Ukrainecast Surviving Russia's record drone attacks
Also, on Monday Russia's Investigative Committee said that Vladimir Putin's former transport minister Roman Starovoit had been found dead, apparently with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Victoria and Vitaly explain why the ex-Kursk governor's death is driving intense speculation online.
Today's episode is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko.
The producers were Laurie Kalus and Polly Hope. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The assistant editor is Bridget Harney.
Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast's Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
19 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump news at a glance: president complains about Putin's ‘bullshit'
Donald Trump has voiced his irritation with Vladimir Putin, telling a cabinet meeting he was getting increasingly frustrated with the Russian leader. The US president told the televised meeting of top officials: 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' Asked if he wanted to see further sanctions against Russia, Trump replied: 'I'm looking at it.' He refused to give further details but said any action would come as 'a little surprise'. Here's more on that and other key US politics stories of the day: As well as voicing his frustration with Putin, Trump promised to send 10 Patriot missiles to Ukraine, according to an official familiar with the matter. Trump had announced on Monday that US weapons deliveries would resume, just a few days after they were halted by the Pentagon. On Monday, the president said he was 'disappointed' with Russia's president and would send 'more weapons' to Ukraine. 'We're gonna send some more weapons we have to them. They have to be able to defend themselves. They're getting hit very hard now,' Trump said, alongside a US and Israeli delegation. Read the full story The United States only has about 25% of the Patriot missile interceptors it needs for all of the Pentagon's military plans after burning through stockpiles in the Middle East in recent months, an alarming depletion that led to the Trump administration freezing the latest transfer of munitions to Ukraine, according to sources in the government. Read the full story Trump vowed to further escalate his trade wars on Tuesday, threatening US tariffs of up to 200% on foreign drugs and 50% on copper, amid widespread confusion around his shifting plans. Hours after saying his latest deadline for a new wave of steep duties was 'not 100% firm', the US president declared that 'no extensions will be granted' beyond 1 August. 'There has been no change to this date, and there will be no change,' Trump wrote on social media, a day after signing an executive order that changed the date from 9 July. Read the full story The US supreme court has cleared the way for Trump's administration to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten crucial government services. Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as 'reductions in force' while litigation in the case proceeds. The decision could result in hundreds of thousands of job losses at the departments of agriculture, commerce, health and human services, state, treasury, veterans affairs and other agencies. Read the full story A new study of defense department spending previewed exclusively to the Guardian shows that most of the Pentagon's discretionary spending from 2020 to 2024 has gone to outside military contractors, providing a $2.4tn boon in public funds to private firms in what was described as a 'continuing and massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers to fund war and weapons manufacturing'. The report, from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and Costs of War, said that the Trump administration's new Pentagon budget will push annual US military spending past the $1tn mark. Read the full story The deadly Texas floods could signal a new norm in the US, as Trump and his allies dismantle critical federal agencies that help states prepare and respond to extreme weather and other hazards, experts warn. Read the full story An unknown fraudster has used artificial intelligence to impersonate the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, contacting at least five senior officials. According to a state department cable first seen by the Washington Post and confirmed by the Guardian, the impostor sent fake voice messages and texts that mimicked Rubio's voice and writing style to those targets, including three foreign ministers, a US governor and a member of Congress. Read the full story A Houston pediatrician is 'no longer employed' after a posting on social media that the 'Maga' voters in Texas 'get what they voted for' amid deadly flash flooding. A federal judge has ruled against five non-profit organizations that sued the Trump administration over the rescinding of hundreds of millions of dollars meant to prevent and respond to issues such as gun violence, substance abuse and hate crimes. Fifa's relationship with Trump now has a physically tangible marker, with soccer's world governing body announcing it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City. Catching up? Here's what happened on 7 July 2025.
The Guardian
23 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: US weapons supply pause ‘caught Trump off guard'
Donald Trump was reportedly caught off guard by the Pentagon's abrupt move to pause Ukraine weapons deliveries, which the president has overturned. The Associated Press cited three people familiar with the matter, one of whom described Trump as being caught 'flat footed' by last week's announcement. A Pentagon spokesperson denied that the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, had acted without consulting the president. But asked by a reporter on Tuesday who had approved the pause, Trump bristled at the question while he was gathered with his Cabinet. 'I don't know. Why don't you tell me?' Trump on Tuesday voiced his frustration with Vladimir Putin and promised to send Ukraine 10 Patriot missiles, which are claimed to be in short supply. Speaking at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump said he was getting increasingly frustrated with the Russian leader. 'We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.' Asked if he wanted to see further sanctions against Russia, Trump replied: 'I'm looking at it.' On Monday he said he was 'disappointed' with Russia's president and would send 'more weapons' to Ukraine, reversing the Pentagon's pause. Russian authorities claimed a Ukrainian drone attack on a beach in Kursk city killed three people, including a Russian serviceman and injured seven. Alexander Khinshtein, the acting regional governor, claimed the Russian national guard member had been trying to evacuate people from the scene because of a drone attack. Khinshtein also claimed a Ukrainian drone hit a hospital in the Kursk oblast town of Rylsk, injuring two people, blowing out windows and setting a roof on fire. There was no independent confirmation and throughout the war Ukraine has denied targeting civilians, with its strikes inside Russia focused on military facilities and personnel, individual senior commanders, and strategic national infrastructure such as fuel depots and refineries. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) will be allowed to set up its own pre-trial detention centres under a bill passed by the lower house of parliament. The power was previously abolished with the demise of the Soviet-era KGB. Lawmakers say its revival is a response to a spike in the intelligence and subversive activities of foreign powers since Russia started the war. A group of men have been convicted over an arson attack ordered by the banned Russian terrorist group Wagner on an east London warehouse used to supply humanitarian aid and StarLink satellite equipment to Ukraine. They went on to plot more arson attacks in London's Mayfair district and the kidnap of a Russian dissident but were ultimately unsuccessful. Old Bailey judge Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said the convicted men would be sentenced on a date to be fixed in the autumn.
The Sun
2 hours ago
- The Sun
Russian transport official drops dead in office on same day as Putin's sacked minister dies in apparent suicide
A RUSSIAN transport official died in office on the same day as Vladimir Putin's transport minister apparently killed himself after being sacked, it has emerged. Roman Starovoit, who had held the post for less than a year, was dismissed earlier on Monday - just hours before he reportedly took his own life in Moscow. 6 6 6 6 On the same day, Andrey Korneichuk, deputy head of the Russian Federal Road Agency's Property Management Department, died at the Transportation Ministry's Moscow headquarters. According to Telegram channels with close ties to Russian law enforcement, the 42-year-old official died either in his office cabin or during a meeting. He is said to have stood up suddenly, collapsed to the floor, and died. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. Russian state media reported that Korneichuk died at his workplace, possibly from 'acute heart failure". Korneichuk reportedly died after news broke that Starovoit had been sacked from his post. There is no indication the deaths are linked. Meanwhile, telegram channels with links to the Russian security forces reported Starovoit's cause of death as suicide - claiming the minister was found dead with gunshot wounds. The firearm, according to Russian media, was an award pistol issued to him in 2023 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Trump slams Putin's 'bulls***' and trashes the tyrant's 'meaningless' promises to end Ukraine war in savage attack Putin was 'shocked' over the sudden death of Starovoit. But the Kremlin refused to be drawn on how Roman Starovoit had died, saying it must be left for the investigation. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: 'This cannot but shock normal people. 'Naturally, it shocked us too.' Versions of Starovoit's death from official sources were constantly changing, with initial reports saying his body had been found at home. But doubts over his apparent suicide emerged after Russian authorities said he was found inside the car. Russian cops then confirmed Starovoit's body was found having shot himself inside his black Tesla. Press reports and photos clearly showed a body being removed from long grass near the electric car. Sources close to the Kremlin revealed he had left his ministry after morning meetings like nothing was wrong. 6 6 The minister's 25-year-old girlfriend Polina Korneeva was seen crying at the scene. She was later driven away in an official Aurus limousine after reportedly identifying his body. Reports said the last time Starovoit communicated with his family was two days ago. Starovoit had divorced his wife in 2021, the mother of his two children, and started a relationship with Korneeva. The dead ex-minister had a daughter 15, and son, 18. According to sources, on July 5, he arrived at the competition to see his daughter, stayed there for less than an hour, hugged her and left. He did not contact his family again. Starovoit's passing is the latest in a string of suspicious deaths of Russian officials, oligarchs and insiders since Putin's invasion of Ukraine began. Many have died in reported suicides, falls from windows or under mysterious circumstances, fuelling speculation about growing instability behind the Kremlin's walls. Trump slams Putin's 'bulls***' and trashes the tyrant's 'meaningless' promises By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter A RAGING Donald Trump has slammed Vladimir Putin for talking "bull****" about the Ukraine war and making "meaningless" promises. The savage attack comes as Trump vowed to send more weapons to Ukraine as he appears to be growing increasingly frustrated with the Russian tyrant. "We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump told reporters during a televised cabinet meeting at the White House. "He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Trump reiterated that he was "very unhappy" with Putin since their phone call last week made no progress on the Ukraine peace deal - something the US president has pushed for since returning to power. But Putin has snubbed peace and is instead steadily increasing his overnight bombing raids - which could soon hit 1,000 a day. Trump's criticism of Putin came a day after he said he would send more weapons to Ukraine - a sweeping reversal of Washington's announcement last week that it was halting some arms shipments. He said: "We're going to send some more weapons. "We have to. They have to be able to defend hit very hard now." "We're going to have to send more weapons, defensive weapons, primarily." Moscow had no immediate reaction to Trump's strongly worded comments about Putin, but the Kremlin said that sending arms to Ukraine only serves to prolong the conflict.
