Ukrainian forces are under heavy pressure in the east of the country, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on July 26, describing the area around Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region as the main focus of Russian attacks.
Zelenskiy said on X that Ukraine's military command is assessing the situation and pledged that "everything must be done and will be done to strengthen our positions" in the area.
"It is important that our warriors receive exactly what they need under these conditions of very intense battles and pressure from the Russian Army," he said.
The General Staff said in its evening assessment on July 26 that Russian forces had launched more than 30 assaults in the Pokrovsk area, adding they were "paying a high price for their attempts to advance" there. Russian losses amounted to 187 people killed and wounded, the General Staff said.
Zelenskiy also expressed "special appreciation" to all units that attacked Russian bases and logistics in occupied territories of Ukraine.
"The occupier must feel that this is Ukrainian land," Zelenskiy said without citing what bases were hit. "And each destroyed Russian airbase, each destroyed Russian military aircraft whether on the ground or in the air, means saving Ukrainian lives."
Earlier on July 26 a Russian military airfield in occupied Crimea was reportedly targeted by a missile strike that caused explosions and a fire, Ukrainian media and Russian Telegram channels reported.
The Ukrainian TV channel Suspilne, citing local residents, reported explosions in the cities of Saky and Yevpatoria in Crimea. "Very powerful explosions" were reported by residents in Saky, which is home to a Russian airfield.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
The Crimean Wind channel on Telegram reported that an ammunition depot at the airfield was struck and quoted a source as saying that missiles and aircraft had been blown up.
The Russian Telegram channel Astra, citing emergency services sources in occupied Crimea, said the airfield and the munitions depot had been attacked with long-range ATACMS missiles, starting a fire. Two Russian soldiers sustained shrapnel wounds, Astra reported.
Astra also said that an ATACMS missile hit a Russian air-defense site in the Saky district, destroying a radar station. Citing unnamed sources, it said a total of four ATACMS missiles were fired from Ukraine, and two were shot down by Russian air defenses.
The information could not be independently confirmed.
Russia's Defense Ministry did not mention the strikes on Crimea, saying only that its air defenses shot down six Ukrainian drones -- four over the Rostov region and two over the Kursk region.
The Saky military airfield, near the village of Novofedorivka, has been targeted by missile strikes several times in the past.
The air base is home to Russia's 43rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, which supports Russian troops in southern Ukraine and operates Su-24 bombers and Su-30 fighters.
Occupied Crimea was used by the Russian military as a relatively safe launching pad for missile attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war in February 2022.
But in April, the United States began delivering versions of the powerful long-range ballistic missile ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems) that can travel as far as 300 kilometers, effectively making it possible for Ukraine to hit any of the more than 100 Russian military targets in Crimea.
Russia, meanwhile, once again targeted Ukrainian energy facilities with drone and missile strikes.
Energy supplier Ukrenerho said on July 26 that facilities in the Zhytomyr and Chernihiv regions were hit.
The Ukrainian Air Force said separately that its air defenses shot down 20 of the 22 drones launched by Russia at targets in four of its regions on July 26.
The attacks on the Kherson, Sumy, Zhytomyr, and Chernihiv regions came a day after Moscow struck installations in the Ukrainian port of Izmayil on the Danube near NATO member Romania's border, prompting the alliance to scramble F-18 jets to monitor the situation.
On July 26, Romania's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian charge d'affaires from the Russian Embassy in Bucharest, the ministry said in a statement.
"The Romanian Foreign Ministry representative conveyed the Romanian authorities' firm protest and condemned the repeated attacks by the Russian forces on the Ukrainian civil infrastructure, requesting their immediate cessation," the statement said.
The Romanian side "emphasized the irresponsible nature of [Russia's] military strikes, including in the immediate vicinity of Romania's border, which endanger national security."
Bucharest also "highlighted the sole responsibility of the Russian Federation, as a result of its aggression against Ukraine, for the serious deterioration of the security environment in the Black Sea."