fear

The stakes in Tuesday’s midterm elections are so high that Shane Dunn voted for the first time in his life, at age 65.

After a career as a cook up and down the East Coast, Dunn moved to the Philadelphia suburbs and voted last week in Levittown. “I was always a busy man,” he said outside his polling place. But now, “I’m learning what’s going on within our country, and this is actually what brought me out.”

Democrats got his vote. “It feels great, to put my word in,” he said, patting the “I Voted” sticker on his black hoodie.

Voters across the United States are getting their word in, too, as they determine which party controls the Senate and the House and takes charge of governors’ offices, legislatures and state leadership posts in the final two years of Republican Trump’s presidency.

What many of them see is that the America they’ve known is slipping away.

They see lawlessness coming from those who create the laws. They see hate stirred by politicians among neighbors, corruption at every turn, billionaires ruling the roost and a culture that doesn’t speak to how they live — in short, American bedrock at risk of crumbling. Not to mention those crazy gas prices.

In dozens of Associated Press interviews with people who cast ballots at advance polling places or drop boxes across the country, the angst was palpable, most sharply from those who oppose Trump but also from many who support him.

A vote is cast to stop the ‘madness’

“I saw my vote today as trying to put the brakes on just the madness,” said Arthur Horner, 59, who runs a food importing and marketing company that has been hurt by tariffs, after dropping his mail ballot at Dauphin County’s election bureau in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He voted for Democrats.

In Sioux City, Iowa, cattle rancher Elizabeth Marlett, 61, voted in Woodbury County’s historic Prairie-style courthouse and walked out stewing about a variety of things — the chemicals in processed food, her son’s struggles to get his veterans’ benefits and, perhaps most of all, what she sees as society’s leftward lurch. Things seem broken to her, too.

“Family values are going by the wayside, and they need to be brought back,” she said. “Our liberties have been stomped all over. Religion has been stomped all over. And I believe we in the majority need to step up and stop being silent.” She voted Republican.

Voters despair at the stoking of anger by Trump and allies

The anger in the air, stirred by a cursing president who abides no slights, is too much for some people.

“He’s just destroying us,” Democrat Linda Markle, 72, said of the president. She spoke outside the Warminster Township library in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

“I am so afraid for this country,” she said. “People used to look out for each other. Not anymore.”

“All people do now is just hate each other,” she said, and Trump “seems to have given them the courage to go ahead and be like that. … The division is horrible, absolutely horrible, and I can’t wait to see the back of him.”

Republican Chris Smith, 27, a Harrisburg software engineer who voted for Trump in 2024, sympathizes with Markle’s sentiment, to a point.

“A lot of people hate him for various reasons, and I can understand why,” he said, noting that ”I think he’s kind of going a bit crazy on a lot of things.” But he likes Trump’s effort to return manufacturing to the U.S. along with the goals of his tariffs, and he voted Republican because he still thinks that party is more fiscally responsible than Democrats.

In Ohio, Lori Wilkinson, a retired home health worker from New Pittsburg, and her husband, David, a janitor, consider themselves independents. David recently wrote to their Republican governor, Mike DeWine, to tell him what a good job he’s doing, and they voted for Republican George W. Bush for president in the past.

Trump? “He’s the worst president in United States history,” David said from the Wayne County election center. “You get up every day, and you’re like, ‘What’s he going to do now?’” Said Lori: “He’s got the hate just so bad, it’s just out of hand. It’s just out of control.” She fears that if Democrats win widely Tuesday, Trump will “go fricking berserk.”

Trump supporter Therese Mennell gets it. “There’s that kind of arrogant vibe about him that people don’t like, and sometimes I shut him off because of the way he talks,” the retiree said from the Wayne County center. “But, I mean, he’s doing the right thing. He is saving our country.”

Some pretend Trump is on the ballot

Despite his striking unpopularity in polls, Trump repeatedly asked supporters to pretend he’s on the midterm ballot, betting that would motivate fans to vote who otherwise might not. But that cuts both ways.

Samontae Mwangi, 20, and his brother, Gathenya Mwangi, 19, voted for the first time, casting early ballots Tuesday at their election center in Topeka, Kansas. Both work at a plant that manufactures trackside buildings for railroads.

They went with their grandfather, Lynn Henderson, 68, a retired Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. worker and a former Marine lance corporal who wore a Marine’s cap. Henderson said he took his grandsons to vote because his own mother died recently and he wanted them to have an event to remember him when he’s gone.

All three are hoping that the election produces Democratic victories and political change. Gathenya said the economy and discontent with Trump could motivate people who’ve voted in the past to show up, as well as those who never have. “It really could change, make a difference, I feel, if a lot of people vote,” he said.

Denise Wunder, a retired sandwich shop manager, pulled up to the center in a van featuring a decorative license plate with an American eagle. The strong Trump supporter is the daughter of Democrats. Illegal immigration is her top issue.

“I think Trump is kind of our last hope, because otherwise this world’s going to go to hell in a handbasket,” she said. “Yeah, he says stupid stuff, but, you know, so do we.”

In the Richmond, Virginia, suburb of Henrico County, voters arrived at a steady clip on a crisp fall afternoon a week from Election Day. The moment of decision found one conservative couple, Joan and Frank Bark, lamenting the country’s direction.

“I’m afraid Trump has gotten so egotistical, it’s affecting his ability to make intelligent or more favorable decisions,” Frank said. But, he said, “I don’t want the decisions that would be generated from that far left side, either.”

Joan, a retiree like her husband, said of Democrats: “I haven’t found very much that they want to change or work with. It’s just mostly, ‘I hate Trump.’” But Trump really isn’t on the ballot. They voted for Republican candidates.

In Nanuet, New York, people streamed into the small room of a community center to vote; some were in Halloween costumes. Primrose D. Sullivan, a nurse, is an independent. She scoffed at Trump’s wish that voters act as if he’s running.

“No, because he’s not,” she said. “When a patient comes into the hospital, you want me dealing in facts, not in, ‘Hmm, let me act like you might have cancer.’ No. Do you or do you not have cancer? We need to proceed based on facts.” She voted for Democrats.

Yet some see a cancer on politics, if not the presidency

Sullivan was among a number of voters who singled out the billionaires Trump has made common cause with and how that might feed into American decline.

“I don’t begrudge any of our wealthy people, Jeff Bezos or, you know, Elon Musk,” she said. “But I do have a certain problem with them wanting more and more and doing things that really don’t help humanity.”

“If we keep going the way these guys are going,” she went on, meaning both the political and CEO classes, “we’re not going to have anything like what we had in the past.” Theirs is a “self-destructive attitude,” she added, “because, honestly, if the whole planet destroys itself, the wealthy go with us.”

Outside the polling station at the YMCA in Fort Mill, South Carolina, Benjamin Updegraft offered a piercing denunciation of the elite as he traced his evolution from a “full-throated young Republican” who voted for Trump as a young man in 2016 to a “lifetime Democrat,” after casting his ballot in the Senate race.

He cited Musk’s throttling of his Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine, which disrupted a key defense against Russian attacks, and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad in the Ohio governor’s race featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Amy Acton among the reasons powerful men must be brought to heel.

“That needs to be cut out from this country like a cancer,” Updegraft said. “We have an incredible responsibility to take back the stranglehold that the worst people in this country have on the reins of power and to inflict punishment on them for their actions.”

In Scottsdale, Arizona, David Lee described his conservative upbringing, his past voting for Republicans and now his decision to turn against that party and vote Democratic in the contested races for governors and the House. He considers Trump’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement to be lawless.

“Nobody wants open borders, but you’re treating these people without due process, sending people to countries they don’t even belong to,” said Lee, 63. “There’s no more rules.”

Then there are those prices. And that war

The Trump supporters interviewed by the AP at the polls signaled their tolerance of the surge of gas prices from the Iran war, in some cases blaming factors other than the actual cause. Nor did they break with him on the war itself.

Among them was David Stouffer, 59, branch manager for a mortgage bank and three-time Trump voter, who spoke outside the Harrisburg elections office. “Iran has been killing Americans for 50 freaking years,” he said. “Yeah, I’ll suffer with some higher gas prices in the interim until they get that nonsense figured out.”

Does that put a crunch on your household budget, Stouffer was asked. “Of course it does.” How to cope with that? “I just keep driving.”

“He’s made the tax cuts real,” Stouffer said. “He has secured the borders. That, to me, is a very, very big deal.”

By the dozens, Democrats, independents and Republicans outside the core of Trump’s support differed with that assessment, even as some of them granted the president his achievements on taxes and immigration.

Horner, the food importer, is going “bonkers” with the tariffs and all the other moves bouncing between the Trump administration and the courts while a “feckless” and now electorally endangered Republican Congress largely stands aside.

“You can’t do business when every month you have to readjust your pricing because the president gets a wild hair on something that he’s not even constitutionally allowed to do,” Horner said. He added, “He’s just playing out the clock on all of this stuff — where you just know he knows it’s wrong.

“And what do we have? Higher healthcare, higher food, higher gas, a business environment that is complete chaos.”

But Jerry Casner, 74, of Mechanicsburg, a suburb of Harrisburg, wants as much of Trump as he can get. Alas, “he can’t run again,” Casner noted.

“Well, technically,” Casner said, “he can’t run again.”

Levy, Catalini, Hanna and Woodward write for the Associated Press. Hanna reported from Topeka, Kan.; Levy from Harrisburg, Pa.; Catalini from Levittown, Pa.; and Woodward from Washington. AP journalists Julie Carr Smyth in Wooster, Ohio; Erik Verduzco in Fort Mill, S.C.; Thomas Beaumont in Sioux City, Iowa; Joseph Frederick in Nanuet, N.Y.; Tassanee Vejpongsa in Warminster, Pa.; Mikella Schuettler in Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Sarah Rankin in Henrico, Va., contributed to this report.

Coronation Street fans are concerned that little Dorin, the son of Tyrone Dobbs, may have been hurt by someone else after he claimed he was punched by his friend Aled

Fans of Coronation Street fear Dorin is covering for whoever really hurt him.

The little boy had a bruise on his arm, leaving his dad Tyrone Dobbs and stepmother Fiz Dobbs concerned. Dorin claimed that fellow youngster Aled, the young nephew of Fiz, had punched him.

He claimed that Aled hurt him and that was what caused the bruise. Dorin’s grandfather Ross Wilkes was furious, and told his son Tyrone he needed to go round to Aled’s parents house and confront them.

Amid the drama between the family and Ross’ keenness for violence, one theory suggested Dorin might be covering for someone. Some fans questioned if Aled really hurt Dorin, or if someone else did in a sickening twist.

Given Ross’ misogynistic beliefs and comments, and him telling son Tyrone to “man up”, he’s been pushing for Tyrone and Dorin to take up boxing. Ross clearly believes his son is weak, so some fans wondered if Ross may have hurt Dorin to set up Aled, in order to get Tyrone to take action.

A fan said: “Did Ross hurt Dorin and tell him to say Aled done it? I wouldn’t put it past him, that man is a piece of work.” Another fan agreed: “If anyone’s gonna get Dorin harmed it’s Rancid Ross.”

A third fan said: “Not going to end well here with Ross and Tyrone in Corrie storyline come up.” A fourth added: “Ross is a conniving and nasty bully, wake up snd smell the coffee Tyrone.”

Another fan posted: “Tyrone is slowly becoming Ross, because of his manipulation.” A final commented read: “Ross is a nasty piece of work and isn’t a good influence for Tyrone.”

It comes as fans feared that Ross could turn violent against Tyrone. A fan posted: “He hates Tyrone’s son so trying to hurt him,” so could a random revenge plot be at play? The other theory read: “Ross going to beat up Tyrone?”

Fans also think a character, not currently on the show, will return to take Ross down, either Tyrone’s missing mother, Ross’ ex, Cassie Plummer [Claire Sweeney], or Cassie’s mother Evelyn [Dame Maureen Lipman ]. A fan posted: “Cassie will come back and save the day.”

Another fan posted: “Bring Evelyn back to get rid of him!!” as a third agreed: “I agree, Evelyn won’t stand for his nonsense.” So will someone see through Ross’ behaviour, and could it lead to him finally being put in his place?

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After much change on Strictly Come Dancing, could we be about to see more? Judging panel conversations are yet to be had and there’s speculation two aren’t sure

BBC bosses are said to be growing concerned that Strictly’s popular judging panel could be about to be split up.

Following a huge revamp this series that saw Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe, and Johannes Radebe replace departuring long-term co-hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, more big changes could be around the corner.

Producers are starting to fear Shirley Ballas and Motsi Mabuse may not be back, it has been claimed, with other big names already dropping hints that they will return in 2027. Despite contract talks officially not yet starting, it has been suggested that Anton Du Beke and Craig Revel Horwood have suggested they will be back.

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There is doubt over head coach Shirley’s future after she quickstepping over the Atlantic after landing a gig on the US counterpart Dancing With The Stars.

There is little doubt Craig wants to carry on. The star has served on the judging panel since the inaugural series of the beloved show in 2004, while Anton assumed his position at the table in 2021.

Now Strictly fans are facing an anxious wait to see if long-serving Shirley – who would be celebraing a decade on the show if she stayed – and Motsi, who has been on the panel since 2019, will remain.

“Strictly love the current judging panel and are really keen to try and persuade everyone to come back next year,” a source told The Sun, “Contract negotiations won’t start until the current series is wrapped, but already Craig and Anton have made it clear they intend to return.

“Motsi and Shirley are yet to make up their minds. Shirley in particular could be a flight risk for bosses, especially if her guest appearance on Dancing With The Stars goes well.”

The Mirror has approached reps for Shirley and Motsi as well as Strictly for comment.

But another insider told us: “This is likely based on the fact that Craig and Anton are both performing in theatre tours next autumn, with the websites for both productions advising that Anton and Craig won’t appear at the Saturday dates of these shows – making it clear that they’re expected to be in Elstree recording Strictly on Saturdays. Shirley and Motsi don’t have theatre tours taking place.”

The BBC has meanwhile responded to claims it has already decided to change its new presenting line-up after just a few weeks.

Presenting pro Emma has predictably been a safe pair of hands since the new series kicked off in September. However, while some viewers are enjoying the camaraderie between the new trio, others have expressed concerns about the chemistry between comedian Josh.

Professional dancer, Johannes, has been accused of being out of his depth by some in the former Clauditorium.

Claiming bosses at the Beeb are aware the new format doesn’t work and are concerned the jewel in the broadcaster’s crown has become something of a “laughing stock”, a source said to be close to Strictly allegedly told the Daily Mail: “It doesn’t work. Not only have many of the traditional viewers stopped watching, the show has become the butt of jokes, a laughing stock.

“It’s like those choosing were trying to be kooky and cool, and they saw something that might appeal to young people.”

It’s thought that mum-of-three, Emma, 50, will stay on Strictly, but Josh’s future could be in doubt. “It isn’t working,” says the source said to be close to the show.

Meanwhile, dancer, Johannes, has also come under fire, with one new theory suggesting that the South African star may become one of the Strictly judges next year

However, responding to the comments, the BBC told the Mirror that the anonymous source comments were “pure and utter speculation”.

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Tehran warns that even limited strikes would trigger a response ‘several times greater’.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has blamed Washington for the unravelling of an interim deal aimed at ending the war with the United States and Israel, amid growing fears that the fighting could resume imminently.

In comments broadcast by Iranian Press TV on Saturday, But Pezeshkian also said that both sides should return to the deal and “conclude it”.

His remarks come amid growing fears that military action could resume as soon as this weekend, after US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he “may do another little Epic Fury”, using the codename of the US-Israeli war against Iran that started on February 28.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has warned that even limited strikes would trigger a response “several times greater”, according to comments reported by the semi-official Fars News Agency.

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Ali Abdollahi said on Saturday that the US military would not be allowed in the Gulf “under any circumstances and at any time”. Abdollahi said Trump could only “dream” of seeing US forces enter the Gulf, adding that he would take his dream to the grave.

Trump has suggested he could take further military action against Iran, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he remains committed to overthrowing the country’s government.

Both leaders face elections, with Israelis set to choose their next government on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Trump’s Republican Party faces crucial midterm elections on November 3, with Democrats potentially winning control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Such an outcome would be a major blow to Trump, who still has more than two years left in his final term in the White House.

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Saturday that Tehran would not “wait for permission to defend itself”, adding that the country “seeks peace but will respond to any aggression with severe consequences”.

“Our position is clear: we do not flee from dialogue for peace, and we do not hesitate in defending the country. Those who harbour the illusion of destroying Iran must correct their calculations,” Mohajerani wrote in a memo.

Her comments came as Iranian judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei met Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The pair discussed how to tackle corruption and pursue compensation for Iranians affected by the US-Israeli war, among other issues.

Khamenei replaced his father as supreme leader after the latter was assassinated during the opening strikes of the war on February 28. He has not been seen in public since assuming the position in early March.

Parliament Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was reported to have met Khamenei earlier this week.

Mobina Atashi’s £550 package holiday to Bulgaria was meant to be a time to relax, but turned into a nightmare after one “painful” night

A student who says she was left too scared to sleep after finding something crawling in her hotel bed has described how she first thought she had “chickenpox”. A dirty room is enough to ruin a holiday, but discovering you may be sharing your bed with blood-sucking insects is the stuff of nightmares.

Law student Mobina Atashi, 22, claims that’s what happened when she flew out on July 12 for a seven-night Jet2 break near Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast — and ended up leaving early.

Mobina says she didn’t want to kick up a fuss when she first noticed the room was dirty, as she’d arrived late and planned to report it later. But she claims she was soon woken up by intense itching.

In shock, she claims she spotted bed bugs in her bedding and soon noticed angry red welts spreading across her skin — which she documented. Mobina says she was moved to a different room, but claims that one was also grubby.

Mobina claims staff downplayed what happened, insisting the bites looked like an allergic reaction rather than bed bugs.

She says she was left with no choice but to leave early, ending her holiday after two nights and paying an extra £40 to get back to the UK. On her return, Mobina says she complained to Jet2 and asked for a refund, but claims she was told there wasn’t enough evidence to link the bites to the accommodation.

Jet2 said they take concerns such as these “very seriously” and are looking into the matter further. Mobina, from Manchester, said: “I arrived after midnight. The room was very dirty but I decided to sort it out in the morning, it had hair everywhere. After a few hours of sleeping, my body was itching and I was confused. I turned the lights on and there were so many bugs.

“My whole body had red bumps and it got worse after a few days. They were on my breast area, neck, chin, behind my ears, legs and arms. There were at least 20 on my arms, probably 100 in total. It was like I had chickenpox, it was painful and mostly itchy. I made a mistake not to check properly before getting in bed but I was so tired.

“I ran downstairs at 5am and told them to please clean my room as soon as possible. I showed them videos. One of the ladies said they would change my room and gave me a new key. The new room was also dirty. There was hair and yellow stains on the bed.

“There were no bed bugs but I was so scared to sleep that night, after that, I decided I could not stay at the hotel.

She says she reached out to Jet2 on live chat in a bid to get support, only to be directed back to the hotel to resolve it. Mobina said: “I tried to talk to Jet2 through the live chat and they told me I had to talk to the resort.

“The receptionist said it looked like an allergy and that she didn’t think it was bed bugs, but it is. When I got home, I made several complaints for a refund and I didn’t get a response. They replied after three months and called me, they said all they can do is apologise.

“They said they can’t prove the bugs were caused by the accommodation and that my bites could have been caused by something else. I wanted to go on a relaxing holiday because I have anxiety and wanted to relax by myself. I never expected this. I’m traumatised because I’m scared of insects and spiders. If I see a spider, I cry, it’s my worst fear.”

Now claiming the ordeal has left her “scared at night”, Mobina has sworn off booking holidays through Jet2 in future. Mobina said: “I said they need to at least compensate me, but they said there is no evidence. I am so scared of travelling, I will never go solo travelling again.

“I’m scared at night. If my body itches, I think it is a bug. It is so traumatic. I’m never using Jet2 in the future, especially not package holidays.”

A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to hear about Ms Atashi’s experience. We take concerns like these very seriously and we are investigating in further detail. We will contact Ms Atashi directly once this investigation is complete.”

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Kyiv, Ukraine – The supernova-like blasts of exploding Russian ballistic missiles are followed by thunderous thumps, shockwaves, fires and deaths – and the staccato of Ukrainian air defence systems.

This week’s nightly attacks on Ukraine that killed at least 15 and wounded dozens resembled hundreds of previous raids – with one exception.

The air raid sirens began howling just seconds before or after yet another wave of missiles struck apartment buildings, power plants and warehouses.

But Ukraine’s partners did not provide the country with intelligence data from NATO’s early-warning satellites, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, as tensions between Washington and Kyiv rise.

He did not name the United States and President Donald Trump has denied that Washington has stopped sharing intelligence.

The constellation of military satellites detects Russian ballistic missile attacks by the rockets’ thermal flames seconds after launch.

The warnings give Ukrainians up to 10 minutes – precious, life-saving time to sound air raid sirens and send emergency text messages to prompt evacuations to bomb shelters.

“That’s what helps prevent the killings,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s ground radars can only detect the incoming missiles as their speed ranges from 6,000 to 12,000km/h (3,730 – 7,260 miles per hour).

‘Trump pressures our president’

Despite Trump’s denial, Ukrainian observers have a simple yet harrowing explanation – the US president wants to help Republicans win more congressional seats in upcoming midterm elections by pressuring Kyiv into declaring an “energy ceasefire” with Moscow that would drive global oil prices down.

“Trump pressures our president, pressures Ukraine” as he strives to “get advantage by any means necessary in the election campaign,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera.

The lack of intelligence data “significantly affects the effectiveness of air defence, we don’t have time to respond,” he said.

Without the satellite data, Ukrainian drones and missiles also “lose precision when striking targets deep in Russia,” he said.

On Sunday, Trump announced the ceasefire that envisages no mutual strikes on energy infrastructure – from Russian oil refineries and fuel depots to Ukrainian power and heating stations.

“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Trump wrote on social media.

Kyiv said the announcement was a surprise, while Moscow declined to say whether it backs the idea – and kept on hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The pressure goes beyond the refineries as Trump wants to quickly reopen, arbitrate and complete peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow – even if they benefit the Kremlin.

“He needs peace talks to succeed. Ideally, it is a certain unblocking of the peace settlement process, when Kyiv shows more willingness to agree with Russia’s demands,” Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera.

The pressure will continue until “Kyiv shows readiness for a compromise and concessions towards Russia,” he said.

Moscow “simply abuses” the pressure and the suspension of air raid warnings to escalate attacks on Ukraine, he said.

Kyiv’s ‘priority’: The destruction of oil refineries

The suspension of data-sharing was especially shocking, given that Kyiv did stop hitting Russian refineries for three days.

It was only on Wednesday that its drones attacked refineries in Saratov and Ryazan regions, said Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksander Novak.

However, Kyiv’s focus on striking oil refineries is ineffective and counterproductive, another observer said.

“Kyiv’s strategic priority is still the destruction of oil refineries,” Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University, who has penned hundreds of authoritative analyses of the hostilities, told Al Jazeera.

However, Russia overcame the initial shock by transporting gas from refineries in Siberia and exporting it from neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan.

No economic collapse, massive joblessness or public protests followed the strikes, while Moscow continued its air raids, adding jet-powered drones that resemble cruise missiles and are hard to down with Ukraine’s existing air defence system, he said.

“What is the basis for Kyiv’s and its backers’ conviction that strikes on oil refineries and depots will lead to Russia’s strategic defeat before Ukraine is defeated? I don’t understand,” he said.

However, Ukrainian attacks on data centres, bridges and factories where drones are assembled are far more effective, he said.

Recent strikes on data centres of Russian online giant Yandex and the state-run Sberbank resulted in disruptions of services in Russia and even former Soviet republics where Yandex operates its online payment, food delivery and taxi services.

Trump “didn’t ask him to stop the war, to give away cities or stop striking Russian rears in general,” Mitrokhin said.

Kyiv has repeatedly reiterated that it was ready to start peace talks if they are preceded by a ceasefire, but Moscow wanted to continue ground assaults and air raids until the peace terms were finalised – which could take months or even years.

‘We’re ready for any turn of events’

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s drone czar accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of throttling Starlink satellite terminals that are part of the military-grade Starshield system.

Serhiy Beskrestnov said that SpaceX abruptly and without any warning limited services for terminals placed on drones flying over 160km/h (100mph).

The limit affected crucially-important interceptor drones and followed Trump’s request, presidential adviser Serhii Sternenko said.

Musk said that the White House owns and controls the Starshield systems and that any limits on speed are decided by Trump.

Some military analysts warn that the limit may be followed by a total shutdown of Starlink for Ukraine that could damage the quality of all military communications.

“But we were getting ready for everything,” Andriy Pronin told Al Jazeera. “We already know it may happen, that’s why we’re ready for any turn of events.”

In September 2022, Musk secretly ordered engineers to switch off Starlink coverage in the Russia-occupied Kherson region, effectively thwarting Kyiv’s push to retake it, Reuters reported.

In 2023, Musk threatened to cut off Ukrainian military access to Starlink unless the US defence department took over the costs.

Later, the Pentagon, Poland and other European allies took over the costs.

While Liverpool have won twice on their travels this season, they now sit ninth in the league – and their main issue seems fairly clear.

They have scored just seven goals this season – just twice at Anfield – and only seven teams have managed fewer.

It was early on in the first half when the cameras panned to Alexander Isak, Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai in the Main Stand at Anfield – all three of them were out with injuries.

Among them, the trio have scored six of Liverpool‘s seven league goals this season and on a day when Man City’s attack showed their class, Liverpool didn’t show any quality in the final third.

City (16) have scored more than double the goals Liverpool (7) have scored this season in the top flight.

Across three league games at Anfield this season, Liverpool have failed to score in two of them. That must improve.

In Isak’s absence, Lewis Koumas put in a great shift. However, the 21-year-old lacks that killer edge in front of goal at this level.

The focus must fall on summer signings Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola. It is this kind of game where you need a match-winning moment and neither showed anywhere near the quality that is expected when you have a price tag of over £100m.

There was one moment at 0-0 in the 55th minute when Wirtz had Milos Kerkez and Barcola in acres of space to his left, but chose to shoot and fired wide.

“You learn a lot in games like today,” Iraola said. “I am very proud of my players. They put the work rate and everything in today. It’s a loss and we didn’t get anything from the performance but I liked it a lot.”

But deep down, Iraola will know there is a lot of work to do and getting the big money signings to deliver will be high on his agenda.