A leaked recording reveals Donald Trump claimed he had warned Vladimir Putin over any attack on Ukraine. Meanwhile, Moscow launches a barrage of strikes on Kyiv overnight. Follow the latest below.
Thursday 10 July 2025 13:52, UK
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Germany is prepared to buy Patriot air defence systems from the US and provide them to Ukraine, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said.
“We are also prepared to purchase additional Patriot systems from the US to make them available to Ukraine,” Merz said at the Ukraine Recovery Conference today.
Merz said he asked Donald Trump last week to deliver the Patriots, adding: “The Americans need some of them themselves, but they also have a lot of them.
“It has not yet been finalised whether a delivery will be made.”
The US-made Patriot air defence systems are a core part of the air defences of the US and a number of other NATO allies.
In December, the US agreed to send a Patriot system to Ukraine but experts said it would take months to train soldiers and would need around 90 troops to operate it.
The system is also only able to cover a relatively small area, meaning Ukraine cannot use it to defend the whole of its territory – rather a strategic target.
As we have been reporting today, Russia has launched yet another large-scale drone attack on Ukraine.
This came after they conducted the largest combined drone and missile strike of the war on Tuesday night, with 741 total drones and missiles sent to Ukraine.
Looking at the barrage of drones and missiles being fired at Ukraine, military analysts have told The New York Times they “expect Russia to routinely launch more than 1,000 drones per strike by autumn”.
The predictions further strengthen Volodymyr Zelenkyy’s calls for more air defence systems and missiles for his country.
Last night, Russia pounded the Ukrainian capital with another major missile and drone attack, killing at least two people and causing fires across Kyiv a day after the heaviest drone attack of the war so far.
Russia fired 397 Shahed and decoy drones along with cruise and ballistic missiles at Kyiv and five other regions, authorities said.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, who is among those present at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, has survived a vote of no confidence at the European Parliament.
Away from the conference in Rome, an overwhelming number of European Union legislators have rejected a censure motion against her.
The motion contained a mix of allegations against the EU chief, including text messaging privately with the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the pandemic, misuse of EU funds and interference in elections in Germany and Romania.
The motion was defeated in a 360-175 vote, with 18 legislators choosing to abstain during a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Marco Rubio has just been speaking in Malaysia following a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
The US secretary of state says he had a “frank, important conversation” with Lavrov, stressing that Washington “needs to see a roadmap” on how the war in Ukraine can end.
Rubio said Donald Trump was disappointed there had not been “more flexibility” on the Russian side over Ukraine.
“We understand these things take time and patience, but we’re frustrated more progress hasn’t been made,” he said.
Rubio added that Russia had offered a “new and a different approach” during talks today, without expanding on what it included.
“I wouldn’t characterise it as something that guarantees peace, but it’s a concept I will take back to the president today,” he said.
Here are the latest images from Kyiv.
Ukrainian authorities say at least two people have been killed and 22 injured by Russia’s overnight drone and missile attacks.
Britain will sign a defence agreement with Ukraine involving the supply of more than 5,000 air defence missiles, the UK government has announced.
The government also said it would supply up to £283m in bilateral assistance to Ukraine over the next year.
Around 200 British jobs will be created and another 700 safeguarded as part of the major defence deal between the UK and Ukraine, which will be signed at Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC).
The UK will also provide up to £10.5m for the Governance Reform Programme.
Donald Trump once threatened to “bomb the shit out of Moscow” if Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, according to new leaked audio.
The US leader made the comments during a private gathering of donors last year as he campaigned for a second term in office, according to audio provided to CNN.
“With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the shit out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice,” Trump said.
“And then [Putin] goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he believed me 10%.”
The leaked audio was published by CNN after being obtained by the authors of a forthcoming book that chronicles Trump’s return to power.
The US president later claimed that he issued a similar warning to Chinese President Xi Jinping if Beijing was to invade its neighbour Taiwan.
During her address, Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska told leaders that the country has already built 15 underground schools out of a planned 200.
“Russia deliberately targets our educational institutions, having already destroyed 394 facilities and damaged more than 3,500,” she said.
“I want to especially thank every international partner who helps us provide education to children.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s wife has just left the stage at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
Olena Zelenska said nothing will bring back the lives that have been taken by Russia since the war began and that many Ukrainians “live in anxiety and fear, knowing they could be next”.
“According to the latest sociological studies, more than 80% of Ukrainians are living in a chronic state of stress and strain,” she said.
“We have many internet memes about this. The kind where after yet another shelling people write in work chats, ‘survived – so I am going to go to work today’.
“Our economy continues to function thanks to millions of people who go to work after spending their nights in basements.”
But she added the emotions Ukrainians carry are “fatigue and despair”.
As Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke just now in Rome, the Kremlin insisted that it still wants to achieve its goals in Ukraine through peaceful political and diplomatic means.
Zelenskyy has accused Moscow of stalling peace talks and feigning its readiness for a ceasefire with its ongoing strikes across Ukraine.
Speaking this morning, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia does not think peace talks have stalled and that Moscow is waiting for Ukraine to give it a signal about whether it’s ready to start the third round of talks.
The first high-level talks between Russia and Ukraine since the early months of Moscow’s invasion in 2022, kicked off in May in Istanbul.
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