Zelenskyy warns Russia could step up Black Sea attacks and hints at more US talks – Europe live

Environment editor

Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found.

Record-breaking heatwaves meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers, lakes, soils and plants – conditions made 80 times more likely by global heating in western Europe and 40 times more likely in eastern Europe, the study showed. The level of soil dryness in the west was made five times more likely by the pollution from fossil fuels in the west, and 11 times more likely in the east.

Droughts have usually been linked to low rainfall, but western Europe’s most recent winter was a wet one. The scientists said the climate crisis was redefining drought in Europe, with high temperatures the key factor this summer. Today’s drought in western Europe is classified as “extreme” but would have been “moderate” in the world before the climate crisis, according to the analysis.

The drought was assessed until the end of June, early in the summer, but is already having major impacts. Many countries have implemented emergency restrictions on water use, with most parts of southern England now under a hosepipe ban.

Deadly wildfires have raged through Spain and France and farmers have been hit hard, facing some of the driest soils on record. About 9m tonnes of grain are expected to be lost across Europe, with the worst maize harvest in 50 years expected in France, and Romanian farmers losing over a million hectares of crops.

Rivers are running low across Europe, cutting the generation of clean hydropower and restricting cargo ships. The Rhine at Lobith in the Netherlands is now lower than the minimum level seen in the hot summer of 1976. The scientists warned that this disruption could push up the price of food and energy, hitting low-income households hardest.

Europe correspondent

More than 20,000 people, including thousands of tourists from campsites and other holiday accommodation, have been evacuated as a “particularly intense” wildfire advances on the Atlantic coast of south-west France, authorities have said.

The blaze, which began in dense pine forest near the village of Saumos about 40km (25 miles) west of Bordeaux and just north of the bay of Arcachon, a popular tourist destination, had burned 2,400 hectares (5,928 acres) in less than 24 hours, firefighters said on Thursday.

No casualties had been reported or homes destroyed so far, they said, but the Gironde prefecture said that while 700 firefighters and four waterbombing planes were battling to bring the fire under control, the situation “remains unfavourable”.

France has endured three almost back-to-back heatwaves since May as climate breakdown leads to more frequent and intense extreme weather events causing thousands of excess deaths, evaporating soils and waterways and fuelling wildfires.

Nine local municipalities have opened reception centres for evacuees and were sheltering more than 2,500 people, the prefecture said. About 8,800 people were evacuated at midday on Thursday, after 2,000 in the morning and 10,000 overnight.

Numerous roads in the area – including those leading to the Cap Ferret peninsula a few kilometres to the south, home to the villas of celebrities and millionaires and one of France’s most exclusive holiday spots – were closed to all but essential traffic.

Let’s take a quick look at other news from across Europe.

Some shipping companies are suspending stops at Ukraine’s sea ports, shipowners and officials said, after Russia stepped up strikes of the country’s Black Sea coast, AFP reported.

The escalation in a region critical to global grain exports is driving up wheat prices as shipowners are deterred by mounting risks, said Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime data company.

On Wednesday, “zero vessels passed through Ukraine’s Black Sea maritime corridor – right at peak harvest,” Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said, warning this was threatening global food security.

Two major shipping companies, Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, said they were suspending operations in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.

“Recent missile and drone attacks in the Odesa region have significantly increased the operational and security risks,” Hapag-Lloyd said in a comment to AFP.

According to AFP’s monitoring of the MarineTraffic shipping tracker, no commercial vessel entered any Ukrainian Black Sea port so far on Thursday.

In Ukraine, a major exporter of grain and vegetable oil, 90 percent of exports pass through the Black Sea ports in and around Odesa.

Together, Russia and Ukraine account for roughly 30 percent of the global wheat market supply.

Separately, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy has also warned that Russia is likely to step up attacks on vessels in the Black Sea to undermine Ukraine’s grain corridor.

In comments reported by Interfax-Ukraine, Zelenskyy said that while “there are people near Putin who want to end the war: they see economic collapse, logistical collapse, there are [also] military personnel who want an expansion of the war, an increase in mobilization.”

“They want to kill us, and they want the continuation of this war. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare for the winter plan,” he was quoted as saying at a joint press conference with Ireland’s Martin.

The Ukrainian president also suggested he could soon continue talks with US negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, after they spoke on the phone last night.

“We discussed that there could be several ideas. I understand what these ideas are, which were briefly presented to me yesterday, … we will discuss them with the Americans. I will try to make sure we do this in the near future,” he said.

Zelenskyy also confirmed that he approached the sacked defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov with an offer to take the post of the deputy prime minister for military innovations.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy said three people were killed in a Russian strike on a business in Pavlohrad, with “dozens” of people injured.

“The Russians also hit Kherson with aerial bombs. Apartment buildings, ordinary homes, the regional children’s hospital, and educational institutions were damaged. People were injured. Russia also struck critical infrastructure in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions and launched missile attacks on the Odesa region.

Every day, Russia continues to terrorize our people. It uses various kinds of weapons against Ukraine – guided aerial bombs, missiles, and drones. Ensuring our ability to defend against these attacks is critical.

Our partners know what decisions can help. And above all, there must be no shortage of missiles for the Patriot systems. It’s important that our partners hear this. We’re working around the clock, at every level.”

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that it was not overly optimistic about the ⁠prospects of ⁠a ​quick deal to end the conflict in Ukraine ⁠following a meeting between Russian and US foreign ministers in Manila, Reuters reported.

But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that ​he hoped US peace envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would come to Moscow when they are ⁠available, and that Russia would ​continue ​dialogue with the US.

Washington’s ​efforts on Ukraine peace ​have largely ‌stalled as it ​has ​become distracted by its war in Iran, Reuters noted.

The adoption of the 21st package of sanctions coincides with the Irish prime minister Micheál Martin’s visit to Kyiv to show Ireland’s support for Ukraine.

Martin said:

“My visit to Kyiv early in the term of Ireland’s Presidency of the EU is important to underline the EU’s and Ireland’s continuing solidarity with the Ukrainian government and the people of Ukraine.

Having endured more than four years of brutal aggression against its people and territory, Ukraine continues to demonstrate tremendous resilience and courage in the face of relentless Russian attacks, which have intensified on Kyiv and other parts of the country in recent weeks.

I strongly condemn these actions, which have led to significant loss of life and risk further humanitarian crises, and call on Russia to end its war.”

Posting a video from their meeting on his social media channels, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy said:

“We value Ireland’s unwavering respect for our people. … We thank Ireland for this solidarity with Ukraine and our people. Eternal honor to all our defenders who gave their lives fighting for our country, for the Ukrainian people, and for Europe’s security. May the memory of every one of them live on forever.”

During the midday briefing, the European Commission also gets asked about the final shape of the sanctions as agreed this morning, and the LNG exemption secured by Greece (9:37).

But the deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, doesn’t really want to comment on that, even as he gets repeatedly pushed on whether the Greek veto threat does not establish a potentially tricky precedent for future sanction packages.

He only says:

“I remind you that the construction and approval of the sanctions packages follows a very precise format and workflow: the Commission proposes, the member states discuss, the member states adopt.

That’s how it has worked in the previous 20 packages which are serving the attendant purpose of hitting the Russian war economy where it hurts, and that is the same purpose that the 21st package will also serve.”

Elsewhere, there is a big breaking news story in Brussels as Google has been fined a total of €890m (£760m) by the EU for breaches of online competition laws by its search and app store services.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said Google had broken the Digital Markets Act by giving priority to its own services such as shopping and hotel deals in search results over those of its rivals.

It also infringed the DMA by preventing app developers from steering consumers towards cheaper offers on websites or alternative app stores.

Dan Milmo and Lisa O’Carroll have all the details here:

Meanwhile, EU tech spokesperson Thomas Regnier told the midday briefing just now that:

“In the EU, businesses have the right to compete fairly. Gatekeepers have the obligation to ensure a level playing field, and consumers the right to choose for cheaper alternatives offers.”

Google has 60 days to comply with the DMA, and it can appeal against the decision and ask for interim measures including a request to suspend the measure.

But politically, the decision is likely to raise tensions with the US, with the US president, Donald Trump, known to be, erm, rather impulsive in his reactions.

I will keep an eye on this for you as he will no doubt not keep us waiting for his reaction for long.