TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Thousands of opposition supporters rallied Monday in Georgia’s capital in continuing protests against the ruling party's declared victory in the Oct. 26 parliamentary election amid allegations that Russia helped rig the vote.
The protesters waved Georgian and European Union flags and gathered outside the Georgian parliament. They demanded a new parliamentary election under international supervision and an investigation into the alleged election fraud.
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People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
A woman holds EU and Georgian flags during a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
A woman holds a banner saying "We are Europe" during a protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
Deputy Marshal of the Senate of Poland Michal Kaminski speaks during a rally, protesting against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
Front from left, Deputy Marshal of the Senate of Poland Michal Kaminski, member of French National Assembly Frederic Petit and member of Finnish Parliament Jukka Kopra attend a rally against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
Giorgi Vashadze, leader of Unity National Movement Coalition, vowed that the opposition will “fight until the end.”
“Elections were massively rigged, that is why we don’t recognize election results," he said. "Our goal is new elections, our goal is to form a new government, which will drive Georgia to European integration.”
Opposition leaders have vowed to boycott sessions of parliament and hold regular protests until their demands are met.
The Central Election Commission said the governing Georgian Dream party won about 54% of the vote. Its leaders have rejected the opposition claims of vote fraud.
European election observers said the election took place in a “divisive” atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.
The opposition has accused Georgian Dream, which was established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. It has recently adopted laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.
President Salome Zourabichvili, who has rejected the official results, says Georgia has fallen victim to pressure from Moscow against joining the EU. Zourabichvili, who holds a mostly ceremonial position, has urged the United States and EU to support the demonstrations.
Officials in Washington and Brussels have urged a full investigation of the election, while the Kremlin has rejected the accusations of interference.
Many Georgians viewed the parliamentary election as a pivotal referendum on the country’s effort to join the EU. The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely because of its passage in June of a Russian-style “foreign influence law.”
Lawmakers from several EU nations attended Monday’s rally in a show of solidarity with protesters.
“Somebody is trying to take your freedom, somebody is trying to take your democracy, your country, your membership in EU and NATO,” Zygimantas Pavilionis, a Lithuanian parliament member, said at the rally. “Don’t give up. Fight for your freedom, fight for your democracy, fight for your country , fight for your membership in EU and NATO.”
People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
A woman holds EU and Georgian flags during a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
A woman holds a banner saying "We are Europe" during a protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
Deputy Marshal of the Senate of Poland Michal Kaminski speaks during a rally, protesting against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
Front from left, Deputy Marshal of the Senate of Poland Michal Kaminski, member of French National Assembly Frederic Petit and member of Finnish Parliament Jukka Kopra attend a rally against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
People attend a rally to protest against alleged violations in a recent parliamentary election in Tbilisi, Georgia, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Zurab Tsertsvadze)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.
The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”
Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.
In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was in retaliation for Kyiv’s use of U.S. and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.
Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.
Ukrainian military officials said the missile that hit Dnipro had reached a speed of Mach 11 and carried six nonnuclear warheads each releasing six submunitions.
Speaking Friday to military and weapons industries officials, Putin said Russia is launching production of the Oreshnik.
“No one in the world has such weapons,” he said with a thin smile. “Sooner or later other leading countries will also get them. We are aware that they are under development."
But he added, "we have this system now. And this is important.”
Testing the missile will continue, “including in combat, depending on the situation and the character of security threats created for Russia,” Putin said, noting there is ”a stockpile of such systems ready for use.”
Putin said that while it isn’t an intercontinental missile, it’s so powerful that the use of several of them fitted with conventional warheads in one attack could be as devastating as a strike with strategic — or nuclear — weapons.
Gen. Sergei Karakayev, head of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be fitted with nuclear or conventional warheads, echoing Putin's claim that even with conventional warheads, “the massive use of the weapon would be comparable in effect to the use of nuclear weapons.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.
"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.
“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orbán said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption … that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”
Orbán cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick… there will be consequences,” he said.
Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”
At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”
He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.
Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.
In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro.
Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.
The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..
Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.
—— Associated Press journalists Lorne Cook in Brussels, Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia, and Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary, contributed.
—— Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha speaks to journalists during joint press conference with Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky in Kyiv, Ukraine, November 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky speaks to journalists during a joint press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Czech Republic's Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky walks after a joint press conference with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriiy Sybiha in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, left, gives an award to Russian serviceman of the Battlegroup North in an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, a Russian engineer troops serviceman operates at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo taken from a video released by Russian Defense Ministry press service no Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, Russian T90M Proryv tank fires towards Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
