EU ready to lead in Ukraine support if US steps back, chief diplomat says

Blackouts were reported throughout occupied Crimea, and massive fires broke out in several southern Russian cities amid Ukrainian strikes on retail logistics facilities overnight on July 22, according to monitoring channels.

Russia occupied and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. In recent months, Ukrainian forces have increasingly targeted power substations, bridges, ferry crossings, air defenses, military logistics routes, and Russian vessels in the Black and Azov seas as part of a broader campaign to isolate Crimea.

"It is really important that Laura Loomer is in Ukraine and sees things with her own eyes as they are," Zelensky's office said.

"Cultural events funded by European taxpayers' money should safeguard democratic values and foster open dialogue, diversity, and freedom of expression — values which are not respected in today's Russia," European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said.

The Washington-based lender called Ukraine's performance "broadly satisfactory" in a press release announcing its approval, but emphasized that several conditions of the program were either completed with a delay or missed entirely.

Striking both the fighter jet and the Pantsir-S1 weakens Russia's ability to protect military sites from Ukrainian attacks.

Sumy came under repeated Russian strikes, reflecting Moscow's growing use of double-tap attacks, which cause further destruction and put both civilians and rescuers at risk.

The figure includes 1,370 personnel losses recorded over the past day.

Fires broke out at industrial facilities in the Russian city of Lipetsk after reports of an overnight attack, with independent monitoring channels claiming the affected sites included a major steel plant and a power facility.