Russia-Ukraine war: only 500 of 70,000 residents left in Bakhmut, mayor says – as it happened

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The drone attacks targeting Moscow early on Tuesday, which have been blamed on Kyiv, were by far the largest wave launched against Russia since the start of its war against Ukraine.

There has been speculation that at least one of the drones involved was a UJ-22 produced by the Ukrainian Ukrjet company, which Russia claims has been involved in at least one previous attack. Some other experts disagree, suggesting it is another model of drone, citing differences in appearance.

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German mountaineer Luis Stitzinger found dead near Himalayan peak

Body found on Mount Kanchenjunga five days after he went missing shortly after reaching summit

A leading German mountaineer and extreme skier has been found dead on the world’s third highest mountain, in the Himalayas, five days after going missing.

The body of Luis Stitzinger was discovered on Tuesday on Mount Kanchenjunga at a height of 8,400 metres, the head Sherpa of the company that organised the climb to find him told the Himalayan Times.

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EU accused of ‘staggering neglect’ after just 271 Afghans resettled across bloc

Many in need of permanent protection remain stuck in ‘prison-like’ camps on Greek islands, leading refugee charity says

Just 271 Afghans were resettled in the EU in 2022, 0.1% of the 270,000 identified as in need of permanent protection, it has emerged.

Leading charity the International Rescue Committee accused EU leaders of “staggering neglect” of Afghan refugees with many remaining trapped in “prison-like” conditions on Greek islands.

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Macron to call for European ‘strategic awakening’ after Ukraine invasion

In speech in Bratislava, French president will warn of steady erosion of European strategic stability

Emmanuel Macron is to make a diplomatic push to reassure central and eastern European countries that France understands that the continent’s security environment has been permanently changed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Macron has often been viewed with suspicion across eastern Europe, especially in Poland, as someone who sees Russia as ultimately part of Europe’s security architecture and wants to use the war in Ukraine to boost European defence autonomy in a way that loosens Europe’s security ties to the US.

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British paddleboarder killed by lightning strike was told to get out of water

Scott Seddon, 26, from Liverpool was being filmed by his partner as the tragedy happened off coast of Rhodes

The partner of a British tourist who died when he was struck by lightning while paddleboarding off Rhodes had beseeched him to return to shore when the storm hit.

Scott Seddon’s girlfriend repeatedly shouted “come out” when it became clear the 26-year-old from Liverpool was struggling in the waters off Agathi beach. The woman, who has not been named, was on land filming Seddon, an accomplished sportsman, with her mobile phone as the tragedy unfolded.

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Kosovo: ‘fascist mobs’ guided by Serbia causing violence, says country’s PM

More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers were injured in clashes on Monday after ethnic Albanian mayors took office

Kosovo’s prime minister has blamed violence in the north of the country on “fascist mobs” controlled by the government of neighbouring Serbia, and said he had rejected a US request to relocate recently installed mayors out of their official offices.

More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers were injured in clashes on Monday, prompting the alliance to announce it would send another 700 troops to the country. Serbia’s president Aleksandar Vučić put his country’s army on high combat alert.

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Ukrainian woman trying to reach godson detained in Russia and deported to Belarus

Olga Guruli was heading to occupied Kherson province to arrange repatriation of boy and his brother

A Ukrainian woman who travelled to Russia hoping to arrange the repatriation of her godson and his brother from Russian-occupied Kherson province was arrested, interrogated for two days and threatened with being sent to a penal colony before being deported to Belarus.

The detention of Olga Guruli was initially reported by Russian media outlets who wrongly suggested she was an employee of Save Ukraine, an NGO that has been helping relatives recover children illegally deported by Russia.

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Nato to send 700 more troops to Kosovo to try to quell violence

Nato chief announces further measures as situation in Serb-majority north remains ‘fragile’

Nato has said it will send 700 extra troops to try to curb the violence in Kosovo a day after 30 alliance-led peacekeeping soldiers and more than 50 ethnic Serbian protesters were injured in clashes.

On Monday, Nato peacekeepers in riot gear had secured a town hall in the town of Zvecan as the situation remained tense.

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Italian and Israeli agents among four dead after boat capsizes in Lake Maggiore

Tourist boat was reportedly carrying more than 20 people when it was struck by a whirlwind on Sunday

Two agents from the Italian intelligence services and a retired member of the Israeli security forces were among the victims when a tourist boat capsized and sank in a sudden, violent storm in a northern Italian lake, it has emerged.

Claudio Alonzi, 62, and Tiziana Barnobi, 53, who worked for Italian intelligence, were officially named among the dead on Monday.

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Spain’s centre-right Citizens party says it will not run in general election

Decision follows poor performance in Sunday’s regional and municipal elections

Spain’s centre-right Citizens party, once seen as a potential kingmaker, has announced it will not run in July’s snap general election after an abysmal performance in Sunday’s regional and municipal elections, ceding its space to the triumphant conservative People’s party (PP).

Citizens attracted just 1.35% of the vote and lost its seats in 12 regional parliaments on Sunday, suggesting that the party is in its death throes. Its decline began in 2018 when it refused to back the socialists’ successful vote of no confidence in the corruption-mired PP government of Mariano Rajoy, and was exacerbated by its decision to abandon the centre ground and shift to the right.

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South Africa grants Putin and Brics leaders diplomatic immunity for summit

ICC warrant for Russian president’s arrest issued in March over alleged war crimes in Ukraine

South Africa has issued blanket diplomatic immunity to all leaders attending an August summit, meaning Vladimir Putin might be able to travel to Johannesburg and not fear the country acting on an international criminal court warrant for his arrest.

South African officials insisted the broad offer of immunity, issued in a government gazette, may not trump the ICC arrest warrant. As an ICC member, South Africa would be under pressure, and possibly under a legal requirement, to arrest Putin. The court issued a warrant for his arrest in March over the alleged forcible deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

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One person dies in third wave of strikes on Kyiv in 24 hours

‘Massive’ strikes early on Tuesday morning, with falling debris setting an apartment building on fire

At least one person has died in Kyiv and three were injured when falling debris reportedly from a destroyed Russian drone hit a high-rise apartment building early on Tuesday and started a fire, officials in the Ukrainian capital said.

The attack on Kyiv was the third in 24 hours and came after a rare daytime attack on Monday that sent people running for shelter.

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Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 461 of the invasion

Eleven Russian missiles aimed at Kyiv shot down in rare daytime attack; Russia puts US senator Lindsey Graham on wanted list

Eleven Russian missiles aimed at Kyiv were shot down by the Ukrainian air defence on Monday morning. One person was hospitalised as a result of the attacks. The local authority reported that the roof of a two-story building caught fire in the district as a result of falling debris, but that the fire was contained.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that using US-provided Patriot anti-missile systems ensured a 100% interception rate and would play a role in pushing forward against Russia’s invasion. “When Patriots in the hands of Ukrainians ensure a 100% interception rate of any Russian missile, terror will be defeated,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Any peace settlement acceptable to Ukraine would include a demilitarised zone extending between 100km and 120km into Russia, the adviser to the head of the office of Ukraine’s president, Mykhailo Podolyak, has suggested. The key topic of the postwar settlement should be the establishment of safeguards to prevent a recurrence of aggression in the future, he said.

US president Joe Biden said that in a call on Monday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated Ankara’s desire to buy F-16 fighter jets from the United States, while Biden responded that Washington was keen to see Ankara drop its objection to Sweden’s joining Nato. The exchange took place when Biden called Erdogan to congratulate him on his victory in Turkey’s presidential election on Sunday.

Two people were killed and eight were wounded in a Russian attack on the city of Toretsk on Monday morning, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said. Kyrylenko said Russian forces had used high-explosive aerial bombs in the attack at about 11:30 am local time which damaged a gas station and a multi-storey building in the city.

Russia’s interior ministry has put US senator Lindsey Graham on a wanted list after the Investigative Committee said it was opening a criminal probe into his comments on a Ukrainian state video. In an edited video released by the Ukrainian president’s office of Graham’s meeting with Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Friday, Graham was shown saying “the Russians are dying” and then saying US support was the “best money we’ve ever spent”. Russia said Graham should say publicly if he believes his words were taken out of context in the video edit.

Polish president, Andrzej Duda, said that he would sign a bill to allow a panel to investigate whether the opposition party Civic Platform (PO) allowed the country to be unduly influenced by Russia and as a result become too dependent on its fuel when it was in power. The PO party rejects the claims and says the law is designed to destroy support for the party in the lead up to the elections being held at the end of the year.

The Danish prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said that her government planned to increase spending on military aid to Ukraine by $2.6bn over this year and next year. Earlier this year, Denmark set up a $1b fund for military, civilian and business aid to Ukraine. Danmarks Radio, the Danish public-service broadcaster, reported that the new funds were earmarked for military aid.

Ukraine’s parliament has passed a bill that sanctions Iran for 50 years. The bill was put forward by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The bill will stop Iranian goods transiting through Ukraine and ban use of its airspace, as well as imposing trade, financial and technology sanctions against Iran and its citizens.

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin “appears to have again indirectly undermined Russian president Vladimir Putin’s authority and regime”, the Institute for the Study of War wrote in its latest analysis of the conflict. The US-based thinktank based its assertion on the response given by Prigozhin to a journalist asking about Russian state media’s ban on any discussion of Wagner.

Foreign investors who left Russia after selling their businesses there between March 2022 and March 2023 withdrew about $36bn from the country, the state RIA news agency reports, citing analysis of data from the Central Bank.

The death toll from a Russian missile attack on a medical facility in Dnipro on Friday rose from two to four people, according to the region’s governor.

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British man dies in Greece ‘after being struck by lightning paddleboarding’

Local media say man, 26, was being filmed in sea off Agia Agathi beach in Rhodes when lightning struck water nearby

An investigation has been launched into the death of a British man who was reportedly struck by lightning while paddleboarding in Greece.

The unnamed man was in the sea off the beach in Agia Agathi, Rhodes, as his girlfriend filmed him from the beach, according to local media.

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Kosovo clashes: Nato commander criticises ‘unacceptable’ attacks on troops

Dozens of Italian and Hungarian soldiers from Kfor mission and more than 50 Serbs were injured in clashes over ethnic Albanian mayors taking office

More than 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in northern Kosovo have been injured in clashes with Serb protesters, while Serbia’s president put the army on the highest level of combat alert.

The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after elections that the Serbs boycotted – a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday.

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Elina Svitolina advocates for Ukraine on spectacular return

  • Svitolina beats Martina Trevisan 6-2, 6-2
  • ‘These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine’

Sixteen months since Elina Svitolina last competed in a grand slam tournament, the Australian Open, life has changed significantly. She is now a mother, having taken maternity leave from the tour before giving birth to her first child, Skaï, with her husband, Gaël Monfils. Her country, Ukraine, has been invaded by Russia. She spent much of her time away from the sport, including during her pregnancy, advocating for her country’s cause.

On the court, however, not too much has changed. Svitolina returned to the French Open with a spectacular performance, dismantling the 26th seed, Martina Trevisan, a semi-finalist last year, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the second round. Trevisan is Svitolina’s first top‑30 win of her comeback.

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Suspected Russia-trained spy whale reappears off Sweden’s coast

Beluga whale was first spotted in Norway wearing a harness marked ‘Equipment St Petersburg’ in 2019

A beluga whale that turned up in Norway wearing a harness in 2019, prompting speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian navy, has reappeared off Sweden’s coast.

First discovered in Norway’s far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and move on to Sweden.

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Russia-Ukraine war live: morning explosions in Kyiv after Ukraine claims to have downed 37 missiles overnight

Capital’s mayor warns residents to take shelter after explosions reported in central area

Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, offers this roundup of overnight events in the skies over Ukraine:

At night, Russia launched up to 40 cruise missiles and about 35 drones over Ukraine: air defence managed to shoot down 37 missiles and 29 “Shahed” drones. Debris fell in several districts of Kyiv and the region. There are no dead or injured.

Russia attacked targets in the Khmelnytskyi region: one of them is a military one. Five aircraft were disabled, and fires broke out in fuel and lubricant warehouses. Fires are being extinguished and the runway is being restored.

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Balearic authorities call meeting with Ryanair in pastry carry-on

Airline said to have demanded two passengers pay €45 each to take ensaïmada onboard with hand luggage

The government of the Balearic Islands has called an urgent meeting with Ryanair and the local pastry-makers’ association after the airline tried to charge passengers to bring cakes onboard, claiming it exceeded their cabin baggage limit.

The row erupted after two passengers at Palma de Mallorca airport tried to each carry an ensaïmada, a traditional Mallorcan pastry, along with their hand baggage. The airline demanded an additional €45 (£39) each to bring the pastries onboard, at which point the passengers abandoned them rather than paying.

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