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Russia’s war against Ukraine
Guests greet the newlyweds Volodymyr and Oleksandra by showering them with grain and candy during their traditional Ukrainian wedding on July 15, 2025 in Ternopil, Ukraine. (Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images)
Ukraine’s prime minister submits resignation, parliament set to dismiss government on July 16. The parliament is set to dismiss the government on July 16 as Prime Minister Denys Shymhal submitted his resignation.
Mass attack hits cities overnight as Ukrainians brace for 50 more days of Russian terror. In Kharkiv, at least 17 explosions rocked the city in 20 minutes amid a massive Russian drone strike. Explosions, power outages, and mass strikes have been reported in multiple cities.
Trump reportedly asked Zelensky if Ukraine could strike Moscow, White House says he wasn’t ‘encouraging further killing.’ Donald Trump encouraged the strategy so that Russia could “feel the pain” and agree to negotiations, the Financial Times reported, citing its sources.
Zelensky shouldn’t target Moscow, Trump says. Trump responded to questions about his reported remarks by saying Zelensky should not attack the Russian capital. He also said the U.S. was not looking to provide Ukraine with long-range missiles.
Kremlin calls Trump’s tariff warnings ‘quite serious.’ “This statement from the U.S. president is quite serious. Some of what he said appears to be addressed personally to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
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Ukrainian cyberattack ‘paralyzes’ major Russian drone supplier, source claims. “The stolen data includes confidential questionnaires of the company’s employees, and most importantly, full technical documentation on the production of drones, which was handed over to the relevant specialists of the Ukrainian Defense Forces,” a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence told the Kyiv Independent.
Smoke rising near Russian battery plant amid reported Ukrainian drone attack. The facility reportedly manufactures batteries for missile guidance and glider modules, including for the Iskander system and cruise missiles, which Russia has been increasingly using to target Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine passes bill to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty. The vote passed by 305 deputies, with 40 abstaining, and none voting against.
Russian agent caught ‘red-handed’ planting explosives in Rivne apartment building, Ukraine’s SBU says. According to the SBU, Russian “special services” recruited the 27-year-old Lviv resident who was trying to obtain “easy money” through Telegram channels.
Ukrainian startup says its drones could work on their own by year’s end, thanks to AI. Armed with a fresh round of investment from the West, Ukrainian drone autonomy startup the Fourth Law is showcasing new footage as it aims to become the first to reach the latest holy grail of drone warfare: full autonomy.
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‘How would that even work?’ — experts pour scorn on Trump’s ‘severe’ Russian tariffs plan
“I’m afraid this talk about tariffs will remain just talk,” Andrei Movchan, a Russian-born economist and founder of Movchan’s Group, told the Kyiv Independent. “Like the oil price cap or the fight against the shadow fleet — something may be introduced on paper, but in reality, nothing will actually work.”
Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
‘Russia doesn’t care’ — Trump’s 50-day Ukraine ceasefire deadline dismissed by Moscow pundits
“Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev wrote on July 15 following Trump’s ceasefire deadline and tariffs threat. “The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”
Photo: David Ramos / Getty Image
Trump’s big Russia announcement fails to lift spirits in a fatigued Ukraine
Fifty days is a long time in a country that has seen a dramatic and devastating escalation in Russian aerial attacks in recent weeks, not to mention a Kremlin openly stating it intends to capture as much Ukrainian territory as it can in its ongoing summer offensive.
Photo: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ukraine eyes building its own private military companies
Such a move, supporters say, could serve Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy goals. Those opposed, however, say that creating militarized formations that often operate in a grey area is a potential security threat for everyone involved.
Photo: Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Anadolu/Getty Images
Human cost of Russia’s war
5 killed, 53 injured in Ukraine as Russia strikes hospitals, residential areas across country. Russian forces killed at least five people and injured at least 53, including four children, across Ukrainian regions over the past day, regional authorities reported on July 15
General Staff: Russia has lost 1,036,290 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. The number includes 1,230 casualties that Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
International response
Trump says he’s ‘disappointed but not done’ with Putin. U.S. President Donald Trump said he believed a deal with Moscow had been close on four separate occasions.
China pledges deeper support for Russia amid Trump tariff threats. Following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing on July 15, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that mutual trust between the two countries had “deepened” and called on both sides to “strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums.”
’50 days is a very long time’ — EU welcomes new US action on Ukraine, hesitant on timeline, Kallas says. “On one hand, it is very positive that President Trump is taking on a strong stance on Russia… On the other hand, 50 days is a very long time if we see that they are killing innocent civilians,” EU Special Envoy Kaja Kallas said.
Denmark, Sweden back funding US weapons for Ukraine. Denmark and Sweden are open to help deliver U.S. weapons, including Patriot air defense systems, to Ukraine via NATO, countries’ officials said on July 15.
France warns of war in ‘heart of Europe,’ names Russia ‘most direct threat.’ “In the years to come, and by 2030, the main threat to France and Europeans is the risk of open warfare against the heart of Europe,” France’s new National Strategic Review reads.
EU fails to approve new Russia sanctions as Slovakia holds up vote. “The government coalition rejects the imbecile proposal of the European Commission to stop the flow of Russian gas from 2028,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.
Orban urges EU action over Ukraine’s conscription practices. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban called upon the EU to take action against Ukraine’s conscription practices in an interview with Origo published on July 15, amid an ongoing dispute with Kyiv over the death of a Ukrainian conscript of Hungarian ethnicity.
Euroclear opposes expanding investment risk for frozen Russian funds amid Ukraine aid push, FT reports. The chief executive of Euroclear told the FT that the EU’s proposal would amount to “expropriation” — forced seizure — because if Russia demands the assets back in the future, they would not be available.
In other news
Kyiv court releases Ukraine’s top anti-corruption activist on recognizance as his lawyer dismisses the charges. Vitaliy Shabunin, head of the Anti-Corruption Action Center’s (AntAC) executive board and current member of the country’s Armed Forces, was charged on July 11 with evading military service and fraud — an accusation he and his team reject.
US-Ukraine minerals fund looks for manager as critical resources deal advances. The U.S. government’s development finance agency has started looking for a company to manage a joint U.S.-Ukraine investment fund, Ukraine’s Economy Ministry said in a July 15 press release.
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