Closing summary
And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.
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Spain has seen no evidence “whatsoever” that Morocco planned or facilitated a mass border breach into its north African territory of Ceuta, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has told parliament (9:34, 9:50, 9:57, 10:13, 10:17).
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Sánchez addressed the parliament during a tense debate in which his political rivals demanded his resignation and early elections for what they believe was mishandling of the migration crisis (10:29, 10:53).
In other news,
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Russia is “actively” preparing sabotage operations against Denmark, particularly its defence industry, Danish intelligence agency PET warned (10:59).
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French, German and Polish foreign ministers projected a united front as they spoke about Europe’s response to alleged acts of Russian sabotage (11:16), with the EU looking at tightening visa requirements for Russians looking to enter the bloc (12:41).
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The UK has joined a growing list of countries summoning top Russian diplomats over the recent attempted drone attack on Leipzig (12:56).
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.
Shootout in Kyiv between Ukrainian spy services ‘disgraceful’, says Zelenskyy
in Kyiv
Several people have been injured in a shootout in central Kyiv between two branches of Ukraine’s security services, in an incident Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “disgraceful”.
The shootout, which took place on Wednesday morning in a downtown area of the capital, was between officers from the domestic security service, the SBU, and the military intelligence directorate, the HUR.
The SBU said in a statement on Thursday that the shootout “definitely shouldn’t have happened” and that it was assisting state investigators.
The clash appears to have been sparked by the SBU’s recent arrest of a Russian man fighting for Ukraine under the supervision of the HUR. Local media reported that while the SBU was searching an apartment linked to the investigation, HUR officers arrived and shots were fired; three HUR officers were injured.
The SBU said that, together with the HUR, it had foiled a Russian-backed terrorist plot targeting a Russian opposition leader who had recently arrived in Ukraine. In a separate statement, the SBU said its officers had come under armed attack while conducting an investigation and they had used their weapons in response.
Hours after the shootout, Zelenskyy fired the SBU’s head of the department for the protection of state secrets, Oleh Khramov.
“Shooting here in Ukraine is permitted only at Russian occupiers, in defence of Ukraine. Our state will never regard any other shootout as acceptable,” Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post.
Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić's body to be transported to Serbia today
Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić’s body was to arrive in Serbia on Thursday, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucić said, after relatives collected it from The Hague, AFP reported.
Mladić died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
“According to the information I have received, the body has been collected and should arrive in Serbia in the late afternoon,” Vucić told media.
The president said the state would provide “every kind of logistical and transport support”, while the family would decide the details of the funeral, expected to be attended by “tens of thousands of people.”
Serbia’s justice minister Nenad Vujić said last week that Mladić “will receive all the military and state honours to which he is entitled”, but Vucić said only that the funeral would be “dignified and in accordance with the family’s wishes”.
Senior EU officials strongly criticised plans for a funeral with state hunours, with EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos saying “the glorification of war criminals is contrary to fundamental European values and has no place in the European Union or in countries that aspire to become members”.
Updated
Spain’s PM says no evidence ‘whatsoever’ Morocco behind Ceuta border breach
in Barcelona
If you’re only catching up with today’s events, the Guardian’s Stephen Burgen has this helpful write up of what happened in the Spanish Congress, as prime minister Pedro Sánchez talked about the latest on the migration crisis in Ceuta.
“Spain has seen no evidence “whatsoever” that Morocco planned or facilitated a mass border breach into its north African territory of Ceuta, Sánchez has told parliament.
Speaking the morning after about 50,000 people marched in Madrid to protest his handling of the Ceuta crisis, the socialist prime minister also denied the government had received any warning of the mass breach, saying no reports to authorities had anticipated “the scale or probability of what eventually happened”.”
Estonia's defence ministry resigns after questions on public spending, €70m ammo deal
Over in Estonia, defence minister Hanno Pevkur resigned from the post after criticism of the ministry’s public spending and a failed plan to purchase €70m of artillery shells for Ukraine from an Indian-owned Italian company that had no previous experience in producing them.
The contract was reportedly partially funded with EU funds from the European Peace Facility, prompting questions over whether Estonia would have to repay the money, Estonian broadcaster ERR said, which also reported on his departure.
The company, Datasel, rejected all criticism of the contract, ERR reported.
In a post on Facebook, Pevkur said he had no personal involvement in the case, but “a leader must have the courage to take responsibility”, and that he would resign the post soon.
Last month Estonia’s National Audit Office warned about “serious problems” in how the country’s defence ministry accounts for its public spending.
Pevkur insisted that Estonia’s defences have been significantly strengthened on his watch, thanks largely to a surge in defence spending that leaves the country far better prepared for tensions on its eastern flank.
The new minister is not expected to be appointed before the Estonian parliament comes back from recess on 14 September, Pevkur told ERR.
Prime minister Kristen Michal is likely to prepare a shortlist of potential successors next week.
Updated
Fears over dozens dead or missing on migrant boat found near Canary Islands
More than 80 people are believed to have died or gone missing from a migrant boat that departed Gambia 27 days ago on course for Spain’s Canary Islands, campaigners warned.
El País newspaper and EFE news agency reported that the boat was rescued early this morning with 45 survivors – nearly all “men of sub-Saharan origin” – and five bodies on board.
One of the rescuers told EFE that the survivors were in poor health and unable to stand. Six people were hospitalised on arrival on the shore.
Helena Maleno, founder of Walking Borders NGO, said on social media that survivors reported that 83 people, including three women and a baby, had died during the crossing.
The boat had left the Gambia 27 days earlier with 128 people, including four women and a baby, on board, which is how campaigners calculated the likely number of dead.
But worth caveating that by saying that Reuters and other media could not independently verify that figure at this stage.
Updated
Here’s the full No10 quote, via PA:
“The UK stands in full solidarity with Germany following Russia’s egregious and reckless attack on Leipzig airport.
The UK’s commitment to defending our Nato allies and supporting Ukraine is ironclad, and any attempt by Russia to undermine our united resolve is futile.
This is the latest in a clear pattern of attempts by the Russian state to undermine our collective security, and that is why today we have summoned the Russian charge d’affaires to condemn the attack in the strongest terms and underlined that, alongside our European and Nato partners, the UK will continue to expose Russian hostile activity at every level.”
Britain summons top Russian diplomat over Leipzig attack, No10 says
Separately, UK prime minister Andy Burnham’s spokesperson confirmed that Britain has joined the growing list of European countries summoning the top Russian diplomat in the country over the attempted Leipzig drone attack.
EU, France, Poland and several other countries have done that this week after Germany formally blamed Russia for the incident.
Russia continues to deny any link with the attack.
Updated
Macron at Downing Street for talks with Burnham on Ukraine, migration, EU relations
As mentioned earlier (12:02), France’s president Emmanuel Macron is now at 10 Downing Street, meeting with the UK’s prime minister, Andy Burnham.
During a brief chat in front of reporters, Burnham said he was “very pleased to welcome my first overseas visitor,” saying it is “fitting that it is our nearest neighbour and close friend Emmanuel.”
He said their talks will cover Ukraine, small boats, and EU-UK relationship, among others.
EU working on 'targeted restrictive' measures on visas for Russians after 'hostile actions,' EU says
Separately, the Commission has also confirmed it’s working on proposals to tighten its rules on visas for third country citizens, including Russians, amid suggestions that one of the people involved in last month’s attempted drone attack in Leipzig held an Italian tourist visa.
EU’s spokesperson Lammert said:
“What we can do at EU level is that we can take action and we have taken action to further restrict the issuance of visa. One of the elements that we started already in 2022 was that we fully suspended the visa facilitation agreement with Russia; also in 2022, we have adopted guidelines, clear guidelines for member states [when it comes to] visa for Russians and to focus on security and border controls.”
He said the EU is “monitoring these guidelines and the implementation of these guidelines,” with the number of visas issued to Russians falling from four million before the war to 618,000 last year.
He also spoke of stricter rules that “in principle” block Russians from receiving multiple entry visas.
“We are preparing a proposal for targeted restrictive visa measures to address, in particular, security risks stemming from hostile actions of third countries,” he said.
EU declines to comment on leaked Spanish report on Morocco's role in Ceuta crisis
Meanwhile, the European Commission has responded to controversy around Morocco’s role in the Ceuta migration crisis, as discussed in the Spanish parliament this morning.
An EU spokesperson refused to comment on leaks reported in the Spanish press (9:31), and offered a pretty diplomatic take instead.
Markus Lammert said:
“Morocco is an important strategic partner, particularly in our efforts to combat migrants smuggling and illegal migration. We also welcome the close cooperation between Spain and Morocco to manage the situation and ensure the swift return of those who do not have the right to remain.
Commissioner Šuica is in regular contact with Morocco’s foreign minister Nasser Bourita.
Over the past years, we have stepped up cooperation on migration and border management, as well as on anti-smuggling, not only with Morocco, but with our partners along all the routes. And we are working to strengthen our relationship in a comprehensive and strategic partnership that promotes our interests on migration.”
Lammert also said the EU is “advancing on” its assessment of Spain’s request for help in Ceuta, but that’s still ongoing.
Updated
Bayeux tapestry loan symbolises ‘entente amicale’ between France and UK, says King Charles, as Macron's visit continues
The loan of the famous Bayeux tapestry was “the best possible symbol” of the “entente amicale” between France and the UK, King Charles said, as he visited the famous embroidered masterpiece at the British Museum in London.
Though the tapestry recounts a conflict, “here it is today, nearly 1,000 years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations,” he said.
The “70 metres of memory and artistry” were a reminder “that our two nations have been bound together for almost a millennium”, added Charles, speaking at the new exhibition and accompanied by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and UK prime minister, Andy Burnham.
Macron’s visit to the UK continues today, and he is expected at Downing Street shortly for further political talks with Burnham.
You can follow that on our UK blog here:
Updated
Belgium logs nearly 3,000 excess deaths during heatwaves this summer
Belgium logged nearly 3,000 excess deaths during successive heatwaves since June, health authorities said, days after this summer was confirmed as the hottest on record in the northern European nation, AFP reported.
Some 365 excess deaths were observed between 28 July and 16 August, as Belgium sweltered under a third heatwave, adding to the almost 2,600 excess deaths recorded during the previous two bouts of high temperatures, the Sciensano national public health institute said.
French, German, Polish ministers show united front in response to Russia's drone attack
French, German and Polish foreign ministers are meeting in Germany this morning for trilateral talks on the latest security situation in Europe, including Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine and acts of sabotage in Europe.
The ministers endorsed Germany’s actions in response to the attempted Leipzig drone attack last month, including its order to close the Russian consulate in Bonn and the Russian cultural centre in Berlin.
In retaliation, Russia told Germany to close branches of its Goethe Institute in Russia.
Germany’s Johann Wadephul said Germany has “always been ready to enter into a reasonable dialogue with Russia,” but it’s willingness to engage is based on a precondition of Moscow ending its aggression against Ukraine and attacks against Europe
France’s Jean-Noël Barrot stressed that “it is Russia who is the aggressor,” with Ukraine and increasingly European countries facing aggressive actions ordered by Moscow.
He added that “it’s not Ukraine, it’s not the Europeans, but it is systematically Vladimir Putin who goes further and further,” and “whenever our states and democracies are hit by attacks, whether hybrid or otherwise, we will respond.”
Poland’s Radosław Sikorski said that Poland had summoned the Russian ambassador to Warsaw to express its condemnation of Russia’s actions, which he characterised as “state terrorism”.
“We do not consent to the unpunished testing of our borders and hostile acts in our territories. There is no tolerance for arson, attacks on the railways, assassinations, and other provocations.”
He continued:
“Putin’s Russia remains one of the most serious security threats not just to Europe, but to the entire global order. Its objective is the permanent destruction of the European security architecture, grounding international relations in dominance rather than cooperation. We must counter these imperial ambitions.”
Sikorski also endorsed Germany’s response to Russia, jokingly pointing to Poland’s experience that “every time Russia committed arson or tried to blow up a moving train … I closed one Russian consulate, but I ran out of consulates to close.”
Responding to media reports suggesting that one of the men involved in the Leipzig drone attack held a valid Italian visa, Sikorski also strongly endorsed further restrictions on Schengen visas for Russian citizens, including a total ban for Russian veterans, and a requirement to hold a valid biometric passport to block attempts to enter the Schengen Area under a false identity.
Updated
Russia 'actively' preparing sabotage operations against Danish defence industry, intelligence agency says
Russia is “actively” preparing sabotage operations against Denmark, particularly its defence industry, Danish intelligence agency PET told AFP.
The warning came after EU countries summoned Russia’s envoys and discussed fresh sanctions after an explosive-laden drone incident in Germany that the bloc’s foreign policy chief said bore the marks of “state-sponsored terrorism.”
Russia has in recent months been accused of ratcheting up sabotage attacks against European backers of Ukraine, as Moscow’s forces stall on the front line of the war launched by the Kremlin in 2022.
“The Russian intelligence services are actively preparing acts of sabotage targeting the defence industry in Denmark,” Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said in a statement to AFP.
They are recruiting “ordinary Danes” on social media to take photos that can be used in planning acts of sabotage, it said.
Emil Graesholm, PET head of counterintelligence at the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, told newspaper Berlingske in an interview on Thursday that the agency was sharing details about the methods “because they don’t need to look like a spy movie.”
Back in 2024, PET said that the Russian threat against Denmark, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, had grown stronger.
Leaving Spain for a bit as they continue to hurl insults at each other, let’s take a look at the rest of the news in Europe.
Far-right Vox party leader Santiago Abascal strikes a similar tone, accusing Sánchez of “treason.”
In a vicious speech, he repeatedly says the parliament should work towards Sánchez’s removal from the post as he criticises the PM for literally everything: including the act of summoning the Moroccan ambassador, saying it should have been made public at the time.
He also says that “an online hoax does not mobilise 100,000 people,” as he questions Sánchez’s explanations.
Spanish opposition leader calls on PM Sánchez to resign, call elections over Ceuta crisis
Fair to say that opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of the People’s Party, is not particularly convinced by Sánchez’s explanations.
He begins by directly referencing last night’s protests on Ceuta and against the government, saying that the people who took part in them wanted to “once again be a sovereign agent of its own policy; a nation in control of its destiny.”
He quickly calls for Sánchez to go – either for “incompetence” or for “complicity” – and to call early elections.
According to the usual political calendar, they are due to take place no later than in August 2027.
He also does not accept Sanchez’s explanations on Morocco’s role in the crisis. “Why are you afraid of Morocco?,” he asks the PM.
Updated
Sanchez ends his speech by directly addressing the residents of Ceuta, and acknowledging the extraordinary situation they are facing.
He pledges to restore the situation back to “normal,” and promises the government will “treat you with complete and absolute honesty.”
“Things will improve and the problem will be resolved,” he promises.
“We will not stop working until Ceuta emerges from this difficult situation: stronger, more prosperous, and more integrated with the rest of Spain and the EU,” he says.
Sánchez defends aid to Africa as a way of resolving migratory pressures
He says Spain needs to help Africa to grow, because pulling development aid would “ultimately increase migratory pressures, not reduce them.”
“For every euro cut from aid, we will end up spending ten more on borders,” he says.
He says Spain’s policy is not based on spreading “fear or doom-mongering,” but also it is not naive.
“It’s a model based on science, humanity, and solidarity,” he says.
He acknowledges it may not be popular in “the superconservative Europe we live in today,” but he believes it is “right and it works.”
Sánchez calls to see irregular migration as a 'structural' issue
Sánchez also defends his government’s track record on migration.
He says his government put in place a unified structure to look after Spain’s migration policy, which focuses on fighting criminal trafficking gangs, while improving legal migration routes.
He says the government’s policy is working, radically reducing the number of irregular crossings.
“The events in Ceuta do not call this model into question,” he insists.
He acknowledges there are some obvious challenges posed by the fact that people on the other side of the border in Ceuta have eight times lower income per capita.
In a particularly strong passage, he says:
“But this is a structural problem, and must be treated as such. We could build a ten-meter wall, or … a hundred-meter one, … but if that misery and poverty persists or grow on the other side, there will always be someone willing to climb a taller ladder, dig a deeper tunnel, and take to the sea to cross [the border].”
Sánchez also suggests a push to fully integrate Ceuta and Melilla with the EU’s customs union, and bring them closer to the EU.
He says there were good reasons to not do it when Spain joined the EU in 1986, but the situation has changed.
He says Ceuta and Melilla must be treated not as “a border problem to be endured,” but “an integral part of Europe’s past and future.”
Expect that to be fairly controversial for many other EU leaders.
Sánchez also takes an interesting detour as he explains why his government did not commit to Nato’s 5% target on defence spending, arguing that Spain needs to respond to different pressures on the southern border.
He says it is not to diminish the gravity of the threat on the eastern flank – from Russia – but is a recognition of unique challenges faced by Spain elsewhere.
He says that means the country needs to focus on “specific security measures” to counter the threats in its neighbourhood, including cybersecurity and cyber intelligence measures.
Discussing next steps, Sánchez also says he will request a permanent Frontex presence in Ceuta and a Europol observation mission.
He says Spain is reviewing all existing procedures and will adopt “additional safeguards to ensure that the events of 30 July do not happen again,” as he lists a number of proposed measures to help Ceuta, too.
Updated
No evidence Morocco planned or orchestrated the Ceuta crisis, Sánchez insists
Sánchez insists that “no one has provided the government with evidence” that would clearly show that the Ceuta crisis was “orchestrated or carried out by Moroccan authorities.”
He says Morocco’s response could be divided into distinctive phases, with a 10-hour breakdown in their border control at the peak of the crisis. But he says their cooperation with Spain before and afterwards worked well, preventing thousands of further illegal crossings.
He says it remains to be determined what caused the 10-hour breakdown and whether it was their “inability to act or a failure to act.”
But he insists that he has no evidence that Morocco “planned or orchestrated this episode.”
He says this needs to be properly investigated with all decisions grounded in facts, not speculations.
Sánchez also strongly pushes back against suggestions that the government had been explicitly warned about the possibility of crisis. He says that all the reports sent to authorities did not “anticipate the scale or probability of what eventually happened.”
He says various bodies, including the EU’s border agency Frontex, only produced general routine reports, but nothing that included a warning against an imminent border surge of this scale.
Going through them one by one, he addresses individual reports and memos, saying that they included weak and conditional language on possible scenarios. He suggests the government will publish the documents for all to judge.
He says it’s two different things to issue a vague warning about a potential unspecific rise in the number of crossings and a large migration crisis of the size seen in Ceuta. “No report did that,” he insists.
He then turns to the question on the role Morocco played in the crisis. He begins by criticising comments from Morocco, and says Spain summoned the Moroccan ambassador last month to protest against them.
But he goes back to his previous point on how complex the situation is, with “several actors and factors.”
He once again points to misinformation on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok incorrectly claiming that the border was open, and the Supreme Court’s ruling meant that Spain would not return migrants that attempted to cross it.
He says these posts spread like wildfire on WhatsApp, Telegram and Discord, with maps and potential routes for corssing the border.
He says that the Spanish government’s intelligence so far shows no significant role for any state actors like Morocco, Russia or Israel behind these posts, pointing his finger at criminal networks of smugglers instead.
But he also says that a number of social media posts published during and after the crisis appeared to be aimed at “worsening the problem and eroding trust in Spanish and European institutions,” including accounts linked to Russia and international far-right.
Sánchez begins by paying tribute to the people of Ceuta, “who are enduring difficult times” as a result of the crisis.
He also reaffirms Spain’s sovereignty over Ceuta and Melilla.
But says what is happening in Ceuta is “far more complex and multifaceted,” with “a convergence of numerous actors and interests” with no simple explanation for those who “prefer to live in a world of slogans.”
He goes through the facts of the crisis, including a reconstruction of the weeks leading to the border incursion and how the number of irregular crossings changed in those weeks
He says that a series of viral social media posts encouraging people to cross the border and misleadingly citing a recent Supreme Court return started appearing online on 30 July, leading to a surge at the border.
He says that with migrants crossing the border at the Tarajal breakwater, Spanish border agents could not intervene without risking a much higher number of drownings and victims. Some 141 people are believed to have died during the crisis.
But since then Spain succeeded in sending the vast majority of irregular migrants back to Morocco – which he hails as “one of the fastest return processes ever carried out in recent European history” – and installed a number of additional border measures to prevent further crossings, he says.
He admits the situation in Ceuta today continues to pose a humanitarian and management challenge, with many migrants still in the city – but that state institutions stepped up to the occasion.
He says Spain is responding to the crisis in line with international law and procedures that it would expect others to apply to its own citizens elsewhere.
But his frustration is palpable: throughout the statement, he criticises some reactions from political rivals and some media reporting on the crisis.
He also takes a shot at some other European countries for not showing their full solidarity with Spain. He does not name any country in particular, but in a pointed passage clearly aimed at Italy and Denmark – the two countries that led the public criticism of Spain – says the principle of solidarity should apply to Ceuta as much as it applies to Greenland and Lampedusa.
Morning opening: Sánchez to discuss Ceuta crisis in Spanish parliament
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez faces a tricky parliamentary session this morning, as he faces lawmakers to discuss last month’s migration crisis in the north African territory of Ceuta.
His appearance in the Congress comes after tens of thousands of people took to the streets last night to show their solidarity with the territory and protest again the government’s migration policy after over 70,000 irregular migrants crossed into Ceuta from Morocco.
A leaked police report claimed that Moroccan security forces played a role in the Ceuta crisis with “total permissiveness” to irregular border crossings, contradicting the Spanish government’s diplomatic line on the incident and sparking further fury from the public.
While the Spanish government argued that the vast majority of irregular migrants were returned to Morocco within the first 24 hours, some 5,000 are believed to still remain in Ceuta, including minors, contributing to a continuing humanitarian crisis.
The protests were officially organised by the nonpartisan Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, but with strong support from two opposition parties, the Partido Popular and Vox.
I will bring you all the key lines from Sánchez’s speech this morning.
Elsewhere, I will also keep an eye on other news across Europe.
It’s Thursday, 3 September 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
