Ukraine live: China told Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

These persistent long-range drone attacks by Kyiv have reportedly led to a significant fuel shortage across Russia.

This has led to widespread reports of escalating prices and extensive queues at petrol stations in numerous regions.

Russia’s gasoline output covers 65% of demand after Ukrainian strikes, sources say

18:00 , Maira Butt

Russian gasoline output fell to a level equivalent to only around 65 per cent of the seasonal average consumption after Ukrainian drone attacks led to stoppages at large oil refineries, according to two industry sources and Reuters calculations.

Ukraine has intensified its attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure, including large oil refineries.

As fuel has run short and drivers are queuing to fill their vehicles, with Cossacks being used to help maintain public order at some filling stations.

Damage has caused operations to be halted at many oil refineries, including NORSI and Omsk, the two largest producers of gasoline in the country. Another large gasoline producer, the Saratov refinery, was also forced to stop production, industry sources said.

The sources, who could not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said gasoline production had fallen short of the amount needed at this time of year, when summer weather increases driving demand, by between 40,000 and 45,000 metric tons per day, or around 35 per cent.

In June, the daily shortfall was 25 per cent.

Daily gasoline demand in Russia is around 115,000 to 120,000 tons during peak summer consumption, the sources said.

The Russian energy ministry did not reply to a request by Reuters for comment.

A US license could let Ukraine produce Patriot missiles, but it won’t be simple or quick

17:20 , Maira Butt

US President Donald Trump’s pledge to give Ukraine a license to produce Patriot air-defence systems could mark a major breakthrough for Kyiv, but experts and Ukrainian officials warn that turning the idea into real weapons would likely take years.

Speaking Wednesday alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, Trump said the United States would allow Ukraine to make the US-designed systems that Kyiv has long sought to shield its cities and infrastructure from Russian missiles and drones.

Ukraine says it damaged four Russian oil facilities overnight

16:45 , Maira Butt

Ukraine struck Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region and the Ust-Luga oil refining complex in the Leningrad region overnight, Kyiv’s general staff said.

An oil terminal and an oil depot in the Rostov region came under strikes as well, it said on the Telegram app.

Ukraine says it struck 13 Russian vessels in Azov Sea

16:15 , Maira Butt

Ukraine struck 13 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov on Friday, including 10 tankers, its drone forces commander said, part of Kyiv’s major campaign aimed at enforcing a fuel crisis on Moscow’s troops.

A dry cargo ship and a ferry were among the targets as well, Robert Brovdi said on the Telegram app. Kyiv’s troops also struck five power substations in Russia-occupied Crimea overnight, he added.

Rutte, Zelensky to attend Ukraine ‘Coalition of the Willing’ meeting, Elysee says

15:45 , Maira Butt

Nato chief Mark Rutte and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join Monday’s Coalition of the Willing meeting in Paris to support Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.

The meeting will be aimed at building on momentum to help Ukraine following the Nato summit earlier this week. The Elysee said that planning was still underway for security guarantees for when a ceasefire is reached between Ukraine and Russia.

US President Donald Trump has shown a more favourable stance toward Kyiv in its battle against Russia at recent G7 and NATO summits.

Two more countries, Moldova and North Macedonia, have joined the coalition, the Elysee said. EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa are also set to attend Monday’s meeting, the French presidency said.

Humanoid robots ‘get married’ in Russian ‘wedding’ ceremony

15:15 , Maira Butt

Holly Bishop reports:

A pair of humanoid robots “got married” in a symbolic wedding ceremony in Russia.

In an event held at the Pushkin Library in Moscow, “office worker and blogger” Robert and “ballerina” Matilda pledged their love for one another and were officially declared “robot spouses”.

They were accompanied by their “pet,” the robotic dog Dogmatic, who brought their wedding bands into the venue.

The library said the “newlyweds” recited vows “promising to be reliable partners through all of life’s algorithms, to support one another through every update, and to always maintain a stable connection between their hearts and processors.”

Zelensky says it is unclear when will Ukraine receive Patriot missile interceptors

14:45 , Maira Butt

Volodymyr Zelensky has detailed the complications Ukraine is looking at after the US announced it will grant Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors at home.

“There are no dates set yet, but there will be additional PAC-3s,” Zelensky said, after returning from Turkey where he met with world leaders at the Nato summit.

Zelensky said that while Patriot supply and production was “Ukraine’s number one priority”, the government was approaching the problem on “several fronts”.

“First, we’re seeking a license from the US to manufacture Patriot systems,” he said.

“Second, through the PURL program, we’re securing clear funding from Europe, and, through this program, acquiring PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles for the corresponding systems. Third, we’re working… with our European partners to obtain additional missiles until we have our own system.”

Kremlin says Putin remains open to Ukraine talks but is carving out a bigger buffer zone

13:45 , Maira Butt

The Kremlin said on Friday that President Vladimir Putin remained open to achieving Russia’s objectives through diplomacy, but that Moscow was carving out a wider buffer zone in Ukraine in response to Kyiv’s escalatory actions.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a Reuters article a day earlier in which three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Ukraine’s recent drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries and ports were strengthening Putin’s resolve to keep fighting for now.

Peskov said Russia believed that Kyiv had no desire for talks at the moments and that Moscow was therefore continuing its military campaign in Ukraine.

Kremlin accuses Ukraine of escalating ‘terror’ against Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

13:15 , Maira Butt

The Kremlin on Friday accused Ukraine of escalating what it called “terror” actions against the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, something it said was extremely dangerous.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Ukraine of carrying out strikes against civilian infrastructure and against infrastructure directly related to the power plant.

Both sides have accused each other of endangering the plant’s safety with military action.

Electric car drivers dodge Russia’s hours-long fuel queues

12:45 , Maira Butt

Fuel shortages have led to hours-long lines and higher prices for gasoline and diesel, prompting some drivers to switch to electric vehicles, according to Reuters.

According to analytical agency Autostat, new EV and plug-in hybrid sales accelerated in June as the fuel shortages hit. It predicts the still small market will grow significantly if the fuel crisis persists.

“Those fuel station queues settled the question. Never before had we considered buying an EV,” Oksana Yasinskaya, a 36-year-old engineer who commutes into Moscow for work told Reuters.

“I feel relieved because I don’t have to take part in this humiliating queue. I hate wasting time. I know people who spend two, three hours in queues or drive to refuel at night.”

We asked Ukrainians what they think of Trump as US president touts a ‘very good relationship’

11:45 , Maira Butt

U.S. President Donald Trump lauded the “very good relationship” he has developed with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at the NATO summit in Turkey on July 8, 2026.

In a meeting of the pair that lacked the acrimony of earlier encounters, Trump added that Ukraine has “such great people,” too. He has expressed different views privately in the past.

But what do everyday Ukrainians think of Trump?

For more than a decade, we have organized and conducted public opinion polls in Ukraine. While polling has become more difficult since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, our surveys have provided a window into Ukrainian public opinion in the territories not occupied by Russia.

In our latest survey, we drilled down on how Ukrainians felt toward Trump and his administration’s diplomatic efforts, and toward Americans more generally.

Nato ‘stronger and more united’ after Ankara summit, Starmer says

11:15 , Maira Butt

Sir Keir Starmer said Nato is “stronger and more united” coming out of the Ankara summit, with Donald Trump praising its “spirit”, despite the US president’s criticism of the alliance threatening to overshadow the meeting.

The Prime Minister said leaders “achieved what we wanted to achieve, which is unity”, even after Trump earlier threatened to relate his problems, including over Greenland and Iran, at the meeting.

Trump berated European states for failing to pay enough for defence, a key issue at the summit, with Nato general-secretary Mark Rutte calling on allies to present “credible” plans for reaching the target of spending 5% of GDP on defence.

China told Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine says Zelensky

10:45 , Maira Butt

China warned Russian president Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

“I think you heard such voices in Russian media: ‘What if we respond to Ukrainian strikes with nuclear weapons?’ And it seems to me that this was the first time China … directly responded in an ultimatum-like form — that there can be no thought whatsoever of using nuclear weapons,” Zelensky told reporters.

Fire at Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery is put out, local authorities say

10:15 , Maira Butt

The fire at Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region had been extinguished, local authorities said on Friday.

The oil refinery in the southern Krasnodar region caught fire after a drone attack, while authorities in the city of Taganrog evacuated people following a separate strike.

American Marine jailed in Russia taken to hospital in unknown condition

09:45 , Maira Butt

Former U.S. Marine Robert Gilman, jailed on a lengthy sentence in Russia, has been admitted to the hospital, Kommersant newspaper reported Thursday.

Gilman’s lawyer was quoted saying his client was receiving treatment but that it was too early to talk about a diagnosis.

Reuters requested a comment from the U.S. State Department.

Gilman was initially jailed in 2022 for assaulting a police officer while drunk, and his sentence was extended in 2024.

The extension followed subsequent convictions for assaulting prison officials and a state investigator.

Russian fuel shortage pushing drivers to desperate measures as gasoline runs out

09:15 , Maira Butt

Russians are flocking to convert their cars to run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) amid nationwide fuel shortages, escalating petrol prices, and long queues at filling stations.

These issues stem from recent Ukrainian attacks on refineries. Egor Popov, whose Moscow-based Garant-Gas company fits equipment for LPG conversions, stated that “demand had multiplied”.

Butane and propane, components of LPG produced during natural gas processing and crude oil refining, are also less emissions-intensive than petrol.

I have visited Russia every year since the Ukraine war began. The mood has changed

08:45 , Maira Butt

The mood regarding the war in Ukraine has changed in recent months. Ukrainian drones have struck Russian oil infrastructure, causing fuel shortages across Russia. And the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is exuberant about finishing the war from a “position of strength”.

The hope is that an economic crisis in Russia leads to social unrest and political instability, possibly resulting in the collapse of the ruling regime. This would not be an unprecedented event in Russian history. The Soviet Union rapidly unravelled amid economic and political crisis in 1991. But how likely is this scenario for Russia today?

Kremlin says US wrong to think escalation of Ukrainian strikes can help end war

08:10 , Arpan Rai

The US is wrong to believe deep Ukrainian strikes into Russian territory could help bring about an end to more than four years of war, the Kremlin has said, warning that they could prolong it.

Speaking at a Nato summit in Turkey on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Russia was finding it harder to defend its own ⁠skies, adding that this would hopefully create more space ​to ⁠negotiate an end to the war.

US president Donald Trump said: “It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end.”

Asked about their ⁠statements, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters there were “certain misconceptions within the White House administration… regarding ​the ⁠idea that escalation and military pressure can ‌help pave the way for a peaceful settlement”.

He said this was a flawed premise, adding that what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine might go on for longer as a result.

“It ‌will result in our having to establish a larger ‌security zone — a larger buffer zone,” Peskov said.

“Consequently, stoking tensions and taking actions that drive escalation will in no way contribute to the peace process,” he said.

Zelensky says it is unclear when will Ukraine receive Patriot missile interceptors

07:33 , Arpan Rai

Volodymyr Zelensky has detailed the complications Ukraine is looking at after the US announced it will grant Kyiv a license to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors at home.

“There are no dates set yet, but there will be additional PAC-3s,” Zelensky said, after returning from Turkey where he met with world leaders at the Nato summit.

Zelensky said that while Patriot supply and production was “Ukraine’s number one priority”, the government was approaching the problem on “several fronts”.

“First, we’re seeking a license from the US to manufacture Patriot systems,” he said.

“Second, through the PURL program, we’re securing clear funding from Europe, and, through this program, acquiring PAC-3 and PAC-2 missiles for the corresponding systems. Third, we’re working… with our European partners to obtain additional missiles until we have our own system.”

Russia challenges World Athletics ban at top court

07:26 , Arpan Rai

The Russian Athletics Federation has lodged an appeal with sport’s highest court over the World Athletics Council’s decision to extend the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions.

The council reaffirmed the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes on 3 July, four years after it initially imposed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

In ‌a statement, Russian Athletics said it considered the decision to be ‌discriminatory and that it had ‌engaged specialist lawyers to challenge it at the Court of Arbitration for ⁠Sport (CAS).

The World Athletics Council’s stance means Russian track-and-field athletes remain barred from international competition, despite the International Olympic Committee provisionally lifting its suspension of the Russian Olympic ‌Committee on Tuesday, a significant ​step towards Russia’s reintegration ‌into the Olympic ⁠fold.

Russian athletes competed as neutrals ⁠at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at ‌the ​2026 Milano Cortina ‌Winter Games.

Evacuations ordered in Russia as Ilsky oil refinery catches fire

06:58 , Arpan Rai

Russia’s Ilsky oil refinery has caught fire after drone attack, officials said.

Officials added that fires have been reported at fuel deports and sea port in Russia’s Rostov region after drone attack.

Fires were being extinguished at two fuel depots and at the Taganrog sea port, governor Yury Slyusar said on Telegram.

Taganrog mayor Svetlana Kambulova said ‌on the Max messaging app that the ​authorities evacuated people from their ‌houses in the affected areas.

She said a private house ⁠was damaged and the roof of an administrative building caught ‌fire.

Authorities in the city of Taganrog evacuated people following a separate strike, local officials said this morning.

No one was injured, according to preliminary information, the authorities said.

The Russian defence ministry said ‌air defence units had downed ​376 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Ukraine’s Lviv sees wartime tensions over draft as clashes erupt

06:22 , Arpan Rai

Authorities in Ukraine launched inquiries on Thursday into violent clashes in the western city of Lviv a day earlier ⁠over the country’s military draft, the latest sign of wartime tensions over the call-up in the fifth year of the war with Russia.

Prosecutors said a group of people blocked on-duty draft officers late on Wednesday, overturning their car, in a fit of unrest that led to broader scuffles with police and service members.

Ukraine’s General ​Staff ⁠strongly condemned the attack, but also said it would review the draft officers’ conduct for any potential violations.

Footage aired by Ukraine’s public broadcaster on Thursday showed crowds swarming vehicles in a darkened residential neighbourhood, chanting “Shame!” and tearing off the uniform of one of the officers.

The incident was the latest in a string of attacks on draft officers that has highlighted long-simmering anger over how the Ukrainian military is filling its ranks to fight a bigger and better-armed Russia.

Kyiv’s war effort has relied on a sweeping call-up that has been marred by reports of abuse and corruption, further dampening enthusiasm for service despite new efforts to entice Ukrainians to enlist.

Last month, reports of harsh treatment and non-combat ⁠deaths in a prominent Ukrainian assault unit sparked public anger and calls for investigations.

Ukraine says it hits more Russian fuel tankers as Crimea campaign intensifies

05:53 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian drones hit a dozen more Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov overnight, Ukraine’s military said on Thursday, the latest in a campaign ⁠aimed at disrupting fuel supplies to Russian forces and isolating Moscow-occupied Crimea.

The vessels were used to supply fuel to the Russian military, and to transport oil and petroleum products in circumvention of international sanctions, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said on Telegram.

It added that a tugboat and a dry cargo ship were also hit.

The strikes bring the number of vessels targeted in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea over the past four days to 36, according to Ukraine’s defence ministry.

Those included 32 so-called Russian “shadow fleet” tankers and two dry cargo ships.

“They were ‌all trying to deliver fuel to Crimea,” the ministry said.

The regional governor of Russia’s Rostov region said earlier on Thursday that two tankers had been attacked by Ukrainian drones in the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine has intensified attacks on logistics and energy infrastructure in Crimea in recent weeks, contributing to fuel shortages and prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in the peninsula, a critical hub ‌for Russia’s war effort.

Putin likely to escalate Ukraine war despite Trump’s peace push – report

05:33 , Arpan Rai

President Vladimir Putin is rejecting calls to negotiate peace with Kyiv, three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters, with Ukraine’s recent drone strikes on Russia’s oil refineries and ports strengthening his resolve to keep fighting for now.

Two of ​the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Putin was instead likely to escalate the conflict, now well into its fifth year.

One of them, who meets regularly with the president, described a “high ‌probability” of escalation in the coming months.

One of the people familiar with Putin’s thinking said he had “dug in his heels” to achieve the key objective of capturing the remainder of ​Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where Russian advances have slowed this year.

The same source said Putin recently rebuked a group of advisers suggesting a compromise based on a ceasefire along the current front lines. The second source ​said Putin believes Russia will soon capture the Donbas.

Ukraine’s allies have seized on what they call a momentum shift in the war. Some call for additional economic sanctions to force Putin to end the conflict.

Ukraine’s recent successes, however, have made Putin more angry and more determined to give a tough response, according to the person who meets Putin regularly.

Zelensky says Patriot missile licences agreed with US at political level

05:11 , Arpan Rai

Ukraine and the US have reached a political agreement on licences for production of PAC-3 Patriot interceptors, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

The Ukrainian president said key supplies of the missiles were to arrive in the next few days.

The Patriot is a US-made air defence system. Its PAC-3 interceptor – short for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 – is one of the few Western weapons capable of shooting down the ballistic missiles Russia has increasingly fired at Ukrainian cities.

Speaking to reporters after returning from a NATO summit and talks with Donald Trump, said: “I believe ​this ⁠was a productive summit for Ukraine. In the coming days, we’ll receive a package from the United States, and there were also some separate agreements.”

Kremlin says US wrong to think escalation of Ukrainian strikes can help end war

04:44 , Arpan Rai

The US is wrong to believe deep Ukrainian strikes into Russian territory could help bring about an end to more than four years of war, the Kremlin has said, warning that they could prolong it.

Speaking at a Nato summit in Turkey on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Russia was finding it harder to defend its own ⁠skies, adding that this would hopefully create more space ​to ⁠negotiate an end to the war.

US president Donald Trump said: “It’s an escalation, but it’s also an escalation that can help lead to an end.”

Asked about their ⁠statements, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters there were “certain misconceptions within the White House administration… regarding ​the ⁠idea that escalation and military pressure can ‌help pave the way for a peaceful settlement”.

He said this was a flawed premise, adding that what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine might go on for longer as a result.

“It ‌will result in our having to establish a larger ‌security zone — a larger buffer zone,” Peskov said.

“Consequently, stoking tensions and taking actions that drive escalation will in no way contribute to the peace process,” he said.

Zelensky says he discussed China with Trump

04:37 , Arpan Rai

President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed China in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine with US president Donald Trump.

“Of course, president Trump ⁠and I discussed ​China. ⁠Their role in ‌this war, their involvement or ‌potential involvement, and their ‌capabilities,” he told reporters when ⁠asked about Chinese influence on peace talks to end more than four-year full-scale war.

Zelensky added ‌he would prefer ​to ‌keep the ⁠details of that discussion ⁠closed to the ‌public.

Russian attacks killed at least 265 civilians in Ukraine in June, says UN agency

04:17 , Arpan Rai

Russian strikes killed at least 265 civilians in Ukraine and injured 1,816 in June, the highest combined casualty count since the first months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, a top UN official told the Security Council on Thursday.

UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said the number of civilians killed and injured in Ukraine in May had been the highest since ⁠April 2022, but data ​from ⁠the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) pointed to an even higher toll in ⁠June, and possibly July.

Final data for June will be released in late July, a UN spokesperson said.

“This concerning trend is seemingly continuing into July,” DiCarlo said, citing three massive waves of Russian ‌aerial strikes on Kyiv and other ‌Ukrainian cities this past week alone, many targeting urban centers with large civilian populations.

“Any attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, wherever they occur, are a clear violation of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately,” she said.

In total, DiCarlo said OHCHR had verified that at least 16,402 civilians, including 802 children, had been killed in Ukraine since the start of the war, and 48,428 had been injured, including 2,948 ‌children.

The actual figures were likely higher.

Civilians living in Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation and inside Russia were also being killed, she said.

Russian authorities have reported that ⁠250 civilians were killed and 1,596 were injured inside Russia in the ‌first six months ​of 2026, but the UN ‌was not in a ​position to verify the reports, DiCarlo said.

Russia hit ammunition warehouse in Kyiv region, says Zelensky

03:53 , Arpan Rai

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia struck an ammunition warehouse during its attack on Kyiv region earlier this week, adding that a criminal probe was launched.

In the small town of Vyshneve on Kyiv’s western outskirts, the ⁠Russian strike hit ​the ⁠warehouse and set off massive secondary explosions on 6 July.

Ukrainian officials said 10 people were ​killed ⁠in Vyshneve and ‌hundreds of houses were damaged.

“As for the investigation into the explosion in Vyshneve, the situation is absolutely appalling: There was an ammunition depot in Vyshneve. The enemy struck this depot, causing a large number of casualties and significant losses,” Zelensky told reporters in a WhatsApp media chat.

Ukrainian officials rarely disclose any damage to military targets following Russian attacks.

Zelenskiy said a criminal case had been opened, and officials at the state weapons producer Ukroboronprom, which owned the warehouse, would be held responsible and some of them dismissed.

The episode sparked public ‌outcry, ​with residents claiming negligence ‌and lack of information.

Erdogan gives every Nato leader personalised gun as farewell gift at Ankara summit

03:00 , Maira Butt

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan gifted world leaders personalised revolvers with live ammunition after hosting the Nato summit in Ankara this week.

The unusual gift was presented to each head of state and several state officials in attendance from British prime minister Keir Starmer, Canadian leader Mark Carney to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council president Antonio Costa.

Accompanied by bullets and a cleaning kit, the guns were engraved with the names of each recipient.

Ukraine’s Kostyuk extends Wimbledon run as attacks hit Kyiv and slams IOC decision on Russia

02:00 , Maira Butt

As Marta Kostyuk played on Centre Court at Wimbledon on Wednesday, her compatriots in Ukraine were dealing with another deadly attack by Russia on Kyiv.

It’s been the same for much of Kostyuk’s run to the semifinals.

On Monday, after Russian missiles struck residential buildings close to where Kostyuk’s parents live, she had to block that out to play her fourth-round match at the Grand Slam tournament. Last week, Russia hammered the Ukrainian capital with an 11-hour drone and missile attack that killed at least 21 civilians.