War in Ukraine: latest news. Moscow launches attack: eight dead, missile lands in Poland. EU allocates a further 3.4 billion to Kyiv

Authorities in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk have reported that one person was killed – other sources put the figure at six dead and ten injured – in a drone attack on a warehouse. The attack took place at around 4.45 am, and the most serious damage was sustained by two residential buildings.

Meanwhile, at least 30 people were injured in the attacks on the western city of Lviv, forcing neighbouring Poland to deploy fighter jets to protect its airspace. Twenty residential buildings were damaged, as well as a school and two nurseries.

The military administration of the city of Kyiv has confirmed that one person has been killed and two others injured in the capital. A further five people are reported to have been injured in the attacks in an eastern district of Kyiv. Residential buildings, a market, a garage co-operative, warehouses and vehicles have been damaged in the capital.

On Tuesday, President Zelensky met US President Donald Trump at the White House and discussed the possibility of Ukraine producing its own interceptors for Patriot systems.

Zelensky has urged his allies to supply Kyiv with anti-ballistic missile systems to combat ‘Russian terror’. He wrote this on his X profile after Russia launched 74 missiles and 284 drones at Ukraine overnight, causing at least eight deaths. ‘This Russian terror demonstrates once again that protection against the threat of Russian missiles is the most important thing,’ he wrote, adding that Ukraine is facing ‘a serious shortage of air defence missiles from our partners’. This is a task, he concluded, “that cannot be left to Ukraine alone or to a single country. All partners know how and with what they can help. Failure to provide timely assistance and delays in the delivery of anti-ballistic missiles lead to this kind of destruction, to these casualties which, unfortunately, we are seeing today.”

The European Union has provided 3.47 billion euros (4 billion dollars) to Ukraine to fund the procurement of more drones, missiles, air defence systems and fighter aircraft, the European Commission said on Thursday. The disbursement is part of a loan of 90 billion approved by the EU earlier this year. This disbursement follows the Commission’s first instalment of 3.2 billion to Ukraine on 25 June and a further instalment of 3.9 billion on 30 June for the procurement of drones.

With today’s allocation of 3.47 billion for Ukraine, “we have now reached 8.5 billion for Ukraine as part of the 90-billion defence financial support programme. We have already allocated 5 billion for drones and are now allocating a further three and a half billion, essentially, mainly for the fighter jets you mentioned”. This was stated by a spokesperson for the European Commission during the daily press briefing.

“We want to reach 28 billion euros for defence by the end of this year. We have already allocated eight and a half billion, so we still need another 20 billion. So it will be another very busy summer and autumn, and we will press ahead on this basis,” he says.

von der Leyen

presidente Commissione europea

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, commenting on the new investment for Kyiv, said: “Our new agreement on drones is taking shape,” she added, explaining that “this new support sends a clear message: every Russian attack strengthens Ukraine’s determination to be free and our determination to stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

“What I can say, based on what we have seen and are seeing in recent days, and from the Russian perspective, is that Russia is seeking, and continues to seek, to turn the Black Sea into a zone of fear and disorder . It is deliberately targeting civilian shipping, freedom of navigation and the food security of millions of people across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America.”

This was stated by the European Commission’s spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Anouar El Anouni, during the daily press briefing. “And whilst Moscow claims to speak on behalf of countries in need of food imports, in reality Russia’s systematic attacks on Ukraine’s agricultural industry, ports, grain terminals and merchant ships reveal a very different reality.”

Dov’è caduto il missile russo

A sinistra la Polonia, a destra l’Ucraina, in alto la Bielorussia

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“During the massive Russian missile attack on western Ukraine, Polish airspace was violated.” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote this on X, announcing that he had called a meeting with the Defence Minister and the relevant agencies. The Armed Forces Operational Command reported that at 3.40 am, an unidentified object heading west was detected. “I discussed with Donald Tusk the violation of Polish airspace by a Russian missile. Poland and NATO have activated their air and ground defences. We stand in solidarity with Poland and will continue to strengthen our readiness to defend ourselves against any threat, including missile attacks,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte stated on his social media accounts. “This incident is yet another reckless act by Russia and a dangerous consequence of its war against Ukraine. I condemn last night’s deadly strikes across Ukraine. NATO continues to provide essential support to enable Ukraine to defend itself. Our commitment is unwavering,” he added.

Tusk

epa13141274 (da sinistra a destra) Il generale di aviazione Ireneusz Nowak, il ministro della Difesa polacco Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz e il primo ministro Donald Tusk partecipano a una conferenza stampa a Lublino, nella Polonia orientale, il 30 luglio 2026. EPA/KAROL ZIENKIEWICZ POLONIA OUT

 The Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, stated that it was “a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile”, as Tusk also later confirmed. “We were ready to shoot it down if it had continued on its trajectory,” said Tusk: “There is no reason to believe that the object which had violated Polish airspace was directed against Poland; two such missiles violated Polish airspace. One certainly did, because we have traces of it, whilst the other approached the Polish border but was detected only for a very brief moment, and this had no consequences,” added Tusk, according to reports by the Polish news agency PAP.

“The Polish police have found a crater and debris scattered across a field, left behind by an unidentified object. A Mi-24 helicopter has pinpointed the probable crash site of the object in an undeveloped area near the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia, in the province of Lublin.”

The crater – 90 km across the border – was approximately 10 m (33 feet) wide, the Ministry of the Interior added on X. According to local authorities, it was located on farmland about 2 km from residential buildings. Police in the Lublin region said they had received a report of a loud bang in Biłgoraj County, between the villages of Tarnawa Kolonia and Biskupice.

Ukraine has requested that its experts be allowed to assist Poland with the investigation, Prosecutor Grzegorz Trusiewicz said on Thursday. “Another unacceptable violation of our EU airspace caused by the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine, this time over Poland,” commented European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, spoke on Thursday with the Polish Chief of Defence, General Wieslaw Kukulan, to discuss the response to the crash of a Russian missile on Polish territory, a spokesperson for NATO’s military headquarters said.

“NATO and Poland have activated their air and ground defences” in response to Russian missiles entering Polish airspace, the spokesperson said in a statement sent by email.

The incident is still under investigation.

Grynkewich “stressed that NATO will continue to take all necessary measures to defend NATO territory”, the spokesperson said.

Tusk went on to say that “following my meeting with President Zelensky, it is absolutely clear to me that the next 100 days could determine the outcome of this war. At this stage, I would say the odds are 50-50”. “Much depends on the decisions of the US President,” the Polish Prime Minister added.

The press office of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, located in the Ukrainian region of the same name but currently under Russian control, has reported that an attack by Kyiv’s forces on the plant’s critical infrastructure has been foiled. “Today, an attack by a Ukrainian armed forces drone carrying munitions was detected near the spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station,” a statement read.

The Ukrainian campaign against Russian refineries has put more than 30 per cent of Russia’s actual production capacity and 45 per cent of its nominal capacity out of action, triggering the country’s worst oil crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

An analysis by the Financial Times, based on refinery floor plans, photographs, satellite imagery and thermal infrared data, shows that the damage sustained by several major Russian refineries persisted for weeks or even months after the attacks.

Ukrainian air strikes have destroyed more than a dozen large and medium-sized storage tanks, with a total storage capacity of around 80,000 cubic metres, according to an estimate by the Financial Times.

The Ukrainian army has struck four Russian oil tankers in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, the commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, Robert Brovdi, said on Thursday. Brovdi stated on the Telegram app that a total of 205 oil tankers had been struck over the past three weeks, of which 130 were in the Sea of Azov and 75 in the Black Sea.

Ukrainian drones also struck the gas and oil terminal at the port of Taman (Tamanneftegaz), owned by the Oteko group, in the Krasnodar region overnight, where a fire broke out, probably in the tanks.

 The terminal is the main private hub for the export of energy products and has the capacity to handle 19.9 million tonnes of cargo per year.

The site’s storage facilities contain more than one million cubic metres of petroleum products and LNG. The Ukrainian Military Intelligence Directorate announced today that, in recent days – during the night of 26–27 – the BN-Murmansk electronic warfare station, near Cape Fiolnt in Crimea, was also targeted. This facility handles intelligence signals, communications interception and short-wave jamming operations targeting transmissions at a distance of up to 5,000 kilometres.

Il porto di Taman

In Russia

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The Russian armed forces struck airports, defence industry facilities and logistics centres in Ukraine overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defence has stated. The attack was carried out using long-range precision-guided weapons (though, as can be seen in the images, there are many civilian deaths and injuries among those caught in their homes during the night, editor’s note), deployed on land, in the air and at sea, as well as drones.

Russian military leaders have stated that last night’s missile and drone attacks on Ukraine also targeted factories involved in the production of Flamingo and Neptun missiles, particularly in Lviv, in the west of the country. The Ministry of Defence specifies that in Lviv, the L’vovskij Aviacionnyj Zavod plant – which is responsible for the production, repair and maintenance of turbojet engines used in FP-5 Flamingo land-based cruise missiles – was bombed, and the L’vovskij Gosudarstvennyj Zavod plant, which produces on-board electronics for various types of missiles, as well as radar systems for Neptun-MD long-range guided missiles and a variant of the S-300 air defence missile system. In the Ivano-Frankivsk region, the Kalush industrial plant was struck; this facility is also involved in the production of the Flamingo missiles and is responsible for the storage and distribution of components for these missiles, including those sourced from Western countries. In the Rivne region, the Rovnoazot plant was struck; it produces fuel components used for the Flamingo missiles, as well as for the FP-7 and FP-9 tactical operational missiles and the Grom-2 tactical operational missiles. In Kyiv, the Russian Ministry of Defence continues, the Zavod Mayak plant – which produces components for FP-1 and FP-2 long- and medium-range attack drones – and the Elektrotekhnicheskij Zavod industrial plant, which produces medium-range reconnaissance and attack drones.

Ukrainian drones struck Wilberries warehouses overnight in the regions of Penza and Udmurtia, the Russian e-commerce giant has announced. Fires broke out at the sites in Mastinovka, near Penza, and in Saraput. Employees were evacuated from the sites when the attack alert sounded. One person was injured. Since 18 July, drones from Kyiv have struck 13 hubs belonging to Wildberries across Russia, forcing the company to seek alternative premises in Kazakhstan.

Air defences shot down 258 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

“Last night, the air defence forces on duty intercepted and destroyed 258 Ukrainian fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles,” the ministry said. It specified that the drones were destroyed in the regions of Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Volgograd, Penza, Rostov and Tambov, in the Krasnodar Territory, in Crimea, in Adygea, and over the Azov and Black Seas.