Charlotte Gallagher
Reporting from Kyiv

An air raid alert sounded almost as soon as pictures were released of President Zelensky meeting the US special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg.

Ukraine says it was a Russian fighter jet taking off.

The alert was over in minutes, but underlines - particularly to VIP visitors like Kellogg - the ongoing threat in the skies over Ukraine.

Ukrainians are used to these alerts, many have a smartphone app which warns them, and you can hear the public sirens blaring out.

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

While the Trump administration ponders the wisdom of sending more weapons to Ukraine, one of Russia’s most important allies is upping the scale of its involvement.

North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, has offered his “unconditional support” to Moscow, according to state media reports following a visit to Pyongyang by Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

Last year, North Korea sent an estimated 11,000 troops to join the fight against Ukraine.

Earlier this month, some reports suggested that Pyongyang might send another 25,000 to 30,000 troops.

But North Korea has also become a vital source of ammunition for Russia.

Last week, the head of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told Bloomberg News that North Korea was supplying up to 40% of the ammunition Russia is using against Ukraine.

Ukraine says Russia is making use of a variety of North Korean long range artillery systems, including howitzers and multiple launch rocket systems.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has finished his meeting with US special envoy Keith Kellogg, and describes it as a "productive conversation".

Posting on X, external, Zelensky says the pair discussed what the US and Ukraine "can practically do" to bring peace to Ukraine closer.

"This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe. And of course, sanctions against Russia and those who help it," Zelensky says.

He goes on to add that Kyiv is hoping for US leadership, and "it is clear that Moscow will not stop unless its unreasonable ambitions are curbed through strength."

Trump's mounting anger with the Kremlinpublished at 12:07 British Summer Time

12:07 BST

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Image source, Getty Images

In February, I had a chance to ask several questions to Donald Trump regarding the war in Ukraine and his relationship with Vladimir Putin.

The answers he gave at the time were starkly different in substance and tone to what we've been hearing from the US president recently.

At various points on Air Force One and at Mar-a-Lago, he said - with almost no hesitation - that he trusted his counterpart in Moscow, and seemed to suggest that Ukraine was partly to blame for the war.

"You should have never started it," he said of the government in Kyiv. "You could have made a deal."

These sort of comments continued for months, along with often vague promises that peace or a ceasefire was just around the corner.

More recently, however, his exasperation has become increasingly clear, saying he's "very angry" and pleading "Vladimir, stop!".

Whether any specific prompted his expected announcement of additional weapons remains unclear, but US media outlet Axios has reported that the decision came after a call with Putin in which he indicated that further Russian offensives to seize ground would come in the next 60 days.

Clues to Trump strategy may come in the weapons Ukraine receivespublished at 11:48 British Summer Time

11:48 BST

Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent

There’s every indication that Donald Trump has reached an inflection point in his curious relationship with Vladimir Putin.

It’s clear that he’s increasingly disappointed that a man he prefers to regard as a friend has let him down.

After the shudder of horror in Kyiv that greeted the Pentagon’s decision two weeks ago to suspend weapons deliveries, Ukraine is now cautiously optimistic that the US – its most important ally – is once again on its side.

That’s certainly what Ukraine’s most prominent supporters in Congress are hoping.

"The game, regarding Putin's invasion of Russia, is about to change,” South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham told CBS News on Sunday.

“I expect, in the coming days, you will see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves.”

But what is Donald Trump’s game plan? Is this a negotiating ploy designed to force Vladimir Putin back to the negotiating table, or a return to Joe Biden’s mantra that the US will do “whatever it takes” to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”

Some clues may come in the sort of weaponry the White House is now proposing to send to Ukraine.

Patriot air defence systems are vital to protect Ukraine from Russia’s frequent bombardments, but are, as the name suggests, purely defensive in nature.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Image source, EPA

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov is reserved in his comments on reports that the US will be supplying additional weaponry to Ukraine.

At his daily press briefing, he has stopped short of directly criticising Washington after Donald Trump said he'd be sending "sophisticated" equipment to Ukraine.

"A lot of words have been said about how expensive it is and so on. Now it looks like European countries will be paying for these supplies. Something they'll pay for, something they won't. But the fact remains that supplies of weapons, ammunition and military equipment from the US to Ukraine have continued and are continuing," Peskov says.

When asked about the Kremlin's expectations of US presidential envoy Keith Kellogg's trip to Ukraine, Peskov says: "First of all it is Mr Kellogg and his Ukrainian interlocutors who should have expectations.

"For us, it is very important that Mr Kellogg as Trump's representative continues mediation efforts as part of Russian-Ukrainian settlement."

Has the Trump-Zelensky relationship turned a corner?published at 11:17 British Summer Time

11:17 BST

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Since returning to the White House in January, Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have had something of a troubled relationship.

Trump has, at times, seemingly blamed Zelensky and Ukraine for the war, and Zelensky has said he believes Trump is living in a "disinformation space" created by Russia.

And, of course, there was the now-infamous 28 February Oval Office meeting between Zelensky and Trump's team, which spiralled into acrimony and chaos before the eyes of the world.

More recently, however, Trump has held back from criticising his Ukrainian counterpart in Kyiv - and instead has repeatedly blamed Putin for prolonging the war.

What exactly prompted the shift is unclear.

Part of the reason is likely that both parties have made it clear that the US will be reimbursed for the weapons it sends to Ukraine.

This allows Trump to publicly maintain his "America First" agenda and justify the assistance to reluctant members of his own party that have previously balked at the idea that aid should be "given" to Ukraine with no strings attached.

Image source, Getty Images

Since the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, western nations have allocated more than $250bn, (£205bn) of military, humanitarian and other financial aid to Ukraine. Let's have a look at the type of offensive military equipment which has been given to Ukraine.

Ukraine has been using US-made ATACMS missiles which have a range of about 190 miles (300km). In November, former President Joe Biden lifted the ban, allowing ATACMS to be fired into Russian territory.

The UK and France have supplied Ukraine with Storm Shadow or Scalp missiles, which have a maximum range of around 155 miles (250km), and which Ukraine has reportedly fired into Russian territory.

At the end of July last year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine's air force had taken delivery of a batch of F-16 fighter jets from the West. He has said many more were needed.

Nato countries, including Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway, have pledged to give Ukraine 65 or more of the US-made planes, which they had been planning to retire from their air forces.

In early 2023, Western nations agreed to send tanks to Ukraine. It was hoped they would enable its forces to breach Russian defensive lines in a counter-offensive.

The UK provided 14 Challenger 2s. European nations have sent more than 200 German Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks, according to figures from the Kiel Institute, external. The US sent 31 of its M1 Abrams tanks, which are thought to be the most advanced in the world.

BBC Monitoring

As Russia ramps up its attacks on Ukraine - we have a bit more on that in our earlier post - at least six civilians have been killed in the last 24 hours, according to local authorities:

• Three people were killed and 10 injured in Sumy, according to the regional military administration
• In Donetsk, two civilians were killed and seven injured after Russian strike damaged flats and administrative buildings, the regional governor says
• Another person was killed, and six more injured in Kherson
• Russian strikes on Dnipropetrovsk injured three civilians, the region's governor says
• Kharhiv's regional governor says a further three civilians were harmed after air strikes on population centres
• And, in Zaporizhzia, a 77-year-old woman was injured by Russian artillery strikes, the regional governor says

As we reported earlier, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte is meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House later today.

This is the first time the pair will have met since a Nato summit in the Netherlands last month, where during a joint press conference, Rutte jokingly referred to Trump as "Daddy" - a reference to the president's work brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

"Sometimes daddy has to use strong language," Rutte said to Trump, as the US president described the Israel-Iran conflict.

Trump appeared to have embraced the nickname, with the White House posting "Daddy's home" , externalon X as he arrived back in the US following the summit.

Speaking to the Reuters news agencey after the news briefing, Rutte said he used the word "daddy" to describe how some allies see the US, rather than Trump himself.

"In Europe, I hear sometimes countries saying, 'Hey, Mark, will the U.S. stay with us?' And I said that sounds a little bit like a small child asking his daddy, 'Hey, are you still staying with the family,'" Rutte told the outlet.

"So in that sense, I used daddy, (it's) not that I was calling President Trump daddy."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a bill to the country's parliament to extend martial law and "the term of general mobilisation" until 5 November.

It will be voted on next week.

Ukraine has been under martial law since 24 February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Yesterday evening, a Russian drone targeted a police car near a river ferry in Kupyansk, in the north eastern Kharkiv region.

Four police officers were injured in the attack, Ukrainian police say.

Meanwhile state emergencies service DSNS says a Russian drone hit a railway locomotive, in Bokove, which is in the east of the Donetsk region, killing two people.

Trump is frustrated with Putin's actions - but it's more of the samepublished at 09:22 British Summer Time

09:22 BST

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

To anyone who has been watching Vladimir Putin since he came to power a quarter of a century ago, he's not changed much, only become bolder and more aggressive.

His forces attacked Ukraine 11 years ago, demonstrating chilling disregard for human life. For instance, at the very beginning, in 2014, they killed more than 360 Ukrainian troops after going back on earlier agreements which would have allowed them to pull out of the eastern town of Ilovaysk.

Similarly, Russia never acknowledged let alone apologised for supplying the missile that shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. What followed were years of Russia's onslaught on Ukraine, which resulted in whole cities being destroyed and hundreds of thousands of lives lost.

Putin has consistently denied Ukraine the right to exist as an independent nation. In the run-up to the full-scale invasion of 2022, he penned an article "on the historical unity of Russians and Ukrainians", and more recently referred to Ukrainians as "the Ukrainian part of the Russian people".

The increase in Russia's attacks on civilians in Ukraine is a result of his growing ambitions, but also of Western politicians failing to respond over the years.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

Dialogue between Russia and the US will continue "despite enormous efforts to disrupt it using whatever means are available", Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev says.

Dmitriev is the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund who has been involved in talks with the US.

Speaking to journalists in Russia, he also says that efforts to put pressure on Russia are "doomed to fail" and dialogue with the US would work better.

Reflecting on the approach of the previous US administration, Russian news agency RBK quotes Dmitriev as saying: "Biden's mistaken approaches have shown that they are ineffective. His lies are not eternal, and they must and will be corrected. This is a process in which the US side is trying to understand Russia's legitimate interests."

Ukrainians tentatively welcome news of US arms shipmentpublished at 09:00 British Summer Time

09:00 BST

Charlotte Gallagher
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, Reuters

The relationship between the US and Ukraine appears to be changing - for the better.

There had been concerns in Kyiv about President Trump's apparent admiration for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

Eyebrows were also raised during the explosive press conference in the Oval Office when President Zelensky visited the US capital and ended up on the receiving end of a public dressing down.

But now Trump is openly frustrated with Moscow, saying that President Putin "talks nice but then he bombs everybody in the evening".

He's confirmed that the US will send Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine, just two weeks after Washington said it would pause some arms deliveries.

For Ukrainians, it's welcome news, but they're also wary and know from bitter experience that relationships between countries can break down.

Some talk about Ukraine’s need for more self-reliance as Russia seems in no mood to end the invasion.

Chris Partridge
Weapons analyst

Last night, Donald Trump confirmed that the US would send Patriot missile defence systems to Ukraine, as part of a shipment of military equipment.

The missiles are not a silver bullet, but they are extremely capable, effective and expensive.

One Patriot missile costs around $3m - three times the cost of a missile in a NASAMS (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System).

Patriots were used against Iraq's Russian-made Scud missiles during the first Gulf War and have been continuously developed since by Raytheon Technologies.

They come in batteries that include a command centre, a radar station to detect incoming threats - and launchers.

Ranges to target reportedly vary between 40km to 160km (100 miles), depending on the type of missile used - and they are what's termed "point defence" systems: generally designed to defend particular areas such as cities or important infrastructures.

In other words high-value assets.

Image source, Reuters

At 10:00 local time (15:00 BST), Donald Trump will meet Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte in the White House. Their talks are closed to the media, but there may be public remarks from the pair later on.

A few miles down the road, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius will meet US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In Kyiv, US Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is expected to discuss sanctions against Russia and Ukraine's security with Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.

We'll be monitoring these various meetings throughout today. Stay with us for updates and analysis.

Ukrainian air defences "neutralised" 108 Russian drones during an overnight attack on 13-14 July, Ukraine's air force says on Telegram.

In total, Russia used 136 drones, including decoy drones. The air force says 61 were shot down and 47 jammed. There were hits at 10 locations.

Russia also launched four missiles from Kursk Region - the air force did not report intercepting them.

Image source, Reuters

• This post contains language some readers may find offensive

Donald Trump's recent criticisms of Vladimir Putin are a marked shift in tone from the US president, who had previously taken a warmer stance towards the Russian leader.

After he returned to the White House in January, Trump set out to restore relations with Russia, holding phone calls with Putin, and arranging high-level talks between representatives from Washington and Moscow in Saudi Arabia.

Early in his term, he also repeated Russian talking points - referring to Ukrainian President Voldoymyr Zelensky as a "dictator", for example. The US also voted alongside Russia against a UN resolution identifying Russia as the "aggressor" in the war in Ukraine.

But that is now changing. In the spring, Trump told reporters he was "pissed off" with Putin and threatened new tariffs on Russian oil exports if he felt that Moscow was delaying a peace deal.

On 3 July, the two leaders spoke by phone. Trump has since expressed frustration that a ceasefire breakthrough wasn't reached, telling a cabinet meeting "I'm not happy about that" and adding "we get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth".

On Sunday, he went further again, saying Putin "talks nice and then he bombs everybody in the evening".

Image source, Getty Images

Ukrainian drones attacked a training centre at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Sunday evening, according to the Russian-installed administration of the Russia-held plant in south-eastern Ukraine.

It says "no critical" damage was recorded.

The BBC has not been able to verify the report which was published by the administration on Telegram this morning.

The report comes a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that it had heard hundreds of rounds of small arms fire late on Saturday at the plant.

• For context: Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the first weeks of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Each side regularly accuses the other of firing or taking actions that could trigger a nuclear accident.