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

As Kyiv marks the anniversary of the prison massacre that killed over 50 Ukrainian POWs, relatives gather not only to mourn but to remind the world: Many are still in Russian captivity.

Ukrainians gathered at Maidan Square in Kyiv on Monday to mark the third anniversary of the Olenivka prison massacre, where more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and scores more injured when, on July 28 and July 29, 2022, the Russian Armed Forces are accused of bombing the building housing them.

The Estonian army said in a statement that an unauthorised Russian border guard vessel briefly entered the country’s territorial waters by up to half a kilometer on Saturday.

Estonia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires over a Russian vessel’s breach of Estonian territorial waters.

Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on X the Baltic state “summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires to issue a formal protest regarding this serious and unacceptable violation of our maritime border.”

The drone uses modified shotgun cartridges that use a countercharge to compensate for any recoil – especially crucial to unbalance a hovering drone when the weapon is fired in mid-air.

Using shotguns to shoot down drones isn’t new – but mounting a six-barrel recoilless shotgun on a drone to hunt other drones? That’s a different story.

3DTech, a Ukrainian drone manufacturer, is doing just that.

Russian defector “Caesar” joins Ukraine’s fight, vowing to battle Putin’s regime. A Christian and former trainer, he sees it as his duty to defend freedom and justice.

Lord Ashcroft meets call sign “Caesar,” a personal trainer who fled Russia to join Ukraine’s International Legion and considers it his duty to free his native country from Putin.

Talk of a possible ceasefire does not concern the unconventional soldier who goes by the military callsign of “Caesar.” Even if Ukraine does eventually agree to a long-term peace deal, he will always be at war with Russia – the country of his birth – while Vladimir Putin remains in power.

The initial amounts are modest but Ukraine’s state-owned company turns to another tool as it prepares for the coming winter season 2025-2026, the first to use the new gas corridor for Ukraine.

The Naftogaz Group signed its first agreement with SOCAR Energy Ukraine part of the SOCAR Group of companies for the purchase of Azerbaijani natural gas.

The agreement marks the first signed transportation through the Trans-Balkan gas transportation route, that passes through Bulgaria, Romania, and Moldova, that represents an additional route for Ukraine to purchase gas for the upcoming winter season. 

The SBU released a video showing an FPV air-to-air interceptor drone shooting down a rare bomb-loaded Orion UAV – a Russian-Israeli-designed strike drone that employs precision-guided munitions.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has released video footage showing a Ukrainian anti-aircraft first-person-view (FPV) drone shooting down a rare Russian reconnaissance and strike drone of the Orion type – a high-value unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) known for carrying a range of aerial bombs.

The video shared on Telegram includes details of how the SBU’s Special Operations Center “A” destroyed various Russian military targets over two weeks. Among them: tanks, artillery, air defense systems, electronic warfare, and radio-electronic reconnaissance systems – and notably, multiple UAVs.

The US president has once again renewed his criticisms of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and vowed to reduce the previously announced 50-day deadline for Moscow.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is “disappointed” with Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s lack of progress towards a ceasefire and would shorten the planned 50-day ultimatum for Moscow as a result.

“I’m going to make a new deadline: 10 or 12 days from today. There is not reason for waiting,” he said.

This is a second loan for Ukraine’s energy company alongside another loan of the same size from PrivatBank to prepare for winter.

In preparation for the winter heating season, Ukraine’s state-owned energy giant Naftogaz took out a Hr.4.7 billion ($113 million) loan from Ukrgasbank, Ukraine’s state-owned bank specializing in energy. 

The funds will be used to purchase natural gas and build up sufficient reserves in underground storage facilities to ensure Ukraine is supplied with energy resources this winter, Naftogaz CEO Sergii Koretskyi said in last week’s Naftogaz press release.  

Ukraine’s SBU has seized a Belarusian recruited by Minsk’s KGB to collect information on Ukraine’s northern border defenses following a covert surveillance operation.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has thwarted an attempt by Belarusian intelligence to collect sensitive information about the country’s northern border defenses. The SBU’s counterintelligence unit uncovered the operation before any sensitive strategic data could be passed on.

According to the SBU, a 24-year-old unemployed man was detained in Ukraine’s northwest Volyn region while spying on Ukrainian military positions. Recruited by Belarus’s KGB, the individual had agreed to cooperate after seeking “easy money” through anonymous Telegram channels.

An exclusive Kyiv Post interview with one of the rally coordinators reveals the youth perspective on NABU and SAPO, attitudes toward authorities, and why cardboard became the protest’s symbol.

Only 23 years old and working in green energy, Zinaida Averina never imagined she’d become a key figure in Kyiv’s largest youth protests since Euro-Maidan.

Back in the winter of 2014, when Viktor Yanukovych’s security forces were shooting protesters on the Maidan, she was only in sixth grade.

One of Kyiv’s elite commando infantry regiments led the way in carrying out what was probably Ukraine’s biggest ground forces’ success for many months.

Ukrainian commando infantry defeated and wiped-out elements of three Russian combat brigades leading the incursion into Ukraine’s Sumy region – killing or wounding hundreds of enemy and capturing prisoners, news and combat reports from both pro-Kremlin and pro-Kyiv sources said on Monday.

The two-week long battle contrasted sharply with the recent trend of relentless Russian advances ending with Moscow’s motor rifle and elite marine units surrounded and pounded for days by Ukrainian FPV drones, howitzers, and rocket artillery.

Ukraine has added 16 new Kremlin propagandists to its War&Sanctions list, including fake documentary creators, war correspondents, and pro-Russian Telegram channel admins.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), in cooperation with the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, has released the seventh update to the “Kremlin Mouthpieces” section of the War&Sanctions platform – an international database exposing enablers of Russia’s war.

The latest update, announced on July 28, adds 16 new individuals accused of spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation, justifying the war against Ukraine, and supporting Russia’s military machine through propaganda and fundraising. The database now contains profiles of 136 figures involved in Russia’s information war.

Ukraine honors defenders and civilians who died in captivity, vowing justice for Russian war crimes and urging global pressure on Moscow’s brutal treatment of POWs.

On July 28, Ukraine honors the memory of those who were executed, tortured, or died in captivity.

According to Ukrinform, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced this on Facebook.

Some observations about the state of affairs in Ukraine’s foreign ministry.

Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrij Sybiha, last week convened a high-level meeting of honorary consuls from Ukraine and abroad — billed as an opportunity to deepen international partnerships.

But what drew the most attention was not the agenda, but the optics. A so-called ‘family photo’ posted by Sybiha to Facebook featured only men — a jarring and tone-deaf image at a time when gender equity is supposedly a national priority and a core value of Ukraine’s European ambitions.

If the US doesn’t get onboard with Ukraine to scale up drone production and technology, then Russia, China, North Korean and Iran will leave us in the dust.

Over the past four months I have issued warning after warning. From Capitol Hill briefings to op-eds to a sermon I gave on Easter Sunday in Canton, Georgia, my message has been consistent. We are sleepwalking through a drone revolution that will define the future of war, and the front line of that revolution is Ukraine.

I started the Peace Through Strength Institute to wake Washington up to the ground truth. And the truth is this: Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are building the largest and most advanced drone army the world has ever seen. This is not speculative. It is happening right now. They are learning, scaling, and accelerating faster than the West.

The EU chief said Ukraine was progressing but must “preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine’s rule of law.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday reaffirmed the EU’s support for Ukraine’s accession bid, calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ensure the independence of the country’s anti-corruption institutions.

In a post on social media platform X following a talk with Zelenskyy, von der Leyen said Ukraine had made significant progress toward EU membership but stressed the need to “preserve independent anti-corruption bodies, which are cornerstones of Ukraine’s rule of law.”“Ukraine has already achieved a lot on its European path. It must build on these solid foundations,” she said. “Ukraine can count on our support to deliver progress on its European path.”

Washington is reviewing its global military deployments, with a drawdown in Europe expected in the coming months.

After keeping Donald Trump happy with a pledge to up defence spending at NATO’s summit, Europe is now bracing for a key decision from the US president on the future of American forces on the continent.

Washington is currently conducting a review of its military deployments worldwide -- set to be unveiled in coming months -- and the expectation is it will lead to drawdowns in Europe.

Russian missile and drone barrage wounded civilians in Kyiv, damaged a concert hall in Kropyvnytskyi, prompting Poland to scramble fighters and put 2 more jets on alert amid heightened defense status.

Russian forces launched a combined missile and Shahed drone strike against Ukraine in the early hours of Monday, July 28.

In Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, a drone attack shattered windows in a multi-story residential building. According to the city’s police, five people suffered shrapnel wounds, including a two-year-old girl who sustained lacerations on her foot.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian forces recently advanced northeast of Siversk during a reinforced company-sized mechanized assault.
• Russian forces appear to be using armored vehicles more frequently in some tactical attacks after a decrease in the use of armor since Winter 2024-2025.
• The Kremlin reasserted its unchanged commitment to achieving its long-standing war aims in Ukraine that amount to nothing short of Ukraine’s full capitulation, undermining Russia’s diplomatic posturing.
• Ukrainian forces recently killed a Russian commander in the Velykyi Burluk direction.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Siversk, Toretsk, and Novopavlivka and in western Zaporizhia Oblast.

An American mother tells Kyiv Post about her son’s last words before dying in Ukraine.

ABINGTON, Pennsylvania – A Pennsylvania man who answered the desperate call to defend freedom in Ukraine, ultimately sacrificing his life on the brutal front lines, was honored last week by the US Congress.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) stood on the House floor to deliver a poignant eulogy for Robert “Bobby” Edward Pietrangelo, just 23 years old from Abington, Pa. Fitzpatrick hailed him as a “courageous advocate” who made the ultimate sacrifice against invading Russian forces, a stark testament to his conviction.

As part of US aid package to Ukraine, a company will provide Kyiv with tens of thousands of “AI-powered weapons systems” that replace manual drone operators and reportedly cannot be jammed.

As part of a deal with the US Department of Defense, a joint US-German company will provide Ukraine with some 33,000 AI-powered “strike kits’ that turn manually-operated drones intosutonimous computer-guided weapons.

The new deliveries come at a time when Russia has massively boosted its domestic production of Shahed-type drones, has launched increasing volumes of UAV strikes on Ukrainian civilian targets, and this is one more line of defense against them.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated on Sunday that “First, we still need to resolve the problem, and we need to fulfill the objectives,” of its attack on Ukraine before meetings with Putin.

At a press conference on Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated Moscow’s demands that Russia must first fulfill the military objectives of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine before renewing bilateral relations with Ukraine.

He said the topic of resuming bilateral relations between the two countries is “too theoretical a question right now.”