Zelenskyy calls for a European air defense system as Russian strike wounds 20

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces bombarded the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with rockets overnight, wounding 20 people, including four children, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday as he urged European leaders to make the continent safe by building an ambitious air defense umbrella.

With the war grinding on since Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor more than 3½ years ago, there has been no let-up in Russian strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine and its army’s push on the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.

A settlement to end the war appears to be no closer despite months of U.S.-led peace efforts. U.S. President Donald Trump’s ultimatums and deadlines for Putin to engage with proposals to stop the fighting have passed without obvious consequences.

Just over the past two weeks, Zelenskyy said on Telegram, Russia has launched more than 3,500 drones, more than 2,500 powerful glide bombs and almost 200 missiles at targets inside Ukraine.

Russian glide bombs, usually dropped by jets at high altitude and far behind the front line, and drone swarms are a major challenge for Ukrainian defenses. Glide bombs aren't very accurate, but they leave big craters, and Ukraine has no effective countermeasure against them.

Russian drones also recently landed on Polish soil, prompting NATO to beef up the alliance’s European air defenses as tensions with Moscow mounted.

“Now is the time to implement the joint protection of our European skies with a multilayered air defense system. All the technologies for this are available,” Zelenskyy said on Telegram. “We need investments and desire, we need strong actions and decisions from all our partners.”

Trump, heading to the United Kingdom for a state visit, told reporters in Washington that “Zelenskyy is going to have to make a deal” to end the war, though he didn't elaborate on what he meant. The American president has blamed both sides for the fighting, though Ukraine is defending itself from invasion.

Trump also repeated his insistence that Europe must stop buying oil from Russia. Trump said Saturday he believes the war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying crude from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum.

In Zaporizhzhia, the Russian barrage struck more than 20 apartment buildings, starting fires, regional head Ivan Fedorov said on national television.

“We hadn’t yet recovered from enemy strikes on Aug. 30. We are currently repairing those buildings, those windows, but now the enemy has added more work for our municipal workers,” Fedorov said.

Russia also hit a civilian logistics center in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. He also posted on Telegram a video of a Russian drone striking the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where officials said that four people were wounded as the National Pharmaceutical University in the city center was hit.

Zelenskyy repeated his appeal for countries to tighten their economic sanctions on Russia.

“The only reason Russia can allow all this is that it doesn’t feel any pain,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “Until Russia experiences truly severe losses — above all economic ones — it will avoid genuine diplomacy and an end to the war.”

In response to Russia's attacks, Ukraine has developed its own long-range drones that have hit deep inside Russia, damaging installations vital for Russia’s war effort.

Recent strikes have included oil refineries, depots and terminals. Russia remains the world’s second-largest oil exporter, but a seasonal rise in demand and sustained Ukrainian drone strikes have caused gasoline shortages in recent weeks.

Ukraine’s General Staff said Tuesday that the armed forces struck an oil refinery in the Saratov region of western Russia during the night. Explosions and a fire were reported at the facility, the General Staff said on its Facebook page.

Aamer Madhani contributed to this report from Washington.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, rescue workers put out a fire of a building destroyed by a Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, rescuers work on a site of a house destroyed by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Zaporizhzhia regional military administration via AP)

In this photo provided by the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, rescuers work on a site of a house destroyed by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Zaporizhzhia regional military administration via AP)

In this photo provided by the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, rescuers work on a site of a house destroyed by a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. (Zaporizhzhia regional military administration via AP)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to five years in prison Friday in the first verdict from eight criminal trials over the martial law debacle that forced him out of office and other allegations.

Yoon was impeached, arrested and dismissed as president after his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024 triggered huge public protests calling for his ouster.

The most significant criminal charge against him alleges that his martial law enforcement amounted to a rebellion, and the independent counsel has requested the death sentence in the case that is to be decided in a ruling next month.

Yoon has maintained he didn’t intend to place the country under military rule for an extended period, saying his decree was only meant to inform the people about the danger of the liberal-controlled parliament obstructing his agenda. But investigators have viewed Yoon’s decree as an attempt to bolster and prolong his rule, charging him with rebellion, abuse of power and other criminal offenses.

In Friday’s case, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Yoon for defying attempts to detain him, fabricating the martial law proclamation, and sidestepping a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting and thus depriving some Cabinet members who were not convened of their due rights to deliberate on his decree.

Judge Baek Dae-hyun said in the televised ruling that imposing “a grave punishment” was necessary because Yoon hasn’t shown remorse and has only repeated “hard-to-comprehend excuses.” The judge also restoring legal systems damaged by Yoon’s action was necessary.

Yoon’s defense team said they will appeal the ruling, which they believe was “politicized” and reflected “the unliberal arguments by the independent counsel.” Yoon’s defense team argued the ruling “oversimplified the boundary between the exercise of the president’s constitutional powers and criminal liability.”

Prison sentences in the multiple, smaller trials Yoon faces would matter if he is spared the death penalty or life imprisonment at the rebellion trial.

Park SungBae, a lawyer who specializes in criminal law, said there is little chance the court would decide Yoon should face the death penalty in the rebellion case. He said the court will likely issue a life sentence or a sentence of 30 years or more in prison.

South Korea has maintained a de facto moratorium on executions since 1997 and courts rarely hand down death sentences. Park said the court would take into account that Yoon’s decree didn’t cause casualties and didn’t last long, although Yoon hasn’t shown genuine remorse for his action.

South Korea has a history of pardoning former presidents who were jailed over diverse crimes in the name of promoting national unity. Those pardoned include strongman Chun Doo-hwan, who received the death penalty at a district court over his 1979 coup, the bloody 1980 crackdowns of pro-democracy protests that killed about 200 people, and other crimes.

Some observers say Yoon will likely retain a defiant attitude in the ongoing trials to maintain his support base in the belief that he cannot avoid a lengthy sentence but could be pardoned in the future.

On the night of Dec. 3, 2024, Yoon abruptly declared martial law in a televised speech, saying he would eliminate “anti-state forces” and protect “the constitutional democratic order.” Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but many apparently didn’t aggressively cordon off the area, allowing enough lawmakers to get into an assembly hall to vote down Yoon’s decree.

No major violence occurred, but Yoon's stunt caused the biggest political crisis in South Korea and rattled its diplomacy and financial markets. For many, his decree, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, brought back harrowing memories of past dictatorships in the 1970s and 1980s, when military-backed leaders used martial law and emergency measures to deploy soldiers and tanks on the streets to suppress demonstrations.

After Yoon's ouster, his liberal rival Lee Jae Myung became president via a snap election last June. After taking office, Lee appointed three independent counsels to look into allegations involving Yoon, his wife and associates.

Yoon's other trials deal with charges like ordering drone flights over North Korea to deliberately inflame animosities to look for a pretext to declare martial law. Other charges accuse Yoon of manipulating the investigation into a marine’s drowning in 2023 and receiving free opinion surveys from an election broker in return for a political favor.

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shouts slogans outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol waits for a bus carrying former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs as police officers stand guard outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs and flags outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold signs outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A picture of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is placed on a board as supporters gather outside Seoul Central District Court, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)