A top EU official pledges military support for Ukraine's sovereignty against Russia's invasion

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen marked Ukraine’s annual Statehood Day on Wednesday in Kyiv, pledging continued military and financial support for the country's sovereignty as it holds out against Russia’s 4-year-old full-scale invasion.

Ukraine has been under threat since Russian forces illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, followed eight years later by the all-out invasion in 2022. Statehood Day, celebrating the country’s self-determination, is a public holiday in Ukraine.

The war has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, forced millions to flee their homes, reduced some Ukrainian cities to rubble, and has fueled fears the confrontation could slide into an open conflict between Russia and NATO, whose member nations have supported Kyiv. No peace settlement is in sight.

Senior officials from southeastern European countries also were expected in Kyiv for a gathering focused on Black Sea and regional security. Last year’s meeting in the southern city of Odesa reaffirmed their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has recently won important pledges of further support, including from the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations and the so-called Coalition of the Willing countries.

Von der Leyen said her trip to the Ukrainian capital was her 11th in wartime. Europe is watchful of Russia’s broader intentions on the continent and has provided billions of euros (dollars) to Ukraine as well as diplomatic support.

Von der Leyen said she would announce new steps toward integrating the European and Ukrainian defense industries as well as providing help to prepare the country's air defenses for the colder months, when Russia usually tries to knock out electricity and heat in what Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”

The top European Union official's visit came as Western officials and analysts say Ukraine’s drone and missile attacks are hitting high-profile targets deep inside Russia, severely disrupting Moscow's supply lines and causing civilian fuel shortages.

“It’s a special moment,” Von der Leyen said on social media. “Ukraine has built a strong military momentum. The tide is turning.”

Washington appeared poised to increase economic pressure on Moscow as a proposed Russia sanctions bill was unveiled in the U.S. Senate following Saturday’s death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of its chief backers.

The bill, which its authors had hoped to pass last summer but was held up by White House reservations, would impose steep tariffs on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas and other exports.

Wednesday's official ceremonies and visiting dignitaries in Kyiv came at a delicate political moment for Zelenskyy as he manages a major government reshuffle.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s Moscow-friendly president, Aleksandar Vucic, was taking part in the Southeast Europe Summit in Kyiv. Serbia, which relies almost fully on Russia for its energy supplies, has refused to join Western sanctions on Moscow, although it officially supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that at least nine civilians were killed and 13 others were injured in Russian aerial attacks.

Russian forces dropped six glide bombs mostly targeting infrastructure in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, killing three people and wounding seven, said Oleh Hryhorov, head of the regional military administration.

Three people were killed and three others wounded in a Russian attack on Odesa, according to Serhii Lysak, the head of the city’s military administration.

In the Chernihiv region of northern Ukraine, Russian drones killed two people and seriously wounded an 18-year-old, while one person was killed and two injured in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 93 Ukrainian drones over several Russian regions, as well as over Crimea and the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press reporter Justin Spike in Budapest contributed.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian and EU officials attend a ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, greets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

From left, Romania President Nicusor Dan, Moldova President Maia Sandu, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Olena Zelenska attend a ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, awards European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Office, Ukraine's deputy of Foreign Minister Olexander Mischenko, left, welcomes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen upon her arrival at a railway station in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Press Office via AP)

PARIS (AP) — France’s National Assembly is set to give final approval Wednesday to a bill allowing adults with incurable illnesses to receive lethal medication, the culmination of years of debate over end-of-life care.

The lower house of parliament is widely expected to approve the measure after backing it in three previous readings, completing parliament’s work on the legislation announced by French President Emmanuel Macron over three years ago.

According to various estimates, assisted dying is available to some 300 million people worldwide, with euthanasia legal under certain conditions in some countries and assisted suicide allowed in others and in several U.S. states.

France has an increasingly aging population, with growing numbers of patients who require care for chronic illnesses. The traditionally Catholic country has grappled with legal, medical, moral and religious questions about end-of-life options, including existing legislation that allows doctors to keep terminally ill patients sedated before death but stops short of allowing assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Many French people have traveled to neighboring countries where medically assisted suicide or euthanasia are legal. Medically assisted suicide generally involves a patient voluntarily taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor. Euthanasia involves a doctor or other health care professional administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request.

End-of-life options are also being debated in the United Kingdom. A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales will formally return to Parliament on Sept. 11, five months after it ran out of time in Parliament’s last session.

The proposed measure in France primarily provides for medically assisted suicide, by allowing patients to receive and self-administer lethal medication under strict conditions. Only people whose physical condition prevents them from doing so would be allowed to receive assistance from a doctor or a nurse.

Patients seeking to end their lives would have to be at least 18 years old and either French citizens or legal residents of France.

A doctor would first have to consult a team of health care professionals and then confirm that the patient has a serious and incurable illness that is life-threatening. The patient must be in an advanced or terminal stage, experiencing pain that cannot be relieved or is unbearable, and seeking lethal medication of their own free will.

Lawmakers specified that psychological suffering alone would not qualify a person for medically assisted dying.

People with severe psychiatric disorders or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s would not be eligible.

Patients would initiate the request, to be reviewed by health professionals within 15 days, and then confirm it after a period of reflection lasting at least two days.

If approved, they could take the lethal medication at the time and in the place of their choice, including at home or in a health care facility, in the presence of their loved ones if they wish.

On the chosen date, the doctor or nurse would have to verify that the person still wishes to proceed and remain nearby to intervene if complications arise.

France’s national health insurance system would cover all associated costs.

A 2023 report found that most French people are in favor of legalizing end-of-life options, and opinion polls have shown support increasing over the past two decades.

The Association for the Right to Die With Dignity said the law would allow people “to choose to end unbearable suffering, freely and with full awareness.” Its president, Jonathan Denis, said in a statement that “a law that creates a new right never forces anyone to exercise it. It does, however, ensure that every person … can remain at the heart of medical decisions that concern them and have their wishes respected.”

Opponents argue the measure could put pressure on older people and those living with illness or disabilities.

In an open letter to Macron, the anti-euthanasia group Alliance Vita said “every effort must be made to ensure that people who are suffering have immediate access to palliative care and support. Presenting death as a desirable solution can never be an acceptable response to suffering and is contrary to human dignity.”

The Senate, the upper house where conservatives hold a majority, rejected the bill. But under France’s legislative process, the National Assembly has the final say when the two houses of parliament disagree.

Senate President Gérard Larcher and Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said they will refer the bill, once adopted, to the Constitutional Council, which will have up to a month to determine whether it complies with the Constitution. The law would only enter into force once that review has been completed.

“Extensive debates have taken place in the National Assembly on this bill. However, discussions in the Senate did not allow for such an in-depth examination, in order to produce legislation that addresses both the aspirations of its supporters and the concerns of those who are worried about how it will be implemented,” Lecornu said.

In the U.K., opponents of the bill to legalize assisted dying prevented it from passing in the House of Lords, the upper house, by filing more than 1,200 amendments on a range of concerns, including potential coercion of vulnerable people and a lack of safeguards for those with disabilities.

That was in April, after elected representatives in the House of Commons passed it.

The bill that is expected to be presented again proposes allowing adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel. One aim is so people no longer go to other countries, such as Switzerland, for an assisted death.

In Germany, parliament’s lower house, the Bundestag, in 2023 considered two proposals to regulate assisted dying and rejected both of them.

Samuel Petrequin and John Leicester in Paris, Pan Pylas in London and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

FILE - French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his speech on the end-of-life options, April 3, 2023, at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, Pool, File)

FILE - The National Assembly is seen, Jan. 13, 2026, in Paris. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva, File)