Host: Competing ceasefires, a drone over Moscow, and European leaders gathering in Yerevan without Washington at the table. Plus, a deadly car attack in Leipzig and the hidden cost of the Norwegian salmon in your supermarket trolley. This is Europa Daily.

Host: On day one thousand five hundred and thirty-two of the war, Russia and Ukraine are offering the world two different ceasefires — and neither side trusts the other's. Vladimir Putin has unilaterally declared a two-day truce covering Friday and Saturday to mark the anniversary of the end of the Second World War. Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded with his own proposal: a ceasefire between the fifth and sixth of May, if Russia reciprocates. The two timelines don't align, and the mood around them is anything but conciliatory. Russia has explicitly threatened a massive missile strike on central Kyiv if Ukraine breaches Putin's truce window. That threat came in the same breath as the ceasefire offer — a combination that tells you a good deal about how Moscow views the exercise. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone struck an upmarket Moscow high-rise ahead of the Victory Day celebrations, a pointed reminder that the war now reaches both capitals.

Host: In Yerevan, the European Political Community summit has drawn leaders from across the continent — and for the first time, a non-European one. Canada's Mark Carney is attending, a signal of how the conversation about defence and economic self-reliance is widening as the United States signals troop drawdowns from Germany. Keir Starmer used the summit to begin negotiations for Britain to join the EU's seventy-eight-billion-pound loan scheme for Ukraine. The prime minister said the benefit outweighs the cost and argued the continent must move at pace to bolster its own defence. He acknowledged that tensions between Donald Trump and Europe are high, particularly over military matters. The host country itself is part of the story. Emmanuel Macron said Armenia has chosen a path towards Europe, highlighting the country's gradual shift away from Russia's influence.

Host: In Leipzig, at least two people are dead and around twenty injured after a driver in an SUV ploughed into a crowd in the city centre. The attack happened at about quarter to five in the afternoon in a pedestrian zone full of shoppers and café-goers on a warm spring day. The suspect — a thirty-three-year-old German national — was detained at the scene. Leipzig's mayor, Burkhard Jung, said he was deeply shocked. He confirmed police had apprehended the suspected assailant but added: we still don't really know the motivation — we don't know anything about the perpetrator. Three of the injured are in a serious condition. Germany has been shaken by a series of car-ramming attacks in recent years — the Christmas market in Magdeburg in twenty twenty-four, and others in Berlin and Munich. The investigation is in its earliest stages.

Host: Finally, to the fjords — and a pollution story with a reach far beyond Scandinavia. A new report from the Sunstone Institute has found that Norwegian fish farms released seventy-five thousand tonnes of nitrogen, thirteen thousand tonnes of phosphorus, and three hundred and sixty thousand tonnes of organic carbon into coastal waters in twenty twenty-five. The nutrient levels are likened to the untreated sewage of tens of millions of people. Norway is the world's largest farmed-salmon producer, and the nutrients in fish feed are excreted directly into fjords and other coastal waters. The report describes the result as fish sludge — pollution on an industrial scale.

Host: That's Europa Daily. We're back tomorrow morning — assuming the ceasefires hold, or don't.

Sources

• The Guardian Europe: Ukraine war briefing: Duelling ceasefires as Zelenskyy floats open-ended truce
• France 24 Europe: Armenia turns 'towards Europe' as Macron highlights shift from Russia
• The Guardian Europe: Norwegian fish farms polluting fjords with waste likened to ‘raw sewage of millions of people’
• DW World: Russia offers Ukraine May 8-9 ceasefire amid WWII anniversary, but threatens major reprisals in same breath
• BBC Europe: Ukrainian drone hits upmarket Moscow high-rise ahead of Victory Day celebrations
• France 24 Europe: Putin and Zelensky both unilaterally declare conflicting 2-day truces
• The Guardian Europe: Starmer lauds £78bn EU loan for Ukraine amid increased Trump tensions
• France 24 Europe: Two dead as car ploughs into crowd in Germany's Leipzig
• The Guardian Europe: 'Deeply shocked': Leipzig mayor reacts after car rams crowd in Germany – video
• France 24 Europe: Europe, Canada pull together in Yerevan in Trump's shadow
• France 24 Europe: Poking the bear? Armenia welcomes European leaders in Russia's backyard
• DW World: Leipzig: 2 killed after car drives into crowd
• The Guardian Europe: Two killed and several hurt after car ploughs into crowds in German city of Leipzig