Russia launches a major aerial attack on Kyiv hours before high-level
talks on support for Ukraine
[July 22, 2025]
By EMMA BURROWS and ILLIA NOVIKOV
Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent
months hours before Britain and Germany chaired a meeting Monday to
discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide
Ukraine with weapons.
The drone and missile attack on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, killed two
people and wounded 15, including a 12-year-old, Ukraine's President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The deadly assault underscored the urgency of
Ukraine’s need for further Western military aid, especially in air
defense, a week after Trump said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine
within days.
A drone struck the entrance to a subway station in Kyiv’s
Shevchenkivskyi district where people had taken cover. Videos posted on
social media showed the station platform engulfed by smoke, with dozens
inside. The heaviest strikes hit the city's Darnytskyi district, where a
kindergarten, supermarket and warehouse facilities caught fire.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who arrived in Kyiv on Monday
for talks with Zelenskyy, visited some of the damaged area.
Zelenskyy and Barrot spoke about expanding defense cooperation,
including a decision by French companies to start manufacturing drones
in Ukraine, and advancing Ukraine’s path toward European Union
membership, the Ukrainian leader said on social media.
Western defense chiefs meet on Ukraine
The virtual meeting of high-level military officials was led by British
Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well
as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich,
attended the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting.
Moscow has intensified its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and
analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate as Russian drone
production expands.
Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal urged allies to speed up
deliveries of American air defense systems under the plan put forward by
Trump.
“I request the U.S. to make these weapons available for purchase, and
our European partners to extend all the needed financing for their
procurement,” Shmyhal, who until recently served as prime minister, told
the meeting.
Trump’s arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations
sending American weapons, including Patriot air defense missile systems,
to Ukraine via NATO — either from existing stockpiles or buying and
donating new ones.
In an shift of tone toward Russia, Trump last week gave Moscow a 50-day
deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.
At Monday’s meeting, Healey was expected to urge Ukraine’s Western
partners to launch a “50-day drive” to get Kyiv the weapons it needs to
fight Russia’s bigger army and force Russian President Vladimir Putin to
the negotiating table, the U.K. government said in a statement.
NATO’s Grynkewich told The Associated Press on Thursday that
“preparations are underway” for weapons transfers to Ukraine while U.S.
Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he couldn’t give a time frame.
European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius visited
Washington on Monday ahead of talks with U.S. officials about European
defense and support for Ukraine.
Kubilius told reporters he welcomed Trump taking a harder line on Putin,
calling it “a new opening in how we can support Ukraine.”
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A bus stop is seen damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine,
Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
“If you combine American economic power and European economic power
we are something like 20 times Russia’s power,” he said. “We need
political will.”
Kyiv wants American-made Patriot missile systems
Germany has said it offered to finance two new Patriot systems for
Ukraine and raised the possibility of supplying systems it already
owns and having them replaced by the U.S.
But delivery could take time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz
suggested, because “they have to be transported, they have to be set
up; that is not a question of hours, it is a question of days,
perhaps weeks."
Other Patriot systems could come thanks to Switzerland, whose
defense ministry said Thursday it was informed by the U.S. Defense
Department that it will “reprioritize the delivery" of five
previously ordered systems to support Ukraine.
While Ukraine waits for Patriots, a senior NATO official said the
alliance is still coordinating the delivery of other military aid —
such as ammunition and artillery rounds — which includes aid from
the U.S. that was briefly paused. The official spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
In a video address, Zelenskyy said another round of talks between
Ukrainian and Russian delegations was planned for Wednesday. He said
he discussed the preparations with Rustem Umerov, who led the
Ukrainian team in the previous two rounds, but didn't give further
details.
The previous negotiations were held in Istanbul, and Russian media
reports said it would likely remain the host city. The talks in May
and June led to a series of exchanges of prisoners of war but
produced no other agreements.
Ukraine fires drones at Moscow
The overnight Russian barrage of Kyiv began shortly after midnight
and continued until around 6 a.m. Residents were kept awake by
machine-gun fire, buzzing drone engines and multiple loud
explosions.
It was the first major attack on Kyiv since Trump’s special envoy to
Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in the city last Monday. Russia
halted strikes during his visit.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its attack used drones and Kinzhal
hypersonic missiles. It said the barrage successfully targeted
airfield infrastructure and Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 426 Shahed and decoy drones
overnight and on Monday, as well as 24 missiles of various types. It
said 200 drones were intercepted with 203 more jammed or lost from
radars.
Ukraine, meanwhile, continued to deploy its domestically produced
long-range drones. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its forces shot
down 74 Ukrainian drones overnight, almost a third of them destroyed
close to the Russian capital. Twenty-three drones were shot down in
the Moscow region, the ministry said, 15 of which were intercepted
over the city itself.
___
Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writers Jill
Lawless in London; David Klepper in Washington; Geir Moulson in
Berlin and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to
this report.
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