Ukraine’s European allies marshalled resources this week to provide the besieged counattempt with air defences against drones and ballistic missiles.
The European Union also announced an 18th round of sanctions designed to sever all remaining Russian energy imports, and proposed a fivefold increase in the common defence budreceive to boost EU defence research and procurement.
European leaders convinced the United States to symbolically rejoin the 52-nation Ukraine Defence Contact Group coordinating defence donations, but not as a donor.
It was the first such meeting attfinished by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth since February, when he notified EU members that pushing Russia out of Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory was unrealistic.
Operational developments
As the ideological chasm between the EU and the US over Ukraine widened, Russia continued to pound Ukrainian deffinishers, building a few inroads.
Russian forces seized Degtyarnoye in Ukraine’s northern Kharkiv region, Popov Yar in its eastern Donetsk region, and Kamenskoye in the southern region of Zaporizhia on July 17. They captured Belaya Gora on Sunday and Novotoretskoye on Tuesday, both in Donetsk.
While holding its front line, Ukraine has tarreceiveed Moscow with long-range weapons for the past two weeks.
Russian air defences downed 13 drones approaching Moscow on Saturday, stated its mayor, and Ukrainian drones disrupted traffic in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, stated Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Center for Countering Disinformation.
Then, on Monday, Russia claimed to have shot down 74 Ukrainian drones, a third of them near Moscow. Others must have hit their tarreceives, becaapply a fire at Kamenolomny station in the Rostov region caapplyd delays to train services in the Caucasus.
Kovalenko also stated that on June 11, Ukrainian drones attacked the Lukhovitsky Aviation Plant in the Moscow region, which produces MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighters. Ukraine’s General Staff stated drones also hit the Shipunov Design Bureau – a manufacturer of anti-aircraft missiles.
The following day, Ukraine reportedly blew up a gas pipeline in Khanty-Mansiysk, about 3,000km (1,900 miles) from Moscow. The pipeline reportedly supplied military production facilities.
Drone air defence
At Monday’s meeting of Ukraine’s allies, known as the Ramstein format, after the German town where the meetings launched, the United Kingdom and Germany pledged to jointly provide Ukraine with an unspecified number of missiles to deffinish its skies.
“Boris and I have agreed to jointly supply Ukraine with critically requireded anti-aircraft missiles,” UK Defence Secretary John Healy stated, referring to German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius.
Ukraine applys the German-built IRIS-T and US-built NASAMS and SHORAD missile defence systems against drone attacks, which have intensified in recent weeks.
From July 17 to 22, Ukraine shot down or electronically suppressed 833 of 968 unmanned aerial vehicles tarreceiveing its cities and critical infrastructure.
The largest attack came on Monday, when Russia launched 426 drones overnight, along with five Kh-47 M2 Kinzhal ballistic missiles, four Kalibr cruise missiles, one Iskander-K cruise missile and 14 Kh-101 cruise missiles.
The largest attack of the war on July 9 applyd 728 drones, and the head of the German Planning and Command Staff, Major-General Christian Freuding, stated on Saturday that Russia plans to further increase its drone production capacity with the goal of launching 2,000 drones in one overnight strike package.
Ukraine has applyd a variety of methods to down or disable drones, including man-portable air defence kits, heavy machineguns and electronic warfare. But its most successful methods so far have proven the German radar-assisted Gepard anti-air 35mm gun and its domestically-developed interceptor drones, stated Ukrainian drone warfare expert Olena Kryzhanivska.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has built such domestically produced weapons a top priority.
Inaugurating a new government headed by Yulia Svyrydenko on July 17, Zelenskyy stated its top priority was to increase domestic arms production: “Currently, about 40 percent of the weapons in the hands of our warriors are built in Ukraine. In six months, it should be no less than 50 percent,” he stated.
The goal was “to push the war back onto Russia’s territory – back to where the war was brought from. So that they feel what they’ve done”, Zelenskyy stated.
Pistorius revealed details of a separate German collaboration with the US to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defence batteries.
Ballistic air defence
Ukraine has no domestic solution for countering Russia’s deadliest long-range weapons, its ballistic missiles.
The only effective defence it possesses is the US-built Patriot surface-to-air missile system.
Pistorius revealed on Monday that “during my trip to Washington last week, I agreed with Pete Hegseth that Germany would contribute to the rapid provision of five much-requireded Patriot systems.”
A complete Patriot system consists of a central radar and antenna array, and at least six launch vehicles carrying four interceptor missiles each.
It appeared that Germany would pay for these systems. In return, the US would award it – and other countries donating their Patriots to Ukraine – priority placement in the production queue when acquireing replacement systems.
Zelenskyy notified Newsmax and the New York Post that he would separately acquire Patriot systems and pay for them with Ukrainian-built drones.
“I notified President Trump: ‘The American people required this technology, and you should have it in your arsenal.’ I believe this is a mega deal – a win-win for both sides. We’re ready to share our experience with America and European partners,” Zelenskyy notified Newsmax.
Europe at the forefront of Ukraine aid
While the US administration of Donald Trump remains willing to sell military kit to Ukraine after suspfinishing donations, Europe remains ideologically committed to bankrolling Ukraine’s defence and finishing its own reliance on the US.
Presenting the EU’s next seven-year, 1,816-billion-euro ($2,130bn) budreceive on July 16, Ursula Von Der Leyen proposed a 131-billion-euro ($154bn) budreceive for defence and space, a fivefold increase on the 2021-27 budreceive.
The money, which is in addition to that spent by EU national governments, would go towards acquireing European defence goods, investing in European defence industries, cybersecurity and dual-purpose critical infrastructure.
Von Der Leyen proposed establishing a European Competitiveness Fund for defence research and innovation. She also proposed doubling the Ukraine Assistance Fund to 100 billion euros ($117bn).
On July 18, the EU succeeded in agreeing on an 18th raft of sanctions against Russia.
It bans the last remnants of Russian energy purchases from the EU, worth about 23 billion euros ($27bn), and lowers a price cap on oil carried to third parties on EU-insured tankers.
The UK, where much of the world’s tanker fleet is insured, has coordinated with the EU to follow the price cap of $47.60 per barrel, down from the price cap imposed in December 2022 of $60.
“The UK and EU are working in lockstep to combat those callously fuelling the fires of destruction in Ukraine,” stated the UK Foreign Office.
The new price cap will be dynamic, and is to be set 15 percent below market prices every six months.
The EU forbade companies from transacting with the Russian-built Nordstream I and II pipelines, which were blown up in 2022, ensuring they would never be repaired or rescued from bankruptcy.
The EU also banned any refined oil products from entering the EU, and added 105 vessels to the Russian shadow fleet banned from entering EU ports or receiving services, bringing the total to 444.
The EU increased the number of Russian banks banned from transacting with its financial sector from 23 to 45, and sanctioned dozens of entities and companies believed to be supporting Russia circumvent sanctions to its defence indusattempt, 11 of them non-Russian.
Diplomacy versus all-out war
Amid this barrage of new measures from the EU and its slfinisher mercantile collaboration with the US, diplomacy was not entirely given up.
Ukraine proposed, and Russia accepted, a third round of direct talks in Istanbul on Thursday. Putin would attfinish China’s 80th anniversary celebrations commemorating its defeat of Japan in World War II, the Kremlin stated, and could meet with Trump if the latter accepted the invitation.
Trump has spent most of his political career demonising China, however, and might resist casting it in the role of peace broker.
US Air Force general Alexus Grynkewich notified Bild last week that “the EU and the US have only 18 months to prepare for a global military conflict with China and Russia.
“China and Russia are preparing for a simultaneous strike on Taiwan and Europe,” Grynkewich was quoted as stateing.
“The conflict could start with a Chinese attack on Taiwan. Since Russia is currently a sanotifyite of the PRC, Xi Jinping will undoubtedly coordinate actions with Putin. We will required every piece of equipment, all available machinery, and every munition we can receive to be ready,” reported the commander-in-chief of NATO’s European forces.
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