Read the daily news to learn English

More than 16,000 refugees unable to reunite with families in UK, says Refugee Council

More than 16,000 refugees have been unable to reunite with families in the UK, leaving them either stuck in conflict zones or resorting to using people-smugglers to reach safety, according to the Refugee Council. The government suspended the refugee family reunion route last September. It allowed a person granted refugee status to apply to bring immediate family members such as a spouse and their children under 18 to reunite with them in the UK. The indication was that the suspension would last until the spring of this year. However, no confirmation has yet been made of any resumption of this route, which provides a lifeline for thousands of families separated by war. The Refugee Council calculated 16,300 people have been barred from applying since the suspension came into force 10 months ago, using published Home Office data from the months prior to the suspension. Nine out of 10 of those granted refugee family reunion are women and children. Based on the data, they estimate that this figure includes 9,273 children and 5,835 women. The government operates other safe and legal routes for the most vulnerable refugees, but these arrivals have fallen by more than a third in the last year. New routes have been announced, such as community sponsorship, where a community supports refugees of their choice with housing, finding a job and integration. However, Home Office sources told the Guardian that the scheme, as it has operated for the last decade, has brought just 1,000 individuals to the UK, mainly in family units, so only a small number of families have benefited from it each year. The government said it expected the new community sponsorship scheme, along with new study and work routes, would initially bring refugees in in the low hundreds. Several hundred asylum seekers cross the Channel in small boats on a moderately busy day. One Iranian refugee, who lives in London with her two children aged 21 and 16, said she was distraught about the refugee family reunion suspension as her husband was trapped in very dangerous circumstances in Iran. She and her children arrived here four years ago and claimed asylum but had to wait nearly a year-and-a-half for their initial Home Office interview. Their case was initially rejected and then won on appeal. “Had the Home Office processed our case quickly, we could have brought my husband here before the ban on refugee family reunion was imposed,” she said. “It is agonising torture knowing my husband is still trapped in Iran. In my view, what is happening is a clear and direct violation of human rights. It cruelly tears families apart and has stripped away our last shred of hope.” Imran Hussain, the director of external affairs at the Refugee Council, said: “Safe and legal routes save lives. Women and children attempting to flee devastating wars and brutal regimes in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan are being driven into small boats by desperation. No parent risks their child’s life crossing the Channel in a small boat unless they believe the dangers they are fleeing are even greater than those they face at sea. “We welcome the government’s commitment to creating new safe routes, but these must not come at the expense of existing pathways that have already saved lives. The government should urgently restore refugee family reunion, alongside expanding new safe routes, so families can find safety together, rebuild their lives, integrate and play their part in Britain.” A Home Office spokesperson said: “The immigration and asylum bill will reform human rights laws to preserve protection for those in need, while bearing down on abuse of the asylum system. “We have also recently announced that the rollout of new safe and legal routes for refugees will begin in the autumn. “Under this government’s reforms to create a fairer asylum system, family reunion will no longer be automatic. Those seeking to bring family members to the UK will need to meet stricter criteria.”

Monday briefing: You ask the questions – is Britain ungovernable?

Good morning. This week, we anticipate the arrival of Britain’s seventh prime minister in the space of a decade. Barring a sequence of events too freakish to contemplate this early in the day, Andy Burnham will be declared Labour leader on Friday and invited to form a new government thereafter. Sceptical as I am about doomy predictions on Britain’s chronic ungovernability, I wanted to speak to somebody who could offer some deeper context. Step forward Guardian columnist Andy Beckett, who also writes vivid modern histories about the country’s defining political ideas, and step forward you – First Edition readers – who responded when I asked what contemporary liabilities we should be talking about. So for this morning’s newsletter, we asked Andy about leadership churn, public impatience and what we can learn from recent political history. First, here’s a catchup on the weekend’s news. Weekend roundup Middle East | The US military has launched a new wave of attacks against Iran amid the escalating standoff over the strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying the latest strikes had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the past few months. UK news | Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation. US politics | Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally in Washington, died this weekend after a short illness, his office announced. Far right | Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner’s father. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said on Sunday the news was a sign Britain “must do more to defend its democracy”. UK politics | Reform UK would have held just 15% of the donations it received last year if a proposed £100,000 cap on political donations had been in force, according to analysis shared with the Guardian. In depth: ‘Instability has become the new normal’ Our rapid leadership turnover, Andy Beckett argues, stems from a quarter-century crisis in the Conservative party, as successive prime ministers struggled to define themselves beyond Thatcher. That instability has now infected Labour. But Paul, a reader from Aberdeen, is interested in how this plays into voter expectations. He sees an electorate that is increasingly impatient, demanding quick solutions from politicians who aren’t always willing to be honest about difficult policy choices and the length of time that sustained change demands. Andy agrees: “A whole ecosystem of impatience has been created, that involves MPs, party members, voters and the media.” He dates “12 years of shocks” starting from the 2014 Scottish independence referendum – and I know what he means, having covered two referendums, four general elections, four Holyrood first ministers and five prime ministers (Liz Truss didn’t have time to meet the Scottish press) since then. “Instability,” he tells me, “has become the new normal and our expectations have been reshaped by that. So when you’re following the news, you follow the live blog and see whatever crisis is going on at Westminster – which is about changes in media and digital media, too.” What strikes Andy about his pub chats these days is that “friends who are well informed are completely unaware of some of the good things done by the Starmer government, like employment rights or renters’ rights legislation”. “Most people don’t have time to read policy documents, but voters now, including myself, have got used to being better informed about who may be a contender in the next leadership contest than the less dramatic details about what the government might actually do.” *** The demise of MP loyalty? Ruby from Kent wants to know to what extent MPs themselves are responsible for the constant turnover of PMs. The Commons has certainly become less disciplined in recent years, says Andy, as Starmer discovered when – despite a massive majority – he faced successive rebellions on issues such as welfare cuts. “It’s a vicious circle. Because there’s more instability, there are fewer safe seats, which means MPs are happier to rebel because they think, ‘So what? The person who I’m annoying may not be prime minister in a year’. The motivation to stay on the right side of the whips is much diminished.” *** The scunner factor? I wanted to ask Andy about the scunner factor, as we call it in Scotland: that long tail of voter disenchantment with all politicians that I think – a bit unfairly – coalesced around a raw hatred of Starmer. I remember encountering it on the doorstep pretty early into his premiership. “People absolutely loathe Starmer,” says Andy “and that’s quite strange. While he’s not a very good politician, I’d say he’s a 6.5 out of 10 as a prime minister – yet he’s treated by the public like a one out of 10.” “Maybe some of that is because a pent-up anger about all kinds of problems in Britain has been building up since 2010, or even before then.” Approval ratings of all party leaders have accelerated downwards over the past 30 years, he says, “reflecting a long-term sort of disillusionment with politics”. *** What does it mean for policy delivery? A number of readers raised the negative impact this regular change of leadership and, consequently, government ministers has on simply getting stuff done. First Edition reader Nicola, who works in education, is hoping for “some consolidation rather than constant change, to have ministers who master their brief rather than changing all the time”. “This is a big problem,” Andy says, “because all kinds of areas, including transport, education or defence, require really long-term solutions”. “In the past, it was tricky to get things moving within a full five-year term, and now we’re dealing in terms that are generally two or three years. But procurement processes are slow, as is construction, and you get a massive turnover of ministers who take time to understand what they’re doing.” *** Could electoral reform break the cycle? Stephen, from Llandeilo, asks whether radical change to the Westminster government electoral system is the answer. “There’s a potential, isn’t there?” Andy wonders. “With electoral reform, you could conceivably get, like in Germany, the same parties in power for a while but in slightly different alliances, so it could stabilise the system.” But he cautions that most European countries have proportional systems “and most are going through their own versions of instability, so it’s not going to solve it completely”. *** Things can only get better? What, I ask Andy finally, are the lessons he takes from recent history: is it possible to predict whether we’ll be having this same conversation in a year about Andy Burnham, and saying what a shame it is that his premiership didn’t last as long as Starmer’s? He directs me back to the 1970s, when there was a similarly rapid carousel of premiers – Wilson, Heath, Wilson, Callaghan. “At that time, lots of people said Britain was ungovernable, that there was going to be permanent political instability.” “Then we had Margaret Thatcher for 11 years, followed by John Major for seven years, then Tony Blair for 10 years. So, we have pulled out of instability before. But the technology is different now, the media are more obsessed with drama, voters are more impatient, and we’ve got a climate crisis that we didn’t have in the same way in the 70s.” Andy predicts that one significant destabilising factor – rightwing populism – may have peaked. “I don’t mean Reform will be unimportant, but they may have reached a ceiling.” Nonetheless, the next general election is likely to be dramatic: “Even if Labour recover quite a lot, there’s going to have to be some sort of coalition – and then how the hell would they hold that together?” For readers wanting to set their calendars, Andy believes a more stable period in British politics will come … but not in the next couple of years. “It could take a while for us to get out of this.” The week to come Monday | Green MP Hannah Spencer presents her Maximum Workplace Temperature Bill to the Commons, which would establish an independent body to recommend safe working temperatures. Tuesday | MPs debate capping political donations as they seek to strengthen a new law on party funding. Wednesday | Sir Keir Starmer will face his final PMQs. What else we’ve been reading Gaby Hinsliff has an incisive column on one of the biggest pickles Andy Burnham will find himself in when he enters Downing Street: how to deal with Donald Trump. Charlie Lindlar, newsletters team “I don’t really get shocked” – this interview with the heroic Bea Elton, who has made an unlikely career out of cleaning up the homes of desperate people, up says some important things about how we handle shame and isolation. Libby I enjoyed this frankly ludicrous piece for our My holiday from hell series, in which Sarah Ann Harris recounts post A-levels girls’ trip to Corfu that began with being quarantined in hospital the moment she landed on the island. Charlie World Cup 2026 England | Jude Bellingham’s equaliser against Norway turned the tide of England’s quarter-final – but should it have been disallowed? Sachin Nakrani investigates what he’s choosing to call “cablegate”. Spain | The former Spanish conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy is facing growing accusations of racism after writing in a World Cup newspaper column that the French national team “does not have any French players”. Yet more teams? | Fifa president Gianni Infantino has hinted at expanding the World Cup again for the 2030 tournament. After increasing the number from 32 to 48 this time round, the aim would be for 64 teams to compete. “Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating,” Infantino said. Sport Tennis | Jannik Sinner bounced back from dropping the first set to beat Alexander Zverev and retain his Wimbledon title, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4. Tumaini Carayol reported from Centre Court that the tin “further establishes him among the best tennis players of his time”. Cricket | Brendon McCullum has been sacked as the England men’s Test coach, with the England and Wales Cricket Board opting for a completely fresh start for the side after the recent retirement of the red-ball captain, Ben Stokes. McCullum, who was “gutted” by the decision, remains coach of the T20 side. Cycling | Tadej Pogacar called for radical change to the professional racing calendar after another day of stifling temperatures, as Mathieu van der Poel won the shortened ninth stage of the Tour de France from Malemort to Ussel, with Tom Pidcock finishing third. The front pages “June heatwave killed 440 a day at its peak, say climate scientists”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Times leads with “Widdecombe ‘killer drove 300 miles with weapon’”, the Telegraph, similarly, says “Widdecome suspect drove 300 miles to her house”. The i Paper has “New Widdecombe murder arrest but no sign of political motive, say police”, and the Express says “Our sadness at losing ‘one of a kind’ Ann”. Metro has “Widdecombe killing ‘not political’”. The FT leads with “New US strikes on Iran pose biggest test for interim deal” and the Mirror, on the Hillsborough Law, goes with “I’m over the moon”. Today in Focus China’s massive AI rollout While the spread of AI has been met perhaps with a lot of scepticism in the west, China has fully embraced the technology, explains our senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins, from millions of users talking to AI doctors, to the use of intelligent robots in factories, and drones delivering food on the Great Wall of China. She talks to Annie Kelly. Cartoon of the day | Nicola Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad Go big – and regret nothing. These are some of the secrets of success shared by late bloomers – from a seventy-something standup comedian to the founder of a highly successful spice business – on how to have a stunning second act. They reveal why it’s never too late to embark on the life of your dreams. Along with sensible truisms such as pursuing what you are truly passionate about, there is great wisdom in taking a long view. “People should remind themselves that they only have one life,” says Lisbeth Dreyer, a literal late bloomer who became a flower farmer and florist in her 60s. “And if there is something you want to do, you should try it. I think people feel bad inside if they don’t try what they want to do. If it doesn’t work, at least you tried. It is easier to live with it if you try.” 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

Iran launches retaliatory attacks after fresh US strikes – as it happened

We are closing our live coverage of developments in the Middle East – you can read our latest report here. Here is a quick recap of the latest. The United States and Iran each asserted Monday they controlled the strait of Hormuz after a weekend of attacks stretching across the wider Middle East, further threatening any diplomacy to end the war. The attacks were sparked by Iran striking a container ship in the strait off the coast of Oman. The US military’s Centcom described its forces as hitting dozens of sites in the strikes Monday, including air defense systems, radar sites, missile and drone equipment and small boats. “The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime corridor for global trade,” Central Command said. “Iran does not control it.” The US military early Sunday said it hit some 140 targets, including missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites — a far-heavier set of attacks than in two previous rounds of strikes in the last week. “We bombed the hell out of them last night,” U.S. President Donald Trump told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting US military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it. Iranian attacks on Sunday stretched Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and even Oman — whose territorial waters with Iran make up the strait. Oman, which long has been an interlocutor between Tehran and the West, summoned an Iranian diplomat to criticise the attack. “The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.” Iran and the US are nearly at the midway point of the 60-day period of an interim deal that was supposed to set-up talks for a permanent end to the war. Instead, it has devolved into a series of attacks over the strait and its future. President Donald Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war. “A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

Mastermind of €88m Louvre heist thought they ‘could have taken more’

Two men suspected of making off with €88m (£75m) worth of crown jewels from the Louvre museum in Paris last October have reportedly told investigators that the alleged mastermind behind the heist was disappointed by the haul and thought “they could have taken more”. The French newspaper Le Monde cited transcripts of the alleged thieves’ questioning last month by two investigating judges in charge of the inquiry, offering detailed insights into the burglary that made global headlines and led the museum’s director to resign. According to the account seen by the newspaper, the suspects, named locally as Abdoulaye N and Ghelamallah A, claimed they had broken into the Louvre’s Apollo gallery on the orders of a client they refused to name out of fear for their families. The duo seized eight pieces of jewellery including tiaras, a brooch, necklaces and earrings. But during their escape, the suspects dropped a gem-encrusted crown worn in the 19th century by Empress Eugénie, the wife of Napoleon III. “Yes, it was me, it fell out of my bag,” Abdoulaye N is said to have admitted, adding, as the judges showed him a photograph of the badly damaged crown: “What we did wasn’t right, it’s very serious.” He said the pair had handed over the remaining loot to the alleged mastermind, who “wasn’t happy” with the outcome. “He thought we could have taken more,” he told investigators. Both men said they had been hired only two or three days before the break-in and had been presented with a video filmed inside the gallery that showed the cases with the Napoleonic jewellery, to prepare them for the heist. Abdoulaye N was quoted as saying that they were given a clear mission: “Break windows and retrieve jewellery from inside the display cases.” A former minor social media star with a passion for motorbikes, Abdoulaye N said he had been “in dire straits” financially, and was promised €15,000-€20,000 for his role in the burglary. “Maybe more, depending on how much money it would bring in.” He said the alleged client’s motivation had been financial and that he had planned to resell the stolen jewels. “I knew I was going to rob the Louvre,” Abdoulaye N is quoted as telling investigators, while Ghelamallah A said he had not known about the target, which he said was initially presented to him as “a jewellery store where they make jewellery in Paris” and not the most visited museum in the world. “I would never have set foot there if I had known,” he said, saying he had agreed on a fee of between €20,000 and €25,000. After gaining access to a first-floor balcony via a furniture lift, the duo allegedly broke through the window of the Apollo Gallery, entered the museum and began cutting out the windows of two display cases. “When we got in, there was no one there, it was dark, only the lights in the display cases were on,” Abdoulaye N is quoted in the report as saying. “In the distance, I could see security moving around, behind a door, or something.” He said he had been aware they were racing against the clock. “We had to take as much jewellery as we could,” he said. “If we take more than three minutes, we know we have to leave, otherwise we’ll be reported. For me, what we did was taking too long.” Both Abdoulaye N and Ghelamallah A said they did not know what had become of the jewels since but refused to give investigators clues to the identity of the mastermind or any accomplices out of fear of reprisals. “They’re no choirboys,” Ghelamallah A said. Abdoulaye N was equally cautious: “I wasn’t threatened, but I received calls from outside [while in detention]. They told me to keep quiet.” Le Monde said investigators have not confirmed the burglars were acting on anyone’s behalf.

Swedish MEP files police complaint accusing Danish colleague of racist hate speech

A Swedish MEP has filed a police complaint accusing a fellow MEP of racist hate speech after she was targeted on social media over her condemnation of far-right, anti-immigration chants in the European parliament. The complaint, which was filed last week with police in Sweden, relates to the aftermath last month of the decision by some rightwing MEPs to erupt in chants of “send them back” following a vote aimed at increasing deportations across the EU. Soon afterwards, Abir Al-Sahlani, an Iraqi-born Swedish MEP with the Centre party, addressed the hemicycle, accusing the “fascists of the far right” of sinking to a “new low” with their chants. “I have never felt as unsafe in this parliament,” she told the chamber. “The shouting of the far right was not against a political opponent, it was ‘send them back’. It was about ordinary people who did no other ‘crime’ than looking for a better life in Europe.” As her comments made the rounds on social media, two MEPs from rightwing populist parties shot back at her online. “Cry more,” wrote the Finnish MEP Sebastian Tynkkynen, of the Finns party, in response to a clip of Al-Sahlani addressing parliament, while the Danish MP Kristoffer Storm, of the Denmark Democrats, said she “should go home”. On Wednesday, Al-Sahlani said she had filed a police complaint against Storm, accusing him of using racist speech as well as hate speech against her. Her complaint had only focused on the Danish MEP, she said, as Swedish police were unsure of how to handle Tynkkynen’s social media post. Both men have denied the accusations against them. The confrontation hints at the deep divisions that course through the European parliament, where far-right and rightwing populist MEPs now make up about a quarter of lawmakers – a record for the chamber – while people from minority ethnic backgrounds remain drastically underrepresented. Speaking to the Guardian days after she was targeted online, Al-Sahlani said she still was not quite sure what to make of it all. “I don’t know if I am disappointed or sad,” she said. “I feel sadness for European democracy, like, really, this is the level of our politicians? But also disappointed because, really, c’mon guys. I’m your colleague.” The comments by the rightwing lawmakers prompted a wellspring of support for Al-Sahlani online, punctuated with a smattering of rape and death threats. Her group in parliament, Renew Europe, lined up behind her. “Racism has no place in our institutions, and those who spread it must face the consequences of their actions,” Valérie Hayer, who heads the group, said on social media in response to Storm’s “go home” comment. In a letter sent soon after, Hayer called on the president of the European parliament, Roberta Metsola, to take disciplinary action against Storm and Tynkkynen. “I am particularly concerned that a member of my group, MEP Al-Sahlani, is being targeted and threatened on social media by fellow members,” Hayer wrote. “A clear and consistent response would send an important message that intimidation, harassment and behaviour that demeans our institution have no place in the European parliament.” In a statement, Metsola’s office described the incidents as “regrettable”, adding that there was zero tolerance for actions that undermined the respect of MEPs or the dignity of the institution. The parliament’s services were currently looking into what had happened, it added. On Monday, Metsola addressed parliament, telling lawmakers the “aggressive chanting, jeering, finger-pointing and filming of members that took place” was not acceptable. “There is a line, and that was crossed last plenary,” she said, adding that her office would “take appropriate action to ensure that the scenes we witnessed last month” would never happen again. Al-Sahlani said she had initially wavered on whether to speak up after the chants. “People with my colour skin – there are not so many of us in that room,” she said. “I hesitated for a very long time. Should I take the fall? What will they then scream at me?” She pushed aside her concerns as she considered the broader context. “They attacked people who have no power. And that should scare anyone in Europe, because if you start to attack the weakest people, then it’s a slippery slope towards something much, much worse,” Al-Sahlani said. The situation was being aggravated by those on the centre right who were “enabling the fascists”, she added, citing as an example the deportations legislation that had set off the chants. The legislation, which Amnesty International has described as “absurd, cruel and discriminatory” and has been criticised by more than a dozen UN experts, was passed after much of the centre right opted to join forces with the far right rather than work with pro-European, pro-democratic parties in the parliament. “We could have had better legislation,” Al-Sahlani said. “But they chose the most inhumane, undignified content for that kind of legislation and went with it.” Tynkkynen pushed back in an email at Hayer’s allegations that he had threatened or made comments of a racist nature towards Al-Sahlani, describing them as “false accusations”. He said he planned to file a complaint regarding these accusations, but did not provide more details, saying only that the “form of the complaint is still under consideration”. Storm said in an email that his remarks “were neither intended to be racist nor can they be reasonably characterised as racist”. Soon after the incident, he explained his view to Politico: “The phrase ‘go home’ was intended to mean that if she found the democratic decision and the reactions to it so distressing, she would have been better off leaving the chamber and taking time to reflect rather than accusing a big majority of political opponents of making her feel unsafe.” Al-Sahlani brushed off the explanation. “People are smarter than this,” she said.

Fire bomber planes battle Fontainebleau forest blaze near Paris

French officials rushed two firefighting planes to the Paris region on Sunday after a “very virulent” fire of “exceptional scale” erupted in the sprawling Fontainebleau forest about 60km (40 miles) south-east of the capital. The fire began late afternoon in the one-time royal hunting preserve that today is dotted with quiet villages. It raced across 800 hectares (2,000 acres) and was still spreading early on Monday, officials said, causing the partial closure of the A6 highway, the country’s main north-south artery, and disrupting traffic during a busy, heatwave-stricken summer travel weekend. High-speed rail was also disrupted. French rail company SNCF said on Sunday evening there were delays of up to six hours for trains arriving at or leaving from Paris’s Gare de Lyon. Firefighting aircraft had to suspend operations at nightfall on Sunday. About 15 homes were evacuated in the village of Vaudoue and firefighters were defending several other towns in the area, said the local Seine-et-Marne fire service. Without the firefighting planes, other villages would already have been evacuated, said Olivier Compta, who was overseeing the firefighting operation. About 400 firefighters worked to contain the fire, which erupted two days before the 14 July Bastille day national holiday. Eric Brocardi, of France’s national federation of firefighters, said it was the first time firebomber planes had been sent up from the normally drier and hotter south of the country to extinguish fires in the Paris region. Two firefighting helicopters and an observation aircraft were also helping to fight the blaze, he added. “The aim is to save lives and property,” he said as the fire advanced. Earlier, firefighters dealt with a fire that had blocked a highway running east from Paris and disrupted a high-speed train line to the south of France. The Paris region – and large parts of the rest of France – have been sharing in a succession of heatwaves since May that have seen temperature records broken in several countries across Europe and have caused thousands of excess deaths, according to estimates in Belgium, Britain, France and Spain. Several other European countries have faced record-breaking average temperatures. The June heatwaves would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change, the World Weather Attribution group of scientists said. The interior minister Laurent Nunez, whose office announced he would visit Fontainebleau on Monday, said that forest fires had already consumed 17,000 hectares this year. Once the figures had all been tallied, that would come to 25,000 hectares – “twice as much as the same period” in 2025, he added. With Agence France-Presse

Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy replaces PM and flags law enforcement overhaul

Yulia Svyrydenko stepped down on Sunday as Ukraine’s prime minister amid predictions she would become Kyiv’s ambassador to the US. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, said there would also be changes in the top ranks of law enforcement agencies. Reuters reported that well-informed opposition lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak tipped Svyrydenko to take up the post of ambassador to the US; while the new PM was most likely to be Serhiy Koretskyi, head of state energy company Naftogaz. Lawmakers said other possible successors included Svyrydenko’s predecessor, Denys Shmyhal, currently energy minister; or Mykhailo Fedorov, the defence minister. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was “changing its political strategy” and he had offered Svyrydenko the opportunity to lead “a new, important area” in Ukraine’s relations with a key international partner. It comes after the Nato summit in Ankara where a thaw in relations with Donald Trump’s administration was evident, and the US president promised to give Ukraine a licence to build Patriot air defence missiles. Over the past year, Ukraine has been shaken by its largest corruption scandal, which ‌led ⁠to the resignation of the influential head of the presidential administration. Zelenskyy also triggered protests in 2025 when he moved to strip anti-corruption bodies of their independence. The president was forced to back down. Drone attacks killed three people and wounded five in the Moscow region, the governor said on Monday, as Ukraine continues to target Russian oil and gas facilities and military-related factories. “In the settlement of Pionersky in Istra, three people were killed and three more wounded as a result of a drone falling,” Andrey Vorobyov said. Two more people were wounded in another part of the region, the governor said, adding that air defences shot down 81 drones over the region. Ukrainian drones on Monday morning blew up an oil depot in Mikhailovsk city in Russia’s Stavropol region, social media channels from both Russia and Ukraine said. “An enemy drone attack is being repelled in the vicinity of Stavropol,” the regional governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, posted online – a Russian version of events that often follows a strategic target being hit. Earlier, a Ukrainian attack hit the Syzran oil refinery in the Samara region of Russia’s south-west, Russian media said. Pictures showed plumes of black smoke rising over the site. Officials said one person was killed and the regional governor, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, said a child was one of three injured. Ukraine denies targeting civilians. Russia was forced to suspend shipping in the Sea of Azov after 90 vessels were targeted by Ukrainian drones in less than a week, Luke Harding writes from Kyiv. Ukraine’s drone forces chief, Robert Brovdi, said on Sunday that his units had hit 10 tankers and four ferries overnight, as well as a major oil refinery in the city of Syzran. There had been several strikes on electricity substations in occupied Crimea, he added. Ukraine’s allies known as the “coalition of the willing” will be meeting in Paris on Monday for talks on pressuring Russia to end its more than four-year war. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said in Ankara that he would use the summit to unveil new defence initiatives and joint military exercises. The meeting ⁠will also focus on tackling Russia’s shadow fleet, new military capabilities for Ukraine, greater mobilisation of defence industries and deeper operational cooperation among Kyiv’s backers, Macron said. Keir Starmer, Britain’s outgoing prime minister, is among those expected to be in Paris, as well as EU leaders Ursula von der ⁠Leyen and António Costa. Two ⁠more countries, Moldova and North Macedonia, have joined the coalition, the Elysee said. A French presidency official said the focus would be anti-ballistic-missile cooperation ranging from sourcing more US Patriot interceptors and advancing the deployment of the Franco-Italian SAMP-T air defence system to looking at how the European and Ukrainian defence industries could develop alternatives. One option under consideration was for different European nations to cooperate on a system ‌that would complement SAMP-T and/or Patriot and give Ukraine a significant role in production. Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the late US senator Lindsey Graham as “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer”. Graham, 71, died on Saturday, reportedly from a massive heart attack. He had just returned from a trip to Ukraine and was a staunch supporter of its battle against Vladimir Putin’s invasion. David Smith writes that on Friday, Graham had announced an agreement with the Trump administration to move forward on a package of sanctions against Russia. Russian drones attacked Odesa on Sunday evening, Ukrainian regional officials said. Earlier, a wave of Russian drones and missiles killed four people, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday. Three died in attacks on Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, including two in a strike on an “industrial enterprise” in the city of Kryvyi Rih, regional officials said. A separate drone attack on the southern city of Kherson killed a 48-year-old, said the mayor, Yaroslav Shanko. Ukrainian strikes on the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region meanwhile left four dead, Russian officials said.