Saturday, July 5 news on the conflict in Ukraine, live: the Ukrainian attack on a Russian military base and Moscow's attack on Ukrainian cities; Trump's words on Thursday's phone call with Putin; European efforts to support Kiev

• It's the 1,227th day of war in Ukraine
• Russia continues to bomb Ukrainian cities: over 320 drones were launched on the night between Friday and Saturday. Ukraine said today that it had hit a major military base on Russian territory.
  
• Trump said he was very dissatisfied with Thursday's phone call with Putin. In recent days, however, the United States has cut its military supplies to Ukraine.

20:22 | July 05

Zelensky: Last conversation with Trump was the best and most productive

The last conversation with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, was probably the best and most productive in all this time. This was stated in a video message by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to yesterday's phone call with the head of the White House. Patriots are the key to protection from ballistic missiles, Zelensky stressed.

20:21|July 5

Russia: Ukrainian drones intercepted over Moscow

The Russian military destroyed 48 Ukrainian military drones on its territory between 1:50 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Moscow time (an hour earlier in Italy), the Russian Defense Ministry said, according to Interfax. Five of the drones were flying over the Moscow region. Two were flying toward Moscow, the ministry said.

18:21|July 5

Zelensky: Let's increase joint production of weapons with our allies

We are increasing joint production of weapons with our allies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a post on X, confirming that this week we reached an agreement with an American company for the production of drones and another agreement was concluded with Denmark for the first co-production of weapons for Ukraine abroad.

17:01|July 5

Media: Italian who fought for Ukrainians killed in Sumy

Thomas D’Alba, a 40-year-old Italian originally from Legnano who had served in the Folgore and then left his job as a musician to go and fight with the Ukrainians, died in battle. Vladislav Maistrouk, a Ukrainian digital creator and activist, who knew him and had recently met him, reported the news on social media. Thomas was a kind and brave man, an Italian. He fell in battle, in the Sumy region, defending Ukraine and Europe, Maistrouk writes.

Kiev, Russian forces continue attacks on Sumy

Russian troops continue to attempt to break through Ukrainian defenses in the Sumy region using small assault group tactics, the spokesman for the State Border Service Andriy Demchenko said, as reported by RBC-Ukraine. According to Demchenko, the Russian Federation has concentrated its efforts on a small section of the border, namely within the communities of Khotyn and Yunakiv in the Sumy region, but Moscow's strategy, however, does not bring results: the enemy loses dozens of killed and wounded every day, Demchenko said.

14:38|July 5

Media: Moscow Irritated by Pezeshkian's Visit to Azerbaijan

Russia has expressed strong, albeit unofficial, criticism of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s visit to Azerbaijan amid an ongoing diplomatic crisis between Moscow and Baku. According to unofficial sources in the country, Kremlin and Foreign Ministry sources, Channel 12 reports, have expressed deep disappointment with the Iranian move, claiming that it raises doubts about Tehran’s strategic loyalty. It is impossible for Tehran to continue to behave as an ally and at the same time choose to get closer to a country that is deepening its relations with our enemies, such as President Zelensky, who has suddenly become a close friend of Baku, Kremlin and Russian Foreign Ministry sources said.

12:03|July 5

Where are we now in Ukraine?

(Luca Angelini) The telephone conversation that the President of the United States had yesterday with the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky lasted 40 minutes. We discussed the air defense options and agreed to work to increase the protection of the airspace, he tries to reassure the Ukrainian president by talking about an important and fruitful conversation and posting a photograph on X in which he appears smiling.

According to the Axios website, Trump in fact assured that the United States wants to help Kiev in air defense. And this is also the direction taken by Giorgia Meloni, who after having spoken with Trump yesterday explains: The United States has not stopped supplying weapons and support to Ukraine, they have reviewed the decision to supply specific components. (Here is Francesco Verderami’s Settegiorni column, dedicated to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s balancing act between Washington and Kiev).

It’s a bit of oxygen for the Ukrainians who have been put to the test by the latest developments – comments Marta Serafini -. The call comes after the previous day’s call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the Kremlin reiterated that “Russia will continue to pursue its objectives” in the war against Ukraine, despite US requests for a ceasefire. But above all the exchanges follow the Pentagon’s decision to suspend shipments of key weapons systems to Ukraine, including Patriot missiles and precision-guided artillery shells. A delay that – warns Kiev – puts Moscow at an advantage and endangers human lives.

In fact, last night, in their strategy to increase pressure on civilians, Russian forces launched a record 550 bombs, including over 330 Iranian-style Shahed drones and several types of missiles, including ballistic missiles. In addition to Kiev, where a Polish embassy building was damaged as well as residential buildings, schools, medical facilities and railway infrastructure, the oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Kiev were also hit. A new attack occurred on the night between Friday and Saturday.

Something, reports Francesca Basso, is also moving in Europe. Berlin said yesterday that it was considering purchasing Patriot anti-aircraft defense systems from the US for Ukraine. The German government spokesman said that intense discussions were underway on the matter and that the problem was urgent and that the night between Thursday and Friday had further aggravated it. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius will travel to Washington in mid-July. According to the German newspaper Bild, Berlin has made an offer to the United States regarding two Patriot systems and is waiting for a response. Kiev is also trying to buy American Patriots from the United States, but without success. In mid-April, Zelensky said he was ready to buy at least 10 of them. In addition, at the end of May, Germany, which is the second largest supplier of weapons to Ukraine after the Americans, announced a memorandum of understanding with Kiev for the purchase and development of long-range missiles (after never sending the promised Taurus), made by Ukrainian manufacturers in their homeland and partly also on German soil. Instead, at the last NATO summit, Denmark and Ukraine signed an agreement that will allow Ukrainian defense companies to start production in Denmark. It remains to be seen how many EU countries will follow suit.

11:14 AM|July 5

Kiev, two dead in yesterday's attacks on the capital

The death toll from the very heavy attack - with fighter jets and ballistic missiles - launched by Russia on Kiev, on the night between Thursday and Friday, has risen to two.

The announcement was made by the mayor of Kiev Vitaliy Klitschko: Today, a 25-year-old man in serious condition died in a hospital in the capital, he said. 

10:25 AM|July 5

Trump: Very Unhappy With Putin Call

US President Donald Trump has been forced to admit that his phone call with Vladimir Putin on Thursday - in which he spoke about Iran, but also Ukraine - was largely unsatisfactory.

It's a very difficult situation. I told you I was very unhappy with my phone call with President Putin. He wants to go all the way, to continue killing, that's not good enough, he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

The tycoon also hinted that he may finally be ready to tighten sanctions against Russia, after having postponed for the past six months his attempt to convince Putin to end the war. We talk a lot about sanctions, Trump said. He understands that they could come.​

​The phone call with Putin came after the announcement of a halt to some US military supplies to Ukraine, and was followed by a phone call between Trump and Zelensky, on Friday, which the Ukrainian leader described as very important and productive

9:24 AM|July 5

Kiev, Russian military airport hit, fighter base

Special operations forces units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said they struck Borisoglebsk airport in the Voronezh region of Russia.

This is a military base of great importance, according to Ukrainian authorities: Russian Su-34, Su-35S and Su-30SM fighters are based there.

According to the Ukrainian General Staff, a guided bomb depot, a combat training aircraft and probably other aircraft were hit.

In recent days, Russia has continued to increase the number of night attacks on Ukrainian cities, while the military offensive on the front seems to be stalling.

On the night from Friday to Saturday alone, Moscow fired 322 drones; and waves of drones and missiles targeted Kiev overnight and into Friday, in the largest air strike since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, killing one person and wounding at least 26 others.

8:25 AM|July 5

Moscow: 94 Kiev drones neutralized overnight

A total of 94 Ukrainian drones were intercepted and neutralized in Russian regions between 11 p.m. on July 4 and 7 a.m. on July 5, the Russian Defense Ministry said. A total of 34 drones launched by the Armed Forces of Ukraine were neutralized in the Voronezh region, 11 in the Bryansk region, and nine each in the Belgorod and Saratov regions, the ministry said in a statement. Another eight Ukrainian drones were neutralized in the Novgorod region and six in the Kursk region, the statement said. Three drones were shot down each in the Leningrad and Oryol regions, and two each in the Rostov, Smolensk and Ryazan regions and in the Chuvashia Republic, it added. One Ukrainian drone was neutralized in the Moscow area and in the Penza and Tula regions, it said.

8:24 AM|July 5

Russian Drone Raids Across the Country, in Kherson and the East: Several Casualties

Russian drone strikes against civilian targets also in the Kherson region. According to the governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, several people were injured. In addition to residential buildings, gas stations, an office and a car were hit. Also hit in the east was the city of Chuhuiv, where at least three people were injured, including a 12-year-old boy. Sirens also sounded during the night in Kiev, in the regions of Sumy, Donetsk and Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhzhia.

The idea of the EU countries, Germany in the lead: buy the Patriots from the Americans and then give them to Kiev

By Francesca Basso, correspondent for Ahrus

​The unpredictable behavior of US President Donald Trump, who announced on Thursday the suspension of the supply of some weapons to Ukraine, forces the European Union to accelerate not only the construction of the European pillar of NATO but also its aid to Kiev. The sense of urgency is shared at European level but always struggles to translate into practice. Denmark, which took over the leadership of the Council of the EU on July 1, has put the rearmament of the Union at the top of its priorities.​

​Continue reading here the full article.

7:41 AM|July 5

Trump, a very strategic phone call with Zelensky

Donald Trump called his phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday a highly strategic one, as concerns mounted in Kiev over the delivery of US military aid. Zelensky had earlier said the two leaders had agreed to work to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses, following Russia's largest drone and missile strike to date. Trump said he also discussed sending Patriot interceptor missiles to Ukraine in a separate call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday, although he had not yet agreed. Merz believes they need to be protected, Trump said.

6:36 AM|July 5

Moscow: 460 Ukrainian soldiers killed in 24 hours

Russia says it killed about 500 Ukrainian soldiers yesterday alone. Alexander Savchuk, a spokesman for the tactical group, told Tass that 460 soldiers had been killed. Two armored fighting vehicles, five motor vehicles and two guns were destroyed, he said. The battlegroup fighters also struck formations

of three Ukrainian mechanized brigades, a hunter brigade and an airborne brigade, two territorial defense brigades, a

marine brigade, two assault regiments and a National Guard brigade in the areas of Krasnoarmeysk, Dimitrov, Boykovka, Petrovskoye, Novopavlovka, Dachnoye and Grodovka. Another 60 Ukrainian soldiers are reported to have died in the Dnieper, where a territorial defense brigade and a coastal defense brigade were hit in the areas of Antonovka, Novoandreyevka,Malaya Tokmachka, Tokarevka and Sadovoye.

5:38 AM|July 5

Trump: Putin worried about possible sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin is worried about possible sanctions, Donald Trump said, Bloomberg reported.

3:21 AM|July 5

Raids on civilians and slowdown at the front, this is how the Tsar tries to bend the Ukrainians

by Marta Serafini

​

The Ukrainian president's top advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, is not a man who lets himself get too upset. But when he says that any phone call between Trump and Putin now inevitably translates into a massive demonstration bombing of Kiev, with enormous destruction, he is not far from the truth. Putin — writes Podolyak — uses these conversations to publicly humiliate the other side, that is Kiev, and to appear stronger than he actually is. What Podolyak cannot allow himself to say is that the Russian president is adopting this strategy because Trump is allowing it.

This is certainly not the first time that civilian targets in the capital have been bombed. We remember massacres in October 2022 (8 dead, a playground was also hit), in October 2023 (33 victims in a subway stop) and last July (22 dead in a raid on a pediatric hospital). Furthermore, for a long time, the Army forces have made raids on the country's energy infrastructure the linchpin of their strategy of aggression, leaving the main cities in darkness and freezing temperatures for days and weeks.

​

3:20 | July 5

Wang to EU: China cannot accept Russia losing

China cannot accept Russia losing in Ukraine, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, a source familiar with the talks in Brussels said. Wednesday's meeting lasted four hours and featured tough but respectful exchanges, covering a wide range of issues from cybersecurity and rare earths to trade imbalances, Taiwan and the Middle East, the official said.

Wang's remarks, which appear to contradict China's long-standing claim to be"neutral" in the conflict, suggest Beijing may prefer a prolonged war in Ukraine that prevents the United States from focusing on its rivalry with China, the source said. And they echo the concerns of critics of Chinese policy, according to whom Beijing has much higher geopolitical stakes in the Ukrainian conflict than its position of supposed neutrality.

Asked for a comment on the revelations by the South China Morning Post, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning simply replied: China is not a party to the Ukrainian dossier. China's position on the Ukrainian crisis is objective and consistent, and that is that there must be negotiations, a ceasefire and peace. A prolonged Ukrainian crisis is in no one's interest. And then: Together with the international community and in light of the will of the parties concerned, we will continue to play a constructive role in this regard.

2:42 AM|July 4th

Blackout alert at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Moscow and Kiev exchange accusations

The head of the International Nuclear Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi,

has warned that the blackout at Ukraine's

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in a disputed region, is making the security situation extremely precarious. At 4:56 p.m. yesterday, for the ninth time since the conflict began, and the first since the end of 2023, the plant lost its connection

to the electricity grid and is being powered by emergency diesel generators, the UN agency said. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of damaging the plant in a drone strike and called on Grossi to condemn what she called the Kiev regime's criminal actions. Ukraine, which during the Soviet era was the scene of the radiation leak from the Chernobyl power plant, for its part claims that Moscow is endangering the safety of the Zaporizhzhia plant during military operations.

July 5, 02:42 - Updated July 5, 20:22