Here are the key events on day 1,251 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Here is how things stand on Tuesday, July 29:
Fighting
- A Russian drone attack on a 25-storey residential building in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, injured eight people, including a four-year-old girl, the head of the city’s military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, said.
- The overnight attack was part of a barrage of “324 drones, four cruise missiles and three ballistic missiles”, across the country, the Ukrainian Air Force said. The attack was focused on Starokostiantyniv, home to a major air base, the Air Force added.
- Ukraine’s Air Force said it downed 309 drones and two missiles, while 15 drones and two missiles hit targets in three locations, without specifying where. The attack started a fire in Kropyvnytskyi, in central Ukraine, local officials said, but no injuries were reported.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed the attack hit a Ukrainian air base and an ammunition depot containing stockpiles of missiles and components for drone production.
- Polish and allied aircraft were activated on Monday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace as Russian missiles reached western Ukraine, near the border with Poland, the Operational Command of the Polish army said.
- Russian troops have taken control of the settlements of Boikivka and Belhiika in eastern Ukraine, the Russian Defence Ministry said.
- Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, was forced to cancel more than 50 round-trip flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the country, after two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a massive cyberattack on the carrier.
Politics and diplomacy
- United States President Donald Trump has set a new deadline of “10 or 12 days” for Russia to reach a peace deal in its war on Ukraine, or face tough new sanctions.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed Trump for taking a “clear stance”, and thanked him “for his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war”.
- Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that a framework trade agreement struck between the European Union and the US was “anti-Russian”, likening it to a de facto ban on buying Russian oil and gas.
Weapons and military aid
- The EU defence and space commissioner, Andrius Kubilius, told European news website Euractiv that non-EU countries, including Ukraine, could join the EU’s secure communication satellite network IRIS². The EU system would provide Ukraine with an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink, which the Ukrainian military has relied on for telecommunications services during the war.
- Ukraine’s Defence Procurement Agency increased its share of domestically produced weapons to more than 71 percent during the first half of 2025, the Kyiv Independent media outlet reports.
