German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, decried Russia's attacks during their joint trip to Ukraine.

The executive body of the European Union has recommended that Ukraine be granted EU candidate status. Kyiv has sought candidate status since 2014.

Europe continues to struggle with a heat wave, though some have seen a respite from record high temperatures for the time of year. One of several wildfires has raged out of control on Greece's second-largest island.

The Cypriot government says the vast majority of migrants enter the island's breakaway north via Turkey and then seek asylum in the EU-backed south. Arrivals doubled to about 10,000 in the first five months of this year.

The European Commission has recommended candidate status for Ukraine. Just over three months after being invaded by Russia, Kyiv has cleared the first hurdle on the road to membership.

Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief has called for Russia to end its blockade of Ukrainian ports. His comments come ahead of a meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers.

To mark World Refugee Day, we head to Belgium, where several hundred unaccompanied minors are still waiting for a legal guardian. Under Belgian law, all foreign minors arriving into the country unaccompanied by an adult must be assigned a legal guardian in order to register with the authorities. But the country faces a shortage of these profiles and is trying to recruit more to address the shortfall. Our correspondents report.

Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia have criticized the slow progress on their EU membership bids. With Ukraine on the fast track, Western Balkan leaders are meeting with their EU counterparts — but hold out little hope.

EU leaders are in Brussels to discuss the membership bids of Ukraine and Moldova. Meanwhile, the European Parliament has voted heavily in favor of the two countries' getting candidate status.

In tonight's edition: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defends his controversial deal to expel migrants to Rwanda, telling critics to "keep an open mind". Whilst most members of the bloc are former British colonies, Gabon and Togo are expected to join Mozambique and Rwanda as the latest nations to join the Commonwealth despite few historic links to the UK. Plus we take a closer look at some the major shifts needed to finance Africa's essential transition to reliable energy.

The European Union should change the way it does business with Africa to redress imbalances left over in part from the colonial era, EU lawmakers have said.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine four months ago, the cost of living crisis has become a global issue. Prices have gone up around the world. In Europe, the countries that use the euro saw an average of 8.1 percent inflation in May. Pressure on prices, combined with stuttering economic growth, has sparked fears of a recession. These concerns could still come into play regarding the EU's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this programme, we're joined by two MEPs to discuss how the EU should balance sanctions against Russia with the risk of recession.