Overview
- Kyiv and Paris signed an intention agreement covering up to 100 Rafale fighters plus SAMP/T air-defense systems, radars and drones, with pilot training and a roughly ten-year horizon; funding details were not specified.
- Urban combat has engulfed Pokrovsk, where observers say the town appears close to falling, as Ukrainian commanders work to keep supply and evacuation routes open.
- Russia’s Defense Ministry claims the capture of Mala Tokmachka and Rivnopil in Zaporizhzhia, raising pressure on Orikhiv and Huliai-Pole, though the gains have not been independently verified.
- A frontline analyst reports Ukraine’s earlier drone advantage is fading, describing a shifting ‘death zone’ that now reaches up to 40 kilometers behind Ukrainian lines.
- Local officials say a Russian rocket strike on Balakliia killed at least three people and injured ten, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Republicans are drafting a bill to impose harsh sanctions on any country trading with Russia.