Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha repeated his warnings that Europe needs to face the threat of Russia, and urging the EU to adopt further sanctions against Moscow. He also reiterated that Kyiv was ready for peace talks anytime.
Speaking alongside Polish and Lithuanian ministers in the Polish city of Lublin, he responded to overnight attacks on Ukraine by saying that “having no success on the battlefield, the Kremlin is directing air terror against our peaceful cities and communities, against civilians.” He also referenced the earlier attack at a Polish-owned factory in Ukraine.
Sybiha, formally as an acting minister given the on-going government reshuffle in Kyiv, said that “Moscow seeks to break our spirit, … but it will not succeed, especially for as long as we are together.”
He also repeated calls for the EU to adopt the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, currently blocked by Slovakia, and to put even more pressure on Russia to sit down to ceasefire talks.
Sybiha also criticised Russia’s claims that Ukraine was delaying further peace talks, calling them as “lie, manipulation and distortion of facts,” and stressing that “Ukraine has never been, is not and will not be an obstacle to peace” having agreed to US-led ceasefire proposals.
He said Kyiv remained “ready for such negotiations in any format, in any geography.”
He was backed by Polish and Lithanian counterparts, with Lithuania’s Kęstutis Budrys calling it out as “false narratives and false propaganda coming from Russia.”
“It’s up to Putin to take these conditions, what President Trump is telling him to do already [for] four months and we’re still waiting,” he said.
Key events
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Closing summary
Jakub Krupa
… and on that note, it’s a wrap!
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Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha urged the EU to adopt further sanctions against Moscow as he rejected Russian accusations that Kyiv didn’t want to progress peace talks and reiterated that Kyiv was ready to hold them anytime (15:16).
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But EU diplomats reportedly failed to agree the 18th package of sanctions on Wednesday, after it was once again blocked by Slovakia (17:27).
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Meanwhile, the Ukrainian parliament formally dismissed the outgoing prime minister Denys Shmyhal as part of a major government reshuffle initiated by president Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week (14:25).
Elsewhere,
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The European Commission has presented the key elements of its new €2tn draft budget for the European Union for 2028-2034 (16:29, 16:39, 17:20), getting rather cool first reactions from EU lawmakers (17:14).
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French prime minister François Bayrou also faced “furious” reactions from opposition lawmakers in France over his draft budget proposal, which could even see his government toppled this autumn (11:51, 12:02).
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EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was confirmed to be flying to Washington for further talks with US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and US trade representative Jamieson Greer as the bloc hopes to escape prohibitive tariffs proposed by president Donald Trump (12:09, 12:23).
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.
ShareComplaint upheld against Belgian ticket inspector who said ‘bonjour’ in Flanders
A complaint against a Belgian ticket inspector who gave passengers a bilingual greeting in Dutch-speaking Flanders has been upheld, shedding light on the country’s strict language laws.
The train was in Flanders and nearing Brussels, which is officially bilingual. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters
The conductor, Ilyass Alba, said Belgium’s Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control had upheld a complaint made by a commuter in 2024.
The passenger had objected to Alba’s use of the French word “bonjour” while the train was in Dutch-speaking Flanders.
Alba said he had greeted the carriage with “Goeiedag, bonjour” (good day in Dutch and French), as the train approached Vilvoorde (Vilvorde), near the outskirts of Brussels, which is officially bilingual.
The commission upheld the passenger’s complaint that Alba should not have used French in the Dutch-speaking part of the country, unless approached by a passenger speaking French.
“What a country!” Alba wrote on Facebook. He said he understood why a passenger concerned to protect his mother tongue would file such a complaint, but “that the commission would rule in his favour when travellers from all over the world visit Belgium is a sign of narrow-mindedness on the part of a small Flemish elite.”
For its part, the commission, which was created in 1966 to police Belgium’s language rules, said it was upholding the law and only the legislature could make changes.
Under Belgium’s strict language rules, conductors on the national rail service SNCB (NMBS in Dutch) should only use Dutch in Flanders, French in the southern-speaking Francophone region, and both languages in bilingual Brussels. The rule applies to passenger announcements and onboard electronic screens.
And to end on a lighter note, let’s cross again to Jennifer Rankin in Brussels for a story on something very different…
ShareEU fails to approve new sanctions on Russia
Meanwhile, we are just getting a line from Reuters that EU ambassadors have failed to approve the 18th package of sanctions against Russia today as Slovakia continues to oppose their adoption.
Updated at 11.29 EDT
You can read von der Leyen’s budget statement in full – without the Q&A with reporters – here.
The press release is here, and the commission’s own Q&A is here.
There is also a special website on the new budget, but it doesn’t seem to be working (Access Denied).
Updated at 11.30 EDT
‘Budget maths do not add up,’ EU lawmakers respond to draft budget
As von der Leyen’s presser wraps up, a note from the European Parliament lands in my inbox with leading EU lawmakers “sounding the alarm” on the proposal and warning that “the budget maths do not add up.”
“However you try to package this, what we have is a real-terms investment and spending freeze – plus repayment of NextGenerationEU borrowing. It is the status quo, which the Commission has always insisted is not an option,” the two parliament’s co-rapporteurs, Siegfried Mureşan and Carla Tavares said.
Their note also said that “the parliament has already expressed serious concerns about the proposed structure, warning that pushing successful programmes into ‘umbrella mega-funds’ risks undermining proven policies that have delivered concrete results and improved living standards.”
In a separate, political reaction issued by the largest centre-right grouping in the European Parliament, Mureşan said that “key red lines set by the European Parliament have been ignored,” and “in its current form, we cannot give the long-term budget a green light.”
One to watch.
Updated at 11.36 EDT
Jakub Krupa
When asked questions about some of the calculations in the budget and if the commissioners were all kept informed about the final decisions, von der Leyen says the negotiations continued late into the night and this morning, and it would have been impossible to have an up-to-date final table “with all of it correct” as the talks continued until the last minute.
She then ultimately sidesteps the questions completely by saying it will be explained in the technical briefing, and that the commission is “still at the beginning of the process” with further negotiations down the line.
Erm.
Jakub Krupa
Summing up what Serafin and von der Leyen are saying – and if I noted it right – the biggest spending items are €451bn on competitiveness, €300bn on agriculture, €218bn on less developed regions, and €131bn on defence and space.
There is also a €400bn crisis mechanism, “becauses crises are no longer the exception, they are the norm, and we have learned the lesson.”
On defence and space, von der Leyen confirms plans to spend five times more than in the current budget, with €131bn earmarked for this budget item.
“That is five times of what we have today, because we know that security is a top concern for citizens and governments, and it will strengthen our industrial base and our capabilities,” she explains.
Von der Leyen is also keen to send a clear message on the link between the EU funds and the rule of law, saying:
“In all the MFF [multiannual financial framework] that is being proposed, the respect for the rule of law is unconditional. The rule of law is a must for all funding from the EU budget.
With the next MFF, we go further the national and regional partnership plans will make the rule of law and fundamental rights a condition for investment and a focus for the reforms.”
ShareEU’s von der Leyen presenting EU budget 2028-2034
Von der Leyen is speaking now, too, and she also acknowledges that the presentation was “scheduled earlier,” but “it is a marathon to get there, and we just took more time.”
The political topline is:
It is a budget that matches the EU’s ambition, that confronts Europe’s challenges, and that strengthens our independence.
She talks about “investing in people, member states and regions,” with €865bn for the national and regional partnership plans, “the foundation for investment and reform.”
She says key priorities there will be agriculture and cohesion, again, stressing the commission is “safeguarding €300bn for farmers’ income support.”
She also flags the plan to triple the EU’s investment in migration and border management, “because Europe’s borders are a shared responsibility.”
Jakub Krupa
These numbers will need to be carefully scrutinised to give you a proper assessment of what they mean for the EU.
We will probably hear more of a political spin on it from the commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who is due to speak in a few minutes.
I will bring you the key lines from her.