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.

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.

French papers look at the political bombshell for President Emmanuel Macron, whose centrist bloc emerged from Sunday's second round of the legislative elections well short of an absolute majority in parliament. Libération, the main left-wing daily, describes the results for his group as a "slap", while Le Parisien and Le Figaro headline that France is now "ungovernable". Macron will be unable to push on with his legislative agenda without significant opposition support.

French papers look at the political bombshell for President Emmanuel Macron, whose centrist bloc emerged from Sunday's second round of the legislative elections well short of an absolute majority in parliament. Libération, the main left-wing daily, describes the results for his group as a "slap", while Le Parisien and Le Figaro headline that France is now "ungovernable". Macron will be unable to push on with his legislative agenda without significant opposition support.

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing difficult negotiations after his centrist bloc lost its absolute majority in parliament. The conservatives have already ruled out forming a coalition.

Since 2018, a strange creature has been stalking the streets of the south-western French city of Toulouse. Standing 13 metres tall and weighing in at 46 tonnes, Asterion the Minotaur is a giant wood and steel puppet who has become one of the city's emblems. This unusual artistic language is made possible thanks to extraordinary mechanics: a French-made exoskeleton controlled by five operators who move the minotaur's arms, torso and head. The hard work put in behind the scenes by the designers, technicians and operators turns this giant puppet into a genuine work of art.

After losing his parliamentary majority in elections over the weekend, French President Emmanuel Macron is set up for tough negotiations with opposition parties passing his reformist agenda.

French politics continues to dominate the papers as Emmanuel Macron desperately seeks an alliance to secure a parliamentary majority. The US Senate finds bipartisan support for new gun possession laws for the first time in 30 years. Organisers of the Miss France beauty pageant introduce radical new changes to shake up the contest. Finally, a man escapes his kidnappers by driving erratically on a highway in order to be stopped by authorities.

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.