Russia-led military bloc launches joint military drills in Belarus

The vote paves the way for the EU to formally open two more accession clusters with Ukraine and Moldova at a meeting in Luxembourg on Oct. 13.

"Europe can no longer stay immobilized on Russia's immobilized assets. The leverage is not in holding the money, but in using it for defense," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

The drills involve more than 1,500 military personnel, over 300 pieces of military equipment, and around 80 drones, according to the Collective Security Treaty Organization.

"The Kremlin must see that continued aggression will deepen its isolation. I ask you to take these proposals forward as an urgent priority," writes Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen in a letter seen by the Kyiv Independent.

Overnight on Oct. 12, Russian forces launched 121 Shahed-type attack drones, including 76 jet-powered versions, as well as Gerbera and Parodiya decoy drones, Ukraine's Air Force said.

Ukraine will halt its strikes against Russian refineries only if Moscow ceases its attacks against the Ukrainian power grid, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 12, signaling that a refinery-only truce makes little sense for a country with a single, badly damaged refinery.

Of the 77 sanctioned individuals, 74 ran as candidates in the sham elections, while the remaining three were newly elected members of Russia's central electoral commission.

"This is the single largest expansion of our sanctions list since Russia started its war," chief EU diplomat Kaja Kallas said, adding that more than half of the roughly 1600 listings "are connected to the production chain for ballistic missiles."

"Only when we increase our sanctions, when we show that we are serious, will we deny Russia the possibility to raise havoc in our capitals," Budrys said.

"Let's look at ourselves. The EU first took out two big Russian oligarchs, the biggest ever supporters of Putin's regime, from the sanctions," Latvia's Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said when asked to comment on a U.S. deal to buy Russian diesel.

The number includes 1,470 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Lawmakers from both major parties argued the move would undermine recently enacted sanctions against Russia, potentially provide Moscow with billions of dollars in revenue, and contradict Congress's efforts to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

Inflicting heavy personnel losses has become a stated strategic objective of Ukraine. In January, then-Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Ukraine aimed to "kill 50,000 Russians per month," arguing that losses on that scale could undermine Moscow's ability to sustain the war.

Among those killed were a 16-year-old boy, as well as a 19-year-old woman, and a 51-year-old woman, authorities said, in a strike that landed near a grocery store as well as several residential buildings.