EU adopts 21st Russia sanctions package, drops gas and tourism limits
The Council of the European Union, the body where the 27 member governments make decisions, has formally turned the bloc's 21st set of penalties on Russia into law.
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World ✳
Zelensky says Russia wants 30,000 more North Korean troops and nobody has confirmed it
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is preparing to send 30,000 more North Korean soldiers to fight in Ukraine, or has formally asked North Korea to supply them.
Romania downs a second drone in under 24 hours — a pattern claimed, attribution still unproven
A second drone down over Romania in a day looks like a pattern — but the minister's ‘consistent with’ is not the same as ‘confirmed,’ and the wreckage is still being analysed.
World ✳
A NATO jet reportedly shot down a Russian drone — here's what's actually confirmed
One report says a Romanian jet downed a suspected Russian drone. Before the escalation talk: what is confirmed, and what isn't.
EU ambassadors clear the 21st Russia sanctions package — after buying off Greece's veto
The package advanced only after Greece dropped its veto in exchange for keeping its tankers in the Russian LNG trade to non-EU buyers. Here is who agreed, how the unanimity rule forced the concession, and what actually binds.
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400 drones over Moscow, 10 dead near Odesa: the long-range front reopens overnight
Ukraine sent more than 400 drones toward Moscow on July 20, hours after a Russian strike on a ship near Odesa killed 10. Read as it is being sold, this is escalation. Read carefully, it is the same war, louder.
Analysis ✳
The price of protection
Energy chokepoints, arms production lines and the raising of armies now price the same commodity: risk. This week made the single market visible.
One Vote, One Package: Bulgaria's Kirill Veto and the Two Speeds of EU Sanctions
Sofia's single objection to blacklisting Patriarch Kirill still holds the entire 21st sanctions package hostage to EU unanimity rules. Meanwhile, two separate legal acts — targeting cyberattacks and the torture of Ukrainian POWs — have gone through on qualified majority, exposing the two-speed machinery of EU sanctions.
World ✳
Bulgaria's Kirill Veto Sinks the EU's 21st Russia Package Again — But the Blacklistings Keep Coming
For the second time, Sofia's objection to blacklisting Patriarch Kirill has blocked the EU's 21st sanctions package against Russia — but narrower designations targeting VK, its Max messenger app and the elite Turla hacking unit are moving anyway.
World ✳
EU and UK Sanction 33 FSB-Linked Cyber Targets; Moscow Vows an 'Appropriate Response'
Brussels and London jointly blacklisted 33 Russia-linked cyber targets tied to FSB operations, drawing a NATO condemnation and a Russian threat of retaliation. The move lands while the EU's broader 21st package remains hostage to internal bargaining — evidenced by Bulgaria's confirmed removal of Patriarch Kirill.
World ✳
Nine Dead in Overnight Strikes as Russia Sanctions Bill Loses Its Chief Architect
Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson and Ukrainian drone attacks into Russia and occupied Zaporizhzhia killed nine people overnight. The exchange came as the US senator who spent a year fighting to pass a Russia sanctions bill died hours after finally securing a White House deal to move it — leaving its next steps unclear just as Kyiv called the legislation essential leverage.
World ✳
Crimea Runs Dry: Ukraine's Tanker Strikes Cut Fuel Sales to Civilians
Ukraine says it struck 21 vessels supplying occupied Crimea in three days, triggering fuel sales bans and blackouts on the peninsula — a sharper escalation than the refinery strikes and export bans already rationing fuel across Russia.