German centre-right leader says he is willing to work with far-right AfD at local level

Comments by CDU leader Friedrich Merz could see erosion of political ‘firewall’ separating conservatives and far right

The leader of Germany’s centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has said his party is willing to cooperate with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) at a local political level, triggering cries of protest from his own party and raising concerns about the firewall between German conservatives and the far right.

In an interview with state broadcaster ZDF on Sunday, CDU leader Friedrich Merz categorically ruled out joining a coalition with the AfD at a national level but said such a taboo should not apply to local politics.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: one killed and cathedral in Odesa hit as Moscow launches fresh strikes

Another 19 wounded in overnight attack on the southern Ukrainian port city, governor says

Ukraine’s most famous rock star Andriy Khlyvnyuk has said the transition to becoming a soldier, receiving orders, was “surprisingly easy”.

I thought it would be [difficult]. I was afraid of the brutality, noise and dirt of war. But it wasn’t – it was surprisingly easy.” Why? “Look, if I was sent somewhere to fight, I’d be useless, terrified; I don’t want to kill or be killed. But that’s not what happened. They came for our streets and our children’s playgrounds.

Music is a universal language. But music also comes from where you come from; it reflects the feeling of home, and what home means – and on the obligation to protect your family, your neighbour. Anyone who grew up learning their language, and their poets and music by heart knows to say to the empire, any empire: ‘You will not do this to us.’

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High winds expected to impede fight against wildfires in Rhodes

Thousands of people forced to evacuate on Greek island, including 3,000 who had to be ferried off beaches

Thousands of tourists and residents have been forced to evacuate several villages on the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires burned out of control and officials feared that high winds would hamper efforts to contain the flames on Sunday.

The fires have burned for nearly a week on part of the island, as Greece has been battered by an extended spell of extreme heat that has made it difficult to contain the spread of the blazes.

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‘We shouldn’t be here’: British tourists tell of nightmare in Rhodes fires

Travel company Tui criticised for still flying holidaymakers out to Greek island on Saturday night

British tourists said they had been left in “a living nightmare” after wildfires caused the emergency evacuation of 19,000 people on the Greek island of Rhodes.

More than 3,000 people were rescued from beaches and another 16,000 taken to safety on land as flames intensified in the south-eastern region of the island on Saturday.

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Russian missile strikes on Odesa kill one person and damage cathedral

Ukrainian authorities say children among 22 injured in new wave of attacks on Black Sea port city

A new wave of Russian strikes on Odesa have killed one person and damaged a historic cathedral, as missiles again rained down on the southern Ukrainian city.

Authorities said 22 people were injured in the attacks in the early hours of Sunday, including a number of children. One strike hit the Transfiguration Cathedral, which was built in the late 18th century, destroyed under Joseph Stalin and then rebuilt in the early 2000s.

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West must focus on preparing Ukraine’s troops – or we will all pay the price | Jack Watling

A bureaucratic, peacetime approach to training and stockpiling among Zelenskiy’s allies is posing a threat to European security

For two months Ukrainian forces have been endeavouring to fight their way through densely fortified Russian positions to breach the so-called Surovikin line in an attempt to liberate their territory. Fighting has been exceedingly hard, with heavy losses of equipment and personnel on both sides. Irrespective of how much progress is made over the coming months, Ukraine’s international partners need to focus their assistance on preparing Ukrainian armed forces for the next fight.

It is important to understand the challenge the Ukrainians are trying to overcome. Russian troops are fighting from successive layers of concrete-hardened positions, each behind 120-500 metres of complex minefields. They are backed up by significant artillery and attack helicopter support and protected by dense electronic warfare and air defences. Although Ukrainian troops tend to win when they get into close combat with the Russians, getting there without taking unsustainable losses is not always possible.

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Spain poised for shift to the right as polls open in snap election

Polls suggest conservative PP will need the support of far-right Vox party to form a government

Spaniards are heading to the polls to vote in a bitterly contested general election that could see the far right play a key role in government for the first time since the country returned to democracy after General Franco’s death five decades ago.

The vote, called two months ago by Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, after his Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE) suffered a drubbing in May’s regional and municipal elections, offers people a stark choice between the left and right blocs.

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Inside Mykolaiv, the Ukrainian city where the Russians destroyed the water supply

A key pipeline to the southern Ukrainian port city was hit by a missile early in the invasion, but for now people are managing to keep vital services running

  • Photographs by Kasia Strek for the Observer

Ludmyla Osadchuk put her foot to the pedal and the rickety red-and-white tram edged forward, exiting the depot with a crunching of wheels and a rattle of the old, loosely fitting doors. On board were three blue canisters, each holding 1,000 litres of water.

With a “Special route” sign attached to the front window, the tram trundled to the first of four stops in different parts of Mykolaiv. The only passenger was former tram driver Serhiy Vytstyna, who hopped out at the stop and connected a set of pumps to the canisters.

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Russia-Ukraine war: arrest of Russian pro-war blogger likely to trigger fury in military, says UK – as it happened

This blog is now closed. To read our latest news on Ukraine, click here

Road traffic on the bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula has been temporarily blocked, an official Telegram channel has said.

“Those on the bridge and in the inspection area are asked to remain calm and follow the instructions of transportation security officers,” it said.

A preliminary assessment in Odesa has revealed damage to several museums inside the world heritage property, including the Odesa Archaeological Museum, the Odesa Maritime Museum and the Odesa Literature Museum. They had all been marked by Unesco and local authorities with the Blue Shield, the distinctive emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention.

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More than 1,000 people forced to flee wildfires on Greek island of Rhodes

Britons among those evacuated from hotels and homes as strong winds sweep blaze towards coast

More than 1,000 people were forced to flee homes and hotels on Rhodes after an uncontrolled wildfire swept across the Greek island on Saturday.

The fire had been burning for most of the past week but had been confined to the island’s mountainous interior until strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions swept the blaze towards the coast on the island’s central-eastern side.

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Post-Brexit fall in English ownership of European second homes, figures show

Government survey finds that fewer than 30% of holiday homes are on continent – compared with 40% a decade ago

They used to go wild for villas by the Med and ski chalets in the Alps; now they are forking out for views of the Channel and hilly walks in Shropshire.

According to figures released this week by the English Housing Survey, the proportion of English owners of second homes who have properties in Europe has fallen again, with 60% of holiday homes located in the UK rather than outside it.

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Ukrainian drone strike in Crimea ‘closed road and prompted evacuation’

Russian-installed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, reports explosion at ammunition depot but no casualties

A drone attack on an ammunition depot in Crimea has prompted authorities to evacuate everyone within a 3-mile (5km) radius and briefly suspend road traffic on the bridge linking the peninsula to Russia, the Moscow-installed regional governor has said.

Sergei Aksyonov said on Saturday there was an explosion at the depot in Krasnohvardiiske in central Crimea, but he reported no damage or casualties. Footage shared by state media showed a thick cloud of grey smoke at the site.

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‘No more cover-up’: Nazi concentration camps on Channel Island finally to be officially investigated

Review could show that thousands more Jews and prisoners of war died on Alderney than previously thought

The full horrors of the only Nazi concentration camps to exist on British soil will finally be investigated in an official government inquiry, the Observer can reveal.

Eighty years on from one of the darkest episodes in British history, the government is to carry out a review into the numbers of prisoners murdered by the Nazis on Alderney, the tiny Channel Island and British crown dependency.

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Russia ‘holding humanity hostage’ over Black Sea grain deal, UN hears

Security council session told that world’s poorest and most vulnerable at risk after Russia blocked exports

• What was the Black Sea grain deal and why did it collapse?

Russia has been accused at the UN security council of stoking famine by blocking grain exports through the Black Sea, with the aim of profiting from higher global food prices.

Russia’s representative said on Friday that Moscow might consider restarting the scheme if it was given better terms for its own food and fertiliser exports, but was accused by western diplomats of holding the world’s poor to ransom.

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Zelenskiy condemns Donetsk attack in which he says two children died – as it happened

Ukraine president accuses Russia of killing two children and hitting a school. This live blog is closed

According to Russian state-owned news service Tass, the number of people in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory hospitalised after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in June has risen to 166. It cited sources in the local Russian-imposed authority.

In addition to those two injuries sustained in the attack on Odesa reported by governor Oleh Kiper, state broadcaster Suspilne has reported these other incidents in its wrap-up of overnight news:

On July 20, four workers were killed and two more people were injured in an attack by Russian troops on an infrastructure facility in the Polohivskyi district of the Zaporizhzhia region, the regional authority reported.

In Kharkiv oblast, a 56-year-old woman was injured as a result of night shelling. In the Kherson region, on the night of 21 July, the Russian Federation shelled four locations. No injuries were reported.

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Lightning strikes twice as rescuers of Swiss victims are also hit

Police officer and helicopter pilot struck on the way to help victims of earlier blast in Fribourg canton of Switzerland

Lightning never strikes twice, until it does: a police officer and helicopter pilot rushing to help two people injured in a lightning strike on Friday were themselves also hit, Swiss authorities said.

A 51-year-old man and 16-year-old boy were struck by lightning around 8.30am while working in a field in Ménières, in the western canton of Fribourg, regional police said in a statement.

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Protests across Muslim nations after Sweden allows second attack on Qur’an

Stockholm apologetic amid fears Turkey may delay lifting Nato veto following desecration of holy book

Thousands of people took part in protests across Muslim majority nations on Friday after a second incident in Sweden involving the desecration of the Qur’an.

The episode left the Swedish government apologetic and fearing that the outrage in the Middle East may delay Turkey lifting its veto on Sweden’s membership of Nato.

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Putin warns Poland against ‘unleashing aggression’ against Belarus

Russian president reacts angrily after Polish defence minister sends troops to guard eastern border

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will use “all means at its disposal” to defend Belarus after Poland and other EU countries voiced concerns about the deployment of Russian paramilitaries near their borders.

Putin delivered a series of aggressive remarks during a meeting of his security council, where he claimed without evidence that Poland was seeking to invade Belarus, a Russian ally, and that their elites were “dreaming of Belarusian lands”.

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Escaped ‘lioness’ in Berlin was most likely a wild boar, mayor says

Experts reach conclusion after analysing video of animal that triggered lion hunt

A 30-hour search for an escaped lioness that had residents on the southern fringes of Berlin shelter in their homes and the rest of the German capital on tenterhooks has found that what was thought to be an exotic feline predator was most likely a common wild pig.

After no more sightings of the big cat were reported overnight, Michael Grubert, the mayor of the municipality of Kleinmachnow, said two leading experts had analysed the video that had originally triggered the lion hunt. “With a relatively high degree of certainty the tendency is towards a wild boar,” Grubert said.

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How brutal heat is breaking records everywhere from the US to Japan

Temperatures reached as high as 53.3C in the US and flooding hit South Korea and India

A remote township in the north-western region of Xinjiang set a Chinese record of 52.2C (125.9F) on Sunday – in a country that was battling -50C weather six months ago. Sanbao is in the Turpan Depression, an arid basin of sand dunes and dried-up lakes where 50.3C was recorded in 2015. Beijing topped its record for high-temperature days in a year on Tuesday, with 27 days above 35C. The temperature in its southern suburbs soared even higher on Wednesday to 36.3C.

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