Russia-Ukraine updates: Russian missile strikes hit multiple Ukrainian cities

Dozens of injuries were reported in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Russia has continued a nearly 19-month-long invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Recently, though, the Ukrainians have gone on a counteroffensive, fighting to reclaim occupied territory.

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7 dead after Russians bomb city during aid distribution: Officials

Russian forces hit a residential neighborhood Sunday in the Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region by a guided aerial bomb during the distribution of humanitarian aid, Ukrainian officials said.

At least seven people were killed and 11 others were injured in the blast, according to the regional military administration.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Russia losing an average of 400 soldiers per day: UK officials

Russian forces are suffering an average of 400 casualties daily, according to a report from the U.K.'s Ministry of Defence.

The report said that Russia is struggling with "a crisis of combat medical provision."

"It is likely that many dedicated military hospitals are being reserved for officer casualties," the report said.

The Ministry of Defence added that half of Russian fatalities in the last 17 months could have been prevented with proper first aid.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


More progress made near Bakhmut: Ukraine official

Ukraine Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar released a statement Monday with updates on the ongoing counteroffensive.

Malyar said that Ukrainian forces liberated more than 14 square kilometers of territory from Russian forces last week, the majority of which came from the south.

The minister added that Russian forces are "on the defensive" in the direction of Bakhmut.

"The defense forces of Ukraine were able to capture the main heights near Bakhmut and have been holding the fortress city under fire control for several days," Malyar said.

-ABC News' Will Gretsky


Putin met Prigozhin after Wagner rebellion, Kremlin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin days after the rogue paramilitary leader launched a failed uprising, the Kremlin said on Monday.

The June 29 meeting came about a week after the rebellion failed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"Indeed, the president had such a meeting, he invited 35 people to it -- all the commanders of the detachments and the management of the company, including Prigozhin himself," Peskov said Monday, according to Interfax, a Russian newswire. "This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29, it lasted almost three hours."

-ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva and Joe Simonetti


US defends NATO decision on Ukraine membership

The United States is standing by the NATO communique released Tuesday and its language around Ukraine joining the alliance, despite criticism from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the lack of a timeline to do so.

"The United States clearly joined with NATO allies in agreeing to a strong positive message reaffirming that Ukraine will become a member of the alliance," U.S. National Security Council Senior Director for Europe Amanda Sloat said during a press briefing in Lithuania's capital on Wednesday morning, on the final day of a high-stakes NATO summit. "And as the communique has made clear, as the president has spoken to directly in the past, we recognize that Ukraine has already made significant progress in terms of reforms. That was part of what led to allies making the decision to say that the Membership Action Plan was no longer required for Ukraine."

"But as both the president has said and as the communique made clear, there is still the need for Ukraine to take further democratic and security sector reforms," she added.

Sloat told reporters that the U.S. has been and would continue to work with Ukraine both bilaterally and through the NATO alliance to ensure that the reforms required to join the alliance are met.

When asked to respond to Zelenskyy's criticism that the lack of a timeline was "unprecedented and absurd," Sloat defended the agreement as a significant one.

"I would agree that the communique is unprecedented, but I see that in a positive way. We joined with allies yesterday in agreeing to a very strong, positive message. We reaffirmed that Ukraine will become a member of the NATO alliance," she said, arguing that removing the Membership Action Plan requirement for Ukraine was a "very significant" step on NATO's part.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle