 for 6 million euros.

Suspected systemic practice

The investigation uncovered many irregularities involving prominent party members.

Thierry Légier, the long-time bodyguard of Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie, was listed as his parliamentary assistant. But his resume did not reference this role, and he made no mention of it in his 2012 autobiography. Légier admitted during the investigation that he was not interviewed and signed his employment contract without fully understanding his official role.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who led the National Front from 1972 to 2011, will not appear in court alongside his former colleagues due to health concerns. Now 96, he was deemed unfit to testify by a court in June. He has 11 prior convictions, including for violence against a public official and hate speech.

He has denied wrongdoing during his time as party leader, stating that the “pool” of assistants was common knowledge. “I did not choose which assistants were assigned to me. That was decided by Marine Le Pen and others. I only signed the contracts,” he said.

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