The Kyiv Independent [unofficial]

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

Relatives and friends of Ukrainian prisoners of war react during a rally entitled ‘Bring the heroes home’ calling for their exchange, on the Independence Square in Kyiv on July 5, 2025, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Trump says Putin ‘wants to keep killing people,’ signals US may send Patriots to Ukraine. “It just seems like he wants to go all the way and just keep killing people. It’s not good,” U.S. President Donald Trump said.

Zelensky describes phone call with Trump as ‘best conversation in all this time.’ “Patriot (missiles) are key to protection from ballistic (missiles). We discussed several other important issues that our teams will work out in detail at meetings in the near future,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Russia captures 2 villages near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast border, monitoring group says. Russian troops have been escalating their assaults in the area and are attempting to breach into Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which has not seen significant Russian incursions since 2022.

Ukraine hits Russian electronic warfare facility making Shahed, Iskander components, General Staff says. The facility develops and manufactures Kometa adaptive antenna arrays used in Shahed-type drones, Iskander-K cruise missiles, and guided aerial bomb modules, according to the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine’s army chief warns of new Russian offensives in northeast as he visits Kharkiv Oblast front. Russian troops are ramping up attacks in the sector using large numbers of troops, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

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EU to help Moldova fight hybrid attacks from ‘agents of autocracy,’ von der Leyen says ahead of September election. “Who is behind those attacks is clear to all of us here,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Russia seeks to involve Laos in war against Ukraine, military intelligence claims.

Moscow is organizing the deployment of a combined unit of military engineers from the Lao People’s Armed Forces to Russia’s Kursk Oblast, allegedly to help with demining operations, Ukraine’s military intelligence said.

Pipelines supplying Russian military explode in Russia’s Far East, source says. Explosions near Russia’s Vladivostok damaged a gas pipeline and destroyed a water pipeline that supplied military facilities in the area, an unnamed intelligence source told the Kyiv Independent on July 5.

Drone threat reportedly causes mass flight delays in Russia’s Moscow, St Petersburg airports. Some passengers reported waiting more than 10 hours, according to the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Shot.

Read our exclusives

Death of top Russian oil executive fuels fresh scrutiny of elite’s ‘window falls’

The unexplained death of a top Russian oil executive on July 4 is fueling renewed scrutiny over the rising number of high-profile Russian officials and businessmen who have died under mysterious circumstances, specifically, have fallen out of windows.

Photo: Sergei Bulkin/ AFP via Getty Images

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Russia launches another horrific attack on Kyiv moments after Trump-Putin call

KYIV — Ripe cherries and apricots fill the stalls of fruit vendors, while people bustle about on a scorching July Friday. Yet just a five-minute walk from the stand, the scene shifts dramatically: a gaping hole mars the five-story residential building where the stairwell once stood.

Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos via Getty Images

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Ukraine’s artillery braces for shell shortage as US halts aid

Human cost of Russia’s war

4 killed, 37 injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine over past day. Russia launched 322 drones overnight, including Iranian-designed Shahed-type attack drones, according to Ukraine’s Air Force.

General Staff: Russia has lost 1,025,260 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,050 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

International response

BlackRock halted Ukraine recovery fund following Trump victory, France working on replacement, Bloomberg reports. BlackRock, a U.S. investment firm, suspended work on its multibillion-dollar Ukraine recovery fund following U.S. President Donald Trump’s election victory, prompting France to work on a replacement, Bloomberg reported on July 5.

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