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Putin was listening to a report about gasoline problems in Russia and suddenly started drawing intently. His previous drawing, "cat - view from behind," has already been analyzed by psychologists. What is it this time?

"The main thing for me is that the cats are okay," says Oleksandr Samokhin, a resident of an apartment building in Kharkiv damaged by a Russian strike. Oleksandr was making breakfast when Russians hit his home. He and his wife suffered shrapnel wounds. After the attack, Oleksandr could not find his three cats - Sonia, Sienia, and Ryzhyk - and is deeply worried about them. Russia's attack on Kharkiv today killed two people and injured 42 more, including four children. Russia must be held fully accountable and punished for everything it has done to Ukraine. 📹: Suspilne

However, almost all of these decisions operate on a timeline of five years or more. The counter-drone program is planned through the early 2030s, ATACMS production in Europe still has to progress from a framework agreement to serial production, and Washington will retain control over exports and modernization. Meanwhile, the package does little to address the most urgent need today. The summit produced no major initiative to increase the production of air defense interceptors at precisely the moment when American stockpiles have been depleted by the war with Iran and Ukraine is repelling massive Russian ballistic missile attacks every week. Reconnaissance drones do not shoot down missiles over residential neighborhoods. The main outcome of Ankara lies not only in the documents adopted. The summit exposed the time gap between political decisions and military reality. NATO is operating on the assumption that Europe has several years to rearm and gradually replace American capabilities. But those very years represent the greatest risk. Between today's shortage of air defense systems, the reduction of the U.S. military presence, and future production programs lies a multi-year window of vulnerability. And Moscow sees that window just as clearly as Brussels does.

The NATO Summit on July 7-8, 2026, in Ankara took place against the backdrop of two wars: Russia's war against Ukraine, now in its fifth year, and the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran. As leaders gathered for dinner at Erdoğan's presidential palace, the United States struck more than eighty targets in Iran and reimposed oil sanctions following attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. During those same days, Russia launched one of its largest aerial attacks on Ukraine: Kyiv and Kyiv region were struck by dozens of ballistic and cruise missiles, Zircon missiles, and hundreds of drones. In the span of a week, two such attacks killed more than seventy people. The final declaration was agreed upon before the summit even opened - no one wanted to risk negotiations in President Trump's presence. The document reaffirms an "ironclad commitment" to Article 5, identifies Russia as a long-term threat to Euro-Atlantic security, and establishes a new formula: "a stronger Europe in a stronger NATO." Mark Rutte calls this "NATO 3.0" - an Alliance that is gradually assuming greater responsibility while remaining grounded on American involvement. Ukraine was promised €70 billion in military support annually in 2026 and 2027. However, this figure looks convincing only at first glance. It is not a new aid package, but a combination of commitments already made, including the defense component of the EU loan (€28.3 billion in 2026) and bilateral programs by individual countries. The United States did not join this financial commitment. Ahead of the summit, Italy even proposed removing the reference to support through the end of 2027, arguing that a rigid timeline could complicate a political settlement; however, no consensus was reached on this change. This is where Ankara's central contradiction became clear. The problem of European security today is defined less by political declarations than by resources. According to CSIS estimates, the war with Iran cost the United States around 45% of its stockpile of critical Patriot interceptors and more than half of its THAAD stockpile. In just three days of fighting, more than 800 Patriot missiles were used - more than Ukraine has received since the start of the full-scale war. Replenishing these stockpiles will take between one and four years. For Ukraine, this is not an abstract problem concerning American arsenals, but a direct shortage of the missiles needed to intercept Russian ballistic missiles right now. At the same time, the United States continues to reduce its military presence in Europe. Since October 2025, Washington has announced the withdrawal of between nine and thirteen thousand troops, and in the spring informed allies that it was reducing its contribution to the NATO Force Model - the system of forces assigned to the Alliance's defense plans. Some of the U.S. forces on which these plans relied are no longer part of them. This means that defense scenarios for the eastern flank will have to be revised before Europe has time to compensate for the loss of American capabilities. Europe's response has been money. All 32 NATO members have already reached the minimum threshold of 2% of GDP, while some countries plan to reach 5% well ahead of the established deadline. Notably, the U.S. military budget for 2026 amounts to around 3.3% of GDP - below the level Washington demands of its allies. Financial commitments are beginning to translate into production. NATO is launching a large-scale counter-drone defense program, procuring new airborne early warning and control aircraft and unmanned systems, while Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall have agreed to localize ATACMS missile production in Germany - the first time American ballistic missiles will be manufactured outside the United States. This is a strategically important step that signals the gradual shift of defense production to Europe.

Russia's attack on Kyiv today killed three people and injured 13 more. Two of the injured are in serious condition. One of the Russian drones struck a 25-story apartment block. Rescuers evacuated an injured child from the building. 📹: State Emergency Service of Ukraine

❗️An SSU Sea Baby naval drone struck the Russian shadow fleet tanker Blue in the Black Sea. The vessel was near temporarily occupied Yalta, within Ukraine's exclusive economic zone. Russian aircraft tried to intercept the drone but failed. The tanker Blue is under sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Ukraine for transporting Russian oil in circumvention of international sanctions. It is a Suezmax-class tanker, one of the largest types of oceangoing tankers used to transport large volumes of oil and petroleum products. Glory!

President Trump: Would you go to Moscow? President Zelenskyy: It's difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there. It's dangerous.

Secretary Rubio: I think [Ukraine's strikes deep inside Russia] is one of the dynamics that's changed in this war over the last few months. Russians are finding it more difficult to defend their own airspace. We hope that it's going to create the space now to negotiate the end of this war. President Trump: It's an escalation, but one that can help lead to an end.

⚡ President Trump to President Zelenskyy: We are gonna give you a license to make Patriots. This way he can't complain that we are not giving him enough. Make them yourself.

President Trump on Russia-Ukraine war: We've settled a lot of wars. I thought this one might be the easiest. But Putin is a difficult character, and this guy [President Zelenskyy] is a difficult character. It's not the easiest thing. It is a lot of commitment.

Presidents Trump and Zelenskyy have met at the NATO summit in Ankara.

In Russia's Volgograd, local residents are pitching tents and spending the night in line at gas stations to get at least some gasoline. By the way, one of Russia's largest oil refineries is located in Volgograd.

Coventry, while still a member of the executive board under Bach, advocated for the return of Russians. History knows cases of excluding aggressors - and knows no such return. Germany was not allowed to participate in the Games after both world wars: readmission came only after peace. South Africa was kept out of the Games for twenty-eight years and was only returned after the dismantling of apartheid. Yugoslavia was excluded in 1992 while the war in the Balkans was still ongoing. Russia is the first case where an aggressor is being brought back in the middle of a war that it itself started. However, there is one analogy: Berlin 1936, when the IOC similarly chose "neutrality" and gave the Nazi regime an international platform. The IOC’s decision is a pathetic example of immorality and greed. The tactic is clearly set by the Russians themselves: this is their style of small steps, each of which shifts the boundary of what is normal. Neutral athletes in 2023. Paris in 2024. Milan in winter. Belarus in May. The ROC in July. The next step is the return of the flag and anthem. Markers to watch: the decision on Russian symbols before the Youth Games in Dakar in October; whether World Athletics holds its position; and whether the IOC proceeds to full rehabilitation of Russia before Los Angeles without any ceasefire. If it does - the IOC will finally confirm that its principles have a price, and that price is not high.

Greed and immorality have won. Yesterday, July 7, the IOC provisionally reinstated the membership of the Russian Olympic Committee and rescinded its recommendations to international federations to ban Russian athletes from competitions. Formal restrictions remain in place: Russian officials are not invited, no events will be held in Russia, and the issue of the flag and anthem has been postponed "until the appropriate time." But the main step has already been taken: for the first time since 2022, the Olympic system has opened its doors to a state that is waging war. IOC officials found a convenient legal basis. The ROC’s membership was suspended in 2023 due to the inclusion of sports structures from the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions. The Russians amended their statutes, removing references to these structures - and the IOC decided the problem had been resolved. We are used to associating the Olympics, the international Olympic movement, and elite sports with peace. The mission of sport is to serve a peaceful society. This is enshrined in the Olympic Charter itself. However, the IOC has chosen a convenient interpretation of the principle of non-discrimination and every athlete’s right to sport. In this case, it is not simply about the right to participate in competitions, but about the right to propaganda and the normalization of violence as a state policy of the Russian regime. Some Russian athletes themselves take part in the war against Ukraine. Many of them support the Russian regime, accept awards from Putin, and whitewash crimes. Therefore, they cannot pretend to be "neutral" representatives of sport. Yet the IOC believes they cannot be discriminated against. The most cynical part of this story is that the IOC has retained the requirement that athletes must be "role models for a peaceful society." Checking this has been entrusted to the Russian Olympic Committee itself. In other words, a structure tied to the aggressor state will determine its own integrity. The IOC’s argumentation does not withstand criticism. IOC officials insist that athletes already need "equal access" to qualification for Los Angeles 2028. But qualification for Paris 2024 also took place during the war that argument did not work then. IOC officials insist that "sport is beyond politics." Yet the same IOC quite politically stripped Putin of the Olympic Order in 2022. The Olympic system did not adopt this decision unanimously. World Athletics confirmed a full ban for Russians and Belarusians just days earlier. FIFA and UEFA are also not lifting restrictions - in particular because teams from other countries simply refuse to play against Russia. Conversely, swimming and gymnastics surrendered back in the spring. This split is a map of institutional resilience: it shows where it still holds and where it no longer does. Money plays the main role here. Russian financial influence on world sport is well documented. The purest example is fencing. Alisher Usmanov, designated by the EU as an oligarch with particularly close ties to Putin, transferred about 80 million Swiss francs to the International Fencing Federation over three Olympic cycles; in 2020, his money accounted for 93% of its income. For decades, he financed federations in Africa and South America, for which these contributions were a matter of survival. The result: in 2024, despite sanctions from forty countries, Usmanov was re-elected president - 120 votes to 26. Russian money has become a structural part of the financing of the Olympic periphery - small federations whose votes elect the leadership of world sport. It is not the decision itself that is being bought. It is the environment in which such a decision looks natural. The IOC has long been vulnerable to this mechanism - it is enough to recall the Salt Lake City 2002 scandal. There is also a personal dimension: Bach exchanged awards with Usmanov, Putin was the first to congratulate both Bach in 2013 and Coventry in 2025.

34 people injured by the Russian strike on Kharkiv. One of them is a three-year-old boy. Two people killed. Pure Russian terror.

2022 - "We'll defeat Ukraine in two days! Good Lord, what is there to even defeat?!" 2026 - "No fuel? Well, back in the day we had food ration cards. We'll get through this too. Yes, it's hard, but we're used to it." What else will we soon hear from propagandist Simonyan?

Russia continues attacking Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure. Last night, Russian forces launched a massive strike with ballistic missiles and 169 drones on Ukraine: ▪️Kyiv: 1 person killed, 2 injured. Fires continue in Sviatoshyn and Desnianskyi districts. 42 trams of Polish Pesa company were damaged in a depot. ▪️Kharkiv: 2 people killed, more than 20 injured (including 3 children). Private houses, a church, cars and a five-story building were damaged. A gas station was also hit. ▪️Chernihiv region: Russian drones struck two enterprises, causing fires and damaging vehicles. ▪️Poltava region: A gas station was attacked. ▪️Odesa region: Three gas stations and an energy infrastructure facility were hit. 11 people injured from the evening strike. ▪️Dnipropetrovsk region: A logistics company facility was attacked.

Footage of a drone maneuvering over targets in Nizhnekamsk, Tatarstan, Russia.