Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump at the NATO Summit, The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025

EA on Pat Kenny Show: Trump-Ukraine, The Threat of “Alligator Alcatraz”, and MAGA Fury Over Epstein Files

Sunday’s Coverage: Zelensky — “We Need More Positive Momentum in Relations with US”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1527 GMT:

At a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Donald Trump says of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “We’re gonna be doing very severe tariffs if we don’t have a deal in 50 days. Tariffs that are about 100%, we call them secondary tariffs.”

Trump reiterated that he is authorizing the despatch of Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine.

I’m disappointed in President Putin because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there.

I hope we don’t get to the point where we do [tariffs], but I’ve been hearing so much talk. It’s all talk.

It’s all talk, and then missiles go into Kyiv and kill 60 people. It’s got to stop. That’s got to stop.

Rutte said Ukraine will “get its hands on really massive numbers of military equipment” for air defense and on missiles to fight against Russia. He urged Putin to take Trump’s warning seriously.

Trump vented further about Putin:

I speak to him a lot about getting this thing done, and I always hang up and say, “Well, that was a nice phone call,” and then missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city.

….And after that happens three or four times, you say, the talk doesn’t mean anything.

My conversations with them are always very pleasant….Very lovely conversation. And then the missiles go off that night. I go home, I tell the First Lady, “I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation.” And she says, “Oh really, another city was just hit.”

UPDATE 1431 GMT:

At least one person has been killed and at least 21 injured by Russian drone attacks on the Kharkiv and Sumy regions in northeast Ukraine today.

A 57-year-old woman was murdered and 10 others wounded, including a 13-year-old girl, by two Russian drones that hit the town of Zlatopil in the Kharkiv regions. Residential buildings, an administrative office, a boiler house, and several vehicles were damaged.

In Sumy city, three men and three women were injured in an attack on an educational institution. A subsequent strike on a medical facility in the area wounded five more people.

UPDATE 1426 GMT:

A German government spokesperson says European countries are in talks with the US to purchase “more than three” Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine.

“Discussions are now being held on the modalities of implementation, i.e., how many systems there will be, who will take them over, and how they will be financed,” the spokesperson said.

UPDATE 1158 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sydyrenko to become Prime Minister.

Zelensky linked the appointment to discussions with European partners and the US for support against Russia’s invasion, and with “concrete measures to boost Ukraine’s economic potential, expand support programs for Ukrainians, and scale up our domestic weapons production”.

Sydyrenko succeeds Denys Shmyhal, who has been in post since 2020. Shmyhal has not reacted, but is reportedly in the running to become the new Ukrainian Ambassador to the US.

UPDATE 1153 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky reported on his meeting with Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg:

We discussed the path to peace and what we can practically do together to bring it closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, joint production, and procurement of defense weapons in collaboration with Europe. And of course, sanctions against Russia and those who help it. We hope for U.S. leadership, as it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength.

UPDATE 0943 GMT:

At least six civilians were killed and 30 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

Air defenses down 61 of 136 drones, and 47 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

The Russians also fired four S-300/400 guided missiles.

In the Sumy region in northeast Ukraine, three people were killed and 10 others injured by more than 90 attacks across 32 settlements.

In the Donetsk region in the east, two civilians were murdered and seven injured. One person was slain and six wounded in the Kherson region in the south.

Casualties were also reported in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions.

UPDATE 0752 GMT:

US investors are relaunching an important Ukrainian grain export terminal after regaining control from alleged looters.

Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners are operating the Olimpex terminal in the port of Odesa in southern Ukraine, following victory in a case of alleged loan fraud.

The Zelensky Government helped the two US funds enforce a $95 million debt against Odesa businessmen who previously owned the terminal and defaulted on the loans. In May one of the businessmen, Volodymyr Naumenko, was arrested on charges of defrauding creditors.

The Ukrainian supreme court approved the handover of the terminal, with an annual capacity of close to 5 million tons, last Wednesday.

UPDATE 0745 GMT:

Another visitor to Washington today is German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

Pistorius said he and US counterpart Pete Hegseth will discuss a “road map” for US security support for Europe, ensuring there are no gaps in capability “making an invitation to Putin”.

Pistorius said a proposal for Germany to buy two Patriot air defense systems and transfer them to Ukraine will be considered.

However, he ruled out delivery of Taurus long-range missiles to Kyiv.

UPDATE 0732 GMT:

Donald Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg has arrived in Kyiv, greeted by Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak.

UPDATE 0655 GMT:

Vladimir Putin reportedly told Donald Trump that he intends to escalate military operations to seize all of eastern Ukraine within the next 60 days.

In the phone call on July 3, Putin indicated that he wants to establish full control of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which he “annexed” in September 2022.

“He wants to take all of it,” Trump reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron after the call.

UPDATE 0629 GMT:

Ukraine’s State security service SBU says it has killed the assassins of a senior Ukrainian commander.

The SBU said, “A special operation was conducted this morning, during which members of the Russian FSB agent group put up resistance and they were eliminated.”

The service did not say how many people were killed. However, it had said that a man and a woman killed Col. Ivan Voronych in Kyiv on Thursday.

Voronych had overseen a Ukrainian special operations unit carrying out assassinations in Russian-occupied territory.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Donald Trump has said he will accept a plan for the US to send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine, via sale to NATO countries.

Frustrated at Vladimir Putin’s refusal to end Russian drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians, Trump told reporters on Sunday that the missiles are “desperately” needed. Putin “talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening”, he explained.

With Trump reluctant to provide any military assistance without payment, Germany proposed that European partners of Ukraine buy the Patriots and transfer them to Kyiv.

Trump said on Sunday, “They are going to pay us 100% for that, and that’s the way we want it.”

A Symbol of Wider US Support?

Sources have said Administration officials, trying to sustain Ukraine’s resistance of Russia’s 40 1-2-month full-scale invasion, are maneuvering Trump into initial steps of support.

The trend has been marked after the reversal last week of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s cutoff of aid authorized by the Biden Administration. Officials are preparing Trump’s first allocation of new assistance, $300 million under President Drawdown Authority.

Two sources told Axios that they believe new aid will include long-range missiles that could reach targets inside Russia. Neither was aware of any final decision.

On Monday, Trump’s envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg will be in Kyiv for meetings with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will be seeing Trump and his advisors in Washington.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky previewed the meetings, “We count on the United States fully understanding what can be done to compel Russia to peace.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the co-sponsor of a bill for “sledgehammer” sanctions on Russia and companies enabling its invasion, said on Sunday that the measure is gathering momentum and could soon be tabled for consideration.

Graham told US outlet CBS that the bill would enable Trump to “go after Putin’s economy and all those countries who prop up the Putin war machine”.

White House officials have said that the legislation, backed by 85 of 100 senators, must allow Trump to decide when the sanctions would be implemented.

But Graham said:

Trump is really pissed at Putin. His announcement tomorrow [Monday] is going to be very aggressive. In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves.

One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump.