On April 16, 2025, the U.S. State Department shut down its Global Engagement Center — a unit tasked with countering foreign misinformation, including Russian propaganda. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration claimed that the Center censored the voices of Americans instead of doing its job. The Kyiv Independent's Natalia Yermak speaks to James Rubin, a former diplomat who led the Global Engagement Center in 2022-2024, about how deeply the Russian propaganda influences U.S. politics and why the center's closure "disarms" the country in the information war.
Russian forces launched an overnight attack on Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast on July 26, targeting civilian infrastructure and leaving three people injured, local authorities reported.
The Vatican confirmed that Pope Leo received Metropolitan Anthony, the senior Russian Orthodox Church cleric who chairs its department of external church relations, along with five other high-profile clerics, during a morning audience on July 26.
According to operational data by Ukraine's Khortytsia group of forces, Colonel Lebedev was leading assault operations in the Velykyi Burluk area of Kharkiv Oblast.
Russian forces launched a drone strike on Sumy on July 26, damaging the building of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov reported.
Lithuania plans to contribute up to 30 million euro ($32.5 million) toward the joint purchase of U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine, Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT reported on July 26.
"In the coming years, the Black Sea sailors will be further strengthened — with the arrival of new frigates, corvettes, aviation, marine robotic complexes," Nikolai Patrushev, the head of Russia's Maritime Collegium, said.
U.S. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal co-authored a bipartisan bill that would impose 500% tariffs on countries buying Russian oil, gas, or uranium.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is facilitating transit primarily to Poland, with some migrants arriving from Libya directly or through Russia — pointing to coordinated efforts between Minsk and Moscow.
Explosions rocked Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as Russia launched waves of missiles, drones, and guided aerial bombs overnight on July 26. Kharkiv's Kyviskyi district has been hit twice by ballistic missiles.
