Russia launches rare daylight ballistic missile attack on Kyiv.

Good evening. Welcome to World News Tonight. I'm Adam Jasa. Russia is intensifying its attacks on Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. This comes as protesters gather in the city's main square to demand the return of Popular Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov. More on that in just a moment, but first let's look at other stories we have for you. Polish ex-Prime Minister Morawiecki rips apart the main opposition party. Poland seeks joint patriot missile production with the United States. European rivers drop to lowest levels in decades. And now we're going live to Ukraine, where our correspondent Oz Katyzy is ready with the latest update on Russia's attacks. Good evening, Oz. It seems Russia is intensifying the attacks on Kyiv. What more can you tell us and why are they doing it? Well, Russia launched a rare daytime ballistic missile attack on the Ukrainian capital just after 11 o'clock this morning. Ten people killed, at least 100 injured following that ballistic missile attack. The target reportedly was a drone defense technology conference, which was being publicly advertised despite being held within Russian ballistic missile range. The prosecutor general of Ukraine has announced a criminal investigation is now being opened into how this conference was being held in such public circumstances. Following on from what is a deadly attack, there's also a further attack on Slovyansk killing five people in Ukraine today. So a pretty hefty death toll over the last 24-hour period from Russian attacks on Ukraine. Ukraine itself has also continued its attacks targeting Wild Berries, Russia's largest online retail outlet. Another facility was hit in St. Petersburg that went up in flames. So that's something that the Ukrainians continue to push on the Russian economy, accusing this company of supplying the Russian military. This is all happening as the attention of many Ukrainians is fixed on whether President Zelensky is going to bring back Fedorov, the defense minister. What is going on in this regard? Well, there seems to be no indication from President Zelensky or his team that Fedorov is about to be re-appointed as defense minister. We do know that Mykhailo Fedorov has been offered an alternative position in Zelensky's government, also involved with the defense sector, but not as defense minister. This is something Fedorov has rejected, and that is something that the protesters who are back on the streets tonight have also decided to support Fedorov in. They made their demands clear at the end of last week and the start of this week that they were going to keep pushing for Fedorov to return to the defense ministry, as well as wanting Oleksandr Syrsky gone. President Zelensky clearly hoped that the sacking of Oleksandr Syrsky as commander-in-chief would have been enough to satisfy the protesters. But they are back on the streets on Friday. Not only that, they're vowing to stay indefinitely until or unless Fedorov is reinstated. So a growing political crisis here in Ukraine that has not gone away yet for President Zelensky. Oskar Terzi, thank you very much. Like other children across Europe, Ukrainian kids go to summer camp in July and August. Unlike them, however, it is not just games, no swimming and no sports only for the traumatized young people. Claudia Czerwińska, our special correspondent for Ukrainian children, has this report. Air raid alerts, shelling, destruction and uncertainty. Every day, children across Ukraine suffer the consequences of Russia's ruthless attacks and aggression. An estimated 1.6 million Ukrainian children live in the occupied territories. Over 20,000 were abducted and many have lost everything. The war began when I was 14. At that age, teenagers tend to become aware of themselves and their place in their city and country. They begin to understand what is going on around them, grow some sense of who is right and who is wrong. They begin to adapt to life, find their bearings. But where there is darkness, there is also light. Across Ukraine, numerous foundations provide psychological and psychosocial help to children and teenagers who experienced war, deportation and trauma. The Voices of Children Foundation is one of them. We have very broad, numerous instruments on how we support children. For example, it's direct psychological counseling and it can be in offline or in online format. So we have our online support when we have a 19th psychologist that's every day receiving requests from all over the world. Apart from therapy, the foundation, in close cooperation with the First Lady's Olena Zelenska Foundation, organizes summer camps known as the Voices Camp in remote areas of Ukraine. When we talk specifically about psychological assistance, we use evidence-based methods. These include cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy methods, body-oriented therapy and cognitive activities. We encourage them to speak more and even to shout more. Holosnyi camp is about speaking out more. These kids need to be heard. And the children? They enjoy having space to rest their bodies and minds. Since there are attacks in Kyiv, it's nice to spend some time here in peace and quiet. You can talk to your friends and the counselors. I really like it. I've even forgotten about the attacks already. I really like the fact that we can spend an hour and a half talking to a psychologist and another half hour in the evening. I prefer sitting and talking about something to constantly going somewhere. And I've made a lot of friends. I'd recommend that they come here with me, if that's possible, because I really liked this camp. But the work doesn't end there, as those who have benefited from the help of the Voices of Children Foundation in the past want to be a part of the change once the war is over. In the same way that cities will need to be physically rebuilt, people will also need to recover psychologically and emotionally. A great many people will come back here. I would very much like to contribute to that recovery, specifically as a psychologist, because many people will be returning and someone will need to talk to them. A full special report on Ukrainian children's summer experience will air on TVP World on Saturday at 12.15 Central European Time. I warmly encourage you to watch. Ukraine is poised to produce its own Patriot missiles under a US license. Now Poland is also clamouring for a piece of the action. Our defence correspondent Zuzanna Jurek explains. This is the big prize, PAK-3 interceptors used in Patriot air defence systems. A mainstay of modern battlefields from Ukraine and more recently Iran. But as demand grows, so too must the supply. And Poland wants its piece of the cake too. We, as the Polish government, have put forward a proposal that we would be part of the Patriot interceptor production project. That is, that manufacturing would be based in Poland, whilst it would be a joint effort between the United States, Ukraine and Poland. The scramble comes just weeks after US President Donald Trump announced on Ukraine. A little birdie told me this, about the fact that we'll give them the right to make Patriots. That, however, is not likely to be imminent. Even if the licensing was approved tonight, it would be some time before Ukraine is able to actually produce the Patriot interceptors. They will do it much more quickly than say it might happen back in the States or anywhere else. But it's still going to take time. But how feasible is it that Washington keeps its promise? Being in active combat and suffering from Russia's near daily deep strikes on critical infrastructure hardly makes Ukraine the safest production hub. Factories have to be opened, labour force recruited, supply chains secured and so forth. And with the continent's production hub left undecided, Ukraine is not giving up on its long-held dream, with President Volodymyr Zelensky meeting with representatives from the American defence giant Raytheon. I am grateful for the company's readiness to take our partnership to an even higher level, where Ukraine would co-produce together with Raytheon some of the most vital air defence assets, Patriot interceptors. This is what President Trump and I discussed in Ankara, and it's time we moved forward on this. But while NATO's top military brass insists... There's a lot of promise in this initiative to have production of Patriot missiles here in Europe and in Ukraine. The Ukrainians have a vast industrial base. Experts turn to one question. Will there ever be enough, even with diversification in the pipeline? We have trouble producing Patriots to meet the demands, especially now the demands which have spiked. This is not a panacea, this is not a quick win for Ukraine. For TVP World, Zuzanna Jurek. Poland's main conservative opposition party, Law and Justice, is splitting into a radical and a moderate wing. This comes as factions fight over who will replace ageing leader Jarosław Kaczyński. A tiny problem? He isn't going anywhere. Our chief correspondent Poland, Kazimierz Łysiak, joins us live from Polish parliament. Hello, Kazimierz. So what is going on on the Polish right? Good evening, Adam. This is a major political shake-up in the Polish conservative opposition, one which could have major consequences in next year's parliamentary elections. It all started with former prime minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, from the Law and Justice party, the largest right-wing opposition party in Poland. And earlier this year, he created a new association inside the party called Growth Plus. This was seen as a major political challenge by the party's chairman, a political veteran, Jarosław Kaczyński, who threatened to expel Morawiecki and some 40 members of parliament who follow him if they refused to sign a declaration of political loyalty by last night. Morawiecki and his followers refused and it seems that today Kaczyński has followed through on his threat. Here is what the two politicians had to say about it. We heard a proposal a few weeks ago to split our party in two. After that, we had to view this association as exactly that, an attempt to divide the party. Everyone knew what it would mean not to sign the declaration of loyalty. Our answers to the changing world can all be old-fashioned. We need to look to the future, to the younger generation. We want to represent the conservative camp, but we need to understand the changes taking place around us. Former prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, used to be prime minister for six years, up until 2023, when the Law and Justice party lost the election to the current centrist ruling coalition led by prime minister, Donald Tusk. Now, you heard here Morawiecki say today, here in the Polish parliament where I am right now, that he wants to open up the party, the conservative camp, to more moderate voters, to a broader, younger audience. So he definitely is saying that the Law and Justice party is moving too much to the right, to the far right, as major far-right parties in Poland are catching up to the Law and Justice party. So I asked a political scientist from the University of Warsaw to break this down for us. What are the major differences between Morawiecki and the rest of the Law and Justice party? Mateusz Morawiecki and politicians who follow him are cautious towards the EU, but are essentially for Poland integrated in the European structures, whereas Jarosław Kaczyński and his comrades are going increasingly to the right, to the much more Eurosceptic positions. Also, difference with regard to Polish support to Ukraine. Some major prominent politicians of the Law and Justice party, like the current candidate for prime minister Przemysław Czarnek, have recently increased the harsh rhetoric towards Ukraine, even threatening to take away the military aid for Ukraine in the future, while former prime minister Morawiecki was the face of this major financial and military aid for Ukraine when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia first started in 2022. So I asked here in the Polish parliament a top advisor to Mateusz Morawiecki, former deputy foreign minister Paweł Jabłoński, how he feels about being essentially expelled, forced out from the party after so many years in it. I'm sad, to be frank, to speak very shortly. I'm really sad that it happened, because I really hope that it will be different, that we will not be treated the way it happened. I would still prefer that we would be able to continue as one political group, and I still hope it will be possible at some point, before the election perhaps, to negotiate, to work together, because we have one common adversary, so to speak. Donald Tusk, the leader of this terrible government, that we need to change, that we need to create a government that will be much better for Poland. Now, Morawiecki and his MPs who follow him refuse to say that they will create a new political party. We are still waiting until next week, on Tuesday, when Chairman Kaczynski said that the expulsion of these MPs would be formalized, but everyone here is expecting if that happens, if they are indeed formally expelled from the party, that Morawiecki potentially will create a new political bloc here in Poland. Kazimierz, thank you very much for this report. The European heatwave this summer has killed thousands of people. While die-hard climate change deniers insist rising average temperatures are nothing to worry about, there is more and more visible evidence of the damage to the environment and daily life. Gabriela Fesnak reports. Europe is burning. More than 250,000 hectares of land have burned across the EU since the start of the year, more than double the annual average over the past two decades, only one month into summer. More than 40,000 people have had to evacuate from the Cap Ferrer peninsula in southern France after a rapidly spreading wildfire neared tourist destinations and residential areas. It's a nightmare. We went through this four years ago and now it's happening again. Everything's gone up in flames. We're absolutely devastated. It's moving very, very fast. Yesterday, we could see the reflection of the flames in the sky from the upstairs bedrooms. Everything was glowing red. Officials comparing the current wildfires to those of 2022 stress that this time, new blazes erupt both day and night, making containment increasingly difficult. In Spain, fast-moving wildfires forced thousands of residents to evacuate with seconds to spare. I had to run from my house. It was a ball of fire and if I'd been five minutes later, it would have wiped us out. The Spanish government has declared a state of national emergency. Containing the flames is proving particularly difficult due to a prolonged drought, which led water in several European rivers to reach near-record low levels. In the Danube River, water levels have fallen to lows not seen in decades. To me, it looks like a natural disaster. There was no rain, no snow all winter, no reserves in the mountains that should be melting now to maintain water levels. In Lovas, Croatia, the depleted river revealed a shipwreck from the 1930s. While in Budapest, Hungary, one of the city's main bridges was closed as bomb disposal technicians were called to disarm World War II-era munition discovered in the riverbed. Continents in general are heating up much faster than oceans. And then Europe is second fastest region in the whole world that is heating up the most. That's why the situation is much, much worse in Europe. And that's why the droughts are more common, heatwaves are more common as well. June 2026 was the hottest June on record for Western Europe and the second warmest globally, with 10,000 excess deaths recorded across Europe. Experts warn that extreme summer heatwaves might become the new normal. For TVP World, Gabriela Fesnak. Scarce stories that Russia may expand its war of conquest to Central Europe regularly capture headlines across the world. And yet, tourism in Poland and other would-be frontline states is booming. Why is this so? Julia Gdula and Marianne Schapland have the answer. 9.6 billion euros. That's how much foreign tourists spent in Poland in 2025, marking a 12% increase compared to last year. The number of visitors to Poland has nearly doubled in the last 15 years, with almost 21 million overnight stays by foreign tourists recorded. People around the world, including political leaders, know that Poland has become one of the safest countries in the world. A safe metro, safe trams, safe streets. You can walk around at night without worrying. And tourists confirm that they feel great in Poland. I feel safe, first of all, here. Secondly, I like people here. Thirdly, the culture is so common to me. The regions of Lesser Poland, Mazovia and West Pomerania remain the country's most popular destinations. But it seems that once visitors discover Poland, they can't get enough of it. I was in Krakow just a month ago. And last year I visited Katowice and also Zakopane. Yes, I've been to Krakow, Rzeszów. I've been once to Lublin and then once to Olsztyn. And yeah, that's it. But I'd like to visit more places. Warsaw, Poland is wonderful. Germans remain Poland's largest group of foreign visitors, accounting for nearly one in three tourists. They are followed by Ukrainians, Britons and Americans, with the Polish capital Warsaw clearly capturing their hearts. I love Warsaw. Warsaw is my favourite city in Europe as an American and as a young man who's been very privileged to travel around. Warsaw, number one place I recommend in Europe, for sure. I would have to say it is amazing. Definitely picking up the language chi-chi or dziękuję. More visitors, longer stays, record spending. The forecast for Poland's tourism industry looks bright. Ukraine and Russia are exchanging blows in the war that appears to have become a stalemate. Neither side seems capable of achieving a breakthrough, while economic and social pressures on both sides grow. I will discuss the implications of this state of affairs with Niko Lange, a former German government official and now senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis. Good evening, Niko. Welcome to the show again. Good evening. So, given everything that we see, the latest developments on the battlefield, but also politically, diplomatically, what is your assessment? Where are we? Are we any closer to peace or is this still a war of attrition? I think on the front lines in the east and in the south of Ukraine, we are still at a phase where we have more of the same. It did not change much. It's a war of attrition. With the kill zone, Russia still trying to take land, but not succeeding. Not different from one year ago or two years ago, but there is difference now in the deep strike war, where Ukraine is able to hit Russia at very sensitive points, especially in the energy sector, and where Russia strikes Ukraine with ballistic missiles regularly, because there is no real ballistic missile defence anymore. I think Ukraine, by increasing the problems for Putin in the Russian energy sector, there is full shortage now. Many important objects have been hit by Ukraine. I think the best we can get in a few weeks or months is a discussion about a sectoral ceasefire, where both sides would discuss not to have the deep strikes deep into each other's territory anymore. But I see no real progress towards a full ceasefire or even peace negotiations. So we've heard that some negotiations may happen soon. There was a Rubio-Lavrov meeting. Not much emerged from it. Zelensky is travelling to Washington for the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a friend of Ukraine, and he is likely to talk to Donald Trump there. Do you believe that we're beginning to see some new outreaches in diplomacy that could facilitate even a partial ceasefire that you talked about earlier? Russia tried to repeat the same old positions that we have known for a long time, also when Lavrov met with Rubio just a few days ago. But after that, I mean, the meeting of Lavrov and Rubio was pointless. There was no result from that. But after that, there was an interesting message from the Russian side that the Russian side would like to learn new suggestions from the US on how a way forward could look like, which might be a departure from this old Russian demand, give us Donbass and then we will talk. We will see. Zelensky is going, as you mentioned, to the funeral of Lindsey Graham. He will meet with President Trump very likely again. The last two meetings were very good. Trump is more supportive to Ukraine now than he has been before. The last three meetings were very good. On the other hand, the United States seemed to be absolutely busy with the disaster they created themselves with Iran. And it's unlikely that they will have the resources or the bandwidth to deal with Ukraine or with pressuring Russia. But the Graham bill that is maybe being passed by US Congress could increase the pressure on Russia in a time where the financial, the energy situation for Putin is already very difficult. And maybe this is a starting point for a serious conversation should the bill really be passed. We have had before that, you know, a lot of the MAGA base, if you will, the conservative Americans who support Trump normally have a different view on Ukraine, that the majority of Americans, regardless of their political views, in principle, support Ukraine. But in recent weeks, we saw some surprising conversions like Laura Loomer, a very influential figure, coming to Kiev, embracing Zelensky, saying, you know, we were duped by Russia. Do you think it matters or is this superfluous? I think Trump is changing his position here. As I said, the last meetings with Zelensky were very good. And I think following the change by Trump, also people who are in the Trump camp or in the MAGA camp, they are working now on the transition, changing their position. I'm not so much interested in Laura Loomer, but if there's less Russian propaganda being echoed to the American media space and to the MAGA people, I think that's a positive development. So finally, what is do you think China's role in all this? Have the Chinese realized now that Putin basically lied to them that he can bring Ukraine under control? And are they also running sort of out of patience with Putin? What is this just wishful thinking? Yeah, I mean, Xi Jinping, I think, liked the war when it looked like Putin would be quickly winning. He doesn't like the war as much anymore now that Putin is in the fifth year and is not achieving much. China is helping Russia, especially with components, with parts of weapon systems, especially in the drone sector. But China is not crossing the threshold, giving real military support to Russia. And I don't think that will change. For China, I think this war is an instrument to keep the Americans busy and to draw the attention away from what China is doing in the Pacific. So China has no real interest in the war being stopped. It has an interest in prolonging it, and therefore it's supporting Russia. But on the other hand, China will also not expose itself for Russia. Russia is not an ally of China. It's more a pragmatic partnership. And we can already see China is exploiting Russia. Even if Russia wants to sell its energy now to China, China will not pay the high price that Europeans or others have paid in the past. They will negotiate it to a lower level. The secondary sanctions that are in the Graham Bill, if the bill is passed through US Congress, they will also affect, for example, Chinese banks that are helping with Russian financial business. And if China has to decide what is more important to us, helping Russia or trade with the United States, I think they will decide for trade with the United States. And that might change the position and bring us closer to Russia becoming serious about negotiations. The last question I've got for you is that, you know, these circumstances in some ways seem to be favorable to Zelensky. And at the same time, he has started a couple of political movements, decisions. He took several decisions that seem to sort of waste energy, if you will. So he has this huge row about his defense minister, protests again. And then he's also sort of alienating Poland, which is a critical ally, a neighbor. What do you think is driving this? And what are the consequences? Yeah. In tennis, you would call what you just mentioned unforced errors, right? It was unnecessary to name a military unit the way it was named in Ukraine. It only created problems. I do not see what advantages did it bring to anybody. And it was also unnecessary to reform the government in a way that the defense minister, who has a lot of support, especially with young people in Ukraine, would be behind protests now or become the content of protests. And it's puzzling. If Ukraine has an advantage position now, if Ukraine is better on the battlefield and with the deep strikes, why these moves, why shooting yourselves in the foot? President Zelensky is maneuvering now to stabilize the situation again. But it makes you wonder if he still has the right sense of grappling the real situation and the real mood in society. But on the other hand, it's good that he is correcting quickly. And I think he will overcome the government discussion. And I hope the discussion between Ukraine and Poland will also be overcome. It's not helping anybody if this continues. Nico, thank you very much for your comments tonight. Thank you. That's all we've got for you tonight. Stay with us for more news and analysis on TVP World.