Ukraine President with European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas in Kyiv, October 13, 2025

Monday’s Coverage: Trump to Putin — End Your Invasion or Face Tomahawk Missiles

UPDATE 1008 GMT:

Russian Forces struck a UN humanitarian convoy in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Two trucks, delivering food and vital aid, were damaged by drones, reports Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

“Luckily, all staff are alive,” he posted.

Trucks carrying food for people in need, clearly marked with UN emblems. Another brutal violation of international law, proving Russia’s utter disregard for civilian lives and its international obligations.

We urge UN Member States to clearly condemn yet another attack on humanitarian personnel and impose additional pressure on the aggressor.

UPDATE 0822 GMT:

The Kremlin has issued a veiled threat of an attack on Ukraine’s neighbor Moldova.

On September 28, President Maia Sandu’s ruling party retained a majority in elections for the Moldovan Parliament despite Russian interference and expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday:

This is a continuation of a rather confrontational line toward our country, an unfriendly line. The current leadership of Moldova, in our view, is making a serious mistake.

“They believe that the policy of building relations with Europe involves complete antagonism toward Russia. One state [Ukraine] has already made this mistake. It brought nothing good to that one state.

UPDATE 0814 GMT:

A hospital has been damaged and at least six civilians injured by Russian guided bombs on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv.

Russia launched the airstrike around 9:50 p.m. on Monday. More than 100 patients were in the hospital.

Svitlana Vodolazka, one of the patients, said, “Russia boasts that it does not harm [civilians] but look, are we not [civilians]?”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted, “An utterly terrorist, cynical attack on a place where lives are being saved.”

UPDATE 0645 GMT:

Russia’s coal industry is in its most difficult position in more than 30 years, beset by sanctions, rising costs, and low prices.

Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service confirmed $2.8 billion in losses in the sector in the first seven months of 2025, compared with almost $4.6 billion in profits in 2023.

The Russian coal industry directly employs more than 140,000 people and is vital in some regions as a source of work and funding for local budgets.

The industry is also struggling in the occupied Donbas area of eastern Ukraine, with Russian investors starting to return mines to the State because of the failure to return profits.

“The coal industry is going through its sharpest crisis since the 1990s,” said Vladimir Korotin, chief executive of Russian Coal. “Thousands of jobs across a dozen Russian regions are at stake [as well as]… tax revenues.”

A top businesman told the Financial Times, “War is bad for most of the Russian businesses, if not all of them. But the coal sector is in really deep shit.”

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet Donald Trump in Washington on Friday.

Zelensky will seek confirmation of US provision of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles for strikes inside Russia, as well as further support of Ukraine’s air defenses.

Zelensky is joining a Ukrainian delegation, already in the US, led by Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. He will also meet with defense and energy companies and members of Congress.

After a discussion with European Union foreign policy head Kaja Kallas in Kyiv on Monday, Zelensky said he will seek further US assistance to protect Ukraine’s electricity and gas networks amid Russia’s intense drone and missile strikes.

US officials confirmed last weekend that they have been providing intelligence for Ukraine’s attacks inside Russia since July, following a Zelensky-Trump conversation. The Administration is still deliberating whether to send the Tomahawks, with a precision-strike range of 1,600 km (994 miles) and an overall range of 2,500 km (1553 miles).

After two calls with Zelensky in two days, Trump told reporters on his way to Israel on Sunday:

I might talk to [Vladimir Putin]. I might say, “Look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks”….

Tomahawks are a new step of aggression. Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.

Zelensky posted about his discussion with Kallas on Monday:

We discussed the most important issues and covered all challenges – energy, strong pressure on Russia and the adoption of the 19th sanctions package, frozen Russian assets, the SAFE instrument [for joint defense procurement], Ukraine’s path to the European Union and the opening of negotiating clusters, as well as defense support, including joint production.

The President said the EU has allocated funds for the Special Tribunal trying Russian war crimes: “This is important. It shows that we are talking about justice, and there are practical steps toward it already, not just calls for it.”