A Russian airstrike on a prison in a frontline region in southeastern Ukraine has killed 16 people and wounded more than 30 others, according to Ukrainian officials.

The Russian government has decided to officially close 20 border crossing points with Ukraine established by a 1995 agreement, starting from 1 August. Ukraine's State Border Guard Service has emphasised that all crossing points on the border with the Russian Federation have been officially closed since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

The last lifelines into besieged towns along the eastern frontline for Ukrainian troops, caught in a web of increasingly lethal and sophisticated drone warfare, rely on a technology millennia old: a fishing net.

At the end of the day, the EU needs U.S. weapons to keep Ukraine afloat into its struggle for survival against Russia.”

Russia was forced to downsize its celebration parades honouring the navy on Sunday amid security threats from continuing Ukrainian drone attacks, Kremlin officials said.Annual parades of Russian warships to mark the Navy Day were cancelled in St Petersburg,

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed Russia would prefer to resolve the conflict through dialogue, but said military operations continue because "opponents rejected the path of negotiations."

DONETSK REGION (Reuters) -For months, Ukraine has picked off Russian soldiers by the thousand around the frontline city of Pokrovsk, using small drones armed with bombs to tie down a numerically superior force.

Pope Leo discussed the war in Ukraine on Saturday with Metropolitan Anthony, a senior cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church, in a possible effort to ease ties between the churches strained by Russia's invasion.