Russian invasion

Iran war
The major wars are merging: Iran warns Ukraine

The wars in Ukraine and Iran have officially merged, writes Wall Street Journal chief correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov, following allegations that Ukraine shelled Iranian ships in the Caspian Sea.

According to Volodymyr Zelensky, the attacks were directed at Russian ships transporting military equipment for the war in Iran. According to Iran's Foreign Ministry, the ships were Iranian. According to the agency, several crew members were killed when one of the ships exploded.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's National Security Commission, warns Ukraine that Iran may respond to the attacks.

“All attacks on Iran have a price, that still applies, just as the US and Israel have already discovered,” he writes on X.

The world's response
Pentagon: US is years behind Ukraine's drone production

The US Defense Headquarters Pentagon states that it will take several years before US drone production reaches the same levels as Ukraine's, reports Reuters.

The Pentagon says that the US is still in the early stages of the initiative and that the country's production so far only corresponds to a fraction of Ukraine's.

The Pentagon has allocated $ 1.1 billion to a drone program with the goal of building 200,000 drones by February next year. This can be compared to Ukraine, where between six and seven million of FPV drones alone are expected to be manufactured this year, says Travis Metz, who heads the Pentagon's drone effort.

At the same time, Metz believes that the US will catch up.

- I see no reason why we cannot also become a world leader in this area, he says. 

Putin’s Russia
Kremlin does not want to comment on renewed peace talks

It is too early to comment on Reuters reports that the US and Ukraine will soon present a proposal for a ceasefire in air warfare to Russia. This is what Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement.

– We do not know how credible these reports are or where they come from. These are newspaper reports and nothing more.

A few days ago, a Ukrainian source stated that there are hopes that Russia may now agree to an air ceasefire, given the number of Ukrainian attacks inside Russia. Zelensky and Trump are expected to meet in Washington on Tuesday.

American efforts to broker peace in Ukraine have been put on hold in recent months when

Putin cancels military parade - speech disrupted by interruption

For the second year in a row, Russia canceled its military parade in St. Petersburg, writes the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine has recently repeatedly attacked Russia's major cities with drones.

For almost ten years, Navy Day has been celebrated in Russia on the last Sunday in July - and as a rule, the Russians have beaten the big drum and shown off their navy from its best side.

But this year, the traditional parade was not held. Instead, Vladimir Putin gave a speech at the naval headquarters in the city, which was also disrupted by a major internet outage that was going on at the same time. The Kyiv Independent describes it as the interruption "sabotaging Putin's propaganda theater".

The Iran war has been at the center, writes Reuters.