‘This is not another Covid,’ WHO chief tells Tenerife as hantavirus cruise ship heads to island – Europe live

On the first day of three-day ceasefire, the Kremlin warned that a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine was still “a very long way” off, even with the US pushing for an agreement, Reuters reports.

“It is understandable that the American side is in a hurry,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television reporter Pavel Zarubin.

“But the issue of a Ukrainian settlement is far too complex, and reaching a peace agreement is a very long way with complex details,” Peskov said.

Donald Trump had announced on Friday that this three-day ceasefire would include “a suspension of all “kinetic activity” and a swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country. “Talks are continuing on ending this Major Conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The pro-European centre-right leader Péter Magyar has been sworn in as prime minister of Hungary, marking the official end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power.

Saturday’s ceremony – during which Magyar had invited people to join him to “write Hungarian history” together and “step through the gate of regime change” – comes a month after his opposition Tisza party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections.

The result sparked jubilation in Budapest and beyond, as Orbán and his populist, nationalist movement had long been held up by the global far right as an example to emulate.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, published a direct message on Saturday to the people of Tenerife, where MV Hodius, the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, is set to dock early Sunday.

Here is his message in full:

My name is Tedros, and I serve as the director-general of the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for global public health. It is not common for me to write directly to the people of a single community, but today I feel it is not only appropriate, it is necessary.

I want to speak to you directly, not through press releases or technical briefings, but as one human being to another, because you deserve that.

I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word “outbreak” and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment.

But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now.

The virus aboard the MV Hondius is the Andes strain of hantavirus. It is serious. Three people have lost their lives, and our hearts go out to their families. The risk to you, living your daily life in Tenerife, is low. This is the WHO’s assessment, and we do not make it lightly.

Right now, there are no symptomatic passengers on board. A WHO expert is on that ship. Medical supplies are in place. Spain’s authorities have prepared a careful, step-by-step plan: passengers will be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in sealed, guarded vehicles, through a completely cordoned-off corridor, and repatriated directly to their home countries. You will not encounter them. Your families will not encounter them.

I also want to say something else, something that goes beyond the science.

I personally thanked prime minister (Pedro) Sanchez for Spain’s decision to receive this ship. I called it an act of solidarity and moral duty. Because that is what it is. I want you to know that the WHO’s request to Spain was not made arbitrarily. It was made in full accordance with the International Health Regulations, the legally binding framework that defines the rights and obligations of countries and the WHO when responding to public health events of international concern. Under those rules, the nearest port with sufficient medical capacity must be identified to ensure the safety and dignity of those on board. Tenerife met that standard. Spain honoured it. Nearly 150 people from 23 countries have been at sea for weeks, some of them grieving, all of them frightened, all of them longing for home. Tenerife has been chosen because it has the medical capacity, the infrastructure, and the humanity to help them reach safety.

And because I believe that so deeply, I will be there myself. I intend to travel to Tenerife to observe this operation firsthand, to stand alongside the health workers, port staff, and officials who are making it happen, and to personally pay my respects to an island that has responded to a difficult situation with grace, solidarity, and compassion. Your humanity deserves to be witnessed, not just acknowledged from a distance.

As I have said many times: viruses do not care about politics, and they do not respect borders. The best immunity any of us has is solidarity.

Tenerife is demonstrating that solidarity today. The ship’s captain, Jan Dobrogowski, crew and the company operating the vessel have shown exemplary collaboration at this challenging time. On behalf of the World Health Organization, and on behalf of those passengers and their families around the world, I thank the people of Tenerife and everyone else involved.

Please take care of yourselves and of each other. Trust in the preparations that have been made. And know that the WHO stands with you, and with every person on that ship, every step of the way.

In Budapest, Hungarians from all over the country have gathered at Kossuth Square in front of the country’s neo-Gothic Parliament.

Many are sitting on the grass or in picnic chairs, eating hot dogs and lángos as they watch the speaker of the house being sworn in on a giant screen. The mood is ecstatic, with some weaving the Hungarian flag and wearing merch from the new governing party Tisza.

“This is the first time I feel like it’s good to be Hungarian,” said Erzsébet as she sits in a circle of her friends wearing Tisza t-shirts. “I feel like I could cry”

The crowd began clapping when it was announced that the European Union flag would be placed back in the Parliament – but also booed loudly when far-right party Mi Hazánk’s Dóra Dúró, who gained notoriety for publicly destroying a copy of a children’s book that featured LGBTQ+ characters, was voted deputy speaker of the house.

German chancellor Friedrich Merz has said Europe wants to work to keep the NATO alliance functioning, despite differences with the US that the Iran war has exposed.

Tensions between Donald Trump’s administration and European NATO partners have raised questions about the future of NATO. Already high after US criticism of Europe over defence spending and issues like immigration policy, the tensions have increased after Germany and other European countries refused to support the US and Israeli war against Iran that began at the end of February.

At a press conference with Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson on Saturday, Merz said:

We are really willing to keep this alliance alive for the future.

He also said Sweden and Finland had strengthened the European pillar of the alliance.

We know that there are some differences. We know that we are seeing challenges, all of us, but our final goal is to bring this conflict to an end and to guarantee that Iran is not able to produce nuclear weapons.

And this goal is a common goal between America and Europe.

Ukrainians welcomed a three-day ceasefire as a much-needed break from years of attacks from Russia as it came into effect on Saturday, even though the Kremlin said a longer-term peace deal remained a long way off.

Ukraine’s air force said some drones had been detected along the more than 1,000 km (600-mile) front line across southeastern Ukraine in the morning, but it did not report any air alerts for missiles across the country overnight and into Saturday.

Kateryna Kizev, who fled the frontline city of Kherson in the south and now lives in Cherkasy in central Ukraine, told Reuters:

This is very good because, honestly, the sleepless nights have gotten a bit tiresome.

At least for a few days we will be able to sleep in peace and without the attacks.

Some images have been released of passengers and staff on the MV Hondius. You can see a selection here:

Spain’s interior minister has said passengers on the cruise ship will be allowed to take essential belongings with them but the remaining luggage, as well as the body of the deceased passenger onboard, will remain on the ship and be taken to the Netherlands where it will be disinfected.

The interior minister of Spain told Reuters on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands have confirmed they will send planes to repatriate nationals from their respective countries aboard the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak.

The European Union is sending two more planes for the remaining European citizens, and the US and UK have also confirmed planes and contingency plans for non-EU citizens.

The MV Hondius is set to to dock in Spain’s Canary Islands early on Sunday.

An update from the World Health Organization on hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius:

• A total of 8 cases, including 3 deaths, have been reported as of Friday. Six of these cases cases are confirmed as Andes virus and four patients are currently hospitalised.

• One case previously reported as suspected hantavirus has now been reclassified as a non-case after testing negative for Andes (ANDV) virus.

• A man who disembarked in Tristan da Cunha on 14 April is currently stable and in isolation. He is currently a probable case until laboratory confirmation.

• Passengers who travelled on the same flight from St Helena to South Africa along with one of the confirmed cases have been contacted – 75 of those contacts have been identified in South Africa, of whom 42 have been traced by national authorities and are currently under monitoring.

The MV Hondius is set to dock in the Canary Islands early on Sunday.

The MV Hondius, the cruise ship hit with a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, is scheduled to dock in Spain’s Canary Islands between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time on Sunday, the Spanish health minister told Reuters.

The World Health Organization chief has arrived in Spain ahead of the disembarkment.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X:

I will join senior government officials in a mission to Tenerife to oversee safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew members and health experts from MV Hondius cruise ship.

Meanwhile, I am in direct communication with captain Jan Dobrogowski and WHO colleague on board Dr Freddy Banza-Mutoka, who told me that, at this stage, there are no additional people on board showing symptoms of hantavirus.

Read more about the MV Hondius here:

Here are some images coming out of Hungary ahead of the inauguration of Péter Magyar as the new prime minister:

While Russia celebrated Victory Day with a scaled-back military parade in Moscow’s Red Square on Saturday, the Donetsk region of Russian-controlled Ukraine commemorated the day as well:

Saturday is also Europe Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration that ultimately laid the groundwork for the European Union as it exists today.

On X, Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote that Ukraine – which is seeking EU membership – is celebrating Europe Day “not formally or through sloganeering, but fully aware that we are already an inseparable part of the European family”.

“We are defending Ukraine, our independence, our future – and in doing so, we in Ukraine are defending our Europe. A Europe of which Ukraine has been and will remain a part,” Zelenskyy wrote.

He continued: “From the first days of the full-scale war until today, Europe has stood with Ukraine. And this is not charity – it is a choice made by Europeans: to stand on the same side as the brave and the strong – the Ukrainians who are fighting today for peace and true protection against tyranny, not only for themselves, but for the entire continent. And we will inevitably defend our state, our people, and our right to freely choose our future – a future in Europe.

Pjotr Sauer is the Guardian’s Russian affairs reporter

Vladimir Putin presided over a notably scaled-back Victory Day parade on Red Square on Saturday, with the ceremony lasting just 45 minutes – roughly half the length of previous years – as security fears and the realities of a grinding war in Ukraine cast a shadow over Russia’s most important secular holiday.

The Russian president struck a defiant tone, invoking the sacrifices of the second world war to rally support for his troops in Ukraine.

“Victory has always been and will always be ours,” he told the crowd, using the celebration to draw his now-familiar – and historically false – parallel between the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany and his invasion of Ukraine.

But the reality on the ground told a different story. The customary display of missiles and armoured vehicles was absent entirely, replaced by a video showcasing Russia’s drone capabilities and nuclear arsenal.

The audience included only a small delegation of foreign leaders from Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Laos and Malaysia. They watched a column of North Korean soldiers march across the square, troops from one of Russia’s closest allies who have fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine

Moscow was blanketed in heavy security, with internet services switched off across the city.

Russian authorities openly acknowledged the measures were designed specifically to protect Putin, an admission that underscored how dramatically the calculus of a war Russia once expected to win in weeks has shifted.

It was not until the final hours that it became clear Ukraine would not disrupt the parade, after Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire and prisoner exchange on Friday.

With no victory in sight and no timeline for an end to the war, the mood inside Russia is souring. Mass internet blackouts, the contracting economy and rising inflation have all fuelled public anger, yet Putin shows no signs of compromising on Ukraine.

Inside Hungary’s dazzling neo-Gothic parliament, the scenes will be solemn on Saturday as the new leader, Péter Magyar, is sworn in. Outside is where the party is expected to unfold, as people pour in from across the country to mark a pivotal moment: the formal end of Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power.

Russia’s annual military parade celebrating the allies’ victory over Nazi Germany in the second world war has begun in Red Square.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the event – typically a bombastic show of military strength – will take place without a display of tanks and ballistic missiles over fears of a long-range attack by Ukrainian drones.

Here are some images of the parade coming in over the wires:

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Europe.

A three-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine kicks off today that will include “a suspension of all “kinetic activity” and a swap of 1,000 prisoners from each country. Though it was first announced by Donald Trump on social media, it has since been confirmed by both sides.

Russia had previously announced a ceasefire to mark its 9 May second world war Victory Day, which Ukraine had previously lambasted after Moscow intensified attacks with a series of devastating bombings of busy urban areas this week, in spite of a unilateral 24-hour ceasefire called by Volodymyr Zelenskyy in exchange for the Victory Day ceasefire.

Zelenskyy wrote on X on Friday:

In recent days, there have been many appeals and signals regarding the setup for tomorrow in Moscow in connection with our Ukrainian long-range sanctions. The principle of symmetry in our actions is well known and has been clearly communicated to the Russian side.

An additional argument for Ukraine in determining our position has always been the resolution of one of the key humanitarian issues of this war – namely, the release of prisoners of war. Red Square is less important to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners who can be brought home.

Elsewhere, Péter Magyar is set to be inaugurated in Hungary. Plus, the Guardian’s Pjotr Sauer will be bringing us scenes from the Russian victory parade.

Stay tuned for more.