Daily Briefing

Key Takeaways

• Russia launched a mass overnight strike on Ukraine (July 25–26) deploying 136 UAVs, 7 ballistic missiles, and a Kh-59/69 cruise missile; Ukrainian air defenses intercepted 104/136 drones and 5/7 ballistic missiles, but hits were confirmed in Kyiv (3 districts, 3 injured), Kryvyi Rih (Epicenter shopping center ablaze), and a Palau-flagged grain ship near Odesa's Chornomorsk port.
• Ukraine's SBU struck Rostov-on-Don military targets (S-400 radar, Tor-M2, EW complex, FPV warehouses) and Caspian Sea vessels overnight July 25 — including sanctioned cargo ships used in Iran-Russia military logistics — triggering an Iranian diplomatic protest, a threat of retaliation, and a claim that all Ukrainian territory is within range of Iranian ballistic missiles (6 sources corroborated).
• Kazakhstan's President Tokayev told Putin directly at the Omsk interregional forum to 'stop and freeze' the war and floated an 'Istanbul Formula 2.0' ceasefire framework — the most direct public pressure on Moscow from a close partner in months (24 sources corroborated).
• Trump and Zelensky are scheduled to meet in Washington on July 28; separately, the Trump administration warned Kyiv against striking non-Russian vessels in the Black Sea after Ukrainian drones hit a Chevron-chartered tanker near Novorossiysk.
• Russia's week-long drone campaign against Wildberries logistics hubs has destroyed ~10% of the company's national capacity across St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Simferopol, and Nevinnomyssk, while Ukraine's deep-strike campaign hit the Tyumen oil refinery twice and Russian energy/military infrastructure in Belgorod, Engels, and Crimea.