Ukraine-Russia war latest: Zelensky hails ‘good meeting’ with Trump as presidents discuss Patriot missile production

Ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia has been aiding Iran as the war persists by capturing satellite imagery of US bases in the Gulf region that later appear in Iran.

The Ukrainian president also asserted that there was a “clear correlation” between Russia’s images and subsequent Iranian strikes.

Iran is a key ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine and has helped Moscow build up its drone expertise.

But on Monday, the US president downplayed any impact of potential Russian assistance for Iran.

“I don’t think they’ve been doing it, certainly not at a high level,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he travelled to Michigan.

“And if they have, it has been very un-impactful.

”On the Caspian Sea attack, the foreign ministers of Iran and Ukraine spoke about the matter, according to statements posted on social media Tuesday.

Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called the conversation “frank” and said Ukraine’s focus is “solely at defending our country from Russian aggression” and not on targeting civilians.

Iran has said at least one sailor was killed in the attack. For his part, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is also not seeking escalation but “made clear any attack on our citizens or interests is unacceptable.”

Donald Trump on Tuesday night weighed in on his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, calling it a “great honour” to meet with him. “Many things were discussed.

The meeting went very well!” he wrote on Truth Social.

The sit-down between Trump and the Ukrainian president in the Oval Office, which was closed to the media, followed a consequential meeting at the Nato summit earlier this month in Ankara, Turkey, where the US president announced that they will give Ukraine a license to make Patriot defence systems – a long-running request from Kyiv to counter Russian missile attacks.

Posting about it on social media, Zelensky said: “The President and I discussed licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help.”

Following Lindsey Graham’s funeral, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky spoke for nearly an hour with US senators before entering the Senate chamber to witness a key vote on a bipartisan package of new sanctions on Russia.

Graham had long championed the measure and announced Trump’s support just days before his death.

“Sanctions pressure on Russia is very important,” he said, saying the legislation would squeeze Russia’s ability to finance the war, while signaling US support for the Ukrainian people.”

With this vote, we are going to show Putin he can’t bully Ukraine,” US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters.

“America stands behind Ukraine … We are going to back Ukraine, and they’re going to win and beat Putin.”

Zelensky’s visit came after a letter from the Pentagon to lawmakers showed the Trump administration has told Congress it will not finish spending $400m authorised for aid to Ukraine until fiscal year 2029.

Democrats and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans have criticised the ⁠Pentagon for sitting on aid for Kyiv that members of both parties backed last year.

Zelensky and Trump clashed repeatedly early in Trump’s second term, but relations between the two have improved in recent months as Ukraine has racked up more successes in the war, including with increased attacks on Russia’s oil industry.

Graham, a South Carolina Republican who died suddenly of a heart ‌ailment on 11 July at age 71, was ​one of Trump’s most visible allies.

He was a defence hawk who regularly called for an ‌interventionist US role on the world stage and strongly backed Ukraine.

He met ​with Zelensky in Kyiv only a day before his death, the 10th time he had visited Ukraine since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Telegram ​founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities, ‌and that it had issued an international warrant for his arrest.

The FSB said that the charges related to ​Telegram’s failure to remove material “used by Ukrainian ​special services and by terrorist and extremist ⁠organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage ​and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations within ​the Russian Federation.”

There was no immediate comment from Durov or Telegram.

Telegram, an encrypted messenger app founded in 2013, ​says it has more than 1 billion users, ​and is widely used on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine ‌war.

Russia ⁠has repeatedly tried to restrict Telegram’s use in recent years, promoting its own state-backed MAX messenger service.

Durov, who was born in Russia but ​now holds Emirati ​and French ⁠passports, founded Russia’s Facebook equivalent, VKontakte, before selling his remaining stake ​in 2014 amid pressure from Russian authorities.

French ​authorities ⁠are investigating Durov over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately counter criminal activity on the platform ⁠and ​did not sufficiently cooperate with ​law enforcement requests. Durov denies wrongdoing.

US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday discussed reviving peace talks with Russia and plans for Ukraine to produce Patriot missile interceptors, then attended the funeral of a US senator who had been one of Kyiv’s most vocal backers.

Zelensky met Trump privately in the Oval Office before a service honoring senator Lindsey Graham in the afternoon.

He also held talks with Finnish president Alexander Stubb at a Washington hotel and met with US senators at the US Capitol. The whirlwind visit offered Zelensky a chance to shore up US military support for Ukraine when relations are warmer than they have been in months.

The US, however, has been sitting on aid for Kyiv and Graham’s death means the loss of one of Ukraine’s most influential advocates in Washington.

Zelensky told reporters that he emphasised Ukraine’s need for anti-ballistic missile systems and interceptors during his meetings with Trump and the senators, while welcoming new US legislation advancing sweeping Russian energy sanctions.

Zelensky told ⁠reporters that Ukraine had drones that could destroy Iranian- and Russian-built drones but needed more weapons to defend against ballistic missiles fired by Moscow.

Ukraine cannot go “punch for punch” when confronting Russia militarily but must use resources carefully and act in an “asymmetric” fashion, Ukraine’s new acting defence minister said in an interview published early on Wednesday.

Yevhenii Khmara gave the interview with right-wing US blogger Laura Loomer in Kyiv, his first after his appointment as acting minister last week.

He took over after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky removed popular 35-year-old tech specialist Mykhailo Fedorov ⁠as defence minister, citing his clashes with Ukraine’s top commander ​Oleksandr ⁠Syrskyi, who was subsequently dismissed.

Khmara, the former head of the SBU security service, told Loomer that he had a clear vision on what tactics could be used to make Ukraine’s military campaign more effective.

“I have a real picture in my ​head ⁠of what is being used, what can ‌be used against the enemy, and what can be most effective moving forward,” Khmara was quoted as saying in a text interview Loomer published on her account on social media website ‌X.

Khmara told Loomer that resource management and logistics were a critical part of battlefield planning, particularly in ensuring that units had on hand the equipment they needed.

Asked how Ukraine was able in recent months to inflict damage on the oil industry and other infrastructure of its larger adversary, ⁠Khmara said: “We can’t go punch for punch. We have to be asymmetric.”

Russian forces have struck two vessels carrying weapons and military equipment to Ukrainian ports near Odesa, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday. The report could not be ⁠independently ⁠verified.

A number of industrial facilities in the central Russian city of Ryazan caught fire ⁠after a drone attack, regional governor Pavel Malkov said on Telegram on Wednesday, and six people were seeking medical ⁠help.

He did not provide details about the facilities in the region, home to a number of large industrial complexes, including an oil refinery and a logistics hub.

Separately, a woman was killed and a man injured ‌after missile debris hit an ‌apartment building in the southern Russian city of Taganrog on the Sea of ⁠Azov, home to various industrial facilities and a grain terminal, regional governor Yuri Slyusar said.

In Ukraine’s Kherson, a man was killed and another three people injured in a Russian drone attack, local authorities said in Telegram.

It could not be independently verified. Both Russia ⁠and Ukraine deny targeting civilians ⁠in the war launched by Russia’s full-scale invasion ‌of Ukraine ​in February 2022

Russian online retailer Wildberries has evacuated its logistics hub in the central Russian city of Ryazan in accordance with safety requirements, the company said in a Telegram post.

It did not ‌provide other details. ‌A number of ⁠industrial facilities in Ryazan caught fire after a drone attack, regional governor Pavel Malkov ‌said ​on Telegram ‌earlier ⁠on Wednesday, without ⁠providing details.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Wildberries had acted in an unprecedented way by announcing its decision to provide assistance to sellers whose goods were stored in damaged warehouses, despite having no legal obligation to do so.

“This, of course, deserves the highest praise,” Peskov said.

Wildberries declined to comment on talks with the government. Marina ‌Gorshkova, a Wildberries seller with an Instagram audience of 1.3 million people, recorded a video appeal to “the country’s leadership,” saying that there were 1 million registered users on Wildberries who needed help.

“If we close down, the treasury will stop receiving our taxes, and new entrepreneurs will not spring up like mushrooms. We are pleading with you: pay attention to us,” she said, stressing that tax breaks were more important than compensation.

Inna Marchenko, from St Petersburg, who sells pet food on Wildberries, told Reuters that she had lost 1.5 million roubles ($19,000) worth of goods in the fires but had received only 8,000 roubles in compensation, which she could use only for advertising.

“When I learned that all my goods had burned down, I just sat on the floor and started crying. I don’t know what to do next,” she said.

The government has been selective in recent years in providing support to vulnerable industries. It supported coal producers but denied assistance to some construction companies.