Ukraine: The Latest

Day 1,617.
As yet more Russian Wildberries distribution sites reach for the stars, Ukrainian missile producer Firepoint wins the month’s top-trolling award by offering merch to anyone who correctly predicts their next target. Dom reports how ballistic-missile defence is the hot topic of military and diplomatic discussion at the moment, with offers from Poland, favours asked of SpaceX and, perhaps least surprising of all, a growing coolness from Donald Trump over the plan/idea/wishful thinking that Ukraine would be given the Patriot blueprints. Alex Nichol reports that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff may be in Ukraine in the next few weeks, which would be their first trip to Kyiv despite making multiple visits to Putin in Moscow.

Contributors:
Dominic Nicholls (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @DomNicholls on X.
Alex Nichol (Telegraph Journalist).

With thanks to Hugh Roberts (@hugh.g.a.roberts on Instagram) and the University of Exeter.

Senior Producer: Lilian Fawcett
Video Producer: Sophie O’Sullivan
Social Producer: Tom Steed
Studio Director: Meghan Searle
Executive Editor: Francis Dearnley
Created by David Knowles

NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:
Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest

CONTENT REFERENCED:
If you’re interested in sponsoring Dom’s upcoming defence event, email our colleagues at events@telegraph.co.uk

Russian missile destroys US firm’s Kyiv drone factory (The Guardian)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/30/us-firm-drone-factory-terminal-autonomy-ukraine-russia

Zelensky Asked Trump for a Favor From Elon Musk (The Atlantic)
https://www.theatlantic.com/national-security/2026/07/zelensky-asked-trump-for-a-favor-from-elon-musk/688122/

Donald Trump ‘not sure’ he will let Ukraine build Patriot missiles (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/d8c42f6b-4dba-4976-a907-c7c93bca0bbd?syn-25a6b1a6=1

War and peace: Ukraine’s ambassador in Washington joins our table (Christian Science Monitor)
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2026/0731/ukraine-ambassador-olga-stefanishyna?icid=rss

The Geopolitics of Russia’s Civil Nuclear Exports Four Years into the War (Centre for Strategic and International Studies)
https://www.csis.org/analysis/geopolitics-russias-civil-nuclear-exports-four-years-war

Ukrainian War Time Poetry:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx2YPXiQIIQvRHSFfabgsOZM_5G5eqj5O

Jantar Publishing House:
https://www.jantarpublishing.com/

Lines from the frontline: the poet soldiers defending Ukraine (The Conversation):
https://theconversation.com/lines-from-the-frontline-the-poet-soldiers-defending-ukraine-276676

Death of a Ukrainian Writer (New Yorker):
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-death-of-a-ukrainian-writer-victoria-amelina

The Buried Book That Helped Ukraine’s Literary Revival (The New York Times):
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/20/world/europe/ukraine-publishing-buried-book.html

More about Aliaksei Lazarau: https://x.com/Alx_lazarau/status/2050195969103307014

The petition to allow non-Ukrainian to be recognised as Hero of Ukraine: https://petition.president.gov.ua/petition/264020

EMAIL US:
Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Russians 'fear being killed in Red Square,' Kyiv claims
Zelensky asks Elon Musk a favour
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day 1,616.
A Russian cruise missile is believed to have landed in Poland overnight, just after President Zelensky and Polish prime minister Donald Tusk met to patch up a rumbling diplomatic spat. Meanwhile, inside Ukraine, former Minister of Defence Fedorov gives his first big interview since being sacked, saying there is 'resistance to change' in the defence ministry and laying out his vision to win the war. Finally, Dom, Adelie, and Francis read your best summer postcards and answer your questions.

Contributors:
Adelie Pojzman-Pontay (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @Adeliepjz on X.
Dominic Nicholls (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @DomNicholls on X.
Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley on X.

Producer: Tom Steed
Senior Producer: Lilian Fawcett
Video Producer: Sophie O’Sullivan
Social Producer: Anita Blay
Studio Director: Meghan Searle
Executive Editor: Francis Dearnley
Created by David Knowles

NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:
Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest

CONTENT REFERENCED:
‘Russian missile’ leaves crater in Poland (The Telegraph)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/30/poland-explosion-russian-missile-attack/

Attacks on Ukrainians in Poland are rising. Disinformation fuels the flames (Kyiv Independent)
https://kyivindependent.com/attacks-on-ukrainians-in-poland-are-rising-disinformation-fuels-the-flames/

Watch the full interview with Mykhailo Fedorov (Ukrainska Pravda, in Ukrainian)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbjYc4-OuT0

Russia importing sensitive UK, EU tech through India, data shows (Politico)
https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-import-uk-eu-technology-india-data/

Francis’s Interview with Michael Bohnert re. Patriot missile timescales:
https://youtu.be/Fg_PmGkpJu4?si=Jf7HoU6anVj1JCQW

EMAIL US:
Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Russian missile leaves crater in Poland
Fedorov reveals all in first interview since sacking
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day 1,615.
After Russia sees another night of Ukrainian drone strikes on a Wildberries warehouse and oil refinery attacks, Francis examines Kyiv’s campaign to disrupt Putin’s logistics and wartime economy. He also looks at encouraging developments in Washington, where Presidents Zelensky and Trump met ahead of the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, before Graham’s landmark bipartisan sanctions bill took a significant step forward in Congress. Then James Kilner has his regular Russia roundup, as rumours of a fresh mobilisation continue to circulate, before we explore the dramatic downfall of the powerful head of Russia’s international chess federation.

Contributors:
Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley on X.
James Kilner (Russia Analyst). @Jkjourno on X.
Malcolm Pein (Telegraph chess correspondent). @TelegraphChess on X.

Senior Producer: Lilian Fawcett
Video Producer: Sophie O’Sullivan
Social Producer: Anita Blay
Studio Director: Meghan Searle
Executive Editor: Francis Dearnley
Created by David Knowles

NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:
Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest

CONTENT REFERENCED:
Russia explores support for Wildberries after Ukrainian drone attacks, sources say (Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/russia-explores-support-wildberries-after-ukrainian-drone-attacks-sources-say-2026-07-28/

Laura Loomer says she called Trump from Ukraine, plans to brief president on visit (Kyiv Independent)
https://kyivindependent.com/laura-loomer-says-she-called-trump-from-ukraine-plans-to-brief-president-on-visit/

Kremlin Gambit: German FIDE presidential candidate Vadim Rosenstein continues to earn millions in Russia (Ukrainian Independent Information Agency of News, in Russian)
https://sport.unian.net/othersports/kandidat-v-prezidenty-fide-vadim-rozenshteyn-prodolzhaet-vesti-biznes-v-rossii-13451784.html

Russians Form Street Patrol to Shield Men From Forced Recruitment (Kyiv Post)
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81265

World chess chief faces endgame after EU announces Russia war sanctions (BBC)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cewrk58k2k4o

No contact with political prisoner Andrei Trofimov since April (Memorial)
https://memopzk.org/en/news/no-contact-with-political-prisoner-andrei-trofimov-since-april/

EMAIL US:
Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Ukraine wipes out seventh Wildberries warehouse and major oil refinery
US senate advances key Russia sanctions bill
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day 1,614.
As Ukraine strikes a target more than 1,300 kilometres from Kyiv, Francis and Alex Nichol assess the significance of President Zelensky’s visit to Washington for Lindsey Graham’s funeral and to meet with President Trump. It comes a day after Ukraine struck a tanker from Iran in the Caspian Sea, something the US president was asked about on Air Force One. Meanwhile, attention is focused on Congress as lawmakers prepare to decide the fate of the bipartisan sanctions bill, which would impose sweeping tariffs on countries continuing to buy Russian energy. Later, we take a deep dive into the Black Sea grain corridor, exploring why it’s returned to the centre of the war after recent attacks on merchant shipping, and what it means for global food security.

Contributors:
Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley on X.
Alex Nichol (Telegraph Journalist).

With thanks to Andrey Sizov, head of SovEcon grain consultancy (@sizov_andre on X).

Producer: Tom Steed
Senior Producer: Lilian Fawcett
Video Producer: Sophie O’Sullivan
Social Producer: Anita Blay
Studio Director: Meghan Searle
Executive Editor: Francis Dearnley
Created by David Knowles

NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:
Every episode is now available on our YouTube channel shortly after the release of the audio version. You will find it here: https://www.youtube.com/@UkraineTheLatest

CONTENT REFERENCED:

Democrats ‘undermining US support for Ukraine’ (The Telegraph)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/27/democrat-opponents-sanctioning-russia-act-undermine-ukraine/

Life of a Ukrainian draft dodger (Antonia Langford for The Telegraph)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/28/ukraine-hunt-for-draft-dodgers-becomes-battle-on-the-street/

EU hesitates to target Irish plant accused of supplying Russia’s war industry (Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/ef7ff634-b738-4975-91b5-2edffc51da68?syn-25a6b1a6=1

The Sizov Report
http://sizov.report

Wagner’s Remnants Are Running an Opioid Empire in the Center of Africa (Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/russia-wagner-africa-opioid-trade-d015c4bc

EMAIL US:
Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Crimea 'without power' after deadly raids
Zelensky meets Trump in Washington ahead of Lindsey Graham funeral
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Day 1,613.
As Putin is forced to cancel his annual Navy Day parade in St. Petersburg for the second year in a row – forced to stand by an image of a submarine instead – we report on another major weekend on the battlefield for both Russia and Ukraine, including a strike by Kyiv on an Iranian-linked tanker in the Caspian Sea. Meanwhile Volodymyr Zelensky is in London to meet with new British PM Andy Burnham for the first time, as the Ukrainian president warns of a new mobilisation drive by Moscow amid mounting Russian losses. Then we hear from the WELT offices in Germany about their wargame that caused such a stir, NATO’s Secretary General had to respond.

Contributors:
Francis Dearnley (Host on Ukraine: The Latest). @FrancisDearnley on X.
James Rothwell (Berlin Correspondent). @JamesERothwell on X.
With thanks to Caroline Drüten, international security correspondent at WELT.

Senior Producer: Lilian Fawcett
Video Producer: Sophie O’Sullivan
Social Producer: Tom Steed
Studio Director: Meghan Searle
Executive Editor: Francis Dearnley
Created by David Knowles

NOW IN FULL VIDEO WITH MAPS & BATTLEFIELD FOOTAGE:
‘Ernstfall: What if Russia Attacks NATO? Inside a German Wargame’ (WELT Podcast):
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ernstfall-what-if-russia-attacks-nato-inside-a/id6785429115
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033GHuBrh6zwl1mq4TVeY6

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/07/21/new-missile-at-centre-of-anglo-german-golden-age-of-defence/

Fabrice Deprez’s Substack describing Kramatorsk:
https://eastradar.substack.com/p/the-long-war-60?triedRedirect=true

Kazakhstan’s Tokayev Urges Putin to Freeze Ukraine War (Kyiv Post)
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81070

Kremlin Shrugs Off Reports of US-Ukraine Air Truce Plan, Says It’s ‘Too Early’ (Kyiv Post)
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81124

EMAIL US:
Contact the team on ukrainepod@telegraph.co.uk. We continue to read every message, and seek to respond to as many as possible.

HIGHLIGHTS:

‘Humiliated’ Putin poses with fake submarine after navy parade cancelled
Ukraine strikes Iranian tanker in Caspian Sea

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.