Russia fires a record 728 drones and 13 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian air force says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the city of Lutsk, in Ukraine's northwest, bordering Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions were also struck.
Lutsk is home to airfields used by the Ukrainian army. Cargo planes and fighter jets routinely fly over the city.
Ukraine's air defenses shot down 296 drones and seven missiles, while 415 more drones were lost from radars or jammed, an air force statement said.
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Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Vladimir Putin has finally run out of time
President Donald Trump has issued a new ultimatum to Russia. After expressing doubts about Vladimir Putin's willingness to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine, Trump announced that he would cut his 50-day time deadline to just 10 to 12 days. If Russia does not pivot towards peace, punitive secondary tariffs and sanctions could take effect. A bold move, but is Putin likely to accede to Trump's demands? Russia's most recent conduct suggests no. On Saturday, it declared that it had occupied two villages in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk. Hours before Trump's statement, Russia launched a drone and missile barrage against Ukraine that forced Poland to scramble fighter jets over its airspace. Russian official rhetoric has been equally bellicose. In response to Trump's statement, former president Dmitry Medvedev warned that the US was taking a step towards war with Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has declared that 'Russia is fighting alone against the entire West'. No new peace negotiations with Ukraine have been scheduled and the most recent talks in Istanbul lasted less than an hour. But Putin's determination to call Trump's bluff is a dangerous miscalculation. He appears to have predicted that Trump would withdraw military support for Ukraine upon taking office and hand Russia a blank cheque for further aggression, but these assumptions were mistaken. Trump has now earmarked Russia as the sole obstruction to peace in Ukraine and is devising a robust deterrence policy. Much like his predecessor Joe Biden, Trump has supported the provision of American military equipment to Ukraine. The key distinction is that these arms will be purchased by America's Nato allies. Due to reforms to its debt brake spending cap, Germany is slated to purchase billions of dollars of US-made weapons for Ukraine. Norway has doubled its aid pledge to Ukraine and has promised a Patriot air defence system to Kyiv. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte says that Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Britain, the Netherlands and Canada are also willing to purchase US-made weapons for Ukraine. Trump has paired this policy with fervent support for Europe's own rearmament. During his press conference at last month's Nato summit in The Hague, Trump hailed the alliance's decision to increase its defence spending target to 5 per cent of GDP as a 'big win' for Western civilisation. Trump's new trade deal with the European Union (EU) commits the bloc to buying billions of dollars in new military equipment. Once again, Russian aggression aimed at thwarting Nato has unintentionally resulted in the alliance's strengthening. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea triggered a sustained military build-up on Nato's eastern flank and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine encouraged neutral Finland and Sweden to join the alliance. Trump's rhetoric and actions are taking this trend to new heights. The intensification of US economic pressure on Russia would also have severe adverse consequences for Putin's war machine. While the EU has taken action against Russia's shadow oil tanker fleet and Chinese banks that enable the war effort, these sanctions have lagged Russia's efforts to get around them. If the US imposes sweeping secondary tariffs on all customers of Russia's energy industry and closes sectoral sanction loopholes, the macroeconomic shock is likely to be potent. Even though the Russian central bank recently slashed interest rates from 20 to 18 per cent, it warned that 'pro-inflationary risks prevail over disinflationary ones in the mid-term time horizon'. While Russia's unemployment rate is officially reported to stand at a record-low 2.4 per cent, conscription-induced labour market shortages abound, and wage growth continues to lag trends from 2024. These indicators suggest that an economic downturn in Russia is imminent. At the June 2025 St Petersburg Economic Forum, Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov warned that 'we're basically already on the brink of falling into a recession'. New tariffs and sanctions increase the likelihood of Reshetnikov's doomsday predictions coming true and are likely to sharpen discord between Russia's main organs of economic policy decision-making. Trump has lost patience with Russia's stalling tactics and obstructionism. The consequences of this change of heart could ensure Putin regrets playing Trump.
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Zelenskiy praises Trump for 'clear stance' in shortened deadline for Russia
July 28 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday for his "expressed determination" in calling for a shortened deadline in making progress for an end to Russia's war with Ukraine. "Clear stance and expressed determination by @POTUS – right on time, when a lot can change through strength for real peace," Zelenskiy wrote on the X social media platform. "I thank President Trump for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war." In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy again praised Trump's "particularly significant" statement in the light Russia's "constant attempts to inflict pain on Ukraine" through air strikes on its cities. Ukraine, he said, saw the imposition of tough sanctions on Russia as a "key element" in ending the war. "Russia pays attention to sanctions, pays attention to such losses," he said. "Ukraine is ready to work productively with the United States, to work with President Trump to end this war with dignity and a secure, lasting peace."
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Trump cuts deadline for Putin to reach Ukraine peace deal to ‘10 or 12 days'
Donald Trump's timeline for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has sped up, the president said while visiting Nato ally Great Britain on Monday. 'I'm going to make a new deadline of about 10, 10 or 12 days from today,' Trump said in response to a question while sitting with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer. 'There's no reason in waiting. There's no reason in waiting. It's 50 days. I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made.' Russian and Ukrainian diplomats met in Istanbul last week, agreeing on little more than a prisoner exchange. Ukraine proposed a summit by the end of August between the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, but Russia's reply was that such a meeting would only be appropriate if it were to sign an agreement. The meeting was the third negotiation in Istanbul. Putin has not attended any of the talks, despite Trump's exhortations. Trump's comments in recent weeks reflect the continuing change from his almost-conciliatory posture. US diplomats asked China to stop exports of dual-use goods that the Washington says contribute to Russia's military industrial base. Trump said he was 'disappointed' in Putin earlier on Monday. 'We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that's not the way to do it. So we'll see what happens with that.' Two weeks ago, Trump promised a punishing round of new sanctions against Russia if Putin did not begin a ceasefire period for negotiations. An agreement for European allies to purchase billions of dollars in additional armaments for Ukraine, including Patriot missile defense systems, accompanied the 15 July statement during a meeting with Nato's secretary general, Mark Rutte. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Trump hosted Starmer and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, at his Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where ending the war in Ukraine and trade issues have been at the top of the agenda. Before leaving Washington on Friday, Trump said that he was considering secondary sanctions on Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
