As of 10 JUL 2025, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:
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Armed forces across Europe are conducting trials of a German-developed HX-2 strike drone that could reshape the continent’s military capabilities, while Ukrainian pilots already fly it against Russian targets.
Drone warfare has become a critical factor in Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression, transforming the conflict into what many call the first full-scale drone war. By early 2025, these unmanned aircraft were destroying 60-70% of Russian equipment—tanks, artillery, air defenses—often striking deep behind enemy lines. The use of relatively inexpensive drones, including FPV kamikaze types, has allowed Ukraine to compensate for artillery shortages and maintain battlefield intelligence superiority.
France, Germany, Britain and other European nations are evaluating the HX-2 strike drone manufactured by German company Helsing, according to the company’s Vice President of Sales Simon Brünjes, as reported by Hartpunkt.
The testing schedule reflects urgent military priorities. The German Bundeswehr aims to complete its evaluation by year-end, positioning itself for potential procurement decisions. Simon Brünjes, Helsing’s sales chief, indicated that Germany has assigned the project high priority compared to other defense initiatives to meet this timeline.
Why the rush? Brünjes won’t say directly. But the company designed the HX-2 as Europe’s answer to Russia’s Lancet drone—a weapon Helsing calls “very effective” against Ukrainian forces.
The ZALA Lancet, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and loitering munition developed by the Russian company ZALA Aero Group for the Russian Armed Forces. Photo: Defence Express
Ukraine has received initial HX-2 units for qualification testing, with results expected within weeks. The timing aligns with broader European efforts to support Ukraine’s defense capabilities while evaluating systems for their own militaries.
Single operator controls multiple AI drones that navigate without GPS signals
The HX-2 incorporates design elements from both missile systems and traditional drones. Its X-wing configuration enables agile maneuvering while four electric propellers provide 100-kilometer (62 miles) range and loitering capability compared to rocket-powered alternatives.
Terminal speed: 220 kilometers per hour (136 miles/hour).
German-produced HX-2 AI drone that is already used in Ukraine. Credit: Helsing
But the real innovation sits in the software. Helsing’s Altra system gives the drone three capabilities that matter in electronic warfare:
First, it navigates without GPS. A downward camera constantly matches terrain features against stored maps, letting the drone operate even when Russia jams satellite signals.
Second, it tracks targets automatically during final approach. Lose radio contact? The drone still hits what it was aimed at.
Third, it recognizes targets using artificial intelligence (AI). The system identifies and classifies objects using both visual data and context clues.
Helsing’s Altra software makes it possible for a single operator to coordinate swarm attacks while the AI handles navigation, target tracking, and electronic warfare resistance. Each drone carries several kilograms of payload which is enough to destroy tanks, artillery pieces, or infrastructure.
Here’s the catch: Brünjes says the AI could make the kill decision itself, but Helsing programs human oversight into every mission. “For ethical reasons,” he explains, matching Western military requirements for human control.
Europe grows HX-2 drone production
The German manufacturer designed its system specifically for large-scale production to achieve lower unit costs than conventional systems.
Current production stands at 450 units monthly at Helsing’s Resilience Factory in southern Germany, with capacity to expand to 1,000 units through additional personnel training. A planned second factory could bring total monthly output to approximately 2,500 HX-2 drones. The company also plans to build more factories across Europe to scale production rapidly in response to conflicts worldwide.
Compare that to combat consumption. Ukrainian forces have already used “several hundred” of Helsing’s earlier HF-1 drones out of 1,950 delivered, according to Brünjes. Combat video shows these drones destroying both stationary and moving Russian vehicles.
German-produced HX-2 drones that use AI to coordinate swarm attacks under a single operator, navigate without GPS, and automatically track targets across 100-km ranges. Credit: Helsing
The math matters for European defense planners. Can a single German factory supply multiple armies plus Ukraine’s wartime needs?
Co-founder Gundbert Scherf says they built the HX-2 “from scratch for mass production” to beat the Russia’s Lancet on both performance and price. Ukraine calls the cost “very economical”—helped by Helsing taking zero profit on Ukrainian deliveries.
Europe learns from Ukraine battlefield drone lessons
In February, Helsing announced 6,000 additional AI-powered HX-2 drones for Ukraine, following a prior order of 4,000 HF-1 drones currently being delivered in cooperation with Ukrainian industry. That’s 10,000 AI-powered strike drones heading to one battlefield.
The HX-2 builds on lessons from Ukraine’s use of the earlier HF-1 model. Same software, different hardware. Where the HF-1 uses conventional wings, the HX-2’s X-shaped design enables sharper maneuvers that are useful when dodging air defenses.
Helsing’s Ukrainian partner handles HF-1 production while the German company provides software. That division of labor gets updated constantly based on combat feedback from the front lines.
The company delivered 1,950 HF-1 units to Ukraine, with several hundred deployed in combat operations against Russian forces.
British forces also demonstrated the HX-2 at Salisbury Plain training facility while preparing for NATO enhanced Forward Presence deployment in Estonia, though Brünjes noted that Britain has not yet made formal procurement commitments.
Will European armies buy what Ukraine is already using? The testing programs underway suggest defense ministries want their own evaluation even when the weapon comes with battlefield validation.
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Trump activates drawdown powers for the first time in his current term to approve Ukraine military aid, according to Reuters. The $300 million package may reportedly include Patriot missile systems and medium-range guided rockets.
Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has pushed for Moscow-Kyiv peace talks, allegedly to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. Meanwhile, Russia showed no interest in peace talks, and continued to escalate its attacks on Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Trump administration halted shipments of certain weapons, approved under former President Joe Biden. Some of those deliveries have since resumed.
Trump may be activating drawdown powers to send $300 million in arms from existing US stockpiles
Two sources familiar with the decision told Reuters the aid would come from US weapons already in storage. The package is expected to be pulled from Pentagon stockpiles using Presidential Drawdown Authority. One of the sources said a final decision on the equipment could be made at a meeting on “Thursday.”
The reported $300 million in aid may include defensive Patriot missile interceptors and offensive medium-range rockets. However, “a decision on the exact equipment has not been made,” according to a source. According to Reuters, the equipment is likely to be delivered quickly because the systems are already staged in Europe.
Reuters said the Pentagon and the White House declined to comment when asked about the plans.
First planned direct aid under Trump since return to office
By now, the Trump administration has only “approved”—or, more accurately, did not block—deliveries authorized under Biden.
If finalized, it would be the first time Trump activates drawdown powers to directly send weapons to Ukraine, Reuters notes. The use of authority may show a shift in Trump’s Ukraine policy.
Presidential Drawdown Authority allows the president to transfer weapons quickly from US stocks, bypassing the need for new legislation.
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Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska revealed that more than 80% of Ukrainians are experiencing chronic stress and persistent emotional strain due to war.
Speaking at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on 10 July, Zelenska painted a picture of a population ground down by sleepless nights and constant bombardment.
“Our economy continues to function thanks to millions of people who go to work after nights spent in basements,” she said. “The main emotions they experience are fatigue, tension and despair.”
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Why focus on mental health at a reconstruction conference? Zelenska’s answer was direct: “Without people, a country becomes a monument.”
The cases reveal the war’s brutality. Patients arrive with burns, blast wounds, crushed limbs from Russian strikes. “Saving their lives is not enough,” Zelenska said. “We must help them live fully.”
“Destruction is not only a physical concept, but also a social one, which manifests as difficulties, security threats, and psychological suffering,” she explained. “It can spread far beyond the battlefield and affect everyone.”
Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on 10 July speaking about deteriorating mental health of Ukrainians due to continued war with Russia. Photo: President’s Office
How is Ukraine building mental health infrastructure during wartime? The country established a Mental Health Coordination Center under the Cabinet of Ministers, according to Zelenska. The goal: getting mental health services into every community across Ukraine.
The challenge requires international help. “Much effort is being made to expand operations so that mental health services are available in every community, and this requires partner support,” Zelenska told conference delegates.
Ukraine now has 11,000 rehabilitation specialists—seven times more than in 2022. These professionals have treated 600,000 Ukrainians injured by combat and enemy strikes over the past 18 months.
But Ukraine isn’t just receiving expertise—it’s sharing it. “We learn from the world’s best clinics, but our own experience has also grown to such a level that we can already share it,” Zelenska said.
Can a country rebuild while its population remains traumatized? Zelenska invited conference participants to join Ukraine’s medical partnership, suggesting the answer lies in international collaboration on both physical and mental reconstruction.
In June, Ukraine opened its first specialized mental health center in Lviv, targeting survivors of Russian captivity and torture. The Saint Leo the Great Mental Health Center offers residential care with art therapy studios and aims to treat 1,000 patients annually, including former prisoners of war. Belgium’s Flanders region funded the €1.5 million facility to address systematic torture experienced by up to 90% of returned Ukrainian POWs.
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The Russian military knows it has a nighttime camouflage problem. It’s begun circulating a field manual instructing befuddled troops on the proper fit for their thermal blankets.
The main point, according to the manual, is to make sure the blanket isn’t warmer than the nighttime landscape. “Before putting on the anti-heat-vision cape, it should be taken outside in advance and cooled by hanging it in the shade for at least one hour,” the manual advises, according to a translation posted online by Canadian drone expert “Roy.” “It is necessary in order for the cape to reach ambient temperature.”
By the same token, soldiers should make sure their thermal camo isn’t cooler than the landscape. That advice is a matter of life and death.
Consider what happened to a trio of Russian troops that tried to sneak across open terrain toward the front line presumably somewhere around Novomykolaivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast in late June.
The Russians did the smart thing and moved at night, under thermal camouflage that should—in theory—hide them from surveillance drones with infrared sensors. But the Russians hid under thermal blankets that were cooler than the surrounding summertime terrain was.
Instead of disappearing from Ukrainian drones’ heat sensors, they stood out. A bomber drone from the Ukrainian army’s 59th Assault Brigade spotted them—and approached with a clutch of grenades.
The Russians knew they were in trouble. They apparently heard the drone coming, crouched in place and pulled their blankets tightly over them. But it didn’t help.
It wasn’t some exposed limb sticking out from under a blanket that gave them away—it was the blankets themselves. The temperature differential between the ground and the outside of the blankets was so great that that blankets appeared as black shapes amid the gray and white landscape on the bomber drones’ infrared sensor.
The drone operator took their time aiming their grenades. The first round hit within meters of the crouching Russians. Arterial blood spray from one badly wounded Russian glowed hot on the drone’s camera. The ammunition the Russians were carrying, which cooked off following the second grenade impact, glowed even hotter.
The blasts left the landscape painted with blood, body parts and hot fragments.
Russian soldiers in heat-insulating anti-drone ponchos tried to approach and attack frontline positions. By the 59th Brigade of the @usf_army. pic.twitter.com/DgTfG8ImnS
— Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) June 24, 2025
How not to hide
Drones are everywhere all the time as Russia’s wider war on Ukraine grinds into its 41st month. Even on a quieter stretch of the 1,100-km front line such as that held by the 59th Assault Brigade. Even at night.
Both sides urge their troops to conceal themselves from the ever-present drones. “Use thermal blankets, similar to those that are often placed in … first-aid kits,” the Ukrainian government advised its forces in its own counterdrone field manual. “If possible, take care and use mylar capes, blankets, cloth. They effectively reflect infrared radiation.”
But the thermal camo can work poorly—or too well. Cheaper mylar blankets tend to trap too much heat or too little. When the ground is warmer than the outside of the blanket is, the wearer will appear as a solid dark square on any infrared sensor. When the ground is cooler, the wearer will appear as a solid white square.
A thermal blanket must be the same temperature as its surroundings. Placing the blanket outdoors in the shade in order to cool it is one necessary step, according to the Russian manual. A proper fit—loose but totally covering the wearer—is another necessity. “Do not allow the cape to be pressed against your body,” the manual warns. “It will warm up the cape quickly in places of pressing and begin to ‘glow’ in the thermal imager.”
Given the many instances of Russian troops getting spotted and droned while wearing badly fitting, too-hot or too-cold thermal camo, the Kremlin surely hopes its surviving forces heed the manual. Ukrainian drone teams, hunting by night with infrared sensors, surely hope the Russians don’t heed it.
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The famed 1st Tank Brigade is the third of Ukraine’s five tank brigades to undergo the transformation. After its reorganization, the brigade now has just two ostensibly 31-tank battalions instead of three—but has added a second mechanized battalion with, on paper, 31 infantry fighting vehicles.
Big, cumbersome, easy-to-spot tanks are just too vulnerable to the tiny first-person-view drones that are everywhere all the time all along the front line. “The reduced time between detection and engagement, driven by real-time drone surveillance and the high velocity of FPV attack drones, has created a hostile environment for traditional armored platforms on the battlefield,” Ukrainian analysis group Frontelligence Insight explained.
Prior to the reorganization, the brigade operated T-64 and T-72 tanks and BMP fighting vehicles. Its equipment may change as its structure changes.
It’s the latest chapter in the long history of a legendary brigade, which fought in some of the hardest battles of the initial Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014 and, as the invasion widened eight years later, won a decisive battle in the city of Chernihiv, 100 km north of Kyiv and just 60 km from the border with Russia.
Russian commanders assumed the 1st Tank Brigade would be an easy target on day one of the wider war. In the early morning hours of Feb. 24, Russian missiles and artillery struck the permanent garrisons of many of Ukraine’s ground combat brigades.
A 1st Heavy Mechanized Brigade tank. 1st Heavy Mechanized Brigade photo.
But these brigades, including the 1st Tank Brigade, had dispersed. The Russian bombardment mostly destroyed empty buildings. The 1st Tank Brigade’s several thousand troopers and roughly 100 T-64 tanks lay in wait in the fields and forests surrounding Chernihiv.
The Russian 41st Combined Arms Army barreled south from its staging areas around the Belarus-Russia border, quickly arriving at Chernihiv. On paper, the 41st CAA with its 20,000 troops and hundreds of T-72 tanks vastly outmatched the 1st Tank Brigade.
In reality, the 1st Tank Brigade held key advantages, analysts Mykhaylo Zabrodskyi, Jack Watling, Oleksandr Danylyuk and Nick Reynolds revealed in a study for the Royal United Services Institute in London.
The autoloader in the three-person T-64 and the Ukrainian army’s superior training made the most difference in the chaotic early fights around Chernihiv. “The first days of fighting saw numerous meeting engagements in forests at around 100 m to 200 m range, where restricted movement limited the Russian ability to bring their mass to bear against a specific tactical situation,” Zabrodskyi, Watling, Danylyuk and Reynolds wrote.
“Better crew training combined with short-ranged engagements where their armament was competitive, and the faster autoloader on the T-64, allowed Ukrainian tank crews to achieve significant damage against surprised Russian units.”
The 1st Tank Brigade bled the 41st CAA for several days until Russian commanders decided simply to bypass Chernihiv. As Russian battalions rolled past, the 1st Tank Brigade “found itself encircled.” A territorial brigade garrisoned in Chernihiv screened the 1st Tank Brigade’s T-64s as the brigade adopted an all-around defense of the city.
For six weeks the brigade and its supporting territorials held out. “Communication with the 1st Tank Brigade was maintained along a small supply road running northwards on the left bank of the Dnipro [River] that the Russians failed to sever, despite having an overwhelming force presence,” the RUSI analysts wrote.
The Russian army ultimately failed to capture Kyiv and bring the war to a swift end. In late March, the Kremlin ordered its battered forces around the capital city to retreat. That’s when the 1st Tank Brigade attacked. On March 31, the brigade liberated the M01 highway connecting Chernihiv to Kyiv.
A 1st Heavy Mechanized Brigade trooper. 1st Heavy Mechanized Brigade photo
Victory in Chernihiv
The 1st Tank Brigade had won its hardest fight. But wider trends doomed its status as one of Ukraine’s five tanks brigades alongside the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 17th Tank Brigades.
FPV drones haven’t rendered tanks obsolete. But they have forced tank crews to operate extremely carefully—hiding most of the time in buildings or dugouts and rolling out only occasionally to fire a few shells.
It’s a new “era of the cautious tank,” David Kirichenko, an analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C., announced in September.
Tanks are even more cautious now than they were last fall. “Overall, there is less armor being deployed to the front, especially compared to 2023,” Kirichenko said. “So we are still in the era of the cautious tank, or we could say that it has even gotten more cautious now.”
Chernihiv during heavy Russian shelling, March 2022. Photo: Suspilne Chernihiv
The Ukrainian army responded to the changing environment. The 17th Tank Brigade reorganized in October or November, reducing its tank inventory to become the first of the Ukrainian army’s new heavy mechanized brigades. The 5th Tank Brigade underwent its reorg in December.
The Ukrainian ground forces are also adopting a new corps structure that places similar brigades fighting in the same sectors under a single command. It’s possible these corps—there should be 13 of them—will each have just one separate tank battalion.
The forces for these battalions—the tanks and crews—could come from the tank brigades, some of which “may be disbanded,” Militaryland reported. Meanwhile, the tank battalions in the mechanized, motorized and mountain brigades “will be reduced in size.”
Today, the Ukrainian military should have 30 or so tank battalions with around a thousand tanks. The possible reorganization could cut that structure in half. Fewer battalions—and many more tanks in reserve to replace losses from drones.
The tanks are assuming a secondary role as infantry—and the armored trucks and tracked vehicles that speed them to and from their trenches—take on the lead role in this new era of ever-present drones and cautious tanks.
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Britain is ready to send troops to Ukraine, UK Defense Secretary John Healey confirmed, as part of a “Coalition of the Willing” proposed international effort to keep the peace in Ukraine. While no peace agreement exists and does not seem reachable in the near future, the UK government says it stands prepared to help reenforce a ceasefire.
Since January, US President Donald Trump is pushing for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, allegedly to achieve a ceasefire and then peace. Russia sticks to its original demands—terms that equate to Ukraine’s capitulation—and keeps intensifying its air and ground assaults, convinced Ukraine is reaching its limit.
Healey confirms UK would send troops
Speaking to Times Radio, John Healey was asked whether sending troops to Ukraine was still on the table.
“Yes,” he replied. “The prime minister has always been clear that he’s ready to put troops into Ukraine to help reinforce a ceasefire.”
As Express reports, this would place British soldiers in Ukraine as part of a coalition peacekeeping mission. France and the UK are expected to provide the core of the force, but support from the United States would also be required.
“There had been reports that the UK had abandoned plans to send a peace-keeping force… but the Defence Secretary’s comments show the idea has not been abandoned,” Express wrote.
The development comes amid broader defense coordination between London and Paris, focused on strengthening European responses to future threats.
Many European political and military leaders warn that Russia couldregain full-scale conventional military capabilities within two to five years, potentially enabling a new confrontation with NATO. In the meantime, Moscow continues to escalate its air and missile strikes on Ukraine while expanding hybridoperations—such as sabotage, disinformation, and cyberattacks—across Europe. In response, European states are accelerating defense spending, hardening borders, and expanding joint military readiness to deter renewed Russian aggression.
UK and France deepen defense ties with new military commitments
French President Emmanuel Macron is in the UK on a state visit, meeting Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as part of the 37th Franco-British summit held at Downing Street. According to Defense Secretary John Healey, the summit is the first with a European ally since Brexit and reflects efforts to rebuild strategic defense ties.
The UK and France will create a joint rapid deployment force of 50,000 troops to defend Europe and respond to “extreme threats.” Plans include closer coordination on nuclear deterrence, military exercises, and operational readiness.
The two countries will also order more Storm Shadow missiles and begin developing a successor to the long-range weapon, which has been supplied to Ukraine, Express says.
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Russia’s Gerbera drone crash in Lithuania occurred after the object entered from Belarus and fell near the Šumskas checkpoint. According to Delfi, it resembled the type of UAV Russia uses in its war against Ukraine.
Russia targets Ukraine daily with hundreds of Gerbera drones, used as decoys alongside explosive Shaheds to overwhelm air defenses. Recently, some of these cheap styrofoam Gerberas have begun carrying small warheads, increasing civilian casualties. The drone that crashed in Lithuania may have veered off course during last night’s Russian attack on Ukraine — or it may have been a deliberate probe to test Lithuania’s and NATO’s response ahead of potential future aggression against the Baltic States.
Lithuanian military tracked object from Belarus before crash
On 10 July, around 11:30, Lithuanian Armed Forces detected an object approaching from the direction of Belarus. In a Facebook post, the Armed Forces said the Air Force activated NATO fighter jets already in the air by switching them from training to mission mode.
Shortly after detection, the object fell to the ground. The mission was canceled. Military units notified the State Border Guard Service (VSAT), and troops were sent to the crash site.
The Lithuanian military said the object appeared homemade and posed no danger.
Drone crashed near closed Šumskas checkpoint
Delfi, citing border guards, reported the drone crashed approximately one kilometer from the Belarusian border, close to the closed Šumskas checkpoint in Vilnius District Municipality.
BNS initially reported the object as a Shahed 136 drone — an Iranian-designed craft carrying 50 kg of TNT, which Russia widely uses to target Ukrainian cities. However, that was later corrected. A VSAT representative confirmed it resembled a homemade UAV.
Giedrius Mišutis, spokesperson for VSAT, stated the drone was first detected by the Kenna outpost.
“It appears to be a homemade UAV,” Mišutis said. “There is no indication the object carried any cargo.”
The object was reportedly made of plywood and foam. Officials said it posed no threat.
Mišutis also noted that VSAT had not recently observed smuggling activity involving drones, balloons, or improvised aircraft.
Defense Express: Lithuania failed to identify or down the drone
The Ukrainian outlet Defense Express criticized Lithuania not only for failing to intercept the drone, but for failing to identify it altogether. The publication emphasized that the deeper issue lies in the lack of basic knowledge about Russian drone types.
“The real problem,” the outlet noted, “is that they don’t know what even Ukrainian children consider common knowledge.”
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Germany is ready to buy US Patriots for Ukraine if Washington gives the green light, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on 10 July. The statement comes as Ukraine’s air defense capacity weakens under escalating Russian air strikes and limited US support.
This comes as Russia escalates air attacks on Ukrainian cities, deliberately targeting civilians, while Ukraine’s air defense stockpiles dwindle, and the Trump administration has never announced any new military aid. Even Biden-era approved shipments continue only partially, with disruptions including a recent Pentagon-initiated pause.
Merz says Berlin will fund more Patriots for Ukraine
Germany is ready to buy US Patriots and deliver them to Ukraine, Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed during a press briefing in Rome, Reuters reported.
“We are also prepared to purchase additional Patriot systems from the US to make them available to Ukraine,” Merz stated.
He said he raised the matter directly with US President Donald Trump last week. According to Merz, the United States holds sufficient reserves of the systems.
“The Americans need some of them themselves, but they also have a lot of them,” he said, noting that a delivery decision had not yet been finalized.
The Patriot system—short for Phased Array Tracking Radar for Intercept on Target—is among the most advanced US air defense platforms. Built by Raytheon Technologies, the theater-wide surface-to-air missile system is designed to counter aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones.
Ukraine uses its Patriot systems to intercept Russia’s ballistic missiles, the fastest munitions in the Russian arsenal.
Trump earlier offered 10 Patriot missiles. Those are enough for one battle at most
On 8 July, Axios reported that Trump promised to immediately send 10 Patriot missiles to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal added that Trump is considering delivering an entire Patriot system.
Ukraine’s military, however, voiced skepticism. Speaking to The Times on 9 July, an unnamed senior Ukrainian Air Force officer—Ukraine’s air defenses report to AF—noted:
“If they actually send us ten [missiles], it will be nothing more than a bad joke,” he said, according to NV. “That’s not enough for even one battle.”
Axios also reported that Trump is pressuring Germany to transfer one of its Patriot batteries to Ukraine, adding further political complexity to Merz’s initiative.
Earlier statements from German officials noted “intensive talks” with the United States regarding Patriot system transfers.
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Russian state media and other propaganda outlets have altered their rhetoric toward US President Donald Trump following his increasingly critical statements about Vladimir Putin and the emergence of leaked audio recordings, according to Russian news agency Agentstvo Novosti.
The shift in tone represents a departure from previously more favorable coverage of Trump in Russian media.
First, Trump told his cabinet that “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin”—his sharpest Putin criticism since 2016, according to The New York Times. Then CNN obtained audio from a campaign donor meeting where Trump described threatening both Putin and Xi Jinping with devastating military responses. The leaked conversation reveals Trump claiming he told Putin: “If you go into Ukraine, I’ll bomb Moscow to hell. I’m telling you I have no choice.” He made similar threats to China’s Xi regarding Taiwan, saying he would “bomb Beijing.” Trump noted Xi “thought I was crazy” while Putin remained skeptical but “10% believed me.”
Russian Vladimir Solovyov, a key Kremlin TV host and propagandist, accused Trump of “Bidenization”—essentially becoming indistinguishable from his predecessor.
“Trump is transforming from the position ‘I’m the only one who can talk to Putin’ into another version of Biden,” Solovyov said, according to Agentstvo Novosti, which analyzed his talk shows.
Why the harsh reaction? Solovyov questioned whether Trump now thinks “he can tell us what to do, and we’ll obey.”
Another television host Olga Skabeeva went further, comparing current US rhetoric to Colin Powell’s 2003 WMD presentation about Iraq. She suggested Washington was recycling old playbooks, using chemical weapons allegations as “a pretext to crush some regime.”
State broadcaster Rossiya 1 portrayed Trump as increasingly desperate, claiming his statements reflected understanding that Ukraine events weren’t “going according to his scenario.” The network described Trump as approaching his “personal Afghanistan.”
Russians call Trump “lover of loud statements”
Kremlin-affiliated social media accounts joined the pile-on. The Botnadzor monitoring project found roughly 25% of bot comments targeted Trump’s statements, calling him a “lover of loud statements” and suggesting he was merely “bluffing.”
The shift registered with Russian public opinion too. Princeton University’s Russia Watcher polling showed Trump’s approval among Russians hitting its lowest point since last fall—60% now disapprove, with 30% strongly opposing him.
Kremlin officials to continue dialogue with US
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov maintained diplomatic language, saying Moscow expects “to continue our dialogue with Washington and our line of repairing the considerably damaged bilateral relations.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration resumed delivering critical military aid to Ukraine after a brief pause caused by Pentagon concerns over depleted US munitions stockpiles. The resumed shipments include 155mm artillery shells and precision-guided GMLRS rockets, essential for Ukraine’s front-line operations, particularly for its HIMARS rocket systems.
This resumption follows Russia’s largest-ever combined missile and drone attack on 9 July, when over 740 projectiles targeted Ukrainian infrastructure.
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The Netherlands committed €300 ($350) million for Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery efforts spanning 2025 and 2026, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Caspar Veldkamp’s announcement at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on 10 July.
The World Bank, together with the Ukrainian government, the European Commission, and the United Nations, estimated that Ukraine’s reconstruction and recovery needs will total $524 billion over the next decade, roughly 2.8 times the country’s projected nominal GDP for 2024. This figure reflects a 7% increase from the previous year, driven by ongoing Russian attacks that have caused significant damage, especially in housing, transport, energy, trade, and education sectors. The total direct damage now stands at $176 billion. For 2025, Ukraine has allocated $7.37 billion for priority recovery areas but still faces a financing gap of nearly $10 billion.
€52 million – Repairing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and drinking water supplies in 2025
€30 million – Supporting Dutch businesses and organizations to set up reconstruction projects through the Ukraine Partnership Facility grant programme
€4 million – Construction of a new wing at the children’s hospital in the western city of Lviv (partnership with Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht)
€20 million – Boosting Ukraine’s cyber resilience (€10 million per year for 2025 and 2026)
€194 million – Remaining funds for other reconstruction and recovery purposes.
Minister Veldkamp outlined the rationale behind the comprehensive support approach, stating that Russia has spent more than three years attempting to destroy Ukraine’s society and economy through continuous attacks on energy infrastructure, water supplies, grain storage facilities, houses and apartments. He emphasized that international community support must extend beyond arms to include financial, economic and social assistance.
Russia isn't just trying to bring Ukraine to its knees on the battle field. For 3,5 years, it has been attempting to destroy Ukraine's society and economy. Today, I announced €300 million on behalf of the Netherlands for reconstruction and economic recovery in 2025 and 2026. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/tJMfrp3ySJ
“Ukraine’s economy and society must be kept running because that will help the country in its struggle. It is, as it were, another front line,” Veldkamp said, according to the government statement.
The Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome will also feature the signing of a cooperation agreement between Veldkamp and Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko, extending the Ukraine Partnership Facility grant programme established in 2023.
The programme supports Dutch businesses and organizations working on projects in agrofood, sustainable energy, healthcare, water and circular construction sectors that benefit Ukraine’s recovery efforts.
Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, the Netherlands has provided approximately €10 billion in military aid by mid-2025, including the delivery of 24 F-16 fighter jets, Patriot air defense systems, Leopard 2 tanks, CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, armored vehicles, ammunition, and small arms.
The Netherlands has also supplied 100 drone-detection radars and 20 medical evacuation vehicles as part of a recent €175 million aid package, with €80 million specifically allocated to support drone efforts through an international drone coalition. Additionally, the country committed €500 million to Ukraine’s Drone Line project, supporting domestic production of over 600,000 drones.
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Police and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) operatives have detained a mother and her 13-year-old daughter in southern city of Odesa for conducting arson attacks on Ukrainian military infrastructure under direction from Russian intelligence services.
Russian intelligence services have systematically recruited Ukrainian civilians, including minors, to conduct domestic sabotage operations since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Russian operatives target financially struggling Ukrainians through social media and encrypted messaging apps with promises of easy money. Teenagers, displaced families, and people facing economic hardship become prime targets. What do they get paid? Several hundred to several thousand dollars, typically transferred through cryptocurrency to avoid detection.
The assignments rarely vary. Burn military vehicles. Film the destruction. Send proof for payment. Ukrainian authorities report that vehicle arson represents the most common task given to recruited civilians.
Why use locals instead of professional saboteurs? Russian intelligence gets better operational security and propaganda value when Ukrainians attack their own military infrastructure. The footage serves dual purposes—actual damage and demoralization campaigns.
The case began when the minor was recruited through a messaging application, according to investigators.
Her assigned role involved coordinating target selection with her Russian handler and providing video documentation of completed attacks as proof of execution.
Law enforcement officials established that in early July, the teenager doused a railway relay cabinet with flammable liquid and set it ablaze. The relay cabinet belonged to Ukrainian Railways infrastructure.
Ukrainian police arrested a 13-year-old girl and her mother after they torched a railway facility and a military evacuation vehicle in Odesa getting paid by Russia spies. Photo: National Police of Ukraine
Several days later, the girl received instructions to target a Volkswagen vehicle owned by a female Ukrainian service member. The car had been used at the front lines for evacuating wounded soldiers, investigators determined. Facing this more complex assignment, the teenager approached her 58-year-old mother for assistance.
Rather than declining to participate, the woman agreed to join the operation. The pair carried out the vehicle arson during nighttime hours in the regional center, using similar methods to their previous attack.
Ukrainian police arrested a 13-year-old girl and her mother after they torched a railway facility and a military evacuation vehicle in Odesa getting paid by Russia spies.Photos: National Police of Ukraine
Ukrainian prosecutors have classified the actions as attempted sabotage committed during martial law and obstruction of Armed Forces operations during the special period. The adult defendant faces charges under the latter statute, which carries a maximum penalty of eight years imprisonment, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The minor has been transferred to custody and guardianship authorities rather than facing criminal prosecution due to her age. Compulsory educational measures may be applied in her case, officials stated.
Earlier, Ukrainian law enforcement reported that Russian intelligence is conducting a covert sabotage campaign across Ukraine and Europe by recruiting vulnerable individuals, especially elderly Ukrainians, through deceptive phone calls and messaging apps like Viber.
They impersonate Ukrainian security officials, such as the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) or police, to blackmail pensioners with fabricated charges—like alleged collaboration for buying Russian-made medicines—and coerce them into carrying out sabotage tasks or paying money.
Similar recruitment tactics are used in European countries, including the Baltic states, where operatives lure locals with money or blackmail, treating them as expendable pawns.
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Russia recruits elderly in covert sabotage campaign across Ukraine and Europe
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Today, the biggest news comes from the Russian Federation. Russian oil revenue is collapsing faster than expected, with over a third evaporating as global energy prices drop and sanctions tighten. In response, the Kremlin has turned to offshore crypto schemes in a last-ditch effort to stay financially afloat—an unusual and revealing sign of just how unstable its financial position has become.
Russia’s oil revenues just dropped nearly 30% in June compared to the same month last year, bringing in just under $5.4 billion, with total oil and gas revenue falling by a third. This sharp decline stems from falling oil prices, Russia’s shrinking market share, and decreasing exports as shadow fleet routes face growing interference.
Russia’s oil revenues dropped 30% in June compared to the same month in 2024. Photo: Screenshot from the video
Budget deficit soars to $45 billion
These figures are not just technical; they expose the collapse of a revenue stream that once funded nearly half the Russian national budget. As a resource-exporting economy, or petrostate, Russia has long relied on oil and gas exports to support everything from social payments to military procurement. In wartime conditions, with sanctions increasing and operating costs surging, the Russian federal budget cannot absorb these losses for long. The annual deficit is now estimated to be over 2.5% of Russian GDP, roughly translating to $45 billion.
To close the gap, Moscow is burning through reserves and raising domestic borrowing, but cannot sustain these efforts for long. Unless replacement income is found, Russia’s ability to sustain high-intensity operations in Ukraine while also running the country will start to break down.
Russia’s ability to fund the war and run the state is nearing a breaking point. Photo: Screenshot from the video
Kremlin pushes crypto to raise funds
To compensate, Russian authorities have launched a cryptocurrency project aimed at generating income and skirting sanctions. The A7A5 cryptocurrency, created in Kyrgyzstan, is reportedly backed by Promsvyazbank, Russia’s main defense-linked bank, and Ilan Shor, a fugitive oligarch known for Moldova’s billion-dollar fraud. The system generates income by selling tokens, charging transaction fees, and incentivizing activity to attract users. It mimics a functioning payment network, allowing the Kremlin to extract value from users or controlled intermediaries.
By mimicking a real payment network, the scheme earns from token sales, fees, and user activity. Photo: Screenshot from the video
Russia uses crypto to dodge sanctions
Separately, it helps circumvent sanctions by hiding who is sending and receiving money. Crypto wallets don’t require verified identities, and payments can be routed through anonymous channels outside the SWIFT international banking system. This provides Russian entities with a way to acquire restricted goods or pay foreign actors while avoiding Western surveillance.
Although over $9 billion in transactions has been reported already, most of this volume is likely artificially inflated by moving funds between accounts run by the same person to simulate real usage, creating the illusion of popularity and large-scale adoption. Even if the platform works, it falls far short of what Russia needs. A single cryptocurrency cannot replace tens of billions of dollars in lost oil and gas revenue this year, nor can it match the reliability of formal trade routes.
Crypto enables anonymous payments outside SWIFT, helping Russia bypass sanctions and surveillance. Photo: Screenshot from the video
Digital currency can’t plug oil gap
To make a real dent in its deficit, Russia would need significantly higher usage and trade partners willing to accept this currency at scale, all while avoiding legal consequences from Western regulators now scrutinizing suspicious crypto transactions. With no clear entrance into stable markets and nothing backing the currency, the project remains marginal in economic returns and politically radioactive due to the threat of secondary Western sanctions.
Without scale, partners, or legal cover, Russia’s crypto project remains economically marginal and politically risky. Photo: Screenshot from the video
Moscow risks pariah status with crypto move
Unless Russia either expands this cryptocurrency drastically or builds multiple parallel networks to launder and move money—catering to underworld organizations—it will remain a fringe tool, not a lifeline. This would essentially make Russia act as a banker for arms traffickers, criminal syndicates, and terrorist networks already accustomed to moving money through untraceable systems.
That may keep the flow alive in the short term, but it also places Russia deeper into pariah status with its allies on the geopolitical stage.
Overall, Russia’s turn to cryptocurrency reflects improvisation and desperation, not strategy. The budget hole left by collapsing oil revenue is too large for a crypto scheme to fill, and while creative, it is built more for evasion than resilience. Unless Moscow finds a real alternative to its former energy income, the strain will spread—not just on the battlefield in Ukraine, but across the entire Russian war economy. What we are witnessing is not a new financial model, but a state trying to keep the lights on with tools made for evasion and black market trade, not endurance.
In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war.
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Trump’s erratic weapons policy leaves Ukraine fighting both Russia and mounting uncertainty from Washington, The Atlantic reports. Ukrainian officials told the Atlantic that they are constantly reworking their battlefield strategies due to unpredictable US aid. One senior official compared the process to roulette and said he would bet on zero.
As US President Donald Trump pushes for Moscow-Kyiv peace talks, Russia is escalating its attacks against Ukraine. Recently, the Pentagon once again suspended the supplies of Biden-era military aid to Ukraine, then Trump reversed the halt.
Sudden shifts in US support disrupt Ukraine’s defenses
Military planners said that each pause or reversal forces Ukraine to move units, adjust targets, or cancel operations altogether. When Patriot missile deliveries stalled, Ukraine had to shift air defense systems from other zones.
Josh Paul, a former State Department official, told the Atlantic that such changes pull resources from critical missions.
Trump’s erratic weapons policy also affects repairs and logistics
According to the Atlantic, delays don’t only affect new weapons. They also impact spare parts, replacements, and technical support. Even one short-term halt can stop Ukraine from fixing damaged systems in time.
Transporting US weapons to the front line requires weeks of planning. Without predictability, Kyiv cannot coordinate operations or logistics.
Ukraine no longer trusts political promises alone
The Atlantic reports that Trump’s approach echoes his first term, when he froze military aid while pressing Zelenskyy for political help. That episode led to his impeachment.
This time, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused deliveries without White House coordination. When asked who made the decision, Trump replied, “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
After a call with Zelenskyy, Trump said the weapons would resume. But there were no guarantees of future support. Ukrainian officials are now preparing for more delays, no matter what Washington says.
Michael Kofman told the Atlantic that Moscow likely sees US indecision as a chance to escalate. If US aid becomes unreliable, Russia has little reason to negotiate.
No new aid authorized under Trump administration
All weapons currently reaching Ukraine were approved during the Biden presidency. That pipeline will end by late summer. The Atlantic says Trump has not asked Congress to fund anything beyond that.
Future supplies will depend on defense contracts with US companies. These systems may take years to arrive. For now, Ukraine is ramping up production with European partners and expanding its own capabilities.
Zelenskyy said political decisions are in place. But he added that they must now be implemented fast—to protect lives and positions.
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France says Storm Shadow missile production at MBDA’s UK site restarts this year. The long-range air-launched missile has been actively used by Ukraine in strikes against Russian targets.
Ukraine has used Storm Shadow missiles effectively against Russian military infrastructure during its full-scale defense against Russia’s invasion. Combined with naval and aerial drone attacks, Storm Shadow strikes played a critical role in destroying multiplevessels of the Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF) and forcing the remainder to withdraw from the northwestern Black Sea. The same missiles were used to destroy the BSF HQ in occupied Crimea.
SCALP/Storm Shadow production to resume in 2025 after long pause
France is restarting production of the Storm Shadow missile—known in France as SCALP EG—in partnership with the United Kingdom. French Armed Forces Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced that manufacturing will resume in 2025, 15 years after the last order. The missiles will be produced at MBDA’s facility in Stevenage, England.
Lecornu made the statement during a visit to the UK site alongside his British counterpart, John Healey on 9 July.
“Supplied to Ukraine, the Franco-British SCALP/Storm Shadow missile has demonstrated its effectiveness in modern high-intensity combat, in decisive situations,” he said.
The SCALP/Storm Shadow has played a prominent role in Ukraine’s defense against Russia, striking hardened targets far behind the front line.
MBDA reactivates line for joint missile project
The missile is manufactured by MBDA, a joint venture of France, the UK, Italy, and Germany.
According to the defense-focused outlet Militarnyi, some of the new missiles may not only replenish French and British stockpiles but could also be supplied to Ukraine. While Lecornu did not confirm future recipients, previous shipments to Ukraine suggest continued deliveries are possible.
France’s Senate had outlined plans to order new munitions, including SCALP missiles, in December 2024.
Air-launched weapon designed to hit fortified targets
SCALP/Storm Shadow is a long-range air-launched cruise missile designed for deep strikes against heavily defended and fixed targets such as command bunkers. The missile weighs up to 1,300 kg, including a 450 kg warhead, and measures 5.1 meters in length.
The export version has a declared range of over 250 km, while domestic variants used by France and the UK can reach up to 560 km. The French and British models differ slightly in software and aircraft compatibility, but are otherwise identical.
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US weapons shipments to Ukraine have resumed, with deliveries now confirmed by the Associated Press and the New York Post sources to include precision-guided GMLRS rockets and 155 mm artillery shells. This marks the first clear confirmation of resumed aid content since the Pentagon quietly paused certain deliveries weeks ago.
The confirmation of resumed US weapons shipments to Ukraine coincides with Russia’s most intense missile and drone campaign since the full-scale invasion began. Moscow launched a record-setting attack with 728 Shahed and decoy drones and 13 cruise and ballistic missiles overnight on 9 July. Varying in scale, such Russian attacks occur every night, targeting Ukrainian civilians.
Guided rockets and artillery shells confirmed in resumed deliveries
The Associated Press and the New York Post report that the United States is once again sending GMLRS munitions for HIMARS launchers and 155 mm howitzer rounds to Ukraine. According to two American officials who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity, the deliveries are already underway. Some shipments had reportedly reached Poland before the initial halt took effect.
The 155 mm artillery rounds—some of the most-used munitions of the Russo-Ukrainian war— are fired from towed Howitzer systems capable of striking targets as far as 32 kilometers away. GMLRS, short for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, are precision-guided rockets fired from Western supplies multiple rocket-launch systems.
These specific munitions were not publicly confirmed until now. Though the Trump administration announced on 7 July that deliveries would resume, neither the Pentagon nor the White House initially revealed what would be included in the new packages.
Pentagon’s pause drew internal backlash
The pause was first implemented last week by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reportedly to reassess US military stockpiles. The move caught other branches of the administration off guard, including the State Department and White House, according to AP.
President Donald Trump later addressed the issue directly, expressing frustration.
“I will be the first to know. In fact, most likely I’d give the order, but I haven’t done that yet,” he said. Asked who ordered the pause, Trump replied: “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
A White House official, also speaking anonymously, claimed there was never an official “pause,” only a review to ensure alignment with US defense strategy.
The Pentagon halted the weapon supplies to Ukraine earlier due to concerns over the depletion of American munitions stockpiles. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly ordered the halt.
In response, 17 members of Congress and the Senate called on Defense Secretary Hegseth to fully resume all weapons deliveries to Ukraine.
On 7 July, the Pentagon announced that President Trump had directed a resumption of deliveries, though specifics were not provided until this week.
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. This decision follows Trump’s disappointment with Putin after their phone call and after a Pentagon weapons delivery pause created confusion within his own administration.
. Friedrich Merz told lawmakers he would continue military assistance to Ukraine “despite opposition from the political left and the Russia-friendly right here in the house,” framing the conflict as a threat to European political freedom.
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Russia’s drone strikes target Ukrainian morale more than military assets, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports. Moscow now prioritizes psychological pressure over battlefield gain, using massive drone swarms and targeted civilian damage.
Russia turns drone swarms into tools of psychological warfare to degrade morale
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its 9 July report:
“The continued increase in the size of strike packages is likely intended to support Russian efforts to degrade Ukrainian morale in the face of constant Russian aggression.”
Colonel Yurii Ihnat of the Ukrainian Air Force said Moscow launched over 400 decoy drones in one attack on 9 July, which included 728 UAVs and 13 missiles. The decoy drones also carried warheads, creating not just confusion but real explosions on Ukrainian soil.
Such attacks occur every night. On 10 July, Russia targeted Ukraine with 397 drones and 18 missiles. Yesterday’s attack was focused on western Ukraine’s Lutsk, today’s—on Kyiv.
ISW notes that this tactic intends to overwhelm air defenses and emotionally exhaust Ukraine’s population. Modified drones now cause wider damage across larger areas, increasing the psychological burden on civilians.
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NYT: Putin believes Ukraine’s collapse is near — and he’s acting like it
Ukrainian forces face constant drone waves, many with no clear military objective.
“ISW assessed in previous years that Russia has used strike packages targeting civilian areas to generate a morale effect in Ukraine, as seems to be the case with the most recent strikes,” the think tank wrote.
Ukraine says enlistment offices are under attack to block mobilization
Colonel Vitaly Sarantsev of the Ukrainian Ground Forces told the Washington Post that Russia now targets enlistment offices. These strikes aim to scare people away from joining the military. Sarantsev added that Moscow wants to make Ukrainians believe recruitment is dangerous.
Russia may escalate drone strategy further
The New York Times reported on 9 July that Russia may soon launch over 1,000 drones in a single strike. Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces Commander Major Robert Brovdi warned about the same possibility.
Electronic warfare expert Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said Russia already increased Shahed production sevenfold. He expects up to 800 drones per strike soon.
ISW previously reported that Russia has expanded long-range drone production. Some production lines reportedly involve Chinese companies manufacturing “Geran-2 drones (the Russian-made analogue of the Iranian-origin Shahed-136 drones)” drones.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Ukraine’s collapse is near, according to The New York Times. The paper reports that this belief is driving a sharp escalation in Russia’s war. Despite multiple calls with US President Donald Trump, the Kremlin continues to press forward. Russian insiders told NYT that Moscow expects Ukraine’s defenses to fall and sees no reason to compromise.
This comes as Trump has pushed for Moscow-Kyiv talks for months, allegedly to end the Russo-Ukrainian war. Russia, however, only significantly escalated its air and ground attacks in Ukraine, and reiterated its maximalist goals, amounting to Ukraine’s capitulation.
Putin rejects any pause, believing Ukraine’s collapse is near
Two people close to the Kremlin told NYT that Putin expects Ukraine’s front lines to fail within months. They said the Russian president views any halt in fighting as unacceptable unless Ukraine agrees to sweeping concessions.
“He will not sacrifice his goals in Ukraine for the sake of improving relations with Trump,” said Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center.
Putin believes he sees momentum on the battlefield and believes time favors Moscow. He continues to press for Ukrainian capitulation rather than any negotiated freeze of his was in Ukraine.
Trump’s personal diplomacy fails to slow Moscow’s offensive
Since February, Trump has spoken with Putin by phone six times. Russia and Ukraine also held two rounds of direct talks in Istanbul.
Despite that, Moscow has only escalated its assault. The Kremlin has rejected all US efforts to stop or slow the war.
On 9 July 2025, Trump voiced his anger:
“We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” he told reporters. “He’s very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”
Despite the breakdown, Putin continued to praise Trump. At a 27 June press conference in Belarus, he called him “a courageous man.” Referring to Trump’s frustration, Putin added:
“That’s how it is. Real life is always more complicated than the idea of it.”
Putin reiterates goals: NATO rollback, Ukraine neutrality, legal changes
The Kremlin’s war aims now go far beyond territorial control. Putin demands that NATO halt eastward expansion and remove infrastructure from Eastern Europe. He also wants Ukraine to adopt a neutral status and reduce the size of its military. Another key demand: alleged protection for the Russian language in Ukrainian law.
Most significantly, Putin insists Ukraine withdraw all forces from its territory claimed by Russia. That condition continues to block any potential cease-fire.
A Kremlin-connected source told NYT that Putin still expects a deal with Trump on sanctions relief — but not now. The source said Moscow believes that moment will come only after Russia finishes its offensive.
Kremlin sees no value in compromise — yet
For Putin, the re-opening of direct contact with Trump marked a diplomatic breakthrough after years of Biden-era isolation.
Still, the Kremlin is frustrated that Trump refuses to separate peace in Ukraine from broader US-Russia ties. That approach has stalled Moscow’s hopes of striking a deal quickly, NYT says.
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Last night’s Russian missile and drone strike on Kyiv killed two women — a 22-year-old female police officer and a 68-year-old resident — and left more than a dozen others injured. Explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital for nearly 10 hours overnight on 10 July, damaging homes, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure across at least eight city districts.
This comes after Russia’s largest air attack of the war the previous day, when it launched 741 projectiles—728 drones and 13 missiles—across Ukraine in a single night, following a brief and suspicious lull. The scale wasn’t a new trend but a continuation of Russia’s established pattern: periods of relative quiet followed by overwhelming, coordinated bombardment designed to exhaust defenses and terrorize civilians.
Two women killed as Kyiv comes under one of its longest assaults this month
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed that both fatalities occurred in Kyiv’s Podilskyi district. The victims were a 22-year-old corporal with the metro police and a 68-year-old civilian woman. Klymenko said more than a dozen people were injured and warned the number would grow, while Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko reported by 7:50 a.m. that the total had reached 16. Emergency crews continued door-to-door checks in affected neighborhoods to locate anyone needing help.
The Kyiv City Military Administration and Klymenko (KMVA) reported that the strike damaged residential, medical, educational, transport, and commercial facilities. Fires broke out in several locations, prompting a large-scale emergency response. Around 400 rescue personnel and 90 units of firefighting, engineering, and robotic equipment were deployed, including climbing and bomb disposal teams.
People watch a residential building burn after a Russian attack in Kyiv on 10 July 2025. Photo: Suspilne News / Ivan Antypenko
Civilian injuries and widespread damage reported across city districts
Air raid sirens began in Kyiv shortly after midnight as Ukrainian airspace monitoring channels tracked incoming drones from multiple directions. Soon after, Kyiv authorities issued alerts about ballistic missile threats from Russian territory. Explosions followed within minutes. KMVA confirmed active air defense operations, but several drones and missiles made it through.
The KMVA and Klitschkoreporteddamage in Shevchenkivskyi, Darnytskyi, Solomianskyi, Podilskyi, Obolonskyi, Holosiivskyi, and other districts.
In Shevchenkivskyi, drone debris ignited a fire on the upper floor of a residential building and damaged rooftops, facades, and interiors. A drone also hit a roof near a gas station and another home nearby. Three residents were injured there: an 86-year-old woman with acute stress reaction, a 45-year-old man with multiple injuries, and a 59-year-old man with a cut foot and closed chest trauma.
Rescuers and emergency crews respond after Russian strikes in Kyiv on 10 July 2025. Photo: Suspilne
In Darnytskyi, falling debris caused fires in garages and a gas station. Drone fragments also landed in the courtyard of a residential building.
Solomianskyi district saw strikes on non-residential buildings and rooftops catching fire at two separate addresses. In Obolonskyi, suspected drone debris also fell. In Holosiivskyi, a drone strike set a cargo truck on fire.
Kyiv Oblast also hit in overnight attack
Kyiv Oblast also came under fire during the same Russian missile and drone strike. Head of the Oblast Military Administration Mykola Kalashnyk reported nearly 10 hours of continuous air assault on 10 July. Four districts — Boryspilskyi, Brovarskyi, Obukhivskyi, and Vyshhorodskyi — sustained damage.
In Brovarskyi, private homes and outbuildings had windows shattered, doors broken, and facades torn by shrapnel. One private home caught fire but was extinguished. Two vehicles were also damaged.
Vyshhorodskyi saw a garage fire, while in Obukhivskyi and Boryspilskyi several private homes were damaged. A 51-year-old man was injured in Obukhivskyi and hospitalized.
Kalashnyk warned that the total number of damaged structures could still rise as assessments continue.
The flight paths of the Russian air assets plotten by the Ukrainian airspace monitoring channels show that the
Flight paths of Russian Shahed drones and missiles targeting Ukraine on 10 July 2025. Source: Telegram/mon1tor_ua, monitorwarr
Russian missiles and most drones targeted Kyiv, with some hitting Poltava, and several more cruising across western Ukraine to trigger air raid alerts there too.
Poltava Oblast: drones downed, buildings damaged
The Poltava Oblast Military Administration reported drone attacks on the night of 10 July. Most were intercepted by air defenses, but some reached the Hlobyne community, where a residential building and an outbuilding were damaged. No injuries were reported.
Separately, a forest fire broke out in Velykobudyshchanska community. The cause is under investigation. Over 150 households temporarily lost electricity. Emergency crews began restoring the grid early Wednesday.
Update: Ukraine downs 178 out of 415 Russian aerial weapons in overnight Kyiv-focused attack
Overnight on 10 July, Russian forces launched 415 aerial attack assets toward Ukraine, primarily targeting Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The strike package included 397 drones, approximately 200 of them Shahed-type, launched from Bryansk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk, Oryol, and Millerovo. Of those, 164 Shahed drones were shot down, while 204 more were suppressed or lost from radar by electronic warfare.
Alongside the drone swarm, Russia launched:
8 Iskander-M ballistic missiles from Bryansk Oblast — all 8 were intercepted,
6 Kh-101 cruise missiles from Saratov Oblast airspace — all 6 shot down,
4 S-300 missiles from Kursk Oblast — no interception data provided.
“Impacts from enemy aerial attack assets were recorded at 8 locations (33 strike UAVs), and debris from downed drones fell in 23 locations,” the Air Force wrote.
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The United States has resumed weapons shipments to Ukraine, delivering 155 mm artillery shells and guided missile systems, two US officials told Reuters. The deliveries come after a short pause in arms transfers by the Trump administration that raised concerns in Kyiv and Washington.
Diplomatic efforts remain frozen, while Russia escalates its attacks. On 9 July, Moscow launched the largest combined missile and drone assault of the war, firing over 740 projectiles at Ukrainian infrastructure. The barrage signals Russia’s hardened military posture and fuels fears the war could stretch on for years.
US sends artillery shells and GMLRS missiles
The resumed shipment includes 155 mm artillery shells and GMLRS (guided multiple launch rocket system) missiles—vital to Ukraine’s front-line operations. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, did not disclose the size of the shipment or confirm if deliveries were complete.
The pause, which occurred last week, was reportedly tied to Pentagon concerns over depleted US munitions reserves. The White House has not formally commented on the internal review.
Lockheed Martin’s extended-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System will have its first flight test in November 2020. Photo: Lockheed Martin
Trump: “I don’t know who ordered the pause”
President Donald Trump told reporters he was unaware of who had ordered the temporary halt in arms deliveries. He added that the US would continue sending weapons to Ukraine, with an emphasis on defensive systems to counter advancing Russian forces.
It is unclear whether the resumed shipment reflects a broader shift in policy or a continuation of prior aid commitments.
Transportation of 155mm shells. Credit: Militarnyi
Russia escalates with record drone and missile barrage
Ukraine reported over 740 drones and missiles launched by Russia in a single night—the most extensive aerial attack since the war began. Strikes targeted infrastructure across multiple regions.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded by calling for tougher sanctions on Russian revenue sources, especially oil exports.
Ukraine expands military coordination with US
In a statement on Tuesday, Zelenskyy said he has ordered expanded coordination with the United States to secure urgent deliveries of air defense systems and other military aid. Kyiv continues to press Washington for faster and more consistent support amid ongoing attacks.
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Czechia began its inaugural voluntary military training program for high school students, with 718 participants beginning four weeks of intensive instruction at eight military bases across the country in the first program of its kind.
The initiative represents part of a broader defense strategy aimed at strengthening national security capabilities while providing youth development opportunities.
The program was initiated in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Czech military leaders have explicitly cited the need to increase the number of recruits and strengthen national resilience in response to the deteriorating security situation in Europe.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the program attracted nearly 750 applicants aged 18 to 22 years, with five candidates failing entrance medical examinations and others withdrawing for personal reasons. Female students comprise approximately 20% of the participant cohort, all of whom must be enrolled in secondary education to qualify.
Czechia trains 718 teenagers in combat tactics during four-week voluntary military program that aims to expand national reserves while introducing young people to military service. Photo: Czech Ministry of Defense
Army General Karel Řehka, Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, stated that the program seeks to “actively reach out to the young generation and introduce them to military service” while “expanding our reserves” through increased societal resilience.
Participants will receive comprehensive military instruction including:
tactical fundamentals
small arms training
grenade handling
topographical navigation
engineering preparation
first aid certification.
The curriculum also incorporates physical conditioning through morning exercises and field maneuvers, culminating in a two-day field exercise under natural conditions.
Can teenagers handle this intensity? The military thinks so. Students who complete the program take a ceremonial oath in their garrison town and receive 40,498 Czech crowns—roughly $1,900—before taxes.
Photos: Czech Ministry of Defense
But the money isn’t the real incentive here. The Czech Ministry of Defense frames this as preparation for “crisis situations” while strengthening “the state’s defense capabilities.”
The initiative coincides with the Czech military’s Reserve Resources 2025 mobilization exercises conducted in June, which focused on emergency and wartime conscription procedures, according to previous ministry announcements.
Since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, Czechia has provided Ukraine with extensive military aid focused heavily on artillery ammunition and heavy weapons. In 2024 alone, the Czech-led ammunition initiative supplied Ukraine with 1.5 million rounds of artillery shells, including 500,000 large-caliber 155mm and 152mm shells. Czechia also delivered 89 tanks, 226 infantry fighting vehicles and other armored vehicles, and 38 self-propelled howitzers, alongside air assets such as combat helicopters. The country helps to train Ukrainian soldiers, particularly pilots of F-16 and L-39 aircraft.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Rome with Keith Kellogg, the special envoy on Ukraine for US President Donald Trump. The meeting took place during the Ukraine Recovery Conference, where Kellogg led the American delegation.
Diplomatic progress remains stalled, even as Russia intensifies its assault. On 9 July, Moscow launched its largest combined missile and drone attack of the war, firing more than 740 projectiles at Ukrainian infrastructure. The barrage underscores Russia’s hardened stance and raises fears that the conflict could drag on for years.
“I thanked him for participating in the Conference, where General Kellogg is heading the US team,” Zelenskyy posted on X. “We discussed arms supplies and the strengthening of Ukraine’s air defense. Amid intensified Russian attacks, this remains a top priority.”
Zelenskyy also noted discussions on procuring US weapons, joint defense production, and expanding military manufacturing inside Ukraine.
Sanctions on Russian oil under review
Zelenskyy said the meeting also covered efforts to ramp up sanctions on Russia—particularly in the energy sector.
“We understand the need to tighten restrictions on Russian energy, especially through secondary sanctions targeting buyers of Russian oil,” he said.
He expressed support for a bipartisan bill introduced in the US Congress by Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal aimed at limiting Russia’s oil revenues.
“This would undoubtedly force Russia to take peace more seriously,” Zelenskyy added.
I had a substantive conversation with US Special Presidential Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg @generalkellogg. I thanked him for participating in the Ukraine Recovery Conference, where the General leads the US delegation.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 9, 2025
Trump: Patriots “very expensive,” Ukraine made a request
President Trump commented on reports that his administration is considering sending additional Patriot missile systems to Ukraine. Speaking to reporters after a Wall Street Journal article broke the news, Trump acknowledged Ukraine’s request.
“They’ve requested them. They’re very rare, you know, because a lot of systems have already been sent [to Ukraine],” Trump said. “We’ll have to see—they’re very expensive.”
When asked whether he had looked into the reported pause in US arms shipments, Trump replied, “I haven’t really thought about that. Right now we’re looking at Ukraine and ammunition. But I haven’t gone deep into it.”
He added, “If such a decision was made inside my administration, I would know. Most likely, I would have been the one to give that order—but I haven’t done that yet.”
Trump confirms new military aid as frustration with Putin grows
Despite the lack of clarity on earlier decisions, Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he had approved a new shipment of arms to Ukraine. The move comes amid his increasing criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the continuation of Russian strikes.
Donald Trump at the UFC fight in January 2025. Photo: White House via X.
Reports: Pentagon paused some aid without White House approval
On 1 July, the US paused shipments of specific munitions to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles. CNN reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the decision without consulting the White House.
Later, both the Pentagon and State Department clarified that weapons deliveries had not been fully suspended.
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A wave of covert explosions striking tankers tied to Russian energy exports appears to be the work of Ukrainian special forces, according to a detailed analysis by Tom Sharpe OBE in The Telegraph. While no official confirmation has been issued, the precision and pattern of the attacks strongly suggest a coordinated sabotage campaign.
“Someone – and bluntly, that someone is the Ukrainian special forces – is making highly effective use of these weapons,” Sharpe writes.
Sanctions, oil, and the shadow fleet
Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the West imposed sweeping sanctions and a $60-per-barrel oil price cap to choke off funding for the war. In response, Moscow has leaned on a vast and opaque “shadow fleet” of aging tankers operating under obscure ownership and dubious flags of convenience. These vessels now carry more than 60% of Russia’s crude exports, helping sustain the oil revenues that fund Putin’s war.
Despite sanctions, the fleet continues to operate, with the US, EU, and UK stepping up enforcement through ship sanctions, port bans, and insurance crackdowns—efforts that so far have had limited effect.
Limpet mines: Targeted maritime sabotage
Military analysts and investigators believe the attacks were carried out using limpet mines, specifically Russian-made BPM-1 or BPM-2 models. These mines are designed to be manually attached to ship hulls by divers or delivered via unmanned underwater systems—tools of precision sabotage, not broad sea denial.
Their use indicates a high level of operational expertise, likely involving rebreather diving, manual or sonar-based navigation, and possibly mini-submersible delivery systems.
BPM limpet mine. Photo: sappers.com.ua
Sixth incident: Eco Wizard explosion in Ust-Luga
The most recent incident occurred on 6 July, when the Eco Wizard tanker was rocked by two explosions while loading ammonia at the Russian port of Ust-Luga. Though not a direct gas shipment, Sharpe notes that “ammonia is made of natural gas,” making it, in effect, a form of energy export.
This marks the sixth such attack this year. Previous explosions targeted tankers near Libya, Italy, Türkiye, and again in Ust-Luga. Many of the affected vessels had previously anchored near Malta and Libya—regions frequently linked to Russia’s shadow fleet operations.
Legal constraints and the grey zone at sea
Western powers have struggled to interdict the shadow fleet due to legal protections under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which enshrines freedom of navigation. Efforts to board or inspect suspect vessels under environmental or flag-related pretexts have had only limited success.
Sharpe also notes that many of these tankers are now accompanied by Russian warships or warplanes, raising the stakes and making direct intervention politically risky.
The Eagle S tanker off Porvoo on 30 December 2024. Screenshot: YLE
Strategic shift in maritime warfare
The suspected use of limpet mines by Ukrainian forces signals a strategic escalation in the maritime dimension of the war. These covert, deniable strikes target the infrastructure sustaining Russia’s war economy—without crossing into open confrontation.
As Sharpe concludes, this is a clear demonstration of “highly effective” unconventional warfare, exploiting vulnerabilities the West has yet to fully address.
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered a landmark ruling on 9 July, finding Russia responsible for widespread human rights violations during its war against Ukraine and the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Why does this matter? It’s the first time an international court has held Moscow accountable for human rights violations since Russia’s invasion began in 2014.
The case combined four separate legal challenges into one massive proceeding. Ukraine filed complaints about systematic abuses in occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, including something particularly disturbing: the kidnapping of children from orphanages and their deportation to Russia. The Netherlands joined with its own application over MH17. Then Ukraine added a fourth complaint covering violations since the 2022 full-scale invasion.
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What did the court actually find? The Russian violations include:
killings of civilians and Ukrainian soldiers
torture
arbitrary detention
forced displacement through so-called “filtration” camps
systematic suppression of the Ukrainian language.
But here’s what makes this ruling unprecedented: 26 countries and an international organization joined as third parties. That level of international backing is extraordinary.
Ukrainian judge Mykola Hnatovskyi put it bluntly: this is “probably the largest and most important case in the entire history of the ECHR.”
Ukraine’s lawyers forge unprecedented international case against Russia for decade
Behind this landmark ruling lies years of painstaking legal work. Marharyta Sokorenko, the Commissioner for ECHR Affairs at Ukraine’s Justice Ministry, called the case “the culmination of a long and thorny path of fierce legal confrontation for law and truth.”
How grueling was the process? Sokorenko described it as “the result of more than ten years of complex work, sometimes ‘on the edge’ and ‘this is the last time,’ by the entire team.” She added that Ukrainian lawyers “were pioneers in forming the interstate lawsuit and evidence base.”
For the legal team, this wasn’t just another case. “For each of us, this case goes far beyond official duties,” Sokorenko wrote on Facebook ahead of the ruling.
Russia missile attack killed 298 people in MH17 air crash
On 17 July 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-supplied Buk missile. All 298 passengers and crew members died, including 196 Dutch nationals—making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in Dutch history.
The human cost extends far beyond the immediate tragedy. A decade later, research by Professor Jos de Keijser from the University of Groningen reveals that one in eight families of the victims still struggle with severe, chronic grief. These survivors face insomnia, depression, PTSD, and concentration problems that persist years after the disaster.
Local workers transport a piece of wreckage from Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 at the site of the plane crash near the village of Hrabove in Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine 20 November 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Antonio Bronic/File Photo
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Russia controlled part of Ukraine where plane was hit
For nearly a decade, families of the 298 people killed when MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine waited for justice. Now they have it—sort of.
The European court determined Russia was responsible for downing the Malaysia Airlines flight on 17 July 2014. This marks the first international judicial finding holding Russia accountable for the disaster.
Putin. MH17: The blood on his hands. (Political cartoon by Ramirez, 2014)
How solid is the evidence? A Joint Investigation Team from five countries spent years building the case. Last November, a Dutch court sentenced three men to life imprisonment: Russians Igor Girkin-Strelkov and Sergey Dubinsky, plus Ukrainian citizen Leonid Kharchenko. They remain out of prison because Russia has refused to extradite its citizens. The court also ordered over €16 million in compensation to victims’ families.
Igor Girkin-Strelkov is a Russian former intelligence officer and military commander who led pro-Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine and was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Dutch court for his role in the MH17 downing.
Crucially, during that verdict reading, The Hague District Court also recognized that Russia controlled the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” from at least May 2014—months before MH17 was destroyed.
Netherlands Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans called the ECHR decision “an important step toward justice.”
“The suffering of the relatives of MH-17 is immense, intensified by Russia’s denial. Now the European Court confirms what we have known for 10 years: Russia is responsible. Ihopeitcontributestoprocessingthegrief,” Brekelmans wrote.
Russia denies involvement. But the evidence trail led investigators to conclude Moscow’s control began well before the tragedy occurred.
Court recognizes Russia wants to destroy Ukraine
The court ordered Russia:
to release all people illegally detained in occupied territories
cooperate in creating an international mechanism to identify kidnapped children and return them to their families.
Will Russia comply? History suggests no. Moscow has ignored international court rulings before.
But Ukraine’s Justice Ministry sees this differently. They called the ruling “unprecedented” and noted the court satisfied nearly all government complaints. More importantly, the court recognized something Ukrainian officials have argued for years: Russia is conducting “a targeted campaign to destroy the Ukrainian state as a subject of international law.”
The ministry went further, stating that the court found “Russia’s aggression is not limited to Ukraine—it is a global threat that questions the very idea of coexistence of states in the legal field. In particular, Russia demonstrates hostility toward other member states of the Council of Europe.”
Ukrainian judge Hnatovskyi explained why this case stands apart: “No previous conflicts examined showed such unanimous condemnation by the international community of the respondent state’s flagrant disregard for the principles of international legal order established after World War II.”
What’s the broader significance? This ruling doesn’t just address past violations—it creates legal precedent for holding Russia accountable for systematic human rights abuses. The question now is whether international pressure can translate into meaningful consequences for Moscow’s actions.
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Pope Leo XIV has formally offered to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the Vatican, renewing the Holy See’s role as a potential mediator in the ongoing war. The offer was extended during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday at Castel Gandolfo, the Pope’s summer residence.
Peace talks remain stalled as Russia escalates attacks
Diplomatic efforts remain frozen, even as Russia intensifies its military offensive. On 9 July, Moscow launched the largest drone and missile barrage of the war, deploying over 740 drones and missiles targeting Ukrainian infrastructure. The escalation underscores Russia’s resistance to peace negotiations and fuels growing concerns that the war could stretch on for years.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, 9 July 2025. Photo: Zelenskyy via Telegram
Vatican reaffirms commitment to peace
The Vatican confirmed the Pope’s willingness to bring together representatives from both nations, stressing the need for an “urgent search for just and lasting peace” and the essential role of direct dialogue in resolving the war.
Russia rejects vatican as venue
Despite the renewed offer, Russia had already signaled its opposition to holding peace talks at the Vatican when the idea was first floated earlier. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov questioned the appropriateness of a Catholic setting for negotiations between predominantly Orthodox nations, calling it “somewhat inelegant.”
This refusal comes in spite of the Vatican’s neutral stance and long-standing reputation as a credible venue for international diplomacy.
Ukraine’s official delegation in the Vatican on 9 July 2025. Photo: Zelenskyy via Telegram
New pope continues Vatican’s diplomatic legacy
Pope Leo XIV, elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, has continued the Vatican’s call for peace without directly condemning Russia. This measured approach mirrors that of his predecessor and appears aimed at keeping communication channels open with both sides.
President Zelenskyy, among the first global leaders to meet the new Pope, welcomed the Vatican’s ongoing efforts to facilitate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
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Two Chinese nationals sit in Ukrainian custody tonight, accused of attempting to steal classified documentation on Ukraine’s Neptune anti-ship missile system. The weapon that sank Russia’s flagship Moskva.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) says it caught the pair red-handed in Kyiv. A 24-year-old former university student and his father, who resides in China but made periodic visits to Ukraine.
Chinese father-son espionage in Ukraine
The younger suspect studied at a Kyiv technical university until 2023, when he was expelled for poor grades. Instead of returning to China, he stayed in Ukraine. The SBU suggests he used his remaining contacts to target someone with access to advanced weapons development.
His father allegedly traveled to Ukraine to personally coordinate intelligence operations, according to the security service’s investigation. The family business, apparently, was espionage.
The student attempted to recruit a Ukrainian citizen connected to cutting-edge defense projects. The goal: technical documentation on Neptune missile production that could be smuggled back to Chinese intelligence services.
Ukrainian counterintelligence officers say they identified the operation early and arrested the student during a document handover. His father was detained as he prepared to transfer the stolen information to Beijing.
During searches, investigators seized mobile phones containing what they describe as coordination messages between the two suspects.
Both face espionage charges under Ukraine’s Criminal Code. Maximum sentence: 15 years with property confiscation.
Why would China want Neptune missile secrets?
The weapon has proven its worth in combat. Two Neptune missiles sank the Russian cruiser Moskva in April 2022—the Black Sea Fleet’s flagship and a potent symbol of Russian naval power. In March 2024, another Neptune strike hit the landing ship Konstantin Olshansky at its occupied Crimean base, rendering the vessel incapable of combat.
The missile itself measures just over five meters long and weighs 870 kilograms (1 918 lbs). Range: up to 280 kilometers (173 miles). It can sink vessels displacing up to 5,000 tons.
Recent modifications expanded the Neptune’s capabilities beyond ships to ground targets that has an extended range of up to 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
This advancement allows Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory, including strategic targets such as oil refineries, exemplified by a likely 14 March strike on a refinery in Tuapse about 450 km (279 miles) from the front line.
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Desperate to blunt escalating Russian bombardment of its cities, Ukraine contacted Germany with an urgent request four new air-defense systems and as many as 2,000 new missiles for them.
Germany responded with equal urgency—and said yes. Now Ukraine is set to receive four additional launchers for IRIS-T missiles as well as a huge stock of the 130-kg missiles, which range as far as 40 km under infrared and radar guidance.
The IRIS-T isn’t the kind of missile you’d shoot at an incoming ballistic missile. Ballistic missiles such as Russia’s Iskander move too quickly for smaller air-defense missiles. It takes a heavy missile in the class of the US-made Patriot to kill an Iskander.
What the IRIS-T is, is a drone-killer. In its primary role defending against slower and lower-flying targets—Russian Shahed drones and cruise missiles, for example—the IRIS-T has a nearly 100% success rate, according to Helmut Rauch, the CEO of Germany’s Diehl Defense, the lead manufacturer of the missile.
An Air Command West IRIS-T launcher. Air Command West photo.
The Ukrainian 540th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade corroborated that figure. During one recent Russian cruise missile barrage, the brigade’s IRIS-T launchers shot down all 27 incoming missiles. “The enemy did not accomplish its mission,” a brigade officer said in an official video translated by German Aid to Ukraine and an associate.
Russian industry has ramped up production of the 200-kg Shahed and can now fling hundreds and hundreds of them at Ukrainian cities every day. Ukrainian forces jam their navigation signals, shoot them from the air and the ground and even ram into them with special interceptor drones—and yet, 10% or more of the Shaheds get through.
The devastating air raids targeting Ukrainian cities on 4 July involved 539 Shaheds, according to the Ukrainian air force. 268 Shaheds were shot down, and another 208 flew off course, likely owing to Ukrainian jamming. 63 Shaheds struck, damaging buildings and killing or wounding civilians.
“There must—and there definitely will—be more protection for life,” Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in the aftermath of the raid.
Yesterday, the 540th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade — which has just received the 7th IRIS-T SLM fire unit Germany has delivered to #Ukraine — has shared a video featuring IRIS-T SLM launchers, a TRML-4D air surveillance radar and an IRIS-T SLS launcher.
The new batch of IRIS-Ts will help, but they’re no panacea.
Reading between the lines of leaked documents that German newspaper Bild obtained, German Aid to Ukraine concluded new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had already signed off on Ukraine’s request for four new IRIS-T launchers and 2,000 missiles. Each launcher costs $140 million. Each missile costs $600,000.
Ukraine already has seven IRIS-T launchers donated or financed by Germany and Norway. It has lost one launcher and one supporting TRML-4D radar to Russian action. Prior to the current request, Germany and Norway had pledged another 13 launchers.
An Air Command West IRIS-T launcher. Air Command West photo.
The IRIS-T is on track to become one of Ukraine’s most important medium-range air-defense systems. It alone can’t fully protect Ukrainian cities, of course. For starters, it might take years for German industry to deliver all the launchers and missiles.
Moreover, even 2,000 missiles is a small number of missiles when Russia can launch many hundreds—potentially 1,000—of its $200,000 Shaheds every day. It’s not for no reason Ukrainian industry is working so hard on jammers that can throw the Russian drones off course—and also building more and more interceptor drones that cost less than a Shahed does.
Iranian-designed Shahed 136 drone hulls at a Russian drone factory. Photo via TWZ
The jamming might be the most cost-effective defense. “Since the enemy counts Shahed production at 500 to 1,000 per day, jamming is the only economically viable solution,” said “Alchemist,” the head of the Night Watch electronic warfare team in Kyiv.
With newer Shaheds climbing as high as 3,500 meters and flying right through heavy clouds that can obscure them from view, Ukraine’s interceptor drones “can’t keep up,” Alchemist claimed. “Cost, scalability, resources—all prohibit such countermeasures.”
Ideally, IRIS-T would be the final line of defense, plucking the last few Shaheds that make it through the jamming and interceptor drones.
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Lithuania and Finland are preparing to begin domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves and Ukraine, according to officials from both NATO member states who spoke to Reuters.
The countries are ready to begin manufacturing once their six-month withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention is complete.
The Ottawa Convention banned anti-personnel landmines worldwide. Since 1999, it has drawn 164 countries committed to destroying their mine stockpiles and clearing contaminated land, as mines can cause severe injuries and deaths among civilians. But here’s the problem: Russia, China, and the United States never signed on. Neither did India or Pakistan. The world’s major military powers kept their mines.
This decision reflects growing European concerns that Russia’s military ambitions may extend beyond Ukraine. Recently, NATO states have pledged to increase defense spending up to 5% in line with demands from US President Donald Trump.
Lithuania shares 274 kilometers (170 miles) of border with Russia and 679 kilometers (421 miles) with Belarus, a key Kremlin’s ally, so they are concerned about the country’s security amid continued Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“We are going to spend hundreds of millions of euros on anti-tank mines, but also on anti-personnel mines. It will be a significant amount,” Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Karolis Aleksa told Reuters. How many? Tens of thousands, possibly more.
Can they actually produce them? “Our national industry will be one of the sources. Our industry can make these,” Aleksa said.
Helsinki had more than 1 million anti-personnel landmines before joining the Ottawa Convention in 2011. They destroyed them all, following the rules. Now they’re rebuilding that capability as Finland’s border with Russia stretches 1,340 kilometers (832 miles)—longer than any other NATO state.
Both countries have concluded the same thing: when your neighbor stockpiles weapons banned by treaties they never signed, you need every defensive option available.
Other Eastern European countries consider mines production amid Russia’s threat
Three additional NATO and European Union states – Poland, Latvia and Estonia – are also exiting the treaty, citing heightened security concerns about Russia due to its war in Ukraine. While these three countries have not announced production plans, officials in Poland and Latvia indicated they could begin manufacturing quickly if necessary, and Estonia views it as a future possibility.
All five NATO countries say they won’t create minefields during peacetime. Instead, they’ll store the mines for rapid deployment if threatened. Poland has already designated zones that could be mined within days as part of future military fortifications along its eastern frontier.
Ukraine has similarly announced its withdrawal from the 1997 Ottawa treaty to better defend against Russia, which is not a party to the agreement.
This decision comes after nearly two decades of compliance since Ukraine joined the treaty in 2005, but the full-scale Russian invasion and Russia’s ongoing use of mines have forced Ukraine to reconsider its position.
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Ukraine exits global mine ban for self-defense reasons as Russia ignores international law
The Ukrainian government argues that the treaty unfairly restricts its right to self-defense under the UN Charter, especially as Russia cynically employs mines and other weapons without regard for international law.
Lithuania and Finland plan to supply Ukraine with mines
Vincas Jurgutis, head of Lithuania’s defense industry association, said once production is established, Lithuania would be positioned to supply others including Ukraine.
Finland could also supply landmines to Ukraine, Finnish parliament defence committee chair Heikki Autto said. “It is not only right and our duty to support Ukraine, it is also important for Finland’s own security.”
But here’s the humanitarian concern: Anti-personnel mines detonate when triggered by contact, vibration or tripwires, and can harm civilians as well as combatants. Many remain in the ground long after conflicts conclude.
Anti-mine campaigners have criticized the countries leaving the Ottawa Convention, arguing that reintroducing anti-personnel mine production could be expensive and time-consuming to make fully operational.
Russia’s ambassador to Helsinki said in April that Finland’s decision to quit the Ottawa treaty would create risks only for Finnish residents since its military planned to mine only Finnish territory.
The countries’ governments, however, say any minefields must be marked for post-conflict clearance and regard such munitions as deterrence. “When we have them in storage, that is the best guarantee that they will never have to be used,” Autto said.
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Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) remains legally subordinate to Russia’s Orthodox Church despite its claims of independence.
The State Service of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) concluded in a 21-page investigation that Ukraine’s second-largest Orthodox denomination has maintained canonical ties to Moscow through its governing documents and institutional structure.
The timing proves significant as it comes just one week after Ukraine stripped UOC MP leader Metropolitan Onufriy of Ukrainian citizenship for allegedly concealing his Russian passport since 2002.
Russian church charter still governs Ukrainian operations
The DESS investigation revealed that the UOC MP continues to cite the 1990 Gramota (Charter) from then-Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow as its constitutional foundation. The document explicitly states that “the Ukrainian Orthodox Church is connected through our Russian Orthodox Church to the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
According to the findings, the UOC MP must still commemorate the Moscow Patriarch in liturgy, have its statutes approved by Moscow, receive holy chrism from Russia, and ensure Ukrainian bishops participate in Russian church councils as obligated members.
Religious scholar Yuriy Chornomorets, who participated in earlier expert evaluations, told Euromaidan Press that “the conclusions use only facts; therefore, its findings are impossible to counter.”
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Limited response to Russian diocese seizures
The commission noted that Russian authorities have unilaterally transferred three UOC MP dioceses on occupied territories to direct Moscow control since 2022, including dioceses in Crimea, Rovenky, and Berdiansk. The UOC MP leadership offered no resistance to these transfers.
When 33 UOC MP bishops condemned Moscow’s diocese seizures in October 2024, their own church’s governing bodies remained silent, the investigation found.
Legal implications under Ukraine’s church ban
The findings provide legal justification for implementing Ukraine’s August 2024 law banning Russian-affiliated religious organizations. The legislation gave religious groups nine months to sever Russian connections or face dissolution through court proceedings.
DESS will now compile a list of religious organizations connected to the banned Russian Orthodox Church structure, potentially affecting the UOC MP’s approximately 8,000 parishes.
The UOC MP has consistently maintained it severed ties with Moscow after Russia’s February 2022 invasion, but the Ukrainian investigation concludes these claims lack documentary foundation.
Explore further
Ukraine just stripped citizenship from the leader of Putin’s favorite church—his 8,000 parishes are next
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The historically Moscow-aligned Ukrainian Orthodox Church is still affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church despite claims to the contrary, a Ukrainian state committee has found.
In a lengthy investigation, the Ukrainian State Service of Ukraine on Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience (DESS) has concluded that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC MP) is still legally part of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The timing of the document, which confirms an earlier expert committee probe, is particularly crucial. It comes just one week after Ukraine stripped citizenship from the UOC MP leader.
Ukraine is gearing up for a lengthy legal battle with the UOC MP after banning Russian-affiliated churches in August 2024.
The law gave religious organizations nine months to sever relations with Russia. Now, DESS is probing whether the connections are still there.
But, how does one establish such matters? After all, the UOC MP insists it supports Ukraine and that it already cut its Russian ties back in 2022.
Moreover, it is leading a global campaign decrying alleged state religious persecution. This initiative has been particularly fruitful among American Republicans, in part thanks to lavish lobbying efforts.
The destroyed Virgin Mary Skete in Sviatohirsk, one of the many UOC MP churches destroyed by Russia’s attacks. Photo: The World Council of Churches
Canonically speaking
The path of an Orthodox church to autocephaly (independence) is notoriously vague and complicated. Unlike the Catholic Church, governed by a single primate from Rome, global Orthodoxy is defined as a constellation of amicable jurisdictions that received independence according to pastoral needs.
Ideally, of course. In practice, however, the path to church independence has been fraught with political strife, stonewalling, and competition between two centers of Orthodox gravitas—the Moscow and Ecumenical patriarchates.
Enter the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The UOC MP’s predicament stems from centuries of imperial church politics. The 1686 transfer of the Kyiv Metropolitanate from Constantinople to Moscowbegan Russian control over Ukrainian Orthodoxy—control that outlasted the Soviet Union and continued into independent Ukraine.
This pattern wasn’t unique to Ukraine. The Russian Orthodox Church historically granted limited “autonomy” to Orthodox communities in its sphere—a status somewhere between full independence and direct diocesan control. The Japanese Orthodox Church, Latvian Orthodox Church, Estonian Orthodox Church, and Ukrainian Orthodox Church all received similar arrangements.
True autocephaly, by contrast, means complete independence—as Moscow granted to the Polish Orthodox Church in 1948 and the Orthodox Church in America in 1970. The language was unambiguous: full canonical independence with no mention of accessing global Orthodoxy “through” another church.
The DESS investigation shows that Ukraine’s “autonomy”—that ambiguous middle ground between independence and subordination—remains unchanged.
The 21-page report reads like a forensic autopsy. It dissects the UOC MP’s claims using two key criteria:
What the church’s foundational documents say
and what its actions reveal.
The smoking gun lies in a 1990 document: the Gramota (Charter) issued by then-Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow. The UOC MP still cites this in its governing statutes. It grants the Ukrainian church “independence and autonomy in its governance”—but with a crucial caveat.
“The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is connected through our Russian Orthodox Church to the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,” the Gramota declares.
Emphasis ours
For DESS investigators, this single line proves subordination. Ukraine’s second-largest Orthodox denomination remains canonically tied to Moscow.
But wait—doesn’t the UOC MP claim it severed these ties after Russia’s 2022 invasion? The church leadership has repeatedly insisted they’re no longer part of the Russian Orthodox Church structure.
The investigation reveals a different story. A 2017 addition to the Russian Orthodox Church’s statutes—Chapter X, titled “The Ukrainian Orthodox Church”—still mandates that the Ukrainian church must:
Commemorate the Moscow Patriarch’s name in all Ukrainian churches
Have its statute approved and confirmed by the Moscow Patriarch
Have its primate blessed by the Moscow Patriarch
Submit decisions about creating or dissolving dioceses to Moscow’s Archiereus Council for approval
Ensure Ukrainian bishops participate in Russian church councils as obligated members
Accept Moscow’s Holy Synod decisions as binding
Receive holy chrism (consecrated oil) from the Moscow Patriarch
A conference of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate on 27 May 2022 in Kyiv claimed to have severed ties with the Russian Orthodox Church. Photo: UOC MP
What about the 27 May 2022 Local Council at Feofania Monastery? The UOC MP points to this gathering as proof of their independence. The council did adopt changes to the church statute, removing some explicit references to Moscow.
But the DESS investigation calls this a “notable step toward independence” that “did not mean the withdrawal” from the Russian Orthodox Church. Why not?
The 2022 statute preserved the constitutive provision that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church operates “according to the Charter of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus Alexy II of 27 October 1990.”
The Gramota remains the constitutional foundation.
Has the UOC MP issued any foundational documents superseding the Gramota? The answer is no.
The investigation found no documents from the UOC MP’s governing bodies—its Sobor, Bishop’s Council, or Holy Synod—declaring withdrawal from the Russian Orthodox Church structure. The silence is deafening.
UOC MP actions speak louder
Moscow Bishop Luke holds clergy meeting in Russian-occupied Berdiansk, 1 June 2023. Photo: website of the Berdiansk Eparchy
But documents only tell half the story. What have the churches actually done?
Russian church authorities have been unilaterally transferring UOC MP dioceses on Russian-occupied lands to direct Moscow control since 2022. Three Crimean dioceses in June 2022. The Rovenky diocese in October 2022. The Berdiansk diocese in May 2023.
Did the UOC MP resist these transfers? Not once.
Some UOC MP bishops have publicly supported Russian aggression. Metropolitan Panteleimon of Luhansk and Alchevsk participated in pro-war events and attended celebrations for Patriarch Kirill’s anniversary.
True, some clergy operate under Russian occupation, where resistance could mean imprisonment. But the church’s response reveals its priorities.
The UOC MP aggressively condemns priests who defect to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, granted independence by Constantinople in 2018. It bans them from serving.
When Moscow transfers entire dioceses? Silence.
In October 2024, 33 UOC MP bishops condemned Moscow’s unilateral diocese transfers. Were they supported by their colleagues? No. The church’s governing bodies said nothing.
This shows they can resist when they choose to. They just don’t choose to resist Moscow.
UOC MP leader’s Russian citizenship
Ukraine just stripped citizenship from the leader of Putin’s favorite church—his 8,000 parishes are next
The grassroots revolt
Between 2022 and 2024, multiple groups of clergy and laypeople issued appeals to Metropolitan Onuphrius. They demanded complete canonical separation from Moscow.
Were these appeals considered? The investigation notes they were “left without consideration by the highest organs of church authority and governance of the UOC MP.”
The verdict
The DESS conclusion is unequivocal: the Kyiv Metropolitanate remains affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church under all four criteria established by Ukrainian law:
the UOC still belongs to Moscow’s structure
its documents still reference Russian control
Moscow still makes binding decisions for Ukrainian dioceses
Ukrainian bishops still sit on Russian church councils.
For Ukrainian authorities, this provides legal justification for potential further action. For the church itself, it represents a canonical Catch-22. It must maintain the Russian connection that legitimizes its existence while operating in a country that has banned that very connection.
Is the commission biased?
While the UOC MP hasn’t responded officially to the DESS conclusion, prominent figures like Iona Cherepanov have decried it as “Soviet,” implying that the commission is biased and implements state decisions to, allegedly, persecute the UOC MP.
That’s impossible, says religious scholar and philosopher Yuriy Chornomorets, who had previously taken part in an expert committee that arrived at similar conclusions. The DESS conclusion uses only facts; therefore, its findings are impossible to counter, Chornomorets told Euromaidan Press.
Archimandrite Cyril Hovorun, professor of ecclesiology, international relations, and ecumenism at Saint Ignatios College
The sophistication and detail of analysis testify to the high level of expertise of the DESS experts, he maintains. Moreover, the conclusions in the documents are supported by quotes from UOC MP leaders themselves.
Theologian Cyril Hovorun told Euromaidan Press that the conclusions “correspond to canonical realities as they are understood in Eastern Christianity.”
The UOC still references Moscow’s 1990 charter. It still operates under Russian Orthodox Church statutes. Ukrainian bishops still sit on Russian church councils.
These aren’t interpretations—they’re documented facts.
Why doesn’t the UOC MP break free from Russia?
Yuriy Chornomorets, professor, religious scientist
The path forward is surprisingly straightforward, according to Chornomorets. The UOC would need to officially decide to leave the Russian Orthodox Church. It must notify all Orthodox patriarchs of its new status. It should condemn Moscow’s seizure of Ukrainian dioceses.
“The UOC must start acting like an autocephalous church,” he argues.
So why haven’t they?
This question haunts Ukrainian religious observers. The UOC’s response reveals a stunning contradiction.
“Today the UOC admits it remains part of the Russian Orthodox Church but claims it intends to become autocephalous,” Chornomorets notes. “Yet it demands Ukrainian authorities treat it as if it already achieved independence.”
The duplicity runs deeper. “When UOC bishops operate outside Ukraine—in Europe, for instance—they demand local Orthodox hierarchs treat them as Russian Orthodox Church representatives,” he explains. They want to be independent in Ukraine but Russian abroad.
Andriy Smyrnov, historian and religious scholar at the Ostroh Academy
Religious historian Andriy Smyrnov believes Metropolitan Onuphrius is waiting for the war to end. Why? “To return to the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Chornomorets offers a blunt explanation. “UOC leadership maintains passivity because they’re not afraid of Ukraine’s democratic state—they’re panicked by Putin.” He suggests UOC leaders fear they could end up dead like Russian officials who displease the Kremlin.
Financial incentives provide another explanation. Influential Russian-born oligarch Vadym Novinskyi—who obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2012 under Viktor Yanukovych, serves as a UOC deacon, and is widely considered the church’s main financial patron—allegedly channels VTB Bank loans to pro-Russian bishops.
L-R: Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) primate Metropolitan Onufriy, Russian Orthodox Church primate Patriarch Kirill, prominent financier of UOC MP, Ukrainian oligarch and lawmaker Vadym Novynskyi during a UOC MP visit to Moscow to greet Kirill with the 10th anniversary of his election to primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, 16 June 2019. Photo: Novynskyi’s Facebook
Novinskyi’s funding could be part of the explanation, Hovorun believes. But not all of it.
Meanwhile, Smyrnov believes the UOC MP hasn’t declared autocephaly “because it would place them in a schism.” Breaking away unilaterally would leave the church without recognition from other Orthodox patriarchates.
“But really, over three years they could have appealed to church primates, could have restored communication with the Ecumenical Patriarch [severed in 2018 – ed] and asked for help,” he says.
The irony is palpable. While Chornomorets notes that 74% of UOC faithful support immediate separation from Moscow, their bishops cling to Russian ties that Ukrainian law now explicitly forbids.
What happens next?
Viacheslav Horshkov, religious expert working at DESS, one of the authors of its conclusion
DESS expert Viacheslav Horshkov, one of the report’s authors, outlines the immediate next steps. “It’s too early to talk about parishes now,” he tells Euromaidan Press. “The next step is a directive to the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the UOC to eliminate signs of affiliation with the Russian Orthodox Church.”
The church will have 30 days to comply, with a possible 60-day extension upon request. If they meet the requirements—which Horshkov considers realistic—the matter closes.
If not, the Kyiv Metropolitanate will be officially recognized as affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church, and the case goes to court.
The timeline remains uncertain. But if the court strips the Kyiv Metropolitanate of its legal entity status, questions will arise for subordinate structures—diocesan administrations, monasteries, missions, and spiritual educational institutions.
Parishes face different options. “Parishes can peacefully transition to independent status or exist without legal entity status,” Horshkov explains. “They have several options for determining their fate. They can even register a new association.”
“The new law preserves Russians’ right to worship freely, hold gatherings, and maintain their own temples,” Chornomorets explains. “But it strips them of privileges to use approximately 3,000 religious buildings belonging to the state as historical monuments or local communities.”
He notes the law’s limitations.
“The sanctions are too mild—loss of legal entity status for religious communities, monasteries, seminaries, dioceses, and the Kyiv Metropolitanate, but nothing that would constitute a real ‘ban on the Russian Orthodox Church.'”
DESS will now compile a list of religious organizations connected with the banned Russian Orthodox Church structure. “If a parish ends up on the list and doesn’t comply with the directive to eliminate affiliation, and uses state property, then the lease agreement will be terminated,” Smyrnov says.
But there won’t be mass prosecutions. The focus remains on the Kyiv Metropolitanate itself.
Metropolitan Onufriy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate in his office standing next to the photograph of Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate. (Image: UNIAN)
Smirnov expects Metropolitan Onuphrius might convene a bishops’ council to declare the UOC independent in response to the DESS directive.
But the 75-year-old Metropolitan, who came of age in Moscow’s Holy Trinity-St.Sergius Lavra, represents a generation of church leaders whose worldview remains fundamentally tied to the Russian Orthodox tradition, regardless of political circumstances.
Why does it matter if the UOC MP is still affiliated with Russia?
Since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion, Ukraine has attempted to prod the UOC MP with its 8,097 parishes, vs the roughly 9,000 of rival independent OCU, into ditching Moscow, thus reducing the amount of Russian soft power in the embattled country.
The UOC MP has been viewed as Russia’s soft power tool for decades, promoting a version of the “Russian world” ideology that envisions Ukraine as part of a “Holy Rus” rather than an independent state.
As Andriy Smyrnov notes, the church spread Russian narratives that Ukraine should exist as Russia’s province, not a sovereign nation.
The stakes extend beyond theology.
Russia will inevitably influence Ukraine’s political and religious situation if the Moscow Patriarchate remains, which is why not only Ukraine but Baltic states seek solutions to evict Russian church influence.
Ukraine’s second-largest Orthodox denomination faces a choice: genuine independence or continued subordination to a church that blesses the bombs falling on Ukrainian cities.
Editor’s note: the article was updated to include comments from Viacheslav Horshkov
Read also
Another Ukrainian Orthodox Church actually got its independence
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared that diplomatic solutions to the Russo-Ukrainian war have reached their limits, while committing to maintain Berlin’s assistance to Ukraine, according to Tagesschau and ZDF heute.
As of mid-2025, Germany’s total support for Ukraine stands at approximately €48 billion, with around €15.6 billion dedicated specifically to military assistance. This military aid includes advanced air defense systems (such as IRIS-T), artillery, Leopard 2 tanks, ammunition, self-propelled howitzers, and direct investments in Ukraine’s defense industry, including joint ventures for producing long-range weapon systems and drones inside Ukraine. However, Germany recently refused to supply long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, citing concerns over escalation and the risk of direct German involvement in the conflict.
Merz promised continued German support “even against the resistance of the political left and the Russia-friendly right here in the house.”
The Chancellor justified the stance by arguing that traditional diplomatic channels no longer offer viable solutions.
“Diplomatic resources have been exhausted,” he told lawmakers, framing the situation as one where “a criminal regime uses military force to openly challenge the right to exist of an entire country and seeks to destroy the political freedom of the entire European continent.”
On defense spending, Merz framed Germany’s military investment as essential European leadership. “We’re taking on the leadership responsibility that Europe expects from us,” he said. The constitutional amendment enabling increased defense spending wasn’t just about Germany—without it, “NATO would probably have fallen apart in the 70th year of our membership.”
The Chancellor’s remarks come as Germany prepares substantial military assistance for 2025. In June, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced plans for Berlin to provide €9 billion ($10 billion) in military aid to Ukraine next year, with portions allocated specifically for long-range weapons production financing.
However, contradictions have emerged in Germany’s weapons policy. While Pistorius rejected any current consideration of transferring long-range TAURUS cruise missiles to Ukraine, Chancellor Merz had described such weapons deliveries as possible just one month earlier.
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Ukrainian drones seized a Russian fortified position and captured prisoners-of-war in Kharkiv Oblast. The 3rd Assault Brigade calls it the first battlefield capitulation to robotic platforms. Ukrainian infantry didn’t engage in combat. They entered only after Russian forces surrendered, and the treeline was clear.
The use of FPV drones and ground-based kamikaze robots has become increasingly common on the front lines of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. But this operation stands out as a first: a fortified position in a treeline previously unreachable by infantry was seized without gunfire, and enemy soldiers were taken alive through drone-only engagement.
Ukrainian drones seize fortified position, force surrender
On 9 July, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade announced that its drone and ground robot operators forced Russian troops to surrender in Kharkiv Oblast — without any infantry engagement or Ukrainian losses.
The brigade said this was the first time unmanned systems alone captured enemy positions and took prisoners in modern warfare.
According to the Brigade, the robotic strike involved both an FPV drone and a kamikaze ground drone carrying three antitank mines — a total of 21-22.5 kg of TNT. The FPV and the first ground drone’s blast hit a dugout entrance in the Russian position. As another land robot moved in for a second strike, two surviving Russian soldiers waved a cardboard sign reading “We want to surrender” in Russian.
“The explosion with the three antitank mines — that was a very powerful blast. The dugout wasn’t fully destroyed, so we got the order to hit it again. We moved in, and they realized we were going to blow it up again. […] ..and they very quickly put the sign out,” one of the Ukrainian soldiers said.
Ukrainian drone operators from the 3rd Assault Brigade describe the first battlefield surrender to unmanned systems during a recorded interview. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
Drone footage shows moment of surrender and remote-led capture
The 3rd Assault Brigade’s Telegram post includes a video file timestamped 8 July, featuring aerial footage of the engagement and the enemy’s surrender. Additionally, Ukrainian drone operators narrate the footage and recount the operation. However, the exact date of the robotic engagement itself is not explicitly stated.
A Ukrainian ground kamikaze drone advances toward Russian-held positions during the drone-led assault in Kharkiv Oblast. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
The video shows an aerial FPV drone strike, a powerful explosion of an “NRK”—a remotely controlled “ground robotic complex”—at the entrance to the dugout, and the Russian soldiers displaying the sign.
A massive explosion erupts as a Ukrainian kamikaze land drone detonates at the entrance to a Russian fortification. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
As recounted by the NC13 unit of the DEUS EX MACHINA drone company, a small reconnaissance UAV was used to guide the surrendering soldiers safely to Ukrainian lines.
“Then the major flew down the Mavic (a Chinese drone, widely used for reconnaissance by both sides, – Ed.), we showed them with the drone — like, come here. [..] They followed the Mavic precisely and lay down in the ‘dolphin pose’ on the ground,” the military said.
A Russian soldier holds up a handwritten sign reading “We want to surrender” in Russian, seen from a Ukrainian UAV above the dugout. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
After the Russian surrender, Ukrainian infantry moved in quickly and secured the position. The brigade noted that previous Ukrainian attempts to storm the area had failed. This time, however, the assault team held back while drones led the operation.
Surrendering Russian soldiers lie on the ground after following a Ukrainian drone’s instructions to reach the designated point. Source: 3rd Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Ground Forces
Ukrainian drones seize fortified position in 15 minutes without a shot
Once the Russian troops were taken prisoner, the planned infantry clearing operation began — but was largely symbolic. The drone operator noted in the interview:
“A clearing operation was planned there — we were supposed to carry out the strike, and they were supposed to clear the area. But it turned out that… that unit took over the dugout’s treeline in just 15 minutes. The entire strip was already ours — literally, and without any losses. You could say, not a single shot was fired.”
He said the drone-led engagement proved that robotic platforms “make operations significantly easier.” In some cases, they “even free the infantry from the task entirely.”
“Our example proved that with robotic platforms, it’s possible not only to storm positions but also to take prisoners,” another drone operator emphasized.
The attack, executed entirely by the NC13 ground drone unit from the 2nd Assault Battalion, marks the first publicly confirmed battlefield victory achieved by unmanned platforms alone — including the capture of enemy personnel.
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The European Union is exploring the establishment of a €100 billion ($117 billion) fund to provide continued financial assistance to Ukraine as the war in its fourth year shows no end in sight, according to Bloomberg.
This comes as the United States under President Donald Trump temporarily halted some critical weapons deliveries to Ukraine last week before reversing the decision on 7 July, highlighting uncertainty around American support.
The proposed funding mechanism may be incorporated into the EU’s next seven-year budget framework, which is scheduled for presentation on 16 July, the sources told Bloomberg.
If approved by member states during budgetary negotiations, disbursements would begin in 2028 to ensure uninterrupted financial support for Ukraine.
How much has Europe already committed? Nearly €160 billion ($187 billion) since Russia’s invasion began three and a half years ago. That includes a €50 billion ($58 billion) fund providing grants and loans through 2027, plus another $50 billion loan backed by frozen Russian assets.
The new proposal would extend that timeline indefinitely. EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis put it simply: the bloc stands “ready to provide all necessary support for Ukraine for as long as it’s needed.”
The European Commission would distribute grants and loans, most tied to governance reforms required for EU membership. Ukraine has been implementing these changes even while fighting a war.
The proposal remains under consideration alongside other alternatives and will undergo further discussion before the Multiannual Financial Framework details are finalized.
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The White House is considering delivering an additional Patriot air-defense system to Ukraine, two officials told the Wall Street Journal. This would mark Trump’s first approval of a major weapons system beyond what Biden had authorized.
This comes as the Pentagon halted weapons deliveries to Ukraine last week, including Patriot interceptors and other critical systems, citing concerns over dwindling US munitions stockpiles following strikes on Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the pause without informing President Trump, who claimed he was caught off guard by the Pentagon’s announcement and expressed frustration that the move was not properly coordinated with the White House. Trump promised to resume weapons deliveries, telling reporters “Ukraine must have the capabilities to defend itself.”
The policy reconsideration also follows Trump’s unsuccessful diplomatic outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump urged Putin to end the war during an hour-long call last Thursday, but Putin rejected the proposal. Trump told reporters he was disappointed with the conversation and “wasn’t happy” with his Russian counterpart. “We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin,” he said on 8 July.
The White House has requested options from the Pentagon for sending Ukraine additional weapons, including a Patriot system, one official told the Wall Street Journal. Officials are also examining whether other countries can provide more Patriots to Kyiv.
Previously Axios reported, citing two sources, that Trump has committed to sending ten Patriot interceptor missiles immediately, far fewer than Ukraine needs to defend against constant Russian missile attacks.
Ukraine needs Patriots to save civilian lives
Russian forces launch waves of missiles and drones almost nightly. On the night of 9 July, Russia conducted its largest-ever aerial assault on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in 2022, firing a record 741 air targets, including 728 drones and 13 missiles across multiple regions.
The capital city of Kyiv faces regular bombardment targeting civilian infrastructure. Ukraine’s existing Patriots work around the clock, but they can’t cover the entire country. So Russian missiles hit apartment buildings, schools, and hospitals.
Ukraine has maybe seven Patriot systems total, but only a handful operate simultaneously due to maintenance cycles.
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Trump flips on Ukraine weapons cutoff: “We have to help them”
According to a former Pentagon official cited by the Wall Street Journal, the United States has provided three Patriot systems to Kyiv, Germany has sent another three, and a European consortium has contributed one system.
Ukraine’s older Soviet-era air defenses can’t match modern Russian cruise missiles and hypersonic weapons. Only advanced Western systems like Patriots can reliably intercept today’s threats. That’s why Ukrainian officials constantly plead for more—each additional system saves hundreds of lives.
“They are getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” Trump said on 7 July. He’s praised Ukrainian troops for their fight while emphasizing defensive weapons: “Ukraine must have the capabilities to defend itself.”
US hesitates with sanctions on Russia’s energy exports
President Donald Trump, however, stalled a bipartisan US Senate sanctions bill aimed at imposing up to 500% tariffs on Russian energy exports, which had overwhelming support from 82 senators and was designed to choke off Russia’s war economy, particularly its trade with China and India.
Despite the bill’s backing by key Republicans and Democrats, the White House hesitated to move forward, with Trump expressing concerns that harsh sanctions might undermine ongoing peace talks with Russia. Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal, the bill’s authors, criticized Putin’s insincerity in peace negotiations and urged stronger measures, while some lawmakers argued the sanctions would strengthen US leverage.
Can economic pressure work? “Putin sees no reason to stop the war, because the US hasn’t taken action to force him to change his calculus,” said Alina Polyakova from the Center for European Policy Analysis, according to WSJ.
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EU plans to continue aid for Kyiv in 2027. Denmark’s Minister of Economy Stefanie Lose confirmed that support for Ukraine will extend past 2026, with the EU actively discussing long-term financial aid amid ongoing challenges posed by Russian aggression.
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Ukraine faced its most extensive aerial bombardment since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, with Russian forces deploying 741 air targets against multiple regions on the night of 9 July.
The timing matters. This bombardment came as multiple countries pushed for ceasefires and peace talks. Russia’s response? Its biggest terror campaign yet.
Russia maintains its strategy of using drones and missiles in nightly strikes targeting infrastructure and civilian areas across Ukraine, including schools, hospitals, and apartment buildings. Most of these attacks lack clear military objectives and appear designed to terrorize the local population, following a pattern established throughout the war.
Russian forces launched 728 drones of various types and 13 missiles against Ukrainian territory, according to Ukraine’s Air Forces. The drone fleet included over 300 Shahed models alongside other unmanned systems. The missile component consisted of seven X-101 and Iskander-K cruise missiles plus six X-47 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles.
Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 718 of the incoming targets. Seven cruise missiles were destroyed, while 728 drones were neutralized through direct fire or electronic warfare systems.
Ukraine last night – and all through the night.
Russia's tactics now often focus on one primary target—like Lutsk last night—with hundreds of drones and missiles launched simultaneously, while others strike multiple regions en route. pic.twitter.com/N3EvTsHuEf
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) July 9, 2025
City in western Ukraine takes the worst hit
The western city of Lutsk endured what Mayor Ihor Polishchuk described as “the most massive shelling of the city since the beginning of the full-scale war.” Regional administration head Ivan Rudnytsky reported that the Russian forces targeted the city with five missiles and 50 drones.
The attacks triggered fires at a garage cooperative and an industrial facility, according to Mayor Polishchuk. No fatalities were reported from the Lutsk strikes, though the assault caused significant property damage across the city.
The western city of Lutsk endures heaviest bombing since full-scale war began as Russia deploys record drone swarm on 9 July.Photos: State emergency service
One woman injured in Kyiv Oblast
Beyond Lutsk, Russian projectiles struck targets in central Kyiv and Zhytomyr oblasts and western Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts. In Kyiv Oblast, strike drones injured one woman who sustained a closed chest fracture, according to regional administration head Mykola Kalashnyk.
Ternopil city came under attack from cruise missiles and strike drones, though officials provided no immediate damage assessment. In Khmelnytskyi Oblast, regional head Serhii Tyurin reported damage to a private residence’s roof and walls.
Russian largest attack on Ukraine caused extensive damage across regions, including Kyiv.Photos: State emergency service
Zelenskyy calls for stronger sanctions
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy characterized the bombardment as a “telling attack” occurring amid international peace efforts that Russia continues to reject.
“This is a telling attack – and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy said the attack proved the need for “biting sanctions against oil, which has been fueling Moscow’s war machine with money for over three years of the war.”
A new massive Russian attack on our cities. It was the highest number of aerial targets in a single day: 741 targets – 728 drones of various types, including over 300 shaheds, and 13 missiles – Kinzhals and Iskanders. Most of the targets were shot down. Our interceptor drones… pic.twitter.com/Lxa5TdYVXT
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 9, 2025
The president emphasized that “everyone who wants peace must act,” calling for secondary sanctions against entities purchasing Russian oil and “sponsoring killings.”
Russia was clearly preparing for major attack
The massive 9 July attack followed a notably smaller Russian drone strike on 8 July that brought just a handful of drones against eastern Mykolaiv Oblast. One man was wounded, some fires started, but nothing approaching the scale of what followed.
Russia often scales back daily attacks for 24-48 hours, then unleashes everything at once. The quiet nights aren’t mercy—they’re preparation.
Why stockpile drones? Because mass psychological impact requires mass numbers. A few dozen drones every night becomes routine. But 728 in one assault? That keeps entire populations awake, wondering when the next mega-attack will come.
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Pentagon chief Hegseth’s decision to halt the delivery of US weapons to Ukraine without informing the White House triggered immediate confusion within the administration, CNN says. The pause, revealed only after media reports surfaced, blindsided top officials in Washington and Kyiv alike and forced the Trump administration to respond publicly and internally.
The recentpause in weapon deliveries amid the escalated Russian air and ground attacks in Ukraine surprised Kyiv, the State Department, and members of Congress. Previously halted items included Patriot interceptors, AIM-120 and Hellfire missiles, GMLRS munitions, howitzer rounds, Stingers, and grenade launchers. Later, US President Donald Trump reversed the decision, blaming the Pentagon.
Pentagon paused Ukraine aid without White House or key officials informed
According to five sources cited by CNN, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth halted critical military aid shipments to Ukraine last week without notifying President Trump or key national security officials. The decision was made without briefing the White House, the State Department, or even Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg.
The freeze was the second time Hegseth had paused Ukraine-bound weapons this year without proper coordination. The first instance occurred in February and was quickly reversed. This time, the White House had to scramble to cover for a decision it had not authorized.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as Trump’s national security adviser, learned about the halt only after press reports broke the story, CNN reports.
Trump distances himself from the pause and orders aid to resume
During a Cabinet meeting, President Trump denied any involvement in the sudden stop to US military assistance. When asked if he had authorized the move, he responded,
“I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”
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A senior administration official told CNN that the weapons had been allocated by the previous administration and were already en route before the pause.
Pentagon’s chain of approval
The uncoordinated pause reportedly stemmed from a chain of internal decisions within the Department of Defense. Hegseth acted after receiving recommendations from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a long-standing critic of large-scale US military aid to Ukraine.
“All five sources” CNN spoke with confirmed that Colby, citing concerns over US stockpile levels, advised halting the aid to prioritize other global defense needs. Colby had previously posted on X that “a Europe first policy is not what America needs in this exceptionally dangerous time.”
Colby passed his recommendation to Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg, who approved the move based on his own doubts about the defense industry’s ability to replenish US munitions fast enough. Hegseth then signed off, believing it aligned with Trump’s “America First” stance.
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Trump sends just ten Patriot missiles to Kyiv, while Ukraine needs hundreds, and other weapons remain in limbo
However, three sources said Trump never directed a pause in Ukraine weapons shipments. He had only asked Hegseth during last month’s NATO summit in the Netherlands to assess US military stockpiles amid rising tensions in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Iran.
Congress not briefed—no evidence of urgent stockpile shortages
Lawmakers received no warning about the shipment freeze. According to CNN, Pentagon officials told congressional staff that the pause was due to concerns over US munitions levels. Yet, two sources familiar with those briefings said Congress had not been presented with any credible data showing a critical shortage that would justify the sudden halt.
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The currently Baptist-led church council in Kyiv says real peace is impossible without denouncing Russia’s crimes. In a joint appeal, Ukraine’s top religious leaders warn that silence enables atrocities and emboldens aggression far beyond the battlefield.
The statement comes in response to Kremlin-driven anti-Ukrainian propaganda in the West, which falsely portrays Kyiv as anti-Christian amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Churches denounce Russia’s war as evil and imperialist
Ukraine’s Church Council — officially the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (AUCCRO) — issued a public appeal on 8 July 2025, calling on believers around the world to respond to the deepening spiritual and humanitarian catastrophe caused by Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
AUCCRO described the invasion as “imperialist in nature,” citing widespread suffering: devastated cities and homes, mass displacement, family separations, abductions of Ukrainian children, and systemic violations of rights.
The clergy also detailed Russia’s religious persecution in occupied areas, including the closure of churches, torture, and murder of clergy from multiple denominations, and abuse of both military and civilian captives.
The statement stressed that the situation has become even more intolerable in recent months, as Russia’s military increasingly targets peaceful towns and villages far from the front.
“The powerful of this world avert their eyes,” the Council said, while the ideology behind these crimes — the so-called “Russian world” — continues unchecked.
Statement answers Russian propaganda amplified in the US
This statement also responds directly to Russian propaganda narratives, falsely claiming Ukraine has banned Christianity or Orthodoxy. These narratives have been amplified by some US Republicans and far right public figures, who portray Russia as a Christian power and Ukraine as hostile to religion.
In reality, Ukraine has not banned Christianity or Orthodox faith. In December 2023, Ukraine adopted a law banning religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Federation — the aggressor state — if their activities pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security. The law targets entities such as the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP), which has repeatedly been linked to pro-Russian propaganda and intelligence cooperation with the invading forces.
As detailed by Euromaidan Press earlier, the law does not automatically ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP). Instead, it prohibits religious organizations found to be subordinated to Russian structures, specifically the Russian Orthodox Church. The State Service for Ethnopolitics (DESS) will review UOC MP parish statutes and give those linked to Moscow nine months to cut ties.
Importantly, the UOC MP is not even the largest Orthodox denomination in Ukraine. That role belongs to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), an autocephalous church recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Ukraine is also home to Greek and Roman Catholic churches, as well as a wide variety of Protestant communities.
AUCCRO itself includes members from all of these denominations, including the UOC MP — clearly refuting the Russian narrative — and from major non-Christian religious organizations.
AUCCRO warned that Russia’s war is not only military, but moral and spiritual.
“Peace is not the absence of war,” the statement reads, “but the restoration of justice, dignity, and the right to self-determination.”
The clergy insist that only by naming and resisting evil can real peace be achieved. Any silence, they warned, only rewards atrocity and encourages further aggression.
The Council appealed to believers in democratic countries and all people of goodwill to “raise a united voice for truth and justice,” using every available means to help end the war and ensure accountability for Russia’s crimes.
The Baptist-led council in Kyiv is currently chaired by Valerii Antoniiuk, head of the All-Ukrainian Union of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.
AUCCRO was formed in December 1996 as an interfaith consultative body that includes representatives from Ukraine’s Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, and other religious communities. Its leadership rotates among member denominations, who also share responsibility for ongoing coordination.
The statement ends with a call for solidarity and faith in action:
“Let our joint prayers and actions become a powerful sign of solidarity of humanity against the evil that threatens the spiritual and moral foundations of civilization.”
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Russian crude continues flowing into the EU through Hungary, despite sanctions, via a covert trade network. An investigation by the Russian investigative outlet Important Stories (IStories) into Kremlin oil deals with Orbán allies uncovers how a shadowy firm helped channel over $10 billion in oil from Putin-linked circles to Hungary’s ruling elite.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán—the Kremlin’s biggest ally within the EU—has repeatedly opposed expanding EU sanctions against Russian energy. Moscow’s exports sustain its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian oil deals with Orbán allies exposed
IStories traced the vast post-2014 oil trade into the EU to Normeston Trading, a mysterious company registered in Belize and operated through Cyprus. The firm sold over 20 million tons of Russian oil to Eastern Europe between 2011 and 2023 — with about 2 million tons in 2023 alone, including over 1 million tons delivered to Hungary.
At the core of the operation is a network of business and political links stretching from the Kremlin to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s closest allies. The firm’s Russian side was connected to former top executives of sanctioned billionaire Gennady Timchenko, while its Hungarian ownership includes friends and business partners of Orbán.
A race car driver becomes a $10 billion oil trader
In 2014, the Slovak antimonopoly authority publicly named Normeston’s owners: Russian national Lev Tolkachev and Hungarian consultant Imre Fazakas. Tolkachev, a former Lukoil employee and amateur race car driver, officially held the stake at the time. He also managed a mid-sized auto business in Tver and founded the Rumos Racing team in Russia.
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Tolkachev’s profile stood in sharp contrast to the scale of Normeston’s operations. A former Russian official told IStories:
“In Russia under no circumstances could a race car driver, even if he’s a former oil company employee, be the real owner of an oil trading business with contracts worth billions of dollars.”
Tolkachev’s companies were also connected through shared control in 2017–2018 to those owned by Sergey Gzhelyak, a top executive for Timchenko. Another Timchenko associate, Aleksandr Zhuravlev, still sits on boards with Tolkachev in Normeston-linked firms.
Subbotin re-emerges in the oil trade from Monaco
After Tolkachev, another figure took control: Valery Subbotin, former Lukoil vice president and head of Litasco, its trading arm. Subbotin fled Russia in 2016, settling in Europe and acquiring Cypriot citizenship. In 2023, his Valna Holding Cyprus obtained a 49.9% stake in Normeston.
Subbotin had fallen out with Igor Sechin’s Rosneft during its 2016 takeover of Bashneft. According to Forbes Russia, Subbotin’s contracts were canceled, and he left under pressure. However, IStories found that even in exile, Subbotin maintained ties with Putin’s business circle and associates of former pro-Kremlin fugitive Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
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In 2023, Normeston won a Czech tender worth over $45 million — a deal Czech media linked to Subbotin. His family owns a heavily fortified villa on the French Riviera, where security measures led one witness to mistake it for Sechin’s residence.
Normeston’s deliveries grew with each wave of sanctions
Ironically, EU sanctions boosted Normeston’s activity. In 2014, after Crimea’s invasion and annexation by Russia, the company’s oil exports via Druzhba increased fivefold. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, shipments jumped tenfold. The trader avoided sanctions, largely because it did not buy oil directly from blacklisted firms like Lukoil.
In 2024, Ukraine sanctioned Lukoil, halting its pipeline shipments. But Hungary’s MOL stepped in to purchase the same Russian oil at the Belarus–Ukraine border and continued the deliveries under its own name. According to IStories, Lukoil previously accounted for over 40% of Druzhba’s flow.
Throughout, Normeston remained active. Its Moscow office operates from a building housing firms linked to OTP Bank, headed by Orbán ally Sándor Csányi, and associated with György Nagy — another key Hungarian figure tied to the oil trade.
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Orbán’s allies profit from gas trade too
In 2009, Hungarian oil and gas company MOL sold 50% of its gas trader MET to Normeston. Just two years later, that stake was transferred to Orbán’s associates — István Garancsi and György Nagy. MET quickly grew into a giant, operating in 17 countries with nearly €18 billion in annual turnover.
Anti-corruption researchers in Hungary described the deal as one of the most “critical episodes in the country’s economic history.” According to reports cited by IStories, the MET owners earned over $200 million in a single year by purchasing cheap spot gas and selling it domestically — all with Kremlin knowledge and apparent approval.
A source from within the Hungarian government told Direkt36, iStory’s partner in the investigation, that Russian authorities could have blocked MET’s deals but didn’t.
Old Soviet ties in modern energy networks
Hungarian co-owner Imre Fazakas, who held a 16.7% stake in Normeston, studied in Lviv and worked in Moscow in the 1980s as deputy director of Videoton’s local office. He became familiar with Soviet oil operations while coordinating computer systems for drilling rigs and transportation systems.
Fazakas later consulted for MOL and served on the board of MET — alongside Tolkachev. A former Hungarian official told Direkt36 that Videoton had strong ties to the Soviet military sector and state security.
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Another Hungarian shareholder, the Madera Investment Fund, which owns 33.4% of Normeston, is linked to György Nagy, a powerful businessman and partner of Garancsi and Csányi. Nagy graduated from Russia’s MGIMO international relations university and secured major government contracts during Orbán’s premiership — including a $5 million IT deal with the Hungarian post office.
In June 2025, Hungary and Slovakia again blocked a proposed package that would have banned Russian oil and gas imports altogether.
In a June 2025 interview, Orbán went further, saying: if Vladimir Putin visits Hungary, he would be received “with all due honors.”
In 2024, Orbán echoed Russia’s narratives, claiming Europe acts “at the behest of the US” and allegedly sacrifices its own interests to support Ukraine. He insisted that Hungary would not abandon Russian oil.
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Ukraine’s military carried out 115 “Deep Strike” long-range drone missions against Russian forces last month, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi reported. The campaign is a core part of Ukraine’s strategy to disrupt enemy logistics and production far from the frontlines.
115 Deep Strike drone missions targeted Russian forces and supply chains
Syrskyi said in the update after a meeting of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief:
“[D]uring June, Ukraine’s defenders carried out 115 fire tasks in the Deep Strike direction. Our artillery struck 2,864 enemy targets,” Syrskyi posted on his official channels.
Militarnyi notes he did not specify whether this included only targets inside Russia or also in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
The Commander-in-Chief stated that Ukrainian troops are using both symmetric and asymmetric tactics to resist Russia, while striking military and logistical targets. He said Ukrainian forces are striking Russian military and logistics targets deep inside Russia, weakening its production potential.
Syrskyi emphasized the ongoing development of strike drones as a strategic focus. He said new-generation UAVs are being developed to help compensate for shortages in artillery shells.
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Drone attacks hit Russian airfields, factories, and supply hubs in June
Last month, Ukraine’s Deep Strike campaign included several major incidents.
Ukrainian drones targeted the Marinovka airfield in Russia’s Volgograd Oblast, reportedly destroying three Su-34 fighter-bombers and two more partially damaged.
Ukrainian drones hit two chemical plants named Azot, both producing materials used in explosives and rocket fuel—one in Tula Oblast, another in Stavropol.
Russian sources also published evidence of Ukraine’s use of the jet-powered Peklo drones, which destroyed a vehicle bridge across the Aidar River in occupied Luhansk Oblast.
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Denmark’s Minister of Economy, Stefanie Lose, announced that aid to Ukraine will continue beyond 2026. The European Union is already discussing financial support for Ukraine beyond that year, as the situation with Russian aggression remains extremely challenging, UkrInform reports.
Denmark, which took over the EU Council presidency on 1 July, has made supporting Ukraine a key priority of its six-month leadership.
Lose says that the funding will be available until 2026, but she understands resources will be needed for the next period.
Commenting on the informal dinner of EU ministers of economy and finance held on Monday ahead of the EU Council meeting, where financial aid for Ukraine beyond 2026 was discussed, the official stated there was a “very good discussion” during which the parties explored “options under which Ukraine can receive everything it needs.”
The official highlights that strong solidarity with Ukraine exists within the European family and that aid will remain “at the very top of the agenda” throughout Denmark’s presidency.
Meanwhile, the European Commission is urgently discussing with the EU and G7 countries how to prevent a major financial shortfall in Ukraine in 2025. The projected gap in external funding could reach $19 billion, amid declining US support and no immediate prospects for a peace deal with Russia.
In 2024, Denmark introduced a unique military support mechanism for Ukraine — the Danish model. It involves direct funding and procurement of weapons from Ukrainian domestic defense enterprises. This approach strengthens Ukraine’s defense industry and provides the Armed Forces with modern NATO-standard equipment.
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The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the head of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court, Abdul Hakim Haqqani.
Russia has become the first country in the world to officially recognize the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. In Moscow, the flag of the Taliban regime, recognized as a terrorist organization by many countries, was raised over the Afghan embassy building.
The Court found reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals are responsible for crimes against humanity on gender- and politically based grounds, including the persecution of girls, women, and anyone who did not conform to Taliban policies on gender, identity, or expression.
According to the ICC, the Taliban’s crimes have continued from 15 August 2021, when they seized power, through at least January 2025.
The report outlines killings, torture, rape, enforced disappearances, and systematic deprivation of women’s rights, including rights to education, freedom of movement, privacy, and freedom of speech.
On 17 March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is suspected of committing a war crime, namely, the unlawful deportation and forced transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
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On 8 July, Russia officially declared Yale University, one of the most renowned universities in the world, an “undesirable organization” on its territory. Its lab tracked more than 30,000 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and provided the data to Ukrainian and US government authorities, Current Time reports.
Since 2014, Russia has been forcibly taking Ukrainian children from occupied territories and reprogramming them as part of a state-sponsored cultural genocide. Russia aims to re-educate these children, stripping them of their Ukrainian identity and integrating them into Russian society. This includes military training and indoctrination with Russian propaganda.
Following this designation, any cooperation with Yale University in Russia is prohibited, and individuals face criminal liability for violations.
According to a statement by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, Yale’s activities are allegedly aimed at violating its territorial integrity, contributing to the international blockade of the state, and undermining its economy.
The statement also specifically mentioned Yale’s School of Global Affairs, which, according to Russian authorities, “trains opposition leaders of foreign countries.”
A likely reason for such a move is the investigative work of Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab, which had been gathering evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
The university’s team provided their findings to Ukrainian authorities through the Bring Kids Back UA campaign, a humanitarian program initiated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The campaign focuses on returning minors to Ukraine, reintegration efforts, and documenting crimes for potential prosecution at the International Criminal Court.
The Yale researchers not only tracked deported children but also documented other alleged Russian crimes, including filtration camps, forced Russian citizenship, re-education camps for minors, and the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russian families.
However, as of 1 July 2025, the lab ceased operations following cuts in federal funding by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
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After US President Donald Trump announced new arms shipments to Ukraine, Moscow dismissed his stance on the war as “political swings.” This comment came from former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
In his post, Medvedev referred to Trump not by name, but simply as “the American.” Often called the Kremlin’s “mouthpiece” for his apocalyptic social media statements reflecting Moscow’s official position, Medvedev has frequently issued nuclear threats aimed at the West.
“The American is once again riding his favorite political swings: ‘I’m satisfied with the conversation with Putin.’ ‘I’m disappointed with the conversation with Putin.’ ‘We’re not supplying new weapons to Ukraine.’ ‘We will supply lots of weapons to Ukraine for defense.’ How should we respond? As always — not at all,” Medvedev wrote on social media.
He added that not only Russian soldiers, but also the “Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, treat Trump’s words the same way — with complete disregard.
At the same time, Medvedev called to “take back our land” and “work for victory,” without clarifying that these Ukrainian territories never belonged to Russia and therefore cannot be “taken back.” Under international law, Russia’s actions are considered armed aggression and occupation.
Earlier, Trump publicly criticized Medvedev over his hints about the possibility of other countries transferring nuclear weapons to Iran, reminding him of the risk of such words.
Later, Medvedev clarified that Russia would not transfer nuclear weapons to Iran, although, in his opinion, other countries might do so. Such statements showed Moscow adopted a cautious stance toward the US to avoid further economic damage and the reinforcement of Western support to Ukraine.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has warned that the future of the EU’s policy toward China will depend on Beijing’s involvement in supporting Russia’s war economy, UkrInform reports.
Her statement comes after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a senior EU diplomat that China “cannot accept” Russia’s defeat in the war against Ukraine, arguing that such an outcome would allow the US to focus its foreign policy on Beijing.
Von der Leyen has stressed that China’s support for Moscow is contributing to a “high level of instability and danger for Europe,” and that Beijing is de facto enabling the growth of Russia’s military-industrial base, a trend the EU “cannot accept.”
She also called on China to clearly condemn Russia’s violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and internationally recognized borders, and to act accordingly.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has imposed sanctions on five Chinese companies involved in supplying components used in Russian drone production.
The restrictions have been approved after investigations revealed that Chinese-made parts were found in Shahed drones used in the massive airstrike on Kyiv on 4 July.
Among the sanctioned firms are:
Ningbo BLIN Machinery Co., Ltd
Suzhou ECOD Precision Manufacturing
Both reportedly supplied goods to Russian entities under sanctions in 2024 and 2025.
Russia is heavily dependent on supplies of Chinese components for both tactical and long-range drones. This allows Moscow to narrow the technological and production gap with Ukraine in the drone sector.
Earlier, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence had identified dozens of Russian companies involved in producing the missile, most of which remain unsanctioned.
Its War & Sanctions platform has published a list of over 70 Russian companies manufacturing Kh-101 components. These companies still have access to Western equipment and technology, enabling Russia to replenish its missile stockpiles and continue targeting civilian infrastructure.
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Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the international community to hold Russia accountable for its missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital. It is the only hospital in Ukraine treating childhood cancer with radiation therapy.
The Okhmatdyt strike occurred the same day Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, calling for a peaceful resolution to the war. While the two leaders spoke of peace, Russian missiles rained down across Ukraine, killing 47 people, including 33 in Kyiv. This reflects a recurring Kremlin tactic: launching deadly attacks immediately after peace talks with foreign leaders, a form of diplomatic defiance disguised as terror.
The ministry has described the assault as one of the Kremlin’s most horrific war crimes since the start of Russia’s all-out war.
Russian X-101 cruise missile moments before striking the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. 8 July 2024. Screenshot from a video on the KyivToday Telegram channel.
“One year has passed. Yet Russia has not been held accountable for this crime against the most vulnerable – children. The world must not look away,” the agency said in a statement.
On the day of the attack, 627children, including cancer patients undergoing dialysis, were inside the hospital. The missile hit the toxicology building, killing twodoctors, injuring at least eightchildren, and forcing the evacuation of 94 patients to other hospitals. A young boy later died in an intensive care unit during the strike.
Investigations by Ukraine’s Security Service and international experts, including Bellingcat, confirmed that the hospital was hit by a Russian Kh-101 strategic cruise missile.
The agency has identified dozens of Russian companies involved in producing the missile, most of which remain unsanctioned.
Its War & Sanctions platform has published a list of over 70 Russian companies manufacturing Kh-101 components. These companies still have access to Western equipment and technology, enabling Russia to replenish its missile stockpiles and continue targeting civilian infrastructure.
Just last month, a Russian Kh-101 missile destroyed an apartment building in Kyiv, killing and injuring civilians.
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The Ukrainian Military Intelligence has identified Russian Major Denis Sheynov as responsible for the 8 July 2024 missile strike on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, where more than 600children, including cancer patients, were present at the time of the attack.
The same day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and called for peace, while Russia launched a massive missile attack across Ukraine, killing 33 people in Kyiv and 47 in total, including five children. Nine civilians were killed in another hospital alone. Their meeting did not prompt Russia to stop its aggression against Ukraine.
This is not the first time Russia has launched strikes immediately following peace talks with international leaders — a pattern of demonstrative terror.
Similar strikes have occurred after Putin’s conversations with US President Donald Trump or US officials, demonstrating a deliberate strategy of violent escalation under the guise of diplomacy.
“Major Sheynov was responsible for the technical preparation of Kh-101 cruise missiles for combat use by strategic aviation,” Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) states.
The missile hit the toxicology building, completely destroying the oncology, surgical, and intensive care units, and leaving Ukraine’s only pediatric radiotherapy department without electricity, water, or oxygen. Two adults, including a doctor, were killed. Over 50 people, including children, were injured.
Sheynov, born on 30 January 1978, in Saratov, is a graduate of the Saratov Military School, served in Syria, and was decorated for “special operations.” According to HUR, he performed special missions in Syria in 2018.
Russian Major Denis Sheynov, responsible for the 8 July 2024 missile strike on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. HUR
Russia, as a terrorist state, systematically uses violence against civilians as part of its military strategy, both in Ukraine and earlier in Syria, where Russian airstrikes devastated cities like Aleppo, Homs, and Ariha.
These bombings targeted residential areas, hospitals, markets, and infrastructure, killing thousands and causing a humanitarian catastrophe. Russia also used internationally banned weapons, including cluster bombs and chemical agents, reinforcing its willingness to destroy civilian life to achieve military goals.
Okhmatdyt was Ukraine’s only hospital treating childhood cancer with radiation therapy. Its destruction is a devastating blow to pediatric oncology during wartime.
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Chinese drone parts in Russian weapons are helping Russia expand its drone war in Ukraine, Bloomberg reports. Documents reviewed by Bloomberg show Russian firm Aero-HIT partnered with Chinese suppliers and engineers to mass-produce combat drones now used across the frontline.
As the all-out Russo-Ukrainian war nears year four, drones are key. Zelenskyy said in May that China cut drone sales to Ukraine but continues sending them to Russia. Despite official denials, Chinese tech remains embedded in Russia’s drone war.
China claims it doesn’t supply lethal aid to Russia, while Autel denies ties to Aero-HIT. Still, Bloomberg found that Chinese firms and intermediaries continued supporting Russia’s drone production.
Chinese engineering behind Russia’s drone buildup
In early 2023, Aero-HIT began working with engineers from Autel Robotics, China’s major manufacturers of drones and drone parts, to adapt the civilian Autel EVO Max 4T for military use, according to Bloomberg. The model proved effective in combat and resistant to jamming.
Aero-HIT claims it can produce up to 10,000 drones per month at its Khabarovsk facility. Its Veles FPV drone has been deployed in Kherson and elsewhere. A March 2024 order priced the units at $1,000 each.
Chinese drone parts in Russian weapons still flowing
Despite sanctions, Chinese drone parts in Russian weapons continue reaching Russia through intermediaries. Bloomberg identified firms like Renovatsio-Invest and Shenzhen Huasheng Industry—both under US sanctions—as key suppliers. Civilian companies in sectors like seafood and catering were used to obscure transactions.
Autel says it cut ties with Russia in February 2022. Yet, documents show resumed contact with its engineers by late 2024 and production plans ongoing into 2025.
The drone project born in Harbin and built in Khabarovsk
The partnership began in late 2022, Bloomberg says. Russian company Komax, linked to sanctioned senator and ex-KGB officer Konstantin Basyuk, led talks with China’s Harbin Comprehensive Bonded Zone. In May 2023, a Russian delegation visited Autel and the Harbin Institute of Technology.
After the visit, Aero-HIT was registered, production began soon after. In August 2024, the Defense Ministry requested 5,000 Veles drones.
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Ukraine responds to Russia’s escalation with deep-strike counterattacks. As Russia tries to stretch the front and break Ukrainian defenses, Ukrainian forces are hitting back hard: in June alone, Ukrainian artillery completed 115 fire missions, striking 2,864 targets, says Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Over the past day alone, nearly 188 combat clashes have occurred between Ukrainian and Russian troops. Moscow has lost over 1,000 soldiers and dozens of artillery systems in a single day. Diplomatic efforts remain stalled, as Russia reiterates demands for Ukraine’s demilitarization and government change, rejecting ceasefire proposals. The war continues with no immediate prospect for peace.
The priority for June was stabilizing the frontline and holding off Russian offensives in Donetsk and Sumy oblasts, where Moscow has concentrated its main strike forces.
“Unfortunately, the enemy holds a significant advantage in manpower and equipment,” Syrskyi admits.
He notes that Russia has increased its use of drones and missiles by 1.6 times. In response, Ukraine’s Defense Forces struck around 4,000 targets, including inside Russian territory.
“We are forced to seek new tactical and technological solutions,” the general emphasizes.
Key Ukrainian priorities now include developing air defense, expanding drone strike capabilities, modernizing equipment, and reforming mobilization and recruitment.
Amid unstable international support, Ukraine is pursuing alternative arms supply routes, expanding repair capacities, and embracing asymmetric tactics to disrupt Russia’s summer offensive.
Earlier, Euromaidan Press reported that Kyiv started producing 200,000 drones per month, a tenfold increase compared to 2024.
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