In a brief chat during Burnham’s arrival, Zelenskyy repeatedly thanked the British PM for the UK’s continued support for Kyiv, and for coming to Ukraine – it’s Burnham’s first foreign trip – on the country’s independence day.
Wild beaver kits have been born in Norfolk for the first time in more than 500 years. The pair of newborns are the offspring of two free-living beavers who mysteriously arrived in Pensthorpe nature reserve near Fakenham in December. This couple, who have built a lodge on the River Wensum, were the first wild beavers recorded in Norfolk since the native species was hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century. How they got to the Wensum remains a mystery. Although beavers have re-established themselves in the English countryside since 2015, the nearest population of wild beavers is thought to be more than 130 miles away, on the River Stour in Kent. Some suspect the breeding pair were illegally released by conservation activists, a practice known as beaver bombing which Pensthorpe does not support, said the reserve’s manager, Richard Spowage. However, he welcomed the arrival of the “very playful” kits, which are thought to be about three months old. “It’s amazing,” he said. Viewing camera trap footage and discovering the kits had been born were moments of intense joy, he added. “We initially saw a single young one with a parent, just pottering around, doing little beaver things, chewing on little bits of branch and leaf. And then, in a later piece of footage, it went off … and suddenly it came running back, and a second kit was running after it.” The kits appear to enjoy feeding on willow and water mint, but not everything on the menu in Norfolk has proved a hit. “One got stung by a nettle, we think, because it reacted really suddenly, jumped back and started shaking its face.” They are already becoming very independent, and have been learning how to dive into the river and tailslap its surface to make a big bang when they want to scare off a predator. “We’ve got footage of an adult tailslapping against an otter … and one of the little ones is able to do that now, too.” Although the beavers live in a secret, inaccessible location in the nature reserve, they may expand their territory and become more visible to visitors in the future, he said. The birth of the kits presents a conundrum, because they will have no mates to breed with in the future except their parents and siblings. “You can’t have just one family in the river system,” said Spowage. “You need a wider genetic pool.” The reserve is now crowdfunding so that it can apply to the government advisory body, Natural England, for permission to legally introduce more wild beavers into the Wensum, which feeds into the Norfolk Broads. It will be an expensive project, involving studies of the river system, staff training and discussions with multiple stakeholders, but Spowage is hoping all hurdles can be overcome so Norfolk’s first family of wild beavers can thrive: “If we can introduce other beavers, then they will interbreed and the population will expand properly.” Farmers have traditionally opposed beaver reintroduction in the UK over fears their dams could flood fields and damage crops. But during the heatwave, one farmer told the Guardian that his best asset has been a family of beavers who have built a reservoir on his land that contains 3m litres of water. “What’s happening now is there are landowners suddenly realising that when they do have beavers, the beavers are holding back and managing water, which is valuable for farmland in our current climate,” said Spowage. Introducing more beavers into the Wensum would be a way for the government to lead on species recovery, he added, and would help to alleviate the frustration many conservationists feel about the speed and scale of legal beaver releases in the UK. So far, the impact of the beavers on the reserve has been minimal: “They haven’t made any dams or built anything on the river. The only things they’ve been doing is clearing trees a bit and digging tiny little channels off to the sides of the river.” By thinning some of the nearby woodland, the beavers have opened up the reserve’s rich fen habitat, allowing more light to reach the forest floor and encouraging plant growth. “That means more food – not just for them, but for all wildlife … they’re doing things we were doing as humans in our management plan, but we were doing it quite poorly, and they are doing it really well.” Blue tits, great tits, blackcaps, water rails, jays, mallards, ducklings, foxes, otters and roe deer have all been recorded using or drinking from the shallow 30cm-wide river channels created by the beavers. Natural England spokesperson Matt Heard said: “We are working with Pensthorpe nature reserve, the Beaver Trust and other stakeholders to ensure the welfare of the animals, and to develop a plan of action. “Reintroducing beavers to our landscapes makes a huge difference to nature’s recovery and where releases are managed carefully, they can secure long-term environmental benefits.”
Good morning. I know sex offender treatment might not sound like an obvious August topic, but trust me, this is worth your attention. It’s a contradiction we seem unable to resolve: as a society, we abhor the crimes these offenders commit against mainly women and children, but put little thought into their management beyond (mostly temporarily) locking them away. This may be about to change. Over the weekend, our home affairs editor, Rajeev Syal, revealed that thousands of male prisoners in England and Wales could soon be offered sex drive-suppressing drugs in a radical scheme aiming to reduce reoffending – and ease the prison overcrowding crisis. But what are the practical and ethical considerations at play in medicating this growing sector of the prison population? I spoke to Rajeev to find out. But first, a roundup of this weekend’s other biggest stories. Weekend roundup UK | Cleveland police have published photographs of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough who died when a car travelling the wrong way on the A66 crashed head-on into their police vehicle. US-Canada trade | Donald Trump has lashed out at Canada after trade talks collapsed, with the US imposing 50% tariffs on $20bn (£15bn) of Canadian goods and Mark Carney vowing to retaliate “dollar for dollar”. Russia | A 32-year-old Russian woman has been accused of assassinating a Russian naval commander with a bomb in occupied Crimea, allegedly on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. Labour | Andy Burnham is facing pressure from Labour groups to recognise Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and impose a full arms embargo, setting up a potential showdown at next month’s party conference. Ukraine | Britain will boost Ukraine’s capacity to make its own long-range missiles, Andy Burnham will announce today, as he travels to Kyiv for the country’s independence day on his first foreign visit as prime minister. In depth: ‘There are people who are obsessed with sex, but don’t want to be’ The number of sex offenders in prison in England and Wales has risen sharply in recent years to 15,000. This growth is driven by mounting prosecutions for historic crimes and a huge increase in online offending, with more than 850 men arrested on suspicion of online child sexual abuse every month. The ongoing row over early release has exposed how prisons are struggling to maintain even basic levels of safety and human dignity, never mind having the capacity to work on rehabilitation. Once inside prison, these offenders – in particular those who target children – live with the constant threat of violence, and get minimal support with their offending behaviour. Sex-offender treatment programmes – which offered group-based psychological therapy – were quietly abandoned in the late 2010s amid controversy about whether they increased reoffending risks. Sex offenders already have comparatively low reoffending rates compared with other groups – 11.7% for those released in early 2023, compared with 21.7% for other violent offences, or 19.6% for robbery. Now, Rajeev tells me, the main thrust of government plans to reduce this further is the use of sex drive-suppressing medication. This autumn, an initial pilot will be scaled up to include 20 prisons, and officials could be ready to launch the drugs in prisons and probation services across England and Wales by the end of 2028 if early results prove favourable. Government sources have told the Guardian that ministers are keen to expand the voluntary use of sex drive-suppressing drugs as they reach desperately for solutions to the prison overcrowding crisis. After an outcry from victims that proved an early test for his leadership, Andy Burnham announced earlier this month that prisoners convicted of rape, grooming and serious child sexual offences would be excluded from the early release scheme due to begin in October, but other sex offenders serving sentences of less than four years will still be eligible. ***** How does it work in practice? Prisoners on the trial are typically offered a combination of pills: a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), such as sertraline, which limits invasive sexual thoughts, and anti-androgens, which reduce the production of testosterone and limit libido. One in four sex offenders – equating to 3,750 current prisoners – would be considered for the treatment. “It’s meant to target sex offenders who experience intrusive, persistent and intense sexual thoughts, as well as persistent arousal and unhealthy sexual urges and sexual behaviours,” Rajeev says. “There are people who are obsessed with sex, but don’t want to be.” These offenders differ significantly from others who seek power or sadistic enjoyment through abuse and don’t recognise the impact of their offending. Prof Belinda Winder (pictured, below) is a leading forensic psychologist who has evaluated the use of these drugs. She insists that the scheme does not amount to “chemical castration” – a phrase that’s also inaccurate because, bluntly, it requires the continued ingestion of medication, not surgical intervention. The proposal for “mandatory chemical castration” made by then justice secretary Shabana Mahmood last year has since “hit the rocks”, says Rajeev. “There is wide agreement that this scheme has to be voluntary,” he says, “working with people who really want to stop their offending, with their knowledge and consent.” **** What are the considerations? Medicating offenders raises complex questions. Concerns have surfaced about the limited data available on the long-term effects of these medications. For example, we know that testosterone suppression can cause osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. Serious side effects could also affect how likely offenders are to continue with their medication once they leave prison, Rajeev says. Their use could even result in legal action being taken against the government, particularly if an individual claims they felt pressured into the scheme. Assessing who is suitable for medication takes lengthy observation and analysis. Intensive oversight would also be necessary once a prisoner was released from custody, to ensure they continued to take their medication. “That’s one big problem with seeing this as a way of bringing down prison overcrowding,” says Rajeev. “How do you monitor it outside, given how over-stretched the probation service already is?” And then there are the ethical considerations that arise, even when medicating an offender with their explicit consent. In other jurisdictions, including Australia and the US, modern mandatory schemes have been subject to fierce debate about whether they are, in principle, inhumane, a populist exploitation of public disgust for sex offenders, or a brave and creative approach to rehabilitation. While those running the pilot emphasise its voluntary nature, critics are already warning that this could become blurred if an offender’s willingness to take medication is considered when making parole decisions, or if it’s used as a criterion for eligibility in future early release programmes. **** What else is available when sex offenders leave prison? For some prisoners treated by Prof Winder, this medication has been transformative. One man who experienced problematic sexual arousal – intense sexual urges throughout the day – described finally being able to follow the plot of a film without being plagued by compulsive thoughts. “Without the drugs, these images were going around his head all the time,” said Winder. “He did not want them any more.” The fact that the government is prepared to focus on such a radical solution – which it accepts is not appropriate for the majority of sex offenders – underlines how very little support is available for this group. And if you don’t like the idea of giving sex offenders support, then consider it victim protection: a means of breaking the isolation and shame that often leads people to reoffend. There are alternatives. Over the years, I’ve reported on a handful of programmes that work with sex offenders once they leave prison, and interviewed men whose thinking has been substantially changed not by medication but by human intervention. The best known of these is the Circles programme, which provides a local network of volunteers to support and hold accountable their “core member”, a child sexual offender who wants to reintegrate into the community. Although evaluations consistently show its significant impact on reoffending, when I interviewed its founder, Rev Harry Nigh, a couple of years ago, he spoke of being worried that a rightward shift in politics was making it tougher for decision-makers to justify funding these interventions. In this context, dare I say that any effort to look beyond an offender’s past and consider their future is brave. And there’s a definite upside for our new PM in making the scheme work, Rajeev reminds me. “If the government can ensure that a quarter of the sex offender population will take a pill and not feel compelled to commit another crime, relieving some of the huge pressure on the criminal justice system, it’s a huge win.” The week to come Wednesday | Ofgem will announce its quarterly energy price cap affecting bills for the last quarter of 2026. Thursday | Quarterly immigration and Neet statistics will be released, two policy areas Andy Burnham is keen to focus on. Thursday | The 17-year-old who pleaded guilty to arson over the attack at Kenton United synagogue in April is due to be sentenced. What else we’ve been enjoying I’ll never tire of watching, reading and listening to Miriam Margolyes (pictured), and her essay on how to save the nation doesn’t disappoint. (She only mentions sex once.) Michael Author Meg Mason’s thoughtful meditation on the intense parasocial bonds between readers and writers has had me re-evaluating my close friendships with John Steinbeck, Liane Moriarty and Katherine Rundell. Libby I found Hannah Richell’s thoughtful reflection on grief, after her husband died in a surfing accident ten years ago, particularly moving. Michael Sport Fifa | The Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, has described Gianni Infantino’s doomed attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup as “even worse than the Super League plan” and warned his embattled Fifa counterpart that he will face an opponent if he runs for re-election next March. Formula One | Britain’s Lewis Hamilton said talks were needed at Ferrari as to why they delayed bringing teammate Charles Leclerc into the pits at the Dutch Grand Prix. Cricket | Brydon Carse has become the latest England cricketer involved in a late-night incident after footage emerged of the fast bowler in police handcuffs outside a bar in Derby. The front pages “Britain will help Ukraine make its own long-range missiles, says PM”, is the Guardian’s front page today, while the Times says “Burnham to gift Ukraine blueprints for missiles”. The i Paper has “Burnham open to cutting uni fees for EU students as bargaining chip for better Brexit deal”, and the Express writes “‘Let’s talk about assisted dying Mr Burnham … while I still can’”. The FT leads on “Warsh seeks to calm investor jitters as signs of economic strain increase”, and the Telegraph splashes “Graduates face worst job market on record”. The Mail says “Children are ‘not safe’ on the internet”, and Metro has “‘Joyride’ five & cops killed in 4am crash”. The Mirror, reporting on football fan behaviour, writes “The Prem suspects” while the Sun, on the royals, has “We’re all grin it together”. Today in Focus The connectionists Guardian journalist Michael Safi looks into the world of artificial intelligence, exploring the dangers and promises it holds for society. Cartoon of the day | Tom Gauld The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Seventeen medieval manuscript fragments discovered in Guernsey are shedding new light on the island’s previously unknown literary life, reports Dalya Alberge. Dating from the 12th to 15th centuries, the texts range from the Bible and Ovid to a rare French play, revealing surprisingly broad reading tastes. The fragments survived after being recycled as bindings for administrative records – and researchers believe many more may still be hiding in the island’s archives. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
My friend John and I are climbing Tylorstown Tip – a summit also known as Old Smokey, named after the hot ash it was partly made with. We want to see how much of south Wales has burned. The tip towers over the surrounding hills, a perfect crow’s nest from which to witness the blackening of the region. From the summit, with its sitka spruce and flowering heather, the expanse of St Gwynno’s forest spreads out before us, all 6,533 acres of it. Browned, dead plantation forestry gives way to grassland burned to cinder. A veil of smoke lies above the forest for miles. Sticking our heads up like a couple of lanky prairie dogs, we try to tot up the summer’s burns – many we can see, many more we’ve heard tell of, just out of sight. There’s Treherbert, Wattsville, Cwm, Maerdy, Ynyshir, Ferndale, Llwyn Onn, Blaenavon, Dowlais, on and on. Coal areas, for ever shaped by fire and ash. The fires in south-east Wales this summer have been so numerous and devastating, their impact has weighed heavy on people’s psyche. With such little rain from late June to August, sparks that would normally fizzle and die without consequence have raged over large areas in a flash. Here in the valleys, where forestry, absentee landownership, industrial waste and dense terraced housing all sit close, the wildfires have felt like they’re right in your face. You could be forgiven for thinking it was all of Wales aflame, living in the smoke for weeks, tasting the smog on your lips. Meanwhile, up north, desperate residents of the blazing Rhinogydd had to wait days for helicopter support, as it was busy in England and Scotland. In some places a kind of madness has taken hold, with children photographed and put through trial by social media for loitering in woodlands during summer holidays. At long last, recent days have seen rain – real rain. Many burns still smoulder in deep peat, but soon it’ll be time to worry about floods instead, as denuded slopes flush ever more water into catchments that cannot contain it. Whatever happens next, it’s a summer that will linger in the memory. • Under the Changing Skies: The Best of the Guardian’s Country Diary, 2018-2024, is available now at guardianbookshop.com
Gabriele Keenaghan still remembers the day in April 1939 when she said goodbye to her grandmother at a Vienna railway station for a Kindertransport to Britain – tears were strictly forbidden. “I was apprehensive and I was worried because Nazis in black uniforms were on the platform,” she said. “I was only 12 years old so I think they were frightening … terrifying. “People had been told that there were to be no emotional scenes, they didn’t want any emotion shown by anyone. I tried not to cry. It was very difficult. My grandmother … she smiled.” This week Keenaghan will mark her 100th year by returning to Vienna’s Westbahnhof, a place which changed, if not saved, her life, and there might be tears. “I haven’t thought about how I’ll feel – I probably will feel emotional.” Keenaghan, a retired head teacher, is speaking at her home in North Shields before what will be an epic trip to Vienna with several generations of her family. The plan, hatched for her centenary, was nearly scuppered because Lufthansa cancelled routes from Newcastle. Fortunately, a good samaritan came to the rescue offering the use of a private jet, and the family admit they have been bowled over by the generosity. Keenaghan is 99 but you would never guess. She was awarded the British Empire medal for her services to Holocaust education, recounting what is a remarkable life story in the hope it might bring “kindness, tolerance and acceptance of diversity” in others. Keenaghan, an only child, said she did not even know she was Jewish until after the Nazis invaded Austria. Her mother, Hildegard, was a Catholic who died suddenly in 1935. Her father, Josef, was Jewish and manufactured heating stoves. The young Gabriele was a boarder at a Catholic convent school run by nuns when the Nazis came and told pupils they would all be moving. “The authorities came into the convent to tell us which schools we had to go to. We were all standing in the hall and names were called for this school, that school. At the end, I was the only one left standing. And I thought: ‘What’s happening to me?’” She was told she would have to go to a Jewish school and a yellow star of David was sewn on to her coat. “I hadn’t realised that my father was a Jew. I didn’t know. I don’t think I even knew what being a Jew meant.” It was bewildering and people treated her horribly, she said. “They called me a ‘dirty little Jew’ and I was a sensitive girl. It was upsetting.” Keenaghan never saw her father again. He was deported to Łódź in Poland and was almost certainly murdered in an extermination camp. Her grandmother, also called Gabriele, made arrangements for her granddaughter to be taken out of Austria on a Kindertransport, the scheme which brought about 10,000 Jewish children to Britain as refugees. Alone and scared but also probably excited, she remembers, she left with 150 other children, taking the train to the Netherlands and then a boat to Harwich. Keenaghan was a good student and quickly picked up the language. One of her first jobs was as a nanny to an affluent family in Woldingham, Surrey. She has vivid memories of VE Day as all the village’s nannies – there were many – were given the day off and went to London to be part of the celebrations. “It was really euphoric,” she said. “I’ve never experienced such excitement and joy. People were dancing in the street. They were climbing trees. “We were in front of Buckingham Palace and out came the king and queen and the two princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret. Princess Elizabeth was the same age as me … she would also be 100 this year had she lived.” Keenaghan went on to train as a teacher in the north-east and met her husband, Ken, and raised a family in Wallsend. She became a middle-school head teacher and clearly has fond memories of her career and the children and teachers who were part of it. She has returned to Austria annually to see relatives, especially her grandmother, who died in 1974. The one place she and her family have not been to is the station. Keenaghan’s actual official birthday is in November, when Vienna would be far too cold. “I’m going to be like Queen Elizabeth. I’m going to have two birthdays,” she said. There will be family members on the plane, including Keenaghan’s two daughters, Pat and Christine. Others will travel separately. Both daughters have vague memories of their great-grandmother, although they were very young. “The story goes that I used to call her Noddy Grandmother because I didn’t realise she couldn’t speak English,” said Christine. “I would speak to her all of the time and she nodded a lot.” Keenaghan has spoken many times to children about her experiences. “I hope they have learned something from it,” she said. “But do we ever learn? Look at the world, look at the state it is in now.”
It was meant to be an outing for Black children in Berlin and their families, offering them an exclusive afternoon at an outdoor pool set up by a local theatre. But the plans, slated for earlier this month, had to be scrapped after they were seized on by rightwing and conservative voices to whip up outrage, leaving organisers fending off racist emails and threats. Berlin’s Volksbühne theatre said it had extended the invitation in hopes of dismantling some of the barriers that would normally keep these children away from the pool. While other groups had similarly been invited to use pool exclusively without incident, the idea of Black children enjoying a private afternoon at a public pool proved to be controversial among some. “Berlin is a livable, diverse, colourful and free city. So why do we need safe spaces?” a local Christian Democrat politician, Aileen Weibeler, said on social media, while the far-right Alternative für Deutschland co-leader Alice Weidel described it as “an apartheid” in which “white people are temporarily denied access”. It was the latest in a long list of incidents linking swimming pools to racism. Across North America and Europe swimming pools have often acted as a flashpoint for wider racial tensions and exclusions. Earlier this summer, an open-air swimming lake in the eastern German city of Halle made headlines after it refused entry to bathers who did not speak German. In the Netherlands, the Institute for Human Rights recently ruled against a pool after it was found to have singled out a Black child for an identity check. The list of incidents spans decades. In 2013, the Swiss town of Bremgarten moved to restrict asylum seekers’ access to swimming pools. In Bulgaria, Roma have sounded the alarm about being discriminated against at public pools, while in 2022, a swimming pool in Romania was fined just over €2,000 (£1,716) for barring entry to Romani children. Some of the association between racism and pools most likely comes down to the intimacy of these spaces, said Jeff Wiltse, the author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America. “They’re visually, physically, and socially intimate spaces, and I think that continues to pique people’s social anxieties,” he said. Wiltse has long studied pools in the US, recasting them as sites that reflect the wider tensions in society at any given time, from James Brock in 1964 pouring hydrochloric acid into a whites-only pool where Black men were swimming, to the Texas police officer who in 2015 pinned an unarmed Black teenager to the ground and drew his gun as he sought to break up a pool party. In the US, “throughout much of the 20th century, swimming pools were homogenous spaces”, he said. “There was explicit racial segregation of public pools.” In the late 1940s, as public swimming pools in the US began to be racially desegregated, private pools began to spring up, particularly in suburbs that were almost exclusively white. Many people came to see swimming pools as “a certain type of social space in which the people there are all socially similar”, said Wiltse, who advocates tackling the issue by increasing public investment in community pools that could bring together people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds. The racialised history of pools – and its continued legacy today – has helped to give rise to a stark racial divide when it comes to swimming ability, one that has had deadly consequences. In the US, the fatal-drowning rate of Black and African American children is three times higher than that of white children. The statistics are even worse in England, where recent data found that children from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are 3.5 times more likely to drown than their white counterparts. Recent figures from Sport England suggest that 95% of Black adults and 80% of Black children do not swim at all. In 2022, Katrice Rodrigues set out to change this with the launch of Unity Swimming, a community organisation that runs weekly classes aimed at Black and Asian communities. “People get angry at that, saying: ‘How can it be inclusive if it’s just for Black and Asian communities?’” said Rodrigues, who is also a keynote speaker on diversity in aquatics. “My thing is that we’re making the whole of swimming more inclusive by creating these safe little spaces, which lead to more people swimming, and that makes swimming, as a whole, more inclusive.” The success of the programme has relied on Rodrigues and her team confronting the wide range of cultural barriers that keep minorities out of the pool, from having parents who are terrified of water to concerns over feeling out of place, dressing modestly or protecting Black hair. Other barriers have proven more enduring. “There’s a myth and a stereotype that Black people can’t float and can’t swim,” she said. “It’s not true, but I’ve had to correct two experienced swim teachers who thought that was a thing.” As summers become hotter across the globe, sending more people into rivers, lakes and pools in search of respite, the imperative has grown to ensure that as many people as possible know how to swim, said Rodrigues. “It’s the only sport that’s going to save lives,” she said. “If you’ve got water safety knowledge, you could help save someone else’s life as well as your own and your whole family. So this has a knock-off effect on families, on communities and for generations.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted the Ukrainian government did not take part in the 2022 bombing of the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines. Ukraine’s president said Germany was “well aware that Ukraine did not stand behind the execution or the very conception of this operation”. On Wednesday a Ukrainian man was arrested in Croatia on suspicion of taking part in the bombings. He was reportedly working on a film about the plot when arrested. German prosecutors allege he collaborated with another Ukrainian man who was arrested in Italy in 2025. German prosecutors allege the Nord Stream bombings were ordered by the Ukrainian state. Zelenskky has always denied his country’s involvement. He said Kyiv was helping Berlin with its investigation and hoped it would not cause a rift in relations. “It is very important for us not to lose our partnership, not to lose the trust of European countries that have been helping Ukraine since the very beginning of this war.” The pipelines were built to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. The “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine will meet in Kyiv of Monday. The meeting will be jointly chaired by the leaders of Britain, France and Germany. Ukraine on Monday celebrates independence while also marking exactly four and a half years since the Russian full-scale invasion of 24 February 2022. Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, is set to announce that the British government will let defence firm MBDA release classified information so Ukraine and France can set up local production of the long-range Storm Shadow/Scalp missile, writes Kiran Stacey and Dan Sabbagh. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has pledged Paris will deliver new the SAMP/T interceptor system, said to be capable of shooting down some types of ballistic missiles. The Russian online retailer Ozon said a drone attack caused a major fire that shut down its logistics hub in Krasnodar in southern Russia. Ukraine also hit Ozon warehouses in the central Orenburg region on Sunday, and the day before that, in the neighbouring Samara region. “After Ukrainian units hit the 15 largest logistics hubs of Wildberries, it is now Ozon’s turn,” said a Ukrainian defence ministry announcement. Authorities in Krasnodar claimed two children were killed and another nine people were injured when drone debris hit a private childcare centre. There was no independent confirmation. Early on Sunday, a drone attack was under way against an industrial area of Nevinnomyssk in Russia’s southern Stavropol region, its governor said. Nevinnomyssk is a major chemical production area. A Russian attack on the outskirts of Kharkiv in Ukraine’s north-east killed three people, the regional governor said late on Sunday. Emergency services evacuated eight people, some of whom were injured, said Oleh Syniehubov, adding that a search was under way for other possible casualties. Zelenskyy has said holding elections in Ukraine during wartime could split the country. Dan Sabbagh writes that Zelenskyy was responding to a demand for elections by Mykhailo Fedorov whom he sacked as defence minister. Supporters have distanced themselves from Fedorovo because of his call for elections. Zelenskyy said on Saturday: “I believe that if we want to destroy the country, then during such a war we can move in the selection of elections … Elections right now are a tsunami for the state that will split Ukraine.” Elections have been suspended by law in Ukraine since martial law was imposed in response to the Russian invasion. Zelenskyy said on Saturday that if Ukraine’s allies established “specific conditions” for a safe, legitimate and democratic election process he would support it. It would require “the participation of the military, in frontline territories, abroad, where millions of our citizens have gone, fleeing the war” and would have to occur “without strikes and shelling”. Zelenskyy said he had removed Fedorov as defence minister because he had overreached, intruding on functions belonging to the military. He was offered four alternative jobs in the government but declined them. “I really had and still have a very positive attitude toward Mykhailo,” Zelenskyy said. “We have been through a lot together. But I believe that he himself goes, or is pushed, into the wrong things.” Ukraine thinks that Russian president Vladimir Putin is planning to draft an additional 300,000 troops for the war after Russian parliamentary elections in mid-September. Zelenskyy described a “peripheral mobilisation” targeting Russia’s far-flung regions. “We believe it will not take place in the central cities,” he said. “But I don’t think they will be able to hide it very well.”
Donald Trump has hit back at Canada after a breakdown in negotiations plunged the two countries into a trade war. In his first public comments since negotiations collapsed on Friday in Washington, the US president wrote on social media: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” “They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of tariffs,” he added. “No more!!!” His comments came after the US imposed 50% tariffs on $20bn (£14.6bn) worth of Canadian goods, while Mark Carney, the country’s prime minister, has vowed to match them “dollar for dollar”. The US tariffs came into force on Saturday, ranging from hockey sticks to tongue depressors. Trade experts have predicted that the tariffs could result in some job losses, but the biggest impact is expected to be political, triggering fresh tension between the neighbours. Both sides blamed the other for the breakdown in talks on Friday. Carney told Canadian journalists that the country was “at war” over trade with the US, after Trump “miscalculated” by escalating his tariff attack. “You’re at war when you’re attacked, and we got attacked,” the Canadian prime minister told reporters in Ottawa. “We cannot accept what they’ve offered and we will not give what they’ve asked.” Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, has said the US was compelled to act after a year of retaliatory measures by Canada. He told Fox & Friends Weekend: “We’ve said enough and so we’ve taken countermeasures. Our interest is in protecting American workers and protecting American supply chains.” Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, estimated that 40% of small Canadian exporters will be directly hit by the US tariffs, and that nearly one-third expect their revenues will drop by 50% or more as a result. The escalation was also met with anger by Democratic lawmakers and governors from US states that border Canada including Minnesota, New York and Washington. New York governor Kathy Hochul posted on X: “Needlessly picking fights with our allies and raising prices here at home. That’s Trump’s economic policy in a nutshell.” Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, said the new tariffs meant “higher costs for small businesses, farmers, and all Minnesota families.” She wrote on X: “Canada is Minnesota’s #1 trading partner. Minnesotans are paying for Trump’s chaos.” Carney, who previously served as the governor of the Bank of England, was elected as Canada’s prime minister last year after campaigning to lead a fightback against Trump, who has suggested he wants to make Canada a 51st state with “economic force”. Carney’s “dollar for dollar” tariffs are expected to take effect from 8 September, with new levies on steel, dairy, appliances and electronics. The escalation has also called into question the future of the North American trade pact between the US, Canada and Mexico, known as USMCA. The pact, which was signed by Trump during his first term, governs about $2tn annually in goods and services between the three countries. Trump refused to renew the USMCA this summer after Canada and Mexico formally requested for it to be renewed for another 16 years. When asked how the US-Canadian collapse in trade talks would affect the USMCA, Carney said it was “certainly not good news”. Increasingly aggressive rhetoric and trade policy from the Trump administration has damaged US-Canadian relations, with tourism also suffering – there was a 21% drop in Canadians entering New York state in 2025 and 3m fewer visits compared with the previous year. Furthermore, a petition to expel the US ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, from the country has gathered about 248,000 signatures since late July, according to the Associated Press. This year a poll by Globe and Mail newspaper found that only 9% of Canadians agreed that the US was a “trustworthy ally”, and that 51% of those polled had cancelled American trips in reaction to comments by Trump.