Stoltenberg to participate in Crimea Platform summit

Russia once again bombarded Kyiv with ballistic missile attacks overnight on July 25, as President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of Russia's plan to launch a massive missile attack against the Ukrainian capital.

Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called for Russia's war against Ukraine to be frozen and urged a return to peace negotiations based on a revised version of the Istanbul talks.

Tehran, a key ally of Moscow, condemned the strike as "an act of aggression that could further inflame and expand the flames of war." Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Tehran was summoned in protest following the strike.

President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on July 25, citing intelligence reports, that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "preparing the conditions for expanding mobilization" as the toll of mounting Russian losses on the battlefield continues to surpass Russian recruitment efforts.

"Russia wants to bring in another 30,000 North Korean troops," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on July 25.

Regional authorities reported that a mass Ukrainian drone attack damaged a residential building, a gas pipe, and unspecified "commercial property." While the facility was not identified, the report follows a string of Ukrainian strikes on logistics centers serving the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries.

The devastation was particularly severe in Sloviansk, a front-line Donetsk Oblast city that remains home to over 40,000 residents.

The Kyiv Independent’s Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko embed with the 15th Brigade of Ukraine’s National Guard, also known as Kara Dag, part of the 1st Azov Corps, joining an FPV drone team living and fighting out of the city’s basements.

Air-raid sirens rang out around 11:20 a.m., with Ukraine's Air Force reporting Russian missiles heading to the Ukrainian capital.

The number includes 1,450 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day.

The cause of the fire remains unclear. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry announced a drone threat over Saratov Oblast the night of the fire, and the air base has been targeted in several previous Ukrainian strikes.

Russia plans to launch a massive missile attack against Ukraine within 48 hours and is preparing for a "significant" wave of mobilization in the fall, President Volodymyr Zelensky said July 24.

Two air-dropped bombs were used in the morning attack, said regional governor Vadym Filashkin, repeating calls for the remaining residents of the city to evacuate to safer areas.