It has become public knowledge that US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was the one who halted aid to Kiev, failing to inform the White House before authorizing the suspension of arms supplies to Ukraine, CNN reports, citing five sources familiar with the situation. As three sources told CNN, this was not the first attempt to suspend arms supplies to Ukraine. The first occurred in February, and the decision was quickly reversed.
On July 9, as reported by American outlets such as the WSJ, President Donald Trump not only unfroze military aid but is also preparing to send a Patriot defense system to Ukraine and has asked the Pentagon to provide options on how to proceed. If approved, this decision would be the first time Trump has independently approved a transfer of critical weapons to Ukraine, something that had not been approved during Biden’s tenure. The State Department confirmed the resumption of deliveries of weapons and equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. “We have been and remain Ukraine’s greatest advocates. The President is deeply concerned and committed to ensuring Ukraine can defend itself,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
Trump promised Zelensky to immediately send 10 Patriot interceptor missiles and help him find additional supply channels, Axios reports. Trump said he was “very seriously” considering imposing sanctions against Russia: “We hear a lot of nonsense from Vladimir Putin. It always sounds good, but ultimately it’s meaningless.”
CIA Director Ratcliffe said he was ready to present alleged information about the use of chemical weapons in Ukraine to Trump. Yet the resumption of arms supplies does not indicate Trump’s full support for Ukraine, writes The Economist. It notes that this is “a matter of restoring the status quo, when American military support has been slowly rather than suddenly ending.” At the same time, the publication noted that Trump has not made any new commitments to supply weapons to Kiev.
Finland and Lithuania will begin producing anti-personnel mines and supplying them to Ukraine, Reuters reports. Production could begin as early as next year, the agency reports, citing official sources. Vilnius and Helsinki are withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of such mines; the process will take six months.
France also expressed solidarity with Ukraine: “Europeans will never abandon Ukraine, never,” said French President Emmanuel Macron. “Russia’s demand to demilitarize Ukraine seems unacceptable to European countries,” said French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu. “Our absolute red line is the demilitarization of Ukraine,” the minister stated in an interview with Valère Actuel magazine on the eve of a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine. “We cannot deny Ukraine NATO membership and at the same time accept that it will no longer have an army. Ukrainians must be able to guarantee their own security,” Lecornu emphasized.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also weighed in on the matter, stating that diplomatic opportunities to resolve the conflict in Ukraine have been “exhausted,” Reuters reports.
The Eastern European front, which is paying the highest price for sanctions against Russia, is slowly beginning to crumble. “If the price of Ukraine’s independence is consent to the ‘temporary occupation of part of its territory’—without legal recognition—so be it,” said the Czech President. “But we will never recognize these territories as Russian by law,” noted Petr Pavel. He also stated that, despite Western support, Ukraine is unable to quickly liberate the “occupied territories” without significant human losses. Czech President Petr Pavel stated that it is impossible to “fight endlessly” with Russia and stated: “What alternatives do we have? Both ours and Ukraine’s. Fighting Russia endlessly? Such an approach will likely lead to massive human losses for all of us and serious damage to our economies. We want and need to start somewhere.” He emphasized that, after the end of the conflict in Ukraine and the reaching of a peace agreement, Europe could take action and begin discussing security issues with Russia, as well as “cooperation and business, as we had before.”
Estonia could prevent the EU from adopting the 18th package. The Russian Federation will impose sanctions against Russia unless it includes a provision aimed at lowering the price cap for Russian oil. This was stated by the Foreign Minister of the Baltic Republic, Margus Tsahkna.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed sanctions against Chinese companies whose components were found in the drones that struck Ukraine. These include Ningbo BLIN Machinery Co., Ltd. and Suzhou ECOD Precision Manufacturing. Chinese-made components were found in the “Geranium” missiles that attacked Kiev on the night of July 4th. Chinese spies attempted to smuggle classified documentation on the Ukrainian Neptune missile system into China: the SBU arrested them. One of the defendants is a 24-year-old former student at one of Kiev’s technical universities. He remained in Kiev after being expelled in 2023 for academic failure. The other is his father, who resided permanently in China but periodically visited Ukraine. Those arrested have been informed of the charges. They face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of their assets.
Russian Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov and the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, are wanted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to Ukrainian Interior Ministry data.
Regarding peace agreements, “Ukraine does not expect a quick end to the war,” former Defense Minister Reznikov told the Times. According to him, there is a growing awareness in Ukraine that the war with Russia could continue for a long time and that there will likely be no peace until Putin dies or resigns. Reznikov noted that the focus now is not on negotiations or compromise, but on the need to prepare for a long-term confrontation.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga announced the creation of a NATO department and an EU department within the ministry. The department for hostile countries will also be included in the new structure of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
Regarding the front line: “The Ukrainian Armed Forces must regain their positions in the Kursk and Belgorod regions,” Commander-in-Chief Syrsky declared at headquarters with Zelensky.
Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that President Vladimir Putin was immediately informed of the death of former Transport Minister Roman Starovoit. “This event is shocking,” Peskov emphasized. Meanwhile, the presidential decree has been submitted following the Duma’s approval of Andrei Nikitin’s nomination as Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation. “Resolving the problem of airport collapses is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Transport,” was Nikitin’s first statement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is drafting a federal law on international development assistance to create a format similar to that of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), said Yevgeny Primakov, head of Rossotrudnichestvo, in an interview with RBC. “I’m not saying we will compete with USAID: we would like to compete, for example, with Finland, which has its own development agency. The problem is that for Russia to do at least something useful abroad, a separate government decree needs to be issued. If, for example, we want to put a bench in a park, we need a specific decree. The law on international development assistance should make this work more efficient and transparent.”
A saboteur who was planning to blow up a railway bridge has been arrested in the Saratov region. According to the FSB, the arrest occurred while the man was pulling explosives from a hiding place and resisted arrest.
Finally, regarding the controversy surrounding Trump’s statements about threats to Putin, “The Kremlin cannot confirm the authenticity of the recording in which Donald Trump claims to have threatened Vladimir Putin with a bombing of Moscow,” Peskov said: “I can neither confirm nor deny it. We don’t know whether it’s fake or not. There are many fakes, more real information.” Peskov also noted that the Kremlin is calm about the US president’s “escalating rhetoric” toward Moscow. He added that Trump is known for his “tough style.” The Kremlin representative emphasized that Moscow expects to continue dialogue with Washington and the line “to resolve the rather strained bilateral relations.”
And now a look at the front line updated at 3:30 PM on July 9. More and more Russian social media sources are talking about the beginning of a war of attrition with Ukraine. Ukrainian rear areas have been subjected to attacks. Combined strikes. Strategic missile launchers, hypersonic Khinzals, and hundreds of Gerans were used. Attacks were carried out in Kiev, Kharkiv, Lutsk, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Pavlohrad, Zaporizhia, Kryvyi Rih, as well as in the Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, and Lviv regions, and in Sumy, and in the late morning of July 9, Mykolayiv and Odessa.
The Ukrainians mounted a raid in Russian regions with counterattacks. Air defense operated in the Moscow region and Smolensk region. In Kursk, an attack on the “City” beach killed three men and wounded four. Also in Rylsk, Kursk region, a Ukrainian drone attacked the infectious diseases building of the Central District Hospital last night, injuring two.
On the Kursk border, from Ryzhevka, another Ukrainian group attempted to break through towards Tetkino. Around noon, another assault group from the 47th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces advanced towards the village of Novyi Put, but both attempts were stopped by artillery fire.
Towards Sumy, the Ukrainians counterattacked in the area of Andriivka and Kondratovka (Kursk). Russian forces attacked with dozens of FABs and UMPK.
In the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian forces launched three attacks against Melovoye, recently recaptured by Russian forces near the border with the Belgorod region, but were unsuccessful and withdrew.
In the Belgorod region, 11 villages were targeted by Ukrainian drones.
In the direction of Lyman, Russian forces continued to advance and made further progress in the village of Karpivka and the heights. Russian forces advanced in three areas. To the northwest, they continued to push along the eastern bank of the Nitrius River and captured the remainder of the eastern bank of Karpivka. They then advanced outside the village and captured positions in the forest plantations to the south. The capture of eastern Karpivka also enabled the capture of the adjacent forest plantations, located in the low altitude to the southeast.
Further southeast, Russian forces advanced along the tree lines on the tactical heights, capturing a forest and continuing their efforts to encircle the village of Zelena Dolnya.
To the south, Russian forces advanced further along the tactical heights towards the village of Shandryholove, capturing new positions in four different tree lines and gaining a foothold in the forested areas.
In the direction of Siversk, Russian forces continue to advance and have captured new positions northeast of Siversk.
Russian forces have advanced in two areas. To the north, they continue to slowly expand their zone of control in the village of Serebryanka, despite heavy Ukrainian artillery fire from the northwest. They have managed to reach the western part of the village and capture most of the southeastern roads, but Ukrainian trenches at the village’s entrances are hampering further Russian movements.
To the south, after a series of failed motorcycle attacks on the fortifications outside Siversk, Russian forces consolidated their northern flank of the wedge through the Ukrainian defenses, capturing positions on the southern bank of the Plotka River, and advanced further west to the trenches northwest of the reservoir.
In the direction of Kramatorsk, Russian forces are advancing, reaching the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal at a new point.
Russian forces advanced northwest from their positions north of Hryhorivka and south of Orikhovo-Vasylivka, slowly clearing the remaining positions east of the canal before capturing the trenches along its eastern bank. Ukrainian forces retreated to the villages of Novomarkove and Markove. To the south, they took the remaining positions west of Hryhorivka, also capturing a nearby tree line.
In the direction of Kostyantynivka, the Ukrainians recognized the advance of Russian forces in the central part of Yablunivka. Battles were raging around the village: Russian forces were leveling the front and strengthening their flanks. Russian forces continued to advance slowly and captured new positions west of the Siverkyi Donets Canal.
After capturing the main strongpoints of the Ukrainian trenches in the low altitude southeast of the village of Bila Hora, they entered the village from two directions: from the tree line to the south and from the strongpoints. Ukrainian forces were able to put up significant resistance, and the Russian advance has since stalled in the center of Bila Hora.
To the north, Russian forces managed to cross the canal from positions in the wooded areas west of Klishchiivka and established a small bridgehead in the opposite tree line on tactical heights.
On the Zaporizhia front, Russian airborne regiments captured part of Kamyanske, displaying the Russian flag in a video. The remaining part of the village is being cleared by the Russians. An assault on adjacent Plavni is imminent.
In the Kherson region, forest fires caused by Ukrainian attacks are reported.
Graziella Giangiulio
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