Ukraine War News Today - Top Stories and Breaking Updates from Kyiv Post

Ukraine’s president and the US Special Envoy for Ukraine, Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Keith Kellogg, met in Rome to discuss air defense for Ukraine, joint military production, and tightened sanctions on Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Special Envoy for Ukraine, Lt. General (Ret.) Keith Kellogg met today in Rome ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) being held tomorrow and Friday. 

The URC seeks to attract private investment and business deals to raise the $500 billion that will be required to rebuild Ukraine after the war.

These latest sanctions will “deprive Iran’s regime of resources to rebuild and refinance its nuclear and military programs after the US and Israeli military strikes,” a policy analyst told Kyiv Post.

The US on Wednesday issued fresh sanctions on 22 companies based in Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey “with ties to a network spanning multiple jurisdictions involved in illicit oil trade on behalf of the Iranian regime,” a State Department statement said.

“This network has used foreign front companies to transfer funds that sustain the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Tehran’s campaigns of terror, which undermine international peace and security and bolster their ballistic missile programs,” spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Gelendzhik Airport on Russia’s Black Sea coast is just 100km (60 miles) from the border with Ukraine and had been closed in February 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Russian officials from the Ministry of Transportation announced today that Gelendzhik airport in Southern Russia will reopen for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. 

Gelendzhik is a popular Black Sea resort town that lies 100 km (60 miles) from Ukraine and has a population of approximately 75,000.

Two Chinese nationals, a former student and his father, were detained in Kyiv accused of trying to steal classified documents relating to the Neptune missile which sank Russia’s Moskva in 2022.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has detained two Chinese citizens in Kyiv on suspicion of attempting to steal classified documentation related to the RK-360MC Neptune missile system.

According to a report published by the SBU on Telegram, one of the suspects is a 24-year-old former student at a Kyiv technical university who, reportedly stayed in Ukraine after being expelled in 2023 due to academic underperformance.

Russia’s planned offensive against Pokrovsk was intended to be the crowning achievement of Russia’s vaunted “summer offensive.” But like most Russian plans, it came up short.

Two key Ukrainian operations derailed Russian aspirations in the Donetsk region, and both were the result of impressive Ukrainian intelligence and impeccable operational timing. This is the story of how Russia’s scheme to retake Pokrovsk, literally, blew up on the pad.

Russia’s plan for Pokrovsk was simple and brutal. The 8th Combined Arms Army, Moscow’s spearhead in the east, was reinforced to a total of about 110,000 troops, with attached units of artillery, armor, mechanized infantry, and a significant stockpile of weapons, fuel and supplies. Infiltrated into staging areas in occupied Donetsk, the 8th Army was massed for a push toward Pokrovsk.  

83% of companies in the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine said employee safety and overall security were their top concerns when doing business in wartime.

In total, 70% of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) companies in Ukraine do not expect a ceasefire or significant de-escalation of Russiaʼs full-scale war in 2025, although 53% of respondents plan to continue business as usual this year, a July survey by the AmCham shows. 

AmCham Ukraine is a business association, founded in 1992, representing over 600 members, including American, international, and major Ukrainian businesses. Its survey “Doing Business in Wartime Ukraine. July 2025” gathered responses from 122 top executives. 

A local producer said it is working with its foreign counterparts to establish repair centers to reduce maintenance time for imported operational drones used in Ukraine.

Ukrspecsystems, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer, said it is working to establish a service center for foreign drones to reduce maintenance and repair times.

While Kyiv has sought to explore joint drone production with foreign partners, Ukrspecsystems plans to agree with foreign manufacturers on a capability to repair specific components inside Ukraine should they break down.

Kyiv Post joined a live drone op with Ukraine’s 412th Nemesis unit, whose long-range Nemesis or “Baba Yaga” drones silently strike Russian targets with deadly precision.

A personal tribute to a recently deceased Ukrainian poet, dissident, political prisoner and civic activist, whom I helped.

As was reported last month, the acclaimed poet and former Soviet political prisoner Ihor Kalynets died in Lviv on June 28. Today would have been his 86th birthday.

I was fortunate to have known and helped this legendary figure from among the cohort of Ukrainian patriots who were imprisoned, placed in mental hospitals, sent into forced exile, or even killed during the post-Stalin era in Soviet (read Soviet Russian)-ruled Ukraine.

This is the first time an international court has found Russia guilty in the MH17 case, the Associated Press reported.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Wednesday, July 9, that Russia is responsible for the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 people on board.

This is the first time an international court has found Russia guilty in the MH17 case, the Associated Press reported.

After analyzing the remains of downed Russian aircraft Ukrainian researchers identified the origin of 1,115 electronic components – more than 60% of which came from the US.

After examining the wreckage from downed Russian fighter aircraft, a report by an investigative NGO suggests that the Kremlin is still using foreign-sourced electronics for its military aviation, despite Western sanctions.

The research illustrated the hypothetical effectiveness of Western sanctions, while underscoring how current efforts have largely failed to disrupt supply chains.

Video footage shows the precision hit on the Russian Buk-M1 air defense system despite its crew’s best efforts to hide before it becomes engulfed in flames.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed another Russian Buk-M1 medium-range air defense system, reportedly worth around $10 million.

The Ukrainian Ground Forces’ Telegram report says that the successful operation was carried out by fighters of the Black Forest Brigade in cooperation with the 413th Separate Unmanned Systems Battalion “Reid.”

Zelensky is in Rome to take part in the Ukraine Recovery Conference, an international meeting on Thursday and Friday aimed at mobilising support for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived Wednesday in Rome, where he is due to meet Pope Leo XIV and participate in an international conference on rebuilding his war-torn country.

Zelensky is also expected to meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Keith Kellogg, US President Donald Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia, according to the Ukrainian presidency, which announced his arrival.

Having all but abandoned its ground-based air defense capability twenty years ago, Denmark has woken up to the threat that modern long-range aerial weapons pose to the “home base.”

The war in Ukraine has dramatically changed the previously held wisdom on the defensive posture adopted by NATO and its allies, how the future battlefield will look, and how any future war will be fought. The threat to the home base, long considered only vulnerable to intercontinental nuclear missiles, is now just as likely to come from conventionally armed long-range cruise missiles and drones.

The case in point, Denmark, decommissioned its ground-based Raytheon MIM-23 HAWK medium-range surface-to-air missile capability in 2005 in favor of a concept that saw its armed forces focused on expeditionary missions as part of NATO operations.

The unexpected move triggered confusion across the administration and left officials scrambling to explain the pause to Congress and the Ukrainian government.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth authorized a pause in weapons shipments to Ukraine last week without informing the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision.

On July 2, the Pentagon abruptly announced it would temporarily withhold shipments of defensive aid, including Patriot missiles, due to concerns over diminishing US stockpiles.

Daily updates from the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) regarding frontline developments and casualty figures amidst Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

As of July 9, Russia has lost 1,029,660 troops after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 – including 1,050 troops over the past day, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU). 

Moscow also unleashed the largest drone strike across Ukraine with a record 741 drones overnight. 

A new audio reveals Trump claiming he warned Putin he’d “bomb the sh*t out of Moscow” if Russia invaded Ukraine, part of a series of 2024 fundraiser tapes now coming to light.

Donald Trump told donors at a private fundraiser in 2024 that he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin he would “bomb the sh*t out of Moscow” if Russia invaded Ukraine.

The remark is part of a series of tapes from Trump’s 2024 fundraisers in New York and Florida, recorded last year and obtained by reporters Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf.

A pair of key Republican lawmakers in the US Congress introduced PEACE Act to block American access for any foreign bank that knowingly does business with sanctioned Russian actors.

WASHINGTON DC – A pair of leading Republican lawmakers on the US Congressional Financial Services Committee is pushing the White House to double down its peace efforts in Ukraine by cutting off the financial lifelines that fund Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s aggression.

Congressmen Zach Nunn (R-IA) and Josh Gottheimer (R-NJ), leading members of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on National Security, on Tuesday introduced the bipartisan Preventing the Escalation of Armed Conflict in Europe (PEACE) Act.

The Ria Novosti news agency said Germany’s embassy in Russia had published a map of the post-war division of Germany that showed the Soviet flag stylized to resemble Hitler’s Nazi emblem.

The Russian Ria Novosti news agency on Tuesday published an article in which it claimed Germany’s embassy to Russia had published a map of the post-war division of Germany into occupation zones on its Telegram channel.

The map illustrates the four zones into which Germany was divided between 1945 and 1949, with the flags of the occupying powers – American, British, French and Soviet.

Lawmakers say that the FSB needs such detention facilities due to a spike in the intelligence and subversive activities of foreign powers since the start of the war in Ukraine.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB secret police, will soon have the power to create a network of pre-trial detention centres under its own jurisdiction, according to a bill passed by the lower house of parliament.

After the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and in the years after Russia joined the Council of Europe in 1996, the FSB lost its formal hold over a network of pre-trial detention centres, though it retained significant informal control. 

Ukrainian partisans say foreign mercenaries are training at a Russian air defense unit near St. Petersburg, as Putin signs a decree legalizing military contracts for foreigners during mobilization.

The Atesh guerrilla movement has reported the presence of foreign mercenaries at a Russian Air Defense Forces unit located near St. Petersburg, citing what it calls mounting signs of a manpower crisis within the Russian military.

“During reconnaissance of military unit #26934, located at 14 Krasnoselskoye Shosse in St. Petersburg, an Atesh agent observed Black servicemen undergoing active air defense training,” the group wrote on Telegram.

The attack came amid a broader wave of strikes across Ukraine, including explosions in Kyiv and other cities.

Russia launched a record-breaking overnight drone and missile attack on the western Ukrainian city of Lutsk in the Volyn region, sparking fires and causing widespread damage, local officials said Wednesday.

The assault, which began late Tuesday and continued into the early hours of Wednesday, marked the largest single air attack on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began, with 741 aerial weapons launched, including 728 Shahed-type drones and decoys.

After the White House was reportedly blindsided by the Pentagon’s brief aid pause to Ukraine, US policy analyst hopes Congress will weigh in to seek accountability.

The Trump administration claimed on Tuesday that it “never meant” to stop supporting Ukraine – and will continue to help – as the war-torn country defends itself against increasing Russian attacks.

“We’ve been helping them, we’ll continue to help them,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told a daily briefing when pressed by Kyiv Post’s correspondent about the Trump administration’s commitment to providing weapons to Ukraine.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• US President Donald Trump announced on July 7 that the United States would resume weapons deliveries to Ukraine as discussions about provisions of additional air defense systems and interceptors are reportedly ongoing.
• The Kremlin continues to leverage Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev’s aggressive rhetoric to undermine support for US military aid to Ukraine, likely as part of a top-down, concerted Kremlin informational effort.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast amidst a series of ongoing counterattacks.
• Russia continues to expand its domestic drone production capacity amid the ever-growing role of tactical drones in frontline combat operations and Russia’s increasingly large nightly long-range strike packages against Ukraine.
• Ongoing Russian cooperation with Chinese companies is facilitating Russia’s increasing domestic drone production.
• Russian milblogger complaints suggest that the Russian military command is struggling to supply frontline units with drones despite increased drone production, possibly indicating how Russia’s centralization and bureaucracy are degrading the effectiveness of Russian drone operations and slowing the Russian innovation cycle.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Sumy Oblast, and Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar and Toretsk.

Russia continues to expand its domestic UAV manufacturing capacity thanks to Chinese parts and know-how, ISW reports. AFU says monthly drone attacks roughly doubled in June.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Tuesday claimed that Russia has already more than tripled its planned overall drone production volumes for 2025.

Mishustin credited the ramped-up manufacturing to greater state financial support for producers and innovators, including civilian companies.

“Ukraine has 42 million hectares of agricultural land,” says one farmer. “On paper, we can cultivate 32 million. But usable, uncontaminated land not occupied by Russia – only 24 million.”

There were so many mines on Larisa Sysenko’s small farm in Kamyanka in eastern Ukraine after the Russians were pushed out that she and her husband Viktor started demining it themselves – with rakes.

Further along the front line at Korobchyne near Kharkiv, Mykola Pereverzev began clearing the fields with his farm machinery.

First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko will lead the team at the Ukraine Recovery Conference. She may also take over as Prime Minister, as Zelensky mulls changes in his cabinet and embassies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday announced his delegation to the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which starts in Rome on Thursday, July 10.

Zelensky tapped his First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko is to lead the team, which includes Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and several other high-ranking members of Zelensky’s cabinet.