France has confirmed it will not seek Spain’s removal from the Schengen visa-free travel area, with the interior minister stating that such a move is ‘not on the table’, according to the Guardian’s live coverage.

The clarification came after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez hit out at the EU’s response to a crisis involving mass border crossings at Ceuta, condemning what he described as the ‘selfish, polarising’ reaction of some countries.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen responded to Sánchez’s criticism by insisting that the EU had offered Spain support ‘from the first moment’ of the Ceuta crisis. She stressed that ‘not a single person reached mainland Spain or rest of EU’ as a result of the border crossings.

The exchange highlights ongoing tensions within the European Union over how member states share responsibility for managing migration and border pressures. Sánchez’s remarks appeared to reflect frustration with the level of solidarity shown by some other countries during the crisis.

The developments were reported as part of the Guardian’s Europe live coverage, which was also tracking the war in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian officials cited in the same coverage, nine people were killed in Kyiv in a Russian missile and drone attack, with damage reported across seven districts of the capital.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fires broke out across the city and that residential buildings, a school and infrastructure sites were hit in the attack.