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

Trump gives Russia 10 days to reach a truce with Ukraine – or else face secondary sanctions. State Department’s spokesperson tells Kyiv Post that Trump’s patience “may have been misinterpreted.”

WASHINGTON DC –  The US State Department on Tuesday delivered a stark message to Russia: President Donald Trump is serious about ending the war in Ukraine, and his demands for a ceasefire, now backed by an impending deadline for sanctions, should not be underestimated.

“Clearly, President Trump has proven that he should be taken seriously, because he’s a serious man, and we’ve seen the results of that around the world,” the State Department’s spokesperson Tammy Bruce told Kyiv Post’s correspondent during a daily briefing, referencing the administration’s recent diplomatic successes and commitments, particularly in the Indo-Pacific.

Russian diplomat Matvei Krivosheyev, who was also on board, was quoted as saying it was the first such flight in almost three decades.

A passenger plane from Pyongyang landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport Tuesday, the first direct flight from the North Korean capital to Moscow in decades as the two countries deepened ties.

The Boeing 777 aircraft, operated by Russia’s Nordwind Airlines, had already flown from Moscow to Pyongyang on Sunday.

Kyiv Post Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo weighs in on US President Donald Trump’s shortened ultimatum to Vladimir Putin – and what it could mean for the future of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A video has appeared online showing a member of Putin’s bodyguard carrying a partially wrapped interceptor drone as the Russian president meets with military officers on a parade ground.

Ukrainian military analyst and electronic warfare expert Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov published a video of Russian President Vladimir Putin inspecting a military parade, with a member of his Federal Protective Service providing security detail carrying a probable interceptor drone. 

Although the location where the footage was obtained was not declared, it is presumably filmed following the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow.

Lacking air superiority, Russian jets often launch bombs from inside their own airspace, sometimes with mishaps that cause the bombs to fall on Russian territory.

As of July 29, in 2025, Russia has accidentally bombed itself or areas it occupied over 100 times, according to independent Russian media Astra.

These incidents often stem from failed deployments of wing kits attached to the bombs, causing them to miss their targets in Ukraine and fall short inside Russia.

Digital attackers from Belarus and Ukraine said Aeroflot management made the break-in a lot easier with bad password policy and use of ancient operating systems.

Ukrainian and Belarusian hackers laid low the Kremlin flagship airline Aeroflot on Monday, wiping data bases, publishing passwords, stranding thousands of travelers and demolishing the IT infrastructure of Russia’s biggest air passenger carrier.

The massive cyber-attack brought Aeroflot freight flights – also the nation’s largest – to a near stand-still, aviation news platforms said. Hackers responsible for the attack claimed most of Aeroflot’s digital data base was irrevocably erased.

Germany and Japan are rearming to deter threats from Russia and China. Once pacifist, both now boost defense to support global security as US leadership wanes and tensions rise worldwide.

Two of the most “evil regimes” in the 20th Century were Germany and Japan, perpetrators behind WWII.

The Soviet Union stands alongside them.

The EU’s transport minister warned that the roads and infrastructure of its eastern flank cannot support rapid troop deployments at their current state if the bloc goes to war with Russia.

The EU’s roads and infrastructure cannot support rapid troop and equipment deployments if it is to go to war with Russia, the bloc’s transport minister warned.

Should the inevitable come, tanks and vehicles will be stuck in tunnels and border controls – or worse, collapse bridges, according to EU Transport Minister Apostolos Tzitzikostas.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Bakanov visited the US for the first talks with NASA since 2018, announcing plans to develop a reusable rocket similar to SpaceX to cut launch costs.

Head of Roscosmos Dmitry Bakanov has arrived in the United States for talks with NASA leadership – the first in-person meeting between the sides since 2018, Reuters reports.

Roscosmos is the State Corporation for Space Activities of the Russian Federation, responsible for overseeing the country’s space program. It manages rocket launches, space exploration, and the development of space technologies. The agency is involved in both civilian and partially military projects and plays a key role in international collaborations such as the International Space Station (ISS).

Ukraine failed to check its homework relating to reforms in exchange for aid packages, but Zelensky’s anti-corruption rollback decision may become a tipping point.

The European Union (EU) informed Ukraine’s government on July 24, through diplomatic channels, that it was suspending all financial assistance to Ukraine until the independent powers of its anti-corruption institutions are restored. 

This information was confirmed by four separate administration, diplomatic, and legislative sources, according to a report by Ekonomichna Pravda (EP). 

Zelensky signs law allowing citizens 60+ to volunteer for military service. Contract terms include 1-year enlistment, medical clearance, and no upper age limit.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed draft law No. 13229, allowing Ukrainian citizens aged 60 and over to serve in the military under contract.

According to the Verkhovna Rada website, the law was returned with the president’s signature on Tuesday, July 29. Parliament had passed the legislation on Wednesday, July 16.

The US president earlier said he would slash his initial 50-day deadline to “about 10 or 12 days” and that he was not interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore.

Russia is still committed to achieving peace in Ukraine, the Kremlin said Tuesday, in the first reaction to US President Donald Trump cutting his deadline for Moscow to cease fire in the conflict.

The US president earlier said he would slash his initial 50-day deadline to “about 10 or 12 days” and that he was not interested in talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin anymore.

Margarita Simonyan claimed the purpose of recent Ukrainian drone attacks is not military, but psychological, aimed at unsettling Russians who have remained neutral to or disinterested in Putin’s war.

Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-backed RT network, seems to have admitted that Russian authorities are increasingly concerned that the war in Ukraine could turn ordinary, apolitical citizens against the government – not through battlefield losses, but through disruptions to their everyday lives.

In a televised appearance re-posted on X Simonyan described how recent Ukrainian drone strikes on the resort city of Sochi and the nearby Sirius educational center forced her children and relatives to sleep in a hallway during an air raid.

With Aeroflot finally admitting the “issues with its information system” that paralyzed its operations were the result of a cyberattack, Ukrainian hackers promise this is just the beginning.

Russia’s prosecutor’s office on Monday launched a criminal investigation into a massive pro-Ukrainian cyberattack against Russia’s Aeroflot which Anton Gorelkin, a senior member of the State Duma, said was a “much-needed wake-up call,” adding “… the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one.” He demanded immediate action to reinforce the country’s cyber defenses.

The pro-Ukrainian Silent Crow hacking group claimed responsibility on its Telegram channel, saying the attack had been supported by the Belarusian Cyberpartisans group. It claimed it had not only “taken down” Aeroflot’s system but had completely destroyed the company’s entire internal IT infrastructure.

Belarus reported its first-ever shootdown of an unidentified drone over Minsk on July 29, with authorities saying it was neutralized by electronic warfare

According to Belarusian authorities, for the first time, an unidentified drone was spotted and shot down over the capital Monday night, July 29.

“As a result of electronic warfare, at 2:33 a.m. the UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] fell near building 72 on Matusyevicha Street in the city of Minsk. No casualties were reported,” the Belarusian Ministry of Defense stated.

One of Poland’s largest energy companies, Unimot, will hold 40% of the shares, PZL Sędziszów will hold 10%, and the Ukrainian partner will have the remaining 50%.

One of Poland’s largest energy companies has announced it has invested in a newly formed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and anti-drone systems production company.

Unimot has ploughed 400,000 złoty (over €93,000) into fellow Polish company PZL Defence, which was founded by PZL Sędziszów – a licensed defense manufacturer with over 85 years of experience – and an unnamed Ukrainian partner on July 21. 

In the wake of Trump’s new deadline for Putin, Russia bombed a prison in Zaporizhzhia, killing 16. A missile also damaged a maternity hospital in Kamianske, killing 2 and injuring 5.

At least 22 people were killed in a barrage of Russian strikes across the country early Tuesday morning, with an additional 85 people injured in the attacks, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Every murder of our people by the Russians; every Russian strike, when there could have been a ceasefire long ago, if Russia had not refused – all this shows that Moscow deserves very tough, truly painful, and therefore fair and effective sanctions pressure,” he said about the strike.

In June, the Alpha unit carried out Operation “Spiderweb,” a high-risk mission that used drones enhanced with artificial intelligence to strike airfields deep inside Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a law to expand Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), giving a major boost to its elite Alpha unit – the special forces team behind recent drone strikes on key Russian air bases.

In his Monday, July 28 evening address, Zelensky said the new law grants the SBU “more power to complete combat missions, destroy the occupiers, and carry out special operations to defend Ukraine.”

SBU foiled an FSB-planned assassination attempt on “Da Vinci Wolves” commander Serhiy Filimonov, using an ATO veteran who believed he was working for Ukrainian intelligence.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that it thwarted an attempted contract killing of Serhiy Filimonov, commander of the 108th Separate Battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces known as the “Da Vinci Wolves.”

According to the SBU, the assassination plot was orchestrated by Russian intelligence services (FSB), which recruited a resident of the Dnipropetrovsk region by posing as SBU representatives.

The young member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party now faces expulsion for defying its pro-Russian party line and helping Ukrainians fend off Moscow’s invasion.

A 22-year-old member of Germany’s far-right, pro-Russian Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has been revealed to have secretly joined the fight on Ukraine’s side – and now faces expulsion from his own political home.

Russia’s southern railway lines are an integral part of Moscow’s military logistics network and are used for moving troops and equipment, especially toward occupied parts of Ukraine.

A Ukrainian drone strike hit a railway station in the Russian town of Salsk in the early hours of Tuesday, July 29, causing a fire and killing a driver nearby, Russian officials said. The attack is the fourth such strike on railway infrastructure in the Rostov region in just one month.

According to Yuriy Slyusar, the acting governor of Rostov region, the drones targeted the Salsk railway station. Russian air defenses responded to the attack, but falling debris started a fire at the station.

On the night in July that AFP embedded with an air defence unit in Ukraine’s eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, Russia launched 344 drones, but its largest-ever barrage comprised of more than 700.

A menacing buzz reverberates through the night sky in eastern Ukraine. Explosions ring out, flashes illuminate sunflower fields below and the smell of gunpowder poisons the air.

“There! Three kilometres away!” shouted one Ukrainian serviceman in the air defence unit equipped with Soviet-era weapons and tasked with intercepting Russian drones, before they home in on Ukrainian towns and cities.

Only battlefield change can halt Russia’s war, Petraeus says, as Trump reiterates his “disappointment” with Putin and sets new ceasefire deadline of “about 10 or 12 days from today.”

WASHINGTON DC – Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded US and coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Monday that a ceasefire in Ukraine is unlikely until Western aid allows Kyiv to dramatically shift the battlefield dynamic.

His comments came as President Donald Trump announced a drastically shortened deadline for Russia to agree to a truce. Speaking at a Hudson Institute event in Washington DC, Petraeus, also a former CIA director, emphasized that Ukraine needs substantial assistance to make Russian President Vladimir Putin realize he cannot achieve further gains at an acceptable cost.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• US President Donald Trump announced a new deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to Russia’s war against Ukraine no later than August 9.
• Kremlin officials continue to frame Russia as in direct geopolitical confrontation with the West in order to generate domestic support for the war in Ukraine and future Russian aggression against NATO.
• Russian forces recently advanced in the Lyman, Toretsk, Novopavlivka, and Velyka Novosilka directions.

US Senator Shaheen warns Trump not to let Putin cross yet another “red line” following his accelerated Ukraine deadline, which she said was “long overdue.”

WASHINGTON DC — US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a leading Democrat on foreign policy, on Monday expressed caution after President Donald Trump announced a significantly shorter deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine.

Trump, speaking in Great Britain alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, stated he was setting a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for a peace deal, abandoning his previous 50-day timeline.

Putin’s inflexibility forcing Trump’s hand on Ukraine sanctions, Atlantic Council analyst tells Kyiv Post.

WASHINGTON DC – US President Donald Trump, increasingly frustrated with the stalled peace efforts in Ukraine, has signaled a significant shift in his approach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Washington officials and expert analysis.

What began as a 50-day ultimatum for an end to the conflict has now been drastically shortened, reflecting a growing impatience from the White House.

Analysts say the dollar’s rise was partly due to Trump’s shortening of a deadline for Russia to end war in Ukraine to August 7 or 9, after which he would sanction countries buying Kremlin’s crude.

The US dollar jumped on Monday on the back of a US–EU trade deal, but the main European stock markets fell, reflecting unease at terms viewed as lopsided.

Frankfurt closed sharply down, as shares in German carmakers plunged. Paris dipped, while London – outside the EU – also receded.