Ukrainian energy minister Hrynchuk resigns as corruption probe fallout continues
Following Zelenskyy’s request, Ukraine’s energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has now also resigned from her post as the fallout from the alleged energy corruption probe continues.
Posting a handwritten note to Facebook, she said denied any wrongdoing “in her professional activities,” and stressed her thanks to Zelenskyy and the government for being able to serve in successive roles over the past 10 years.
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Key events
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2m ago
Closing summary
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4m ago
Wars of tomorrow will begin in space, Macron says
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1h ago
French parliament moves to suspend unpopular pension reform
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2h ago
Canada explores participation in the Eurovision song contest
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2h ago
Search and rescue operations under way to find missing migrants after vessel capsizes near Greek island
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2h ago
Czech president presses incoming PM Babiš to resolve conflicts of interest, spell out view on Ukraine, Nato
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3h ago
Ukrainian justice, energy minister to be formally dismissed from positions, prime minister confirms
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3h ago
Ukrainian energy minister Hrynchuk resigns as corruption probe fallout continues
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3h ago
‘Undermining state means you will be held accountable,’ Zelenskyy warns
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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy calls for justice, energy ministers to be dismissed
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4h ago
Norway’s Stoltenberg rules out using sovereign wealth fund to guarantee EU’s Ukraine loan
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New sleeper service will run from Paris to Berlin next year
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5h ago
More than 1,000 people died in people smuggling operations in the Med region this year
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Irregular border crossing down across EU, while UK remains strong pull, Frontex data show
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‘Important results’ reported from growing pressure on Russia, Zelenskyy says
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6h ago
Milan prosecutors investigate alleged ‘sniper tourism’ during Bosnian war
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7h ago
20 dead after Turkish military plane crashes in Georgia
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7h ago
Kazakh parliament passes Russian-style anti-LGBTQ law
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Kremlin confirms failed talks with Britain on Ukraine
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Ukraine hits Russia’s ‘Stavrolen’ plant producing components for drones, military equipment
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Russia ready to resume talks with Ukraine in Istanbul, official says
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9h ago
Morning opening: Focus on corruption in Ukraine
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Closing summary
Jakub Krupa
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
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Ukrainian justice and energy ministers have been forced out amid a deepening government crisis following allegations about a $100m corruption scandal in the country’s energy sector (9:55, 14:51, 15:34, 15:59, 16:31).
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All 20 personnel on board of a Turkish military cargo plane that crashed in Georgia on Tuesday were killed, Turkey’s defence minister said (11:54, 12:58).
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Czech president Petr Pavel has ramped up pressure on the incoming prime minister, billionaire Andrej Babiš, repeating his demand for Babiš to resolve his conflicts of interests before taking up the post (17:05).
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French lawmakers voted to suspend a contested pension reform as next year’s budget bills inch through parliament under persistent threats to the government’s survival (17:48).
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Search-and-rescue operations are still under way to find missing migrants desperate to get to Europe from Libya, following a deadly shipwreck in southern Greece (17:08).
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Prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into Italians who allegedly paid members of the Bosnian Serb army for trips to Sarajevo so that they could kill citizens during the four-year siege of the city in the 1990s (13:12).
And that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
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.
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Wars of tomorrow will begin in space, Macron says
Modern conflicts are already being fought in space and the next wars will begin there, the French president Emmanuel Macron has said as he outlined France’s future space strategy.
“The war of today is already being fought in space, and the war of tomorrow will begin in space,” Macron said in Toulouse, France’s space and aviation hub. “Let us be ready: this will be a condition for the success of military operations on land, in the air, and at sea.”
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The Finnish defence minister Antti Hakkanen has said China is “massively” financing Russia’s war efforts, increasing the security threat in Europe and posing a challenge to Nato.
Speaking to the AFP agency, Hakkanen said Russia’s cooperation with China had “gone so far” that “China is currently massively financing Russia’s war chest”.
“Russia would not be able to wage war for very long with its own resources. India, of course, provides funding in other ways, but China is doing so quite deliberately,” the minister said after meeting with his Nordic counterparts in Helsinki.
“It is supplying military components, cooperating in the defence industry, and organising joint military exercises and various other large-scale activities in the Arctic, Indo-Pacific and European regions,” he added, calling it a big but manageable challenge for the Western military alliance Nato.
Nordic countries are stepping up their defence cooperation to counter future threats while supporting Nato’s capabilities in the north, Hakkanen said.
“Today, we already discussed the use of 250 Nordic fighter aircrafts from the air forces as a unified force,” he said.
Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway and Denmark are planning to triple ammunition production and develop military mobility corridors in the Nordic region, he added.
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Top diplomats from the G7 industrialised democracies met with Ukraine’s foreign minister on Wednesday, Associated Press reports.
Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said at the start of a meeting on defence coordination, attended by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, that Kyiv needs to overcome what will be a “very difficult, very tough winter.”
“We need the support of our partners,” Sybiha said. “We have to move forward to pressure Russia, to raise the price for the aggression, for Russia, for Putin, to end this war.”
Canada announced new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, and the United Kingdom has pledged money toward Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Rubio made no immediate announcements Wednesday about new US initiatives but said on social media that the meeting delved into ways “to strengthen Ukraine’s defence and find an end to this bloody conflict.”
“The United States remains steadfast in working with our partners to encourage Russia to pursue diplomacy and engage directly with Ukraine for a durable and lasting peace,” he posted on X.
The Ukraine talks were part of the G7 meeting that Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand is hosting in southern Ontario.
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French parliament moves to suspend unpopular pension reform
Over in France, lawmakers voted to suspend a contested pension reform as next year’s budget bills inch through parliament under persistent threats to the government’s survival, Reuters reported.
A parliamentary debate on the Social Security Financing Bill for 2026, including the suspension of the contentious 2023 pension reform, during a session at the National Assembly in Paris, France. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
A majority of 255 lawmakers voted in favour of the suspension with 146 who voted against.
Reuters noted that, after a rocky start, prime minister Sebastien Lecornu’s second attempt at a government has made headway, pushing parts of the budget through parliament thanks to costly concessions.
One of the biggest trade-offs was offering the Socialists – a pivotal swing bloc – a suspension of Macron’s plan to raise the pension age to 64.
The freeze effectively keeps the minimum retirement age at 62 years and nine months until after the 2027 presidential election, a move that has been hard to swallow for Macron loyalists but which has handed Lecornu a lifeline, Reuters noted.
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Canada explores participation in the Eurovision song contest
Ashifa Kassam
European community affairs correspondent
When Canada released its federal budget this month, much of it was standard fare, from the plans to downsize the public service to the boost in defence spending.
But one line tucked in the nearly 500-page document has captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic: a mention that the government is working with Canada’s national broadcaster to explore participation in the Eurovision song contest.
Canadian singer and songwriter La Zarra performs on behalf of France during the final of the Eurovision song contest 2023 in Liverpool, northern England. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
When asked about the line, the country’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said the proposal to join the glitzy TV extravaganza had come from “the people who participate”.
He did not specify whether he was referring to specific countries or the European Broadcasting Union, who organises the contest. CBC-Radio Canada is an associate member of the union; another associate member, Australia, was invited by the contest’s governing board to join Eurovision in 2015.
The minister, however, appeared to embrace the longshot bid, hinting that it was part of the government’s strategic realignment away from the US and towards Europe.
“I think it’s a platform for Canada to shine,” Champagne told broadcaster Global News last week. “This is about protecting our identity – yes, we want to protect our sovereignty, but you also want to help people in the arts sector and in the film industry to make sure they can shine around the world. And we have a lot to offer as Canadians.”
In recent months, as Donald Trump’s takes aim at Canada’s sovereignty and slaps tariffs on its economy, the Canadian government has scrambled to deepen its relationships with allies around the world.
In March, the country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, made a point of visiting France and the UK on his first overseas trip as prime minister, seizing on the visit to declare Canada the “most European of the non-European countries.”
Two government sources told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that Carney – who spent years studying and living in the UK, most recently as the governor of the Bank of England – was personally involved in Canada’s push to join the world’s largest live music event.
While Canada has never formally participated, the pop platform has hosted an array of Canadian artists. Most famously was Céline Dion, who won the contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi, while in 2001, Natasha St-Pier represented France as did La Zarra in 2023.
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And now for something different…
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Search and rescue operations under way to find missing migrants after vessel capsizes near Greek island
Helena Smith
in Athens
In more distressing news from the Mediterranean, search-and-rescue operations are still under way to find missing migrants desperate to get to Europe from Libya, following a deadly shipwreck in southern Greece.
Greek coast guard officials, citing the accounts of the more than 50 people rescued so far, believe as many as 13 others were also on board the wooden vessel at the time it capsized 15 nautical miles south of tiny Gavdos off Crete.
Location of Gavdos island in Greece
Emergency services confirmed that the bodies of three people were found shortly after a Frontex vessel rushed to the scene when the vastly overcrowded boat began to take on water.
Footage released by Greece’s public broadcaster, ERT, shows passengers screaming desperately for help before the tragedy occurs.
As Greece’s most southerly point, the islet of Gavdos has become a magnet for migrants fleeing Libya and one of the most popular if also deadly routes in the Mediterranean.
In a statement the Hellenic coastguard said:
“During procedures to approach the boat to gather those on board, there was movement towards the left side of the vessel with the result of water entering and the boat overturning. The crew of the Frontex boat immediately threw circular and individual lifejackets and athe vessel’s lifeboat was launched.”
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Updated at 11.26 EST
Czech president presses incoming PM Babiš to resolve conflicts of interest, spell out view on Ukraine, Nato
Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, the country’s president Petr Pavel has ramped up pressure on the incoming prime minister, billionaire Andrej Babiš, repeating his demand for Babiš to resolve his conflicts of interests before taking up the post, iDnes.cz and Lidovky reported.
Leader of the ANO (YES) movement and coalition candidate for prime minister Andrej Babiš leaves a meeting with Czech President Petr Pavel at the Prague Castle, in Prague, Czech Republic. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA
The main conflict of interest is about Babiš’s control over the Agrofert conglomerate, which is a recipient of EU funds.
Leaving the meeting with Pavel, Babiš told reporters he would take necessary business decisions in line with Czech and EU law, without specifying his next steps.
President Pavel stressed that he will appoint the new prime minister as soon as he meets all the formal requirements.
Amid concerns about the new government’s foreign and defence policy, Pavel also asked the new right-wing government to consider clarifying its stance on Ukraine and Nato in the coalition manifesto.
In response, Babiš pledged he would discuss these issues with coalition partners.
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Ukrainian justice, energy minister to be formally dismissed from positions, prime minister confirms
Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko has now confirmed that she formally submitted a motion to dismiss both energy and justice ministers from their posts to the country’s parliament, as per Zelenskyy’s request.
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Updated at 10.53 EST
Russia is not wasting any time as its diplomats seek to exploit the corruption allegations in Kyiv in a bid to undermine the broad support for Ukraine among western societies.
The Russian embassy in the Netherlands has just posted a meme portraying a cartoon character sweating over making a choice between “solving Dutch social problems” and “helping corrupt Ukrainian junta,” with a note:
“Is @Minpres still ready to pour billions into Ukraine after Zelensky’s close ally Timur Mindich has been accused of a $100m corruption scheme?”
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