Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the White House lawn, Washington, D.C., July 15, 2025
Tuesday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “I am Grateful to President Trump”
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1431 GMT:
The European Union’s Europol and Eurojust say they have dismantled a pro-Russian hacking group which launched thousands of attacks against Ukraine and its allies.
The network NoName057(16) was countered by raids in 12 countries between July 14 and 17. Seven international arrest warrants were issued, including six for suspects based in Russia.
“The actions led to the disruption of an attack-infrastructure consisting of over one hundred computer systems worldwide, while a major part of the group’s central server infrastructure was taken offline,” Europol said.
The network carried out 14 attacks in Germany, some lasting several days and affecting around 230 organizations, including arms factories, power suppliers, and government agencies.
Attacks were also carried out across Europe during the European elections. Swedish government and banking websites were affected. In Switzerland, attacks coincided with a June 2023 EU speech by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and the June 2024 peace summit. The Netherlands was attacked during the NATO summit late last month.
UPDATE 0958 GMT:
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski says overnight Russian drone attacks “deliberately” targeted a Polish company’s factory in Vinnytsia in western Ukraine with strikes “from three sides”.
Sikorski said there are casualties, including two with serious burns. “Putin’s criminal war is approaching our borders”, the warned.
The company is owned by the Barlinek Group, a major manufacturer of layered wood floors. The Group said, “At the moment, we do not anticipate that production will resume any earlier than in 6 months. The losses are significant and are still being assessed.”
Vinnytsia is around 725 km (450 miles) from the Polish border.
Sikorski will meet Ukrainian and Lithuanian foreign ministers in Lublin, Poland on Wednesday.
UPDATE 0930 GMT:
Two officials say Donald Trump suddenly called German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last Friday to accept Berlin’s offer to purchase Patriot air defense systems and transfer them to Ukraine.
Trump called Merz after seeing footage of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas late Friday night. He offered the sale of five Patriots.
UPDATE 0900 GMT:
At least three civilians have been killed and at least 40 injuredy by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.
Air defenses downed 198 of 400 drones, and 145 were lost to electronic counter-measures.
Twelve locations were struck by 57 drones and an Iskander-M allistic missile.
In the Kharkiv region in the northeast, two people were killed and five injured in Kharkiv city and 10 other towns and villages. In the neighboring Sumy region, a man was killed by shelling.
Casualties were also reported in the Vinnytsia, Dnipropetrovsk, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions.
UPDATE 0627 GMT:
Russia launched waves of missiles and drones on Ukraine early this morning.
Explosions were reported in Kyiv and other cities just before 1 a.m. There were at least 17 blasts in 20 minutes in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, injuring at least three people.
Widespread power outages are reported in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine. A 17-year-old boy was wounded.
Eight people were hospitalized in the Vinnytsia region in western Ukraine. Two industrial facilities were hit and four residential buildings were damaged.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Donald Trump has retreated from the supply of US long-range missiles for Ukraine’s strikes deep inside Russia.
On Monday, as he endorsed the renewed supply of American weapons to Kyiv, Trump indicated the missiles would be among them.
But he backed away on Tuesday after officials said he toldUkraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 4 phone call that he wanted Russians to “feel the pain”. Trump asked, if Ukraine was given the long-range weapons, “Can you hit Moscow?…Can you hit St Petersburg too?”
Questioned about the remarks, Trump said, “No, he shouldn’t target Moscow.” Reporters followed up with the query about the missiles, prompting Trump’s withdrawal, “We’re not looking to do that.”
In the July 4 call, Trump and Zelensky discussed the provision of US Tomahawk precision cruise missiles, which have a range of 1,600 km (994 miles). Previous Ukrainian requests were rejected by the Biden Administration.
Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitskyi, the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, noted it is crucial that Ukraine have the ability to conduct strikes deep inside Russia. However, he said of the Tomahawks, “They are not easy to use. The main launchers are combat ships or strategic bombers. We don’t have any strategic bomber aircraft.”
Confusion Over Trump’s Remarks on Patriots
Ukrainian officials said they are awaiting details of the “billions of dollars” of weapons pledged by Trump on Monday. The reality TV star declared that an unnamed country was ready to immediately provide “17 Patriots”, but did not specify if he was referring to air defense batteries which have multiple launchers, just the launchers, or missiles.
Ukraine is believed to have only six functioning Patriot batteries amid Russia’s record-setting missile and drone strikes on civilian areas. Each battery has six launchers.
Skibitskyi said of Trump’s remarks, “We don’t know exactly….Seventeen is a huge number if we are talking about batteries. If it’s launchers, that’s possible.”
Skibitskyi said Germany has agreed to provide two Patriot systems, and the Netherlands a third: “That would be 18 launchers for three batteries, which is close to 17. The US Administration and the Pentagon will give us further detail.”
Trump proclaimed on Tuesday, “They’re already being shipped. They’re coming in from Germany and then replaced by Germany. And in all cases, the United States gets paid back in full.”
NATO head Mark Rutte said the UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark are also willing to purchase and transfer the Patriots.
However, two French officials said France does not plan to join the initiative.
President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that Europeans develop their own defense industry through domestic purchases.
Italy is taking a similar position. Officials citing fiscal limitations and a focus on systems, such as the Italian-French-made SAMP/T air defense batteries already supplied to Ukraine.
