Key events
Death toll in Spain-Morocco border crisis in Ceuta climbs to ۶۷
There has been an update by the Spanish government on the Ceuta border crisis, with officials saying the death toll has risen to ۶۷. The government also announced plans to install a containment barrier extending from the breakwater into the sea to deter further crossings after tens of thousands of migrants entered the Spanish enclave from Morocco this week, AP reported.
The Spanish foreign minister, José Albares, said that “practically the entirety of those who entered Ceuta have already returned to Morocco”. In a post on X, he added:
It is not possible to travel from Ceuta or Melilla to mainland Spain without presenting identification at a police checkpoint. The integrity of the Schengen area is fully guaranteed.
To understand more about the migration flashpoint, my colleague Angela Giuffrida put together this helpful explainer yesterday:
Nine people killed in Russian attack on Ukraine as Zelenskyy warns of low air defence supplies
Hello, and welcome to our Europe live blog. Nine people have been killed in Ukraine after Russia launched a barrage of missiles and drones at the capital Kyiv overnight, Ukrainian authorities have said.
Twenty-two people were also injured in the attack, which the Russian defence ministry described as a “massive strike” against “Ukrainian military-industrial complex facilities and logistics centres in Kyiv”. Andrii Sybiha, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said Russia was “intensifying its air attacks and terror against civilians”.
It came just two days after an onslaught of Russian missiles killed ۱۰ people and injured more than ۵۰ others across Ukraine, as Moscow looks to exploit Kyiv’s shortage of western-supplied air defence systems.
The scale of the problem was laid bare by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Kyiv managed to shoot down just one of the ۲۷ ballistic missiles fired in the overnight attack because stocks of interceptor missiles for US Patriot systems had been depleted.
In a post on X, he said:
Overnight, the Russians launched ۳۵ missiles at Ukraine, including ۲۷ ballistic missiles, as well as ۱۸۵ attack drones of various types. Kyiv was the primary target, but strikes also hit the Dnipro, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Poltava regions. Only one ballistic missile was intercepted, simply because there are no interceptors for the Patriot systems. And it is this shortage of ballistic missile interceptors that only encourages Russia to launch such attacks that take human lives.
He appealed to allies to urgently supply more Patriot interceptors, saying every additional missile saved lives and that shortages were leading to more civilian casualties.
Yesterday, he said he spoke to the US vice-president, JD Vance, and discussed a meeting with the president, Donald Trump, earlier this week in Washington, which Zelensky described as “positive and productive”.
Read more:
Elsewhere in Europe:
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More than ۳۰۰ firefighters were battling a fast-moving wildfire near the coastal Greek resort of Porto Germeno, about ۴۵ miles (۷۰km) north-west of Athens, as strong winds continued to fuel the blaze and complicate firefighting efforts. Greek authorities said the fire had spread to the shoreline, with officials confirming to AFP that homes had been damaged. It is one of several wildfires burning across Europe, with France and Spain also battling major outbreaks as extreme heat, prolonged drought and the climate crisis create increasingly fire-prone conditions.
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France and Italy have bolstered border controls after about ۶۰,۰۰۰ people crossed into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco. The crisis has turned increasingly deadly, with at least ۵۷ people killed attempting the crossing, according to reports, prompting Spain to deploy troops to help regain control of the border. The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, blamed trafficking gangs for orchestrating the surge, accusing them of exploiting vulnerable migrants by encouraging the dangerous crossings.
