Donald Trump has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy not to target Moscow with strikes. Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte has urged China, India and Brazil to call Vladimir Putin and demand he make peace in Ukraine. Follow the latest below.
Tuesday 15 July 2025 21:30, UK
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These pictures show anti-drone nets in the city of Orikhiv in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.
Drone and missile attacks from Russia have become a regular occurrence, with Moscow stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities recently.
Donald Trump says he believed he had managed to get a peace deal for Ukraine “about four times”, only for Russian strikes to “keep going on and on”.
It’s led the US president to decide to send more anti-air defence systems to Ukraine in a bid to slow down Russia’s onslaught.
Moscow has ramped up the scale of its aerial attacks on Ukraine in the past few months, breaking its record for the most number of missiles and drones launched in one night several times.
In fact, all of Russia’s largest aerial attacks on Ukraine have come since the beginning of June.
Here they are in order:
It would be “very dangerous” if Donald Trump supported Ukrainian strikes against Moscow or St Petersburg, a former adviser to Vladimir Putin has said.
Speaking to Sky News chief presenter Mark Austin after the US president said he would sell weapons to NATO to give to Ukraine, Sergei Markov said Trump was giving the weapons on condition they would not be used in strikes on Moscow.
He said it was “clear Donald Trump was stopping the possibility of nuclear war between the two superpowers”.
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that Trump had asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether Kyiv could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons (see 10.50 post).
Asked if he thought there would be a ceasefire soon, Markov said only if the Russian army is successful will a ceasefire happen.
He said Russia supports a ceasefire, but only if it includes promises from the British and French governments not to send troops to Ukrainian territory.
Donald Trump’s important announcement on Russia and Ukraine yesterday represented a change in his underlying attitude to the war, Sky’s military analyst Professor Michael Clarke says.
The US president threatened “severe” tariffs on Moscow and announced a deal to send weapons to Ukraine via NATO.
But how effective will the weapons be? And will Russia be able to use Trump’s 50-day deadline to wiggle out of the sanctions?
Watch Clarke explain the deal and its potential ramifications in the video below:
Ukraine has withdrawn from a treaty banning anti-personnel mines, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced.
It came after 305 politicians voted in favour of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, while 40 abstained and none voted against, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The Ukrainian president said: “The measures regarding the use of certain types of weapons, including anti-personnel landmines, will help us achieve at least parity in the forces and capabilities required to defend against Russian aggression.
“Russia has never been a party to the Ottawa Convention and has never taken honest steps within any disarmament policy or more humane practices in weapons use.”
For context: Russia has used anti-personnel mines extensively in the areas of Ukraine where its forces have been operating.
Several countries bordering Russia, including Finland, Poland and the three ex-Soviet Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have either withdrawn from the convention already or indicated their intention to do so.
They have said withdrawing from the treaty would provide their forces with “flexibility and freedom of choice” to use new weapons systems, including anti-personnel mines, to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.
Donald Trump has said Volodymyr Zelenskyy should not target Moscow with strikes after announcing more weapons would be sent to Ukraine and toughened his stance on Russia.
His comments come after the Financial Times reported that Trump had asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether Kyiv could strike Moscow if the US provided long-range weapons (see 10.50 post).
Speaking before leaving the White House a moment ago, Trump said he’s “going to see what happens with President Putin” after issuing Moscow a 50-day ultimatum to agree a peace deal or face “severe” tariffs. He said so far he has been “very disappointed” with the Russian leader.
Asked if he was on Ukraine’s side now, he replied “I’m on nobody’s side”, adding he is on “humanity’s side” and saying: “I want to stop the killing of thousands of people a week.”
NATO boss Mark Rutte has warned India, China and Brazil they could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continue to trade with Russia, urging them to call Vladimir Putin to demand an end to the war in Ukraine.
He made the remarks a day after Donald Trump threatened “biting” secondary tariffs of 100% on the buyers of Russian exports unless Moscow makes peace in Ukraine within 50 days.
Speaking in a meeting with senators in the US Congress, Rutte said: “My encouragement to these three countries is… you might want to take a look into this because this might hit you very hard.
“Please make a phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him he needs to get serious about peace talks.”
We’ve had some more information on the aftermath of Ukraine’s overnight drone strikes on southwestern Russian regions.
Russian governors claim 18 people were wounded and several houses damaged during the attacks in Voronezh, Lipetsk and Bryansk.
Moscow’s defence ministry says it destroyed 55 Ukrainian drones overnight, with Alexander Gusev, governor of Voronezh , adding 12 were shot down over the region.
Sixteen people, including a teenager, were injured in the attack, he added.
In the city of Yelets in the Lipetsk region, a drone crashed in an industrial zone, injuring one person, regional governor Igor Artamonov said on Telegram.
In the Bryansk region, a woman was injured in a drone attack on the village of Sluchevsk, the regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
China has reportedly vowed to increase its support for Russia after Donald Trump threatened to impose “severe” tariffs if Moscow does not bring its war in Ukraine to an end within 50 days.
President Xi Jinping said Beijing and Moscow should “strengthen mutual support on multilateral forums” after he held a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in the Chinese capital, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.
Earlier, we brought you comments from our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke on how Trump’s tariffs threat could affect countries that purchase Russian fuel, such as China and India (see 12.05pm post).
He said it could add another level of pressure on Moscow to agree to peace.
The EU’s foreign policy chief has said she is “really sad” after the bloc failed to approve new sanctions on Russia today.
Speaking after a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels, Kaja Kallas said the ball is in Slovakia’s court after it requested a delay in a vote on the fresh package of sanctions.
Slovakia has been blocking the package over its disagreement with a separate proposal to end all imports of Russian gas from 2028.
While the plan is unrelated to the latest sanctions package, Slovakia has connected the two issues. Bratislava is still heavily reliant on Russia for energy supplies and has argued a ban on imports would hurt its economy.
Kallas said she hopes they will be able to reach a decision on the sanctions tomorrow.
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