Since the start of the war in Ukraine, over 7 million people have fled the country. Multiple reports have outlined the specific difficulties that African refugees faced as they attempted to cross the Polish border and enter the European Union. Georgina Robertson and Sophie Samaille take a look at a Facebook post falsely claiming that refugees from Africa were shot at by Polish police.

The war with Russia is now mostly being fought in the country's east, meaning many who fled the invasion can return home to see what's left and try to rebuild. Ukrainian authorities say at least 2 million have returned in the last few weeks. Jan-Philipp Scholz reports from Bucha.

The second round of France's legislative elections takes place on Sunday. A left-wing alliance led by Jean-Luc Melenchon is trying to dislodge President Emmanuel Macron's bloc, but pollsters doubt that this will happen.

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.

For the latest edition of Europe Now, we head to Poland and Hungary. These two EU members both border Ukraine and have both taken in large numbers of Ukrainian refugees. But on more political issues, their governments' responses to the war have been drastically different. Our team meets lawmakers from across the political spectrum of both countries to discover why the Polish and Hungarian governments have taken such different stances. We also explore other key issues, such as the ever-expanding EU files on degradations of rule of law.

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.

In the first case of its kind, German prosecutors have seized several apartments belonging to a Russian lawmaker. So far other sanctioned assets have simply been frozen.

Imports from China's Xinjiang region have been banned in the United States from yesterday as new rules came into force. Under the regulations, firms will have to prove imports from the region are not produced using forced labour.

US President Joe Biden has nominated Mohegan Indian Tribe Lifetime Chief Marilynn Malerba to oversee the US Mint. It marks the first time a Native American's signature will appear on the US currency.

French prosecutors said on Wednesday they were investigating a junior minister in President Emmanuel Macron's government after two allegations of rape were brought against her.

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.