New Ukraine army chief vows to step up counteroffensive as EU bids to finalise fresh Russia sanctions – as it happened

And, on that note, we will be closing the blog for today.

• Ukraine’s new commander in chief Mykhailo Drapatyi said Ukraine’s ⁠armed forces have been tasked ⁠with stepping ⁠up ​counteroffensive actions (13:51), as he took over the role after president Volodymyr Zelenskyy reshuffled key military personnel.

• Zelenskyy also hosted senior US officials fdor talks on “protecting Ukrainian sky” (17:09), a day before US secretary of state Marco Rubio is set to meet with Russia’s Sergei Lavrov for talks in Manila (11:39).

• Earlier, Zelenskyy praised the army’s overnight attack on Russian logistics hubs, saying “we are … bringing the war back home, to Russia” (9:35).

• Meanwhile, EU ambassadors are locked in discussions on the 21st package of sanctions against Russia, with critics saying that the bloc’s sanctions policy is reaching its limits as several countries pushed back against some of the proposals (9:30, 12:59).

In other news,

• Hungary’s ⁠former nationalist prime minister Viktor ⁠Orbán confirmed ⁠that prosecutors had taken ⁠his Fidesz party’s servers during a ⁠raid on ​Tuesday, complaining about the actions of the new government led by Péter Magyar (10:57).

• Morocco’s foreign ministry said it ⁠was concerned by the death of a ⁠national during ⁠a ​police arrest in Bologna in Italy and urged ⁠a “thorough investigation” (13:32).

• At least 15 people were injured after two trams collided on a key bridge in Rotterdam in the Netherlands (13:29).

• Firefighters continued to battle huge blazes in Spain and France on Wednesday, amid as extreme temperatures continue to affect large parts of Europe (13:36, 15:48).

If you have any tips, comments or suggestions, email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

I am also on Bluesky at @jakubkrupa.bsky.social and on X at @jakubkrupa.

On Tuesday night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy named the 43-year-old major general Mykhailo Drapatyi as the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, putting him at the head of the military as Kyiv tries to shift the momentum of the war.

The appointment was one of the few wartime decisions in Ukraine to command near-universal support, reflecting Drapatyi’s high standing across the country’s political, military and civil society circles, and helping to steady the political mood after days of turmoil in Kyiv.

Days earlier, thousands of demonstrators had taken to the streets following the dismissal of the popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, who had clashed with the then commander-in-chief, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, over the conduct of the war.

Drapatyi’s appointment is likely to be welcomed by many of the protesters who have filled Ukraine’s streets, particularly after Drapatyi publicly backed Fedorov in his dispute with Syrskyi.

Drapatyi belongs to a younger generation of Ukrainian commanders formed by more than a decade of fighting, and built his reputation on the frontline.

Supporters say he took up drone warfare early, pushed authority down to junior officers and expected them to answer for their own decisions.

Meahwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed US ambassador to Nato Matthew Whitaker and Commander of Nato Security Assistance & Training for Ukraine, Curtis Buzzard to Kyiv.

“We had a good talk – first and foremost on how to protect Ukrainian skies with more Patriot interceptor supplies through PURL. This is a critical priority now, as massive Russian attacks continue unabated.”

He said they also “discussed the US-Ukraine bilateral defence partnership: building on president Trump’s decision in Ankara to licence Ukraine to produce Patriots, and the Drone Deal, which our teams are now working through.”

“This has real potential, and we hope to get it finalised soon,” he said.

A modelling scout who recruited women for Jeffrey Epstein has been found dead at his home near Paris, French officials have said.

Daniel Siad, 69, was under investigation by the prosecutors specialising in human trafficking in France, accused of rape and other charges. His name appeared in more than 1,000 documents in the US Department of Justice Epstein files that were declassified earlier this year.

Siad was one of several French men accused of aiding Epstein to traffic and abuse women. He had not yet been questioned by investigators, but had denied the allegations, saying he wanted to give his version of events.

He was found dead in his home on Monday evening. An investigation to determine the cause of death has been opened and an autopsy is to be carried out.

The files revealed Siad to be one of Epstein’s most loyal correspondents. He remained in frequent contact with him until months before the financier’s death, receiving wired payments apparently for expenses incurred during travel to find women.

And over in Hungary, the country’s chief ⁠prosecutor Gábor Bálint Nagy submitted his resignation on Wednesday, the latest senior official to leave as the new government led by Péter Magyar pursues its reforms.

In a statement, Nagy – elected to his post by the previous government of Viktor Orbán last year for a nine-year term – said he was “subjected to a series of attacks through my person, far beyond the framework of acceptable professional and public debates, despite the fact that I performed my mandate in accordance with the law.”

Magyar noted his resignation, saying in a social media post:

“With this, the country is free of yet another Orbán puppet who was obstructing the political transformation.”

Since ousting Orbán from power in April elections, Magyar has pushed to get rid of a host of top officials including unpopular ex-president Tamás Sulyok, removed by a constitutional amendment on Sunday, AFP noted.

In other news from Berlin, Thorsten Frei will be the new parliamentary leader of the ruling CDU/CSU party in Germany, replacing Jens Spahn who resigned over the weekend after he and his husband used a surrogate mother to become parents, a practice he has criticised in the past and his party is vehemently opposed to.

Surrogacy is banned in Germany, a policy Spahn refused to relax when he was health minister in 2020, so he and his husband, Daniel Funke, used a surrogate mother in the US.

Frei served as deputy chair of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group from 2018 to 2021 and as chief whip from 2021 to 2025, before leading the office of chancellor Merz over the past year.

A German government ⁠spokesperson said on Wednesday that Berlin was “highly irritated” by the renewed detention of Deutsche Welle ⁠correspondent Alican Uludağ in ⁠Turkey.

The ​Turkish prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday that Uludağ had been detained again on ⁠suspicion of inciting hatred and hostility and publicly spreading misleading information, Reuters reported.

Later on Wednesday, an Ankara ⁠court released Uludağ under judicial control measures banning him ​from travelling abroad, Deutsche Welle ‌said.

The German government spokesperson said Turkish authorities were acting in violation of the freedom of the press that Turkey had committed ⁠itself to by joining the Council of Europe ​and signing the ​European Convention on Human ​Rights.

Meanwhile, in France, 5,764 more deaths than usual were recorded during a record-breaking heatwave last month, health authorities have said, describing the excess mortality among people aged 15 and older as “unprecedented”.

Those who lost their lives between 17 June and 2 July died of “all causes” – none yet clearly linked to the heat, they said.

In comparison, the country reported 5,722 excess deaths linked to heat over the whole summer last year.

As we await any updates on whether the EU ambassadors managed to agree on the 21st package of sanctions on Russia, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas took to social media to highlight the work on tackling Russia’s shadow fleet.

In a post on X, she said:

“We’re turning up the pressure on Russia’s shadow fleet. The oil tanker MV SOUTH STAR, suspected of sailing under false flag in breach of international maritime law, has been boarded on 20 July by Operation @EUNAVFOR_MED IRINI forces for flag verification. Every illicit voyage helps sustain Russia’s war machine. We are matching our sanctions with action at sea.

In parallel, Member States this week have authorised Operation @EUNAVFOR ATALANTA to begin conducting flag verification boardings of suspected Russian shadow fleet vessels, in the same way Operation IRINI does. This decision further tightens the net.”

Meanwhile, Germany ⁠denied online reports that it ⁠was ⁠conducting ​nuclear-weapons research, dismissing them on ⁠Wednesday as Russian propaganda ⁠aimed at ​discrediting Berlin’s ‌efforts to ‌support Ukraine.

“The ‌German government regards these statements as part of the usual ‌Russian propaganda. The allegations made ​are simply unfounded … it is an attempt ⁠to discredit Germany ​as Ukraine’s strongest ​supporter,” ​a government ​spokesperson ‌said in comments reported by Reuters.

Back to Ukraine, the country’s new commander in chief said Ukraine’s ⁠armed forces have been tasked ⁠with stepping ⁠up ​counteroffensive actions.

“The ‌president of ‌Ukraine has set ‌clear objectives for us: to continue and intensify offensive operations ‌in all domains, to plan new ​operations behind enemy lines, to develop our military ⁠and its technologies, ​and ​to build ​up the ​capabilities of ‌the Armed ​Forces ​of Ukraine,” Mykhailo Drapatyi said on Facebook.

Firefighters continued to battle huge blazes in Spain and France on Wednesday, with the risk of more wildfires very high across much of Spain even as a major one raging in its central Guadalajara province receded, allowing ⁠some residents to return home, Reuters reported.

In France, where ⁠two firefighters died on Tuesday as ​their truck was engulfed in flames in the southwest region of Gironde, authorities urged people to avoid using barbecues in areas hit by heatwaves. They stressed that nine out of 10 wildfires start, accidentally or not, as a result of human activity, Reuters said.

Meanwhile, in the western Balkans, the danger ⁠has shifted from heatwaves to hailstorms, with several people injured in North Macedonia and eastern Kosovo.

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the intensity of heatwaves, droughts and wildfires, while also creating conditions for sudden, destructive storms.

Morocco’s foreign ministry said it ⁠was concerned by the death of a ⁠national during ⁠a ​police arrest in Bologna in Italy and urged ⁠a “thorough investigation,” Reuters reported.

The Moroccan ministry called on ‌Tuesday night for the necessary explanations regarding the death ​to be provided and for responsibility to be established.

Rabat urged Italian authorities to “shed full light” on the incident and called for “responsibility to be established and that the full application of the required legal measures and procedures be guaranteed”, the foreign ministry said in a statement reported by AFP.

Here is our explainer on the case:

Two trams collided on a key bridge in Rotterdam on Wednesday leaving at least 15 hurt, one seriously, AFP reported.

The Erasmus Bridge is a major landmark in the Dutch port city, spanning the Maas river, and a major transport hub.

Webcam footage of the bridge showed a tram steaming into the back of another, sending debris flying across the lanes of traffic and damaging both trams, AFP said.

Rotterdam authorities initially said 18 were injured, but revised this down to 15, according to national broadcaster NOS. The seriously injured person has been taken to hospital.

in Brussels

Here in Brussels talks between senior EU diplomats are under way in the latest attempt to overcome Greece’s opposition to the bloc’s sanctions against Russia.

Greece is the last remaining obstacle to the EU’s 21st round of sanctions against Russia, as it seeks to block a ban on transporting oil that would affect a large shipping company, Dynagas, owned by billionaire George Prokopiou.

Dynagas, which specialises in transporting liquefied natural gas in sub-zero temperatures, has invested in icebreakers to transport energy from Russia’s Yamal peninsula in Siberia to non European countries.

But amid great fanfare, the EU agreed last year that the “the purchase, import or transfer, directly or indirectly” of Russian LNG will cease from 1 January 2027.

Athens is now holding up the 21st package, as it seeks an exemption on this previously agreed measure. The 21st round of sanctions includes measures targeting crypto companies, banks and oil traders helping Russia evade sanctions. It would maintain a price cap on Russian oil at $44 to prevent the Kremlin gaining from rising crude prices, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz

The stand-off has already necessitated an emergency prolongation of the EU’s oil price cap on Russia. Without further agreement., the oil price cap will go up automatically later this summer. EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday have given themselves until tomorrow to resolve the impasse.

A ban on imports of Russian cod has already been dropped, amid opposition from Portugal and Germany, the latter fearing the impact on the price of fish fingers.

A proposed ban on Russian combatants entering the EU looks set to be delayed, following opposition from France and Italy, two member states that grant large numbers of visas to Russian tourists.

The unraveling of the package has prompted some insiders to ask if the EU’s sanctions policy is reaching its limits.

But Ukraine, which is enduring an intensification of Russian attacks that have increased the numbers of civilians killed and injured, argues the EU can still do more to pressure Russia.

Writing on X, Ukraine’s sanctions envoy Vladyslav Vlasiuk wrote:

“Is it fair that while many [EU] companies left the [Russian] market and accepted the cost, others stayed, earned windfall profits, and now seek exemptions?”

And sticking to that topic, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr ⁠Zelenskyy said ⁠major general ⁠Ihor ​Skybiuk would replace ⁠Andrii Hnatov as the head of ⁠Ukraine’s General ​Staff, ‌as he continued reshuffling the military.

“He is a highly experienced officer who defended Ukraine shoulder to shoulder with the new Commander-in-Chief. It is important that all components of our Armed Forces continue to function in complete coordination.,” Zelenskyy said on X.

Meanwhile, responding to the top military brass reshuffle in Ukraine, the Kremlin said these changes will not affect the situation on the frontline, AFP reported.

“I don’t think this will lead to any changes on the frontlines,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Moscow intends to continue pressing in its almost four-and-a-half-year offensive.

Rubio gets asked about his plans to meet Russia’s foreign minister Lavrov tomorrow.

He says “the war in Ukraine, I think, has in many ways impeded the ability of Russia and the US to find areas of agreements on other topics,” but the US can still cooperate with Moscow in some areas.

He says the US “would like to see that war come to an end,” and “it would be good for Russia if that war came to an end,” so “we will raise it.”

“The US remains open and willing to play a constructive role in bringing that war to an end if that opportunity presents itself,” he says.

He says the talks between the US and Russia didn’t make much progress in recent months, but “perhaps there are now new conditions in place that will allow that conversation to happen and it is one of the things we will explore tomorrow.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov just told reporters that he will be meeting US secretary of state Marco Rubio on the sidelines of a regional Asean (that’s the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) forum in Manila this Thursday.

One to watch.

The Venice Biennale said it would challenge a European Union decision to withdraw a €2 ⁠million grant in response to the return of Russia to its 2026 edition, despite continuing aggression on Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The Italian government sharply criticised the move, while the European Commission warned it ​would suspend or terminate funding if the Russian ‌pavilion returned.

The European Commission confirmed on Tuesday that it had decided to revoke the funding following legal advice and a recommendation from Brussels.

“Cultural events financed with European taxpayers’ money should safeguard democratic values ‌and promote dialogue, diversity and freedom of expression, values that are not respected in present-day Russia,” said Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier, according to Italian ​media.

Greece is expected to experience its hottest day of the year on Wednesday, with temperatures reaching up to 43C according to meteorologists, and several regions placed on alert due to the risk of wildfires, AFP reported.

Outdoor work bans have also been announced during the warmest hours of the day for health reasons.

The civil protection authority has placed the greater Athens area, central Greece and the Peloponnese on maximum wildfire alert for the first time this season.

A court order directing the French government to ban companies from trading or investing in the Palestinian occupied territories is being sought today, in a novel action by five human rights organisations that tests the enforceability of international law.

The legal request to France’s highest administrative court argues the French government has failed to implement an advisory opinion issued two years ago by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), that declared the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories was unlawful and countries should not do anything to aid the occupation.

The five NGOs taking the action are the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Jurists for the Respect of International Law (JURDI), the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), La Ligue des Droits Humains (LDH), and Law for Palestine.

The French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot on Monday called for “the end of imports of products from illegal settlements into the European Union”. The human rights groups argue however that France has a national legal obligation and cannot simply wait for the creation of a consensus inside the EU, where there is an impasse on the issue.

The ICJ, in a landmark ruling in July 2024, found that all states are under an obligation not to recognise the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories as lawful nor to aid or assist it.

The UN general assembly in September 2024 also resolved that countries had an obligation to distinguish between the territory of the state of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in order to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the OPT“.

In other news, Hungary’s ⁠former nationalist prime minister Viktor ⁠Orbán confirmed ⁠that prosecutors had taken ⁠his Fidesz party’s servers during a ⁠raid on ​Tuesday, as we reported on Europe Live.

Orban, ‌who was ‌ousted in an ‌election in April, also told a briefing that officials to ‌be elected by the new ​Tisza government would be “illegitimate” and Fidesz would use ⁠all peaceful means to ​fight ​against what ​he called ​was ‌tyranny by prime minister ​Péter Magyar’s government.

Much more to come on this, no doubt.

A Ukrainian artist, writer and cultural manager from Mariupol, and the founder of Platform TU, an independent cultural initiative now operating in exile after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Over the years of working with western colleagues, I had learned to accept that they don’t fully understand what war feels like from the inside. They would ask me to find someone in occupied Mariupol for an interview, or seem genuinely puzzled that I couldn’t just log on at a time that suited them. I made my peace with this long ago – they don’t have to understand. But this time, it was a Ukrainian who asked.

It was winter, the kind where every online meeting had to be carefully scheduled around power outage timetables – and sometimes around shelling timetables, as we had already begun to joke among ourselves in that dark way. The question about rescheduling the meeting came from a colleague who had left for Europe in 2022, and it hit me almost physically, precisely because she was the one to say it. That innocent query had no business feeling like an accusation – and yet it did. For a long time, I couldn’t understand why.

We knew that war would bring pain and rupture. But there are ruptures no one warned us about – ruptures that are quiet and slow, and for that reason the most devastating. One of them runs not between Ukraine and the world, but through Ukrainians ourselves – between those who left and those who stayed. Almost no one talks about it. But it’s there, and with every passing month it grows wider.

Ukraine ⁠has agreed to export ⁠drones ⁠to the ​United States to ⁠participate in the Pentagon’s ⁠Drone Dominance ​programme, ‌a source ‌told Reuters.

Six Ukrainian companies have received permission ‌to export about 100 drones ​each, the source said.

There was ⁠no official ​confirmation from ​Kyiv ​or Washington so far.

in Dnipro

Some much-awaited changes in the way the Ukrainian army is organised will kick in today, after president Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and offered a “prominent position” to the defence minister he sacked last week in a move that sparked nationwide protests.

In a late-night TV address, Zelenskyy said he was appointing Mykhailo Drapatyi, a popular and innovative general, as the new head of Ukraine’s armed forces. Drapatyi would oversee a reorganisation of the army’s command structure, Ukraine’s president said.

Zelenskyy said he was bringing Mykhailo Fedorov back into government after his removal as defence minister prompted thousands of people to demonstrate in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, in one of the biggest political crises since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Ukraine’s president paid tribute to Syrskyi and credited him with leading the defence of Kyiv and launching a counter-invasion of Russia’s Kursk province in summer 2024, in which foreign tanks rolled on to Russian territory for the first time since the second world war.

“We have come a long way. The defence of Ukraine continues. And every soldier deserves to be treated with respect,” Zelenskyy said, adding that he was grateful to Syrskyi and to “every one of our soldiers” fighting on the frontline.

Zelenskyy will be hoping that his radical reshuffle of the army’s leadership will assuage protesters who have taken to the streets demanding Syrskyi’s removal. They had given a deadline of Friday for Fedorov to be reinstated and promised “indefinite protests” if their request was ignored.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the overnight attack on “logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian army with drone component, navigation equipment and other gear.”

“We are, quite justly, bringing the war back home – to Russia. Peace is needed, and Ukraine has presented the Russian side with every proposal. They must be forced to turn to diplomacy.”

EU ambassadors are meeting in Brussels today in a bid to sign off on the 21st package of sanctions against Russia after previous attempts ended with no success.

Lithuania’s ambassador to the EU, Nerijus Aleksiejūnas, told the Lithuanian media that he was sensing a growing fatigue with the sanctions amid concerns that some measures could actually pose difficult questions for some of the member states.

“The argument heard most often is that sanctions should not harm European countries and their economies compared with Russia,” he said, as reported by LRT.

As a result, the EU dropped proposed restrictions on Russia’s fishing sectors, a proposed ban on Russian soldiers entering Europe (as France, Italy, and Spain issued the highest number of visas to Russian citizens last year, LRT said), and on sanctions against Russian Orthodox patriarch Kirill. Greece continues to oppose proposed restrictions on Russian LNG supplies.

It’s far from given whether the ambassadors will be able to sign off on the 21st package today, before they break for summer holidays. I will keep an eye on this. The meeting starts 10am local time (9am UK).

In the meantime, Ukraine continues long-range strikes inside Russia as it hit more warehouses of Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, overnight. Eight people were reportedly injured.

Elsewhere, I will keep an eye on developments across Europe for you, as we are expecting updates from France, Hungary, and Italy, among others.

It’s Wednesday, 22 July 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.