Russian attack on Odesa kills three after Ukraine targets Moscow with drones overnight – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.

• Ten people were killed in a Russian strike near the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on a merchant ship flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau (۹:۴۲).

• Overnight, Ukraine struck Moscow with hundreds of drones, wounding at least ۱۰ people (۹:۳۸, ۱۰:۲۴).

• The attacks come as Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues behind-the-scenes talks looking at defusing a political crisis triggered by his decision to oust a popular defence minister last week (۱۰:۴۱, ۱۲:۳۲, ۱۴:۲۴, ۱۵:۰۷).

• Lithuanian defence minister Robertas Kaunas warned that Russia sees the Baltic countries and Poland as possible next targets as it looks for “a new escalation” amid stalling war in Ukraine (۱۰:۱۵).

In other news,

• Andy Burnham has become the new British prime minister, replacing Keir Starmer and pledging his arrival in power will be a “circuit breaker” moment for Britain and continued support for Ukraine (۱۰:۲۰, ۱۲:۵۶, ۱۴:۱۹).

• Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, has announced plans to ask Judit Polgár, widely considered the greatest female chess player of all time, to take on the largely ceremonial role of president (۱۶:۰۲).

• A fire that burnt down an entire neighbourhood in a town near the Norwegian city of Drammen was still smouldering on Monday and authorities said they expect to be fighting the fire for days to come (۱۲:۱۳).

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.

Meanwhile, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said that Russia had expelled an Italian military attache and one of his aides from Moscow “without cause,” AFP reported.

Tajani wrote on X that it represented a “blatant act of retaliation for Italy’s expulsion of two Russian military attachés”, whom he said had been caught spying against Rome.

Separately, Hungary’s government announced an investigation Monday into a large foreign investment by Chinese automaker BYD negotiated by a former foreign minister who last week resigned from parliament to take an executive position at the company, AP reported.

Péter Szijjártó’s announcement last Wednesday that he would take the job at the world’s top electric carmaker prompted accusations of a conflict of interest and criticism over his role in facilitating substantial government subsidies to the company while in office.

Prime minister Péter Magyar told lawmakers on Monday that Szijjártó, a close ally of former prime minister Viktor Orbán, had helped BYD while he was in office “with hundreds of billions (of forints) in public money, diplomatic support and state infrastructure.”

“We will examine all the decisions, negotiations and state commitments made by Péter Szijjártó that were related to the BYD Hungary investment,” Magyar said..

He added the investigation would look into all subsidies, tax breaks, permits, environmental exemptions and publicly funded investments given to large multinational firms during Orbán’s tenure, AP said.

Hungary’s Magyar picks chess prodigy for president after ousting Orbán-era loyalist

Ashifa Kassam

European community affairs correspondent

In other news, Hungary’s prime minister, Péter Magyar, has announced plans to ask Judit Polgár, widely considered the greatest female chess player of all time, to take on the largely ceremonial role of president.

Magyar said he would meet Polgár on Monday to discuss the matter. “Our country needs unity, peace and a president that all Hungarians can be proud of,” he wrote on social media. “Judit Polgár’s name has been synonymous with talent and perseverance for decades.”

The announcement by Magyar follows a months-long standoff between the newly elected leader and Tamás Sulyok, the president appointed during former leader Viktor Orbán’s time in power.

Since his landslide victory in April, Magyar has repeatedly called on Sulyok to step down, accusing him of being an Orbán “puppet” who had failed to stand up for the country as Orbán’s rightwing, nationalist Fidesz party was criticised for weakening democratic institutions and undermining the rule of law.

Last week Hungary’s parliament – where Magyar’s Tisza party holds a two-thirds majority – voted to back a constitutional amendment that included an immediate end to Sulyok’s term.

Meanwhile, a Russian ⁠attack ⁠on ​an infrastructure facility ⁠in Ukraine’s ⁠southern ​city ‌of ‌Odesa on Monday ‌killed at least three ‌people and injured ​three others, ⁠a city official ​said, as reported by Reuters.

Ukraine’s top military leadership denies reports suggesting army chief’s sacking

Luke Harding

in Kyiv

Ukraine’s top military leadership has denied reports that the country’s commander in chief Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi is to be sacked.

In a Facebook post published in the last few minutes it said claims “circulating in the media, particularly on social media and in certain news outlets are untrue”.

It added:

“Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi continues to carry out his duties as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lt Gen Andriy Hnatov, also continues to carry out his duties.

Dismissal from these posts takes place on the basis of a decree by the President of Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy’s presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn appeared to confirm the denial.

“Don’t expect any personnel appointments today,” he said, urging people to treat information circulated by the media with caution.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the latest leader to congratulate Andy Burnham on his appointment as the new British prime minister.

In a post on X, he said:

“Congratulations to Andy Burnham @andyburnham on taking office as prime minister of the United Kingdom. We wish the prime minister and the British people every success in addressing the challenges of today.

Britain has always been one of the global leaders. We are ready to work together in all possible formats. We highly appreciate the UK’s political, defense, and values-based support. The foundation of our bilateral relationship is stronger than ever, and we will continue to make each other stronger. I’m looking forward to our conversation later today. Thank you!”

Pressure on Ukraine’s army chief Syrskyi grows after days of street protests

Luke Harding

in Kyiv

Meanwhile, Ukrainian media are reporting that Ukraine’s Commander in Chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi is to be sacked, following five days of noisy street protests calling for his dismissal.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reportedly agreed to fire Syrskyi after controversially sacking defence minister Mykhailo Federov last week.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside Zelenskyy’s office, calling for Federov’s reinstatement and for the commander in chief’s removal.

The news has not been confirmed, but sources indicate an announcement is expected this afternoon. There is speculation Federov will be brought back into government as deputy prime minister for military industry.

Federov is widely credited with improving Ukraine’s position on the battlefield during his six months in the job. He accused Syrskyi of using Soviet era tactics and allocating resources to brigades based on their “loyalty” rather than data.

“This sort of culture needs to be eradicated, because otherwise we won’t be able to defeat an enemy whose system is plagued by the very same issues,” he said. “We have no other choice if we want to defeat Russia asymmetrically, with minimal losses.”

Just picking up one more thing from the UK, the country’s new prime minister Andy Burnham has pledged to make his first calls to US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In a clip recorded before he was ⁠officially appointed as British leader but released ​after his ‌speech in Downing ‌Street, Burnham was asked who he would ‌contact first and whether that would be Trump, Zelenskyy or another world leader, Reuters reported.

He replied by saying said those two would be among his ‌first calls.

He said he would make clear to Zelenskyy that there would ​be “no change” in Britain’s backing for Ukraine and that he would support the Ukrainian leader “۱۰۰%” as his predecessor ⁠Keir Starmer had done.

“President Zelenskyy will be ​left ​in no doubt whatsoever that ​Britain’s support is steadfast, ​it is ‌resolute. It ​will ​be there for him, and I will be there for him personally too,” Burnham told reporters.

AliExpress fined record €۵۵۰m by EU for failing to stop sale of illegal and fake goods

Lisa O’Carroll

In other news, the Chinese online retail platform AliExpress has been fined a record €۵۵۰m (£۴۷۰m) by the EU over its failure to stop illegal goods including harmful clothing, cosmetics and kitchen gadgets being sold through its site.

The European Commission fine is the biggest imposed by the bloc under the Digital Services Act (DSA), legislation that came into force in ۲۰۲۴ to protect consumers from illegal goods, deceptive or addictive marketing techniques.

Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said:

“The spread of counterfeit clothing, unsafe toys, dangerous cosmetics and other illegal and harmful products is not an unavoidable cost of shopping online – it is a failure by AliExpress to comply with its obligations under the Digital Services Act.

Scale is not an excuse; risks must be identified and addressed systematically to ensure consumers can safely shop online. Today, we are holding AliExpress to this standard and request it to take action.”

Back to Russia and Ukraine, Boris Nadezhdin, a Russian anti-war politician who had hoped to ⁠stand in parliamentary elections later this year, has announced he is ending his role ⁠in opposition politics for ⁠now, ​blaming what he said were politically-motivated legal setbacks, Reuters reported.

Nadezhdin, ۶۳, a former liberal lawmaker, ⁠has been an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war in Ukraine but – like some other opposition politicians – had ⁠tried to work within the rules of Russia’s tightly controlled ​political system to be ‌able to continue to ‌voice his views publicly.

In a statement, Nadezhdin said ‌he had ran out of political road however, after a series of setbacks. He received a small fine on Friday for displaying “extremist symbols” and was this month designated a “foreign agent” by the justice ministry.

Both rulings ‌disqualified him from running for the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, in September ​elections, his statement said. He said he had also been banned from leaving Russia.

Starmer formally resigns as British prime minister, with Burnham set to be confirmed as his successor

Andrew Sparrow

Over in the UK, Keir Starmer has now left ۱۰ Downing Street for the last time and resigned as the UK’s prime minister, and we are waiting for Andy Burnham to be formally named as his successor.

You can follow all of that on our UK live blog with Andrew Sparrow:

The European Commission has been asked to respond to mass protests against Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to fire a popular defence minister last week (۱۰:۴۱).

Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said the issue “came up briefly” in commission president von der Leyen’s recent discussions with Zelenskyy, but declined to comment in any further detail.

“But what we can say is that we have enjoyed good cooperation with minister Fedorov at a crucial moment of the defence and defence policy, both for the EU and for Ukraine, which we fully appreciated.”

The commission also responded to public demonstrations against Fedorov’s resignation, saying that “peaceful demonstrations are a fundamental right in all democratic countries.”

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen held a courtesy phone call with the new Ukrainian prime minister, Sergii Koretksyi, this morning.

In a post on X, she said:

“Very good phone call with @KoretskyiUA. We will continue cooperating closely on reforms that move Ukraine’s EU accession process forward. Our Drone Deal will harness the EU’s industrial strength to produce Ukraine’s most innovative defence equipment at speed and scale. We also discussed preparations ahead of winter and critical energy infrastructure. You can count on our full support, including in your work to improve energy sector’s governance.”

The European Commission just told reporters that they are further working on more disbursement of the EU’s €۹۰bn loan for Ukraine.

Norway sees ‘largest fire in modern times’ destroy over ۱۰۰ homes

Miranda Bryant

Nordic correspondent

In other news, a fire that burnt down an entire neighbourhood in a town near the Norwegian city of Drammen was still smouldering on Monday and authorities said they expect to be fighting the fire for days to come.

Around ۱۰۰ houses in Krokstadelva were destroyed over the weekend and around ۴۰۰ people evacuated.

On Sunday, police told local newspaper Drammens Tidende that they believe the fire was caused either be accident or spontaneous combustion.

Ståle Fuglaas, operations manager for Norway’s south-east police district, said they plan to continue extinguishing the fire for ۱۰ more days.

“This is a long-term operation in the area. That says something about the heat in the area,” Fuglaas told VG.

“There we will assist evacuees with retrieving any items that have not yet been retrieved from the fire area. A plan is being worked on between the municipality and the emergency services when it comes to returning to safe places.”

Fire services said they have preventively placed water sprinklers in the area and are patrolling with fire crews, drones and helicopters.

“But I wouldn’t say we have control, I wouldn’t use that word yet. It looks better now than before,” firefighter Erik Smidsrød told VG.