Putin insisted Russia ‘will not step back from goals’ in Ukraine in hour-long call to Trump, Kremlin says – Europe live | Europe

Vladimir Putin didn’t make any shift in Moscow’s position during a call with Donald Trump that lasted over an hour. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Moscow wants a negotiated end to the Ukraine war but would not step back from its original goals. He told reporters: “Our president also said that Russia will achieve the goals it has set: that is, the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, to the current acute confrontation, and Russia will not back down from these goals.” Ushakov also said that while Russia was open to continuing to speak with the US, any peace negotiations needed to occur between Moscow and Kyiv. There’s been no word from the White House so we don’t yet know what Trump made of the call, but if and when we get that it’ll be covered over on our US politics blog.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy openly spoke about “doubts about continued US support for Europe” as he repeated his call to “strengthen our cooperation and coordination” through the EU, Nato, and in bilateral relations (he said today he wants Ukraine to join the EU, which Denmark threw itself behind). He explicitly said that Ukraine needs the US and there will area where the US support is essentially irreplaceable, but it’s clear this is a source of growing concern for him. He is due to talk to Donald Trump tomorrow, so they will no doubt discuss the US military weapons deliveries pause. Zelenskyy also made it clear that he remained supportive of the US president’s efforts to bring about a lasting peace and hinted that “a meeting at the level of leaders” would be needed to conclude any talks.

French president Emmanuel Macron said he wanted a EU-US trade deal “as soon as possible, with the lowest tariffs possible”, as a Washington-set deadline looms to reach an accord. His comments come as the EU’s trade chief, Maroš Šefčovič, is in Washington DC for talks with the US administration amid hopes that a framework deal can be struck ahead of the next week’s deadline to avoid punishing 50% tariffs. The US secretary of treasury Scott Bessent offered a rather cryptic answer on the progress of talks with the EU saying only: “We will see what we can do.”

Prime minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark has to “steer Europe safely through one of the most challenging times in our history” at the inauguration ceremony for the Danish presidency of the EU in Aarhus. In a hard-hitting speech she was clear about Denmark’s priorities with security, supporting Ukraine, and migration.

A wildfire fanned by gale-force winds forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people on the Greek island of Crete, officials said, as large swathes of continental Europe baked in a punishing early summer heatwave linked to at least nine deaths. About 230 firefighters, along with 46 vehicles and helicopters, were battling the blaze today after it broke out 24 hours earlier near Ierapetra on the south-east coast of the country’s largest island, threatening to engulf houses and hotels.

Two wildfires that began overnight near the western Turkish resort of Izmir were raging out of control today, fuelled by high winds, officials said. Locals in at least five districts in the two areas were evacuated as a precaution but there were no immediate reports of injuries.

It comes as Europe continues to face extreme heat, with Spain, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and Croatia all experiencing temperatures over 30 degrees Celsius today. In Italy, the fierce heat over the last week has been linked to at least five deaths, with two people, aged 75 and 60, dying on beaches in Sardinia. Italy’s health ministry placed 18 major cities on maximum ‘red’ alert for heat today, including Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna, Genoa and Palermo, meaning the heat is so intense that it poses a risk for young and healthy people too.

Due to the climate emergency, Italian seas have reached temperatures above 20C even at depths of 40 metres, according to a report released yesterday by Greenpeace. Across the Mediterranean, 2024 marked the hottest year on record for average sea temperature in the basin, with a mean value of 21.16C.

Serbian police detained 79 protesters late last night in a crackdown on street demonstrators calling for a snap election and an end of the 12-year rule of Aleksandar Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party. Police and protesters clashed in the capital Belgrade and the cities of Novi Sad, Niš and Novi Pazar, the interior ministry said in a statement. Today, the European Union strongly condemned “acts of hatred and violence” in Serbia and called for calm.

Portugal and Liverpool forward Diogo Jota died in a car crash overnight. The accident, first reported by Portuguese media and the Spanish sports newspaper Marca, took place near Zamora in northwest Spain, with local emergency services confirming two fatalities aged 28 and 26, without giving their names. The Portuguese football association confirmed the media reports in a statement, saying they “lacks the words” to describe the loss of the player. The BBC earlier said it also confirmed Jota’s death with the Spanish civil guard, Guardia Civil. Local media reported that the car went off road and was fully engulfed in flames by the time first responders arrived on scene.

Food delivery platform Glovo announced it was suspending the introduction of financial bonuses for couriers working in high temperatures, following criticism from unions and politicians. Union leaders and politicians condemned the scheme, warning it risked turning “a health hazard into an economic incentive”, and insisted that “no compensation can justify working under extreme risk conditions”.

Lauren Sánchez packed 27 designer dresses for her wedding to the billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, in Venice last week, but left with only 26 after one went missing. Sources familiar with the situation confirmed that a dress had gone missing but denied it was stolen. It is unclear where the dress disappeared and when.

Four people were injured in a stabbing in Tampere, Finland. Police said there were no fatalities, and investigators believe there is no reason to suspect “a terrorist or racist motive”.

French air traffic controllers began a two-day strike demanding better working conditions, causing disruption to air travel as the summer season gets under way. Ryanair said it had to cancel 170 flights disrupting 30,000 passengers, with a secondary effect on flights flying over France to other destinations. Air France, France’s largest airline said it had adapted its flight schedule, without giving details, but that it was maintaining long-haul flights.