Latvia prime minister resigns days after ‘stray’ drone incursion – as it happened

… and on that note, it’s a wrap for today!

• Latvia’s centre-right prime minister has resigned over her government’s handling of Ukrainian drones that strayed into Latvian territory from Russia, bringing down her coalition government months before elections due in October (10:00, 10:24, 10:58).

• Her resignation was caused by a political disagreement between the prime minister and the Progressives party, her left-leaning coalition partner, which withdrew its support over her decision to fire the defence minister, Andris Sprūds, over the drone incident (13:18).

• The country’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, will convey on Friday informal political consultations that will look for a new majority in the parliament to rule the country until the election this autumn (12:40).

Meanwhile,

• At least seven people were killed and dozens injured in intensive Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight, with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for “a just response to all these strikes” and further pressure on Moscow (9:52, 13:37).

• Neighbouring Hungary (11:25) and Slovakia (11:51) both condemned the attacks, which partially targeted the area across the border, with the new government in Budapest even summoning the Russian ambassador (15:52).

• Several EU leaders condemned the attacks, including the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz (13:59) and the French president, Emmanuel Macron (14:20).

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.

Poland’s capital, Warsaw, registered its first same-sex marriage on Thursday, implementing court rulings that require the country to recognise same-sex marriages registered abroad, AP reported.

The European Union’s highest court in November ordered Poland to register same-sex marriages that were entered into in other EU countries even if Polish law does not currently permit them.

In March, Poland’s supreme administrative court cited that ruling in ordering authorities to recognise the marriage in Germany of two Polish men.

“This morning we issued the first transcription of a marriage certificate for a same-sex couple, in accordance with the court rulings,” Warsaw mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced.

AP said the mayor also promised his city would proactively recognise other Polish same-sex marriages registered elsewhere in the EU even without a specific court ruling.

Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, who married in Berlin in 2018 but had been repeatedly refused recognition in Poland, confirmed they had finally received their Polish marriage certificate, AFP said.

AP noted that Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said earlier this week that his government would find ways to implement the rulings as soon as possible, and, addressing same-sex couples, apologised “to all those who, for many years, felt rejected and humiliated.”

Tusk appealed to Polish officials, regardless of their personal opinions, “to respect the dignity of each individual and to remember that these people live around us, among us, near us, and that they deserve the same feelings of respect, dignity and love as any other person.”

LGBTQ+ individuals for decades have been fighting for equal rights in Poland, where same-sex marriage and civil partnerships are illegal. None of the rulings mean that Poland is obliged to legalise same-sex marriage, AP noted.

Brussels correspondent

Cross-border train journeys through several European countries are the stuff of many a holidaymaker’s dreams.

But the reality of trying to buy the tickets, navigating multiple websites without knowing who can help if a connection is missed, can prove less than relaxing.

As one MEP puts it, it can often require “five tabs, three apps and a prayer”.

Now, however, the European Commission has proposed that before the end of the decade passengers should be able to buy one ticket for one journey and be better protected when trains are late or cancelled.

“Europeans will be able with the click of a button to plan, compare and purchase multimodal journeys across borders while benefiting from stronger rail passenger rights, greater transparency and better protection every step of the way,” the EU transport commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said on Wednesday, as he published new rules intended to transform the “excessively complex” experience he said rail travellers met when booking tickets.

Asked about the timing, he said: “Before the end of this commission mandate [in 2029] we will have this new era of rail on the ground working.”

Under the plans, major railway companies, such as Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and Trenitalia, would be forced to sell competitors’ tickets on their websites, and share data with booking platforms enabling an offer of single tickets for long cross-border journeys.

In an expansion of consumer protection laws, passengers would be entitled to help in the event of a missed connection: the operator that caused the delay would ensure the passenger has the right to hop on the next train, or reimbursement, food and accommodation, depending on the circumstances.

The plans have to be agreed by EU member states and the European parliament before they become law, and they already face stiff opposition from train operators.

In other news, there’s an important update for those of you who love travelling across Europe by trains (hey, that’s me, too!).

Let’s cross over to our Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin.

As reported earlier, the Russian ambassador to Hungary has been summoned to the country’s foreign ministry over yesterday’s attacks on the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, neigbhouring with Hungary and home to many ethic Hungarians.

These summons are now almost routine elsewhere but still somewhat unprecedented in Hungary, which had maintained close ties with Putin’s Russia until last week’s change of government.

In a video on Facebook, Hungary’s new foreign minister, Anita Orbán, said she told the ambassador the attacks were “unacceptable” and that Hungary “deeply condemns” these strikes.

Europe correspondent

Latvia’s centre-right prime minister has resigned over her government’s handling of Ukrainian drones that strayed into Latvian territory from Russia, bringing down her coalition government months before elections, due in October.

Evika Siliņa announced her resignation on Thursday, a day after the Progressives party, her left-leaning coalition partner, withdrew its support over her decision to fire the defence minister, Andris Sprūds, a Progressives member.

The Progressives’ move left Siliņa, who leads the centre-right New Unity party, without a ruling majority. Latvia’s president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, is due to meet all party representatives on Friday for talks on a new government.

Sprūds was forced to resign on Sunday after Siliņa said he had lost her trust, and that of the public, over the handling of incidents involving stray drones, suspected to be from Ukraine, that had crossed into Latvia.

In the most recent, on 7 May, two drones exploded at an oil storage facility. That “clearly demonstrates that the political leadership of the defence sector has failed to fulfil its promise of safe skies over our country”, Siliņa said on Sunday.

The head of the army said it had not detected the drones, flying in from Russia, for which Siliņa blamed Sprūds for not having overseen development of anti-drone systems fast enough.

Numerous Ukrainian drones have strayed from Russia into Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia since March. Government critics in Latvia say this reveals weaknesses in the country’s response to potential threats.

If you’re only joining us now, let’s bring you a handy summary of what’s the situation in Latvia, from our Europe correspondent, Jon Henley.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was “expecting [its] own separate contacts with Xi Jinping” when asked by the Russian Tass news agency whether Beijing and Moscow will discuss the outcome of Donald’s Trump’s visit to China.

He announced earlier today that Vladimir Putin will also make a trip to China soon.

Meanwhile, Trump and Xi are enjoying a lavish state banquet in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where the US president – in an apparent attempt to show how close US-China relations have become – told a room full of government officials, business leaders and such that Chinese people love wearing blue jeans and watching basketball.

You can follow our live coverage of Trump’s trip to China here:

Also today, we are seeing conflicting reports about the US apparently cancelling a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to Poland.

Poland’s defence minister, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, denied the reports, first published by the Wall Street Journal and the US military media, claiming that talks are under way to actually increase American presence in the country.

France-based Euronews has now reported that a senior Nato military official confirmed the reports are true, and that it is connected to the Pentagon’s decision earlier this month to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany after a public spat between US president Donald Trump and German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The US has yet to comment on the reports.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it has been informed of “a major increase in drone activity” near Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

The UN nuclear watchdog recorded more than 160 drones “flying in the vicinity” of the South Ukraine, Chornobyl and Rivne nuclear power plants since yesterday.

In a statement on social media, the IAEA said:

While the IAEA’s teams report no direct impact on nuclear safety at these sites, IAEA director general Rafael Grossi expresses deep concern about such military activities near NPPs [nuclear power plants] and reiterates need to fully respect the 7 indispensable pillars for ensuring nuclear safety and security during the conflict. Grossi also calls again for maximum restraint to avoid the risk of a nuclear accident.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has joined a chorus of voices condemning the new wave of Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukraine, saying it proves Moscow has no path to victory.

In a post on X, he said:

“By launching a new massive strike of drones and missiles against Ukrainian cities and civilians – the largest in the past four years- Russia is further compounding the outrage of its aggression.

It lays bare all the hypocrisy with which it negotiated the fragile truce of the past few days.

By bombing civilians, Russia demonstrates less its strength than its weakness: it is running out of solutions on the military front and does not know how to end its war of aggression.

France stands alongside Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and will continue to mobilise to secure a cessation of hostilities and bring about a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, one that guarantees its security and that of Europe.”