Exclusives

Boosting work efficiency with Mini PCs: A smart solution for modern businesses. These devices offer a unique combination of space-saving design and robust performance, making them suitable for a wide range of applications in the workplace

Blue hair, drones, and evac crews: Ukraine’s fallen women fighters (Part 1). Nobody drafted them; nobody forced them. These women fighters chose to go to war and face death.

This NATO defense minister tried to stop Russian propaganda. His country fell anyway. Slovakia proved democracy can be bought with fake news, Martin Sklenar reveals

Russia found 1,000 rusty tanks in Siberia—it’s all that’s left. Russia’s 1970s tanks are back in style—because everything newer is getting blown up in Ukraine.

Military

Ukrainian GRU attack kill 12 in bold strike on Russian air defense base in Krasnodar Krai. Ukraine’s intelligence service struck deep into Russian territory on 8 August, killing 12 members of an air defense unit and injured dozens more

Russia hunts 13-year-old Ukrainian boy with drone in Kherson, as fears grow Kremlin may try to recapture liberated city. Drone attacks, artillery, and infrastructure strikes hit hard as the Kremlin eyes recapturing the only regional capital it seized during the all-out war.

Intelligence and Technology

Baykar’s Akıncı drone successfully tests smart missiles using Ukrainian engine

. Türkiye’s Bayraktar Akıncı drone completed successful weapons testing using Ukrainian AI-450T engines, demonstrating the readiness of a 5-year defense partnership between the two nations.

Ukraine shoots down two new Russian Shahed-type drones. Two new Russian Shahed-type drones shot down by Ukrainian forces this week were packed with Chinese technology, including flight controllers and navigation systems from a single company

International

Bloomberg: US, Russia discuss deal to secure occupied Ukrainian territories for Russia. Putin reportedly is demanding Ukraine surrender the entire Donbas and Crimea as part of a deal that would potentially freeze the war along current battle lines.

Latvia joins Europe’s Trump-proof weapons funding mechanism for Ukraine. First weapons deliveries under the new PURL initiative will arrive in Ukraine within weeks.

New Pentagon memo may put Ukraine aid on hold, as weapons may stay in US unless Trump says “go”

. Despite public support for NATO arms deal, behind-the-scenes bureaucracy may stall lifeline supplies to Kyiv.

British volunteer killed by Russian drone strike one month into Ukraine deployment. A British volunteer with no military background was killed by four Russian drones during his first combat operation in Ukraine

Ex-UK Defense Chief demands seat at Ukraine peace talks to counter two “bulliyng” leaders. European nations must secure representation in planned US-Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations to prevent Ukrainian President from facing pressure from “two bullies,” former UK Defence Secretary Sir Ben Wallace said

White House reportedly preparing trilateral meeting between Trump, Zelenskyy and Putin. Trump administration sources reveal the White House is actively organizing a three-way presidential summit that could bring together the US, Ukraine’s and Russia’s presidents as early as next week

Humanitarian and Social Impact

Kyiv buried journalist Victoria Roshchyna, murdered in Russian captivity

. She never abandoned what she started,” former editor Angelina Karyakina said at the August 8 funeral of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in one of Russia’s most brutal places of detention.

Five people injured after Russian attack on Kyiv, Odesa and Sumy oblasts overnight. Ukraine’s air defense downed over 80 Russian drones during a coordinated Russian assault on civilian targets that damaged residential buildings, infrastructure, a kindergarten across 3 oblasts.

Political and Legal Developments

Russia sentences Mariupol defender for 21 years as Russian court labels him terrorist. Russian prosecutors secured a 21-year sentence against Vladislav Shpak by classifying his enlistment in Ukraine’s National Guard as terrorist activity, after the soldier was captured defending Mariupol’s Azovstal plant.

Russia accidentally admits what it denied for three years: war is breaking its economy. Russia just admitted something it has spent three years denying: the war is breaking its economy. According to Russian Finance Ministry data, Moscow’s federal deficit hit $62 billion by July, already 25% over its yearly target with five months still to go.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

• How a NATO country flipped toward Russia—according to its former defense minister

Military

“Victory cannot be achieved in defence”: Syrskyi confirmed that there are plans for offensive. Ukraine’s strategy for victory requires offensive action rather than defensive positioning, Commander-in-Chief said, revealing that military command developed operational plans.

Ukraine’s drones found the guns. Artillery finished the job — four Russian howitzers gone (video). Three D-20s and one D-30 were destroyed in a confirmed artillery strike.

ISW: Russia likely takes two villages near Kupiansk — now it’s eyeing the town’s lifeline highway

. Russian troops may envelop the city from the west instead of attacking frontally, according to the ISW.

Russia rigged the bridge with mines — Ukraine’s drone turned it into dust. The FPV drone strike didn’t just target the bridge. It used Russian explosives against them.

Kherson withstood occupation once—now Moscow wants it back, but Ukraine says invaders will drown before it happens. Moscow’s forces hit Korabel’s only link to the mainland, aiming to carve out a foothold. But Ukrainian defenders are turning the Dnipro Delta into a trap.

Intelligence and technology

Expert: War’s deadly pulse shows no sign of slowing—no matter what results Witkoff-Putin meeting brings. With hundreds of drone strikes hitting Crimea and the Donbas every week, the expert say peace is still far out of reach.

Russia may prepare to launch “flying Chornobyl” again—but only thing it has ever hit is its own scientists. Experts say it’s more theater than threat amid the US-Russian peace talks over Ukraine.

Ukraine’s AI Factory sets course for global top 3 by 2030

. With battlefield-born digital expertise, Kyiv now eyes global leadership in the next great technological race.

International

Zelenskyy reveals high-level security meeting following Trump envoy’s Moscow visit. Ukraine and its Western partners scheduled follow-up security talks for 8 August after Trump envoy Steve Witkoff briefed allies on his Putin meeting

“Peace as trap”: Ukraine may face pressure from US and Russia to accept Kremlin’s demands, says diplomat. Former ambassador Chaly says Moscow’s demands haven’t changed.

Witkoff to brief Ukrainian and NATO officials on meeting with Putin – media reports. Trump’s call with Zelenskyy after Witkoff’s Kremlin visit left Kyiv and EU capitals confused about whether US policy was shifting or sanctions would proceed as planned on 8 Aug.

Putin names UAE suitable location for planned meeting with Trump.

White House sets Zelenskyy meeting as condition for Trump-Putin summit

. White House officials have made Putin’s agreement to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a prerequisite for any Trump-Putin summit, despite Moscow’s claims that a bilateral meeting was already arranged in principle.

Bloomberg: Trump suggests Putin would be open to peace talks in exchange for territory. The developments follow a meeting between Putin and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on 6 August, which Trump characterized as achieving “great progress.”

ISW: Ahead of Trump’s 8 August deadline, Russian propagandists fuel White House division to avoid sanctions. Meanwhile, Russian officials still claim economic strength despite falling oil revenues and slowing household consumption.

Ukraine EU poll 2025: Confidence in quick membership hits lowest point since invasion. Ukrainian confidence in EU membership within 10 years drops to 52% – down 21 points from 73% in 2022-2023, new Gallup poll shows.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia opens “slave market” of stolen Ukrainian children — users can choose them by color of eyes. Since 2014, nearly 20,000 children have been taken from occupied territories, and now Moscow is cataloging them online like items in a store.

“We’ll cut it off and rape you”: Ukrainian prisoner threatened with castration during interrogation in Russian captivity

. Anatoliy Tutov survived four rounds of beatings and sexual torture, and released with broken ribs, internal bruises, and fractured bones.

Ukraine reveals name of main torturer of journalist Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian detention center. Alexander Shtuda, the Russian detention chief, is now charged with overseeing the savage abuse that led to Victoria Roshchyna’s death.

Political and legal developments

Ukrainian draft employees to be mandated to wear body cameras from 1 September – Defense Minister. Ukraine’s recruitment centers face new transparency measures requiring body cameras and video recording amid escalating tensions around mobilization efforts.

Russia’s energy revenues crash by 19% as war devours civilian budget. With gas exports to Europe halved and oil profits plunging, the Kremlin raids its welfare fund while fueling the front.

Indian refineries stop buying Russian oil again after US tariffs – Bloomberg. Three of India’s largest state-owned oil companies have stopped buying Russian crude in their next purchasing cycle after President Trump slapped 25% tariffs on Indian exports

Capitulation is not peace: Nearly 80% of Ukrainians reject Russia’s demands on ceding territory and disarmament. Putin’s so-called “peace plan” requires surrender, while Ukrainians call it what it is: defeat in disguise.

WP: Trump administration plans to soften criticism of Russia on human rights. Trump’s human rights report on Russia omits the Supreme Court’s LGBTQ+ organization ban and related arrests, which a former State Department official calls a “glaring omission.”

Read our earlier daily review here.

The UN sounds the alarm. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians are held in overcrowded, unsanitary prisons on occupied Ukrainian territories, as well as in Belarus and Russia, Alice Edwards, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, reveals in an article for The New York Times. 

Most Ukrainian prisoners are isolated from the outside world and subjected to systematic torture, starvation, and psychological abuse. 

“Investigating and prosecuting torture is a legal obligation, not a diplomatic nicety or something that can be negotiated or leveraged during negotiations,” Edwards stresses.

Russia legalizes torture as a military tactic

Edwards concluded that only one party in the conflict employs torture as a state policy — Russia.

“ …Widespread nature of witness accounts while in Russian custody — along with Moscow’s failure to address the issue — have led me to the conclusion that it can only be a systemic, state-endorsed practice approved at the highest levels,” she says.

Torture methods are shockingly brutal: sexual violence, electric shocks, suffocation, sleep deprivation, mock executions.

“Malnourishment is routine, and individuals have reported being hung upside down and held in stress positions for long periods, sometimes beaten during it,” Edwards noted.

Victims’ testimonies: “Threatened with castration and rape”

For example, Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Kharlats, captured early in the war, described six or seven torture sessions with electric shocks, forced to keep his arms along his body to intensify pain, and beaten with batons and rifle butts when convulsing.

Another prisoner, Anatoliy Tutov, endured four interrogations with beatings and sexual torture, including a threat to cut off his penis and rape him. Upon release, doctors documented internal bruises, two broken ribs, and cracked bones.

Another prisoner, a woman from occupied Kherson, was abducted on her way to work, raped, and electrocuted on her first day in captivity. She has been transferred between prisons and is now held in a Russian facility.

Exclusives

“Russian spies” who justified Ukraine’s anti-corruption crackdown nowhere to be found. Ukraine’s Security Service found Russian infiltrators everywhere except when journalists asked for proof.

Russia’s air force can barely see Ukraine coming. Ukraine’s strikes have cut Russia’s A-50U fleet to just four planes—two or three near the front, and still not enough.

Ukraine caves under $ 2.3 bn threat, appoints investigator it desperately wanted to block. Ukraine’s government spent weeks trying to block a qualified anti-corruption investigator. Today, $2.3 billion in international pressure changed their minds.

Trump’s ceasefire clock is ticking — and his envoy, who’s met Putin more than any American, just landed in Moscow. Two days before Trump’s ceasefire deadline, Steve Witkoff is back in Moscow for round five with Putin.

Putin built concrete castles for his bombers—Ukraine’s drones burned them down. Ukraine’s state security agency, the vaunted SBU, has made a bad summer for the Russian air force much worse.

Military

Deadly attack hits Ukrainian recreation centre in Zaporizhzhia: 2 killed, 12 injured. Russian forces killed two civilians and injured 12 others, including two children, when they bombed a recreation base in Zaporizhzhia district during early morning hours on 6 August

Ukrainian Commander says Russia lost 77,000 troops in Kursk Oblast. Ukraine’s year-old Kursk operation forced Russia to redeploy significant reserves and abandon offensive plans in northern Ukraine, Syrskyi said.

“We can’t miss this moment”: Ukraine may abandon Pokrovsk if Russian forces close 15km gap. Russian forces are 15 km from fully surrounding Pokrovsk. If that narrows to 10, Ukraine may be forced to pull out, says defense analyst Ivan Stupak.

Russia loses vital fuel supply route as drones target strategic military railway in Rostov. Ukrainian drones targeted the same Russian railway station on consecutive nights while also striking an oil depot in Bryansk overnight on 6 August.

Frontline report: Ukraine destroys Russian radar hub in Black Sea raid, opening new front in coastal war

. A Ukrainian Bayraktar drone destroyed Russian resupply boats, cutting off reinforcements before the amphibious landing.

Romania issues 90-minute alert as Russian drones strike near border. Romanian authorities declared an air alert in Tulcea county on 6 August as residents witnessed Russian drone strikes across the Danube in southern Odesa Oblast

Intelligence and technology

US weapons heading to Ukraine in first NATO-funded shipment within weeks. A NATO official told European Pravda the delivery is backed by over $1 billion from European allies and marks the start of a new US weapons supply mechanism.

US approves $ 203.5 mn deal to maintain Ukraine’s M777 howitzers. The announcement marks a significant shift as the administration had previously paused some weapons aid for Ukraine.

European allies to finance more than $ 1 billion in US arms package for Ukraine. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands will fund more than $1 billion worth of US military equipment for Ukraine, including critical air defense components.

International

Ukraine to begin historic exhumation work in Poland this September. Ukraine plans September excavations in Poland’s village for the first time, following June operations in Lviv where Polish-Ukrainian teams searched for WWII-era Polish military casualties.

Estonian NGO praised for Ukraine aid now accused of €450,000 fraud. Prosecutors say its founder greenlit fake logistics and unjustified payments to a Ukrainian company.

Ukraine EXPO 2025: 500 guests watch allied pavilions light up in Ukrainian colors. Over 15 countries joined Ukraine’s National Day at EXPO 2025, with allied pavilions lighting up in blue and yellow across Osaka.

Trump slaps 25% tariff on India hours after “constructive” Witkoff-Putin talks in Moscow. US President follows through on sanctions threat as three-hour meeting produces no full ceasefire agreement

Trump calls Zelenskyy as Witkoff leaves Russia — sanctions deadline nears. Trump called Zelenskyy as Witkoff left Moscow following his fifth meeting with Putin, with new US sanctions looming.

The Telegraph: India — not China — could be the key to ending the Ukraine war

. Despite buying less Russian oil than China, India has drawn US pressure — and may hold greater leverage over Moscow’s ability to sustain the war.

Ukraine, US to launch 3 strategic mining projects in next 18 months. The US-Ukrainian Investment Recovery Fund will hold its 1st meeting in September, with plans to expand into defense sector investments alongside three planned mining ventures

Humanitarian and social impact

Unseen footage shows another evidence of Russian war crimes: troops kill Bucha civilian, steal goods while body remains on street. Russian forces occupied Bucha for 33 days, leaving evidence of mass killings discovered after liberation on 31 March 2022. Authorities documented over 9,000 war crimes, 1,700 civilian deaths during the occupation.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Russia built 12 jet bunkers in Crimea. Ukraine’s drones blew through them. Ukraine’s state security agency, the vaunted SBU, has made a bad summer for the Russian air force much worse.

Russia’s 137× drone surge wasn’t magic—it was Chinese engines labeled “fridges”. Ukraine faced just 40 drone attacks monthly in 2022. Now it’s over 5,000—using Cold War engines China ships as “refrigerators.”

Military

Russia refuses to end war, even after losing 267,460 troops in 2025 alone. Russia’s war machine is breaking down, with 1.058 million troops, 11,071 tanks, and 421 aircraft destroyed since February 2022.

Ukraine’s special forces eliminate eight Russian companies in one rear operation

. Ukraine’s special forces launched deep raids and cut off Russian supply chains.

It launched one salvo and disappeared in flames: Ukrainian drones make rare kill of Russian TOS‑1A (video). The rare TOS‑1A thermobaric missile launcher tried to hide after firing, but its heat trail betrayed it to the sky.

Drone attack hits Russia’s Rostov Oblast—fire breaks out near railway station.

Intelligence and Technology

Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Netherlands sent American weapons worth $1 billion to Kyiv in two days. The new PURL initiative accelerates arms deliveries, reinforcing Kyiv’s frontline with vital US-made firepower.

Most Germans say they won’t fight for their homeland, while Russia launches $1,1 trillion rearment program since Soviet Union. Despite German intelligence warning of Kremlin provocations, a majority of Germans still say they won’t take up arms to defend their country.

Hindustan Times: Ukraine found India-linked electronics in Russia’s Shahed drones

. Ukrainian investigators tracked Indian-assembled tech in Shahed 136 drones attacking civilian areas.

Netherlands becomes first NATO country to buy US Patriot missiles for Ukraine. The Dutch government has allocated €500 million to fund US-made Patriot missile systems and components for Ukraine—marking a first among NATO allies.

International

Finland rejects NATO’s new procurement tool for Ukraine. While NATO rallies billions for Ukraine, Helsinki charts its own course — arming Kyiv without joining the club.

“War is already at our doorstep”: NATO accelerates military aid for Ukraine. NATO wants to ensure Ukraine receives air defense systems precisely when they are needed most.

India holds up mirror to West: Stop your Russian oil deals before demanding ours. Under pressure from the US, India insists its energy strategy is economic necessity, not political choice, and calls out Western double standards.

‘It’s not safe to return’: Ukrainian refugees face work permit limbo in US

. Communities that embraced displaced Ukrainians now worry about their legal futures, CBS reports.

Thousands of lives are at stake this week as Washington holds key to peace, says Zelenskyy’s top aide. Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office Andrii Yermak argued that decisive US action, targeting Russia’s energy and financial arteries, can bring Vladimir Putin’s war to an end.

Humanitarian and Social Impact

Lozova’s worst drone strike: Russia kills railway worker, injures teenagers. Moscow’s overnight barrage on the civilian city included 46 kamikaze drones and a ballistic missile.

Political and Legal Developments

Kremlin’s oil revenues drop by nearly 33% — but Trump’s sanctions threaten even more pain. With oil and gas revenues down 27%, the Kremlin braces for fresh US measures targeting not only Moscow but also its energy partners.

Panama just slammed the door on Russia’s shadow fleet — tankers over 15 years old now blacklisted

. The world’s largest shipping registry just threw a wrench into Moscow’s oil smuggling machine.

Ukraine wins historic $5 billion award against Russia—and Europe starts making Moscow pay it. For the first time, Ukraine’s $5 billion arbitration victory is being enforced as Austria confiscates Russian property worth €120 million.

New Developments

Cold “space” war: China-Russia race to install nuclear reactor on moon and establish “restricted zones” for US. In response, NASA is accelerating its own nuclear power program for the Moon. A recent directive sets a tight timeline: a program leader must be appointed within 30 days.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Russia’s 137× drone surge wasn’t magic—it was Chinese engines labeled “fridges”. Ukraine faced just 40 drone attacks monthly in 2022. Now it’s over 5,000—using Cold War engines China ships as “refrigerators.”

Digital defense for activists & journalists in conflict zones: A comprehensive security guide. Digital defense in conflict zones requires a comprehensive, layered approach combining technical security measures with operational discipline and legal awareness

OSCE at 50: Kick Russia out or shut it down. Fifty years on, the OSCE lets Russia bomb, kidnap, and veto. Time’s up—kick Moscow out or close the doors.

Whatever you do, don’t march with two landmines strapped to your back while Ukrainian drones patrol overhead. Russian engineers are literally telling their troops to walk 20km carrying two anti-tank mines each. Ukrainian drone footage shows what happens next.

Military

HUR: Explosion plunges Russian military repair base in Berdiansk into darkness. The blackout left Russian troops blind and stalled at a strategic site where vehicles were mended.

Ukraine’s Security Service obliterates Russian $50 million Su-30 jet in Crimea—and damages more. Ukraine delivers a brutal reminder: no corner of occupied land is safe.

Russia converts Donetsk airport into drone launch base to target Ukraine faster. Satellite imagery from July 2025 shows Russian forces constructing drone storage areas, control points and fuel infrastructure at the occupied Donetsk City airport

Major Russian rail hub hit: Drones strike Volgograd transport corridor, delay Moscow-St. Petersburg trains. Transport disruptions spread across southern Russia as drone strikes on railway infrastructure in Volgograd Oblast delayed five passenger trains

Frontline report: Poland’s fighter jets now scramble nightly while Russian drones test NATO’s eastern border. The unmanned aircraft flew close enough to Vilnius for residents to capture video footage, initially sparking fears that a live munition had penetrated NATO airspace

Frontline report: NATO’s AWACS are mapping every radar pulse over Russia’s Kaliningrad

. Each flight builds a radar profile of Russian systems near the Suwalki Gap, preparing NATO for potential strikes.

Intelligence and technology

New Russian 9M729 missile threat just brought world back to Cold War era. The Kremlin has scrapped its moratorium on intermediate-range ballistic and cruise missiles, reviving a class of weapons once eliminated under a landmark Cold War treaty, and blaming the West for its return.

Germany raids company which secretly sent 20 machines to Russia for munitions production, despite Ukraine’s warnings. Law enforcement moves in after Ukrainian watchdogs expose how banned high-tech exports may be enabling Russia’s battlefield slaughter.

China cuts rare minerals, stalling US weapons — and threatening Ukraine’s fight for survival. Ukraine relies on Western weapons, but China’s export bans on key minerals risk cutting off the lifeline.

US tech giants land in Kyiv to outsmart Russia’s deadly drones. Dedrone and Ukrainian tech join forces to stop swarms, as the drone war is just beginning.

International

Ukrainian sappers to train at Middle East mine action school with funding from Paris. With nearly 40% of its territory potentially contaminated, Ukraine deepens cooperation with France and Lebanon to dismantle hidden killers of war.

Delhi turns to American, Canadian, and Emirati oil suppliers amid Western pressure. However, Russia remains its top oil source, keeping Moscow’s war machine alive and capable of killing more Ukrainian civilians.

Kremlin signals openness to Putin-Zelenskyy talks — but conditions remain unchanged. Moscow has not ruled out a future meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, but insists negotiations must follow “expert-level” groundwork, with Ukraine first accepting key Russian demands, including neutrality.

Trump again confirms US nuclear submarines near Russia after Medvedev threats. Two US nuclear submarines are now positioned near Russian territory following a week of escalating threats between President Trump and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff to visit Moscow as 8 August ceasefire deadline looms. As Trump’s 8 Aug. Ukraine ceasefire deadline approaches, the US Middle East envoy will meet with Russian officials who requested the talks amid threats of sanctions and 100% tariffs

Humanitarian and social impact

Ukraine reports infant in critical condition after multi-region Russian assault. Russian night attack killed a 45-year-old man in Kherson Oblast and injured three people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, including an infant in serious condition

Political and legal developments

Russia punishes Ukrainian flag more harshly than Nazi symbols in occupied Crimea. While Kremlin courts overlook swastikas, they jail Ukrainians for singing patriotic songs or showing national colors.

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies uncover suspected UAV graft scheme. Drone procurement scandal highlights ongoing battle over anti-corruption efforts.

TikTokers face $ 300 fine for filming burning Russian oil depot hit by Ukrainian drones. Russian police detained three young people who traveled 1,500km from Nizhny Tagil to film a burning Sochi oil depot hit by Ukrainian drones

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

While missiles hit Kyiv, the OSCE throws itself a birthday party. Fifty years on, the OSCE lets Russia bomb, kidnap, and veto. Time’s up—kick Moscow out or close the doors.

Whatever you do, don’t march with two landmines strapped to your back while Ukrainian drones patrol overhead. Russian engineers are literally telling their troops to walk 20km carrying two anti-tank mines each. Ukrainian drone footage shows what happens next.

Russia built a billion-ruble nuclear submarine—Ukraine just took its secrets. The Knyaz Pozharsky is no longer a mystery to Ukrainian defense intelligence.

Forget steel: Ukraine’s new tank armor is rubber and spikes. Steel once defined tank protection. Now, under constant drone attack, Russia bolts spikes onto its armor while Ukraine wraps vehicles in rubber—a complete rethink of how to survive on the battlefield.

Military

Ukraine reports infant in critical condition after multi-region Russian assault. Russian night attack killed a 45-year-old man in Kherson Oblast and injured three people in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, including an infant in serious condition

Frontline report: 100,000 Russian troops almost had Pokrovsk. Almost.. Russian infiltrators slipped into Pokrovsk, but drones and rapid-response units cut them off before Moscow’s 100,000 troops could join the fight.

Russia tries “total infiltration” in Pokrovsk — Ukraine boosts fortifications inside the city, Syrskyi says. The top Ukrainian general says Russian attempts to slip inside were crushed fast.

Ukraine appoints new Air Forces chief after F‑16 losses and intensified Russian attacks

. Anatoliy Kryvonozhko takes command of Ukraine’s Air Forces after a year in an acting role, amid rising missile and drone strikes.

Rosneft’s southern oil hub on fire: drones set Russia’s Adler depot ablaze overnight. A 2,000 cubic meter fuel tank lit up the night sky as drones struck Russia’s Black Sea hub.

Intelligence and technology

Frontline report: NATO’s AWACS are mapping every radar pulse over Russia’s Kaliningrad. Each flight builds a radar profile of Russian systems near the Suwalki Gap, preparing NATO for potential strikes.

Putin was shocked: US showed it can hit anywhere, anytime, says Ukraine’s intel chief. They could’ve launched from Europe. Instead, they flew tens of thousands of kilometers.

Azov’s 12th Brigade turns British “Bulldog” into armored battlefield guardian

. White paint, oxygen tanks, stretcher rails — and a diesel heart.

International

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff to visit Moscow as 8 August ceasefire deadline looms. As Trump’s 8 Aug. Ukraine ceasefire deadline approaches, the US Middle East envoy will meet with Russian officials who requested the talks amid threats of sanctions and 100% tariffs

The Hill: US senators chose a break, leaving Russia sanctions power in Trump’s hands. Lawmakers walked away from a sweeping sanctions bill, leaving Trump to decide how to confront Moscow this month.

Humanitarian and social impact

Damaged but still stands: Russians bombed vehicular bridge in Kherson

. The attack ripped a hole in the deck and cut off the Korabel micro-district from the city center.

Nightly assaults become routine as Russian drones swarm Ukrainian skies, injuring civilians. City after city woke to fires, debris and shattered windows as attacks stretched across the map.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s anti-corruption strike: National Guard officers and a Servant of the People MP caught taking bribes for drones. Anti-graft agencies briefed the president on a scheme that threatens both trust and battlefield supply.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Forget steel: Ukraine’s new tank armor is rubber and spikes. Steel once defined tank protection. Now, under constant drone attack, Russia bolts spikes onto its armor while Ukraine wraps vehicles in rubber—a complete rethink of how to survive on the battlefield.

PrivatBank finally beat its own billionaires—but only 2,100 km from Kyiv. It took London and eight years to bring to justice Ukraine’s richest men who siphoned off 1.5% of its GDP

Military

Partisans: Russia’s 247th Air Assault Regiment crumbles amid desertions in Zaporizhzhia Oblast

. Desperation grows as Russia treats locals like expendable pawns.

“Stadium of death near Toretsk”: Russia lost 50,000 troops but failed to break Ukrainian defenses. “Only battle kangaroos and penguins missing,” says Ukrainian officer on the relentless fight.

Central Asia gas route to Russia disrupted after Volgograd explosions. A major gas pipeline supplying Russian military plants was knocked offline by explosions in Volgograd Oblast, cutting supply to ammunition and aircraft manufacturers.

Lithuanian military recovers mysterious drone 100km from Belarus border after five-day search. The drone that triggered Lithuania’s air defense warnings on July 28 has been found at Gajžiūnai training ground, resembling a Russian decoy aircraft.

SBU drones strike Shahed depot in Krasnodar used to launch attack drones against Ukraine. Ukraine launched simultaneous drone strikes on a Russian drone storage base in Krasnodar Oblast and a military factory in Penza – targets located 1,000 kilometers apart.

Ukrainian drones spark massive fires at Russian oil refineries, force Samara airport and defense factories shotdown

. Multiple Russian governors confirmed drone strikes on petroleum and defense facilities, with attacks spanning from Samara to Ryazan oblasts

Intelligence and Technology

Ukraine redirects $ 192 mn to drone units that eliminated 22,700 targets in one month. Six Ukrainian drone units that destroyed 22,700 Russian targets in July will receive over $190 mn in emergency funding

Russia won’t change after Putin, Ukraine’s spy chief says. Russia’s totalitarian system is built to outlive its leader, ensuring the war and threats to Europe won’t end with Putin.

US and NATO launch new $ 500 million tranche system to fast-track weapons deliveries to Ukraine. NATO countries will negotiate among themselves to fund American weapons for Ukraine under a new $10 billion mechanism that bypasses traditional arms sale procedures, Reuters reported

International

NATO unleashes new $10 billion “combat wallet” for Ukraine as Putin’s increses attacks on civilians. The West scrambles to meet Ukraine’s demands while the Kremlin eyes total capitulation.

US, Russia may prepare for show of force as Trump raises stakes with nuclear submarines. The stakes skyrocket as diplomacy falters.

“They broke all 10 rules”: Ukraine calls to eject Russia from OSCE. Moscow blocks European security watchdog’s operations to hide atrocities.

Ukrainian foreign minister says 70% of Russia’s shadow oil fleet passes under NATO’s nose. As Warsaw assumes regional leadership, Ukraine calls for bold action on Kremlin oil tankers.

Trump deploys nuclear submarines near Russia after Medvedev’s threats

. The United States repositioned nuclear submarines near Russia following escalating online threats between President Trump and a former Kremlin official over the war in Ukraine.

Republican lawmaker to “friends in Russia”: Trump “will not be trifled with” amid escalating nuclear tensions. Following President Trump’s decision to deploy two nuclear submarines after Russian threats, Senator Lindsey Graham warned Russia it is “overplaying your hand” with Trump

Humanitarian and Social Impact

Tortured Ukrainian reporter Victoria Roshchyna honored with highest state award after death in Russian captivity. Roshchyna, who bore knife wounds and electrical torture scars before dying in Russian detention, received Ukraine’s Order of Freedom posthumously from President Zelenskyy for her “civic courage.”

Ukrainian teenagers escape Russian “reeducation camps” and forced military conscription. Maria wore traditional Ukrainian vyshyvanka to Russian school and argued with teachers about Ukraine, resulting in classmates calling her “ukropka” and beating her while teachers threatened her mother with loss of parental rights.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

London court does what Kyiv wouldn’t: PrivatBank wins $ 2bn fraud case against oligarchs. A ruling 2,100 km from Ukraine highlights the cost of oligarchic power over national justice systems.

Inform Napalm: Hungary joins Kazakhstan in shadow network to repair Russian helicopters. A leaked document shows spare parts flow in secret, bypassing EU restrictions.

Inside Zelenskyy’s failed coup against Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. Parliamentary manipulation, fake security crises, and Telegram warfare met Ukrainian teenagers.

Wounded, cut off and alone: Ukrainian grenadier spends three days in Russian positions and brings back a captive. A 54-year-old fighter survived wounds from shrapnel and being knocked unconscious before crossing back with a captured enemy soldier.

Military

Trump claims Russia has lost nearly 14 times more soldiers than Ukraine in 2025. Russia has lost over 112,500 soldiers since the start of 2025.

Only three of eight Iskander-K missiles were shot down — but why did most slip through Kyiv’s air defenses?. The clock ran out as missiles flew low and fast from the border.

Satellite images show Kamchatka earthquake tears Russia’s submarine stronghold. The pier shifted at a “terrifying angle” as waves crashed into the Pacific Fleet’s dock.

July records 96 Russian drones flying from Ukraine into Belarus, Belsat says

. Belarus airspace saw the heaviest month of Russian drone presence yet.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine’s Azov member named Europe’s top combat medic after innovative drone rescue. A battlefield transfusion under fire rewrites what’s possible in military medicine.

International

Russian oil floats in limbo as EU sanctions trap tankers near India. The Achilles and Elyte sit stranded, while pressure mounts on Delhi to choose sides in a wartime economy.

Trump promises new sanctions on Russia, Witkoff heads to Moscow as Senate readies a massive bill

. The envoy will return to Moscow while senators prepare a sweeping package.

Humanitarian and social impact

Kharkiv bleeds daily under Russian fire as €10 billion in damage leaves 160,000 homeless. The city hasn’t had a single quiet day since 2022.

Ukrainian man, buried alive between floors, stays conscious for hours after Russian Iskander-K strike. Rescuers tunneled through concrete and chaos, keeping voice contact with the trapped man as debris pressed on his chest for hours.

Death toll from yesterday’s Russian air assault on Kyiv reaches 31 with a 2‑year‑old among victims as city mourns. Crews work nonstop in the Sviatoshynskyi district to reach those trapped beneath tons of rubble.

Young Kyiv woman survives 9th-floor fall as Russian missile flattens another high-rise, killing 16

. A missile hurled 23‑year‑old Veronika from her apartment. She lived; her parents were killed in the building collapse.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s government demands lie detector test from its anti-corruption chief candidate. Tsyvinsky passed the tests, won the contest, but now must pass a polygraph.

Putin shrugs off Trump’s ultimatum and says he’s ready to wait until Kyiv agrees to his conditions to end war. His conditions haven’t changed since 2024 — only the body count has.

Kyiv burns in Putin’s calculated act of humiliation against Trump’s peace efforts, says diplomat. As sanctions loom, Russia doubles down on violence, mocking US efforts to end the conflict.

New developments

Ukraine cuts inflation forecast to 9.7% despite ongoing war. Country defies economic patterns typically seen in countries fighting for survival

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Inside Zelenskyy’s failed coup against Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. Parliamentary manipulation, fake security crises, and Telegram warfare met Ukrainian teenagers.

Wounded, cut off and alone: Ukrainian grenadier spends three days in Russian positions and brings back a captive. A 54-year-old fighter survived wounds from shrapnel and being knocked unconscious before crossing back with a captured enemy soldier.

“Aren’t you tired of feeding people garbage?” Ukrainian parliament reverses anti-corruption law after street protests. After a week of protests, 331 lawmakers voted to restore NABU and SAPO independence, undoing a law passed just days earlier.

Brussels pulls the trigger: Why EU nuked $ 5.5 billion in Ukraine aid – and Kyiv’s path back.

Did Ukraine just unleash its first Bars cruise missiles? A 500 km strike deep inside Russia suggests it. Photos from Stavropol have fueled speculation that Ukraine’s new Bars missiles have entered the war.

Military

Putin’s response to Trump’s ceasefire deadline: Russian missiles and drones kill civilians in Kyiv. Russians killed a six-year-old boy and five more civilians, injured more than 50 other people, including nine more children.

Frontline report: Mines on their chests, drones above as Russia’s summer offensive stops dead. Cut off from supplies near Lyman, Russian troops now carry mines on foot. Most never make it through the drone fire.

Russian military claimed to seize Chasiv Yar. Ukrainian defenders say it is a lie. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow announced victory while fierce fighting continued.

Ukraine’s drone offensive pounds Volgograd–Rostov railway again — Kotelnikovo burns in overnight attack (video). The latest strike left fires raging at a traction substation as trains were halted.

Ukraine’s drones roar deep into Russia — Penza military electronics plant in flames (video). Regional authorities confirmed a large fire at the plant after residents posted videos of drones flying low over the city.

Russia launches record 6,297 drones at Ukraine in July 2025 — a 1,378% increase from last year, OSINT analyst reports. July 2025 became the first month to register over 6,000 Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, following June’s milestone of surpassing 5,000 launches for the first time.

Ukraine is very close to creating its own ballistics – Defense Minister

. An adviser to the head of the Ukraine’s Presidential Office said earlier that its range could reach up to 700 kilometers.

Intelligence and technology

Militarnyi: Russia now using jet-propelled Shaheds—Geran-3 drones—to step up deadly strikes on Ukraine. At least eight of these drones were used during one of the latest air attacks.

China secretly gave Russia cruise missile technology, US officials reveal at UN. Beijing is the “most important supplier to Russia’s military industry,” providing not only dual-use equipment but also cruise missile technology, a US representative told the UN Security Council.

Another Russian spy unmasked: National Guard soldier caught leaking secrets on Ukraine defense facility to Russia. SBU agents arrested him after documenting that he offered classified data in exchange for money.

TWZ: Four Western firms stole Ukraine’s drone tech — Russia and China learned instead. Western companies left Ukraine with new designs but no new methods, letting rivals adapt faster, says Deborah Fairlamb.

Prague announces new anti-air deals for Ukraine as Moscow puts Czech FM on “Russophobe” list. New packages will include ammunition supply and joint production projects aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s military.

WSJ: Republicans develop plan to allow Europeans to buy weapons for Ukraine

. Two Senate committee chairs are pushing a plan to raise up to $8 billion annually from European allies to fund US weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

International

“We’ve not seen any progress,” Rubio reveals secret Russia talks this week. American diplomats conducted previously undisclosed talks with senior Russian officials Monday and Tuesday but achieved no breakthrough on Ukraine peace negotiations, Secretary of State disclosed

Germany says Ukraine’s anti-corruption law “necessary” but not sufficient. The German FM said that Ukraine has to “continue reforms in the sphere of fighting corruption,” welcoming country’s passage of law aimed at strengthening anti-corruption agencies.

Lithuania summons Russian diplomat over deadly Kyiv attack that killed 15 people, including a child. Lithuania joined Baltic neighbors in condemning Russian strikes on Ukraine, summoning Moscow’s diplomat and delivering a formal note protesting attacks that injured over 130 people

Zelenskyy and Poland’s president-elect hold first call, plan mutual visits. Two weeks before taking office, Poland’s president-elect Karol Navrotsky committed to maintaining his country’s support for Ukraine during his first conversation with Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s FM after the night shelling: Trump has been very patient with Putin. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha declared President Trump has shown “generous patience” with Vladimir Putin following overnight strikes on Kyiv that killed eight civilians, calling for immediate maximum pressure on Moscow to end the war.

Reuters: Ukraine’s financing gap could widen due to delayed reforms

. Only 1\3 of Ukraine’s $65 billion financing needs for 2026-2027 has been secured, Central Bank Governor Andriy Pyshnyi revealed, as delayed reforms threaten to widen the country’s funding shortfall

Humanitarian and social impact

Young Kyiv woman survives 9th-floor fall as Russian missile flattens another high-rise, killing 16. A missile hurled 23‑year‑old Veronika from her apartment. She lived; her parents were killed in the building collapse.

Muslim cultural centre damaged in Russian attack on Kyiv. A Russian missile and drone assault on Kyiv killed eight people, including a child, and damaged the city’s Islamic Cultural Centre

Slovenia highway crash kills 5 Ukrainians in collision with Russian truck driver. A pre-dawn collision on 30 July between a passenger van and commercial truck near Slovene Konjice claimed five lives. Slovenian authorities reported that the van’s Ukrainian passengers bore the brunt of the fatal impact.

Political and legal developments

Kyiv’s historic Zhytnii market gets heritage protection as city plans sale in 2025. A 45-year-old Soviet modernist market covering 11,000 square meters in Kyiv’s historic Podil district received official cultural heritage protection, potentially blocking planned municipal sale

RFE/RL reveals Ukraine’s top customs official lives in luxury: Mansions, cars, and lavish foreign schooling. The investigation exposes foreign villas, a million-dollar house near Kyiv and elite education that official income cannot explain.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Portugal sent Ukraine $ 250 million in military aid — the drones alone cost Russia $ 4 billion. Portugal nearly doubled its pledge to Ukraine, sending $250 million in 2024. Its Tekever drones alone have destroyed two Russian S‑400 air defense systems.

Social media’s invisible battlefield: Who decides what you see? (Viplikes’ Guide). What you see—and what you don’t—is shaped by a mix of corporate interests, political agendas, and opaque systems designed to keep you engaged

Tech innovation: How blockchain cloud mining is reshaping passive income in 2025. Blockchain-based cloud mining platforms are positioning themselves as a user-friendly alternative to traditional mining, which often requires expensive hardware, ongoing maintenance, and technical expertise

Ukrainian war documentaries Russia doesn’t want you to see. These films expose Russian war crimes and showcase Ukrainian resilience through stories of survival, volunteering, art creation amid destruction, and resistance that directly contradict Moscow’s propaganda about Ukraine.

20,000 wrecked vehicles behind them, Russia’s last tanks crawl toward Siversk. A Russian tank column rolled into a bloody disaster outside Siversk in eastern Ukraine. But Moscow’s troops are still advancing.

Military

Ukraine destroys Russian electronic warfare hub in occupied area of Black Sea, sets up Ukrainian flag. Ukrainian special forces eliminated the entire Russian garrison, while not a single Ukrainian soldier was killed or injured in the nighttime assault.

Russian missile struck Ukrainian military training ground, killing three soldiers and wounding dozens. An investigative commission will examine whether command failures and safety protocol violations have contributed to the casualties.

As of 30 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:

• • • Personnel: 1052190 (+890)
    • Tanks: 11066 (+1)
    • APV: 23065 (+1)
    • Artillery systems: 30895 (+30)
    • MLRS: 1451
    • Anti-aircraft systems: 1202
    • Aircraft: 421
    • Helicopters: 340
    • UAV: 48685 (+100)
    • Cruise missiles : 3548
    • Warships/boats: 28
    • Submarines: 1
    • Vehicles and fuel tanks: 56754 (+67)

Intelligence and technology

Ukrainian pilot instructor caught selling Western fighter jet secrets to Moscow. The arrested major served in an air brigade tasked with shooting down the same Russian drones and missiles his intelligence helped target Ukrainian airbases.

Massive data breach hits Russian authorities in occupied Crimea as Ukrainian intelligence downloads secret military files. Ukrainian cyber specialists downloaded 100TB of Russian military data from occupied Crimea before destroying the original files on government servers, according to intelligence sources cited by RBK-Ukraine.

International

Dozens of politicians boycott Russian sanctioned official invited speaking at conference in neutral Switzerland. Ukraine called Valentina Matvienko’s conference participation “disgraceful” and emphasized that she belongs behind bars and not at international events.

Europe can’t defend itself without Ukraine, Estonia’s NATO envoy warns. Estonia’s NATO ambassador Jüri Luik warns that without Ukraine’s military power, Europe cannot contain the Russian threat or build a defense independent of US support.

Frontline report: Trump unleashes economic war on Brazil to cripple Russian anti-Western BRICS alliance. The US experiments with attacking Russia’s most vulnerable ally first, testing whether economic pressure on BRICS members can isolate Moscow without direct confrontation.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russian daily terror of civilians in Ukraine continues: five injured and extensive damage

. Three people were injured in Kharkiv as the drone debris landed on residential areas.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s government again fails to appoint head of Bureau of Economic Security. Ukraine faces missing a crucial International Monetary Fund benchmark as the Cabinet of Ministers refused for the 2nd time to appoint Oleksandr Tsyvinsky as head of the Bureau of Economic Security

Rada Committee backs Zelenskyy’s NABU independence u-turn after mass protests. Ukrainian MPs voted to restore independence to the country’s main anti-corruption agencies, just nine days after President Zelenskyy signed legislation that sparked mass protests across the country.

US senator: Stop giving Putin extra time, vote on 500% sanctions now. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal pushes for 500% tariffs on Russian oil buyers, including China and India, while President Trump proposes lower 100% tariffs.

ISW: Putin allies dismiss Trump tariff threat, vow to continue Ukraine war. The Kremlin told President Trump that Russia will determine the timing of peace negotiations, not Washington, after Trump shortened his Ukraine war ultimatum from 50 days to 10 days with threats of new tariffs.

EU threatens to withhold $3.3 billion over Ukraine’s failure to reform another anti-corruption agency. The intertwined challenges of anti-corruption scandals and stalled reforms place Ukraine’s international support at a critical crossroads.

• • Read our earlier daily review

  here.

Exclusive

Ukrainian war documentaries Russia doesn’t want you to see. These films expose Russian war crimes and showcase Ukrainian resilience through stories of survival, volunteering, art creation amid destruction, and resistance that directly contradict Moscow’s propaganda about Ukraine.

20,000 wrecked vehicles behind them, Russians crawl toward Siversk like there’s no tomorrow. A Russian tank column rolled into a bloody disaster outside Siversk in eastern Ukraine. But Moscow’s troops are still advancing.

Man wants to counter China by letting Russia dismember Ukraine, forgets they’re allies. Pentagon’s Undersecretary Elbridge Colby crafted America’s China strategy. Beijing couldn’t be happier.

Spain Ukraine military aid: Patriot missiles, Leopard tanks—plus surprise Chornobyl solar plant. Missiles and tanks are only part of Spain’s military aid to Ukraine: the past year also brought troop training, demining, sanctions and a solar plant in Chornobyl.

Military

Frontline report: Ukrainian defenders revive Roman anti-cavalry tactics to achieve devastating 66-to-1 kill ratio against Russian forces. Russian commanders have redirected their offensive focus toward Torske after maintaining a bridgehead across the Zherebets River for months without establishing a direct route to their target city.

Ukrainian drones turned Russia’s Salsk station into a firestorm — fuel train destroyed (video). Additionally, drones reportedly knocked out power substations in occupied Donetsk and in Russia’s Orlovsky.

Ukrainian marines turn training ground into war school at NATO’s Sea Breeze 2025 in UK. With minehunters and battle-tested marines, Ukraine’s Navy is no longer just a student of war — it’s a teacher on the modern battlefield.

Belarus says drone shot down over Minsk at 2 am.

Intelligence and technology

Kyiv’s AI coders take aim at hidden Russia’s killers beneath soil

. With a third of its territory mined, Ukraine is betting on AI to accelerate demining.

With civilian factories frozen and war plants revived, Lukashenko’s regime becomes ghost manufacturer for Kremlin missiles. Drone shells, missile chips, and targeting optics are pouring out of newly built plants as Minsk militarizes under Kremlin command.

Lithuania selects Ukrainian tech over alternatives to catch Russian drones following airspace violations. Lithuania’s military selected Ukrainian acoustic detection technology to monitor drone activity, with deployment scheduled for 2026 after two Russian drones entered the country’s airspace this month.

Euroactiv: Ukraine welcome to join EU’s IRIS² satellite network as Starlink reliance sparks unease. The project could give Kyiv an alternative to Musk’s system during the war.

International

ISW: Kremlin pushes alone-against-the-West myth to rally Russians against Ukraine and NATO. “Putin is unlikely to make any concessions unless forced to do so by Ukrainian victories,” ISW says.

NATO tanks would get “stuck in tunnels” if Russia invaded EU, European commissioner warns

. Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas plans $20 billion in infrastructure upgrades after warning that current roads and railways cannot support rapid military deployment against Russian invasion.

Trump cuts Putin ceasefire deadline from 50 days to under two weeks. Meeting UK PM Keir Starmer in Scotland, the US President warned Russia there will be no more delays.

Switzerland allows sanctioned Russian official speak at international forum. Ukraine wants her at Special Tribunal. Valentina Matvienko spread Russian propaganda in Geneva publicly as Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman called her participation “disgraceful.”

Humanitarian and social impact

Pregnant woman among 22 killed by Russia in one day, Zelenskyy says. Russian guided bombs, drones, and missiles targeted homes, hospitals, stores, and emergency services overnight.

Russia bombs Zaporizhzhia prison — 17 dead, dozens injured overnight (updated). Eight Russian bombs targeted the facility and damaged single-family homes close by.

Political and legal developments

“We took Trump’s ultimatum into account,” says Kremlin—but Russia still has no plans to stop war. Despite a new 10-day deadline from the US, Kremlin directly insists Moscow will continue its aggression in Ukraine.

Kyiv formally recognizes forced resettlement of 700,000 Ukrainians by Moscow and Polish communist authorities as deportation. Decades after Operation Vistula, Kyiv enshrines the truth with legal clarity.

Lukashenko’s spy caught mapping defenses in Ukraine’s border region near Poland. With a phone and a Google Map, a Volyn local fed military intel to Belarusian handlers.

As Trump sets new ultimatum for Russia, Kremlin’s mouthpiece threatens war not with Ukraine, but America itself. Medvedev warns of US–Russia war, even as Moscow struggles to hold occupied Ukraine.

Amid war, Russia shuts down gasoline exports — producers hit for the first time. The ban takes effect 29 July and could be extended into September.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Man wants to counter China by letting Russia dismember Ukraine, forgets they’re allies. Pentagon’s Undersecretary Elbridge Colby crafted America’s China strategy. Beijing couldn’t be happier.

Spain Ukraine military aid: Patriot missiles, Leopard tanks—plus surprise Chornobyl solar plant. Missiles and tanks are only part of Spain’s military aid to Ukraine: the past year also brought troop training, demining, sanctions and a solar plant in Chornobyl.

19 Ukrainian protest signs that are pure art (and also completely unhinged). Ukraine’s “cardboard revolution” proved teenagers can save democracy with markers, literary references, and perfectly placed f-bombs.

“It’s high time” for Ukraine’s tanks as Russia encircles Pokrovsk. Russian units are closing a ring around Pokrovsk, and analysts say only Ukraine’s armored reserves can break it.

Military

Resistance never sleeps: Ukrainian partisans strike Russian rail and freeze ammo convoys. A relay box blew, and the wheels of war ground to a halt.

Hackers attack Russia’s largest state airline, disrupting dozens of flights. They sign off “Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!”. The hackers claimed year-long access to Russia’s flagship airline before destroying infrastructure, telling Russian security services “you are incapable of protecting even your key infrastructures.”

Frontline report: Ukraine teaches Georgia battle-tested drone warfare during NATO exercises after both lost territories to Russia. Georgia appears poised to follow Syria and Azerbaijan’s playbook, seizing territorial gains while Russian forces remain preoccupied with Ukraine.

Ukraine just took back Kindrativka and is pushing into Russian flanks in Sumy. Weeks into Russia’s push across the Sumy Oblast border, Ukrainian forces are holding positions and putting pressure on the enemy’s main axis.

Intelligence and technology

HUR: Kremlin’s drive to reabsorb former Soviet states threatens freedom across Eurasia

. Ukraine’s fight for EU integration stands as a barrier to Moscow’s plan to unify neighboring countries under its thumb.

British expert warns Russia could blow up six reactors at Europe’s largest nuclear plant if war turns against Kremlin. Six reactors, enough to power Finland for a year, could be weaponized into a radioactive bomb.

Europe promises secret weapon for Ukraine—but can’t outproduce 1,020 Russian missile barrage. As missile numbers climb, Ukraine’s survival depends on hitting the source.

Drone crosses second time in month into NATO territory from Belarus — Russia’s key ally. Video footage suggests the aircraft may be a Russian “Geran” or “Gerbera” type based on its characteristic sound signature.

International

While Russia kills 232 Ukrainian civilians in one month, its citizens sip wine on French Riviera—with EU visas in hand. Hotel bookings by Russians in France and Italy are up 19% — even as their missiles devastate Ukraine.

Trump’s ceasefire clock: 10 days for Putin to stop war in Ukraine, not 50 or face oil sanctions

. Trump signals a turning point: no more patience for Putin’s war of attrition.

With infrastructure in ruins and winter ahead, Ukraine finds gas power where Russia once ruled. The Trans-Balkan corridor becomes Kyiv’s newest artery in the war for energy survival.

Humanitarian and social impact

Investigation: Russia blew up 53 Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka prison, then honored killers with medals. The same men who rigged the barracks were officially praised for “combat duties.”

“Ah, this one’s dead? Good,” said Russian Olenivka prison chief — and continued sipping coffee. As wounded Ukrainian soldiers begged for help, their jailers watched and smoked.

Toddler hospitalized with shrapnel wounds after Russian overnight attack. The 3-year-old child was among eight civilians injured when a Russian drone struck a residential complex in Kyiv.

Political and legal developments

As Russia burns billions on war against Ukraine, Minsk’s depending economy is approaching its bottom. An 8.1% drop in farming and a 70% plunge in exports to Russia choke the economy of Moscow’s satellite.

Sanctions fail to hit 200 companies feeding Kremlin’s fake reconstruction system in occupied territories of Ukraine. Russia’s occupation profits flow freely through a maze of unsanctioned shell companies.

Russian prestigious School of Economics opens first master’s programme on circumventing Western sanctions. A Moscow educational institution has launched a two-year program, costing $6,000 per year, designed to prepare students for work in state corporations navigating international restrictions.

New developments

Investigation exposes Putin’s media network playing dress-up as Global South agency. A video news agency Viory that launched in Abu Dhabi claiming to represent the “Global South” is actually a rebranded version of Ruptly, the Berlin-based footage supplier that was part of Russia’s state media network RT

Russia starts regular passenger flights to North Korea. The inaugural flight coincided with North Korea’s Victory Day celebrations, where leader Kim Jong-un referenced Russia’s participation in “anti-imperialist struggle.”

Read our earlier daily review here

Exclusives

These 19 signs from Ukraine’s anti-corruption protests will restore your faith in Gen Z. Ukraine’s “cardboard revolution” proved teenagers can save democracy with markers, literary references, and perfectly placed f-bombs.

“It’s high time” for Ukraine’s tanks as Russia encircles Pokrovsk. Russian units are closing a ring around Pokrovsk, and analysts say only Ukraine’s armored reserves can break it.

Hawk missiles are old but reliable. Ukraine wants all 40,000 America is sitting on. To strengthen Ukraine’s air defenses against Russia’s growing missile and drone attacks, the US has approved a new deal that taps into a vast Cold War missile stockpile.

They came. They cussed. They won.. Cardboard signs, three days, one very surprised president.

Military

Ukraine just took back Kindrativka and is pushing into Russian flanks in Sumy. Weeks into Russia’s push across the Sumy Oblast border, Ukrainian forces are holding positions and putting pressure on the enemy’s main axis.

Russia’s Volgograd railway power substation burns after night drone raid (video)

. Russian officials admit a strike knocked out electricity on rail lines near Zhutovo station.

Russian colonel killed while directing fresh attacks in Kharkiv Oblast, military says. Col. Lebedev commanded attacks near Velykyi Burluk until Ukrainian troops ended his push.

Intelligence and technology

Frontline report: Serbia’s big secret—shells for Ukraine, smiles for Moscow. Serbian factories have sent more than 100,000 shells and a million bullets to Ukraine through NATO partners. In Belgrade, the government still shakes hands with Moscow.

FT: 33,000 AI strike kits will help Ukraine target Russia’s drones – Pentagon is paying

. The $50 million Pentagon contract equips Ukraine’s drones with AI software able to track targets and resist jamming.

WP: Ukraine gets three US-made Patriot systems that can stop Russian ballistic missiles under new deal. From the ruins of Dnipro to the burning skyline of Odesa, Russia’s war leaves no region untouched.

Humanitarian and social impact

Toddler hospitalized with shrapnel wounds after Russian overnight attack. The 3-year-old child was among eight civilians injured when a Russian drone struck a residential complex in Kyiv.

In Sumy, a child’s phone catches shrapnel—Russian drones keep targeting civilians. The assault injured several civilians. Ukraine’s air defenses intercepted dozens of drones while falling debris struck homes and warehouses.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Ukrainian Gen Zs just did what the Russian opposition never could. Cardboard signs, three days, one very surprised president.

Russia’s last tank yards go dark as every inch in Ukraine demands more sacrifice. Russian workers are pulling the last Soviet tanks from storage yards that used to hold hundreds. The math is unsustainable.

Russia built Ukraine’s drone storm over three years — 2025 is when it finally breaks. Russia’s drone war Ukraine’s allies thought they understood is about to change entirely — and Europe is not ready for what breaks loose in 2025.

Vacancies: News reporter, Defense tech reporter, Head of SMM. Euromaidan Press is expanding and searching for professional soulmates who believe in independent journalism.

Military

Russia cancels main naval parade after losing 33% of Black Sea Fleet in Ukrainian drone strikes. The Russian leadership may be afraid the event will showcase its vulnerability.

Ukraine’s Intelligence: Russian jet used to train war pilots suddenly bursts into flames in Krasnodar Krai. A Su-27UB catches fire deep inside Russia as Ukraine shows it can hit before the missiles are even in the sky.

Ukrainian drones reportedly hit Russian military electronics plant under international sanctions in Stavropol. Two precision strikes hit critical production areas at Russia’s Signal plant, destroying numerical control machinery and radio electronics workshops that supply equipment to the Russian military-industrial complex

BBC: At least 245 18-year-old Russians killed in war against Ukraine since April 2023

. Vladimir Putin’s assurance that no 18-year-olds would fight in Ukraine has been contradicted by a BBC investigation documenting 245 deaths of teenage contract soldiers since Russia eased enlistment rules in April 2023.

Intelligence and technology

Musk orders Starlink shutdown near Kherson in 2022 to thwart Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive – Reuters. Elon Musk’s shutdown order, driven by fears of nuclear escalation, left Ukrainian troops without communications and blinded their drones during the September 2022 Kherson counteroffensive.

International

“Moscow mechanism” will now investigate Russia’s killings of Ukrainian POWs at request of 41 nations. Over 90% of returned Ukrainian prisoners report systematic beatings and torture.

Poll reveals 14% of Slovaks want to join Russia

. While 32.5% reject military neutrality if it harms living standards, 15% embrace it unconditionally.

EU withholds nearly €1.5 billion package for Ukraine due to failures in anti-corruption justice. After delays in judicial and governance reforms, Ukraine secures only part of the latest EU payment.

Frontline report: Russia’s oil smugglers are running out of ocean as UK freezes 100+ shadow fleet tankers. Insurance firms, legal services, and port facilities across Europe are now off-limits to any vessel connected to Russia’s price cap violations, forcing tankers into increasingly circuitous routes to avoid detection.

EU lawmakers push gas ban deadline forward as Russia loses energy grip on Europe. Members of the European Parliament want to cut Russian gas imports by January 2027 instead of 2028, claiming that Moscow’s pipeline influence continues to shrink from 45% to 19% since 2022.

German AfD moves to expel young politician who fought Russians in Ukraine. A 22-year-old German politician who secretly served in Ukraine’s army now faces expulsion from the pro-Russian Alternative for Germany party after calling his own leadership “Russia-kissers.”

Orban: Ukraine EU membership would “drag war into Europe,” proposes buffer state role instead

. Hungary’s Viktor Orban rejected Ukraine’s European Union membership bid 25 July, instead proposing “strategic cooperation” while describing Kyiv as destined to remain a “buffer state” bordering Russia

Humanitarian and social impact

Zelenskyy vows swift retaliation after Russia’s night of civilian bloodshed. Russian missiles tore through homes and shops, killing civilians in Dnipro and pounding Kharkiv for three relentless hours.

Massive combined attack on Ukraine kills three people, injures 15 other. Russian forces deployed 235 air assets overnight, of which Ukraine intercepted 200.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies suddenly close four long-stalled cases in one week following prosecutor general’s takeover. Following President Zelenskyy’s signature on the law, the anti-corruption agency finalizes the massive $225 million PrivatBank embezzlement case.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Russia’s last tank yards go dark as every inch in Ukraine demands more sacrifice. Russian workers are pulling the last Soviet tanks from storage yards that used to hold hundreds. The math is unsustainable.

Russia built Ukraine’s drone storm over three years — 2025 is when it finally breaks. Russia’s drone war Ukraine’s allies thought they understood is about to change entirely — and Europe is not ready for what breaks loose in 2025.

Vacancies: News reporter, Defense tech reporter, Head of SMM. Euromaidan Press is expanding and searching for professional soulmates who believe in independent journalism.

Military

Russians killed Ukrainian soldier — his comrade inscribed missile with his name and brought down Russian jet

. The missile spoke louder than grief.

“Five in one trench, while enemy storming from three sides”: Ukrainian machine gunner survives deadly battle near Pokrovsk. Roman “Peugeot” and his unit survived a Russian assault in Donetsk Oblast.

Frontline report: Russian Sumy offensive stalls after repeated counterattacks drain manpower without territorial gains. Russian forces near the frontline faced critical manpower shortages with reserves either eliminated in previous failed assaults or positioned too far away to provide timely support.

Ukrainian hero saves 1,000 vehicles under fire — and surprises Bundeswehr instructor. Awarded for courage, Andrii now flies drones into enemy trenches while his daughter waits for him to come home.

Drone attacks span 10 Russian oblasts as Azot plant targeted for second time. Russian air defense intercepted 105 drones overnight as attacks hit the Nevinnomyssk Azot chemical plant, which supplies materials for artillery shell production, for the 2nd time in two months.

Intelligence and technology

Russia once again finds way to evade Ukraine’s smartest defenses against its deadliest drones

. Russia has adapted again, forcing defenders into a new phase of drone warfare.

Ukraine to receive radars for Rheinmetall’s Skyranger 30 air defense gun system, which also guards Bundeswehr. The aid is a critical reinforcement as Russian missile and drone attacks hit record levels.

Ukraine’s cyber warriors crush Russian control systems in Crimea, steal 100TB of secrets. A covert cyber assault crippled occupation networks, downloaded troves of classified data, then wiped everything clean.

Zelenskyy: Ukraine has agreements on 3 Patriot systems, but needs a dozen. Germany will fund two Patriot systems and Norway will pay for a third.

Ukraine wants to sell $ 10-30 bn worth of drones to the US – Zelenskyy. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Donald Trump has agreed to purchase Ukrainian-manufactured drones through contracts potentially worth up to $30 billion, marking a shift in defense trade between the two nations.

Ukraine receives $ 399 mn radar package from German defence contractor HENSOLDT. Ukraine will receive radar systems capable of tracking 1,500 simultaneous targets across a 250-kilometre range under one of the largest single military technology orders since the war began.

International

UN sounds alarm: Nearly 70% of funding to help millions of Ukrainians is lacking. Despite escalating war and mounting civilian suffering, the UN has secured just 34% of its $2.6 billion aid target for Ukraine in 2025.

NATO’s new chief in Europe arrives in Kyiv, with frontline defense and Patriot systems in focus. NATO’s newly appointed commander in Europe, General Alexis Grinkevich, arrived in Kyiv on 25 July to meet Ukraine’s top military leadership.

Only 1 in 3 Americans back Trump’s Ukraine policy amid broader disapproval – poll shows. Support for President Trump’s handling of Ukraine has dropped to 33%, part of a broader decline that has pushed his overall approval rating to a second-term low of 37%, according to new Gallup polling data.

Polish FM Sikorski warns Zelenskyy: “Worst thing” would be abandoning anti-corruption fight. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski warned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that abandoning anti-corruption efforts would be his “worst” possible decision, as Ukraine grapples with threats to its key investigative agencies’ independence.

Zelenskyy dismisses “fake” reports of Ursula von der Leyen call over anti-corruption law. Ukrainian President denied media reports claiming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed concerns to him about legislation weakening anti-corruption agencies, calling such reports “fake” during a press meeting.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia rains fire on Ukraine daily — even Trump’s deadline has not stopped bloodshed. “There is no safe place in Ukraine today,” the UN warned, as Russia’s relentless bombardment pushed civilian casualties to their highest in years.

Mine nearly ended Ukrainian female medic’s life, but she fought tougher war within — and chose harder fight. After the blast nearly tore her apart, Nataliia Vysotska faced a more brutal fight inside: to stay down, or rise again.

Political and legal developments

Russian provocateurs try to spark anti-Zelenskyy revolution—Ukrainian media sees through operation immediately. Real protesters demanded institutional accountability; fake ones called for regime change.

Ukraine’s Parliament sets day for consideration of Zelenskyy’s bill on independence of anti-corruption agencies. Nine days after triggering nationwide protests by subordinating Ukraine’s top anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor general, parliament reportedly will vote on 31 July on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s bill to restore their independence

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Ukraine’s black stealth drone just flew deep into Russia—again. Ukraine has a jet-propelled stealth attack drone. We’ve just spotted the mysterious UAV for the second time since 2024.

Explained: why Ukraine nuked its own anti-corruption agencies. It took ten years to build them. It took one hour in parliament to bring them down.

Military

From Finnish forests to Ukraine’s frontline: Volunteer Tapani joins International Legion to protect Europe’s future from war. Tapani left his quiet life to fight in Kharkiv, warning the war could reach Europe within five years.

Ukraine hits Sochi — oil depot burns, flights grounded in Russia’s top Black Sea resort. A Ukrainian drone strike hit a Lukoil fuel depot near Sochi, igniting a fire and halting air traffic across Russia’s southern resort hub.

Last of Ukrainian defenders behind legendary “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself” phrase, returns from captivity

. Vitalii Hyrenko was released after three years in a Russian prison.

21-year-old Ukrainian adopted by Italian family dies fighting Russia. A Ukrainian man who spent nearly a decade in an Italian adoptive family has been killed fighting Russian forces after traveling to Ukraine to find his brother.

Intelligence and technology

Russia tests new UMPB-5 guided bomb on Kharkiv civilians day after Ukraine’s ceasefire proposal. Moscow unleashed a 250-kg bomb after ceasefire talks.

Ukraine to get 5 Patriots and 220,000 Gepard shells. Is that enough to stop Russian drone swarms?. Ukraine’s interceptors are scarce and expensive. Russia’s drones are cheap and relentless.

China secretly supplies Russia with drone engines disguised as refrigeration equipment. To bypass Western sanctions, Chinese companies are funneling critical drone engines to Russia under the guise of industrial cooling units. Meanwhile, civilian death rate is increasing month by month in Ukraine.

Estonia says Russia is moving electronic warfare systems closer to NATO borders. Russian military forces have positioned additional electronic warfare systems within 20 kilometers of Estonia’s border, Estonian Interior Minister Igor Taro said, as Moscow expands GPS jamming operations across the Baltic region.

India helps Russia to increase Ukrainian civilian death rate with octogen explosives exports worth $1,5 million

. Octogen exports from Telangana-based Ideal Detonators empower Russia’s arsenal, as Ukraine suffers record casualties during the last months.

Ukraine rolls out domestic RPG-7 simulators to train soldiers for tank-killing precision. Troops now train with realistic laser-guided systems that mimic combat against armored targets.

As Putin vows summer escalation, Berlin says Kyiv will soon gain secret tools to “affect Russian territory”. Kyiv to receive undisclosed systems from Germany capable of reaching Russian targets, as Moscow ramps up civilian terror.

US approves sale of two military aid packages to Ukraine worth $ 322 mn. Ukraine secured approval to buy $172 million in HAWK Phase III missile system components and $150 million in Bradley infantry fighting vehicle support through two separate Pentagon-announced packages.

International

EU praises Kyiv’s response to anti-corruption law rallies but underscores need for reforms to keep integration hopes alive. In the wake of nationwide protests, Brussels embraces Ukraine’s commitment to address the issue, while demanding transparency in reforms.

EU had a secret plan to bypass Orbán. Zelenskyy blew it up instead.. Brussels had quietly crafted an extraordinary workaround to Hungary’s obstruction before Ukraine imploded its own chances.

EU Officials demand Ukraine explain controversial anti-corruption law weakening NABU, SAPO

. European Parliament members raised concerns over Ukraine’s adoption of the controversial anti-corruption law and warned that the legislation threatens both EU financial assistance and the country’s accession prospects, with one deputy calling it “a clear breach of trust.”

Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul for the third time—and agreed on one thing: swapping POWs. The latest round of closed-door talks in Türkiye lasted under an hour and focused on returning captured soldiers and civilians.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia doesn’t want peace, says Zelenskyy after Moscow ruins iconic Odesa market, despite peace proposition in Turkiye. The historic Pryvoz, once alive with jokes and bargaining, is torn by Russian drones, as Putin answers diplomacy with terror.

Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna suffered neck injuries, fractures in Russian captivity – new autopsy. Ukraine discovered new evidence of torture in the death of journalist Victoria Roshchyna, with a recent forensic examination revealing neck trauma and bone fractures not identified in previous reports.

Russia uses thirst as tool of genocide against civilians in occupied Donetsk, says expert. Civilians survive up to 72 hours without water as Russian forces build military hubs atop the ruins of Ukrainian infrastructure.

Russia’s warplanes just bombed central Kharkiv—a baby is among the wounded. Two Russian glide bombs hit Kharkiv, injuring 33 people — including a baby, a 10-year-old girl, and a teenage boy with head wounds.

Russia bombs Odesa’s UNESCO district, injures child with cluster missiles in Cherkasy

. Russia launched 103 drones and four missiles overnight, hitting Odesa’s historic center and striking Cherkasy with cluster munitions that injured seven, including a child.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies approve Zelenskyy’s new bill to restore their independence amid mass protests. NABU and SAPO say the president’s urgent legislation fully reinstates their power, signaling a possible end to the weeklong crisis over Ukraine’s reform path.

Russian-run EasyStaff funnels €50 million through Lithuania, dodging SWIFT sanctions. On paper, it’s a freelancing service.

Zelenskyy backs new anti-corruption bill amid protests and a Russian spy scandal. As public pressure mounted, Zelenskyy reversed course on a law critics say undermined Ukraine’s anti-corruption system.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Editorial: Zelenskyy opens a second front—against his own people. Not at the border, but in parliament — where a decade of reforms just collapsed in 72 hours.

Zelenskyy’s scandalous law weakening anti-graft watchdogs takes effect (updated). The President offered only vague claims of “Russian influence” to justify stripping institutional independence.

“I defended Zelenskyy against Trump’s dictatorship accusations. Now I can’t,” says Ukraine’s top corruption fighter. Zelenskyy must reverse course on the legislation targeting corruption prosecutors, or risk proving Putin right about Ukrainian democracy, warns the architect of the system being destroyed.

Ukraine just got 49 new Abrams tanks—but the tank war is already over. The first of up to 49 fresh M-1 Abrams tanks have arrived in Ukraine. What will the Ukrainian military do with the 69-ton, four-person vehicles with their thick armor and 120-mm guns?

Military

Russian power station burns after drone strike—Novocherskassk traffic gridlocked (video). Propaganda calls it “debris damage,” but eyewitnesses describe explosions at infrastructure in Russia’s Rostov Oblast.

Ukraine suffers first Mirage-2000 loss. Pilot ejects and survives. The aircraft failed during an evening mission on 22 July, forcing the pilot to take emergency action.

Intelligence and technology

US approves sale of two military aid packages to Ukraine worth $ 322 mn. Ukraine secured approval to buy $172 million in HAWK Phase III missile system components and $150 million in Bradley infantry fighting vehicle support through two separate Pentagon-announced packages.

It wasn’t just the Skripals—Russia’s covert attacks spanned years and continents, UK intelligence reveals. British findings show how Moscow weaponized disinfo, cyberwar, and assassination at scale.

Intelligence: Russia plans to weaponize crisis emerged after Zelenskyy signs law weakening anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine

. As Ukraine’s President triggers outrage by signing a contentious law, Moscow reportedly prepares provocations to exploit internal discord.

Ukraine’s Bulava middle-strike drone trialed in Donetsk. Results show all targets successfully hit. Each of the five launches struck its target despite camouflage and intense electronic warfare.

International

EU had a secret plan to bypass Orbán. Zelenskyy blew it up instead.. Brussels had quietly crafted an extraordinary workaround to Hungary’s obstruction before Ukraine imploded its own chances.

EU Officials demand Ukraine explain controversial anti-corruption law weakening NABU, SAPO. European Parliament members raised concerns over Ukraine’s adoption of the controversial anti-corruption law and warned that the legislation threatens both EU financial assistance and the country’s accession prospects, with one deputy calling it “a clear breach of trust.”

Ursula von der Leyen demands Zelenskyy explain anti-corruption law that sparked nationwide protests. EU chief called Ukrainian President demanding explanations for a law that subordinates Ukraine’s premier anti-corruption agencies to the prosecutor general, with Brussels warning there can be “no compromise” on rule of law standards for EU candidate countries.

Politico: Trump’s September Ukraine ultimatum gives Putin green light to attack

. Russian analysts say the Kremlin views Trump’s September deadline for a Ukraine ceasefire as a green light to intensify strikes, with current attacks now exceeding 400 missiles and drones per night.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia and Ukraine met in Istanbul for the third time—and agreed on one thing: swapping POWs. The latest round of closed-door talks in Türkiye lasted under an hour and focused on returning captured soldiers and civilians.

21-year-old Ukrainian adopted by Italian family dies fighting Russia. A Ukrainian man who spent nearly a decade in an Italian adoptive family has been killed fighting Russian forces after traveling to Ukraine to find his brother.

9th Ukraine-Russia prisoner swap returns seriously ill and injured defenders. Ukraine and Russia conducted their ninth prisoner exchange under Istanbul agreements, with Ukrainian President confirming that seriously ill and seriously injured defenders have returned home.

Ukraine downs 45 Russian drones overnight—but 26 still strike 14 locations. Russian Shahed drones hit homes, schools, and factories in Sumy and Kryvyi Rih, despite dense air defenses.

Political and legal developments

“We heard the street”: Zelenskyy promises to restore independence of NABU and SAPO, prepares draft law. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced plans to restore independence to Ukraine’s main anti-corruption agencies through new legislation, responding to public protests that erupted after he signed controversial changes eliminating their autonomy just one day earlier.

Ukrainian Church holds first service in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra caves since its independence from Moscow Patriarchate. For the first time in history, prayers in Ukrainian echo where Kremlin influence once held sway.

Zelenskyy urgently gathers anti-corruption chiefs amid mass protests, as MPs plan to challenge his new controversial law in court. The battle over Ukraine’s reforms legacy intensifies.

New developments

Reuters: Russian oil revenue drops 37% in July 2025 vs 2024. Russia’s oil and gas revenue fell 37% to 680 billion roubles in July amid sustained defense spending for its Ukraine military operation.

Frontline report: Russia plans to import one million Indian workers as war drains domestic labor pool. The imported laborers are being assigned to keep essential services running—from municipal operations to basic infrastructure—jobs previously filled by Russians now fighting in Ukraine.

Read our earlier daily review here.

The protest signs in Kyiv yesterday said everything: “My father did not die for this.”

When Ukrainians took to the streets 11 years ago in Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution, they had simple demands: a country where one would want to live. A place where everyone is treated equally under the law and justice is not an empty word.

Yesterday, in 72 hours, Ukraine’s government destroyed those hopes by dismantling what took a decade to build.

The rushed adoption hidden in another law, the dirty tactics pressuring MPs, the ongoing investigations against Zelenskyy’s inner circle, the flimsy accusations against Ukraine’s anti-corruption organs invoking old traffic accidents, leave no mistake: this legal theater was a planned assault on the system of checks and balances created since Euromaidan.

The significance of this system for Ukraine is profound. Since Aristotle’s time, dividing power into legislative, executive, and judiciary has separated democratic governance from monarchy. In Ukraine, it was largely theater—and each revolution rose against increasing authoritarianism.

NABU and SAPO, whatever their flaws, were the first real separation of power in Ukraine. They could be improved, made more effective. But gutting their independence isn’t about effectiveness—it’s about destroying Ukraine’s capacity to check those in power and resist authoritarianism.

This is what’s happening now. The young people who flooded Ukrainian cities in protest are defending republicanism against monarchy. This desire sets Ukrainians apart from Russia and Belarus—the promise of European integration sealed with the blood of Euromaidan protesters who died for freedom.

This promise of functioning democracy, the best guarantee of dignified life, drove Ukraine since 2014 to reject the Russian path where personal freedom gets discarded and authority worshipped. It drives Ukrainians defending their land against the Russian invasion.

That promise had concrete stakes. NABU independence was the condition for visa-free travel, EU candidacy talks, and every step toward European integration. Those foundations just crumbled.

Ukrainians on the frontline didn’t die for Zelenskyy’s power to concentrate authority and enrich himself. They died for their families, for a future where their children wouldn’t choose between dignity and survival.

Power is intoxicating. It is a bitter irony that Zelenskyy became the villain from his own TV show—the corrupt president enjoying the impunity he once campaigned against.

He signed the law with record speed, buried the attack in photo-ops, ignored thousand-strong protests in his evening address.

Since today, a second front has opened in Ukraine—between those preserving Ukraine’s democratic future and those sacrificing it for personal protection. This fight determines whether Ukraine’s victory over Russia means anything, or whether we become the corrupt autocracy we once fought to escape.

Zelenskyy can still reverse course—withdraw his signature, restore what was broken. But each day this law stands, Ukraine moves closer to becoming the country it once fought to escape.

The choice between republic and monarchy remains his to make.

History is watching.

Exclusive

Ukraine’s anti-corruption architect to Zelenskyy: “You just gave Putin his best argument”. Zelenskyy must reverse course on the legislation targeting corruption prosecutors, or risk proving Putin right about Ukrainian democracy, warns the architect of the system being destroyed.

Ukraine just got 49 new Abrams tanks. The war told them to stay indoors. The first of up to 49 fresh M-1 Abrams tanks have arrived in Ukraine. What will the Ukrainian military do with the 69-ton, four-person vehicles with their thick armor and 120-mm guns?

Ukraine’s parliament votes to gut anti-corruption agencies amid Russian spy scandal (UPDATED). Ukraine’s parliament passed a bill to weaken its top anti-corruption bodies, citing a Russian spy scandal. It now awaits President Zelenskyy’s signature.

Russian “Doctor Evil” posts about loving family and medical pride online, while he degrades and tortures Ukrainian POWs in reality. Investigators identified a Russian doctor who shocked Ukrainian prisoners of war with stun guns, forced them to bark like dogs and crawl on floors, made them recite degrading slurs, and denied them medical care.

Military

Ukraine hits Russian S-300P launcher, Nebo-M radar, and Big Bird node in Belgorod Oblast (video). The Ukrainian forces used long-range precision fire to degrade Russia’s ability to monitor and defend Belgorod’s airspace.

Ukraine hits Russian explosives production chain plant—fire erupts at Samara refinery. The petrochemical facility tied to bomb precursors and jet fuel caught fire after drone strikes overnight on 22 July.

With single FPV drone strike, Ukraine is blowing up North Korea’s outdated rocket launchers before they ever get chance to fire. Ukrainian drone operators are turning the battlefield into a scrapyard.

ISW: No real peace talks with Putin unless West helps Ukraine crush Russia. A major shift in battlefield momentum is the only lever that could move the Kremlin

Moscow resurrects Leningrad and Moscow military districts, builds new divisions as part of its largest rearmament since Soviet collapse. Russia is transitioning into a wartime state to reshape th global order.

Intelligence and technology

Russia’s new decoy drone is all Chinese parts—and still carries a bomb. Flight controller, ignition system, data link, servos, and battery all trace back to Chinese hobby gear suppliers, Militarnyi says.

Dutch pledge new Patriot air defense for Ukraine — but US delay blocks German shipment. Chancellor Merz said Germany cannot transfer systems until the US confirms its delivery.

French drones to be built in Ukraine—Barrot calls it “strategic trust”. Paris becomes the latest NATO ally to transfer defense manufacturing inside Ukraine.

FT: Russia triples drone strike success—Ukraine’s air defenses didn’t get worse, Moscow’s tactics did. Russia’s Shahed drones now dive at 800 km/h, flying too high for Ukraine’s mobile gunners to reach.

International

Poland warns dual citizens at risk of forced mobilization in Russia

. Polish-Russian civilians risk forced enlistment under wartime mobilization.

“Putin fears only Trump,” Ukrainian foreign minister says after Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv. Foreign Minister Sybiha says the calm during Kellogg’s visit was calculated.

Humanitarian and social impact

Russia’s bombs hit apartment block in Kramatorsk, kill 9-year-old boy as Moscow keeps targeting civilians. Russia’s latest attacks left at least three civilians dead and 25 injured across Ukraine, with strikes reported in Donetsk, Kherson, Sumy, Odesa, and Kharkiv oblasts.

Political and legal developments

Zelenskyy signs controversial law undermining Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies. The law hands sweeping powers to the Prosecutor General’s Office, a move critics warn could derail Ukraine’s democratic progress and EU aspirations.

Kyiv court arrests suspected Russian spy embedded in anti-graft bureau

. The suspect allegedly sent law enforcement data to Russian intelligence via a known traitor tied to Yanukovych.

Security service officials took $300,000 bribes as Ukraine guts corruption oversight. The agency that conducted over 70 raids against anti-corruption investigators was itself harboring officials who helped draft dodgers avoid military service for cash.

From Lviv to Odesa: Ukrainians take to streets to save anti-corruption agencies. Thousands rally against bill No. 12414, warning Zelenskyy that signing the law would unravel years of hard-fought reforms and threaten Ukraine’s European future.

Alleged FSB infiltration investigation used to smash Ukraine’s anti-corruption system, says watchdog. FSB-related arrests serve as cover for political moves that undermine key anti-graft bodies and centralize power.

Abuse of power: Ukraine’s Civil Anti-Corruption Council urges Zelenskyy to veto new law undermining anti-corruption system. The law allows the Prosecutor General to seize cases, issue directives to anti-corruption bodies in Ukraine.

Western trust under threat as Zelenskyy nears signing controversial law that crashes Ukraine’s anti-corruption system. Born from Western pressure in 2015, NABU’s future now hangs in the balance.

New developments

From thieves to heroes: 100 Ukrainian women with criminal records now serve in army. A legal loophole gives imprisoned women like Halyna and Alvina a way out of prison bars.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusives

Russian “Doctor Evil” posts about loving family and medical pride online, while he degrades and tortures Ukrainian POWs in reality. Investigators identified a Russian doctor who shocked Ukrainian prisoners of war with stun guns, forced them to bark like dogs and crawl on floors, made them recite degrading slurs, and denied them medical care.

First ever US stablecoin law signed — here’s what it means. The signing marks the culmination of years of debate and establishes the first comprehensive federal framework for payment stablecoins in United States history.

Ukraine just solved the hardest math problem in modern air defense – with a 1970s German gun. The German-made Gepard gun vehicle is one of Ukraine’s best defenses against swarms of Russian Shahed drones.

Military

Russian military ramps up attacks in Donetsk Oblast to sever Ukrainian logistics at Pokrovsk, says commander

. In a recent phone call to US President Trump, Putin indicated plans to escalate the war in eastern Ukraine.

Western veterans join Ukrainian Army to end unfinished wars from Afghanistan and Iraq, chief of staff of International Legion reveals. Pavel Slavinsky, head of the 2nd International Legion’s staff, shares a rare insider look at the dynamic, evolving military unit made up of thousands of volunteers from over 50 countries.

Frontline report: Azerbaijan arrests Wagner fighters as war criminals, breaking post-Soviet precedent. Ramil Aliyev and Ismayil Hasanov served time in Russian penal colonies before Prigozhin’s Project-K recruited them for Ukraine—now they face mercenary charges in their homeland.

Intelligence and technology

Poland buys into Iceye—the satellite firm that spotted Russia’s troops before full-scale invasion. The company gave Ukraine early warning of Moscow’s movements with radar satellites that pierce night and cloud.

Germany pledges five Patriots, Norway — billions for drones, as Ukraine’s new defense chief leads first major international push since taking office. The allies agree to fast-track weapons delivery to Ukraine amid Russian air terror escalation.

Russia shows off giant Shahed factory and US trucks used to launch drone strikes on Ukraine

. Kremlin footage shows rows of Shahed drones in production and American pickups launching them toward Ukraine, as Moscow ramps up long-range attacks.

Pentagon opens drone combat school in Indiana: “If your stuff’s not in Ukraine, it’s not serious”. The Pentagon’s new drone school launches next month, with Ukrainian military advisors set to observe and give feedback.

Czech civilians fully fund € 2.4 mn howitzer push—six D-30s now set for Ukraine. The “Gift for Putin” campaign had announced it was close to reaching its goal. Now, donation totals confirm the entire sum has been raised.

International

Bloomberg: EU sanctions squeeze Rosneft’s Indian refiner — buyers now forced to pay in advance. Nayara Energy imposes financial demands on traders amid rising fears over deal enforcement.

Moscow’s roadmap to “peace”: disarm Ukraine, remove Zelenskyy, and halt NATO. Russia continues to frame peace as Ukraine’s surrender, ISW notes, with demands that echo the start of the full-scale war. The kremlin’s “peace” offer masks intent to prolong the war, the think tank says.

New Ukrainian defense chief tests his negotiation skills during Ramstein meeting as Putin answers Trump’s ultimatum with escalated attacks

. Just days into his role, Denys Shmyhal faces a double crisis: securing billions in Western aid while Russia signals its refusal to peace with a fresh wave of strikes.

EU imposes sanctions for first time on Chinese companies over aid to Russia in killing Ukrainians — Beijing protests. Beijing denounces the sanctions as a threat to economic cooperation.

Peace talks haven’t even started — and Russia has already responded to them with missiles, says French foreign minister at subway attack site in Kyiv. The Lukianivska metro station, where civilians were sheltering, has become a symbol of how the Kremlin “sees” diplomacy.

Italy cancels Putin ally conductor Valery Gergiev’s first Western concert since Ukraine war. Italy’s Culture Ministry blocked Valery Gergiev’s July concert after politicians opposed the Putin-linked conductor’s return to Western stages.

“Most valuable thing we have”: Ukrainian journalist gifts military chevrons to Azerbaijan president Aliyev. At a diplomatic forum in Shusha, Ukrainian journalist Olena Kurbanova presented the military chevrons to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, calling them Ukraine’s “most valuable” possessions.

Breaking: Ukraine-Russia peace talks may take place in Istanbul this week. The third round of Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Istanbul could take place on 23-24 July, focusing on prisoner exchanges and humanitarian corridors, diplomatic sources tell Turkish media.

Humanitarian and social impact

Three skeptics called war “media lies”—then visited Ukraine’s bombed hospitals and mass graves. Czech filmmaker challenged social media conspiracy theorists to witness the war in Ukraine firsthand.

Russian attacks on Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk injure at least 10 people, kill one. Russia bombarded Kyiv with over 400 drones and missiles across Ukraine, leaving at least 10 injured, with Ivano-Frankivsk experiencing what its mayor called the heaviest attack of the war.

Political and legal developments

SBU: Russian “mole” in Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Bureau spied for FSB under former President Yanukovych’s security chief. The investigation errupts in NABU’s most secretive unit as Ukraine’s Security Service exposes a spy working for Russia’s security service.

Ukrainian ex-police chief dies mysteriously at Spanish complex where Russian defector was assassinated in 2024. Former Ukrainian organized crime official Ihor Hrushevskyi died at the Spanish complex where Russian agents killed helicopter pilot Maxim Kuzminov in 2024. Residents question whether the location is coincidental

New developments

Archaeologists find 14th-century Italian fortress beneath Odesa’s famous duke monument. Archaeologists revealed 14th-century materials from a Genoese fortress in Odesa after a three-week dig near the Duke de Richelieu monument.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Ukraine just solved the hardest math problem in modern air defense – with a 1970s German gun. The German-made Gepard gun vehicle is one of Ukraine’s best defenses against swarms of Russian Shahed drones.

Italy’s giving a concert for Putin—and Europe is paying. Banned everywhere else, Putin’s favorite conductor Gergiev finds European taxpayers willing to fund his comeback in Campania

Hackers erased Gazprom’s digital brain in catastrophic cyber strike, HUR source says. Ukrainian operatives reportedly wiped servers, clouds, and backups, crippling the control systems of Russia’s gas empire.

Ukraine’s war cabinet was hit by a perfect storm. Zelenskyy just hit reset. Ukraine just overhauled its government for the first time since Russia invaded. No one voted.

Military

Frontline report: Russia sent troops through a quiet sector near Kharkiv — Ukraine sent a T-64 to greet them

. With its summer offensive stalled, Russia pushed near Kharkiv—and ran straight into a Ukrainian tank.

Russian follow up strikes delay Ukrainian rescuers who rush to put out fire after deadly drone attack. A 78-year-old woman died in Sumy Oblast near the front line and multiple families sustained injuries from direct strikes on residential buildings.

Moscow suffers largest drone attack in months, with drone debris hitting residential building. The attack also forced the diversion of 134 commercial flights to alternative airports.

Intelligence and technology

Russia shows off giant Shahed factory and US trucks used to launch drone strikes on Ukraine

. Kremlin footage shows rows of Shahed drones in production and American pickups launching them toward Ukraine, as Moscow ramps up long-range attacks.

Pentagon opens drone combat school in Indiana: “If your stuff’s not in Ukraine, it’s not serious”. The Pentagon’s new drone school launches next month, with Ukrainian military advisors set to observe and give feedback.

Forbes: Tiny Ukrainian drone boat Ursula targets hidden Russian sites no weapon has reached before. Ursula is just one meter long, but it can slip into Russia’s shallow rivers and swamps to launch drones deep behind enemy lines.

US envoy sees how Russia bypasses sanctions and uses Western components in weapons that kill Ukrainians. Ukrainian intelligence organized an exhibition of Western-manufactured electronics found in captured Russian weaponry used against civilian targets across Ukraine.

German general warns Ukraine faces Russian drone increase from 500 to 2,000 nightly while Kyiv develops special drone interceptors

. Major General Christian Freuding emphasized the economic mismatch between $5 million Patriot missiles and Russia’s $50,000 drones, advocating for preemptive action and industry-developed interception technologies.

International

Azerbaijan demands Russia admit guilt in downing passenger jet with air defense as Moscow stonewalls investigation. President Ilham Aliyev announced the move to international courts after Azerbaijan rejected Russian explanations blaming Ukrainian drones for the incident.

New developments

Usyk defeats Dubois with “Ivan” punch to reclaim undisputed heavyweight crown for Ukraine. Minutes after knocking out Daniel Dubois at Wembley, Oleksandr Usyk thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who “allow me to be here now.”

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

Italy’s giving a concert for Putin—and Europe is paying. Banned everywhere else, Putin’s favorite conductor Gergiev finds European taxpayers willing to fund his comeback in Campania

Hackers erased Gazprom’s digital brain in catastrophic cyber strike, HUR source says. Ukrainian operatives reportedly wiped servers, clouds, and backups, crippling the control systems of Russia’s gas empire.

Ukraine’s war cabinet was hit by a perfect storm. Zelenskyy just hit reset. Ukraine just overhauled its government for the first time since Russia invaded. No one voted.

Ukraine nationalized its way out of crisis—now it can’t stop making money. The emergency worked too well. And that’s actually a dangerous thing.

Military

HUR drones hit eight Russia’s air defense radars and launchers near Donetsk — video shows strikes. Intelligence operators destroyed five high-tech detection systems built for complex airspace defense, and two S-300V launchers.

Russian saboteurs tried to sneak into Donetsk’s Pokrovsk—Ukrainian troops erased them, Syrskyi says. Ukraine’s defenders reportedly spotted and eliminated a Russian sabotage group during a failed incursion into the city.

Drone barrage targets Moscow and Rostov — fires, outages, train delays follow. No significant damage to any key asset has been confirmed. Power was knocked out in several settlements, and train stations were paralyzed for hours in stifling conditions.

Intelligence and technology

Ukraine’s new 15-minute bridges: Plastic cubes, no delay, full mobility (video)

. Engineers from Ukraine’s Steppe Brigade are fielding modular plastic bridges that deploy in just 15 minutes, giving troops rapid mobility across rivers in active combat zones.

US plans to develop new cruise missile modeled on Ukrainian war needs and capable to strike targets over 450 km away. The US Air Force’s upcoming LACM will carry a heavy warhead, dodge GPS jamming, and strike targets 450 km away.

“Everyone who wanted to fight is already fighting”: Top Ukrainian UAV commander prepares for war with drones, not people.

NYP: How small Ukrainian factories are building drones that hunt Russian crafts — without draining millions. The NYP tours where engineers are building budget UAVs to overwhelm Moscow’s drone swarms.

British intelligence: Russia moves to erase Ukrainian language in occupied schools. Kremlin pushes a sweeping Russification drive targeting Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts from September 2025.

Australia’s Abrams tanks arrive in Ukraine—first of 49, or most already?. Some outlets say initial delivery; others report the majority of promised armor has landed.

International

Italy faces backlash for hosting Russian conductor, who backs killings Putin’s regime, at UNESCO World Heritage palace. The July 27 event at the Royal Palace of Caserta has provoked outrage, with Ukrainian groups warning that hosting Putin’s favorite maestro desecrates cultural heritage and insults war victims.

EU declares Georgia’s path to bloc effectively frozen until free elections, as protests rage for eighth consecutive month. The European Parliament backs Georgian protesters, while condemning the suspension of democratic standards.

“He will risk everything in Ukraine”: Putin may be preparing for even harsher war in Ukraine after Trump’s ultimatum. Even with a collapsing economy and the threat of international isolation, Putin is poised to escalate his war. As Foreign Affairs puts it: the Kremlin leader will go to “extreme lengths” to avoid losing in Ukraine.

“I want to help Ukraine as much as I can”: American volunteer James joined Ukraine’s Army to build future. Known by his callsign “Sonechko,” James is part of a legion of foreign volunteers who’ve left their past lives behind to stand with Ukraine—some for justice, some for redemption, some for money.

Europol dismantles pro-Russian cyber army flooding Ukraine and its allies with attacks. A coordinated crackdown wiped out over 100 systems tied to Kremlin-backed NoName057(16) hackers.

ISW: Moscow scrambles to downplay EU’s crushing new sanctions

. Russia’s top officials claim immunity, but signs of economic strain are beginning to show beneath the surface.

In new movie, Czech director takes pro-Kremlin conspiracy theorists , who blamed Zelenskyy for war, to Ukraine. They believed what the Kremlin told them, until they stood amid missile craters and children’s graves.

Humanitarian and social impact

Zelenskyy honors Ukrainian teenagers who recorded farewell video before being executed by Russians in Berdiansk. “This is death. Guys, goodbye.”

Ukraine remembers linguist Iryna Farion, target of Kremlin’s propaganda, assassinated in Lviv in apparent campaign against Ukrainian voices. On 19 July, Ukrainians marked the first anniversary of the brutal killing of Iryna Farion, a fierce defender of Ukrainian identity and language.

One woman dead, child injured in Odesa as Russia sends 344 drones and 35 missiles overnight. Ukraine intercepted more than 200 aerial targets, but dozens still reached homes, schools, and infrastructure across 12 locations in several regions.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine swiftly eliminated Russian-ordered killers of SBU colonel in Kyiv, but spy war will continue across globe. SBU Colonel Ivan Voronych was no ordinary officer. He was linked to Nord Stream sabotage and deep strikes in Russia.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

“A completely new kind of war lies ahead” so Ukraine must outhink Russia by 2027, says Zaluzhnyi. Ukraine’s survival depends on revolutionary strategy, not traditional firepower, Valerii Zaluzhnyi writes

Ukraine’s MaxxPro trucks drop troops in 20 seconds—because drones don’t need more. Just reaching the front in Ukraine is now as deadly as holding it—thanks to drones that strike in seconds. Ground robots could be part of the answer.

“Just 16 people”: Ukraine’s new wartime cabinet is now smaller than many startups. Parliament approved a downsized government lineup on Wednesday, streamlining wartime leadership without altering the political balance of power.

Military

Russia’s “human safari” drone smashes into rabbi’s vehicle — family in car survives direct hit

. A Russian FPV attack failed to kill its target, as Kherson’s Jewish leader escapes harm.

Russia kills Ukrainian railway worker with Shahed drone in scaled-down attack. From 400 drones on 16 July to just 35 launched last night—but impacts across three oblasts still hurt civilians and caused damage.

As of 18 July 2025, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the invasion to the present day:

• Personnel: 1039830 (+1180)
• Tanks: 11032 (+3)
• APV: 23005 (+9)
• Artillery systems: 30485 (+47)
• MLRS: 1441 (+1)
• Anti-aircraft systems: 1197
• Aircraft: 421
• Helicopters: 340
• UAV: 46549 (+135)
• Cruise missiles: 3491
• Warships/boats: 28
• Submarines: 1
• Vehicles and fuel tanks: 55494 (+111)

Intelligence and technology

New Ukrainian PM Svyrydenko: Kyiv, Washington to launch joint drone deal under Trump-Zelenskyy mega pact. The deal aims to pair American weapons deliveries with Ukrainian UAV exports.

Digital occupation: Russia deploys AI army of bots on Telegram for promoting Kremlin’s propaganda narratives

. They sound human and post nonstop.

Russia’s drones now target civilians with napalm firebombs that burn through sand and cannot be extinguished. Modified drones are designed for maximum civilian terror and violate all rules of urban warfare, says a Ukrainian military expert.

Romania wants to build drones with Ukraine—but can’t fund it before 2026. The country’s defense ministry confirms talks, but the production start hinges entirely on next year’s military budget.

France to train more Ukrainian pilots on Mirage fighter jets, capable of carrying missiles that destroy Russian command posts. Armed with 2,900-pound SCALP-EGs, Ukraine aims to shatter Russia’s coordination hubs deep behind the frontlines, due to expanded Franco-Ukrainian air cooperation.

Ukraine to get Patriot missiles “very shortly,” Merz says. The Chancellor confirms Germany’s air-defense transfer will happen within weeks as NATO works out logistics.

International

London also slashes price cap on Russian oil to $47.60 per barrel after EU’s sanctions adoption

. Western allies have escalated economic pressure on Russia by dropping the crude oil price cap.

UK forms second “NATO” inside Alliance amid fears of 2027 global conflict with Russia and China. In just one week, Britain has sealed two landmark defense deals with France and Germany, forming a new trilateral military bloc.

From adrenaline seekers to war veterans: New book of British journalist shows diverse faces of Ukraine’s International Legion. Volunteers worldwide joined the fight against Russian aggression, risking everything to defend Ukraine. Some have never returned home.

International Fencing Federation seeks to reinstate Russian thletes — even those who support killing of Ukrainians. The organization says move promotes “unity,” but critics call it a whitewash for Putin’s military machine.

EU agrees on new Russia sanctions package targeting energy and finance. Ambassadors greenlight the 18th sanctions round ahead of formal Council approval: Malta and Slovakia dropped their vetoes after receiving key guarantees.

Political and legal developments

UK hits Russian intel unit involved in killings of 600 Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol, with historic sanctions

. Many of them were children.

Kremlin’s mouthpiece calls Europeans “imbeciles,” says strikes on Kyiv will intesify after EU imposed new sanctions against Putin’s war machine. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev unleashed a grotesque tirade against Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, mocking her medical background.

Zelenskyy installs ex-defense minister Umierov to run Security Council. The man once in charge of defense now oversees war tech, arms deals, and talks.

ISW: Russia is “burning the candle at both ends”—bankers quietly brace for bailouts. Russia’s top financial execs reportedly fear a growing debt crisis despite Central Bank claims of stability.

Read our earlier daily review here.

Exclusive

“A completely new kind of war lies ahead” so Ukraine must outhink Russia by 2027, says Zaluzhnyi. Ukraine’s survival depends on revolutionary strategy, not traditional firepower, Valerii Zaluzhnyi writes

Ukraine’s MaxxPro trucks drop troops in 20 seconds—because drones don’t need more. Just reaching the front in Ukraine is now as deadly as holding it—thanks to drones that strike in seconds. Ground robots could be part of the answer.

“Just 16 people”: Ukraine’s new wartime cabinet is now smaller than many startups. Parliament approved a downsized government lineup on Wednesday, streamlining wartime leadership without altering the political balance of power.

Ukraine is going green during war, so why is EU’s program funding fossil fuels?. Ukraine has been building wind farms and solar plants while dodging Russian missiles. Meanwhile, the EU’s €50 billion program meant to help? It’s funding more gas and diesel generators than renewable energy.

Military

Russian attack on Polish factory in Ukraine regarded as possible message to Warsaw after Kyiv’s aid meeting in Lublin

. The strike injured workers and halted production.

Top Kremlin’s mouthpiece warns of “preemptive strikes,” but denies any plans to attack Europe. Tensions soar as Moscow accuses West of full-scale war, while insisting no invasion of NATO countries is planned.

Lithuania to Belarus: Stop letting Russian war drones cross into NATO skies. The Gerbera UAV’s illegal flight triggered diplomatic escalation in Vilnius.

One Telegram message promised romantic date for Ukrainian soldier — next almost killed him. A Ukrainian soldier was lured into a deadly FSB assassination plot masked as a date.

Russia’s chemical attacks in Ukraine top 10,000, Kyiv reports. Kyiv’s top chemical defense official confirms that toxic attacks began as early as 2014.

Intelligence and technology

Switzerland’s Patriot air defense systems delivery delayed by US — Ukraine’s urgent need takes priority amid rising civilian deaths. Switzerland’s planned deliveries between 2026-28 are pushed back while Ukraine faces intensifying Russian aerial terror.

Ukraine gets 850,000 Czech shells in 2025, but new government may freeze further shipments, despite Russia’s aid boost from North Korea

. Czechia’s ammo program powers Ukraine’s defenses, but opposition forces vow to shut it down if they win the vote.

NYP: Trump eyes ‘mega deal’ to swap drones with Ukraine for American weapons. Washington may soon fly battlefield-proven Ukrainian UAVs while Kyiv stocks up on US arms.

Ukraine’s new Magura W6P naval drone won’t kamikaze—but it can patrol 1000 km. Magura W6P trades strike missions for longer range and smarter sea reconnaissance.

Forbes: Ukraine’s anti-drone dome over Kyiv is growing—and Moscow feels it. Thousands of interceptor drones are being deployed under Ukraine’s Clear Sky program, forming an expanding shield against Russian drone attacks.

Zelenskyy demands reshuffled cabinet boost local arms from 40% to 50% on the frontlines. The president gave ministers six months to ramp up local arms production for the battlefield.

Ukraine launches AI startup battle, backed by German Defense Ministry, to outpace Russia’s war machine. Germany aids Ukraine’s cutting-edge startups to turn ideas into weapons.

Berlin denies Trump’s claim that Patriots are en route to Ukraine. Germany’s Defense Ministry says it has no knowledge of any Patriot systems being shipped out.

Reuters: Trump promised Patriots for Ukraine—Europe got the invoice

. Kyiv awaits air defenses while NATO allies scramble to decide who pays and who sends.

International

As Trump threatens sanctions on buyers of Russian oil, India prepares to switch suppliers to avoid fallout. India eyes alternatives in Guyana, Brazil, and Canada.

EU will try again to choke off Putin’s war machine with 18th sanction package this week, after Slovakia blew whole plan apart. Brussels stalls its 18th sanctions package as Slovakia demands Russian gas guarantees, leaving Moscow room to maneuver.

ISW: Moscow rolls out recycled lies and nuclear bluster to split NATO and halt US aid for Ukraine. The Kremlin also demands Kyiv be pushed into talks, casting Moscow as the would-be peacemaker.

Ukraine, Poland, and Lithuania form new alliance to counter Putin’s weaponized historic narratives amid war of attrition. The Lublin Triangle responds to Moscow’s historical distortions with facts.

Axis of Evil’s show of force: China deploys 58 warplanes to Taiwan’s borders amid major defense drills. Beijing and Moscow ramp up pressure on neighboring countries.

Humanitarian and social impact

“He said we deserve genocide”: Journalists unmask Russian “Dr. Evil” torturer of Ukrainian POWs. A stunning investigation by Radio Free Europe identifies Illia Sorokin, a Russian prison medic who brutalized captured Ukrainian soldiers with electric shocks, rubber batons, and degrading humiliation.

Political and legal developments

Ukraine gives Moscow-aligned church ultimatum to cut Russian ties. The directive transforms three years of independence claims into legal requirements.

Russian banks seek Kremlin bailouts as inflation soars and potatoes disappear. As war spending drains the economy, Russia’s banks are struggling—and now looking to Moscow for help.

Yulia Svyrydenko becomes Ukraine’s first female PM in 15 years — don’t mistake it for change. Parliament confirmed Yulia Svyrydenko as Prime Minister, but with martial law still in place, critics say power in Ukraine remains concentrated in the president’s office.

Exclusive

Vacancies: News reporter, Defense tech reporter, Head of SMM. Euromaidan Press is expanding and searching for professional soulmates who believe in independent journalism.

Russia drops 250 bombs on Ukraine’s forest—then gets crushed by Bradleys and good old-fashioned flanking. Russia fired hundreds of KAB glide bombs at a single treeline—then retreated from Sumy anyway.

Can Ukraine’s $ 1,000 drones really beat Russia’s $ 35,000 Shaheds?. The missiles are too expensive. The interceptors are unproven. But Ukraine is betting on the math of survival.

Military

Frontline report: Trump restarts Ukraine aid after Russia’s massive 700-drone attack backfires. Ukrainian air defenses shot down over 500 incoming projectiles during Russia’s largest aerial bombardment of the war, yet the attack’s timing—during a US aid pause—may have delivered Moscow’s biggest strategic defeat.

Frontline report: Ukrainian brigade captures Russian positions after drone-only assault leaves enemy defenseless

. The Third Assault Brigade guided captured Russian soldiers directly to Ukrainian lines using an aerial drone, with no Ukrainian infantry present during the entire operation.

As of 16 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:

• • • Personnel: 1037460 (+1170)
    • Tanks: 11025 (+3)
    • APV: 22995 (+2)
    • Artillery systems: 30395 (+49)
    • MLRS: 1440
    • Anti-aircraft systems: 1196
    • Aircraft: 421
    • Helicopters: 340
    • UAV: 46164 (+284)
    • Cruise missiles : 3491
    • Warships/boats: 28
    • Submarines: 1
    • Vehicles and fuel tanks: 55229 (+82)

Intelligence and technology

Guardian: Ukrainian military intelligence exposes flaw in Trump’s Tomahawk missile offer. The cruise missiles require strategic bombers as launch platforms, which Ukraine lacks, according to HUR deputy chief.

Forbes: Ukraine’s new rifle ammo explodes mid-air to kill drones—and might blow up Russia’s whole strategy. Ukraine is developing a mid-air fragmenting rifle round that could make Russian drone strikes far less effective—forcing a return to costly artillery attacks.

International

First Patriot missiles for Ukraine are being shipped from Germany – Trump

. Up to 17 Patriot air defense systems are heading to Ukraine as President Trump announced a policy shift toward providing offensive weapons, including potential authorization for long-range strikes deep inside Russia.

Germany, Denmark, Netherlands plan to buy US-made Patriots, capable of intercepting Russian ballistic missiles, for Ukraine. With Russia escalating airstrikes, European allies move to purchase US air defense systems for urgent delivery to Kyiv.

Kellogg attends Ukrainian National Guard training in Kyiv. US President’s Special Representative Keith Kellogg observed tank crew training and drone demonstrations at Ukrainian National Guard facilities on 16 July, marking his third day of high-level meetings in Kyiv aimed at advancing defense cooperation between the two countries.

Politico: France will not buy American weapons for Ukraine, citing need for Europe defense independence . Paris will not abandon President Macron’s years-long push for Europeans to strengthen their own defense manufacturing base rather than increasing reliance on American suppliers.

The Telegraph: Trump’s Ukraine strategy could work—if Europe sent more than statements. Former UK Colonel Richard Kemp says Trump’s plan to arm Ukraine and pressure Russia is falling short as Europe holds back on weapons and funding.

Europe seeks genuine US burden-sharing of arming Ukraine amid Trump’s weapons promise. Kaja Kallas argued that Washington should share financial responsibility rather than expecting European allies to fund American weapons purchases entirely.

Poland says let Russia pay for US weapons to Ukraine, not European taxpayers. Minister Sikorski backs Trump’s ultimatum and urges use of frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv’s defense.

ISW: Putin remains silent, but Kremlin mouthpieces reject Trump’s latest war ultimatum

. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called Trump’s 50-day ceasefire deadline “”unacceptable”” while Putin has yet to officially respond to the ultimatum.

UN diplomat: Russia’s war is global catastrophe, not regional conflict. Bob Rae says Moscow’s war fueled chaos far beyond Ukraine.

Danish company reportedly helps Russians export Ukrainian grain from occupied Berdiansk. A subsidiary of Danish inspection company Baltic Control helped Russian firms export at least 172,000 tons of grain from occupied Berdiansk between March 2024 and May 2025, leaked documents obtained by Ukrainian investigators show.

Humanitarian and social impact

Italy invites Russian conductor to perform. He supports war against Ukraine while Italy declares “art above politics”. Putin’s close ally Valery Gergiev will perform at the Royal Palace of Caserta on 27 July as he was personally invited by Campania region president.

Russia drops 500-kg bomb on city center in Donetsk Oblast, kills two civilians heading home from work. The city is located close to the front line in Donetsk Oblast and suffers daily attacks.

EU says Trump’s Russia ultimatum too long as civilians die daily. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas criticized Trump’s 50-day Russia ultimatum for being too lengthy while Ukrainian civilians face daily bombardment from Putin’s forces.

Russia launches 400 drones at Ukraine: 12 people injured across Kryvyi Rih, Vinnytsia and Kharkiv

. Ukrainian air defenses destroyed 198 Russian attack drones and suppressed 145 decoys.

Political and legal developments

The Telegraph: Europe plans to use frozen Russian assets to pay for Donald Trump’s $10 billion weapons package for Ukraine. Poland’s foreign minister suggested using seized Russian asset profits for Ukraine arms funding, asking EU colleagues whether it “”should be a burden shouldered by our taxpayers or the Russians.”

New developments

Texas man joins Russian army to “earn respect,” gets lied to as he is sent to front line instead of welding job. Derek Huffman’s wife is now appealing on social media for his reassignment and asking for prayers, saying he “”feels like he is being thrown to the wolves.””

Ukraine jokes about giving US envoy “Ukrainian passport” as Russia stops bombing Kyiv when Americans visit. President Zelenskyy told Newsmax that typically Russia attacks Kyiv almost every night but there was a two-night pause as Keith Kellogg had arrived, a pattern Zelenskyy attributes to Putin’s fear of America.

Read our earlier daily review here.