Morning Brief, Sunday 7 June

Ukraine carried the drone war to Russia's second city, sending long-range aircraft toward St Petersburg and the Leningrad region hours after Vladimir Putin dismissed Volodymyr Zelensky's proposal for direct peace talks. Russia's defence ministry said its forces intercepted 376 Ukrainian drones across 13 regions and several occupied or disputed areas, while local officials said more than 140 came down over the Leningrad region. A man died in the Tver region, three people suffered minor injuries near St Petersburg, and more than 600 residents were evacuated after a fire at a military facility near Bolshaya Izhora.

Ukraine's security service said the strikes hit the Kronstadt naval base and the 15th Arsenal of the Russian Navy, while drones also ignited an oil depot in Ust-Labinsk. Russia launched 272 drones at Ukraine overnight, according to the Ukrainian armed forces, which said they intercepted 249 as strikes hit Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv and killed at least four people. Volodymyr Zelensky presented the operation as proof that Ukraine can hit targets once thought safely distant.

The timing mattered as much as the range. Vladimir Putin used the St Petersburg economic forum to say he saw no point in meeting Volodymyr Zelensky before a peace deal was agreed, and the forum carried on as a showcase for normality even as the air war pressed closer to its gates. Castles rarely decide modern wars, but Kronstadt may now measure how much pressure Kyiv can put on Moscow while diplomacy remains locked outside the room.

Iran and the United States traded blows around the Strait of Hormuz after Tehran launched four one-way attack drones that US forces said threatened maritime traffic. US forces then struck Iranian coastal radar sites at Goruk and Qeshm Island, calling the action defensive; Iran answered with seven ballistic missiles toward Kuwait and Bahrain, six of which the US military said it intercepted. The exchange strains the April truce that paused the wider war but never reopened the region's main artery for oil.

Lebanon's ceasefire looked no sturdier. An Israeli air strike killed three Lebanese soldiers on the Khardali-Nabatieh road, and Israel's military said it had identified a threat to its forces before later describing the incident as a mistake. The strike came days after a US-brokered framework proposed areas under Lebanese army control, while Hezbollah continued attacks and Israel said it hit about 150 Hezbollah targets in 48 hours.

Washington also faces friction inside its own camp. A reported Pentagon counterintelligence assessment raised the Israeli threat level to critical, saying Israeli efforts were aimed less at battlefield secrets than at understanding Donald Trump's negotiating red lines with Iran. Israel denied spying on allies, and the White House dismissed the reporting, but the leak itself signals mistrust at a delicate point.

Two ceasefires are now acting less like settlements than speed bumps, slowing escalation without stopping the drivers.

French officials confirmed that a body found near Fleurance was Lyhanna, an 11-year-old girl who disappeared after leaving school on May 29. Police arrested Jérôme Barella, the 41-year-old father of one of her classmates, after evidence placed him with the child on the afternoon she vanished. Medical examiners still have to determine the cause of death, but the political verdict arrived quickly and brutally.

The failure was not a single missed call. Barella had faced at least five complaints or reports involving minors since 2017, including a 2025 allegation that he had repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl. That file stalled for nine months as information moved between courts and investigative bodies, and police had not questioned him before Lyhanna disappeared. Emmanuel Macron said lack of money could not excuse the lapse, noting that the justice budget had risen sharply since 2017.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin summoned prosecutors for a meeting next week and promised findings from an inquiry within two weeks. Bruno Retailleau called for a penal revolution and a disciplinary court for judges, while magistrates' unions pointed to overloaded offices and rising complaints for assault and rape. The scandal will test whether France can turn public grief into faster protection for children before another file waits too long in a drawer.

Orange, Bouygues Telecom and Iliad struck a €20.35bn agreement with Altice France to buy and dismantle SFR, France's second-largest mobile carrier. The deal would divide customers, spectrum and business lines among the three remaining big operators, returning the market toward a three-player structure that regulators have previously treated with caution. The companies also included a possible earn-out of up to €650m and targeted closing in the second half of 2027.

The split gives Bouygues the largest bill and the biggest commercial prize. Bouygues would take the business-to-business segment and about 6.4m mobile and fixed-line subscribers, Iliad would absorb the RED by SFR brand plus nearly 2m other consumers, and Orange would receive about 4.9m customers. The acquired perimeter generated €8bn in 2025 revenue, with Bouygues set to take 52%, Iliad 27% and Orange 21%.

The politics are delicate. SFR employs about 8,000 people, and transferred staff would receive job guarantees only until early 2029. Altice founder Patrick Drahi gets a route out of a debt-heavy French asset, while consumers may face a market with fewer price spoilers. The industrial logic is clear enough, but competition watchdogs will decide whether France gets stronger networks or simply fewer choices.

Peru votes on Sunday in a presidential runoff that looks less like a contest of enthusiasm than a national shrug with consequences. The final Ipsos poll before the blackout placed Keiko Fujimori at 43.2% and Roberto Sánchez at 43.8%, a statistical tie after both reached the second round with historically weak first-round support. Fujimori led April's first round with 17%, while Sánchez followed with 12%, leaving most voters to choose late and reluctantly.

The map splits sharply. Fujimori dominates Lima and hopes the overseas vote will help her in a close count, while Sánchez leads outside the capital and holds a large advantage in rural areas. Fujimori, the daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, is making her fourth presidential run and carries the burden of her party's long grip on Congress. Sánchez has wrapped himself in the symbolism of Pedro Castillo, the imprisoned former president, and has promised to pardon him if elected.

Peru has churned through presidents since Ollanta Humala finished his term in 2016, and several former leaders now sit in prison. Both campaigns have already prepared ground for possible disputes over the result, which means victory may deliver office before authority. Whoever wins will inherit not a mandate, but a receipt for years of institutional exhaustion.