The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, said today that Ukraine has recaptured half of the territory that Russia occupied since the beginning of the invasion.
"About 50 percent of what was originally taken has already been returned," said Blinken in an interview with the American television network CNN.
Blinken said that Ukraine's counteroffensive will not end soon, adding that it will likely last several months.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently said that the counter-offensive is going slower than expected, but that his country will not be under pressure to speed it up.
On the other hand, the presidents of Russia and Belarus, Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, said today that the Ukrainian counter-offensive, launched at the end of June, failed.
Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022.
(BETA)
Montenegro condemns constant attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine, said the Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP).
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on Sunday in St. Petersburg with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who, as it is reported, jokingly said that mercenaries from Wagner, who train the Belarusian army, want to cross the border of NATO member Poland, reports Radio Free Europe.
"The team from Wagner is starting to stress us out, they want to go west. Let's visit Warsaw and Rzeszow," said Lukashenko.
However, there is no indication that Lukashenko was serious about it.
The "UkraineWorld" Twitter profile posted a video of what the center of Odessa looks like after today's Russian bombing.
A Ukrainian air defense missile (ADF) most likely fell on the Orthodox Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Odessa and severely damaged it, as a result of the unprofessional actions of the operators of the air defense system that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have in residential areas, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced today, reports Tanjug.
The announcement states that, considering the video footage of the heavily damaged temple published by local residents, it can be concluded that the most likely cause of the destruction of that shrine is the fall of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft guided missile, and as a result of the unprofessional actions of the air defense system operator, which, it is alleged, the Armed Forces of Ukraine deliberately place in residential areas of the settlement, RIA Novosti reported.
At least one person was killed and 19 were injured, including four children, early this morning in a Russian airstrike on Odesa, said Odesa Region Chief Oleh Kiper.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Ukraine's counter-offensive had "failed" as he hosted Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, his close ally, for talks in St. Petersburg today, Reuters reports.
"There is no counteroffensive," Russian news agencies reported Lukashenko as saying.
Putin replied: "It exists, but it failed."
During the night of July 23, Russian troops attacked Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region with heavy artillery, Governor Sergei Lisak reported, reports the Kyiv Independent.
"Three residential buildings and three domestic buildings were damaged in the attack," said Lisak.
He added that a power line and a car were also hit.
According to Lisak, there were no victims.
The governor also said that the nearby community of Marganec had been attacked, but gave no further details.
Nikopolj, a city with a pre-war population of over 115.000 inhabitants, was constantly shelled by Russian troops.
The city is located across the Dnieper River near the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar in the neighboring Zaporozhye Oblast.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, located in Enerhodar, was captured by Russian forces on March 4, 2022.
Nikopol lies on the banks of the Kahovka reservoir, which dried up after Russian forces destroyed the Kahovka hydroelectric dam on June 6, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The breach of the dam led to a major ecological and humanitarian disaster in the south of Ukraine and caused problems with the water supply of Crimea and four Ukrainian regions, including Dnipropetrovsk.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, announced retaliation for this morning's Russian attack on Odesa.
"Rockets on peaceful cities, on residential buildings, the cathedral... There can be no excuses for Russian evil. As always, this evil will lose. And there will certainly be retribution for Russian terrorists for Odessa. They will feel retribution. All those who died in this last terrorist attack are being helped. I am grateful to everyone who helps people and everyone who is with Odessa in their thoughts and emotions. We will get through this. We will restore peace. And for this we must defeat Russian evil," Zelen wrote. ski on Twitter.
A Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian city of Odesa early this morning killed one person, injured around 20 people and severely damaged an Orthodox cathedral linked to Russia, Ukrainian officials said, adding that an icon of the port city's patron saint was pulled out from under the rubble, reports Reuters.
"Odessa: another night attack by a monster," Oleh Kiper, the governor of Odesa Oblast in southern Ukraine, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Over the past week, Russia has struck Odesa and other Ukrainian food export facilities almost daily after withdrawing from a UN-brokered maritime corridor agreement that allowed for the safe delivery of Ukrainian grain.
The military administration of Odessa announced that the Cathedral of the Savior and Transfiguration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UPC), connected to Moscow, was badly damaged.
"The Kasperian icon of the Mother of God, which is the patroness of Odessa, was pulled out from under the ruins," the administration announced on its Telegram channel.
The Cathedral of the Transfiguration, or the Cathedral of the Transfiguration, is the largest Orthodox church in Odessa.
It was consecrated in 1809.
Photos and videos released by Odessa officials and police show destroyed parts of the building and rubble inside with several icons lined up on the ground.
The UPC is the second largest church in Ukraine, although the majority of Ukrainian Orthodox believers belong to a separate branch that was formed four years ago by the unification of branches independent of the Russian government.
Ukraine has accused the UPC of maintaining ties with the pro-invasion Russian Orthodox Church, which was once its mother church, but with which the UPC says it severed ties last May.
Reuters said it could not immediately independently verify the footage or reports of damage. There were no comments from Russia.
The Air Force of Ukraine announced early this morning on Telegram that Russia launched high-precision Onyx missiles and Kalibr surface-to-air cruise missiles at Odesa.
The city's military administration said that air defense systems destroyed a "significant part" of the missiles, including Iskander ballistic missiles.
Russia described the attacks as revenge for a Ukrainian attack on a bridge it built in Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized in 2014.
She accused Ukraine of using the sea corridor to launch "terrorist attacks".
Videos on social media show a distraught man walking in a dark cathedral and repeating: "The church is no more... Lord, have mercy."
Bonus video:
