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Tusk says ‘no reason to think’ Poland was the target of Russian missiles that violated airspace – Europe live

Tusk also said today’s incident has only increased his determination to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. “Poland’s security depends directly and unequivocally on the effective actions of the Ukrainian military, including in the air. If the Ukrainians had much more of what they’ve been asking for all along, perhaps that ballistic missile wouldn’t have been launched toward Poland.” He said Poland was determined to do whatever it could “for Ukraine not to lose this war.” Recalling his conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, last night, he said: “the matter is quite clear: the next 100 days may decide the outcome of this war, and it’s a 50/50 chance.” He pointed to the US president, Donald Trump, “some other people,” and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk as some of the most influential people who could decide the outcome of the conflict.

Middle East crisis live: Jordan says it foiled Iranian missile attack as US launches ‘heavy’ strikes on Iran after pause

Israeli strikes in Gaza killed at least four people, including two children, health officials said. An eight-year-old girl and an 18-month-old child were among the people killed in Israeli attacks in Bureij refugee camp, Khan Younis and Gaza City today, Reuters reported, citing Gaza health officials. The Israeli military said the strikes targeted Hamas militants, without ‌providing further details. Israel has continued to launch strikes on Gaza on a near daily basis despite agreeing to a ceasefire with Hamas in October. More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza health officials. The latest attacks came as mediators from Egypt, Qatar and Turkey held talks with Hamas leaders to work towards the next phase of the ceasefire, which includes a surge in humanitarian aid, governance by a civilian Palestinian administration, the ‌disarmament of Hamas, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the deployment of an international force to help maintain security. A Hamas official said the group was coming with a “positive and good” response, but he did not say whether the group had agreed to fully disarm, according to Reuters. Sources close to Hamas told the news agency that the group was willing to “confine and store” heavy weapons under a Palestinian body, but not hand it over to Israel.

Russia accused of violating Polish airspace after missile explodes near village

Russia has been accused of violating Polish airspace after a missile exploded in a field in the east of the country during a massive air raid that killed 13 people in neighbouring Ukraine. Polish authorities said that an explosion, near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, close to Lublin, had created a 10-metre-wide crater, occurring as Russia staged new missile attacks on Ukraine. Residents of Tarnawa-Kolonia reported hearing an explosion at about 4am that shook the windows of their homes, police said. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, was to head to the scene of the explosion in a field about 50 miles from the Ukrainian border. As the attacks on Ukraine, Poland – a Nato member – scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace, its armed forces said. Tusk ‌told an emergency meeting: “All the indications are that it was a Russian ‌Kh-101 ballistic missile, but we want to be 100% certain about ⁠the type of missile and who launched it.” He added that the Polish military had been preparing to shoot down the missile when it fell in a field. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said in a post on X that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile had crossed into Poland. The Russian embassy in Warsaw did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. António Costa, president of the EU council, said on X: “Last night, Russia launched a massive combined strike against Ukraine. During the attack, Polish airspace was also violated, underlining once again that Russia’s aggression is a threat to the security of Europe as a whole.” At least 13 people in Ukraine – including one in Kyiv – died in Thursday’s attacks, which extended as far ⁠as the western city of Lviv. A missile strike in the central city of Kryvyi Rih – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home town – killed at least six people, including two girls, aged five and 12, the head of the town’s military administration said. Zelenskyy had warned the country hours in advance of Moscow launching the massive attack. Oleksandr Vilkul, the ‌head of the defence council, said: “In a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a direct strike by an Iskander-M ballistic missile, launched from Voronezh, hit a private house where a large family lived, killing girls aged five and 12 and four adults.” Eight more people were wounded, he said. Another six people, including two children, were killed in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava. The military administration for Kyiv confirmed one death, with the mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reporting fires in several districts. Earlier, he posted: “The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons. The threat of further attack remains present. Stay in shelters!” In ‌Lviv, close to Poland, rescue workers were scrambling to clear rubble to reach those trapped after Russian missiles damaged two blocks of flats and injured 26 people, officials said. Late on Wednesday, Zelenskyy had posted: “The Russians prepared a massive attack several days ago, and there is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight … Please, in all regions of Ukraine, pay attention to air raid alerts today and stay safe.” Zelenskyy also repeated his request to Ukraine’s allies to supply Kyiv with the missiles its air defence system lacked. “It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles.” Russia’s defence ministry, commenting on the strikes, said it had used land, sea and air-launched missiles, as well as strike drones, during the raid and claimed it had targeted military industrial facilities. Elsewhere on Thursday, the ⁠Ukrainian military struck four Russian ⁠tankers in the Black Sea ⁠and the Sea of ⁠Azov, Ukraine’s drone forces ‌commander, ‌Robert Brovdi, said. Brovdi said on the Telegram app that 205 tankers – 130 in the Sea of Azov ⁠and 75 in the Black Sea –had been ‌hit in the past three weeks. With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

Was Florentine friars’ fatigue-fighting elixir a precursor to Coca-Cola?

An Italian friar has unearthed a document from the pharmacy archives of an ancient convent in Florence describing a medicinal potion made from Bolivian coca leaves and kola nuts, prompting suggestions it could have been a precursor to the famous US soft drink, Coca-Cola. Father Manuel Russo, rector of the San Marco convent, said he stumbled across the yellowed document, a sort-of promotional flyer, while sorting out the archives. The flyer details the recipe for an elixir vinoso ricostituente, or restorative wine elixir, made with 10g of Bolivian coca leaves and 30g of kola nut, blended with wine, which the friars who concocted it promoted as a tonic to be used to recuperate the body and mind from fatigue caused by illness and ageing. The document was not dated, but it is believed to have been produced around the mid-19th century, when the friars plied a brisk trade in Bolivian coca leaves imported to Italy by missionaries, long before they were globally banned in 1961 for containing the natural alkaloid used to make cocaine. The recipe was similar to the one used by the American pharmacist, John Pemberton, who in 1886 created a sweet syrup by mixing coca leaf extract and kola nuts. Local alcohol laws prevented him from using wine and so he combined the ingredients with carbonated water. Pemberton’s tonic eventually became Coca-Cola. After learning of Russo’s discovery, some local news outlets pondered whether the soft drink’s origins were, in fact, in Florence and not the US. But with no evidence demonstrating a link between the friars’ creation and the Coca-Cola recipe, Russo, who also found a couple of empty bottles that contained the potion, is erring on the side of caution. “I don’t want to attract a lawsuit from Coca-Cola or something like that,” he joked. “Mr Pemberton invented his own recipe, and without alcohol … Plus at that time other people were producing this kind of medicine with coca leaves. It was quite common in Italy and France. The only thing I can say is that San Marco’s pharmacy had its own recipe.” Kola Coca, an alcoholic syrup made in 1885 by distillers in Valencia, Spain, has also been held up as a potential inspiration for Coca-Cola. Other documents found by Russo showed that the Florence friars’ concoction, the price for which ranged between 2 and 6 Italian lira – less than a cent in today’s euro currency – was wildly popular among customers. “Because it had fantastic properties that fought against fatigue, and the fatigue that came with ageing,” said Father Russo. “Up until Bolivian coca leaves were banned – because by that point it was understood that cocaine was a problem more than a cure – I would say that it was one of our bestsellers.” San Marco convent was founded in 1436 on Via Cavour in Florence, with the pharmacy opening in 1460 to serve the neighbourhood’s poor community. Russo said the pharmacy, which he describes as “one of the most beautiful things we have at the convent”, still operates – although in 1995 its location was transferred to a different part of the Tuscan city. However, the original premises are intact, including the remains of a crocodile brought from the Nile River, which has been hanging from the ceiling since the 1600s. Chemists in 19th-century Europe often hung crocodiles and other reptiles from the ceilings of their shops as a way of indicating to customers that they had access to rare, exotic ingredients. Russo also found labels for pure oxygen, cognac and rectified petroleum spirit. “The inventory in the pharmacy’s archives is incredible,” he said.

Thursday briefing: The UK’s special relationship with the US allows their servicemen to avoid our justice system

Good morning. After a short hiatus, the US overnight carried out a “heavy wave of strikes” against Iran, which the American military said was a “powerful response” to attempted missile attacks on its forces in the region. “It’s our turn to hit them. They know it’s coming,” Donald Trump told reporters. The Guardian has lots of coverage of these recent developments, including of the US joining forces with the Saudis to launch strikes in Iraq, which experts warn are pushing the region into “uncharted territory”. But today we’re bringing you a different story about the US military. For the last six months, the Guardian’s investigations team has been reporting on the secretive world of US military bases in Britain. Base justice, their investigation, has uncovered how military servicemen accused of raping and sexually assaulting women in the UK have successfully avoided the British justice system. These servicemen have been tried at court martial by their peers, who have appeared to hand down lesser sentences than they would have potentially received under British law. Harry Davies, an investigations correspondent at the Guardian, is one of a team working on this. He relayed the story behind the investigation, and what it tells us about the “special relationship” between the US and Britain. That’s after the headlines. Five big stories UK news | Half of England is officially in drought, with July set to be the driest on record after winter floods, the Environment Agency has said. Middle East | The US military has launched strikes on Iranian targets in response to Tehran’s attack on American forces in Jordan on Wednesday, raising the risk of a return to all-out-war in the region. UK politics | The convicted fraudster George Cottrell transferred a total of more than $2m to his mother, Fiona Cottrell, in the days before her 2024 donations to Reform UK, the Guardian understands. Ukraine | Russian air strikes killed at least 13 people in Ukraine on Thursday, including one in Kyiv, as attacks that extended as far ⁠as the western city of Lviv forced neighbouring Poland to scramble fighter jets to secure its airspace. Europe news | Three Greek firefighters have died while tackling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the south of the mainland, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe. In depth: ‘An entirely unfamiliar world’ The US military bases are slices of Americana in rural England. Lakenheath, in the Suffolk countryside, has its own shopping mall, a drive-thru Taco Bell and a miniature Statue of Liberty. The bases are closed to the public, so when Harry and Rob Evans, a Guardian investigative reporter, applied to visit Lakenheath to sit in on a court martial in April this year, they were unsure what to expect. It was the first time to their knowledge that British journalists had attended a court martial on a US base. The courtroom had a distinctly American feel (at one point, the NHS was misnamed). “It was like stepping into an entirely unfamiliar world,” Harry recalled. Harry and Rob watched as Jacob Wulfson, a fighter pilot, was tried for sexually assaulting Sarah Steele, a British academic. Steele accused Wulfson of drugging and strangling her in his apartment, and penetrating her without consent. An all-male panel of eight uniformed US air force officers heard the case, and Steele was subjected to six hours of gruelling questions. Wulfson’s lawyer, an imposing man sporting a crew-cut and pinstripe suit, relentlessly sought to discredit Steele, claiming she had fabricated her allegations for money, and had abused prescription drugs. The jury were allowed to consider Wulfson’s combat record when deciding his sentence. Three of his former colleagues relayed tales of his military adventures in Afghanistan. “The irony was that a man’s track record in killing people was being used as mitigation for a sentence for committing a violent crime,” Harry said. Under British law, Wulfson would probably have been tried for rape. Instead, he was acquitted of drugging and sexual offences, and convicted of strangling an intimate partner. The panel formally reprimanded Wulfson and confined him to a corrections facility at Lakenheath for six months (he was also dismissed from the air force). Had Harry and Rob not been there, the only public record of his trial would be a brief entry on an obscure US air force webpage. *** An even bigger story “Both Rob and I had a hunch that there were potentially other cases like this, and a bigger story to tell,” Harry said. He began sifting through documents from US military courts to identify cases involving UK nationals. After tracking down their addresses, Harry, Rob and Emine Sinmaz, a senior reporter, went out and knocked on doors, trying to find people willing to speak. Together, they identified cases where US service members in the UK had been convicted by US courts martial of sexual assault, paedophilia, indecent exposure and violent attacks. A number of these crimes involved British victims and were committed while the US military personnel were off duty. “We began to realise that this had been going on for a very long time,” Harry told me. “There seemed to be quite a lot of cases where people in the UK have been harmed by visiting US military, who come here for a few years, and then move on.” You can read their detailed findings, and an analysis by Louisa Loveluck and Harry. Three of the cases they uncovered were particularly disturbing: one involved a US airman who allegedly exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl and four young women in Cambridgeshire, another involved a former senior airman who two women accused of rape, and a third involved a man accused of raping women in England while they were asleep. The US military had taken jurisdiction of all three cases from UK police, meaning that, like Wulfson, these men were tried by US court martial rather than UK courts. None of them were convicted for rape. The US military is a guest on British soil and has an interest in maintaining tight control over crimes committed by its servicemen. As Harry put it: “if there were a whole series of cases going through the English Crown courts about American service personnel abusing women … would the local population feel differently about their guests?” *** Questions to answer The use of these bases is governed by an agreement that the US and Britain signed in 1951, which stipulates that the US government prosecutes its own personnel if they commit offences while they’re on duty, or against other members of US armed forces. In all other cases, British police are supposed to make the first call on whether to launch a prosecution. So why did the police willingly cede control of these cases to the US military? Harry mentioned that the US armed forces had been “aggressively” trying to expand their jurisdiction over cases. There’s also ambiguity about who actually has jurisdiction over cases, with a patchwork of different constabularies seemingly interpreting this differently. Rape victims in England and Wales now wait an average of 417 days for their cases to be heard; in this context, a US military court might seem like a fast-track route to justice. One alleged rape victim told the Guardian that an ISVA, a specialist who provides advice to victims of sexual violence in England and Wales, had advised her that the CPS might not opt to prosecute her case, and that even if it did, the American military would provide a quicker resolution. Clearly, police forces have questions to answer. *** What happens next? The sensitivity of their reporting means the investigations team often has to be circumspect about what they’re working on, and other Guardian staff don’t tend to hear about these stories until they’re published (this professional secrecy extends to the team’s biscuit tin, carefully disguised as a box file). When we spoke on the phone, Harry told me that he was about to fly to a foreign city for a story. He wouldn’t say any more. Harry’s work has exposed the ties between the Israeli military and big tech, and uncovered the Mossad’s secret plot to pressure the ICC into dropping a war crimes investigation in Palestine. But of all the stories he’s worked on, this one has generated the most correspondence from readers. It’s also resonated with the government. Today, we’ve published a story revealing that ministers and police chiefs have now pledged to examine why UK police forces have so often handed cases like these to the US military. Investigative journalism is expensive, and the Guardian devotes significant resources to bringing you stories like these. If you want to read more of them, please do consider supporting us. They don’t happen without your help. What else we’ve been enjoying I love our weekly My Best Shot column, where photographers share the story behind their favourite image. This week it’s Attilio Fiumarella on 118 swimsuit-clad Brummies. Michael In the US, more people than ever are choosing to cremate rather than bury their loved ones. I enjoyed John Semley’s piece about the dying art of America’s last morticians. Hettie Watch the video footage of a cricket player in the north-east tricking an umpire into giving batters out with cheeky finger-clicking, then enjoy Mark Brown meeting his unimpressed neighbours. Michael The Guardian’s Opinion section has been experimenting with reels, and this short video essay by Aditya Chakrabortty on how UK graduates got swindled is terrific. Hettie I know this was broadcast back in April, but I only listened to (Hairy Biker) Si King on Desert Island Discs last night. It’s a beautiful, moving and funny interview. In case you missed it. Michael Sport Commonwealth Games | The debut of Idi Amin’s grandson ended in ignominy and disgrace as the boxer was disqualified in the third round for head-butting his English opponent – and then launched a bitter verbal assault on the referee. Football | Manchester City are leading the opposition to the Premier League’s plans to offer £1.5bn to the English Football League in a landmark financial settlement. Football | Uefa has accused Fifa of “using our sport to enrich themselves and their friends” since news of its plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors became public. The front pages “Cottrell transferred $2m to mother days before her Reform donations”, is the Guardian’s front page today. The Times leads with “Get tax rebate from your mayor”, the Mail splashes “Still say your boats plan is working, Andy?”, and the Sun on the same topic writes “How’s that plan going, PM?”. The Telegraph has “Calls grow for England to boycott World Cup”, the Express splashes “Dying tell PM: We don’t have time for these delays”, and the Mirror’s headline is “Where are our babies?”. The FT writes “Fed holds rates despite fears of price pressures from renewed Iran conflict”. On the heatwave, the i Paper says “Take a shorter shower to save water in drought, public urged”, and Metro writes “Future looking droughtful for baking Britain”. The Latest Fifa and Infantino face backlash over plan to cash in World Cup Fifa president Gianni Infantino has announced plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors in a new commercial entity worth $20bn. One of the leading would-be investors is Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared. The plans have prompted an immediate backlash – with Uefa accusing Fifa of trying to ‘sell football’s soul’. Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian reporter, Paul MacInnes. Cartoon of the day | Ben Jennings The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad After her kids flew the nest, 56-year-old Mel Hudson was basking in the peaceful glow of single life – until she realised something (her libido) was missing. Cue her sexual reawakening, thanks to a famous rockstar. In the weeks after reluctantly attending his gig, Mel had a realisation: “I had fallen in love with Richard Ashcroft.” Her obsession became more than an unrequited celebrity crush. It was a reminder of the joys of fancying someone; a catalyst for more passionate experiences. “As an older person, you discount desire at your peril,” Mel writes. “The story of it may ebb and flow – but it doesn’t have to end.” 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. Martin Belam’s Thursday news quiz Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply

‘Lenin was an enemy of humanity’: Why Kyiv wants to put Cossack chief statue in place of Soviet leader

Since 2013 the plinth at the bottom of Taras Shevchenko Boulevard in Kyiv has been eerily empty. The scruffy monument is daubed in white paint and graffiti. Someone has stuck a Ukrainian trident where Lenin once stood, gazing down during the years of Soviet communism. A crowd toppled the sculpture during Ukraine’s Maidan revolution, which ousted the pro-Russian government, and smashed it with sledgehammers. In June, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proposed putting a new figure on the plinth: Ivan Mazepa, a Cossack military and political leader, who broke with Moscow and fought for Ukraine’s independence. “I am certain that where Lenin fell, Mazepa will stand firm,” Zelenskyy said. He spoke next to a bust of Mazepa in the Pechersk Lavra, an ancient Kyiv monastery hit by Russian missiles. The proposed swap of Lenin for Mazepa has triggered a lively debate about monuments and what they say about changing national identity. After winning independence in 1991, Ukraine removed large numbers of Soviet-era statues and renamed streets as part of “decommunisation”. The process sped up in 2014 when Russia seized Crimea and fighting began in the Donbas, and moved even faster after Vladimir Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion that aimed to scrub Ukraine from Europe’s map. Nataliia Kryvda, a professor of the history of culture at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, said Ukraine was going through an unfinished period of decolonisation. “The USSR absorbed national cultures. It tried to make a single nation of Soviet citizens. Russia today looks at Ukraine and says we are one people. It isn’t true. We have our own mindset, historical destiny, beliefs and dreams. Our identity is a dynamic process,” she said. Standing next to the ex-Lenin plinth, Kryvda said she was in favour of a Mazepa monument. “Why not? He’s our leader. Each culture needs to mark its space with memorials. They objectify memory,” she said. She described Mazepa as a “contradictory personality” and not an “ideal hero”. “He really was a friend and political partner of Russia, right up until the moment he dramatically changed his life and history,” she added. As hetman, or head, of Cossack Ukraine, Mazepa sought to balance the demands of neighbouring Moscow and Warsaw. In 1708, the Russian emperor Peter the Great refused to protect Ukrainian territory from invading Swedes. Mazepa abandoned the tsar and formed an alliance with the Swedish King Charles XII, an act that ended in defeat and led the Bolsheviks to call modern Ukrainian patriots “Mazepists”. “Mazepa was the architect of European Ukraine,” Kryvda said. In his speech at the Pechersk Lavra, Zelenskyy said Russia had smeared Mazepa for centuries, depicting him as a traitor. Their goal, he said, was to make Ukrainians “view their own history through the eyes of others”. Alim Aliev, a writer and Crimean Tatar campaigner, said Ukraine was belatedly recovering its identity. “We are reclaiming our own voices and names,” he said. He cited the example of the 20th-century Ukrainian poet and dissident Vasyl Stus, whose image will appear in September on a new 2,000 Hryvnia note. Stus studied in Donetsk, the eastern Donbas city occupied by Russia, and led Ukraine’s national revival. He died in 1985 in a Soviet prison camp. In Aliev’s view, Ukraine was now speaking about its past “without mediators” and said it was appropriate that statues of the 19th-century Russian poet Pushkin had been taken down across the country. “He had a totally imperial view of Crimea,” Aliev said, citing Pushkin’s narrative poem, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. “He exoticises Crimean Tatars and describes us from a colonial perspective.” Of the Mazepa statue, he added: “I don’t think it’s a controversial idea.” Last month workmen took away a monument to another Russian literary giant Mikhail Bulgakov. It had stood since 2007 outside the house where Bulgakov lived, in one of Kyiv’s most attractive streets, St Andrew’s Descent. Kyiv’s city council voted to remove it. Other plaques to Bulgakov, born in Kyiv to a Russian family when it was part of the Russian empire, have already been taken down, including one outside the university where he studied medicine. Bulgakov’s museum – housed in the writer’s home – remains open. The museum’s director, Liudmyla Habianuri, said she was not opposed to the sculpture’s removal and dismissed a petition to keep it as “bland”. She acknowledged that Bulgakov had written negatively about Ukrainian nationalist forces in his Kyiv novel The White Guard, set in the winter of 1918-19, amid revolution and war. She stressed, however: “Bulgakov was a witness to his times. And a satirist. He didn’t like anybody. That included communists and priests.” Habianuri said Russia’s war had prompted Ukrainians to ask: “‘Who am I?’ It’s a very painful question,” she said. “If I speak Russian and watch Russian films and the Russians are killing me then I must give all that up. Then I’m Ukrainian. And if I’m Ukrainian, I must become Ukrainian as quickly as possible.” This has led people to join the struggle for identity, she said, either via social media or by attacking monuments. Bulgakov, she said, was a frequent subject of such struggles. “Right now there is a table with only two columns: plus or minus. As a Russian, who didn’t write from the perspective of Ukraine’s defenders, Bulgakov can’t get a plus sign.” Habianuri said a process of “simplification” was under way but was delighted when demonstrators pulled down the Lenin statue, saying: “The man was an enemy of humanity itself.” Mazepa, she said, was a “unique person” who had inspired a notable poem by Lord Byron. But she questioned whether the plinth was a fitting spot for a memorial. “I understand it’s a quick jab at Russia. But it’s not the right place for a hero,” she said. “The Germans hanged people there during the second world war.” Unlike Lenin, the Bulgakov statue was carefully packed up and returned to the family of its late sculptor, Mykola Rapay. His daughter, Kateryna, declined a request from the Guardian for the work to be photographed at its new location. She said she had given official guarantees that the monument would remain “out of public space”. “These are not my whims,” she said. “The sculpture is not my property. I am the guarantor of its preservation.” Over at the Pechersk Lavra tourists walked past the new Mazepa bust, which has been erected in front of a fountain and a pleasant shady garden. It sits next to the complex’s 11th-century Dormition Cathedral, used in medieval times for the burial of prominent figures. Last week a boy photographed his father next to the new monument. Mazepa, a patron of the arts, donated money to pay for the cathedral’s baroque renovation. In June, a Russian drone crashed into its roof, causing a fire, and blackening external pictures of saints. Other icons and religious artefacts were rescued. One Ukrainian visitor, Olena Polishchuk, said she had come to the Lavra from the UK, where she has lived since Putin’s big invasion. What did she think of Mazepa? “He’s a famous man. I’m glad he’s being commemorated. He’s an important part of our history,” she said.

Artists find creative haven in Côte d’Ivoire’s ‘calm and soothing’ Grand Bassam

By the poolside of La Fourchette de Rōze hotel in Grand Bassam, a Côte d’Ivoire city sandwiched between the Ébrié lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, a birthday party was in progress. On the second-floor gallery, the artist Nuits Balnéaires stood by a huge painting in one corner and looked out through the window towards the billowing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s poetic … that immense energy of the ocean, which also fuels my work,” the Ivorian visual artist said. “The natural elements are the very essence and foundation of my artistic practice,” he added, as he reflected on the way in which his name, which translates as “coastal nights”, matched the ambience. Many families in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the west African country, have often drifted to Grand Bassam, just 30 miles (45km) to the east, for Sunday relaxation, including Nuits Balnéaires, whose visits from childhood gave him a strong connection to the city. In July 2019 he moved there permanently from his family home in Abidjan. In the last decade, it has become a road well travelled. As rents continue to rise amid a cost of living crisis in Abidjan, residents there, especially artists, have been reconsidering their lives in the city. “It [is] increasingly difficult for many artists to maintain studio spaces in the city,” said the Abidjan-based art collector Ozong Agborsangaya-Fiteu. “As a result, they are seeking more affordable alternatives in places such as Grand Bassam, Bingerville, and increasingly even farther afield in Dabou and Jacqueville. Grand Bassam itself is becoming more expensive, prompting some artists to relocate even farther out.” The biggest beneficiary of the exodus from Abidjan has undisputedly been Grand Bassam, the country’s first capital where the colonial architecture was listed as a Unesco world heritage site in 2012. With its scenic beachfronts, fresher food, cheaper markets, proximity to the airport and a sense of nostalgia even in the abandoned colonial buildings, the city represents an easier pick than Abidjan, its livelier and more chaotic cousin. This, for the Guadeloupe-born artist Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, makes it “a very calm and soothing place that’s conducive to working and finding inspiration”. Five years ago, he moved from Paris to Abidjan, and then two years ago to Grand Bassam, where he now has a studio and apartment. *** Once a centre of cultural trade and tourism, Grand Bassam lost some of its appeal over the years as Abidjan became more cosmopolitan and opportunities in arts and entertainment increased. A jihadist attack in 2016 that left 19 people dead also punctured the town’s reputation. These days, evidence of its renaissance abounds. Last year, the former colonial customs and post office building was reopened after a restoration project as La Maison de l’Art, a contemporary art museum with a sculpture garden and a cafe in the courtyard. At the launch, the culture minister, Françoise Remarck, said the collaboration between the private and public sector to protect local history and shine a spotlight on the country’s modern art was a “fresh breath of life” to the old city. “Today, we are doing much more than opening the doors of a space dedicated to art,” she said. “We are taking an act of recognition and appreciation of African artistic genius.” Other organisations in the vicinity are following the same route. La Fourchette de Rōze, a boutique hotel, has become a creative hub: in January 2023, it began an artist-in-residence programme that has brought in more than two dozen artists and musicians so far from all over the globe, including Nuits Balnéaires. La Cocoteraie des Arts, a creative space with an open-air art atelier and gallery in Mondoukou, only a few minutes outside the city, also offers artist residences. Across Grand Bassam, dozens of new studios are popping up across the city. Later this year, the Ivorian-French photographer Aïcha Fall will add another to that number. “I grew up in the French countryside and I’ve always loved a place that is calm,” said Fall, who moved to Grand Bassam on her return from Paris in 2023, despite an attachment to Abidjan where she had spent her early years. “Bassam represents all of that. It offers you time for reverie, unlike Abidjan, which is always effervescent.” Some enthusiastic followers of the art scene are predicting that the city could eventually upstage Abidjan as an art haven in the coming years, or at least rival it. Not everyone within the industry is as optimistic. Most of Côte d’Ivoire’s galleries and art institutions remain in Abidjan, as do many of the collectors, patrons and other important elements of the ecosystem. Festivals such as Abidjan art week, for example, still bring people in from across the continent and are yet to be replicated elsewhere in the country. “Rather than weakening the scene, this geographical shift has created a different dynamic,” Agborsangaya-Fiteu said. “Artists benefit from more affordable and inspiring places to work while remaining close enough to the city to participate in exhibitions, openings, and other cultural activities whenever needed.” As he sipped his coffee, legs crossed, Nuits Balnéaires agreed, before pointing out that the situation was a bit like having his cake and eating it. “One of the advantages is that in Bassam, you can feel very disconnected, yet at the same time, you’re not that far removed from what’s happening in Abidjan.”