RT News - July 4 2026 (09:00 MSK)

The Russian army takes full control of Konstantinovka, a key city in the Donbass which had been a heavily reinforced Ukrainian fortress and logistics hub. Vladimir Putin also says Kiev is trying to divert attention away from Russia's advances with strikes on civilians. This comes after a series of Russian retaliation strikes on Kiev. Moscow says it hit numerous sites linked to Ukraine's military-industrial complex, severely downgrading its strategic potential. Billions for bombs, zero for classrooms. While EU countries scramble to out-spend each other on new weapons and whip up Russia war hysteria, Estonia admits its teachers won't be getting any payrise, as the defense sector's swallowed the budget. A nation united in grief. A six-day funeral ceremony for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has began in Tehran. Thousands attend to bid farewell to the late Iranian supreme leader, who was killed in a US-Israeli airstrike in February.