Oliver Farry is pleased to welcome Steven Erlanger, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Europe for The New York Times, based in Berlin. Europe's political centre is confronting a crisis that extends far beyond electoral volatility. From France and Germany to Italy and Spain, mounting economic frustration, generational inequality and declining confidence in established political leadership are reshaping the continent's democratic landscape. "The promises of more economic growth haven't come true," explains Erlanger, describing a continent marked by "a kind of general disgust" and "a sense of drift." 

The far-right European Parliament group of French presidential frontrunner Marine Le Pen's party said Wednesday EU prosecutors were searching its offices as part of a graft probe into its now-defunct predecessor. The Patriots for Europe group said the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) had been searching its administrative offices in Brussels and Strasbourg "since this morning". FRANCE 24's Dave Keating reports from Strasbourg.

President ⁠Volodymyr Zelenskiy ​said on Wednesday ​that Ukraine supported a US proposal for ​three-way talks ‌with Russia ⁠and the United ‌States at the level ⁠of negotiators to be held as soon ​as possible, preferably ‌no later than early November. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Grégoire Roos, Director of the Europe, Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, says that "it's not clear whether Putin would meet Trump and Zelensky", adding that "meeting Zelensky is the last thing that Putin would be prepared to do".

US President Donald Trump's pivot away from Ukraine has triggered fresh questions about his attachment to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the man a top American envoy flattered on Wednesday as a "humanitarian. Trump has cast his dealings with Putin as part of a mega-deal that has secured the release of American detainee Stephen Hubbard -- and which Trump says will end Russia's war on Ukraine. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Kharkiv.

Moscow is ready to resume trilateral US-Ukraine-Russia talks next month, the Kremlin said Wednesday after President Vladimir Putin met with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Russia. FRANCE 24's correspondent Gulliver Cragg has more.

Angela Diffley is pleased to welcome Peter Zalmayev, Founder and Director of the Eurasia Democracy Initiative, LIVE from Kyiv. And he warns, "I'm seeing, I'm smelling a Yalta II. I'm smelling another Munich (1938), where we're seeing appeasement of the aggressor." Ukraine faces the possibility that its sovereignty and security could become mere bargaining chips in an era Zalmayev describes as great-power "collusion". He delivers a forceful critique of the Trump administration's approach to Russia, arguing that Washington is weakening Ukraine's negotiating position while offering Vladimir Putin little incentive to abandon his maximalist demands. At stake, he suggests, are the cohesion of the transatlantic alliance, and the credibility of Western security commitments.

Students, teachers and civil servants are demonstrating in Greece today, protesting over staff shortages, poor infrastructure and the cost of living. Dozens of students have set up tents in the Square facing Parliament, in Athens, and on a pedestrian street in Thessaloniki on Tuesday. Details by FRANCE 24 correspondent in Athens, Nathalie Savaricas.

Portuguese demonstrators have been protesting against the cost of housing in the country. They are opposed to recent measures announced by the government and are calling for a new gathering in the coming days, despite police clearing protest camps.

US envoy Steve Witkoff is in Saint Petersburg, holding talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin. The face to face meeting comes after he met with Ukraine's president and other European leaders in Oslo. Witkoff is due to return to the Norwegian capital after his visit to Russia. Washington seeks to breathe new life into US-led efforts to end the war. Details and analysis by FRANCE 24 international affairs editor, Kethevane Gorjestani.

US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Wednesday about Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as US President Donald Trump pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting. The day before, the American official had met with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo, Norway. Details by FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle.

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff is headed to Russia today to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin for peace talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on his end, met with the US official in Norway Tuesday. What progress has been made in Oslo? Ophélie Jacobson explains.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday announced the deployment of 500 troops to Milan to assist police following clashes in the city. Meloni said a cabinet meeting also approved measures to make the detention of minors easier and to impose fines on their parents for any damage. Story by Morgan Ayre.

Italy on Tuesday approved the deployment of 500 troops to Milan after violent clashes as fuel price protests hit pasta production and food deliveries in southern Italy. A cabinet meeting on Tuesday also approved a series of security measures, including making the detention of minors easier and introducing the crime of "violent participation in a demonstration". FRANCE 24's Seema Gupta reports from Rome.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting US special envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday in a ​bid to rescue relations that have sunk to new lows as President Donald Trump has courted Moscow and Kyiv has complained about Washington withholding vital defences. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Kharkiv.

Ukrainian ⁠Foreign Minister ​Andrii Sybiha said on ​Monday that a summit between Russia, China ​and the ‌US would ⁠encourage President Vladimir Putin ‌to prolong the war. The ​Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had proposed a ​summit next month ​with US ​President Donald Trump and Chinese President ​Xi Jinping to negotiate an end to the war on terms ⁠that would favour Moscow. FRANCE 24's Monte Francis reports.

Speed limits on a US military grade satellite system are hindering Ukrainian forces' ability to coordinate drone strikes against Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday. Zelensky said frontline units had reported that the Starshield equipment "stops functioning at speeds of 130-160 kilometres (80-100 miles) per hour in various sectors of the front". Separately, a Ukrainian army brigade has announced the rescue of a wounded soldier from the front line using an aerial drone, describing the evacuation as the first of its kind. The brigade published a video showing the drone lowering itself to the ground, before a man in combat gear fastens himself to a winch onboard and is lifted upwards. FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg reports from Ukraine.

Europe's increasingly pragmatic engagement with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers is exposing a fundamental contradiction between diplomatic non-recognition and political necessity. In an investigation for The New York Times, Pakistan and Afghanistan bureau chief Elian Peltier reveals how European governments are quietly expanding negotiations with the Taliban over migrant deportations, diplomatic representation and economic assistance. “Even though on paper European governments do not recognise the Taliban administration, in practice they meet much more frequently than most of us know,” Peltier explains. 

Rescuers searched on Thursday for seven missing sailors after drones struck two chemical tankers near Romania's Black Sea coast, setting them ablaze and raising fresh security concerns along a vital shipping route used by Ukraine. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Europe editor Armen Georgian, Nicolae Stefanuta, Romanian MEP and Co-Chair of the Group of the Greens, says that the Danube delta region is facing a more intense threat from Russia than Baltic States and that "it is clear that sooner or later we will have European casualties".

Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Nobel Peace laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, Director of the Centre for Civil Liberties, says that with the diesel-supply deal with Moscow Donald Trump "is openly financing this war, by lifting sanctions is providing Russia with opportunities to earn more money" adding that "extra money will be converted in rockets and drones and additional deaths among the civilian population".

Romania reported seven people missing on Thursday after two drone attacks on ships in the Black Sea, where several vessels have been hit recently in suspected fallout from the Ukraine war. The attacks are the latest in a series off the coast of Romania and neighbouring Bulgaria in recent weeks. FRANCE 24's Eliza Herbert reports.