Time reports on "uneasy" relations between Kamala Harris and Zelensky

"US Vice President Kamala Harris turned down Ukraine’s suggestion of preemptive

sanctions against Moscow in February 2022, days before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Shuster describes a meeting between Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in 2022. Both agreed that a Russian invasion would very likely happen soon.
Zelensky urged the US to impose preemptive sanctions against Russia, arguing that this would force Russian ruler Vladimir Putin to reconsider his decision to invade Ukraine, and to supply Ukraine with all the weapons it would need, including anti-aircraft systems, fighter jets and artillery.
According to the Ukrainian officials present at the meeting, Harris turned both suggestions down.
A Time source in the White House explained that the US considered the mere threat of sanctions a more effective deterrent than their imposition, and that arming Ukraine might have strengthened Putin’s belief that Ukraine was a "client state of NATO". Time suggests in the article that the 2022 meeting "set the tone for a relationship" between Zelensky and Harris "that has never been particularly warm." Pravada

Russia Condemns Finnish Military Drills Near Its Border as NATO Provocation

"Military exercises in Finland near Russia's borders are part of NATO provocations to contain

Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Andrey Nastasin said on Wednesday.
"We view the Finnish military maneuvers held from July 21-26 near the Russian state border with the involvement of approximately 1,700 personnel and 300 vehicles as an integral part of NATO's comprehensive provocative actions to contain Russia, including within the framework of Finland's continuing accelerated integration into the North Atlantic Alliance," Nastasin told reporters." Sputnik

156 combat clashes recorded in past day, one third of them in Pokrovsk sector

"Over the past day, 156 combat engagements occurred on the battlefield in Ukraine. The situation was most difficult in The aggressor carried out air strikes in the vicinity of populated areas, particularly, Popivka in the Sumy region; Slobozhanske, Lyptsi, Vilcha, Horiane,

Velykyi Burluk, Vovchansk, Pidseredne in the Kharkiv region; Lyman, Yampil, Makiivka, Chasiv Yar, Shcherbynivka, Druzhba, Toretsk, Kurdiumivka, New York, Mykolaivka, Novohrodivka, Zhelanne, Ivanivka, Panteleimonivka, Hrodivka, Vozdvyzhenka, Novozhelanne, Memryk, Oleksandropil, Hannivka, Trudove, Vodiane, Veselyi Hai, Yelyzavetivka, Storozhove, Blahodatne, Novodonetske, Staromayorske, Urozhaine in the Donetsk region; Lobkove in the Zaporizhzhia region; Novokamianske, Stepove, Chervonyi Yar in the Kherson region.
Yesterday, the aircraft, missile forces and artillery of the Defense Forces conducted 18 strikes on the areas of concentration of enemy personnel and weapons, hitting five command posts, two air defense systems, one communication center, three ammunition depots, as well as another important object of the invaders.the Pokrovsk sector, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled 55 attacks." Ukrin