Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is to meet with President Donald Trump at the Nato summit this week as he hopes to press the allaince for interceptors after Ukraine was unable to down any of the missiles fired by Russia on Monday.
Patriot missiles are the only weapon that can shoot down ballistic projectiles.
He said it was "simply nonsensical that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror".
Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight into Monday, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.
“Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world,” said Ukraine Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat.
Ukraine’s defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov also warned that Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale unseen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors.
This comes as ahead of the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey today, US president Donald Trump said that a resolution to the more than four-year-old war in Ukraine is "getting closer than people realise" and that he will talk about Ukraine during talks in Turkey this week at a Nato summit.
Read MoreNato backs Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PM
Russia’s population crisis is driving a new push for marriage and bigger families
US tells Nato that spending must increase ‘immediately’ or alliance will face consequences
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Key Points
- Kyiv says it is facing interceptor missiles shortage as Russia increases attacks
- Trump says Ukraine war is 'getting closer' to settle after talks with Putin and Zelensky
- Death toll in Kyiv rises to 28 as Ukraine battles air-defence shortages
- Norway seeks China's intervention to help bring Russia to Ukraine peace talks
- US tells Nato that spending must increase ‘immediately’ or alliance will face consequences
Russia’s population crisis is driving a new push for marriage and bigger families
11:00 , Maira ButtOne Saturday afternoon in May 2026, families gathered on Poklonnaya Gora, a hilltop war memorial park in western Moscow. They came for a procession and a “moleben,” an Orthodox prayer service, for the well-being of Russian families. Church media billed it as the first Day of the Sanctity of the Family.
May 30 is the feast of St. Evdokia of Moscow, a 14th-century princess who took monastic vows late in life after being widowed. Her husband, St. Dmitry Donskoy, a prince who led a victory over the Mongols, is commemorated on June 1. The church joined the two into a single couple’s feast in 2015, with a decree stressing that they were “parents of twelve children.”
Just over five weeks later, Russians will celebrate another “holy couple.” July 8 honours Sts. Peter and Fevronia, a 13th-century prince and princess venerated as patrons of marriage and famed for their devotion to each other. First celebrated in 2008, the day became an official national holiday in 2022, though not a day off from work.
Inside Russia’s campaign to promote marriage, families and more births
Ukraine strikes Russian military-industrial plants in Bryansk region, Kyiv says
10:25 , Maira ButtUkraine's military said on Tuesday it struck two plants linked to Russia's military-industrial complex in the Bryansk region overnight.
One of the plants was run by Kremniy EL Group - a microelectronics group in Bryansk, which makes elements for military electronic warfare systems - the military's General Staff said in a statement on Telegram.
A chemicals plant which makes gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in the manufacture of ammunition and missiles, was also hit in the surrounding region, it added.
Ukraine strikes eight Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers, Kyiv drone commander says
09:55 , Maira ButtUkrainian drones struck eight tankers with fuel belonging to Russia's so-called “shadow fleet” in the Sea of Azov overnight, Kyiv's top drone commander said on Tuesday.
A dry cargo ship and a ferry were also hit, Robert Brovdi said in a statement on Telegram.
Watch: Rescue operations continue in Kyiv after Putin's deadly attack
09:30 , Maira ButtNato backs Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PM
09:00 , Maira ButtNato leaders back Ukraine’s campaign of long-range strikes deep inside Russia as it looks to pressure Moscow back into negotiations, Finnish president Alexander Stubb has said.
Kyiv is in the “best” position it has been in since the war began and Ukraine’s long distance strikes on Russian oil and military infrastructure have changed US strategic thinking on the war, significantly strengthening Ukraine’s negotiating position, Mr Stubb told the Financial Times.
“I think that [all Nato leaders] understand why Ukraine is doing this,” he said, speaking on the eve of the Nato leaders’ summit in Ankara. “Everyone believes that we need to continue to increase the pressure.”
Alex Croft reports:
Nato backs Ukraine’s long-range strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PM
UK sanctions Russians it says developed chemical weapons used to kill Navalny
08:30 , Maira ButtBritain on Monday imposed sanctions on two Russian research institutes and senior staff it said were linked to Moscow's chemical weapons programme and involved in developing toxins used to poison Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
The sanctions, cast by Britain as a way to expose and deter Russia's use of chemical weapons, come ahead of the Nato summit in the Turkish capital Ankara and after a similar move by the European Union.
In 2020, Navalny fell seriously ill on a flight in Siberia and Western laboratories concluded he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, a class of military-grade nerve agents developed during the Soviet era.
In 2024, Navalny died after being poisoned with Epibatidine, a toxin from poison dart frogs, Britain and other European allies have said. Russia denied accusations it was behind that death.
The British government said on Monday that those sanctioned were involved in developing the Novichok agent and Epibatidine.
Foreign minister Yvette Cooper said Russia's "repeated use of chemical weapons" was a violation of international law and a threat to global security.
"From the use of Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to Epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine," she added.
Russia's embassy in London said in a post on messaging platform Telegram that it "categorically" rejected such allegations, calling them "slander".
The embassy said the allegations were being used to promote what it described as an imaginary Russian threat and to justify confrontation with Moscow.
Nato readies for a 'big reveal' on arms deals to prove its firepower to Trump
07:55 , Maira ButtNato on Tuesday will showcase a series of new military projects worth billions of dollars in an attempt to convince U.S. President Donald Trump that the allies are stepping up defence spending and converting investment into real firepower.
At an event dubbed the “big reveal,” several leaders are due to announce new deals with defense companies, plenty of them in the United States. Trump has branded Nato a “paper tiger” that would cease to function without American arms and leadership.
NATO readies for a 'big reveal' on arms deals to prove its firepower to Trump
Death toll in Kyiv rises to 28 as Ukraine battles air-defence shortages
07:16 , Arpan RaiRussia hammered Kyiv and the surrounding region with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 28 people and exposing Ukraine's critical shortage of US-made air-defence interceptors, officials said.
Rescuers were digging bodies from the rubble of a Kyiv high-rise ripped open in the overnight bombardment.
At least 18 people were killed in Kyiv, the Emergency Services said on Telegram as search and rescue operations recovered more bodies as crews worked through the night.
Prosecutors said 10 were killed in the wider Kyiv region.
Emergency Services reported repeated explosions and many damaged residential buildings in Vyshneve, outside the capital.
The governor of southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday.
And in Sumy region on the Russian border, where Moscow wants to broaden a buffer zone, the regional governor said two residents died in separate Russian drone strikes.
In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.
A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed mountains of rubble and twisted metal in the multi-storey building whose top floors had been torn open.
Ukraine's military was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, according to air force data, reflecting its increasing vulnerability to Moscow's strikes as stocks of its prized Patriot missiles run out.
Nato to unveil big arms deals in Ankara before summit with Trump
07:14 , Arpan RaiNato leaders plan to unveil arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Ankara today to show they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe before joining president Donald Trump for a summit.
European governments will announce the deals at a Nato defence industry forum before Trump flies in to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join fellow leaders of the military alliance for the summit, which begins with a dinner on Tuesday evening.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Monday Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defence spending in part due to fears of Russia, which have surged since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but also because Trump had been “extremely forceful” in encouraging them to do so.
Trump has long accused European governments of over-relying on the US to defend them through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which has protected the continent since the early years of the Cold War.
“We are now creating an alliance which is sustainable, where the US knows it is a fair deal,” Rutte told reporters in Ankara on the eve of the summit.
Rutte said last month that Nato's European members and Canada spent $90bn more on defence in real terms in 2025 than in 2024, to reach a total of more than $570bn – an increase of around 20 per cent in a single year.
Ukrainian drone attack sparks fire at industrial facility in Russia's Kaluga
06:47 , Arpan RaiSix Ukrainian drones have hit an industrial enterprise in Russia's Kaluga region in southwest of Moscow, causing the facility to catch fire overnight on Tuesday, the regional governor said.
There were no casualties, the governor, Vladislav Shapsha, wrote on Telegram. He did not specify which facility was hit.
Ukraine attacks Moscow with more than 430 drones overnight
06:37 , Arpan RaiRussian air defences detected more than 430 drones heading towards the wider Moscow region overnight, the city's mayor said, adding that most of the drones were neutralised at long-range.
A total of 36 drones were destroyed as they were approaching the Russian capital, which has a population of 13 million, mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on Telegram.
Russia typically reports only how many drones its air defences say they downed, not how many Ukraine launched, and rarely discloses the full extent of damage unless civilians are killed or civilian sites are hit.
Witnesses recount harrowing escape after Kyiv attack
06:21 , Arpan RaiEmergency workers are continuing to search for survivors in the rubble of residential high-rises in two locations that suffered direct hits.
But those who survived the deadly barrage from Russia said they saw a scene of complete destruction.
In Kyiv's suburb of Vyshneve, about 600 residents were evacuated due to the risk of unexploded munitions, Ukraine's emergency service said.
Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, a resident of Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, said she began screaming after the first strike, which was followed by a second blast that blew out the windows in her apartment building.
The lights went out, a burning smell filled the air and the stairwell was thick with smoke.
“When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there,” Piatetska said.
“When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire.”
Halina Ivanivna, 61, said she was awakened by the first strike at about 2am.
Moments later, her apartment building began collapsing around her.
“Everything was falling down,” she said. Water poured through the building as smoke filled the air while emergency crews rushed to evacuate residents.
About five minutes after the initial impact, a second strike hit, she said.
Missile test shows Nato 'can't be naive' about China, Rutte says
05:53 , Arpan RaiThe test-firing by China of a missile from a nuclear-powered submarine into the Pacific on Monday sends a message to Nato, the alliance's secretary general Mark Rutte said.
“This, again, is evidence that we cannot be naive," Rutte told reporters when asked about the Chinese action on the eve of a Nato leaders' summit in Ankara. "And we are not."
Rutte also referred to China's support for Russia as a "key enabler" in its war against Ukraine.
Kremlin says Putin and Trump agreed during weekend call to talk again in 'near future'
05:48 , Arpan RaiThe Kremlin said Russian president Vladimir Putin and US president Donald Trump had agreed in a weekend call that they would talk again "in the near future," suggesting they are likely to talk this week during or after the Nato summit.
Trump is planning to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday in Turkey where he will be attending the Nato summit, a senior US official said on Sunday.
The idea, the official said, was to make a renewed push to end the war in Ukraine. The same official said Trump would likely follow up with Putin after talking to Zelensky.
Asked on Monday if Trump would phone Putin after meeting Zelensky, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Yes, indeed, both president Putin and president Trump have agreed that their contacts will continue in the near future.”
Peskov said Trump had held a pretty consistent position on the conflict in Ukraine.
“You know, president Trump, the US president, has a fairly consistent stance, and all these fabrications about him supposedly changing his views like a weather vane are, of course, untrue," said Peskov.
“He is consistent and confident in his understanding of what is happening, but, most importantly, he (Trump) is open to listening to the information that is conveyed to him by Putin.”
Watch: Rescue operations continue in Kyiv after Putin's deadly attack
05:35 , Arpan RaiDeath toll in Kyiv rises to 28 as Ukraine battles air-defence shortages
05:21 , Arpan RaiRussia hammered Kyiv and the surrounding region with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 28 people and exposing Ukraine's critical shortage of US-made air-defence interceptors, officials said.
Rescuers were digging bodies from the rubble of a Kyiv high-rise ripped open in the overnight bombardment.
At least 18 people were killed in Kyiv, the Emergency Services said on Telegram as search and rescue operations recovered more bodies as crews worked through the night.
Prosecutors said 10 were killed in the wider Kyiv region.
Emergency Services reported repeated explosions and many damaged residential buildings in Vyshneve, outside the capital.
The governor of southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday.
And in Sumy region on the Russian border, where Moscow wants to broaden a buffer zone, the regional governor said two residents died in separate Russian drone strikes.
In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.
A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed mountains of rubble and twisted metal in the multi-storey building whose top floors had been torn open.
Ukraine's military was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, according to air force data, reflecting its increasing vulnerability to Moscow's strikes as stocks of its prized Patriot missiles run out.
US tells Nato that spending must increase ‘immediately’ or alliance will face consequences
04:58 , Arpan RaiThe Trump administration has warned that Nato allies must step up defence spending “immediately” or face the consequences ahead of a summit with the military alliance this week.
Matt Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said on Sunday that some partners were “doing more than others”, and that president Donald Trump expects all to “step up” and honour their commitments.
“Some allies are doing more than others. Poland, the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries lead the way,” he said.
US tells Nato to increase spending ‘immediately’ or face consequences
Kyiv says it is facing interceptor missiles shortage as Russia increases attacks
04:36 , Arpan RaiUkraine’s air force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight into Monday, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.
“To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception,” air force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat said on national television.
“Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world.”
Ukraine’s defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov said Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale unseen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors.
“Fewer such missiles are produced worldwide each month than the enemy fires at Ukraine in that same period,” he said.
Ahead of the Nato summit in Turkey, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had performed well against drones and cruise missiles but not against ballistic missiles — a shortfall he blamed on insufficient supplies of interceptors.
He urged US and European partners at the summit to bolster Ukraine’s air defense and protect civilians.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies’ stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said on X following the attack.
Russia's defence ministry threatened that any increase in the supply of drones, missiles and ammunition produced in the West "will not go unnoticed and will be countered by a corresponding increase in the number and power of retaliatory strikes by the Russian armed forces on Ukrainian territory.”
Trump says Ukraine war is 'getting closer' to settle after talks with Putin and Zelensky
04:19 , Arpan RaiUS president Donald Trump said on Monday that a resolution to the more than four-year-old war in Ukraine is "getting closer than people realise" and that he will talk about Ukraine during talks in Turkey this week at a Nato summit.
“This is one that I think we're getting much closer than people realise. And president Putin wants it to end. I will tell you that very strongly," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump made his remarks after speaking at the weekend with both Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
He gave no specific reason for his assertion that a solution to the conflict was in sight, and overnight Russia hammered Kyiv and the surrounding region with missiles and drones, killing at least 28 people.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he believed the US position on how to resolve the conflict remained unchanged.
But Zelensky, interviewed by the Financial Times, said he believed the US president was viewing the conflict in a new light in view of recent Ukrainian successes.
Trump said he had held a "good call" with Putin on the Fourth of July holiday, a conversation a Kremlin aide said lasted 85 minutes and was marked by the US president offering to help find a way to move towards peace.
“And president Zelensky actually wants it to end now. And we're going to be going to Nato, and we're going to be talking about it, and I think we're going to get it," he said.
“I think we're going to get it ended. It's been a terrible situation." Trump is scheduled to meet Zelensky on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Ankara and a US official said the idea of the talks was to make a renewed push to end the war.
The same official said Trump would likely follow up with Putin after talking to Zelensky.
Norway seeks China's intervention to help bring Russia to Ukraine peace talks
04:08 , Arpan RaiNorway wants China to use its ties to the Russian leadership to help bring about a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraineand improve Beijing's relations with Europe, Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said on Monday.
"China is probably the country with the best and most direct access to the Russian leadership. We expect, hope and strongly urge China to use that channel," he told reporters after meeting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Oslo.
The biggest chunk of their discussion was devoted to Ukraine, Stoere said.
“There is a potential for deeper cooperation between Europe and China, but as long as this war goes on and China is a close partner of Russia, that is a limitation on that opportunity," he added.
Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide, speaking earlier on Monday, said dialogue with China on ending the war had been "constructive and promising".
“I'm not a spokesperson for China. I'm not going to quote them, but there are some hints in what they say,” he said when asked whether China had indicated it would help to bring Russia to the negotiating table.
Norwegian officials said negotiations should begin without conditions, starting with a ceasefire based on the current front line in Ukraine.
“That is, in itself, a major concession from Ukraine's side. It is inside their territory,” Stoere said.
Nato to unveil big arms deals in Ankara before summit with Trump
03:53 , Arpan RaiNato leaders plan to unveil arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Ankara today to show they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe before joining president Donald Trump for a summit.
European governments will announce the deals at a Nato defence industry forum before Trump flies in to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join fellow leaders of the military alliance for the summit, which begins with a dinner on Tuesday evening.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Monday Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defence spending in part due to fears of Russia, which have surged since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but also because Trump had been “extremely forceful” in encouraging them to do so.
Trump has long accused European governments of over-relying on the US to defend them through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which has protected the continent since the early years of the Cold War.
“We are now creating an alliance which is sustainable, where the US knows it is a fair deal,” Rutte told reporters in Ankara on the eve of the summit.
Rutte said last month that Nato's European members and Canada spent $90bn more on defence in real terms in 2025 than in 2024, to reach a total of more than $570bn – an increase of around 20 per cent in a single year.
Nato backs Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PM
03:00 , Bryony Gooch Nato backs Ukraine’s long-range strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PM
Recap: Russia advertises on job website for drone operator to ‘defend Moscow’
02:00 , Bryony Gooch
Russia forced to advertise on job website for drone operators to ‘defend Moscow’
Watch: Rescue operations continue in Kyiv after Putin's deadly attack
01:00 , Bryony GoochRecap: Zelensky demands ‘strong decisions’ at Nato summit after ballistic missiles strike Kyiv
Tuesday 7 July 2026 00:00 , James ReynoldsVolodymyr Zelensky urged Nato allies to make “strong decisions” to stop Russia’s blitz of Ukraine after at least 12 people were killed in heavy strikes in Kyiv on Monday.
Ahead of Tuesday’s summit in Ankara, the Ukrainian president said it was “critically important” that the US and Europe come out of the summit with “strong decisions in support of our air defence, and thus the protection of ordinary people’s lives”.
“As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep ‘vanquishing’ residential buildings. The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror,” he said, as shortages of the US-made interceptors left the Ukrainian capital struggling to defend itself, just days after the deadliest attack this year.
Ukraine's air force data showed it was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia overnight. Russia launched 68 missiles and 351 drones in total, the air force said.
The heavy overnight bombardment came ahead of a NATO summit in Turkey this week, where U.S. President Donald Trump is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a renewed push to end the war, now in its fifth year.
In pictures: Residents reel from Russian strikes near Kyiv on Monday
Monday 6 July 2026 23:00 , James Reynolds
US tells Nato that spending must increase ‘immediately’ or alliance will face consequences
Monday 6 July 2026 22:00 , James ReynoldsThe Trump administration has warned that Nato allies must step up defence spending “immediately” or face the consequences ahead of a summit with the military alliance this week.
Matt Whitaker, the US ambassador to Nato, said on Sunday that some partners were “doing more than others”, and that president Donald Trump expects all to “step up” and honour their commitments.
“Some allies are doing more than others. Poland, the Nordic countries, the Baltic countries lead the way,” he said.
Read the full story:
US tells Nato to increase spending ‘immediately’ or face consequences
Death toll in Kyiv region rises to 26
Monday 6 July 2026 21:48 , Bryony GoochAt least 26 people have been killed in the Kyiv region as part of Russia’s latest bombardment.
Russian strikes killed at least 16 in the capital, with 10 dead in wider Kyiv region, officials said on Telegram as search and rescue operations proceeded.
Emergency Services reported repeated explosions and many damaged residential buildings in Vyshneve, outside the capital.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia region in southeast Ukraine said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday. In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.
A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed mountains of rubble and twisted metal in the multi-storey building whose top floors had been torn open.
