Ukrainian president to press Trump on Patriot missiles amid Russian onslaught

President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska have arrived in the Turkish capital for a two-day NATO summit that is expected to be dominated by discussions of Ukraine's urgent air defence needs and the broader trajectory of the war with Russia. The first day's proceedings are scheduled to commence with the NATO Defence Industry Forum, at which Secretary-General Mark Rutte is due to deliver the keynote address, followed by a brief joint statement from Rutte and Zelensky, with an official reception and dinner for heads of state and government and their spouses planned for the evening. Concurrent sessions of the Ukraine-NATO Council at foreign ministerial level and a meeting of Alliance defence ministers with representatives from Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia are also on the agenda, ahead of the main session of the North Atlantic Council scheduled for 8 July at 11:45.

Among the 32 leaders of NATO member states attending the summit is President Donald Trump, whose presence is set against a backdrop of sustained American pressure on European allies to increase defence spending and months of transatlantic tensions over issues including Greenland and the war in Iran, according to Reuters. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine is expected to feature prominently in the leaders' deliberations, having been underscored by a series of massive Russian strikes on Kyiv in the days preceding the summit, which employed dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, including Tsirkon hypersonic weapons, and hundreds of drones. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, speaking on the morning of 6 July following the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital, confirmed that Ukraine's need for additional air defence systems and the urgent reinforcement of its missile defence capabilities would be discussed in Ankara.

A bilateral meeting between Presidents Zelensky and Trump is scheduled for 8 July at 14:30 Kyiv time, according to the White House, and is expected to last approximately one hour, taking place after the NATO Council session. The Ukrainian leader is anticipated to raise the critical shortage of interceptor missiles for Patriot systems, having previously sought to convey Kyiv's request for US licences to produce air defence equipment during the G7 summit several weeks ago. Trump, speaking during a separate meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, offered a lengthy monologue on the state of the war, repeatedly praising Putin and referring to his conversations with the Russian leader, while asserting that both Moscow and Kyiv were ready to end the conflict. "I think they both want to reach an agreement. It's a pity it has taken so long, but I think something will work out," the American president declared.

Zelensky, in remarks on the margins of the summit, emphasised the paramount importance of securing Patriot interceptor missiles, stating that Ukraine's most pressing need was to find a way to obtain "as quickly as possible and as many as possible" of the crucial munitions. The Ukrainian president acknowledged that Kyiv was aware of which of its partners possessed such capabilities, adding that the daily Russian strikes had made the urgency of the situation plain to all observers, while also contending that Ukraine was witnessing signs of Russian weakness on the battlefield but that this alone was insufficient to force a change in Moscow's calculations. Canada has provided a significant package of assistance to strengthen Ukraine's air defence, with additional deliveries expected in the near future, Zelensky disclosed during talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, while acknowledging that Ukraine was experiencing a shortfall of interceptor missiles without offering further details.

Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans, meanwhile, stated that her country had exhausted its capacity to provide additional direct military aid to Ukraine and would instead urge other allies to step up their support. In a separate development, the United States, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden signed an agreement to establish a specialised maintenance centre in Europe for PAC-3 missiles used in Patriot systems, a move that Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said would significantly enhance allied capabilities and accelerate production and servicing. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces claimed significant successes against Russian naval assets, with Commander Robert Brovdi of the Unmanned Systems Forces reporting that eight tankers belonging to Moscow's "shadow fleet" had been struck overnight, followed by two more vessels in the Azov Sea, bringing the total to ten. The targeted ships, all of which were said to be under international sanctions and ranged from 7,000 tonnes deadweight with lengths of 140 metres, were identified as the Venus-3, Sanar-1, Sanar-17, Klimena, Teti, Aleksey Savrasov, Penelope and one further vessel still being confirmed.

Ukrainian forces also conducted strikes on a series of electrical substations in occupied Crimea, including the Chkalovo, West-Crimean, Saky, Komysh-Burun and Mityaevo facilities, as well as the gas compressor station at Tasunovo, according to Brovdi's statement. In the Bryansk region, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that a strike had been carried out against the Kremniy EL enterprise, a leading Russian manufacturer of microelectronics producing chips, power semiconductors and electronic components used in control systems, communications, electronic warfare and Russian weaponry, with a further attack on the Bryansk plant in the town of Seltso and a strike on the fuel depot at Belgorod airfield. Two railway bridges near the settlements of Rozdolne and Ichki in occupied Crimea were also hit, while a series of explosions was reported in the Russian city of Belgorod, causing disruptions to electricity and water supplies and igniting a fire at the Belgorod linear production department of main gas pipelines.

Despite these successes, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi cautioned that it was premature to speak of a qualitative turning point in the war, while acknowledging Ukrainian superiority in the level of training and noting Russian efforts to compensate for losses through numerical superiority and preparations for renewed offensive operations. Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Presidential Office, offered a cautiously optimistic forecast in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, suggesting that the active phase of the war could conclude by the end of the year, though he warned that further escalation should be expected in the interim. President Zelensky has also imposed new sanctions, activating a National Security and Defence Council decision targeting suppliers of equipment for Russian defence industry plants producing missile components, as well as Russian propagandists, encompassing 30 legal entities and 42 individuals in the first package and 15 individuals and eight legal entities in the second. Among those sanctioned is former Ukrainian parliamentarian Boryslav Bereza, though the Presidential Office did not specify the reasons for his inclusion.

In a separate and macabre development, Ukrainian law enforcement authorities have discovered the body of Anastasiia Berezovska, the Ukrainian citizen suspected in Monaco of the attempted assassination of sanctioned businessman Vadym Yermolayev, with investigators having established that she arrived in Ukraine on 1 July and subsequently communicated with two men, one a former law enforcement officer and the other an active GUR intelligence officer. Both men were found to have made repeated cryptocurrency and bank transfers to the woman's accounts and are being investigated for possible involvement in the Monaco incident, with all relevant information having been passed to the judicial authorities of the Principality. In a significant diplomatic turn, the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee has provisionally lifted the suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee that had been in place since 12 October 2023, following confirmation that the ROC no longer includes any regional sports organisations in territories under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian NOC and has undertaken not to conduct any activities there, while also fully revoking recommendations that had restricted Russian athletes' participation in international competitions. The summit proceedings were overshadowed by the aftermath of Russia's recent attack on Kyiv, which left 19 people dead, including one child, and 61 injured, seven of them children, prompting the Ukrainian capital to declare a day of mourning as search and rescue operations in the Podilskyi and Darnytskyi districts were concluded.