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Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv to buy 100 Rafale warplanes, drones and air defence systems from France

Ukraine on Monday signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale warplanes, drones, air defence systems and other key equipment from France over the next 10 years, as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s long-term security. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who signed the document with French president Emmanuel Macron, called it “a historic deal” at a joint news conference at the Elysée presidential palace. The letter is a preliminary commitment of Ukraine stating its interest in buying a series of French defence equipment. Several families of Ukrainian children forcibly deported to Russia on Monday sounded the alarm about their fate, saying all contact had been cut off, as they called for international support. During a rare news conference in Paris, Darina Repina, the legal guardian of two children who were forcibly taken to Russia after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, said Russian authorities were ignoring all requests to facilitate the return of the children. A drone struck a Turkish-flagged tanker and set it ablaze on Monday in southern Ukraine’s Odesa region, officials said, a day after Zelenskyy signed a deal to import US liquefied natural gas through the area. The MT Orinda was hit during the offloading of liquefied petroleum gas at Izmail port, Turkey’s Directorate for Maritime Affairs said. All 16 crew on board evacuated and no one was hurt, it said. Romanian authorities said Monday they had evacuated two villages near the Ukrainian border after the drone attack on the MT Orinda. Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Moscow has repeatedly attacked Ukrainian ports in the Danube region, triggering alerts in neighbouring Romania. US president Donald Trump is willing to sign legislation to impose sanctions on Russia as long as he retains ultimate decision-making authority over any such measures, a senior White House official said on Monday. Trump told reporters late on Sunday that it was “OK with me” that Republicans were working on legislation to impose sanctions on countries doing business with Russia over Moscow’s failure to negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has described an explosion along a section of railway line used for deliveries to Ukraine as an “unprecedented act of sabotage” that could have led to disaster. It came as a statement from public prosecutors on Monday evening said an investigation had opened “regarding acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature […] committed on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland.” China is ready to deepen cooperation with Russia in energy, agriculture and other investments, Premier Li Qiang said during a meeting with Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Monday. Li told Mishustin that China welcomes more agricultural and food products from Russia, according to the official news agency Xinhua. China also hopes Russia will make it easier for Chinese enterprises to invest and operate there, Xinhua said in its report, citing Li. Mishustin told Li that the cooperation between the two sides has repeatedly proven its resilience to external challenges.

Authors dumped from New Zealand’s top book prize after AI used in cover designs

The books of two award-winning New Zealand authors have been disqualified from consideration for the country’s top literature prize because artificial intelligence was used in the creation of their cover designs. Stephanie Johnson’s collection of short stories Obligate Carnivore and Elizabeth Smither’s collection of novellas Angel Train were submitted to the 2026 Ockham book awards’ NZ$65,000 fiction prize in October, but were ruled out of the competition the following month in light of new guidelines around AI use. The publisher of both books, Quentin Wilson, said the awards committee amended the guidelines in August, by which time the covers of every book submitted for the awards would have already been designed. “It was, therefore, far too late for any publisher to have taken this clause into account in their design briefs,” Wilson told the Guardian. “It is obviously heartbreaking that two wonderful pieces of fiction by highly respected authors have become embroiled in this issue, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with their writing.” Wilson said it was also upsetting for the production and design team, who had worked hard on the books. Johnson was sympathetic to the award organisers, saying she too is deeply concerned about the use of AI in creative fields, however she was disappointed with the decision. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about it,” she told the Guardian. “It’s my 22nd book, and it is my fourth collection of short stories. These stories … were written over a sort of 20 year period, so for me, it’s quite an important book.” Johnson said authors typically have very little to do with the design of their books, and she had no idea AI had been used to create her cover, which features a cat with human teeth. “I just thought it was a photograph of a real cat and the teeth had been superimposed, but apparently it wasn’t,” Johnson said, adding that unlike younger generations who are adept at identifying AI, she had trouble distinguishing images created with the technology. Johnson worried people would now assume she had used AI to write her book, which she “most certainly did not”. “Instead of talking about my book … and what the inspiration was, we are talking about bloody AI, which I hate.” In a statement, Smither said the designers spent hours working on the cover of her book, which features a steam train and an angel “half-obscured in the smoke”, inspired by artist Marc Chagall’s figures. “It is them I am most concerned about: that their meticulous work … is being disrespected,” Smither said. Both Smither and Johnson have previously judged categories of the Ockham awards, and both said the covers were given very little consideration. “The contents and the close reading were everything,” Smither said. The use of AI in creative fields has come under increasing scrutiny as the technology has evolved, with some groups developing ways to counter its influence. Nicola Legat, the chair of the book awards trust, which administers the Ockham awards, said the trust takes a “firm stance on the use of AI in books”. “The trust does not take lightly a decision that prevents the latest works of two of New Zealand’s most esteemed writers from being considered for the 2026 award,” Legat said. “However, the criteria apply to all entrants, regardless of their mana [status], and must be consistently applied to all.” The decision to amend the criteria around AI was spurred by a desire to support creative and copyright interests of the country’s writers and illustrators, she said. “As AI evolves, there may well be a need for the trust to revisit and develop the criteria further.” Wilson said publishers and authors regularly use Grammarly and Photoshop, which draw on AI, and the situation highlighted an urgent need for carefully developed guidelines. “As an industry, we must work together to ensure that this situation does not happen again.”

UN body passes resolution – as it happened

It’s 7.45pm in New York and with the UN security council vote finished, we’re going to wrap up our live coverage. Here’s a snapshot of what happened, and you can read our full report here. Thanks for reading. The UN security council has voted in favour of a US-drafted resolution bolstering Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan that includes the deployment of an international force and a possible path to a future Palestinian state. There were 13 votes in favour of the text, with only Russia and China abstaining and no vetoes. Trump later hailed the vote on social media as “one of the biggest approvals in the history of the United Nations” and said it “will lead to further peace all over the world”. The US envoy to the UN, Mike Waltz, said after the vote that “today’s resolution represents another significant step that will enable Gaza to prosper and an environment that will allow Israel to live in security”. Hamas said the resolution did not meet Palestinians’ “political and humanitarian demands and rights”. The militant group is excluded by the resolution from any governance role in Gaza. The text “endorses” the US president’s peace plan, which authorises the creation of an international stabilisation force (ISF) that would work with Israel and Egypt and newly trained Palestinian police to help secure border areas and demilitarise the Gaza Strip. The text was revised several times as a result of high-stakes negotiations. It also authorises the formation of a “board of peace”, a transitional governing body for Gaza to be chaired by Trump and with a mandate running until the end of 2027. The resolution sets out a possible path to a sovereign Palestinian state. But Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeated his government’s staunch opposition to the state’s creation, raising questions about whether Israel will allow the UN-mandated proposals to be implemented. With agencies

Sydney’s $60 road toll cap to be made permanent with plan for two-way fee on Harbour Bridge to fund it

The New South Wales government plans to make permanent a $60 weekly cap for tolls on Sydney’s roads, with the premier saying it could be funded by reintroducing two-way tolling on the Harbour Bridge. The cap – under which drivers can claim up to $340 a week back from the government after spending $60 per vehicle – started in early 2024 and was due to expire at the end of this year. But on Tuesday, the premier, Chris Minns, said it would continue beyond that date. “We want to extend it permanently,” he told 2GB radio. “We’re going to keep it. We can’t get rid of it. It’s a massive cost-of-living relief measure for literally hundreds of thousands of people who live in western Sydney. “Without a $60 a week toll cap, they’ll be paying full market rates to use toll roads in Sydney. It’s hugely, hugely onerous for them.” A 2024 independent report found Sydney drivers were spending $2.5bn annually on tolls in Sydney, with the greatest impact on residents of the western suburbs. Minns said the government was considering two-way tolling on state-owned assets, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge and tunnel, and the yet-to-be completed Western Harbour Tunnel and M6 motorway, to pay for making the cap permanent. “It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but we think it’s the fairest thing to do when you consider that a lot of the communities that will use the Harbour Bridge have access to public transport,” the premier said. “Many communities in western Sydney and the Central Coast just don’t have anything like that.” Minns said two-way tolling on state-owned toll roads was likely to align with the completion of the Western Harbour Tunnel, which is scheduled for 2028. He said the cap was costing the government about $200m a year. The government originally allocated $561m over two years, although motorists lost the right to about $100m in unclaimed rebates in June. “We want people using the toll roads,” the premier said. “That’s why they were built as an effective option.” The government’s negotiations with tolling goliath Transurban to unify all tolling under a newly created agency, NSW Motorways, continue. The transport minister, John Graham, has said an update on negotiations will be given before the end of the year. The Harbour Bridge was tolled in both directions from its opening in 1932, before northbound tolling ended in 1970. Tolling’s original purpose, to pay off the bridge’s construction, was completed in 1988.

Ireland to act if tougher asylum rules create Belfast back door for migration

Attempts to toughen up asylum rules in the UK could have significant implications for relations with Ireland, Dublin’s justice minister has said, amid concerns that this could increase migration flows to Ireland. More than 80% of people who use irregular routes to Ireland originate from Great Britain, travelling to Belfast by plane or boat and then by road to Dublin to make asylum claims, the justice department has said. “I am committed to ensuring that Ireland is not viewed more favourably than the UK by those seeking to claim asylum,” Jim O’Callaghan said after a meeting of the British-Irish intergovernmental conference in Dublin. “Consequently, I will closely monitor the changes proposed by the UK government and will respond to those proposals having considered them fully and discussed them with government colleagues,” he added. On Monday, the UK government unveiled controversial proposals for the biggest changes to migration in 40 years, including plans to make it easier to remove people with no right to be in the country. Ireland has had a rise in irregular migration in recent years and is experiencing a similar backlash to the UK in certain quarters of the voter base. Nevertheless, an open border with Northern Ireland has existed for more than 100 years and there is no appetite to introduce checks on the movement of people. Speaking after the conference in Dublin, Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Simon Harris, said the invisible borders of the common travel area (CTA) were “never intended to play a role in terms of asylum seekers”. After the UK voted to leave the EU, there were attempts to put checks on the Irish border with Brexit supporters claiming that people would flow from the republic through a “backdoor” into the UK via Northern Ireland. Random checks conducted by the Home Office at ports and airports shows that there are some who have done this but migration in the other direction has become the dominant issue. Border checks on movement of people between Northern Ireland and the republic would be a huge challenge to the CTA, which has existed for more than 100 years. O’Callaghan said: “We need to be nimble in Ireland, as we may need to change our laws and our provisions as well to respond to any changes that have taken place in the UK.” He will be publishing a new international protection bill to update Ireland’s asylum system later this year. O’Callaghan said “any necessary changes arising from the UK’s change of policy” could be included in that bill. Matt Carthy, Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on justice, home affairs and migration, said comments by O’Callaghan that changes to Britain’s immigration laws might require Irish laws to be updated highlighted exactly why it would be a mistake for Ireland to sign up to all of the EU migration and asylum pact.

Poland railway blast was unprecedented act of sabotage, says Donald Tusk

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has described an explosion along a section of railway line used for deliveries to Ukraine as an “unprecedented act of sabotage” that could have led to disaster. It came as a statement from public prosecutors on Monday evening said an investigation had opened “regarding acts of sabotage of a terrorist nature […] committed on behalf of a foreign intelligence service against the Republic of Poland.” There were no casualties from the incident on the line from Warsaw to Lublin, but the consequences could have been catastrophic if the gap in the tracks had caused a train travelling at full speed to derail. “Unfortunately, there is no doubt that we are dealing with an act of sabotage. Fortunately, there was no tragedy, but the matter is nonetheless very serious,” Tusk said on Monday, after visiting the scene 60 miles (97km) from Warsaw, near the village of Mika. He described the attack as “an attempt to destabilise and destroy railway infrastructure, which could have led to a rail disaster”. Tusk said Polish authorities had already launched an investigation into the blast as well as another incident over the weekend that also appeared to involve rail sabotage. “Just like in previous cases of this kind, we will catch the perpetrators, regardless of who their backers are,” he said. The attack comes amid a campaign of sabotage in Poland and other European countries that has been attributed to Russian security services, seeking to sow chaos and discord in Europe over support for Ukraine’s war effort. In Poland, this has included fires and explosions at shopping malls and other sites. Often, the perpetrators are Ukrainians, Belarusians or Polish citizens who are recruited for one-time jobs over the messaging app Telegram. Police said someone had reported hearing an explosion late on Saturday evening but officers performed checks and did not find anything. The damaged section of track was spotted by the driver of a regional train early on Sunday morning, who managed to make an emergency stop before reaching it. Dariusz Grajda, deputy chief executive officer of Polish State Railways, told Polish television that one of the previous trains had reported an issue with the track, which meant the train that stopped had been briefed on the problem and was travelling slowly enough to stop in time. The second incident took place near the town of Puławy on Sunday evening, when a train carrying 475 passengers was forced to make an emergency stop after damage to overhead power lines, and a metal brace was found on the tracks. There were also claims of a metal device found on the tracks. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 19 miles (30km) from the site of the track explosion. “According to preliminary findings, windows in one of the carriages were broken … Police officers are conducting investigations at the scene,” the Lublin police department said in a statement. A meeting of the Polish government’s national security committee was called for Tuesday morning to discuss the rail incidents. It will be attended by military commanders, heads of security services and a representative of the Polish president. Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who usually chairs the committee, said the army would inspect the safety of the remaining 120km (75 miles) of track between the incident site and the border with Ukraine. Security services minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the probability of the acts being carried on orders of foreign intelligence services was “very high.” He later added: “We are dealing with the [intelligence] services of a foreign state, and not a gang of scrap metal thieves.” Poland’s interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, said in a social media post that Poland was “facing acts of sabotage unprecedented in its most recent history.”

Foreign state services behind Polish rail sabotage, says minister – as it happened

As we are closing the blog now, here is a summary of what we know so far: Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk condemned “an unprecedented act of sabotage aimed at the security of the Polish state and its citizens,” after two separate incidents were reported on a key railway line leading to Ukraine. At a lunchtime press conference, interior minister Marcin Kierwiński spoke of “two acts of sabotage this weekend,” one confirmed, and one “highly likely”, affecting the same rail line (14:04). No injuries were reported in either of the two incidents. Both incidents were reported on a critical railway line used for carrying aid deliveries for Ukraine, used by up to 115 trains a day. Poland’s security services minister Tomasz Siemoniak said the likelihood that the incidents were inspired by foreign intelligence services was deemed to be “very high” (14:12). He later told reporters that certain parts of the investigation need to remain confidential, as “we are dealing with the [intelligence] services of a foreign state, and not a gang of scrap metal thieves” (14:43). A meeting of the government’s national security committee is scheduled for Tuesday morning (16:12). In other news, EU defence commissioner Andrius Kubilius have warned that Russia could test Nato’s defences “during the next two or four years,” suggesting it could begin with an attack on a Baltic state (10:45). Ukraine and France have signed a letter of intent for a deal including up to 100 Rafale warplanes, drones and ground-to-air systems for Kyiv during a much-advertised meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron in Paris (11:05, 11:28, 13:27, 13:34, 13:43). German chancellor Friedrich Merz has warned about “a deep rift” in Europe’s relations with the US, the growing threat from China and the rapidly progressing systemic challenges to the world order that required a united European response in a wide-ranging speech to an economic conference in Berlin (11:38). EU countries should give Ukraine grants or take out loans to fund its defence, if they cannot agree on using Russia’s frozen assets, according to an options paper drawn up by the European Commission (15:46). Germany’s finance minister is in Beijing today as tensions between China and Europe over supply of chips deepen (16:01). And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today. If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com. I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.