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Some Ukrainian bomber drones aren’t carrying bombs anymore. They’re carrying robots.. Roads can be treacherous for Ukraine's explosive unmanned ground vehicles. So heavy bomber drones are now airlifting them into action. |
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Ukraine shut a quarter of Russia’s grain exports—the world’s wheat money now flows to Russia’s competitors. Ukraine’s Azov campaign built a paradox: the world pays more for wheat because Russia cannot ship it—and the windfall flows to Russia’s competitors. |
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Russia offers farmers boiler fuel for tractors—Ukraine’s strikes wiped out clean diesel. Russia’s Agriculture Ministry is offering farms fuel 90 times dirtier than the diesel they bought last year—fuel that halves an engine’s life. |
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Ukraine’s army chief broke his silence—an apology, a warning on soldiers’ pay, and one small number. The army chief apologized to Fedorov—and revealed only 2,000 soldiers signed the new contracts. |
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Ukraine’s protesters set a 24 July deadline as Zelenskyy weighs replacing his army chief. Organizers gave the government four days before nightly rallies begin. |
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Why Russia is importing gasoline made from its own oil. To keep its pumps supplied, Moscow has written India’s gasoline price into its own tax code. |
Breaking: Zelenskyy dismisses Ukraine's commander-in-chief after week of political turmoil Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Mykhailo Drapatyi will become Ukraine's new commander-in-chief, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi after a week of political turmoil, military consultations, and nationwide protests.
Russian MiG-29 jet and the Pantsir air defense meant to protect it both hit in Ukrainian strike on Kursk airfield Ukraine's General Staff said Ukrainian forces also hit a maritime surveillance radar, logistics and ammunition depots, and several Russian drone control posts across occupied Ukraine and Russia.
Ukraine's most feared kamikaze drone just showed up at UK arms fair—carrying missiles instead of being one The Liutyi flies one way into Russian refineries. This version comes back. Same airframe, opposite mission.
Whatever came down on Lipetsk overnight, it started with a missile warning and ended in flames by the steel mill Local Telegram channels had spread the missile-danger announcement hours before residents began filming blasts over the city.
Occupation official told Putin the Crimea highway is drone-proof—Russia's own milbloggers refuted him within hours One pro-war channel admitted traffic collapsed because drivers fear Ukrainian drones, not because Russian air defenses got better.
Everything that hits target gets used: Ukraine just proved 1940s Swedish weapon can kill modern jet-powered drone Ukraine used Bofors L70 anti-aircraft guns for this operation.
Ukraine's new combat robot is silent, fits in minivan, and carries MK19 grenade launcher Ukraine codified the "Zmii Mini Strike," a recon-strike ground robot with a silent electric motor.
Drones found the FSB where it felt safest—a seaside resort deep in occupied Kherson Oblast The SBU's Alpha unit's strike set off a large blaze at a base ringed by checkpoints, guards and bunkers.
The Ukrainian combat divers who blew up a Russian bomber just built their own sea drone Ukraine's National Guard unveiled a naval drone designed by one of its own frontline units, reflecting a growing trend of soldiers building the weapons they fight with.
Russia keeps hitting Ukraine's couriers—so Ukraine went after Russia's Amazon: oil depot and warehouses hit near Moscow Drones struck logistics sites and an oil depot in Moscow Oblast's Sheremetyevo and Podolsk, days after Russian missiles battered Ukraine's Nova Poshta postal network.
Ten dead as Russia strikes a Turkish-owned bulk carrier off Odesa Rescuers pulled eight of the 18 people aboard from the burning ship overnight; the pilot brought on to steer it out was among the dead.
Ukrainian regiment that raised flag in Kostiantynivka says it's aware of reports that its soldiers were captured there These are the same troops who filmed a flag-raising after clearing the center.
Hidden cameras in trees to guide Russian strikes: suspected FSB agent detained in Kharkiv Oblast Ukraine's Security Service says the suspect allegedly installed concealed cameras near military sites to help Russia monitor Ukrainian positions and direct missile, bomb, and drone attacks.
"Small service can cost life imprisonment": Ukraine warns against Russian Shahed-recording scheme Russia is recruiting Ukrainian traitors through social media to record FM signals broadcast by Shahed drones.
Oil exports from Europe's second-largest external supplier thrown into crisis by Black Sea tanker attacks Kazakhstan's primary Black Sea export route has been disrupted by recent tanker attacks, according to Bloomberg, threatening crude supplies from one of Europe's largest external oil suppliers.
Secret German-Russian meeting on Ukraine war took place in Baku without authorities' knowledge, Aliyev says Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev confirmed reports of undisclosed talks in Baku between former German and Russian officials on Russia's war against Ukraine, while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz denied any government involvement, Bloomberg reports.
Britain's new PM Andy Burnham is opening with calls to Trump and Zelenskyy His first foreign calls go to Zelenskyy and Trump, with UK support for Ukraine "unwavering."
60-year-old Pole stood up for Ukrainian teenager on tram in Poznań. Three men beat him for it They turned on him and beat him so badly he suffered memory loss.
First the pumps, then the harvest, now the commute—Russia's fuel shortage keeps finding new victims Public transport fares climb in 25 Russian regions. Fuel-sale restrictions officially cover more than 40 regions out of 83.
Russian strike on Kyiv Oblast destroyed $2.6 million in HIV supplies serving 300,000 people This year's needs are covered. Next year's stock is gone.
"Policy of ethnocide": Ukraine says Russia has settled 300,000 Russians in occupied Crimea, replacing Ukrainians driven out Russia is resettling its citizens into occupied Ukraine to replace the population.
Russia jails two more of its own warbloggers days apart—one for extortion, one for "justifying terrorism" Both had cheered the invasion for years, and both had recently started blaming Russia's leadership for a war they say is going wrong.
Read our previous daily review here.
© Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine
Editor’s note: This is a developing story.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on 21 July that Major General Mykhailo Drapatyi will become Ukraine's next commander-in-chief, replacing Oleksandr Syrskyi in the most significant shake-up of the country's military leadership since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Syrskyi's replacement follows a week of upheaval that began with Zelenskyy's dismissal of the popular reformist Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. The move exposed deep divisions over military reform and battlefield strategy, with Fedorov publicly criticizing Syrskyi's leadership and the decision prompting several days of protests across Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the decision followed consultations with Drapatyi, SBU special operations commander Yevhen Khmara, and presidential office deputy head Pavlo Palisa on restructuring the General Staff.
He thanked Syrskyi for leading Ukraine's defense during the Battle of Kyiv, the 2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive, and the Kursk operation, adding that he, Syrskyi, and Chief of the General Staff Andrii Hnatov had also discussed the transition and their future roles.
"Tomorrow we will formalize all the decisions," Zelenskyy said in his evening address. "Ukraine must emerge stronger from this situation, and it must become harder for Russia."
Zelenskyy also said he met with Fedorov today and offered him a new role in government focused on bringing together Ukraine’s technological capabilities and supporting their development. The president did not specify the position.
Drapatyi thanked Zelenskyy for his trust and Ukraine’s Defense Minister for their support, saying that serving Ukraine during the war of independence carries “absolute responsibility.”
He also thanked Syrskyi for his work in strengthening the Armed Forces, saying he had grown professionally under Syrskyi’s leadership.
“I will work responsibly, with focus, and with respect for the people who are defending our state today,” Drapatyi wrote on Facebook.
Former Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov welcomed Drapatyi’s appointment, calling it “new air and new hope” in Ukraine’s fight for independence and justice.
Fedorov said the new military leadership would need to meet high expectations with a clear vision for ending the war, a strong team, and actions focused on preserving soldiers’ lives, expanding battlefield robotics, carrying out asymmetric strikes, and weakening Russia’s economy.
He also thanked Syrskyi for his role in defending Kyiv Oblast, the Kharkiv counteroffensive, and other major battles, calling them an important part of Ukraine’s history. At the same time, Fedorov said Ukraine needed to move faster and correct past mistakes.
Syrskyi's dismissal comes less than a week after Zelenskyy removed Fedorov in the most significant government reshuffle since the start of the full-scale war.
The move quickly evolved into a public confrontation over the future direction of Ukraine's military. Zelenskyy acknowledged that relations between the Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces' leadership had broken down, saying he ultimately had to choose between Fedorov and Syrskyi because the two could no longer work together effectively.
Following his dismissal, Fedorov publicly confirmed he had been in conflict with Syrskyi, accusing the commander-in-chief of obstructing military reform and resisting changes needed to adapt Ukraine's armed forces to modern, drone-centric warfare.
He said initiatives developed by the Defense Ministry were systematically blocked after Zelenskyy decided to keep Syrskyi in command. Fedorov also accused the general of fueling internal divisions rather than focusing on defeating Russia, while stressing that he respected the president's authority as supreme commander.
The former defense minister argued that Ukraine needed fundamental changes to its military leadership to gain an advantage over Russia, framing the dispute as one between reform and the preservation of existing command structures.
At its core, the dispute represented a clash between two visions for Ukraine's military future: a faster transition toward a technology-driven force centered on drones and innovation, and a more traditional command approach focused on established military structures and battlefield experience.
Fedorov's dismissal sparked the largest public protests seen in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began.
Demonstrations began in Kyiv before spreading to cities including Lviv, Odesa, Dnipro, and others, with protesters demanding Fedorov's reinstatement and Syrskyi's removal. Many argued that replacing the architect of Ukraine's defense technology reforms risked slowing military innovation at a critical stage of the war.
The protests continued across Ukraine on 21 July, with demonstrators again calling for Fedorov's reinstatement and Syrskyi's dismissal. Protesters carried signs reading "Bring Fedorov back" and "Syrskyi out," accusing the military leadership of resisting reform.
As pressure mounted following Fedorov's dismissal, Zelenskyy launched consultations on the future leadership of Ukraine's Armed Forces.
Over the last several days, the president met with senior military commanders, government officials, and representatives of the defense sector, but did not confirm that the consultations were related to changes in the military's command structure.
He said the discussions focused on improving coordination, accelerating battlefield innovation, and strengthening Ukraine's ability to respond to Russia's evolving tactics.
The consultations came amid growing public debate over the direction of Ukraine's armed forces, with supporters of Fedorov arguing that the military needed to accelerate reforms and expand its use of emerging technologies, particularly drones and autonomous systems, while others stressed the need for continuity in wartime command.
Just days after landing robots on an enemy shore in the first all-robot amphibious assault, Ukrainian forces flew one into battle. This week, a Russian video circulated depicting a Ukrainian heavy bomber drone airlifting an explosives-laden unmanned ground vehicle into action.
What happened next is unclear. Did the exploding UGV successfully strike its target?
Regardless of the outcome, however, the unmanned air assault is notable. If Ukrainian forces can use an unmanned aerial vehicle to airlift one unmanned ground vehicle, they can do it a second time. And a third. And fourth. So on until these kinds of all-robot operations become routine.
And that's indeed the aim in Kyiv. To make robotic combat operations an everyday occurrence in order to help alleviate a deep and persistent manpower shortage. This spring, recently sacked Ukrainian defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov claimed Ukraine would acquire 25,000 UGVs in just the first six months of 2026.
Russian channels in an uproar today over new video – filmed from the Russian side – a Ukrainian heavy drone delivering a ground-based kamikaze robot via air to destroy Russian positions.
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) July 19, 2026
While Putin is about to mobilize at keast 500,000 for more meat assaults, Ukraine is… pic.twitter.com/qb9dmySNRQ
That's twice as many UGVs as Kyiv bought in all of 2025. The rapid mass acquisition would allow more Ukrainian brigades to shift to robotic resupply missions, removing potentially thousands of precious human logisticians from dangerous roads.
But UGVs perform combat missions, too. Armed with guns, they help counterattack Russian infiltrators and also patrol roads inside the disputed gray zone. In November, one gun-armed UGV belonging to the Ukrainian 5th Assault Brigade, fighting north of Kostiantynivka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast, inadvertently advanced UGV tactics in an accidental encounter with an up-armored Russian MT-LB infantry transport.
The UGV, equipped with thermal night vision and armed with a remotely operated M2 .50-caliber machine gun, was reportedly on a combat trial—crawling around the battlefield at nighttime for testing purposes—when an MT-LB rolled toward it on the same road.
Connected via radio, the UGV operators opened fire, peppering the tracked MT-LB with rounds until the Russian vehicle passed by—and escaped in the opposite direction.
Other Ukrainian UGVs are meant to fight exactly once. They're suicide bombers, hauling payloads of explosives into Russian strongpoints and blowing themselves up. Back in January, the Ukrainian 3rd Assault Brigade's NC-13 robotics unit piled a dozen TM-62 anti-tank mines, each with 7.5 kg of explosives, onto one of its UGVs and carefully steered the robot into a Russian bunker presumably somewhere south of the ruins of Kupiansk in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast.
It made a very big boom. As seen in an official video, the NC-13 team broke into cheers when an escorting aerial drone registered the blast. The team had carefully assembled, painted, and deployed the robot apparently over a period of days before maneuvering it 19 km across rough terrain to deliver the explosive payload.
The recent robotic air assault addressed the mobility problem. A 19-km trip is a long trip for a remotely controlled vehicle that's susceptible to enemy radio jamming and prone to getting stuck in potholes. Airlifting a UGV underneath a heavy bomber drone gets the UGV into action faster and with less risk of a loss or accident en route.
— Special Kherson Cat
Ukraine’s 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade has carried out the first known mission of its kind.
Ukrainian operators remotely guided an unmanned maritime platform across the Black Sea, carrying a machine-gun-equipped ground robot. They landed the robot on the occupied Kinburn… pic.twitter.com/wKncXttJqb(@bayraktar_1love) July 13, 2026
A heavy bomber drone could just drop a bomb, of course. But a UGV can do something an aerial bomber can't do: drive straight through the open door of a Russian bunker regardless of how much protection the Russians pile atop the door.
The Ukrainians are finding more and more new ways to get their UGVs into action. On 13 July, the Ukrainian 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade sailed several unmanned surface vessels across the western Black Sea and landed gun-armed unmanned ground vehicles on the Kinburn Spit, at the westernmost edge of the Russian occupation zone in southern Ukraine.
The 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade released a video montage—shot by a USV, a UGV and an escorting UAV—depicting the UGV firing on a Russian installation with its suppressed .50-caliber machine gun.
It was an all-robot amphibious assault. "An impressive feat," RAND analyst Michael Bohnert wrote.
The later robotic airlift was no less impressive.
Kazakhstan has been forced to halt crude oil flows to its main Black Sea export terminal after a series of attacks on tankers near Russia's Novorossiysk port disrupted shipping, Bloomberg reported on 21 July, citing people familiar with the matter.
The reported disruption comes as Ukraine has stepped up efforts to target Russia's maritime logistics and energy infrastructure in the Black Sea, while Moscow continues using the region to support its war effort and energy exports.
According to Bloomberg, the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Novorossiysk stopped accepting pipeline deliveries because tanker operators were unwilling to send vessels to the facility following recent attacks in the Black Sea. It was not immediately clear whether the suspension had already taken effect.
The reported disruption threatens Kazakhstan's oil exports and could force producers to reduce output if pipeline deliveries remain suspended through the end of the week, Bloomberg reported.
The CPC terminal handles about 80% of Kazakhstan's crude oil exports, making it the country's primary outlet to international markets.
Kazakhstan is Europe's second-largest external oil supplier after Norway, and much of its crude is produced through projects involving international energy companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell.
A prolonged disruption could tighten supplies for European refiners already facing pressure from instability affecting energy shipments through the Persian Gulf, Bloomberg noted.
The CPC press office declined to comment, according to Bloomberg.
Tengizchevroil, Kazakhstan's largest oil producer and a Chevron-led joint venture, said it was monitoring loading operations at the Novorossiysk terminal. In a statement cited by Bloomberg, the company said production and deliveries into the CPC pipeline system "may be adjusted from time to time in response to operational conditions," but declined to comment on specific output levels.
The disruption follows a series of recent attacks on tankers in the Black Sea.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the specific attacks cited by Bloomberg. Kyiv has, however, acknowledged responsibility for numerous strikes on vessels supporting Russia's maritime logistics in recent months, including attacks on oil tankers in the Black Sea.
Although the CPC terminal is located on Russia's Black Sea coast, the facility primarily exports Kazakh crude and is not subject to Western sanctions.
© Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev confirmed that former senior German and Russian officials held a secret meeting in Baku earlier this month to discuss ending Russia's war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reported, corroborating earlier media reports about the undisclosed talks.
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on 21 July, Aliyev said the meeting took place in the Azerbaijani capital between 12 and 14 July. He said Azerbaijani authorities had not been aware of the gathering at the time but later confirmed it through flight records.
"Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge," Aliyev told reporters. "I cannot comment on the details, as we were not present at the meeting. However, the flight data allows me to state that a secret meeting did take place in Baku."
Bloomberg reported that the unofficial German delegation included Ronald Pofalla, former chief of staff to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Matthias Platzeck, the former minister-president of Brandenburg.
The Russian delegation reportedly included Valery Fadeyev, head of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, and Viktor Zubkov, a former Russian prime minister who now chairs the board of state-owned energy giant Gazprom.
The reported participants were former or unofficial representatives rather than serving government officials.
Merz said the German government had no role in the reported discussions.
"I'm not aware of any such meeting," the chancellor said when asked about Aliyev's remarks during the joint press conference.
Aliyev said that if the meeting had been intended to help bring an end to Russia's war against Ukraine, "we can only welcome that," but added that he did not know what had been discussed.
It remains unclear who organized the meeting and who was aware of it.
Ukraine's Defense Forces struck a series of Russian military targets across occupied Ukraine and Russia between 20 July and the night of 21 July, including a fighter jet, an air defense system, radar equipment, logistics depots, and drone command posts, Ukraine's General Staff reported.
The reported strikes were part of a broader effort to reduce Russia's military and economic potential, according to the military.
In a statement, the General Staff said Ukraine's 15th "Black Forest" Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade successfully carried out a strike on Khalino airfield in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
According to the military, the operation damaged a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet and a Pantsir-S1 self-propelled air defense missile and gun system.
The MiG-29 remains one of Russia's standard tactical fighter aircraft despite its Soviet-era origins. Primarily used to patrol airspace, engage hostile aircraft, and support combat operations, the jet continues to play a significant role in Russia's air campaign against Ukraine.
The Pantsir-S1 is a short-range air defense system designed to protect high-value military assets, including airfields such as Khalino, from aircraft, missiles, and drones.
Khalino airfield, near the city of Kursk, has repeatedly been used by Russian tactical aviation operating near Ukraine's northeastern border and has previously been targeted by Ukrainian long-range strikes.
The General Staff also reported striking a Bussol-S radar station near Horly in occupied Kherson Oblast. According to the military, the radar detects, tracks, and provides targeting data on maritime targets, supporting Russian coastal surveillance operations.
Ukrainian forces also struck a logistics depot near Davydivske in occupied Donetsk Oblast, an ammunition depot near Kundriuche in occupied Luhansk Oblast, and another logistics warehouse near Popovo-Lezhachi in Russia's Kursk Oblast, the statement said.
In addition, Ukraine reported hitting Russian drone control posts near Komar and the village of Zaporizhzhia in Donetsk Oblast, as well as near Kamianske in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Ukraine has increasingly targeted Russian airfields, logistics hubs, air defense systems, and drone infrastructure in an effort to disrupt Moscow's ability to sustain operations along the front and launch long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities.
© Copyright 2026. The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Wheat in Chicago is at a two-year high, and southern Russia is bringing in its best harvest in years—yet Russian farmers are heading into the season earning less, not more.
Ukraine’s drone campaign in the Sea of Azov closed the Kerch Strait to shipping on 10 July, trapping the route that carries a quarter of Russia’s grain and sunflower-oil exports. Export duties and soaring logistics skim what still moves, and the grain piling up in full elevators is crushing prices at home while the world price climbs out of reach.
Russia is now heading for its weakest July wheat exports in nine years.
“Farmers should be receiving payment for half or all of their wheat harvest and putting that money back into circulation. But there is no one to sell to.”
Ural-Don agricultural holding president Alexander Yaroshenko
Russia may export 1.5 million tons of wheat this July—half its five-year average for the month and the lowest July volume since 2017, the SovEcon analytical center forecast on 20 July, its second cut in a week after analysts had already reduced July estimates by 13–20%, Kommersant reported.
The IKAR agricultural institute expects under two million tons. Both name the same main cause: navigation limits through the Kerch Strait, beyond which a quarter of Russia’s grain and sunflower-oil exports ship, according to SovEcon, with weak demand from Egypt and Türkiye adding pressure.
Russia shut the strait on 10 July after Ukrainian drones struck vessels across the Sea of Azov, including tankers—a closure Moscow imposed on itself because the water had become too dangerous to cross.
The backlog is already physical: grain exports down the Don River—27% of Russia’s grain exports last season—have stopped entirely, elevators at the Don ports are full, and agreed export contracts are collapsing because cargo cannot ship, industry figures told the Rostov business outlet Gorod N.
“Active trading should be picking up right now. Farmers should be receiving payment for half or all of their wheat harvest and putting that money back into circulation. But there is no one to sell to,” Ural-Don agricultural holding president Alexander Yaroshenko told the outlet.
September wheat in Chicago gained more than 10% in a week, touching two-year highs, while Paris wheat hit a 17-month high, SovEcon director Andrei Sizov noted. “The market is starting to understand this is not the typical short-lived Black Sea rally,” the Financial Times quoted him as saying—this time, export estimates for both Russia and Ukraine may be cut substantially.
The Ukrainian half of that warning is already happening. Russia struck back at Ukraine’s grain gateways the same week: massed attacks on Chornomorsk on 10–12 July forced Kernel, Ukraine’s largest grain exporter, to halt terminal operations, with about 45,000 tons of wheat and 9,000 tons of sunflower oil lost or damaged—leaving Ukraine’s deep-water grain exports with almost nowhere to go.
Both of the Black Sea’s grain suppliers are choked at once—the reason, in Sizov’s reading, is that the market has stopped treating this as a passing rally.
The tension raises world prices, and the money goes to Russia’s competitors. Russian farmers are fenced off from their own rally twice—a floating export duty skims the price above them, and logistics costs climb as grain hunts for other routes. Ruble prices will stay under strong pressure, Sizov wrote on Telegram.
Russia’s deep-water ports beyond the strait can ship 4–4.5 million tons of grain a month—enough for July, but at the season’s peak in August through October, Russia normally ships 5–6.5 million tons a month, Sizov calculates on Telegram.
The industry agrees from the ground: the Black Sea ports cannot physically handle southern Russia’s seasonal volumes, and the railways to them were not built for it, Yaroshenko told Gorod N—while a grain trader told the same outlet that rerouting would jam rail approaches to Novorossiysk for months. The shallow Azov ports are not a convenience; they are the margin between Russia’s export capacity and its harvest.
And this year, the domestic market has more grain than usual to absorb. SovEcon expects the southern crop—grown in exactly the regions that ship through Azov—to rise 17.2% from last year. The best harvest is arriving in the provinces with the most blocked ports.
The squeeze works through margins. Falling farm profitability is already cutting sowing—wheat area this year is the lowest since 2014, Forbes reported—and Sizov expects the trend to worsen in 2027.
The market is pricing the decay in real time: Rodnye Polya, once Russia’s largest grain exporter, was sold this month for 11.7 billion rubles ($150 million) to a little-known holding company, and terminal incomes will decline as the grain market’s export potential shrinks, Sizov told Kommersant.
Put together, the mechanism runs in one direction. Blocked ports overfill the domestic market; the surplus crushes the prices farmers live on; falling margins cut next year’s sowing; smaller harvests shrink the exports that made Russia the world’s top wheat supplier. The world, meanwhile, is already paying two-year-high prices to buy its wheat elsewhere—and the longer this runs, the more of Russia’s market share moves to the competitors the rally is enriching.
Russia's fuel crisis has reached the bus stop, with carriers in at least 25 regions raising public transport fares, The Moscow Times reported. Ten more regions have cut routes or reshuffled schedules as Ukrainian drone strikes on refineries starve the market of gasoline and diesel. The squeeze is hitting small carriers on suburban routes hardest.
Russian investigative outlet Vazhnye Istorii counted the fare hikes and route cuts from media reports across 35 regions. Fuel shortages have sent diesel and gasoline prices sharply higher, and spare parts have grown more expensive alongside, driving up carriers' costs.
In Irkutsk, Siberia, the municipal carrier Irkutskavtotrans raised fares 20% from 1 July, from 37 to 45 rubles ($0.57), while private operators added almost a quarter. The 50-km ride between Irkutsk and Angarsk jumped more than 30%.
In Altai Krai, the private company Transmagistral lifted its Barnaul–Novoaltaisk fare from 85 to 90 rubles ($1.15). At the current rate, the gasoline prices reached $1.15 a liter, or about $4.35 a gallon, and diesel at $1.17 a liter, roughly $4.45 a gallon.
In Buryatia, rides to Ulan-Ude from remote villages 250–350 km away rose more than 10%. A trip from the village of Isingi now costs 1,700 rubles ($22) instead of 1,500 ($19).
The Moscow Times noted that the crisis now covers practically the whole country. Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out about 40% of Russia's refining capacity. In the second week of July, gasoline output fell 35% to 75,000–80,000 tons a day, against summer demand of 115,000–120,000 tons.
EA Analytics put July's crude processing at 3.91 million barrels a day, the lowest since 2005. Energy Intelligence gives an even lower estimate of 3.58 million barrels, potentially the weakest figure since 2002, with about half of Russia's refining capacity standing idle.
Ukraine's An-196 "Liutyi"—the long-range drone behind hundreds of strikes on Russian oil refineries—appeared at the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom armed with four small air-to-surface missiles, Oboronka reported. The configuration marks a departure from the drone's defining role. Until now, the Liutyi has been a one-way weapon: it flies into its target and is destroyed on impact. Armed with launchable munitions, the same airframe becomes something else—a platform that launches weapons and returns.
The Liutyi is a propeller-driven, satellite-guided drone with a claimed range of about 2,000 km, carrying a 50-to-75 kg warhead and using inertial navigation with satellite correction. In its standard form, it is a flying bomb—Ukraine has used it to hit refineries as deep as 1,700 km inside Russia, near the Urals, and Germany is financing 500 more at roughly $100 million.
The Farnborough version carries four compact air-to-surface missiles under its wings. That transforms the payload logic entirely: instead of delivering a single warhead to a single target and ceasing to exist, the drone can engage multiple targets at a distance and preserve its airframe. For a weapon Ukraine builds in volume, reusability multiplies the value of every unit produced.
Farnborough is one of the two largest arms and aerospace trade fairs in the world, alongside the Paris Air Show. Displaying an armed, reusable Liutyi is a commercial statement as much as a military one.
Ukraine's defense industry has spent 2026 moving from wartime improvisation toward export positioning —presenting naval drones, interceptors, and strike systems at international expos in Paris, Kyiv, and now the UK. A drone with a combat record measured in hundreds of deep strikes on Russian territory is, for a foreign buyer, a rare thing: a system proven in the most demanding air-defense environment on earth.
Explosions under an hours-long missile alert ended in a large industrial fire in the Russian city of Lipetsk overnight on 21 July, monitoring channels and Russian officials reported. The blaze rose beside facilities central to Russia's steel output and heat supply, and what exactly came down on the city remains unconfirmed. Lipetsk is about 300 km from Ukraine's northeastern border.
Lipetsk Oblast had declared missile and drone danger from the previous evening. Residents then reported explosions over the city, followed by a spreading fire. The Russian news Telegram channel Astra wrote that locals described blasts and flames through the night. Later eyewitness footage, published by the channel, showed the aftermath of what residents called a missile attack.
Videos posted by the Ukrainian monitoring Telegram channel Exilenova+ and Astra's OSINT analysis captured a thick smoke column and flashes of explosions. Astra's geolocation work placed the fire between the city's CHPP-2 heat-and-power plant and the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK). Which facility took the hit remains unknown.
Lipetsk Oblast Governor Igor Artamonov confirmed the fire, putting its area at about 2,500 square meters. He said the blaze broke out at an open site among production facilities on Peredelcheskaya Street. The governor named no weapon behind the fire, and Astra noted the causes were "being established." Artamonov claimed no one died or suffered injuries.
OSINT analysts of the Falcon insight map channel concluded from available footage that a logistics warehouse was burning. The Ukrainian monitoring channel Supernova+ located the fire at a warehouse on Almaznaya Street holding NLMK facilities, near Peredelcheskaya. Other, unconfirmed reports suggested the Indesit appliance plant near CHPP-2 might have caught fire.
Explosions and large fire hit Russia's Lipetsk last night
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 21, 2026
Residents of Lipetsk reported blasts last night as a blaze broke out between the TETs-2 thermal power plant and the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine, one of Russia's largest steel plants. The burning site is possibly a… pic.twitter.com/h93hRj3EaE
Lipetsk CHPP-2 is one of the largest thermal power plants in Russia's Chernozem region. It supplies heat to Lipetsk and several industrial enterprises around the city.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses and electronic warfare intercepted 209 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions overnight.
Protesters were angry at Zelensky for sacking former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov
© AP
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said it detained an alleged Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) agent accused of installing concealed cameras near military sites in Kharkiv Oblast to help Russia coordinate attacks on Ukrainian positions.
Bordering Russia, Kharkiv Oblast has remained one of Ukraine's most dangerous regions throughout the full-scale war. Communities across the oblast continue to face regular missile, drone, and guided bomb attacks.
According to the SBU, the suspect, an unemployed resident of Chuhuiv district, was recruited by Russia's FSB to identify operational airfields and Ukrainian artillery positions, including multiple-launch rocket systems, in frontline areas of the eastern region.
Investigators allege the man searched for military locations on foot and, once identifying potential targets, installed hidden cameras in nearby trees. The devices allegedly provided Russian intelligence with remote, real-time video feeds intended to help adjust missile, guided bomb, and drone strikes.
The SBU said its counterintelligence officers uncovered the operation after documenting the suspect installing what the agency described as "video traps" near sites he believed could be used by Ukraine's Defense Forces. He was detained as he prepared for another reconnaissance mission.
During searches, officers seized four smartphones that the SBU says the suspect regularly rotated to maintain covert communications with his alleged FSB handlers and transmit intelligence.
The suspect has been charged with high treason committed under martial law, an offense punishable by life imprisonment with confiscation of property under Ukrainian law. He remains in custody pending trial.
Kharkiv Oblast, which borders Russia, has been a key battleground since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion. Although Ukrainian forces repelled Russia's attempt to seize Kharkiv city in 2022 and pushed Russian troops back from much of the region, frontline civilian communities continue to face frequent missile, drone, and guided bomb attacks.
Ukraine's security services have repeatedly reported uncovering alleged Russian spy networks tasked with gathering targeting data on military facilities and critical infrastructure.
The operation was conducted by the SBU's Kharkiv regional office under the procedural supervision of the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office.
Russia’s Agriculture Ministry has asked every region whether its farms will buy furnace oil—fuel made for boilers and industrial ovens—and diesel up to 90 times dirtier than the standard farms fueled with last year, an official downgrade the ministry turned to as attacks on refineries cut the country’s fuel supply, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, citing a 17 July letter it obtained.
Euro-5 diesel, the standard Russian farms bought last season, caps sulfur at 0.01%, while the ministry’s letter asks about fuel with up to 0.9% sulfur. The difference is made by hydrotreating units at refineries—the equipment that strips sulfur out of fuel—and Ukraine’s drone campaign has been destroying exactly that.
The ministry is most likely mapping demand for straight-run diesel from mini-refineries or from large plants whose hydrotreating sections have been damaged, one Kommersant source said—statistics no one in Russia had ever collected before.
Furnace oil can run only Soviet-era tractors—for modern imported machines, it is forbidden.
The letter, signed by the ministry’s crop farming department director Andrei Artikulov, gave regional agriculture bodies three days to report which farms want the degraded fuel and in what monthly volumes, according to Kommersant. The Energy Ministry has confirmed the fuel can be produced, the letter says.
The government had already legalized the circulation of Euro-3 gasoline and diesel through the end of 2026—and considered going back to Euro-2, a standard Russia abandoned years ago, the paper’s sources said.
What the downgrade does to a machine is not in dispute. Raising sulfur content fivefold cuts an engine’s service life in half, and repairing a modern combine or tractor costs many times more than the fuel savings, Lazarevskoye farm director Kristina Romanovskaya told Kommersant.
Furnace oil, she said, can run only Soviet-era or early-Russian tractors and trucks—for modern imported machines, it is forbidden. The problems are soot and clogged filters, fuel pumps, and injectors, another industry source told the paper, adding that farms that service their own aging fleets “will cope.”
Farmers had already been doing this out of desperation—now it is policy. A week earlier, Rostov Oblast farmer Aleksei Zhdanov described pouring low-grade Euro-3 into his imported tractors—wrecking them at double last year’s price, 130 rubles ($1.66) a liter—because nothing else reached his farm.
Russian refining fell in June to its lowest level in years, according to Kpler data cited by Kommersant, after Ukrainian drones reached all 10 of Russia’s largest refineries in two months.
The stakes run past Russia’s borders: Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, and analysts have cut its July export forecast by 13–20%, naming diesel restrictions among the causes alongside a late harvest start and shipping limits at the Azov port.
By 20 July, the SovEcon center had cut its estimate again, to the lowest July export volume since 2017, mainly due to navigation restrictions through the Kerch Strait. Russian media describe the cause of the shortage as “unscheduled repairs” at refineries; the repairs follow the strikes.
The rest of the fuel system is improvising too. The government restricted diesel exports from 8 July to keep fuel inside the country, and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on 15 July that the effect was already visible, Kommersant reported.
Krasnodar Krai’s governor asked Moscow to raise his region’s monthly fuel quota, Rostov Oblast negotiated extra deliveries, and Stavropol appointed a regional fuel operator for small farms.
In occupied Crimea, 86 stations resumed open gasoline sales—rationed by QR codes issued a day in advance, 20 to 40 liters per car, Vechernyaya Moskva reported. In Tyumen, businesspeople are being pitched private mini-filling stations built around single storage tanks, the same outlet said.
Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut acknowledged on 17 July that fuel supply for farmers has “roughnesses on the ground,” Kommersant reported. The ministry’s letter went out the same day.
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