Daily Briefing

Key Takeaways

• General Mykhailo Drapatyi officially replaces Oleksandr Syrskyi as Ukraine's Commander-in-Chief today — the most significant command change since the full-scale invasion began, confirmed by 26 corroborated sources.
• Russia launched a massive overnight strike on Ukraine: 1 Iskander-M ballistic missile, 3 Kh-59/69 cruise missiles, and 216 Shahed-type drones; Ukrainian air defenses neutralized 204 drones and all 3 cruise missiles, but 12 drones and the ballistic missile struck 12 locations causing casualties in Kyiv Oblast, Odesa Oblast, and Kherson.
• Ukrainian drones struck Wildberries logistics warehouses in Krasnodar and Nevinnomyssk (Stavropol Krai) overnight, killing 1 and wounding 10 in Krasnodar Krai; a state of emergency was declared in Nevinnomyssk — the latest in a sustained campaign against Russian rear-area logistics.
• A Ukrainian F-16 shot down a Russian Su-35 in air-to-air combat — the first such kill confirmed by US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine — marking a milestone for Ukraine's F-16 program.
• Secret Germany-Russia back-channel talks on ending the war were held in Baku on July 12–14, confirmed by Azerbaijani President Aliyev; no results disclosed.