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

Washington has pledged a $4 billion loan guarantee to Poland, supporting its purchase of US-made weapons as Warsaw ramps up military spending near the Ukrainian front.

The United States announced Friday that it will extend a $4 billion loan guarantee to Poland for the purchase of American military equipment – marking one of the largest such financing packages in recent memory as NATO’s eastern flank braces for continued instability.

“Poland remains one of America’s strongest and most dependable allies in Europe – a front-line nation on NATO’s Eastern Flank and a leader in defense investment,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement announcing the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) deal.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal, co-sponsor of the Sanctioning Russia Act, warned Zelensky that global support hinges on restoring Ukraine’s anti-corruption reforms after mass protests shook Kyiv.

US Senator Richard Blumenthal said Friday that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s international credibility and future support from allies depend on his ability to restore trust in the country’s anti-corruption institutions, days after mass protests erupted in Kyiv over a controversial new law.

“Ukrainians are demonstrating democracy in action,” Blumenthal wrote in a tweet that included a Reuters image of Zelensky. “I hope Zelenskyy will continue to show transparency & anti-corruption commitment. His credibility & support depend on it.”

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov reportedly nearly drowned at a Turkish resort but was rescued and hospitalized

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, known for his close ties to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, reportedly nearly drowned while swimming at a popular Turkish resort.

According to local media, the incident occurred on Thursday, July 24 in the city of Muğla.

The US president departed for Scotland amid major US loan guarantees to Poland, reassurances to Baltic Allies, and vague suggestions of a Russo-Ukrainian peace timeline beyond his 50-day ultimatum.

WASHINGTON DC – President Donald Trump departed the White House Friday morning for a trip to Scotland, where he is expected to visit his golf properties and meet with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Before boarding Air Force One, Trump addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine, offering a specific, albeit unconfirmed, timeline for a potential peace summit.

When asked by reporters what it would take for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian leader Vladimir Putin to sit down together, potentially with his involvement, Trump responded: “It’s going to happen, but it’s going to happen two or three months from now.”

Kyiv Post briefly explains the presence of many young men who could be at the front lines, but instead are participating in protests in central Kyiv.

The protests in central Kyiv have yielded results. President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the mass rallies by announcing and submitting to parliament draft law No. 13533 on Thursday, July 24 meant to restore the dismantled independent status of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO).

However, the protests are ongoing, as demonstrators do not trust the authorities following the controversial vote in the Rada two days earlier, during which many procedural rules were violated. They await a vote.

In this video, a top US analyst warns Russia could attack NATO within 5-10 years if Ukraine settles for a “bad peace.” NATO prepares fast strikes as tensions rise across Europe.

Zelensky says it’s too early for direct arms exports but confirms co-production with Denmark and asks his team to prep $10-30B in drone export contracts for Trump.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is expanding its defense export ambitions, pushing negotiations with Denmark, Norway, and Germany, while also initiating multibillion-dollar drone contracts with the United States.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, July 25, Zelensky announced that Kyiv is in talks with European countries to establish production lines abroad for Ukrainian-made weapons, Interfax-Ukraine reported.  

Oleksii Makeiev quantified the extent of Germany’s air defense support given to Ukraine and the plans to take the partnership forward.

On a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, Oleksii Makeiev, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Germany, quantified the extent of air defense support received from Berlin since Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion during an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

He said that Germany had already delivered more than 60 Flakpanzer Gepard (Cheetah) self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAG) and seven IRIS-T air defense missile systems, with an eighth on the way, along with more than 650 IRIS-T missiles.

Emergency workers said the bomb destroyed the third floor of the clinic and caused part of the roof to collapse. A fire broke out but was quickly put out. Rescue operations are still underway.

A Russian airstrike hit a medical clinic in Kharkiv on Friday, killing one person and injuring at least 14 others, including a 12-year-old girl, Ukrainian officials said.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, sits near the Russian border and has been a frequent target of airstrikes since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

Ukraine’s military intelligence hacked the Crimean servers, extracted 100TB of classified data on Russian military logistics, and wiped all the peninsula-wide data.

Ukraine’s directorate of military intelligence (HUR) has gained full access to the internal servers and documentation of the Russian-installed occupation authorities in Crimea, following a successful cyber operation.

A HUR source told Kyiv Post on Friday afternoon that the large-scale cyberattack lasted several days. It began with a powerful DDoS attack that paralyzed key information systems and network infrastructure across the peninsula.

Ukrainian officials say Russia’s demolition of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Dnipro River in 2023, and the catastrophic flooding that followed, made the bug problem worse.

Millions of locusts are swarming villages and chewing their way through crops in Ukraine’s southern Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia regions, and in Russia-controlled territory in Crimea, officials and news reports on both sides of the fighting line said this week.

Thick concentrations of the grasshopper-similar insects also were reported in Ukraine’s southern Kryvyi Rih, Kherson, and Odesa regions, as well as the central Vinnytsia region. Local media on Thursday and Friday reported the densest swarms in the Zaporizhzhia region, where isolated locust sightings were first reported last week.

But the launch of A7A5 in February this year opened up an alternative payment method for Russian businesses and individuals to sidestep sanctions when trading with foreign partners.

Russia could be turning to a new cryptocurrency called A7A5 to allow money to flow in and out of the country and avoid Western sanctions, experts have told AFP.

Multiple rounds of international sanctions have been imposed on Moscow since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine seeking to ramp up economic pressure to halt the war.

Kyiv Post videographer and AFU soldier Yaroslav Hrubych lost his right arm in combat; he broke the news on social media himself, saying, “I survived… Went through something terrible this week.”

Yaroslav Hrubych, a videographer, director, soldier, and Kyiv Post colleague, lost his right arm during a recent combat mission – a life-altering injury he revealed with trademark wit and optimism.

Hrubych was the first to share the news publicly, posting on social media with a mix of humor and emojis. In his post, he wrote, “I survived… went through something terrible this week,” revealing he had lost his arm in battle.

Zelensky said the tests would be done every two years to help protect anti-corruption agencies, like NABU and SAPO, from possible Russian influence.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a new draft law aimed at restoring the independence of anti-corruption agencies will require polygraph tests for officials who have relatives in Russia.

Speaking to journalists in Kyiv on Friday, Zelensky said the tests would be done every two years to help protect agencies like the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) from possible Russian influence.

Ukraine has been pushing for a meeting between the two leaders and has expressed hope that Donald Trump, who has been pushing for the warring parties to strike a deal, could also take part.

Negotiators from Moscow and Kyiv discussed the possibility of a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during their talks in Istanbul this week, Zelensky said in comments released Friday.

Ukraine has been pushing for a meeting between the two leaders and has expressed hope that Donald Trump, who has been pushing for the warring parties to strike a deal, could also take part.

For the first time since the start of the war, protests have broken out in Ukraine, directed against a new law concerning the hitherto independent anti-corruption bodies.

For the first time since the start of the war, protests have broken out in Ukraine, directed against a new law concerning the hitherto independent anti-corruption bodies. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office are to be put under the control of the Prosecutor General’s Office. 

Penalised for targeting Zelensky’s proteges

The Nevinnomyssk Azot plant produces up to one million tons of ammonia and more than one million tons of ammonium nitrate annually – both used in the production of explosives and artillery shells.

Ukraine launched its largest drone attack yet on Russia’s Stavropol region overnight, targeting a chemical plant believed to be supplying explosives and propellants to the Russian military.

From 2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m., at least 37 drones were shot down over the city of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov said Friday. He reported no casualties or injuries. The city’s mayor, Mikhail Minenkov, said there was no damage on the ground and urged residents not to panic or share images of the aftermath.

Ukrainian forces rely heavily on the service for real-time coordination, reconnaissance, and drone operations; Kyiv’s drone forces commander conceded that this highlights their system’s weak area.

A major global outage in Starlink satellite communications on the evening of July 24 temporarily knocked out connectivity for Ukrainian forces across the entire front line, according to military officials. Service was restored after roughly two and a half hours.

The disruption, confirmed by global monitoring service Downdetector, began shortly after 9 p.m. Kyiv time and affected Starlink users worldwide. In Ukraine, where the satellite internet service is vital for battlefield communications, the outage raised immediate concerns.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said two UMPB-5 guided bombs were likely launched from a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber operating from near Stroitel, a settlement in Russia’s Belgorod region.

A Russian airstrike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv injured at least 33 people, with Ukrainian prosecutors saying the attack may be the first use of newly developed UMPB-5 long-range guided bombs.

The Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office said two UMPB-5 guided bombs were likely launched from a Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber operating from near Stroitel, a settlement in Russia’s Belgorod region, about 100 km from the city.  

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russia will likely implement new policies to augment its military administrative capacity to significantly expand the rate at which Russia can call up a larger volume of conscripts and reservists.
• Russia has planned the gradual expansion of the Russian military since 2022, and the proposed changes to Russia’s personnel processing system are likely intended to support ongoing efforts to increase the size of the Russian military.
• The expansion of Russia’s administrative capacity to process conscripts and mobilized personnel would allow Russia to mobilize forces faster and more efficiently both during a protracted war in Ukraine and a possible future war against NATO.
• Reductions in the bottlenecks in the Russian conscription process would also impact Russia’s ability to wage future wars.
• Kremlin officials continued to signal Russia’s unwillingness to engage substantively in efforts to establish a lasting peace in Ukraine during the third round of bilateral talks in Istanbul.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a draft bill to the Ukrainian parliament on July 24 aimed at bolstering the independence of Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies in response to public backlash against the controversial bill that Zelensky signed on July 22.
• The US State Department approved two Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Ukraine totaling $322 million.
• Ukraine and Russia conducted their ninth prisoner of war (POW) exchange on July 23, in accordance with agreements reached during the June 2 bilateral negotiations in Istanbul.
• Russian forces recently advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and near Kupyansk, Borova, Toretsk, and Novopavlivka.

Asked by Kyiv Post if the absence of a ceasefire and the continuation of Russian attacks mean Wednesday’s Istanbul meeting was a “missed opportunity,” State Department echoed the White House’s stance.

WASHINGTON, DC  – The US State Department on Thursday pressed for a “full, unconditional ceasefire” in Ukraine, following a third round of direct talks between Kyiv and Moscow in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The warring sides remained far apart on core issues despite some progress on humanitarian matters.

Washington issues new sanctions, offering up to $15 million for information leading to the capture and conviction of North Korea’s sanctions evaders, now funneling cash to Pyongyang and Moscow.

WASHINGTON DC – The United States on Thursday launched a broad, multi-agency initiative targeting North Korea’s illicit financial networks, which funnels money to Pyongyang’s prohibited weapons programs and increasingly, to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The campaign includes rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the capture and conviction of individuals involved in these schemes.