President Donald Trump envoy meets with Ukraine's Zelenskyy as US pledges more Patriot missiles for Kyiv
Zelenskyy said he and retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg had 'a productive conversation' about strengthening Ukrainian air defenses, joint arms production and purchasing U.S. weapons in conjunction with European countries, as well as the possibility of tighter international sanctions on the Kremlin.
'We hope for the leadership of the United States, because it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its … ambitions are stopped by force,' Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Trump last week said he would make a 'major statement' on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin's unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.
Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a 'dictator without elections.'
But Russia's relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump's patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to 'STOP!' launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader ' has gone absolutely CRAZY!' as the bombardments continued.
'I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,' Trump said late Sunday. 'He'll talk so beautifully and then he'll bomb people at night. We don't like that.'
Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine's air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.
At the same time, Russia's bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line.
Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the 'various pieces of very sophisticated' weaponry.
While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.
Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.
A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.
'In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,' Graham said on CBS' 'Face the Nation.' He added: 'One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.'
Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's envoy for international investment who took part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.
'Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,' Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. 'This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.'
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.
The visits came as Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor's office said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.
The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cluster Warhead Version Of Russian Kh-101 Cruise Missile Caught On Camera
Footage from a recent Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi provides us with what is likely our best look so far at a Kh-101 cruise missile fitted with a cluster warhead being used. While Russian forces have made extensive use of a variety of cluster munitions in the conflict, it's notable that the relatively high-end Kh-101 long-range cruise missile is also now being used in this capacity. It should be noted that cluster munitions, on various types of weapons, have also been widely employed by Ukraine in the conflict. Massive strike on Chernivtsi!Likely a Kh-101 missile with a cluster warhead. — 𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝕯𝔢𝔞𝔡 𝕯𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔠𝔱△ (@TheDeadDistrict) July 12, 2025 Footage showing one of Russia's Kh-101 cruise missile strikes on Chernivtsi City. The missile was equipped with a cluster warhead. — AMK Mapping (@AMK_Mapping_) July 12, 2025 The video in question is said to show part of the Russian attack on Chernivtsi, in the region of the same name, in southwestern Ukraine, on the night of July 11. Apparently filmed from the window of an apartment building, a missile can be seen plummeting toward the ground at a steep angle, followed soon after by a string of detonations consistent with a cluster warhead. A large dark cloud of smoke then rises from the area. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine claims the Russian attack on Chernivtsi damaged administrative and residential buildings, as well as vehicles. Two people were killed, and 14 others sustained injuries of varying severity, the service reported. At night, the Russians attacked the city of Chernivtsi near the Romanian border with missiles and drones. They hit residential buildings and killed 4 made no sense. The city is 700 km from the front. Its residents do not pose any threat to Russia. With such terrorist… — Денис Казанський (@den_kazansky) July 12, 2025 Buildings in #Lviv and #Chernivtsi damaged in last night's is working with local authorities and partners to help respond to the needs of affected children and families. — UNICEF Ukraine (@UNICEF_UA) July 12, 2025 A building in Chernivtsi has been hit seemingly by a Kh-101 equipped with cluster munitions. 48.2565239, 25.9545555Source 1 2https:// @GeoConfirmed @UAControlMap @Cen4infoRes — Rocket Man (@Grimm_Intel) July 12, 2025 Under the most basic definition, cluster munitions are bombs, rockets, artillery shells, and other projectiles that, when fired, open in mid-air and release dozens or even hundreds of smaller weapons. These submunitions are most commonly high explosive charges or land mines, which are types covered by various international treaties, including the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which you can read more about here. The submunitions, or bomblets, are scattered over a wide area, the density of which can be programmed into the weapon. This scattering increases the physical area of destruction a cluster munition can inflict compared to a unitary warhead, with a tradeoff in destructive force on any one point. As well as the indiscriminate nature of the damage when employed on a populated area, significant numbers of the submunitions fail to explode on initial impact. They can then pose a hazard for rescue efforts and, if not made safe, can remain a hidden threat to civilians for many years. While we don't know with absolute certainty what weapon was involved, the only logical and known fit for the approach and subsequent detonation we see in the video is the version of the Kh-101 designed to dispense cluster munitions. Considering the distance of Chernivtsi from Russia — it is only around 20 miles from the border of NATO-member Romania — the long-range Kh-101 cruise missile is the only reasonable candidate. In addition, a cluster warhead is not currently known to be provided for any Russian cruise missile other than the Kh-101, although it is far from a new concept, with cruise missiles like the U.S.-made Tomahawk Land Attack Missile also previously having this option. The maximum range of the Kh-101 missile is reportedly between 1,864 and 2,485 miles. The missile apparently entered series production in 2010-11 and was subsequently used in combat during Russia's campaign in Syria, launched by both Tu-160 and Tu-95MS bombers. The first reports of a cluster warhead version of the Kh-101 cruise missile — which is known to NATO as the AS-23A Kodiak — began to appear last summer. Even before that, the relatively modern Kh-101 was established as the most important Russian air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) of the war. The first evidence of the cluster version of the Kh-101 being used appears to date from the night of June 7, 2024, when imagery emerged showing the spherical-shaped charge that is understood to comprise the cluster warhead alongside wreckage of the missile itself. Kyiv Mayor Klitschko showed cluster submunitions from Kh-101 missiles, with which the enemy attacked Kyiv at night. — Igor Kyivskyi (@Igor_from_Kyiv_) June 17, 2025 Police warn residents of Kyiv Oblast that during last night's missile attack, Russia used modernized Kh-101 cruise missiles with cluster-bomb warheads. Unexploded submunitions from the warheads of shot-down missiles have been found. Should not be touched, but reported to police. — Euan MacDonald (@Euan_MacDonald) June 12, 2024 Cluster munitions from new Kh-101 Russian cruise — Rob Lee (@RALee85) June 15, 2024 The existence of a cluster-warhead Kh-101 was also confirmed by Russian military bloggers, who highlighted the value of a weapon of this kind, especially for targeting Ukrainian airbases and air defense sites. According to the Milinfolive channel on Telegram: 'The lack of cluster warheads in Russian long-range cruise missiles, such as the Kh-101 or Kalibr, had an extremely negative impact on the effectiveness of missile strikes on enemy airbases in the first weeks of hostilities, when Ukrainian aviation was in the most vulnerable position, and the air defense system of the AFU could not shoot down even a fraction of the missiles.' Video showing a Russian cruise missile (likely a Kh-101) flying over — Rob Lee (@RALee85) May 7, 2022 Certainly, cluster warheads put these kinds of targets under considerable threat, but they are also relevant for attacking other soft targets spread out over an area, such as air defense systems, vehicle pools, ammo dumps, and others. These are precisely the kinds of targets Ukraine went after when they recieved cluster warheads-equipped ATACMS short-range ballistic missiles and used them to great effect. However, indications point to the indiscriminate use of the cluster version of the Kh-101 against a city with a population of more than 250,000. This continues a pattern of Russian attacks on civilian targets across Ukraine, using various types of missiles and drones, with such bombardment having stepped up notably in recent weeks. Still, the Kh-101s are prized weapons that are not in surplus after years of war in Ukraine, so using them selectively is clearly a top priority for the Russian Air Force. In other words, targets are not haphazardly chosen, civilian or military. As for launch platforms, the Tu-160 can carry up to 12 Kh-101s on rotary launchers in its tandem bomb bays. The turboprop-powered Tu-95MS can carry up to eight Kh-101s externally, since the missiles are too large for its internal weapons bay. Captured on camera a second before it hit a children's cancer hospital on Monday, the Kh-101 is one of Russia's most advanced cruise missiles and critical to its intensifying air strike campaign against Ukrainehttps:// — Financial Times (@FT) July 10, 2024 Different adaptations of the Kh-101 have also previously appeared in the war in Ukraine, apparently having been modified to meet the changing demands of the conflict. Since at least January 2023, Kh-101s have been noted employing a decoy capability in Ukraine, although a self-defense function of some kind is understood to have always been present in these missiles. The missile's ability to release infrared countermeasures flares in flight — usually during its terminal run-in to its target — has been noted on several occasions in videos. Very curious video of what appears to be a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile deploying flares/decoys during the — Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) December 29, 2023 There have also been reports of Russia fielding a second countermeasure-equipped Kh-101 subvariant. According to these accounts, the revised countermeasures are intended to 'jam' enemy surface-to-air missiles, which could suggest dispensers loaded with chaff or some kind of electronic warfare capability. A Russian Telegram channel revealed (and then deleted) photos of new version of the Kh-101 strategic cruise missile. Unlike the standard 'izdeliye 504A', the new '504AP' has added electronic countermeasures to jam anti-aircraft missiles. — Piotr Butowski (@piotr_butowski) November 16, 2022 There is also another warhead configuration that seems to have been tailored specifically for the war in Ukraine. Seemingly something of an ad-hoc solution, this involves fitting a second charge — reportedly containing steel fragments to increase the overall destructive effect — at the expense of fuel and therefore range. A fragmentation charge would render the weapon more effective against personnel and softer targets, as well as increasing its lethal radius and blast damage. It could also be useful if accuracy is more limited. The first claims that such a dual-warhead version of the Kh-101 was being used emerged at the end of March 2023 among Ukrainian military bloggers. It was claimed that one of the missiles had been shot down, revealing two charges, with a combined weight of around 1,760 pounds compared to around 1,000 pounds for the single warhead in the standard Kh-101. Firm evidence of a Kh-101 modified with a second warhead appeared in May 2024, as you can read about here. РФ для удару 8 травня взяла з конвеєру Х-101 з подвійною БЧ, зроблену в 2 кварталі 2024 року | Defense Express — DEFENSE EXPRESS (@DEFENSEEXPRESS) May 8, 2024 A downed Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile with two warheads. See below for more — John Hardie (@JohnH105) May 8, 2024 Notably, the account from the Milinfolive channel suggests that it's possible that, in the cluster version, a dual-warhead configuration is also used, with one of the charges being a fragmentation warhead, and the other being the new cluster payload. Once again, even when striking a target in the far west of Ukraine, any reduction in the missile's range resulting from the revised, heavier warhead leading to a reduction in fuel capacity, would be academic. Sacrificing fuel (and thereby range) is not a concern for Russia so long as it's using Kh-101s to hit targets in Ukraine. After all, the basic Kh-101 can strike targets almost anywhere in Europe when launched within Russian airspace. Legally speaking, the use of a Kh-101 missile with a cluster warhead in a civilian area is a clear violation of international humanitarian law and potentially also a war crime. At the same time, with Russia and Ukraine having both opted out of signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits weapons of this kind, it will continue and likely expand in the conflict. As for the Kh-101, Russia is doing everything it can to up production of these weapons, which gives the Russian Air Force its only means of striking deep into Ukraine with a heavy warhead. Contact the author: thomas@
Miami Herald
16 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
No time, no lawyer, no rights: ICE memo sparks panic over third-country deportations
Immigrant communities across South Florida are on edge after a newly revealed immigration memo from the Trump administration confirmed that migrants could now be deported to countries other than their own with as little as six hours' notice — even in cases where those countries offer no guarantees of safety. The policy, laid out in a July 9 memo by Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expands the controversial use of 'third-country deportations.' Immigration lawyers, human rights advocates and families say the rule marks one of the most extreme deportation tactics yet under President Donald Trump's hardline immigration approach. 'It is really chaos, what they are creating,' said Elizabeth Amaran, a Miami-based immigration attorney. 'In practice, it's almost impossible to notify someone in time. Six hours is not enough to prepare any legal defense — it effectively denies people due process.' The Miami area, home to large diasporas from Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Haiti, has emerged as one of the regions most likely to be affected by the policy — and also one of the most politically sensitive. Many immigrants in South Florida are in legal limbo, with pending asylum cases or final orders of removal that haven't been enforced. Under the memo, first reported by the Washington Post, ICE is now authorized to deport non-citizens — including long-term U.S. residents — to third countries with only 24 hours' notice. In 'exigent circumstances,' that window can shrink to six hours, so long as the detainee is given an opportunity to speak with an attorney. In cases where a receiving country has given 'credible diplomatic assurances' that the deportee won't face torture or persecution, ICE can carry out removals without any prior notice to the individual. Legal experts say this amounts to a sweeping removal power with few safeguards and little transparency. 'This falls far short of providing the statutory and due process protections that the law requires,' Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, told Reuters. Her organization is leading a class action lawsuit against ICE in federal court over what it calls unconstitutional deportations. The Trump administration has defended the policy as a necessary tool to accelerate the removal of unauthorized immigrants — including some with criminal records — particularly when their home countries are unwilling to accept them. 'We need to get the worst of the worst out of our country,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday on Fox News. But data and accounts from immigration attorneys paint a different picture. Amaran says the majority of detainees she knows of who are at risk under the policy do not have criminal records. 'Out of 14 people I know of who were detained recently, only three had any record at all,' she said. 'Many have pending asylum claims or other forms of relief. They're being deported before their cases can be heard.' She added that many deportees are being sent to remote areas of Mexico despite not being Mexican nationals — and with no resources to survive. 'According to families I've spoken with, they're bused to remote border areas, given a 15-day temporary permit, and then just left there. No money, no shelter, no plan,' Amaran said. ICE's new memo follows a Supreme Court decision in June that lifted an injunction on third-country deportations. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned the policy would place 'thousands of lives at risk of persecution and torture,' accusing the government of abandoning caution in life-and-death matters.' Since the ruling, the Trump administration has resumed controversial removals. Just last week, eight migrants from countries including Cuba, Sudan and Vietnam were deported to war-torn South Sudan — a nation engulfed in civil conflict. U.S. officials reportedly leaned on five African nations — Liberia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and Gabon — to accept deportees from other regions, such as Latin America and Southeast Asia. One of the most high-profile cases involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident wrongfully deported to El Salvador, despite a court order blocking his removal. After weeks of legal pressure, the Supreme Court returned him to the U.S., only for the Trump administration to threaten a new deportation — this time to an undisclosed third country. While third-country deportations are not new, they were historically rare and limited. Under Trump's first term, the U.S. deported a small number of Salvadorans and Hondurans to Guatemala. The Biden administration, while criticized for its own handling of immigration, struck regional agreements to manage migrant flows — including allowing Mexico to accept thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans under specific terms. What's changed now, advocates say, is both the scale and the speed. The memo requires ICE officers to provide 'reasonable means and opportunity' for a detainee to speak with a lawyer, but Amaran says that's far from reality. 'They say the person can talk to an attorney — but the system to actually make that happen doesn't work. ICE routinely ignores scheduled calls. You can't get a judge to rule on anything in six hours,' she said. 'The deck is completely stacked.'
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Dem report: China to seize global advantage from Trump international spending cuts
China will seize influence on the global stage as a result of the Trump administration's major cuts to international spending, according to a report published Monday by the Democratic staff on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), the panel's top Democrat, commissioned the report as a wake-up call to her colleagues over the damage she says will be wrought by President Trump's policies six months into his term. The report comes as the Senate is considering a Trump administration rescissions package that would cut hundreds of billions in foreign funding. It also comes as Congress moves toward appropriations season; the House Appropriations Committee on Monday proposed a 22 percent funding cut for national security, Department of State, and related programs. 'I can't imagine that anybody who has a thoughtful strategy for how to address what's happening in the world would have done the kinds of actions this administration has done,' Shaheen said in a call Monday previewing the report. The report is based on open-source research, official staff travel, meetings with the Trump administration, foreign government officials, U.S. companies and international nongovernmental organizations. 'In private, our allies tell us that Chinese officials are gleeful, characterizing the United States as unreliable,' Shaheen wrote in the opening letter of the report. 'In some cases, China is filling the void we have left behind, buying up now-vacant radio frequencies to broadcast its propaganda to millions. But in many cases, Beijing is doubling down on its own long-term investments — in overseas infrastructure, critical minerals exploitation and exchange programs that bring foreign talent to Chinese universities — all while America withdraws.' The 91-page report covers cuts to foreign aid, economic assistance, democracy initiatives, free media and law enforcement. One case study includes U.S. budget cuts toward Africa and how they will impact efforts to develop the continent's exports of critical minerals. Trump has put a spotlight on Africa in the first six months of his term, brokering a peace agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda that could provide access to that region's critical minerals; touting $2.5 billion in deals and commitments at the recent U.S.-Africa Business Summit in June; and hosting five West African leaders at the White House in July. But the Democratic report says the Trump administration's gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development has disrupted tens of millions of dollars in funding for projects complementing the development of infrastructure surrounding critical mineral extraction. It highlighted the Lobito Corridor project, a railway that brings critical minerals from Congo and Rwanda to Angola for shipment across the Atlantic Ocean. China is working on a similar project called the TAZARA Railway, which would connect Tanzania and Zambia and allow for exports of critical minerals across the Indian Ocean. The TAZARA Railway 'includes Chinese political training and other soft power initiatives to export the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian style of government. Whichever project is successful will dictate whether critical minerals flow towards the Atlantic Ocean and the United States or towards the Indian Ocean and China,' the report warns. The report also highlights the Trump administration's halting of funds for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and specifically a $649 million infrastructure project in Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation and regional leader that maintains ties with both the U.S. and China. The MCC funds projects in poor but stable countries to help drive new investment opportunities for American businesses. While the MCC funds were reinstated, the initial pause 'delayed the launching, opening, evaluation and signing of bids for significant procurements,' the report notes. 'Following consultations with Indonesian counterparts, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Minority Staff also concluded that the pause has damaged America's standing and credibility with leadership in Jakarta,' the report read. Shaheen, a centrist Democrat who has worked with Republicans in the past, is using the report to push GOP colleagues to help reverse cuts or save bipartisan initiatives that are on the chopping block with the Trump administration's rescissions request. 'I think there are some aspects of the report that we talk about where there's a real interest in seeing them continue — the Millennial Challenge Corporation is one of those, again, a Bush initiative that has been very effective,' Shaheen said in response to a question of whether any GOP lawmakers would get behind the report's recommendations. Shaheen also pointed out the Trump administration's request to cut 91 percent of funding for U.S.-led international narcotics and law enforcement programs as standing in direct opposition to the president's commitment to combat the opioid epidemic and proliferation of fentanyl. The report also highlights the administration's termination of funding for international law enforcement to target cyber crime emanating from Southeast Asia. In 2024, Americans suffered $13.7 billion in losses from cyber-related scams, a 66 percent increase from 2023, the report notes. 'I can't imagine that there's any serious strategy that eliminates that kind of international law enforcement activity if you're really serious about addressing what the PRC is doing,' Shaheen said, referring to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
