European Union officials unveiled plans Wednesday to beef up the bloc's code of practice on online disinformation, with the aim of preventing digital ad companies from profiting off of “fake news.”
EU officials said they were strengthening the three-year-old voluntary code to make it more effective at fighting the false information flooding tech platforms.
“We want to cut the systemic producers of disinformation off the money,” Vera Jourova, a vice president of the European Commission whose brief includes rule of law issues and disinformation, said in Brussels during a media briefing. “Disinformation still is something that sells well, so we want to also engage the advertising industry not to place ads next to disinformation."
The EU plan includes encouraging digital ad companies to sign up to the code. It calls for digital platforms and ad companies to share information on advertisements that any of them reject for promoting disinformation. It also calls for better ad transparency and banning people or groups systematically spreading debunked content.
Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, TikTok and Mozilla are among the tech and social media platforms that so far have signed on to the code of practice, which the EU’s executive commission launched in 2018 to counter the rise of online manipulation and disinformation ahead of European Parliament elections the following year.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the previous day killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teenagers.
Emergency workers finished digging through the building’s rubble after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X.
The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner block during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia’s biggest barrage of the country since its all-out invasion.
The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.
Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days following a May 9-11 ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting went on over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.
This week’s attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is close to ending.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centers since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.
Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24 when Moscow’s forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.
Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that air defenses downed 355 drones overnight in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.
Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.
Also, a Ukrainian drone attack on Ryazan, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, Ryazan Gov. Pavel Malkov said.
After the attack, massive plumes of black smoke spewed from a fire at a local oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny vital export revenue for Moscow and rattle the Kremlin.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment about the Ryazan strike.
The Ukrainian capital observed an official day of mourning Friday in remembrance of those killed Thursday, and Zelenskyy visited the site.
The cruise missile that hit the apartment building was built in the second quarter of this year, Zelenskyy said, apparently after Ukrainian experts analyzed the wreckage.
“This means Russia is still importing the components, resources and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions,” Zelenskyy said in another post on X late Thursday.
“Stopping Russia’s sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have continued to occasionally swap prisoners of war, and 205 from each country returned home Friday.
Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap. Some of the Ukrainians released had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, he said, and had fought in some of the war’s fiercest battles.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping broker it.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A woman lays flowers in front of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Rescue workers stand in the yard of an apartment building heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukraine's Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, left, and Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, right, walk in the yard of an apartment building heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Soldiers from Ukraine's Khartia brigade fire a canon towards Russian army positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Soldiers from Ukraine's Khartia brigade fire a canon towards Russian army positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Apartment interiors are seen in a damaged residential house following Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
