Ukrainians are reeling today after cities across the country were hit overnight with the largest ever Russian aerial bombardment.
“So many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all", said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today, who confirmed that 728 Russian drones and 13 missiles struck Ukrainian cities overnight, on day 1,230 of the full-scale war. This tops the previous record - of 537 Russian drones and missiles fired at Ukraine on 29 June - by quite some way.
Kyiv was under all-night Russian bombardment which injured at least 23 people, damaged railways and sparked fires across the capital city. The northwestern city of Lutsk, a transit hub for military and humanitarian aid which lies 56 miles from the Polish border, also came under especially heavy attack.
Meanwhile, Russia's ramped up offensive in eastern Ukraine grinds on. "We are moving forward… each new day, the Ukrainians have to accept the new realities," said Kremlin spokesperson Dimitri Peskov today.
Moscow’s massive aerial assault came just hours after another unfruitful phone call between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
It seems it is finally dawning on Trump - who vowed to end the war on day one of his presidency - that he may have overestimated the sway he holds over his Russian counterpart.
Yesterday, the US leader acknowledged at last that Putin is treating him with near-contempt. "We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters. "He's very nice to us all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless”.
Peskov was dismissive of Trump’s outburst, telling reporters today that Moscow was "pretty calm about this. Trump's way of talking is generally quite harsh, the phrases he uses."
Several months ago, following Russia’s phoney Easter truce with Ukraine, Gerald Warner wrote in Reaction that Trump had “inexplicably chosen to pussyfoot around the one power on earth that most notoriously responds only to strength.”
He continued: “During three successive US presidential campaigns, it was an axiom among Donald Trump’s detractors that he was thin-skinned and liable to become vengeful about any insult or humiliation visited upon him. Yet his warmest sympathisers are baffled by the extent to which he has indulged Vladimir Putin, despite receiving neither cooperation nor consideration in return.”
That may finally be about to change. Trump confirmed last night that he was "looking at" a sanctions bill by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham that would see 500% tariffs imposed on countries that trade with Russia.
He also confirmed that he has approved sending a new batch of US defensive weapons to Ukraine - a reversal of last week’s position when his administration announced a suspension of military aid to Ukraine, reportedly authorised by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, citing concerns about low weapons stock.
The reversal of this decision means that 10 Patriot missiles may now be sent to Ukraine, according to US outlet Axios. Kyiv relies on these defensive weapons to intercept Russia’s missile and drone attacks. And, unfortunately, it looks as though they will need them for quite some time to come. An end to the war appears further off than ever.
Caitlin Allen
Deputy Editor
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FIVE THINGS
Donald Trump’s approach to Africa is very, well, African, in The Economist.
Mark Galeotti on why Putin’s elites keep dying, in The Spectator.
It pains me to say it, but give Keir Starmer time, writes Daniel Finkelstein, in The Times.
Israel’s war sabotaged diplomacy. The US can revive it, writes Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, in The Financial Times.