Russia launches new attacks on Ukraine with the countdown to a US peace
deadline underway
[July 16, 2025]
By ILLIA NOVIKOV
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian weapons pounded four Ukrainian cities
overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, injuring at least 15 people in an
attack that mostly targeted energy infrastructure, officials said.
The latest bombardment in Russia’s escalating aerial campaign against
civilian areas came ahead of a Sept. 2 deadline set by U.S. President
Donald Trump for the Kremlin to reach a peace deal in the three-year
war, under the threat of possible severe Washington sanctions if it
doesn’t.
No date has yet been publicly set for a possible third round of direct
peace talks between delegations from Russia and Ukraine. Two previous
rounds delivered no progress apart from prisoner swaps.
Russia launched 400 Shahed and decoy drones, as well as one ballistic
missile, during the night, the Ukrainian air force said. The strikes
targeted northeastern Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second-largest city,
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih in central
Ukraine, Vinnytsia in the west and Odesa in the south.
“Russia does not change its strategy,” Zelenskyy said. “To effectively
counter this terror, we need a systemic strengthening of defense: more
air defense, more interceptors, and more resolve so that Russia feels
our response.”
Trump on Monday pledged to deliver more weapons to Ukraine, including
vital Patriot air defense systems, and threatened to slap additional
sanctions on Russia. It was Trump's toughest stance toward Russian
President Vladimir Putin since he returned to the White House nearly six
months ago.
But some U.S. lawmakers and European government officials expressed
misgivings that the 50-day deadline handed Putin the opportunity to
capture more Ukrainian territory before any settlement to end the
fighting.
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In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press
service, a local resident rides a bike along the street under an
anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday,
July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade
via AP)
Other U.S. ultimatums to Putin in recent months have failed to
persuade the Russian leader to stop his invasion of neighboring
Ukraine. Tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed in the war,
many of them along the more than 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front
line, and Russian barrages of cities have killed more than 12,000
Ukrainian civilians, the United Nations says.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said
Tuesday that “Putin holds a theory of victory that posits that
Russia can achieve its war aims by continuing to make creeping gains
on the battlefield indefinitely and outlasting Western support for
Ukraine and Ukraine’s ability to defend itself.”
Trump said the U.S. is providing additional weapons for Ukraine but
European countries are paying for them. While Ukraine and European
officials were relieved at the U.S. commitment after months of
hesitation, some hoped Washington might shoulder some of the cost.
“We welcome President Trump’s announcement to send more weapons to
Ukraine, although we would like to see the U.S share the burden,”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday. “If we
pay for these weapons, it’s our support.”
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