Violence breaks out at anti-government protest in Albanian capital

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters throwing Molotov cocktails and flares during a demonstration Tuesday night in central Tirana by thousands of opposition supporters demanding the resignation of Albania’s government.

Sixteen protesters were treated in a hospital for burns and other injuries, police said, adding that 13 protesters were arrested.

Prime Minister Edi Rama's government has come under fire over corruption allegations involving Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, but Rama has resisted calls to dismiss her. There have been growing demands that lawmakers lift Balluku's immunity from prosecution, which can only be done in a parliamentary vote.

Anti-corruption prosecutors have accused Balluku, who is also minister for energy and infrastructure, of interfering in public procurement for construction projects to favor certain companies, and has called for her immunity to be lifted.

Tuesday night’s protest in the Albanian capital was attended by thousands of people. It was the third such demonstration in recent months demanding Rama’s resignation. More than 1,300 police officers had been deployed to ensure security. Previous protests also turned violent, with demonstrators throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks at police and a government building, and with authorities responding with tear gas and water cannons.

Opposition Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, a former prime minister who has also faced corruption charges himself, described the protest as a “peaceful uprising” at a critical moment for Albania. Speaking at the protest, he accused Rama of “declaring war on the justice system.”

Political analyst Mentor Kikia said it was unlikely that any major change would result from the protests. “Citizens are distrustful, having consistently voted for the lesser evil to remove the greater evil from power,” he said.

“The current perception is that if Rama leaves, Berisha will return. One left power because of corruption, the other must also leave power because of corruption,” Kikia said.

Albania hopes to join the European Union, and is under close monitoring by the bloc as part of its accession process, which it hopes to complete by 2027.

However, international watchdogs say the country continues to suffer from widespread corruption.

Hooded youth protesters throw flares and fireworks during an anti-government rally outside Prime Minister's office over corruption scandals and broader political issues, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)

Protesters throw Molotov cocktails, flares and fireworks during an anti-government rally outside Prime Minister's office over corruption scandals and broader political issues, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)

Protesters throw Molotov cocktails during an anti-government rally outside Prime Minister's office over corruption scandals and broader political issues, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)

Protesters throw Molotov cocktails, flares and fireworks during an anti-government rally outside Prime Minister's office over corruption scandals and broader political issues, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)

Hooded youth protesters throw flares and fireworks during an anti-government rally outside Prime Minister's office over corruption scandals and broader political issues, in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes overnight and on Saturday morning, killing 10 people and wounding several dozen more, officials on both sides said Saturday.

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians.

“We are working to strengthen our partnership to ensure the real protection of lives, advance stability, and guarantee security in Europe and the Middle East. Joint efforts always yield the best results,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the messaging app Telegram after arriving in Istanbul.

Russia fired 286 drones at Ukraine overnight, 260 of which were downed, the Ukrainian Air Force said in an online statement.

Five people — three women and two men — were killed in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and 19 others were wounded, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Hanzha said. The attack damaged market stalls and a shop.

In the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia, a strike wounded 11 people, the National Police said. Residential areas were hit, and houses, cars and utility networks were damaged in the attack.

In the capital, Kyiv, a drone strike caused a fire on the first floor of a three-story office and warehouse building, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. No casualties were reported.

In the partially occupied Donetsk region, a Russian drone strike hit a civilian car on the Kostyantynivka–Druzhkivka road on Saturday morning, killing one woman and wounding another, according to the head of the Kostyantynivka City Military Administration, Serhiy Horbunov.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its forces fired “long-range air- and ground-based precision weapons, as well as strike drones” at unspecified “military-industrial and energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukrainian forces hit railroad infrastructure in the region and private houses, killing a family of three — a couple and their 8-year-old child.

The Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, claimed it used drone strikes to halt production at a metallurgical plant in the Russian-occupied city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region, most of which is controlled by the Russian forces.

The SBU said on its Facebook page that drone strikes damaged blast furnaces, key production workshops, distillation columns, gas pipelines and electrical substations that power the plant, which supplies Russia’s state tank and railroad car plant, Uralvagonzavod.

There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian military overnight shot down 85 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, the annexed Crimea region and the Black Sea.

In Russia's Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed and four sustained injuries, according to the region's governor, Yuri Slyusar. The attack sparked a fire at a warehouse facility of an unspecified logistics company, and another fire on a dry-cargo vessel flying a foreign flag several kilometers from the shore, Slyusar said.

In the Samara region's city of Tolyatti, one person was wounded, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. The roof of a residential building was damaged and windows were shattered in several apartments, he said.

In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, April 4, 2026, a Russian T-72B3M tank fires towards Ukrainian position. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)