Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with US senators, Washington, D.C., July 28, 2026

Tuesday’s Coverage: Zelensky in UK and Washington

UPDATE 0933 GMT:

Drawing upon interview with civilian and military officials, Christopher Miller of The Financial Times explains Ukraine’s escalating success with strikes inside Russia.

By mapping dependencies across refineries, substations and transmission systems, Ukrainian planners identify nodes where a relatively small warhead can cause disruption far beyond the initial blast.

Ukrainian drone units have also begun repeatedly striking the same critical equipment before repairs are complete, preventing facilities from resuming operations….

Ukrainian officials said intelligence provided by the US and France had helped map Russian air defense deployments and identify routes that allowed drones to evade them and reach targets deep inside Russia.

[The commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Robert] Brovdi said the campaign also depended on the “systematic elimination” of Russian air defense, radar and electronic warfare systems to open corridors for drones deep inside Russia.

UPDATE 0924 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has commented on the latest strikes inside Russia, including on one of the largest oil refineries and on a warehouse of online retailer Wildberries (see 0843 GMT).

UPDATE 0859 GMT:

The owner of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, has requested government assistance after Ukrainian attacks inflicting billions of dollars in damage to logistic hubs and warehouses in 10 cities.

Tatyana Kim, Russia’s richest woman with an estimated net worth of $8.1 billion, is discussing aid for sellers and tax breaks helping Wildberries pay off affected businesses.

Wildberries has lost around 10% of logistic capacity and at least 8% of its warehouses this month.

The company controls almost half of Russia’s e-commerce market, selling 6 trillion rubles ($75.5 billion) of goods annually — an amount equal to almost 3% of Russia’s GDP. Its profit last year was 175 billion rubles ($2.2 billion).

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said no decision has been made over aid.

Overnight Ukraine’s drones reportedly hit another Wildberries warehouse in the Rostov region in southwest Russia (see 0843 GMT).

Wildberries is seeking warehouse space in Kazakhstan to escape the attacks, say “four sources in the real estate market”. The deal involves 100,000 square meters of space.

One source said Wildberries is ready to take over all available warehouses in Kazakhstan.

UPDATE 0852 GMT:

Ukraine’s air defenses downed 65 of 80 drones launched by Russia overnight. Fourteen UAVs struck 10 locations.

UPDATE 0843 GMT:

Ukrainian drones have targeted one of Russia’s largest oil refineries and another warehouse of Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer, in Ryazan Province overnight.

Governor Pavel Malkov posted, “Ryazan is experiencing a massive drone attack, and air defense systems are engaged. A fire has broken out on the territory of one of the enterprises.”

Residents reported a series of explosions and published photos and video showing fires at multiple facilities.

Ryazan. A Wildberries warehouse is on fire. 460 km from Ukraine.

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— Alina Pereverzieva (@perevaa.bsky.social) July 29, 2026 at 7:28 AM

UPDATE 0720 GMT:

Sources in Iran and the West say Tehran considered an attack on Ukraine, in response to a Ukrainian drone strike on an Iranian cargo ship in the Caspian Sea which killed a crew member.

Officials said Iran planned a symbolic missile strike on a Ukrainian seaport on the Black Sea. The plan was set aside for diplomatic contacts between Tehran and Kyiv involving the European Union.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Ukraine counterpart Andrii Sybiha spoke by phone on Tuesday.

Both men said after the “frank” and “direct” conversation that the “goal is to avoid unnecessary escalation”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The US Senate has advanced a bill to impose 100% tariffs on the top five countries purchasing oil and gas from Russia.

The 86-12 vote was spurred by the death on July 11 of Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had led the long-time campaign for the measure. His funeral was held in Washington earlier in the day, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in attendance.

Zelensky was present for the vote after he and Finnish President met more than 60 of the legislators. Of 20 Democrats who were sceptical, nine reportedly voted to advance the bill because of the meeting.

The President told journalists:

This bill is very important. Sanctions against Russia are very important.

It’s not only about money that helps Russia wage its war, but it’s also a big signal to Europe, Ukraine, and our people, so I’m very thankful.

The bill must clear a series of additional procedural votes before final passage in the Senate. It would then go to the House of Representatives for confirmation.

The initial version of the bill, circulated last year, proposed 500% tariffs on imports from countries purchasing Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other products. Trump reportedly opposed the measure, delaying its submission to the Senate.

The amended legislation was established in negotiations between Graham and the White House, which insisted on the inclusion of sanctions against Iran. The Senator said shortly before his death that he had secured the Administration’s support.

The bill also applies 100% tariffs to the top five countries that facilitate Russia’s evasion of sanction on its oil eports.

China, India, and Turkey are the world’s leading buyers of Russian oil. The European Union, China, and Turkey are the leaders in natural gas purchases.

In the morning, Zelensky met Trump for an hour in the White House. He posted afterwards:

The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help. We also spoke about diplomacy – it’s important that the diplomatic process be reinvigorated. Our teams will arrange the details of their further communication.

Zelensky also conferred with representatives of the defense company Lockheed Martin, one of the two manufacturers of the Patriot air defense systems.