Death toll from Russian attack on Kyiv rises to 28 – as it happened

2h ago12.20 EDT

Closing summary

Jakub Krupa

… and on that note, it’s a wrap!

• EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has told the European parliament “we have to do more for Ukraine, for our own security too,” as she echoed the warning from Nato secretary general Mark Rutte that “if we don’t help Ukraine further, we should all start learning Russian” (9:24).

• Emergency workers have pulled more bodies from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, with the death roll rising to 28, with over 130 injured (16:00).

Elsewhere,

• German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped to reach an agreement on EU-US trade dispute “in the coming days,” as he acknowledged the issue was having “a massive impact” on Germany’s attractiveness as a business location (17:41).

• The European Commission has accused online retailer AliExpress of a “systemic failure” to prevent the sale of illegal and dangerous goods on its platform, as Brussels stepped up its case against the Chinese company (13:51).

• Ukrainian parliament passed a law to allow Ukrainians to have multiple citizenship in an attempt to ease a demographic crisis caused by Russia’s war and to enhance ties with diaspora (10:31).

I will be back tomorrow with more updates from across Europe.

But for now, that’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at [email protected].

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped to reach an agreement on EU-US trade dispute “in the coming days,” as he acknowledged the issue was having “a massive impact” on Germany’s attractiveness as a business location.

Reporting on his participation in the G7 summit in Canada after a meeting with local Länder chiefs, he said:

“I reiterated my hope that we will gradually reach a solution with the American government. I remain confident that we will succeed in this in the coming days.”

He added that the leaders agreed “we want to support the European Commission in this and must take a common path forward.”

Spain’s power grid operator and electricity companies traded blame over the April blackout that crippled the Iberian Peninsula, a day after a long-awaited government report highlighted their responsibility, AFP reported.

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The continuing row is likely to extend debate over one of Europe’s largest-ever power outages, which raised doubts about Spain’s commitment to renewable energy and scheduled phase-out of nuclear power.

REE published its own report on Wednesday and said it “carried out the relevant calculations to schedule technical constraints, always ensuring that all groups comply with the obligations imposed by current regulations”.

If energy producers responsible for regulating the voltage “had met their tension control obligations... we would not have had a blackout”, REE’s operations director Concha Sánchez told a news conference.

Meanwhile, Aelec, an industry association representing power companies including sector giants Iberdrola and Endesa, said controlling tension “falls on Red Electrica, as the system operator”.

Meanwhile, there is a sad update from Kyiv, as emergency workers have pulled more bodies from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile, AP reported.

The updated death toll from Tuesday’s attack on the Ukrainian capital stands at 28, with over 130 injured.

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As you may be planning your holidays now, here is a thoughtful piece on how people travelling to certain parts of Europe this summer may consider the strength of emotions felt by local residents there, increasingly frustrated by overtourism.

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Leah Pattem argues that visitors could be more sensitive, while the authorities should seek sustainable solutions for residents and tourists – but just staying at home is no answer.

After coordinated protests across Europe last weekend, it’s easy for the ethically conscious tourist to feel uncertain. Across southern Europe – and particularly in Spain, Italy and Portugal – there are headlines blaming visitors for everything from overcrowding to housing shortages. In gentrifying neighbourhoods, slogans such as “Tourists go home” have appeared on walls and windows, with some angry residents grabbing headlines by squirting water pistols at tourists.

Does that mean a golden age of tourism is over? No. Does the complicated relationship between those who want to visit the world’s most interesting places and those who live in them need a reset? Probably.

A minority centre-right government has formally taken power in Portugal after parliament threw out a motion by the small opposition Communist Party calling for rejection of the new administration’s programme.

In its programme, the government promises to continue cutting taxes for the middle class and companies, maintain budget surpluses and have a permanent dialogue with the opposition on key issues such as immigration, the Reuters news agency reports.

The Communists, with just three seats in the 230-member parliament, had accused the incoming government of working “against the interests of workers” and also opposed plans to raise defence spending to 2% of national output.

But the largest opposition parties - the far-right Chega and the centre-left Socialists - delivered on an earlier promise to vote against the motion, paving the way for the prime minister Luis Montenegro’s Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition to take office.

Emergency workers in Kyiv have recovered more bodies from the rubble of a nine-story Kyiv apartment building demolished by a Russian missile during an attack overnight from Monday into Tuesday, raising the death toll from the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital to 28.

The building in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district took a direct hit and collapsed during the deadliest Russian attack on Kyiv this year. Authorities said that 23 of those killed were inside the building. The remaining five were killed elsewhere in the city.

Workers used cranes, excavators and their hands to clear more debris from the site on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports, and sniffer dogs searched for buried victims. The blast also blew out windows and doors in neighbouring buildings in a wide radius of damage.

Senior Ukrainian officials have discussed the possibility of the US supporting defence projects in Ukraine under a joint investment fund set up last month, Kyiv’s first deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.

The talks, which included US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, took place during the G7 summit in Canada, Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on Facebook.

7h ago07.51 EDT

EU accuses China’s AliExpress of ‘systemic failure’ over illegal goods

Jennifer Rankin

The European Commission has accused online retailer AliExpress of a “systemic failure” to prevent the sale of illegal and dangerous goods on its platform, as Brussels stepped up its case against the Chinese company.

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Issuing formal findings of an investigation launched in March last year, EU regulators said on Wednesday that AliExpress was failing to do enough to prevent the sale of counterfeit clothes and dangerous children’s toys, among other items.

The company, which claims 104 million monthly users in the EU, did not devote enough resources to content moderation to take down illegal goods on sale on its platform, regulators said.

An EU official said the company – which is owned by Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce group founded by the Chinese billionaire Jack Ma – had “underestimated the general risk of the sale of illegal products”.

The official added: “General measures they have in place to avoid the dissemination of illegal products do not work properly - it shows a systemic failure.”

The European Commission said these were preliminary findings, pending further investigation and responses from AliExpress.

If EU officials uphold the verdict, the company can in theory be fined up to 6% of global turnover under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

8h ago07.07 EDT

Spy ships, cyber-attacks and shadow fleets: the crack security team braced for trouble at sea

Miranda Bryant

As international tensions mount and hackers grow more sophisticated and audacious, the Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre is constantly monitoring the global threat of war, terror and piracy.

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Ships being taken over remotely by hackers and made to crash is a scenario made in Hollywood.

But in a security operations room in Oslo, just a few metres from the sparkling fjord and its tourist boats, floating saunas and plucky bathers, maritime cyber experts say not only is it technically possible, but they are poised for it to happen.

“We are pretty sure that it will happen sooner or later, so that is what we are looking for,” says Øystein Brekke-Sanderud, a senior analyst at the Nordic Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre (Norma Cyber). On the wall behind him is a live map of the ships they monitor and screens full of graphs and code. Two little rubber ducks watch over proceedings from above.

In an unstable world, shipping, ports and terminals are taking on enormous strategic importance as targets for destabilising infrastructure and espionage. This is particularly relevant in the Nordic countries, which share land and sea borders with Russia.

Finland and Sweden are now Nato members and all countries are beefing up their defence capabilities amid hybrid attacks and rising fear of war.

With the ever increasing digitalisation of ships – and, as a result, more opportunities for hacking – plus rapidly sharpening AI tools to speed up getting around complicated systems, it is a case of when, not if.