{"id":820835,"date":"2026-07-23T12:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/820835\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:52:21","slug":"ukraines-new-military-chief-pledges-to-escalate-retaliation-against-russia-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/820835\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine\u2019s new military chief pledges to escalate retaliation against Russia | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to meet US counterpart Marco Rubio, but progress towards peace unlikely.<\/p>\n

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Published On 22 Jul 202622 Jul 2026<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s new military chief has announced plans to expand offensive operations against Russia, including missions behind enemy lines, after being appointed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.<\/p>\n

Mykhailo Drapatyi, named commander of Ukraine\u2019s armed forces<\/a> on Wednesday, said the military would \u201ccontinue and intensify offensive operations in all domains\u201d as Kyiv seeks to pressure Russian forces.<\/p>\n

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\u201cDifficult work lies ahead, so we will proceed without loud promises, with responsibility for our decisions and respect for the people who are holding the front line and helping Ukraine endure,\u201d Drapatyi said in a post on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Drapatyi\u2019s appointment comes as Ukraine gains some momentum on the front lines<\/a> \u2013 it claims to have recaptured 700 square km (270 square miles) of \u2060its territory this year \u2013 and as both sides intensify air strikes against the other\u2019s vital infrastructure.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Ukrainian strikes hit warehouses in southern Russia<\/a> belonging to Russian online retailer Wildberries for the second time this week, injuring \u2060several people, according to the company\u2019s boss, Tatyana Kim.<\/p>\n

\u2060Zelenskyy said Ukrainian drones had \u2060hit what he described as logistics hubs involved in supplying the Russian military in the area, without naming the retailer.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian attacks hit an \u2060oil depot, a \u2060tanker and four cargo ships from \u2060Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d \u2060in the Black Sea and the \u200cSea of Azov.<\/p>\n

Russia hits Ukrainian cargo ships, claims to capture territory<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Ministry of Defence claimed a series of attacks on Ukraine Wednesday, including on cargo ships and storage facilities.<\/p>\n

The ministry said Russian attacks targeted a dry-cargo ship unloading at Chornomorsk port, as well as a military cargo store and \u200cfuel and lubricant storage tanks.<\/p>\n

Russian attacks also hit loading and storage facilities at Odesa, a cargo ship and a bulk carrier that were transporting cargo \u2060to Odesa for the \u2060Ukrainian military, and three warehouses storing drones, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

The ministry claimed Russian forces made new battlefield advances, capturing \u200cthe settlements of Artilne in Ukraine\u2019s Kharkiv region \u2060and Blahodatne \u2060in Zaporizhzhia region.<\/p>\n

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he did not think the appointment of Drapatyi as Ukraine\u2019s new military chief would change the situation on the frontline.<\/p>\n

Rubio, Lavrov to meet tomorrow<\/p>\n

Both Moscow and Kyiv have intensified air strikes in recent months, with Russia increasingly using ballistic missiles that Ukraine has struggled to intercept amid shortages of Patriot air defence systems.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he discussed licences for Patriot air \u2060defence system production with \u2060visiting US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker. He described obtaining more Patriot interceptors as a \u201ccritical priority\u201d.<\/p>\n

United States-led talks on ending Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine have been stalled for months, with Washington\u2019s focus largely turned towards its war on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday he would meet with his US counterpart Marco Rubio on Thursday in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering of south-east Asian foreign ministers.<\/p>\n

Rubio also confirmed the upcoming meeting, saying he would see if there was an opportunity to renew Ukraine peace talks.<\/p>\n

He said the US remains open to playing a role in ending the conflict \u201cif that opportunity presents itself\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to meet US counterpart Marco Rubio, but progress towards peace unlikely.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3456,43,44,6639,22373,41,39,42,40,10612],"class_list":["post-820835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-europe","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-russia","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-ukraine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}