Kyiv has called for “biting” sanctions after Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles overnight. US President Trump has now approved sending more Patriot missiles to Ukraine, accusing Russia of not wanting peace.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said Russia had launched a total of 728 drones and 13 missiles at targets in western Ukraine overnight.
Kyiv claims that at least 711 drones and seven missiles were destroyed by Ukrainian air-defense systems.
US President Donald Trump has meanwhile said that he approved sending more US Patriot missiles, saying Ukraine must be able to defend itself.
Here are the headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine on Wednesday, July 9:
Merz welcomes Trump signals on Ukraine air defense
Marking 70 years since Germany joined NATO, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has underlined the importance of Germany’s massive new defense spending.
“We will build the Bundeswehr into an army that is a model within the alliance,” he said, stressing that rearmament must happen in close coordination with European partners.
Speaking at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Berlin, Merz pointed to the need for “standardization and economies of scale” so countries can buy equipment in larger numbers and at lower costs.
Rutte praised Germany’s defense course, telling Merz, “I know I can rely on Germany, I can rely on you personally.” He said the aim of sharply higher spending by European NATO members is to end the debate over fair burden-sharing, an issue Washington has often raised in recent years.
Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who also spoke, said Germany must be ready to “drastically adjust our defense spending.” “It’s about our security, our freedom our prosperity,” he said.
Germany’s Merz to offer Ukraine air-defense help at Rome meeting
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday said he would offer to provide military assistance to Ukraine when he meets President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome.
“In particular, additional air-defense systems are under consideration, and I will make offers that we could implement from Germany,” said Merz in comments delivered alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
On Wednesday, the two marked the 70th anniversary of Germany’s membership in the NATO military alliance.
Merz added that he had spoken with French President Emanuel Macron several times regarding a joint EU fighter jet project, noting that he preferred to stick to existing contracts regarding the division of labor between France, Germany and Spain.
Merz said his administration is determined to see the issue resolved for good within the next few months and that he hoped similar progress could be made on a joint EU tank production scheme.
Top EU rights court finds Russia guilty of war crimes in Ukraine
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Wednesday found Russia guilty of committing human rights abuses in its invasion of Ukraine.
It specifically condemned the abduction of Ukrainian children and the use of rape as a weapon of war in the ongoing conflict as well as the Kremlin’s role in the downing of Malaysia Airline Flight MH17 in 2014.
The ECHR is tasked with implementing the European Human Rights Convention among signatory nations as part of the Council of Europe.
The court ruled on four different cases brought by Ukraine and the Netherlands dating back to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea — when MH17 was downed by Russian-backed separatists — until 2022, when Russia was suspended from the Council of Europe after launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russia’s exclusion from the Council makes the court’s rulings — which only deal with cases brought before Russia withdrew its membership — largely symbolic.
Nevertheless, it was a public rebuke of Russian extrajudicial killings of civilians and Ukrainian military personnel, of torture, forced labor, unlawful and arbitrary detention of civilians, looting, sexual violence and the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The ECHR said Russia “must without delay release or safely return all persons who were deprived of liberty on Ukrainian territory under occupation by the Russian and Russian-controlled forces.”
It also called for Moscow to assist in identifying “all children transferred from Ukraine” and help return them to their families.
Ukraine called the court’s decision a “historic victory on the international stage.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it “null and void,” saying, “we won’t abide by it.”
Zelenskyy to meet Pope Leo, US Envoy Kellogg and EU leaders in Rome
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was scheduled to meet Pope Leo XIV and the Italian president in Rome on Wednesday according to a presidential spokesperson.
The Ukrainian president is expected to travel to the pope’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome on Wednesday for his second meeting with the new pontiff. He will also meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.
Zelenskyy is in Italy to attend the Ukraine Recovery Conference, an international reconstruction confab with EU leaders in the Italian capital on July 10-11.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are scheduled to open the conference on Thursday.
Attendees at this fourth such donor event, will include German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Greece, and thousands of corporate and NGO representatives according to Italian organizers.
The US will be represented by Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, with whom Zelenskyy is also scheduled to meet.
After months of wrangling, Ukraine finds itself at a point where US President Donald Trump is signaling impatience with Russian President Vladimir Putin and has now promised to reverse a halt on air-defense weaponry deliveries for Kyiv.
The Italian government cited World Bank data, estimating that reconstruction in Ukraine could cost as much as $585.3 billion (€500 billion). Russia added to that sum on the eve of the conference by launching the largest air-assault of its grinding three-plus year invasion.
Ukraine arrests Chinese nationals on spying charges
Ukraine’s SBU security services on Wednesday announced that they had detained two Chinese nationals caught trying to smuggle navy missile technology information out of the country.
An SBU statement said agents had, “detained two citizens of the People’s Republic of China in Kyiv who were attempting to illegally export secret documentation on the Ukrainian RK-360MC Neptune missile system to China.”
Ukraine used the Neptune missile to destroy, among others, the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, early in the war.
Ukrainian officials say a 24-year-old student at a Kyiv university and his father, who traveled to Ukraine from China, had been arrested for their “espionage activities.”
If convicted, the two could each face 15 years behind bars.
Beijing and Moscow have both proudly spoken of the fact that their partnership has “no limits.”
Beyond accusations that it is aiding Moscow with drone technology, Ukraine also claims to have arrested numerous Chinese nationals on spying charges as well as claiming that dozens more Chinese nationals have been sent to fight alongside invading Russian forces.
Beijing rejects such accusations.
New audio features Trump bragging to donors about threatening to bomb Moscow
Audio published by broadcaster CNN in tandem with a new book by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf about the 2024 US presidential campaign purports to feature Donald Trump bragging to potential donors that he alone could make the world safer from tyrants.
Trump claimed that he threatened massive US military responses to Russia invading Ukraine, or China invading Taiwan.
“With Putin I said, ‘If you go into Ukraine, I’m going to bomb the shit out of Moscow. I’m telling you I have no choice,'” Trump was recorded saying during one 2024 fundraiser. “And then [Putin] goes, like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he believed me 10%.”
Speaking of a similar threat that Trump claimed to have made to Chinese President Xi Jinping, he said, “He [Xi] thought I was crazy,” before adding, “we never had a problem.”
Trump has often claimed that Russia and China were held in check by his tough stance. He was re-elected in November 2024, among other things, for his promise to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza immediately upon returning to office — something that has yet to happen nearly six-months into his second term.
Germany’s Merz says ‘diplomatic means have been exhausted’ in Ukraine
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday told parliamentarians in Berlin that “diplomatic means have been exhausted” when it comes to efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking during a budget debate, Merz criticized a massive overnight Russian air-assault and vowed Berlin would continue its support of Ukraine, “despite the efforts of the political left and the Russia-friendly right in this house.”
Merz said diplomacy is no antidote to the military excesses of a violent regime that questions the sovereignty of an entire nation and appears set on attempting to destroy political freedom across the whole European continent.
Zelenskyy calls for ‘biting’ sanctions after overnight Russian attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday called for Western allies to impose “biting” sanctions on Russia after Moscow launched hundreds of drones and missiles overnight.
Zelenskyy called for allies to target Moscow’s energy sector as a way to cut off funding for Moscow’s war effort.
“Our partners know how to apply pressure in a way that will force Russia to think about ending the war, not launching new strikes.”
US suggests policy turnaround on supplying Patriots
Russia’s massive overnight attacks on Ukraine come as the US has announced that it will reverse course on a recent decision aimed at pausing the delivery of air-defense weaponry to Kyiv.
Though US President Donald Trump was unable to say who made the initial decision to pause the weapons, he voiced frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin when speaking to reporters in the Oval Office late Tuesday and said he had approved the delivery of US-made Patriot missile systems in what was his first approval of weapons deliveries to Kyiv.
To date, the US has only approved the delivery of three Patriot missile batteries to Kyiv — and that under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
The Patriot is one of the world’s most advanced air-defense systems and is capable of intercepting aircraft as well as ballistic and cruise missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, on Wednesday referenced the delivery and Russia’s overnight attacks on social media, writing, “It is quite telling that Russia carried out this attack just as the United States publicly announced that it would supply us with weapons.”
Russia launches massive overnight drone and missile attack
Kyiv on Wednesday said that nearly 750 Russian drones and missiles were fired at targets in western Ukraine overnight Tuesday. The attack was by far the largest since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in February 2022.
Ukrainian air force representatives reported that 711 of the drones and at least seven of the missiles were downed by Ukraine.
“This is a telling attack — and it comes precisely at a time when so many efforts have been made to achieve peace, to establish a ceasefire, and yet only Russia continues to rebuff them all,” wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media.
The attacks mainly targeted Ukraine’s western Volyn region, the capital of which, Lutsk, borders Poland and Belarus.
Welcome to our coverage
Welcome to IMR’s coverage of the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, we start with Russia launching its largest air assault of the war and US President Donald Trump suggesting a course correction in his dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin by announcing the US will reverse its decision to withhold defensive arms deliveries to Kyiv.
Stay tuned for more news and analysis.