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

The calls came after Trump announced increased tariffs on Russia if no progress is made towards a ceasefire in 50 days.

President Volodymyr Zelensky held phone calls Monday with US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The Ukrainian leader expressed his gratitude for the announcement of new Patriot air defense missiles coming to Kyiv, both to the President and his special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, with whom Zelensky met on Monday.

In a post on X, Zelensky wrote:

The announcement was made as part of Zelensky’s government reshuffle. The President earlier announced that Deputy PM Yulia Svyrydenko will replace Shmyhal as the new Prime Minister.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has clarified what his major leadership shakeup will look like and provided an accelerated timeline for defense reforms aimed at pushing the war back onto Russian territory.

Zelensky confirmed in his Wednesday night address that he has nominated former Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, who resigned on Tuesday, to serve as Ukraine’s new Minister of Defense, tasking him with expanding domestic arms production to cover at least 50% of all frontline weapons within the next six months.

US President Donald Trump has officially given the green light to the delivery of advanced Patriot air‑defense systems to Ukraine – an urgent response to relentless Russian missile and drone strikes.

From a regional trade rep in China to first deputy PM – and now prime minister –here’s how Yuliia Svyrydenko rose to the top of Ukraine’s political ladder.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is resetting the government.

Today, he wrote on his Facebook that he offered the post of Prime Minister to the current Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko. Kyiv Post has compiled everything we know about the government reset and the new Prime Minister.

Russia’s main stock market index, the MOEX, rose to 2714 points on July 14, 2025, gaining 2.72% from the previous session, after Trump announced a 50-day pause before potential tariffs.

The Russian Moscow Exchange (MOEX) rose 71.94 points today for a 2.72% increase to 2,714 points after US President Donald Trump announced a 50-day pause before more tariffs against Russia.

The MOEX was at 2,713 points on Feb. 1, 2022, days before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and has nearly reached its pre-war average. 

The ultimatum follows closely on the heels of another significant move by the administration: an announcement yesterday that the US would sell Patriot missiles to European allies on behalf of Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, DC  – US President Donald Trump today issued a stark warning to Moscow, declaring that the United States would impose a sweeping 100 percent secondary tariff on countries trading with Russia if a ceasefire in Ukraine is not reached within the next 50 days.

The announcement, touted by Trump as “major” beforehand, came during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office.

Trump has held strong cards over Russia but failed to use them. Now, he’s signaling a tougher stance, with arms for Ukraine and possible harsh sanctions on Moscow. We’ll see.

Lots of people try to understand Trump and Russia – why, when Trump appears to have all the cards, has he chosen not to play them?

I have argued in this blog multiple times that upon assuming office, Trump had all the cards to force Putin to the negotiating table, by first increasing military supplies to Ukraine, and also by upping sanctions on Russia. There was no real downside to the US from either. A deal on Ukraine was there in the making, but Trump seemed to fluff the script.

Rome hosted Ukraine’s Recovery Conference in 2025, gathering top G7, European and Ukrainian officials, international financial organizations, local governments, and independent analysts.

The seventh Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2025) once again brought together top international officials, experts, and donors to discuss and coordinate a large-scale recovery program for the country. 

The high-level gathering resulted in over €10 billion in pledged support and more than 200 agreements, memoranda, and declarations in various sectors, including energy, infrastructure, economy, education, defense, and social protection.

As US armored forces seek technological solutions to protect them from drones, the interim solution suggested by its military planners suggests ignorance of the realities of the battlefield.

With all but four of the 31 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks gifted by the US to Ukraine in September 2023 having been destroyed, the majority by Russian kamikaze drones striking the weaker armor on top of the tank as Kyiv Post reported previously, the Pentagon has somewhat belatedly woken up to the threat and will now seek to identify and provide countermeasures for its tanks.

The US Army’s Procurement of Weapons and Tracked Combat Vehicles (W&TCV, Army) report for 2026 includes an allocation of more than $107 million for survivability improvements to almost 400 of its M1 Abrams fleet as an initial measure.

Ukraine’s BEB commission defied the government’s demand to restart the selection of its new chief, reaffirming Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi amid political backlash.

The commission overseeing the selection of the chair of the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) – a newly established anti-corruption and financial monitoring agency – has pushed back against the Cabinet of Ministers’ demand to restart the competition, reaffirming its choice of Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi despite pressure from the government.

The Cabinet of Ministers refused to appoint Tsyvinskyi, who was elected through a competitive process. Instead, it demanded an effective restart of the competition, citing a Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) warning that Tsyvinskyi’s father has Russian citizenship.

Zelensky has proposed Yulia Svyrydenko as Ukraine’s new PM, signaling a government overhaul and aiming to boost the economy and defense production.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday proposed Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko serve as the country’s next prime minister, signaling a major political shakeup as Kyiv seeks to revamp its executive leadership amid war with Russia.

“I have proposed that Yuliia Svyrydenko lead the government of Ukraine and significantly renew its work,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media, adding that a new government action plan would be presented “in the near future.”

Zelensky called the talks “productive” and said they focused on strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses, joint weapons production, and ways to move closer to peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Monday, just hours after US President Donald Trump confirmed the US would supply Patriot missile systems to Ukraine – part of what’s shaping up to be a major policy shift toward Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Zelensky called the talks “productive” and said they focused on strengthening Ukraine’s air defenses, joint weapons production, and ways to move closer to peace.

Named only as “Yevgeny”, the man has publicly claimed to belong to the Russian paramilitary company on social media and recently published videos criticising Russia’s military leadership.

Finland is investigating a man who illegally crossed the border from Russia seeking asylum, the border force said on Monday, with media reporting the man to be a former Wagner mercenary.

Named only as “Yevgeny”, the man has publicly claimed to belong to the Russian paramilitary company on social media and recently published videos criticising Russia’s military leadership, according to public broadcaster YLE.

Ministers from the southeastern European countries voiced support for Ukraine’s accession to NATO and the EU, stressing that no external state has a veto over its sovereign security choices.

Following a ministerial meeting in Dubrovnik, Croatia, the participants, including representatives of Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Romania, Slovenia, Albania, Moldova, and others, confirmed that Ukraine’s NATO membership is justifiable both in terms of security and economic considerations.

The joint statement emphasized the view that no external state has the right to veto the Alliance’s open-door policy, and that Ukraine has the sovereign right to choose its own security direction.

Pyongyang sent thousands of troops to Russia’s Kursk region to fight Ukrainian forces and has also provided artillery shells and missiles to the Russian army.

North Korea has supplied Russia with more than 12 million artillery shells to support its war in Ukraine, according to South Korea’s military intelligence authorities.

The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported that North Korea has sent about 28,000 containers filled with weapons and artillery shells to Russia so far.

Besides the fact that Trump seems to be doing everything he can to facilitate Putin’s aggression, his transactional methods put American leadership in jeopardy.

Fifty-five-year-old Marco Rubio appears to be consistently duped by his elder counterpart 75-year-old Sergei Lavrov who has been at Putin’s side for over twenty years. Fealty is as important to Putin as it is to Trump. Repercussions are somewhat different so far as there have been no reported cases of jumping from the fifth floor in America.

Lavrov is known throughout the world as a pathological liar, yet America’s secretary of state walks away from his meetings with Lavrov lending credence to his counterpart’s nonsense. Most recently he described his Malaysian talks with Lavrov as substantive and constructive.

A Belarusian Mi-24 helicopter shot down one of Russia’s Gerbera decoy drones as it was flying toward Ukraine, intelligence officials from HUR told Kyiv Post.

A Mi-24 helicopter belonging to Belarus’ air defense forces attacked and destroyed a Russian Gerbera-type strike UAV heading toward Ukraine on Saturday, July 12, sources in Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) told Kyiv Post on Monday morning.

According to a HUR representative, at least three Russian drones were present in Belarusian airspace at the time. During a routine airspace monitoring operation, the Belarusian air defense helicopter reported detecting and neutralizing the drone. Intelligence sources say the wreckage of the downed UAV fell in Belarus’ Gomel region.

Kellogg’s visit comes as Trump reportedly prepares to unveil a far more aggressive plan to arm Ukraine, moving beyond his earlier position of providing only limited defensive support.

US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg arrived in Kyiv on Monday, just several hours after President Donald Trump announced the United States would supply Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine, marking a major shift in his administration’s approach to the war.

“We welcome US Special Representative Keith Kellogg to Ukraine,” said Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, in a Telegram post. “Peace through strength is the principle of US President Donald Trump, and we support this approach,” he added.

The overnight assault included four Russian S-300/400 surface-to-air missiles and 136 Shahed attack drones, along with numerous drone imitators of various types, the Ukrainian Air Forces reported.

Russian forces launched a widespread aerial assault overnight on multiple regions in Ukraine, resulting in injuries, fires, and significant damage, while Ukrainian air defenses successfully intercepted dozens of incoming drones.

In Dnipropetrovsk region, three people – including two 13-year-old girls – were wounded in Russian drone strikes, according to Serhiy Lysak, head of the regional military administration.

A survey cited by Hungarian daily Népszava shows 27% of Hungarians view Ukraine as a threat, just behind Russia at 33%. Analysts link it to pro-Russian government propaganda under Viktor Orbán.

Hungarians consider Ukraine almost as big a threat as Russia, Hungarian daily Népszava reported on Sunday, citing a survey by Pew Research Center.

According to Népszava, the outcome of the survey comes as a result of the “effectiveness of Viktor Orbán’s government propaganda.”  

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• A German official confirmed that Germany is interested in purchasing Patriot air defense systems from the United States on behalf of Ukraine.
• Recent satellite imagery suggests that Russia is constructing protective structures at some of its air bases following Ukraine’s Operation Spider Web on June 1.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk and Novopavlivka.

The news, relayed to the Financial Times over the weekend, was less jarring to Kyiv on Sunday, as Trump, reversing course, approved the US transfer of the air defense systems after all.

On a day when US President Donald Trump promised more American-made Patriot air defense missiles for Ukraine, Germany recanted on promises to do the same, saying they “don’t have enough.”

Germany can no longer send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine due to a shortage of available units, Berlin’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, told the Financial Times over the weekend.

When a jumbotron screen showed Trump saluting to the US national anthem, yet more boos could be heard in the giant stadium, before the camera quickly cut away. Visitors to US are on the clock.

Donald Trump experienced the agony and the ecstasy of football on Sunday as he was booed at the final of the FIFA Club World Cup – even as he joined in some high-spirited celebrations with champions Chelsea.

The US president was front and center as the winners took to the stage, grinning broadly in his red tie and clapping and jumping with the players as the jubilant Blues lifted the gleaming trophy, which he had presented to captain Reece James.

“Putin really surprised a lot of people. He talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening, but there’s a little bit of a problem there. I don’t like it,” Trump said.

WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that the United States would be providing Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine, a significant policy shift for his administration which had previously paused new weapons shipments since the beginning of his second term.

Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump confirmed the move, stating: “We’re not paying anything for them. But we will get them Patriots, which they desperately need.”

As the president’s populist base is furious that his administration said there is no client list for disgraced financier and sex trafficker Epstein, Trump urges his “boys and gals” to calm down.

President Donald Trump on Saturday defended his administration against charges from his populist base that his team was covering up one of their favorite conspiracy theories: that the late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not in fact keep a list of clients who wanted to pay for sex with minors.

Trump, who was convicted in 2024 for covering up hush money payment to a porn star he had sex with, took to his own social media platform this weekend to try to quell the proverbial pitchforks and extinguish the torches in the social media town square over the rumors that he and his team once lit themselves.

“Never has peace on our continent depended to such an extent on the decisions that we take now,” said Macron, explaining that France’s defense budget should rise by €3.5 B ($4.1 billion) in 2026.

President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called for a massive boost to France’s defense spending, saying freedom in Europe was facing a greater threat than at any time since the end of World War II.

“We are living a pivotal moment,” Macron said in a speech to the armed forces on the eve of the national Bastille Day holiday, denouncing “imperialist policies”, “annexing powers” and the notion that “might is right”, all a reference to Russia.