Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Kyiv, July 12, 2025

EA on BBC and WION: Will Trump Back Ukraine’s Resistance v. Russia?

Saturday’s Coverage: Russia Attacks The West, Murders 2 and Injures 18

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1943 GMT:

Partners have pledged €3.55 billion ($4.15 billion) in new funds for reconstruction after last week’s Ukraine Recovery Conference, says the Ukrainian Development of Communities and Territories Ministry.

Minister Oleksii Kuleba said:

We received a clear message from Ukraine’s friends and partners: they are ready to invest in our recovery.

This is evidenced by the initiative to create the Recovery Coalition, the European Flagship Fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction.

The agreements include a €100 million framework loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank to finance housing certificates for Ukrainians; a €32.5 million program with Italy to restore and preserve the cultural Heritage of the Odesa region; and a €134 million initiative with the European Investment Bank to reconstruct Ukraine’s critical transport infrastructure.

The Conference confirmed ten agreements worth €929.3 million between the European Union and development banks within the Ukraine Investment Framework to finance recovery, municipal infrastructure, energy, heat supply, transport, and business support.

UPDATE 1903 GMT:

At least one civilian has been killed and three injured by a Russian drone attack on the Sumy region in northeast Ukraine.

A 57-year-old man was slain and his brother injured while driving towards the community of Khotin.

UPDATE 1150 GMT:

Ukraine President Voldoymyr Zelensky has posted about Russia’s attacks with more than 1,800 drones, more than 1,200 guided aerial bombs, and 83 missiles in the past week.

While hailing Ukraine defense forces for “good results, Zelensky said of the Iran-made attack drones used by Moscow:

Shaheds are one of Russia’s ways of prolonging the war. We must neutralize this threat in order to bring diplomacy into motion sooner….We count on strong decisions from the United States, Europe, the G7, and all our partners.

UPDATE 0811 GMT:

At least seven civilians have been killed and at least 21 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.

Air defenses downed 20 of 60 drones, and another 20 were lost to electronic counter-measures.

In the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, three people were murdered in Russian attacks on the cities of Slovyansk, Myrnohrad, and Bilozerske.

An 87-year-old woman was slain in the Kherson region in the south, as five high-rise buildings and 16 private houses were damaged.

A 27-year-old woman was killed in an artillery strike on the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region.

In the Sumy region in the northeast, two civilians were killed by a glide bomb.

Casualties were also reported in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: President Volodymyr Zelensky has pointed to changes in his Government as he posted that “Ukraine needs more positive momentum in relations with the United States” on Saturday.

Zelensky bolstered reports that he will name Defense Minister Rustem Umerov as Ambassador to Washington after their meeting. He wrote, “At the same time, new steps are required in managing our national defense sector. The relevant decisions will be announced shortly.”

The President specifically referred to the challenge both of repelling Russia’s record drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian civilians and of expanding Kyiv’s own strikes on Russian military facilities.

He has “instructed that all available volumes of priority drone types be contracted”, as work on financing proceeds with European partners: “We must by far exceed the originally planned production and supply targets for drones to the military.”

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky reinforced the message, referring to the tactics of Russia’s latest swarm attacks, “This is their deliberate and vile terror.”

The President said Ukraine is moving closer towards a “multi-level agreement” in which the Trump Administration will sell Patriot air defense systems to NATO countries, who in turn will supply them to Kyiv.