French President Emmanuel Macron told a European leaders' gathering Thursday that the continent must assert its security independence from the United States -- and defend its "interests" over those of geopolitical rivals.

"We must not delegate forever our security to America," Macron said, arguing that returning U.S. leader Donald Trump would legitimately "defend the interests of the American people" and asking: "Are we ready to defend the interests of the European people?"

Dozens of Russian drones targeted the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in a nighttime attack that lasted eight hours, authorities said Thursday, as Russia kept up its relentless pounding of Ukraine after almost 1,000 days of war.

Russian forces fired lone drones and swarms of drones that entered Ukrainian airspace from various directions and at a variety of altitudes, officials said, in an apparent attempt to stretch air defense systems and unnerve city residents.

The verdict of U.S. voters was more decisive than most pundits and analysts had predicted. Now the world waits to see whether the election of Donald Trump as president for a second time is as destabilizing many American allies fear.

Trump secured victory Wednesday after surpassing the 270 electoral college votes needed to win. In a victory speech before the official declaration, he vowed to "put our country first" and bring about a "golden age" for America.

Russia said Wednesday it had "no illusions" about a second Donald Trump administration but would work with him and seek to achieve its "goals" in Ukraine when he takes office.

"We are under no illusions about the American President-elect," Moscow's foreign ministry said in a statement. It added it will "work with" a new U.S. administration and prioritize achieving its "set goals" in Ukraine, saying its conditions on ending the conflict "are unchanged and are well known in Washington".

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday congratulated "President Donald Trump", saying he was ready to work with the U.S. vote frontrunner "with respect and ambition" like "we managed to do for four years".

Donald Trump has declared his victory in the U.S. presidential election in a televised speech, after Fox News, CNN and NBC said he won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania -- which has a whopping 19 votes in the Electoral College.

"We are going to help our country heal, we are going to help our country heal. We have a country that needs help and it needs help very badly," Trump said in a speech to supporters in Florida.

North Korean troops recently deployed to help Russia in its war with Ukraine have come under Ukrainian fire, a Kyiv official said Tuesday.

It is the first time a Ukrainian official has said that Pyongyang's units were struck, following a deployment that has given the war a new complexion as it approaches its 1,000-day milestone.

U.S. Election Day voting began across the eastern and central U.S. on Tuesday morning after tens of millions of Americans hade already cast their ballots. Those early votes included record numbers in Georgia, North Carolina and other battleground states that could decide the winner.

The early turnout in Georgia, which has flipped between the Republican and Democratic nominees in the previous two presidential elections, has been so robust — over 4 million voters — that a top official in the secretary of state's office said the big day could look like a "ghost town" at the polls.

A crowd of enraged survivors hurled clots of mud left by storm-spawned flooding at the Spanish royal couple during their first visit to the center of their nation's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Spain's national broadcaster reported that the barrage included a few rocks and other objects and that two bodyguards were treated for injuries. One could be seen with a bloody wound on his forehead.

Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the winner of the presidential race be declared shortly after polls close Tuesday, well before all the votes are counted.