Closing summary
… and on that note, it’s a wrap from me, Jakub Krupa, for today.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte made a surprise visit to Odesa in Ukraine to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy and reaffirm the alliance’s support for Ukraine after recent “outrageous” attacks by Russia (15:52, 15:59, 16:06), amid growing concerns about the US administration’s unwillingness to criticise Russia for recent attacks in Sumy with reports it refused to sign a G7 statement on the strike (9:23 and 15:48).
The European Union warned that “significant joint efforts will be needed” for a successful outcome to trade talks at the end of Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on tariffs (12:35), with European Commission spokesperson admitting that the bloc would need “an additional level of engagement from the US to keep the ball rolling forward” (12:46).
France’s national terrorism office launched an investigation into a wave of apparently coordinated attacks at multiple prisons across the country believed to be linked to a government clampdown on drug traffickers (11:07, 11:12, 13:22 and story).
A group of Serbian students were on the final approach to Strasbourg finishing their epic 1,300km cycling trip to draw the European Union’s attention to mass protests in the country against alleged corruption among political leaders (10:51, 10:56, 18:33).
And 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.
I was hoping to bring you one final update on the Serbian students cycling to Strasbourg before we close the blog today but they appear to be slightly delayed and still some 25 kilometers out from their finish line, according to their live tracker.
Their ETA has been updated to 7.30pm local time.
The good news is that there appears to be a big welcome party waiting for them when they reach Strasbourg…
Updated
