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Here’s where things stand on Monday 21 July 2025:
Fighting
- Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched 426 drones and 24 missiles in an overnight air attack on Ukraine. It said it downed or jammed 224 drones and missiles, while another 203 drones disappeared from radars, most likely having been jammed by electronic warfare.
- Major Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia sowed chaos at major airports serving Moscow on Monday, with thousands of passengers waiting in lines or sleeping on the floor after flights were cancelled or delayed. Russia’s defence ministry said it had downed 117 drones overnight, including 30 over the Moscow region.
- The Ministry of Defence in Moscow said Russian forces seized the village of Bila Hora in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency.
- A Russian attack on the village of Sveska in Ukraine’s Sumy region killed a 78-year-old woman, according to Governor Oleh Hryhorov.
- Six more people were killed in Russian attacks on Synelnykove and Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk and Raiske in the Donetsk region, according to local governors.
- Another Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Vasylivka districts wounded three women, Governor Ivan Fedorov said, adding that Russia launched 457 attacks on 18 settlements in the region on Sunday.
- In total, Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 18 of 57 Russian drones overnight into Sunday.
- In Russia, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin posted eight separate updates over 24 hours on Telegram saying that several Ukrainian drones “flying towards Moscow” had been shot down. “Emergency services are working at the site of the debris fall,” he said in each case.
- In total, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said that Russian forces shot down 216 Ukrainian drones in the 24 hours to 11:20pm Moscow time (20:20 GMT) on Sunday.
Politics and diplomacy
- France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrothas arrived in Kyiv for a two-day visit aimed at supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, AFP news agency reported.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin was ready to move towards a peace settlement for Ukraine, but that Moscow’s main objective was to achieve its goals. The comments came days after US President Donald Trump gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire.
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged an Italian concert venue to cancel a show with Russian conductor Valery Gergiev’s performance, saying it was part of Russian efforts to use “culture as a tool of propaganda”.
- Ukraine imposed sanctions on exiled Russian journalist Yulia Latynina, Ukrainian blogger Andrii Serebrianskyi and former Ukrainian lawmakers Natalia Korolevska and Hennadiy Balashov, among others, claiming they had helped spread Russian propaganda, the Kyiv Independent reported.
- Rosneft, Russia’s biggest oil producer, slammed European Union sanctions on India’s Nayara Energy refinery as unjustified and illegal, saying the restrictions directly threatened India’s energy security.
Ukrainians unimpressed by Trump’s 50-day ultimatum to Putin
Ukrainians are tired, run down by the emotional toll of the invasion and the physical toll of sleepless nights due to air raid sirens, explosions and the screeching sounds of attack drones. “It was a long night,” is a common remark you will hear in Kyiv.
So, US President Donald Trump’s decision to give Russia 50 days to agree to a ceasefire or face “very severe tariffs… at about 100%” has not gone down well.
One of Ukraine’s most prominent politicians, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, asked “why such a delay?” while speaking on German television. Russian attacks had become “more intense”, he said, and more people could be killed in that 50-day period.
President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Trump after the president said “top-of-the-line weapons” would be sent from the US via Nato partners in Europe, and thanked him for his “willingness to support Ukraine”. If implemented, the “secondary tariffs” would hit countries that buy Russia’s oil exports.
But Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik says Trump’s announcement was “bitttersweet”, as it gave Putin another 50 days to continue his deadly bombardment and maintain his offensive on the front line.
“It is very hard and very personal for us because we don’t know if some of us will survive for these 50 days,” she told the BBC.
More than 230 civilians were killed in Ukraine last month and many more wounded, according to UN human rights monitors – the biggest number for three years, as Russia unleashed record numbers of drone and missile attacks.
Among the weapons being sent to Ukraine are Patriot air defence batteries to help protect cities from attack.
“[There] hasn’t been a single fact that would prove Russia wants to stop the war. Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire, we have done everything by the book,” Rudik added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that Trump’s announcement was “very serious” and warned such decisions were seen by Kyiv “not as a signal for peace but as a signal to continue the war”.
There was little faith in Trump’s promises on the streets of Kyiv.
Residents Yuliia and Alisa said they both worried about his relationship with the Kremlin.
“I don’t believe it is real help for Ukraine… it’s all about his ego,” Yuliia told the BBC. “I guess these four years [of Trump’s presidency] are going to be very tough for Ukraine.”
“Everything that happened during the last six months just proved that nothing will change despite what Trump does or does not say,” Alisa added.
Nina, who also lives in Kyiv, was more optimistic that additional weapons sent by the US and paid for by Nato member states in Europe could “speed up the end of the war”.
It could have come to an end sooner if Russia had not have been helped by allies like North Korea and China, she said.
Artem, whose father is serving in the Ukrainian army, was “hoping for the best”.
“People say a lot, let’s see how it goes. I hope that everything will be the way we want. And we want peace, for the war in Ukraine to end, and for all the guys to return alive,” he said.
Walking around the wall encircling St Michael’s monastery in Kyiv, photos of the fallen stare out at you – some were taken before the war, featuring men and women posing with family members and pets.
As Trump talks of imposing new tariffs on Russia, the war continues – with these images a reminder of the soldiers who will never come home.