Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is to meet with President Donald Trump at the Nato summit this week as he hopes to press the allaince for interceptors after Ukraine was unable to down any of the missiles fired by Russia on Monday. Patriot missiles are the only weapon that can ​shoot ⁠down ballistic projectiles. He said it was "simply nonsensical that, in the modern world, production has still not been scaled up to the level actually required to protect people from ballistic terror".Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia fired 351 drones and 68 missiles overnight into Monday, targeting mainly Kyiv, and all 29 ballistic missiles struck their targets.“Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world,” said Ukraine Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat.Ukraine’s defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov also warned that Russia is deliberately ramping up ballistic missile attacks on a scale unseen before, exploiting the acute shortage of Patriot interceptors.This comes as ahead of the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey today, US president Donald Trump said that a resolution to the more than four-year-old war in Ukraine is "getting closer than people realise" and that he will ⁠talk about Ukraine during talks in Turkey this week at a Nato summit.Zelensky arrives at Nato summitUkraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, arrives for the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy looks out from his car window as he arrives for the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, center right, arrives for the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP)Maira Butt7 July 2026 11:31Russia’s population crisis is driving a new push for marriage and bigger familiesOne Saturday afternoon in May 2026, families gathered on Poklonnaya Gora, a hilltop war memorial park in western Moscow. They came for a procession and a “moleben,” an Orthodox prayer service, for the well-being of Russian families. Church media billed it as the first Day of the Sanctity of the Family.May 30 is the feast of St. Evdokia of Moscow, a 14th-century princess who took monastic vows late in life after being widowed. Her husband, St. Dmitry Donskoy, a prince who led a victory over the Mongols, is commemorated on June 1. The church joined the two into a single couple’s feast in 2015, with a decree stressing that they were “parents of twelve children.”Just over five weeks later, Russians will celebrate another “holy couple.” July 8 honours Sts. Peter and Fevronia, a 13th-century prince and princess venerated as patrons of marriage and famed for their devotion to each other. First celebrated in 2008, the day became an official national holiday in 2022, though not a day off from work.Maira Butt7 July 2026 11:00Ukraine strikes Russian military-industrial plants in Bryansk region, Kyiv saysUkraine's military said on Tuesday it struck two plants linked to Russia's military-industrial complex in the Bryansk region overnight.One of the plants was run by Kremniy EL Group - a microelectronics group in Bryansk, which makes elements for military electronic warfare systems - the military's General Staff said in a statement on Telegram.A chemicals plant which makes gunpowder, explosives and rocket fuel components used in the manufacture of ammunition and missiles, was also hit in the surrounding region, it added.Maira Butt7 July 2026 10:25Ukraine strikes eight Russian 'shadow fleet' tankers, Kyiv drone commander saysUkrainian drones struck eight tankers with fuel belonging to Russia's so-called “shadow fleet” in the Sea of Azov overnight, Kyiv's top drone commander said on Tuesday.A dry cargo ship and a ferry were also hit, Robert Brovdi said in a statement on Telegram.Maira Butt7 July 2026 09:55Maira Butt7 July 2026 09:30Nato backs Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes to force Putin to negotiate, says Finnish PMNato leaders back Ukraine’s campaign of long-range strikes deep inside Russia as it looks to pressure Moscow back into negotiations, Finnish president Alexander Stubb has said.Kyiv is in the “best” position it has been in since the war began and Ukraine’s long distance strikes on Russian oil and military infrastructure have changed US strategic thinking on the war, significantly strengthening Ukraine’s negotiating position, Mr Stubb told the Financial Times.“I think that [all Nato leaders] understand why Ukraine is doing this,” he said, speaking on the eve of the Nato leaders’ summit in Ankara. “Everyone believes that we need to continue to increase the pressure.”Alex Croft reports: Maira Butt7 July 2026 09:00UK sanctions Russians it says developed chemical weapons used to kill NavalnyBritain on Monday imposed sanctions on two Russian research institutes and senior staff it said were linked to Moscow's chemical weapons programme and involved in developing toxins used to poison Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny.The sanctions, cast by Britain as a way to expose and deter Russia's use of chemical weapons, come ahead of the Nato summit in the Turkish capital Ankara and after a similar move by the European Union.In 2020, Navalny fell seriously ill on a flight in Siberia and Western laboratories concluded he had been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, a class of military-grade nerve agents developed during the Soviet era.In 2024, Navalny died after being poisoned with Epibatidine, a toxin from poison dart frogs, Britain and other European allies have said. Russia denied accusations it was behind that death.The British government said on Monday that those sanctioned were involved in developing the Novichok agent and Epibatidine.Foreign minister Yvette Cooper said Russia's "repeated use of chemical weapons" was a violation of international law and a threat to global security."From the use of Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to Epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine," she added.Russia's embassy in London said in a post on messaging platform Telegram that it "categorically" rejected such allegations, calling them "slander".The embassy said the allegations were being used to promote what it described as an imaginary Russian threat and to justify confrontation with Moscow.Maira Butt7 July 2026 08:30Nato readies for a 'big reveal' on arms deals to prove its firepower to TrumpNato on Tuesday will showcase a series of new military projects worth billions of dollars in an attempt to convince U.S. President Donald Trump that the allies are stepping up defence spending and converting investment into real firepower.At an event dubbed the “big reveal,” several leaders are due to announce new deals with defense companies, plenty of them in the United States. Trump has branded Nato a “paper tiger” that would cease to function without American arms and leadership.Maira Butt7 July 2026 07:55Death toll in Kyiv rises to 28 as Ukraine battles air-defence shortagesRussia hammered Kyiv and the surrounding region with missiles and drones early on Monday, killing at least 28 people and exposing Ukraine's ⁠critical shortage of US-made air-defence interceptors, officials said.Rescuers were digging bodies from the rubble of a Kyiv high-rise ripped open in the overnight bombardment.At least 18 people were killed in Kyiv, the Emergency Services said on Telegram as search and rescue operations recovered more bodies as crews worked through the night.Prosecutors said 10 were killed in the wider Kyiv region.Emergency Services reported repeated explosions and many damaged residential buildings in Vyshneve, outside the capital.The governor of southeastern Zaporizhzhia region said a drone strike on a filling station killed two people later on Monday.And in Sumy region on the Russian border, where Moscow wants to broaden a buffer zone, the regional governor said two residents died in separate Russian drone strikes.In Kyiv, nearly 30 buildings were significantly damaged, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said.A search operation dragged into Monday afternoon as crews combed mountains of rubble and twisted metal in the multi-storey building whose top floors had been torn open.Ukraine's military was unable to down any of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia, according to air force data, reflecting its increasing vulnerability to Moscow's strikes as stocks of its prized Patriot missiles run out.A resident walks on a street at a site of a Russian attack near Kyiv (Reuters)Arpan Rai7 July 2026 07:16Nato to unveil big arms deals in Ankara before summit with TrumpNato leaders plan to unveil arms deals worth tens of billions of dollars in Ankara today to show they are heeding US calls to spend more to defend Europe before joining ⁠president Donald Trump for a summit.European governments will announce the deals at a Nato defence industry forum before Trump flies in to meet Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and join fellow leaders of the military alliance for the summit, which begins with a dinner on Tuesday evening.Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Monday Europeans had made “staggering” increases in defence spending in part due to fears of Russia, which have surged since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but also because Trump had been “extremely forceful” in encouraging them to do so.Trump has long accused European governments of over-relying on the US to defend them through the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which has protected the continent since the early years of ⁠the Cold War.“We are now creating an alliance which is sustainable, where the US knows it is a fair deal,” Rutte told reporters in Ankara on the eve of the summit.Rutte said last month that Nato's European members and Canada spent $90bn more on defence in real terms in 2025 than in 2024, to reach a total of more than $570bn – an increase of around 20 per cent in a ‌single year.Arpan Rai7 July 2026 07:14