Blinken Says Ukraine Has Taken Back 50% Of Territory That Russia Seized

Ukrainian servicemen of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, prepare to fire an OTO-Melara Mod 56, an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer, towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine July 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian servicemen of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, prepare to fire an OTO-Melara Mod 56, an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer, towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine July 23, 2023. (Reuters)
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Blinken Says Ukraine Has Taken Back 50% Of Territory That Russia Seized

Ukrainian servicemen of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, prepare to fire an OTO-Melara Mod 56, an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer, towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine July 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian servicemen of the First Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, prepare to fire an OTO-Melara Mod 56, an Italian-made 105 mm pack howitzer, towards Russian troops at a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine July 23, 2023. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that while Ukraine has reconquered half the territory that Russia initially seized in its invasion, Kyiv faced a "a very hard fight" to win back more.

"It’s already taken back about 50% of what was initially seized," Blinken said in an interview to CNN on Sunday.

"These are still relatively early days of the counteroffensive. It is tough," he said, adding: "It will not play out over the next week or two. We’re still looking I think at several months."

Hopes that Ukraine could quickly clear Moscow's forces from its territory following the launch of a summer counteroffensive are fading as Kyiv's troops struggle to breach heavily entrenched Russian positions in the country's south and east.

Late last month President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was quoted as saying that progress against Russian forces was "slower than desired" but that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up.



Tsunami Warning after 2 Large Quakes off Russia's Pacific Coast

A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
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Tsunami Warning after 2 Large Quakes off Russia's Pacific Coast

A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT
A handout shakemap made available by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) shows the location of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hitting off Kamchatka, Russia, 20 July 2025. EPA/USGS HANDOUT

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has issued a warning for Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula after two quakes — the larger with a magnitude of 7.4 — struck in the sea nearby on Sunday.

The larger quake was at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles) and was 144 kilometers (89 miles) east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000, according to the US Geological Survey.

A few minutes earlier, a quake with a magnitude of 6.7 was recorded nearby, reported The Associated Press.

The German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) indicated twin earthquakes of over 6.5 magnitude struck near the coast of Kamchatka, in Russia's far east, early on Sunday. It measured the quakes at 6.6 and 6.7 and the depth of both at 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Measurements of earthquakes often vary in the first hours after they occur.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.