08-07-2025
US agrees to send ‘defensive' military aid to Ukraine
Update:
Date: 2025-07-08T07:40:08.000Z
Title: UK imposes sanctions on head, deputy of Russia's principal chemical weapons unit
Content: Defence and security editor
The UK has sanctioned the head and a deputy of Russia's principal chemical weapons unit over the illegal use of CS teargas in Ukraine ahed of a meeting of the executive council of the Organisation of Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Aleksey Rtishchev, the chief of Russia's Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defence unit (known as RKhBZ) and Andrei Marchenko, a deputy will now both be subject to sanctions following OPCW reports that gas was used on the battlefield.
Though CS gas is used as a crowd control agent in several countries, its use in war is prohibited by the chemical weapons convention. Last November the OPCW confirmed there was evidence of the use of teargas on the frontline, at Ilinka, near the town of Nikopol.
The UK has already sanctioned the RKHBZ unit as well as its former chief Igor Kirillov, though he was assassinated by Ukraine last December by a bomb hidden in a scooter, after Kyiv accused Russia of deploying chemical weapons hundreds of times.
Britain also sanctioned The Joint Stock Company Federal Production Centre Scientific Research Institute of Applied Chemistry for transferring gas grenades to the Russian military.
Stephen Doughty, the sanctions minister, said 'Barbaric chemical weapons are supposed to be consigned to history, and yet Russia continues to deploy them on the battlefield in Ukraine.'
Update:
Date: 2025-07-08T07:39:05.000Z
Title: Morning opening: US agrees to send 'defensive' military aid to Ukraine
Content: The big news overnight is that US president Donald Trump said the US will send additional weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself against ongoing attacks by Russia.
Talking to journalists at the White House, Trump said 'they are getting hit very, very hard,' adding he was 'not happy' with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
They have to be able to defend themselves.
A Pentagon statement shortly afterwards confirmed that
'at president Trump's direction, the Department of Defense is sending additional defensive weapons to Ukraine to ensure the Ukrainians can defend themselves while we work to secure a lasting peace and ensure the killing stops.'
The move comes a week after a confusing halt in military deliveries for Ukraine despite continuing attacks by Russia, which prompted Kyiv and several European capitals to urge the US to rethink its position.
The issue was also discussed during last week's direct call between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite the announcement overnight, Russia continued attacks on Ukraine, with explosions reported in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, among others.
Elsewhere, we will be looking at the latest in the EU-US trade talks, the beginning of French president Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Britain, key votes in the European parliament, and the beginning of the trial of a man who shot and wounded Slovak prime minister Robert Fico last year.
It's Tuesday, 8 July 2025, it's Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
