BACKA TOPOLA, Serbia (AP) — Ireland's press conference ahead of its contentious Nations League game against Israel was abruptly ended Saturday when a journalist asked coach Heimir Hallgrimsson about alleged racism by Irish players during last week's match between the teams.
Ireland defeated Israel 3-0 last Sunday but only after Irish players took a vote on whether or not to go ahead with the game, due to bitter opposition in Ireland over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
On Saturday, an Israeli journalist alleged that Irish players made racist comments, which promoted an immediate rebuke from Football Association of Ireland communications manager Kieran Crowley: “That's completely untrue.” The press conference was then ended.
Sunday's game — Ireland is the “home” team — is being held in Backa Topola, Serbia, without any fans present.
The FAI moved the game to an neutral venue for “operational reasons” in June following widespread calls in Ireland for a boycott. It also followed the FAI’s own motion the previous November calling on UEFA to ban Israel from club and international competitions.
The FAI has resisted calls for a boycott, arguing the team could be hit with sanctions by UEFA. Ireland is co-hosting the 2028 European Championship with England, Wales and Scotland.
Last Sunday's game was held in Debrecen, Hungary, where Irish players wore black armbands. The FAI was investigating whether Ireland forward Adam Idah was racially abused during the match. A small number of Israel supporters had attended.
On Thursday, Ireland's game against Austria in Dublin was briefly interrupted by protesters throwing tennis balls bearing Palestinian flags.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
Tennis balls with stickers of the Palestine flag and the text, "#StopTheGame," are removed from the field after being thrown by protesters during the UEFA Nations League, Group B3 match at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP)
People call on the Football Association of Ireland to boycott Sunday's soccer game against Israel near the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (Cillian Sherlock/PA via AP)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian attacks in Ukraine killed at least six people and damaged Kyiv’s Northern Bridge, suspending traffic and causing tailbacks for a third day in Moscow's latest effort to disrupt life in the Ukrainian capital.
The strike came after two days of Russian assaults forced the full or partial closure of three of Kyiv’s six road bridges over the Dnipro River. Previously, Russia has hit apartment blocks, supermarket warehouses, gas stations and data centers, among other targets.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday it would continue to carry out “mass retaliatory strikes" on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, urging foreign nationals and diplomats to leave the country. It previously issued a similar warning in May.
Russia invaded its neighbor more than 4 ½ years ago, and there are no concrete signs that a peace settlement might be possible. Fighting along the roughly 1,250-kilometer (780-mile) front line snaking through northern, eastern and southern Ukraine has been virtually deadlocked in recent months.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said the strike on the bridge damaged the road surface and trolleybus cables, forcing traffic to be suspended. He later said two people were wounded in the attack, one of whom was briefly hospitalized.
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday confirmed it was behind the latest attack, claiming the bridge is used to “facilitate troop movements and the logistics of military cargo deliveries” for Ukraine’s armed forces.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show the moment of impact as vehicles crossed the bridge, including footage purportedly recorded by a driver's dashcam.
The aerial war has intensified, with Kyiv striking Russia's oil industry and businesses while Moscow has menaced Ukrainian cities with hard-to-intercept ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu said Saturday that the war is “dangerously reaching” her country, following a spate of airspace incursions.
“I condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine this morning. Its war is dangerously reaching Moldova,” she said in a post on X, adding that five “Russian air attack weapons, including Banderol missiles and drones, violated our airspace and exploded on our soil.”
“Moscow is putting lives at risk across Europe and must be stopped,” she added.
Ukraine's air force said that Moscow overnight launched Banderol cruise missiles — low-cost, jet-powered loitering munitions that Russia uses to overwhelm Ukrainian air defenses — at the Odesa region, which shares a long land border with Moldova. A loitering munition is designed to hover over an area, searching for targets, and detonate while crashing into them.
Russia attacked Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and nearby areas with drones and guided bombs on Friday and overnight, killing five people and wounding over 40, according to regional head Oleh Syniehubov.
In nearby Izyum, Russian drone strikes wounded three people, according to the local military administration. It said a drone slammed into an industrial warehouse, while another damaged homes.
In Ukraine’s Odesa region, home to multiple Black Sea ports, a sailor was killed and three others wounded after Russian forces struck a civilian cargo ship on Saturday, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority reported. It said the ship was flying the Liberian flag.
In eastern Ukraine, in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region, Ukrainian drones killed two people and wounded two others, according to Kremlin-installed regional head Leonid Pasechkin. Pasechkin said the drones attacked a truck and passenger car driving along a highway, adding all victims were civilians.
In Russia, Ukrainian drone strikes killed a civilian and wounded two more in the Belgorod region, in villages just kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border, local authorities said Saturday.
Associated Press writer Stephen McGrath in Coventry, England, contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a residential house destroyed in a Russian air strike on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
A rescue worker extinguishes a fire at a residential house destroyed by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026.(AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
People clear rubble from a residential house damaged by a Russian airstrike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
A man cries next to the body of his grandmother killed in a Russian airstrike on a residential neighborhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
