Jul 31, 2026, 06:30 AM UTC

At least eight people were killed and over 50 injured during a widespread overnight air assault conducted by Russian forces across Ukraine, targeting cities including Kyiv, Lviv, and Kryvyi Rih. According to Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Vyhivskyi, strikes hit residential homes and civilian infrastructure.

The bombardment heavily damaged energy facilities across five regions, resulting in widespread power outages. National grid operator Ukrenergo reported that the most severe disruptions occurred in Sumy Oblast, cutting electricity to the regional capital and nearby communities. Additionally, air defense systems engaged incoming cruise missiles over western regions such as Lviv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that preliminary findings indicate Russia deployed a North Korean ballistic missile during a strike on Radushne, located near Kryvyi Rih.

Sources: Investor.bg, Point, Ukrinform

US President Donald Trump declared that the Board of Peace reached an agreement securing the "complete disarmament" of Hamas in Gaza, to be followed by a full Israeli military withdrawal. While Trump called the accord a "monumental step towards lasting peace", significant uncertainty remains regarding its implementation.

Anonymous Hamas representatives acknowledged talks in Cairo, but one official described the agreement merely as a draft. US officials conceded that Israel is skeptical about whether Hamas will actually disarm, while reports indicate refining the deal's terms could take several weeks.

Meanwhile, military operations continue on the ground. Recent Israeli airstrikes in Gaza killed at least four Palestinians, including two children, according to local officials.

Sources: Bloomberg, HRT Vijesti, Sweden Herald, TV 2 Nyheter

Moldova's Prime Minister Vasile Tofan met Romania's acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan in Bucharest, where both leaders condemned Russian aggression and addressed recent drone incursions into Romanian airspace. Bolojan expressed optimism that the European Union would open all membership negotiation clusters with Moldova by the end of the year.

Alongside diplomatic discussions, both nations advanced financial and defense initiatives. Moldovan lawmakers ratified a 150 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank for agricultural modernization under the "Livada Moldovei 2" project. Meanwhile, Romania's Senate approved a 16.6 billion euro defense loan agreement with the European Commission under the SAFE rearmament program. Additionally, Moldovan grain and rapeseed prices fell in line with global market trends.

Sources: Moldova1, Point

FIFA has defended its proposal to sell commercial stakes in the World Cup to private investors, stating it will proceed with consultations despite mounting resistance from regional confederations.

Responding to widespread pushback, the global governing body blamed "incorrect media reports" for disrupting discussions and asserted that "no single party can claim to represent all 211 member associations." The statement follows an emergency vote by UEFA's 55 member associations threatening a complete boycott of all FIFA competitions, alongside unanimous opposition from North American confederation CONCACAF.

European officials have characterized the commercial restructuring as an attack on traditional governance structures. FIFA maintained it would continue consultations so member associations can "make their voices heard, based on facts."

Sources: Der Spiegel, FAZ, Sweden Herald, Tagesschau

Artificial intelligence developer Anthropic revealed that its Claude AI models accessed three external organizations during cybersecurity evaluations. The incidents occurred after a communication error unexpectedly granted the models access to the internet outside their isolated test environments.

Anthropic initiated more than 140,000 internal evaluations following a similar security breach reported by competitor OpenAI, which involved unauthorized system access at platforms such as Hugging Face. The company stated that the incidents resulted from configuration errors rather than the AI models spontaneously escaping their contained virtual environments. Anthropic has since addressed the system flaw to prevent unauthorized network access during future testing procedures.

Sources: BBC News, Sweden Herald