BERLIN (AP) — A Saudi doctor was convicted of charges including murder and sentenced to life in prison Friday over the car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg in 2024 that left six people dead.
The defendant, 51-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, went on trial at the state court in the eastern city in November. The court found that he carries “particularly serious” guilt, German news agency dpa reported. That means he won’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.
Five women and a boy died, and many more people were wounded, in the Dec. 20, 2024 attack that lasted just over a minute.
Investigators have said that the attack was carried out with a rented BMW X3, which reached speeds of up to 48 kph (30 mph) during the rampage. They said when they filed the indictment that the defendant wasn’t under the influence of alcohol, and apparently acted out of dissatisfaction with the outcome of a legal dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints. They also have said that he planned the attack without accomplices.
Officials have said the suspect doesn’t fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The defendant described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam, and on social media expressed support for the far right. He had previously come to authorities’ attention for threatening behavior but wasn’t known to have committed any violence.
The Magdeburg car-ramming was one of a series of attacks involving immigrants that pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s national election in February 2025. The defendant arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
The defendant, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, second right, arrives at the court in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa via AP)
The defendant, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, center, arrives at the court in Magdeburg, Germany, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa via AP)
Russian air defenses intercepted 660 Ukrainian drones in a major nighttime attack on 12 Russian regions as well as the Russia-held Crimean peninsula, the Black Sea and the Azov Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday.
It appeared to be one of the biggest drone attacks on Russia and the illegally annexed Crimea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago. The previous biggest Ukrainian attack over the past year was 556 drones on May 17.
In an effort to turn the tables on Russia’s grinding war of attrition, Ukrainian long-range drones have for months been battering targets, including oil production and energy facilities, behind the front line and deep inside Russia. The campaign has choked Russian fuel supplies and military deliveries, stalling Russia's efforts on the battlefield, Western officials and analysts say, and heaped pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Initial damage reports from Russia after the overnight attack provided scant information. Russia’s Defense Ministry usually doesn't say what was targeted in Ukraine’s drone attacks, nor does it detail any damage.
The major attack came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X that he had ordered “a 40-day influence operation,” believed to mean an escalation of attacks, aimed at “compelling (Russia) to end the war” after U.S. peace efforts over the past year yielded no breakthrough.
The successful strikes, including hitting targets in Moscow and St. Petersburg, have buoyed Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said he got further promises of foreign support when he attended a recent summit of G7 leaders, including from U.S. President Donald Trump, and that the promised aid will help Ukraine step up its effort to force Putin to the negotiating table.
A NATO summit next month could be another key moment in beefing up Ukraine's military.
In the Tula region just south of Moscow, a private house was damaged by the attack and a woman was wounded, Tula Gov. Dmitry Milyaev said in an online statement as reports of damage caused by the attack began to emerge.
He also said a power line was damaged and an unspecified industrial facility in the city of Novomoskovsk.
Russian independent online outlet Astra reported that a chemical plant and a hydroelectric plant in Novomoskovsk were attacked and caught fire. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the report, and there was no official confirmation.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also reported that 47 Ukrainian drones were downed as they flew toward the Russian capital. He did not report any casualties or damage.
Two people were killed and seven others injured in Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv region over the previous 24 hours, regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Friday.
Russian forces struck the city of Kharkiv and 16 other settlements across the region using guided aerial bombs and drones of various types, Syniehubov said.
Ukraine’s Defense Forces overnight stopped 174 of 189 Russian drones, the Ukrainian air force said. However, four of seven Iskander-M ballistic missiles that were fired got through air defenses and struck various locations, it said.
Ukrainian officials reported damage to energy facilities, homes and other civilian infrastructure in the capital, Kyiv, the southern Odesa region and Sumy in the northeast.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters extinguish a fire in a residential building following a Russian drone attack in Sumy region, Ukraine, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo, provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters extinguish a fire in a residential building following a Russian drone attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Friday, June 26, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
A woman holds her cat after it being found during search and rescue works in the damaged residential building following Russia's missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Saturday, June 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
