Exclusive: Chinese officials are using a ‘highly specific’ interpretation of EU rules to suggest Taiwanese figures should not be granted visas, officials say

Chinese officials have been pushing “legal advice” on European countries, saying their own border laws require them to ban entry to Taiwanese politicians, according to more than half a dozen diplomats and officials familiar with the matter.

The officials made demarches to European embassies in Beijing, or through local embassies directly to European governments in their capital cities, warning the European countries not to “trample on China’s red lines”, according to the European diplomats and ministries who spoke to the Guardian.

Strike on Lviv that used nuclear-capable ballistic missile a ‘dangerous, inexplicable escalation’. What we know on day 1,420

The US and Britain have condemned Russia for dropping a nuclear-capable Oreshnik ballistic missile on Ukraine. At an emergency meeting of the UN security council, Tammy Bruce, US deputy ambassador, called the Lviv strike a “dangerous and inexplicable escalation”. Britain’s acting UN ambassador, James Kariuki, called the attack “reckless”, adding that “it threatens regional and international security and carries significant risk of escalation and miscalculation”.

Russia claimed the Oreshnik targeted an aviation repair factory. Ukraine has not confirmed what was hit but said the missile struck during a wider attack using drones and other rockets. The rarely used, multiple warhead Oreshnik missile is thought to be in limited supply – Ukraine’s military and special forces claim to have destroyed at least one of them on the ground in Russia. Observers have rated the two Oreshnik strikes so far on Ukraine as largely political and symbolic, with dummy warheads probably used, and any damage caused by their sonic boom and physical impact rather than live explosives. Analysts have questioned whether the Oreshnik is accurate enough to deliver non-nuclear bombs, which have to be more closely targeted than nuclear warheads to be effective.

Russian forces launched attacks on Kyiv and Kharkiv early on Tuesday, killing at least two people in Kharkiv and injuring another three, Ukrainian authorities said. Kyiv on Monday buried medic Sergiy Smolyak, 56, who was killed in a drone attack as he rushed to rescue residents from a housing block that Russia struck minutes earlier in a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital on Friday. “He was very kind, always calm and even-tempered. He saved so many people,” said Ryta Dorosh, a nurse who worked with Smolyak before the war.

Russia has bombed two more civilian ships transporting food products in the Black Sea, according to Ukraine. “An enemy drone struck a Panamanian-flagged tanker that was waiting to enter port to load vegetable oil. Unfortunately, one crew member was wounded,” said Ukrainian regional development minister Oleksiy Kuleba. “There was also an attack on a ship flying the flag of San Marino, which was leaving the port with a cargo of corn ... This is further proof that Russia is deliberately attacking civilian ships, international trade and maritime safety,” he added. Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said the attacks happened around the Chornomorsk port on the southern Ukrainian coast.

Incriminating video, dismissed by officials as part of a ‘hybrid attack’, has forced resignations of Nikos Christodoulides’s wife and chief of staff

The Cypriot president, Nikos Christodoulides, has said he has “nothing to fear” over a scandal that has forced the resignations of his chief of staff and his wife from a leadership role of a major charity.

As allegations of high-level corruption swirled days after the island assumed the rotating EU presidency, officials insisted the country had been the victim of “hybrid warfare”. The incriminating claims, implicating the president and first lady in a cash for access network, were made in a video uploaded on X.

The tumultuous start to 2026 should force a reckoning in Brussels and European capitals, and a recognition of the power the EU can exert

Another week, another set of dilemmas for Europe’s beleaguered political class to deal with. On Wednesday Brussels is due to outline the terms of the €90bn loan it has promised to Ukraine, amid internal tensions over whether Kyiv can use the money to buy US as well as EU weapons. On the same day, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is due to meet ministers from Denmark and Greenland, as Donald Trump continues to insist that the US will take ownership of the latter “one way or another”. And as the body count of protesters rises in Iran, the EU is under mounting pressure to do more than merely “monitor” the situation, as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, somewhat feebly put it over the weekend.

Beyond the crisis management, a deeper reckoning is overdue after a tumultuous beginning to 2026. It has long been a truism that there is a profound mismatch between the EU’s economic heft and its geopolitical clout. But only a year into Mr Trump’s second term, the disjunction looks unsustainable in the “America first” era.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

Bientôt la fin des taxes supplémentaires imposées aux voitures électriques chinoises ? L'Europe et la Chine doivent s'accorder sur une directive pour les prix des véhicules exportés sur le Vieux Continent.