This summer, comedy and crime collide with a trio of hotly anticipated TV shows: Only

Temperatures could soar to 44C, the weather bureau says, as it urges people to avoid alcohol.

Voters are going to the polls in three electoral districts of England, with the governing Conservative Party braced for a drubbing over a cost-of-living crisis and a morale-sapping string of political scandals

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is relishing the dilemma of having to disappoint players as he attempts to negotiate a path through a season which could see his squad stretched to its limits. The 45-year-old left summer signings Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento, as well as last season’s top scorer Callum Wilson, sitting on the bench for Saturday’s Premier League opener, but saw Wilson and Barnes come on and score in a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa. Howe admitted in the run-up to the game that he had “five or six” difficult decisions to make in the light of a fresh £125million spending spree, Anthony Gordon’s pre-season form and the emergence of homegrown midfielder Elliot Anderson, but that is a problem he welcomes with a Champions League campaign looming. He said: “They’re dilemmas that are needed because we’re going to need the strongest squad possible, and the players who missed out today will play loads of games this season. “That’s just a fact because we’re in so many different competitions, we’re going to be stretched and we’ll also be needing their quality as well. “It’s going to be nice to be able to make those decisions. We need the strongest bench we can get this year with the amount of games we’re going to have, the amount of competitions we’re in. “It was certainly a difficult day yesterday to name the team. They weren’t easy decisions for me to make – decisions I had to make, of course, being in my position – and then you just hope the team performs and you get the benefit of that squad.” One of those decisions saw Howe hand a debut to £52m former AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, and it paid off handsomely as the 23-year-old not only opened the scoring within six minutes, but produced a commanding display on his first appearance in England’s top flight. Villa’s record signing Moussa Diaby cancelled out the Italian’s early strike in short order, but his response was to play a pivotal role as Newcastle overwhelmed the visitors, Alexander Isak helping himself to a double either side of the unfortunate Tyrone Mings’ departure on a stretcher before substitutes Wilson and Barnes added their names to the scoresheet late on. Howe was understandably delighted, but equally confident there is more to come. He said: “We didn’t defend perfectly, so there’s stuff for us to improve – but it was a weird situation. I thought they (Villa) played well, but we could have scored more goals.” Opposite number Unai Emery headed back to the midlands hoping the news on Mings is not as bad as that which saw midfielder Emiliano Buendia ruled out for an extended period with a knee injury last week, but taking comfort from Diaby’s impressive debut on Tyneside. Emery said: “We haven’t had all bad news and one of the good things was to watch Moussa playing feeling good and adapting to the position we’re trying to get with him. He was good, he scored and he played well. “We had some good moments in the 90 minutes, but there a lot of things we had to do to control the match that we didn’t do within our system.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Owen Farrell waits to learn fate following sending off against Wales The key questions ahead of England’s World Cup semi-final against Australia Sean Dyche hopes Everton are close to solving their goalscoring problems

Ukraine’s first lady has warned that Russia winning the war it started is “the worst-case scenario for all humanity”, in a heartfelt plea for the world not to lose interest in her country as its soldiers are fighting for “the democratic balance of the world”. Speaking exclusively to Independent TV, Olena Zelenska said Ukraine is deeply concerned that the world is underestimating the wider threat from Moscow as the conflict grinds into its 18th month. Read the full interview here The Ukrainian military has been fighting one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts since the Second World War after Russian president Vladimir Putin launched his invasion last February. “If the aggressor wins now, it will be the worst-case scenario for all of humanity,” Ms Zelenska said from the heavily guarded presidential palace in Kyiv. “This will mean that global deterrents aren’t working. This will mean that anyone with power, strength and sufficient financial capacity can do whatever they want.” She said that her country desperately needs “faster” support to be able to combat the better-equipped Russian troops; pledges of long-term military and humanitarian aid will not help win the war if delivery is too slow, she warned. “We keep hearing from our Western partners that they will be with us as long as it takes. ‘Long’ is not the word we should use. We should use the word ‘faster’,” she said. “Ukrainians are paying for this war with the lives of our compatriots. The rest of the world pays with its resources. These are incomparable things, so we urge you to speed up this help,” she added. Ms Zelenska, a comedy screenwriter and childhood sweetheart of Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky, initially shunned the public spotlight, advising her husband against running for president four years ago. But as soon as Mr Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, she gave up her day job to become an ambassador for Ukraine, rallying international support and becoming one of the key architects trying to rebuild the country even as the fighting rages on. In a wide-ranging interview, Ms Zelenska opened up about the concerns she has for Ukraine and her family, with her and her husband being forced to live separately for security reasons – so the president rarely gets the chance to see their children. “I want to be together again. We really hope that somehow all this will change and we will be able to live a more or less normal family life,” she said. Her message to nations around the globe? “Please don’t get fatigued, because we as Ukrainians have no right to get tired. “Ukraine defends not only its interests, not only its life. We are trying to maintain the whole democratic balance in the world.” Russia’s invasion has left an untold number of the population dead. Civilians have also been subjected to rape, torture, and abductions. In recent weeks, the Russian army has cynically targeted farms, ports and food storage facilities, after President Putin pulled out of a United Nations-brokered grain deal which allowed the safe export of Ukraine’s grain and oil via the Black Sea. Moscow has also unleashed drones and missiles at the port of Odesa and the region’s river ports, which are being used as alternative routes for grain. In the latest attack, on Wednesday, Odesa’s port infrastructure was struck again, damaging 40,000 tonnes of grain earmarked for Africa and the Middle East. This has sparked fears of famine-like conditions in vulnerable parts of the world that have long relied on Ukrainian produce. “We are no longer surprised by anything,” Ms Zelenska said about the Russian leader’s tactics and the resulting hunger, as her country has bounded from crisis to crisis. Watch the interview trailer below The full interview will be available to watch on The Independent’s website and on your smart TV from August 7. In June, the Russian bombing of the Kakhovka Dam unleashed the waters from one of Europe’s largest reservoirs over swathes of the south of the country, causing one of the worst ecological disasters. That followed massive missile attacks on energy and electricity infrastructure over winter, causing blackouts, cold and water shortages. “Ukrainians understand that our enemy is capable of inventing any challenges for us. Therefore, we are not surprised, people are waiting for news, for good news,” Ms Zelenska said. She also spoke about her work as first lady and with the Olena Zelenska Foundation, which she launched in September and is endorsed by the likes of Hillary Clinton and Matt Damon. The projects, which the first lady said “keeps her motivated”, range from reconstructing hospitals and prosthetic centres – providing rehabilitation for up to 20,000 amputees across the country – to combat post-traumatic stress disorder and offering aid to those suffering mental damage in her war-ravaged country. In September, she will host a summit welcoming other partners of leaders from around the world as part of a drive to redefine the roles of presidential partners from “decorative” accessories to a broader collective running humanitarian projects together. Ms Zelenska is acutely aware of the daily struggles many Ukrainian families face. “Can Ukraine endure? We have no other way out, because the longer we endure it, the longer we live,” she said. “It is a matter of survival.” The full interview will be available to watch on independent.tv and your smart TV from August 7. To find out more about our Independent TV smart TV app click here. 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