Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

G7 nations are expected to announce a framework guaranteeing Ukraine’s long-term security on Wednesday, bloc member London said in an emailed statement.

“The joint declaration, expected to be signed by all members of the G7, will set out how allies will support Ukraine over the coming years to end the war and deter and respond to any future attack,” Downing Street said.

“As Ukraine makes strategic progress in their counteroffensive, and the degradation of Russian forces begins to infect Putin’s front line, we are stepping up our formal arrangements to protect Ukraine for the long term,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.

He is currently attending a July 11-12 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where members of the defense alliance have set aid to Ukraine at the top of the agenda.

“Supporting their progress on the pathway to NATO membership, coupled with formal, multilateral, and bilateral agreements and the overwhelming support of NATO members will send a strong signal to President Putin and return peace to Europe,” Sunak said.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russian forces launched an air attack against Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the second consecutive night, the Kyiv military administration said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.

“After a break of more than a week, the enemy launched Iranian drones over Kyiv for the second day in a row. The air alert lasted more than 2 hours,” it said.

The military force claimed it destroyed enemy targets and shared no information on casualties and damage sustained at this time.

In Google-translated comments on Telegram, the Ukrainian air force said that Russian troops attacked Ukraine overnight from the north-eastern direction, using Iranian-made Shahed-136/131. A total of 15 drones participated in the strike, the force detailed, without specifying the number of units involved in the attack against Kyiv.

CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russia’s latest military offensives, including air strikes against Ukrainian capital Kyiv, may be a “demonstrative response” to the Vilnius summit of the U.S.-led NATO alliance, which is meeting again today, the Institute for the Study of War said in its Tuesday report.

“Russia’s drone strikes on port infrastructure also coincide with the first day of the NATO summit in Vilnius and are likely intended to discourage NATO members from providing more military aid to Ukraine,” the think tank said.

NATO nations have unanimously expressed support for Ukraine, although Kyiv’s membership bid has yet to progress.

“Russia may be threatening the Black Sea grain deal to message the deal’s original broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, that his recent statement of support for Ukraine’s NATO membership and the return of the five Ukrainian Azovstal commanders on July 7 has not gone unnoticed and is not appreciated by the Kremlin,” the ISW added.

Turkey on Monday finally endorsed the entry of Sweden into the military coalition — an accession that the Kremlin has warned could have “negative consequences.”

— Ruxandra Iordache

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska arrived in Lithuania’s capital on Tuesday as the NATO summit convenes and leaders discuss ongoing support for Kyiv amid Russia’s ongoing war.

The group’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, stressed that Ukraine would receive a “strong, positive message on the path forward” regarding its membership.

But Zelenskyy remains frustrated that NATO has failed to lay out a timeline or give specific details for his country’s future NATO membership, calling it “unprecedented and absurd” on Telegram.

Kyiv has been pushing for accession into NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion, but officials of the security alliance have previously said its membership is unlikely to proceed while war is waged on Ukrainian territories.

— Michele Luhn and Amanda Macias

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Kremlin was “struck” by the speed with which “neutral status” countries such as Finland and Sweden opted to join the NATO military alliance.

“We were struck by the speed that both Finland and Sweden renounced their neutral status, renounced the advantages that this neutral status provided them for many decades, provided them with relatively independent role, provided them with a reputation and authority both in Europe and on the international stage,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow during a press conference with visiting Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.

Lavrov also said that Finland and Sweden have given up “special trade and economic investment and other relations with the Russian Federation” by joining NATO.

Lavrov’s comments follow NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s announcement that Sweden would become the 32nd member to join the military alliance. Finland became a NATO member in April.

— Amanda Macias

Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, in his own bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kyiv on July 10, 2023. After several missiles exploded near his house outside Kyiv, Kyrylo Barashkov decided the only way to keep his family safe was to build his own bunker.

— Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images