KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight killed at least four civilians and wounded 20 other people, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as he faces a political crisis after firing his popular defense minister.
Zelenskyy’s major reshuffle of his government on Thursday, which included the appointment of a new prime minister, unsettled the country’s military leadership and trigged a public outcry. It was an unwelcome difficulty after Ukraine has gained traction in its fight against Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion.
The surprise departure from the defense ministry of Mykhailo Fedorov, a youthful and popular member of the government, saw thousands of people demonstrate against his dismissal in cities across Ukraine on Thursday. Further street protests were expected on Friday.
Fedorov, 35, who was in the post for just six months, is widely seen as the driving force behind Ukraine’s swift and successful technological innovation and other measures, such as fighting military corruption, that have brought fresh hope in the war for Ukrainians.
Relations between Fedorov and Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces who started his military career in the former Soviet Union, had broken down, according to Zelenskyy, and made Fedorov’s position untenable.
Zelenskyy said he had asked Maj. Gen. Yevhen Khmara, acting head of the state’s security service and a highly regarded special operations expert, to take over the defense minister’s duties.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday he would ask Parliament to formally approve Khmara’s appointment as defense minister, as required by law. That step could be held up by bureaucratic hurdles, however. Ukrainian law requires the defense minister to be a civilian, so a serving soldier or security service officer must leave active service before being formally appointed. Also, lawmakers will be on summer recess through mid-August.
Khmara has been in charge of the SBU security service since January. He had previously led the SBU’s elite Alpha special forces unit and is known for being an architect of Operation Spiderweb, one of Ukraine’s most spectacular attacks when it struck Russian air bases last year. He joined the Alpha unit in 2011 and became its commander in 2023 before being promoted to major general the following year.
Moscow’s response to its battlefield difficulties and Ukraine’s targeting of Russian oil facilities, which has caused severe fuel shortages, has focused in part on relentless strategic bombing of civilian areas of Ukraine.
Two people were killed and 10 others injured, including children, in an overnight Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southern port city of Odesa, regional military administration head Oleh Kiper said. One of those killed was a woman who had been walking in a park with her children, who survived, he said.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, two people were killed and five more were injured in a strike, according to Zelenskyy. He said three people were injured as a result of Russian shelling in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Officials said more people were injured in Russian strikes on five other regions of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that air defenses downed 243 Ukrainian drones overnight into Friday.
Three civilians were killed and seven others injured in Ukrainian drone attacks over the previous 24 hours, according to Vladimir Saldo, the Moscow-appointed head of the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine's Kherson region.
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, a body of a local resident is covered after a Russian missile attack in center of Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, July 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, paramedics give first aid to an injured resident following a Russian missile attack in center of Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, July 17, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
People gather to denounce President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after six months in the post, Thursday, July 16, 2026, Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
BANGKOK (AP) — Australia’s government and the families of two Australian teenagers who died of methanol poisoning in Laos have lambasted as inadequate the charges they said were due to be laid by Lao authorities on Friday against those allegedly responsible.
Australian tourists Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were among six foreigners killed by tainted alcohol at a tourist hostel in Vang Vieng in November 2024. The others killed were an American man, a British woman and two Danish women.
Jones’ parents told reporters in Melbourne that authorities in Laos would later Friday announce charges against the alleged suppliers of the methanol-laced drinks.
Mark Jones, Bianca’s father, said that according to information received by the families, the penalties the accused are expected to face if convicted are up to a year in jail and a fine of about 1,600 Australian dollars ($1,117). Australian authorities have been keeping the affected families apprised of the case since the incident.
He described such a resolution as “unacceptable.”
“It’s like their lives didn’t even matter," said Bianca’s mother, Michelle. "We’re just really appalled by it all. You know, they were just going over to have a bit of fun and just doing the rite of passage that every, you know, child or teenager does. So for that outcome, it was just devastating.”
An announcement was supposed to be made at the Ministry of Public Security in the Lao capital, Vientiane, and cars from the embassies of two of the concerned countries, Australia and Britain, were seen leaving that location on Friday afternoon but no information was immediately available. A request from The Associated Press for entry to cover the proceedings was not approved.
Methanol poisoning is a problem all over the world, not only for tourists but more so for local residents. In the latter case, it is found especially in countries where alcoholic drinks are hard to afford or illicit. Statistics of suspected cases compiled by the medical assistance group Doctors Without Borders show that Indonesia, India and Russia are countries with the most reported incidents.
Methanol is sometimes added to mixed drinks at disreputable bars as a cheaper alternative to ethanol, but can cause severe poisoning or death. It is also a byproduct of poorly distilled home-brew liquor, and could have found its way into bar drinks inadvertently.
The two Australian women had been staying at the Nana Backpacker Hostel, where they reportedly consumed “free shots” of Laotian vodka before heading out to other venues.
When they failed to check out as planned, they were found sick in their room and eventually evacuated to hospitals in neighboring Thailand, where they later died.
Speaking at a news conference along with the Jones family, Shaun Bowles, the father of Holly Morton-Bowles, described Friday's anticipated legal development as “mind-boggling because (Laos) is a popular tourist destination for a lot of travelers, a lot of Australian, young Australian travelers and young people from around the world.”
He said he expected potential visitors to Laos to reconsider going “because they’ve demonstrated, the way that they act, and as I say, the value that they put on tourists’ lives over there and the way they’ve tried to cover this up.”
Landlocked Laos is one of Southeast Asia’s poorest nations and a popular tourist destination. Vang Vieng is particularly popular among backpackers seeking partying and adventure sports.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was “deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed″ that authorities weren’t pursuing “the most serious charges” in relations to the women’s deaths, she said in a statement Friday. Wong’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for details of the expected counts and her statement didn’t specify how many people were due to be charged.
Wong and Australia’s Prime Minister had dispatched an envoy to Laos on Friday “to convey the Australian Government’s objections and reinforce our expectations for an investigation that delivers justice for Holly, Bianca and the other victims of the methanol poisoning,” the minister said. Australian officials had also summoned Laos’ ambassador to Canberra, she added.
Laos is an authoritarian one-party communist state that tightly controls information. A text message from The Associated Press to the Lao Foreign Ministry asking for an official comment received the reply that information would be made available at a news conference that would be open only to local media and the foreign embassies concerned.
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Graham-McLay reported from Auckland, New Zealand.
Exterior of the Ministry of Public Security is seen in Vientiane, Laos, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Exterior of the Ministry of Public Security in Vientiane, Laos, Friday, July 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
FILE -Foreign tourists walk past the closed Nana Backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Nov. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)
In this image made from video, Samantha Morton, left, and Shaun Bowles, the parents of Holly Morton-Bowles, speak during news conference in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (Channel 9 via AP)
In this image made from video Michelle Jones, right, holds a photo of her daughter, Bianca, as Michelle and her husband Mark Jones appear on a news program in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, July 17, 2026. (Australian Broadcasting Corp via AP)
