Ukraine reaches political agreement with US on Patriot interceptor production licences
Ukraine and the US have agreed on licences to produce PAC-3 Patriot interceptor missiles, with key deliveries expected in days. A Russian strike destroyed an ammunition warehouse in the Kyiv region, while the UN reports the highest civilian casualty toll since 2022.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Thursday that Ukraine and the US have reached a political agreement on licences for the production of PAC-3 Patriot interceptors. He added that key supplies of the missiles are expected to arrive in the coming days. The Patriot is a US-made air defence system; its PAC-3 interceptor is one of the few Western weapons capable of shooting down the ballistic missiles that Russia has increasingly used against Ukrainian cities.
Speaking to reporters after returning from a NATO summit and talks with Donald Trump in Turkey, Zelenskyy also noted that discussions are underway with the US on a "drone deal" or joint drone production. Talks will continue with Ukraine’s European allies on developing a separate anti-missile system, with a meeting planned in France soon. "It’s for ballistic targets, similar to Patriot, but more mass-produced and cheaper," Zelenskyy said.
A senior Ukrainian official cautioned that it could take a year or longer for the country to start producing Patriot interceptor missiles. The Kremlin said the licence deal reflects what it called Washington’s "ambivalence" but acknowledged Trump’s efforts to help broker a peace deal to end the war, which Russia launched over four years ago.
Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Russia struck an ammunition warehouse during its attack on the Kyiv region earlier this week, and a criminal investigation has been launched. In the small town of Vyshneve on Kyiv’s western outskirts, the Russian strike hit a warehouse on 6 July, triggering massive secondary explosions. Ukrainian officials reported 10 people killed in Vyshneve and hundreds of houses damaged. Ukrainian officials rarely disclose damage to military targets after Russian strikes.
Russian strikes killed at least 265 civilians and injured 1,816 in Ukraine in June, the highest combined casualty count since the early months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, a top UN official told the Security Council on Thursday. UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said the number of civilians killed and injured in May was the highest since April 2022, but data from the UN Human Rights Office pointed to an even higher toll in June and possibly July.
Overall, the UN has verified at least 16,402 civilians, including 802 children, killed in Ukraine since the war began, and 48,428 wounded, including 2,948 children. Russian authorities have reported 250 civilians killed and 1,596 injured inside Russia in the first six months of 2026, but the UN could not verify these reports, DiCarlo said.
Ukraine opened a criminal investigation on Thursday after a crowd in the western city of Lviv surrounded and overturned an army conscription vehicle the day before. The incident drew swift backlash from top Ukrainian officials, including Zelenskyy, who called it "a very bad story." Ukraine has seen a steady increase in clashes between citizens and army conscription police since Russia’s 2022 invasion, with authorities reporting over a hundred such incidents this year alone. The unrest started after officers detained a man suspected of evading military service and took him to a draft centre. Videos on social media showed crowds surrounding and attacking a vehicle in Lviv late Wednesday, shouting "shame" and filming with phones. A police officer who arrived to calm the crowd was later attacked, according to prosecutors.
