Russia bombs Sumy power substation as peace push grinds on

Russia says it took out an electrical substation near Sumy in northeastern Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said its Aerospace Forces dropped a FAB bomb on the facility, according to RIA Novosti. That's the claim from Moscow — Kyiv hasn't confirmed it.

There's no official word yet on casualties, or on how badly the infrastructure was damaged. The ministry's statement didn't offer a damage assessment either.

The strike comes as diplomacy churns in the background. President Donald Trump called a localized ceasefire in Oleshky a 'stepping stone for a larger peace deal,' and credited First Lady Melania Trump with bringing Russian and Ukrainian officials together for it. He said he thinks the two sides are getting 'very close' to settling the war.

Talks are spreading across several tracks. US special envoy Jared Kushner described his discussions with Ukraine, NATO and European allies on post-war security guarantees as 'productive and substantive,' saying the administration is hunting for practical solutions to end the fighting. Ukrainian intelligence chief Rustem Umerov said a Brussels meeting with France, Germany, the UK, the US and NATO centered on those same guarantees, plus a new European security strategy.

Money is still flowing to Kyiv's defense. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Spain will send a fresh €437 million military assistance package, and he briefed Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Russia's campaign against critical infrastructure. Zelensky noted Russia has damaged more Ukrainian locomotives this year than in all previous years of the war combined — and flagged the strain on the power grid, the same grid now being hit near Sumy.