Zelensky welcomes French, British army chiefs in Kyiv, talks troop deployment

The meeting will be the pope’s first audience with the senior Russian cleric, who represented Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, at Pope Francis's funeral.

Russian forces launched a drone strike on Ukraine's northeastern Sumy Oblast on July 21, injuring 11 people, including a 5-year-old boy, local officials said.

Speaking during the 29th Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he reached the agreement with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a recent trip to Washington.

The number includes 1,090 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

The fund forms part of a broader EU effort to mobilize 800 billion euros ($864 billion) in new defense spending by 2030, driven by the growing threat from Russia and calls from U.S. President Donald Trump for Europe to shoulder more of its own security costs.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on July 21 that French defense companies are eager to establish joint production with Ukrainian counterparts, with a particular focus on drone manufacturing.

Gennady Starunov, a physical education teacher who was named Moscow’s "Teacher of the Year" in 2022, was killed while serving in the Russian military during its invasion of Ukraine, school officials confirmed on July 21.

Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, currently a detective at Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau, gave his first public interview to Ukrainian publication Economichna Pravda, accusing the government of using "manipulative" security concerns to block his appointment to head the Bureau of Economic Security.

Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has imposed a moratorium on business inspections by state authorities, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on July 21, calling the move essential for the country's economic security.

The previous round of talks took place on June 2 in Istanbul, following a May 16 meeting after a years-long freeze.

According to the U.K. government, the tankers have secretly transported $24 billion worth of oil since the start of 2024.

"I urge our European allies, who have talked a big game, to follow us if we implement these secondary tariffs," U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.