The month-long reprieve announced last Friday was meant to cool soaring energy prices, the treasury secretary has said
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Morning coverage focused on a second night of Ukrainian drone attacks on Samara and Nizhny Novgorod regions, with casualties and damage to industrial facilities. State-aligned sources emphasized the distance from the border and condemned the attacks as 'inhumane'. Early afternoon, the EU approved a €90 billion loan to Ukraine and a 20th sanctions package against Russia, including targeting icebreakers and ports. Russian officials dismissed the loan as unrecoverable and linked to 'reparations'. Evening coverage was dominated by Putin's first public comments defending internet blockages as necessary for security, following widespread outages. State media also covered the death of TV host Alexei Pimanov and Israel's threats against Iran.