TRUMP: ‘I AM HELPING UKRAINE. I’M HELPING IT A LOT’: It seems to be finally dawning on President Donald Trump what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tried to tell him in that infamous Feb. 28 meeting in the Oval Office, namely that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no genuine interest in pursuing peace talks.
Trump admitted he made no progress at all when he spoke with Putin on Thursday. “I was very unhappy with my call with Putin. It seems like he wants to go all the way and just keep killing people. It’s not good. I wasn’t happy with him,” he told reporters on Air Force One. “I’m very disappointed with the conversation,” Trump added later. “I’m just saying, I don’t think he’s looking to stop, and that’s too bad.”
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When asked by a reporter yesterday, “Why not help Ukraine the same way you help Israel?” Trump insisted he is. “I am helping Ukraine. I’m helping it a lot,” he said. Trump said he has also spoken by phone with Zelensky and described the discussion as “strategic.”
“It was a good call. He’s being hit very hard, as I said he would. He’s being hit very hard,” Trump said Saturday. “We had a very good call, I think, a very, very strategic call,” he added Sunday. “We’ve been helping them, and we’ll continue to help them. It’s a pretty tough situation.”
PUTIN’S GREEN LIGHT: Last week, the Defense Department paused shipments of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, including Patriot air defense missiles, just as Russia has stepped up its attacks on civilian population centers. After Putin got off the phone with Trump, Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was hit with another massive barrage of drones and missiles, sending civilians into subway tunnels and bomb shelters.
“Russian forces conducted the largest combined drone and missile strike against Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on the night of July 3 to 4, primarily targeting Kyiv City,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War reported. “Russian forces have conducted 10 of the largest strikes in the war since January 2025.”
“ISW continues to assess that U.S. aid to Ukraine, particularly Patriot air defense systems and interceptors, is critical to Ukraine’s ability to protect its defense industrial base (DIB), safeguard the capabilities it obtains from its partners in the face of long-range Russian strikes, and defend its civilian population,” it added.
The Pentagon has provided few details about what weapons are being withheld and why, except to say that the decision is based on putting U.S. needs first. “We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world. We have to look out for America and defending our homeland and our troops around the world,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told reporters last week. “The president and the secretary will make those decisions about what happens with those weapon systems, obviously, keeping in mind that the president was elected on an ‘America First’ platform to put America first.”
Trump said on Friday, “We’re giving weapons, but we’ve given so many weapons. But we are giving weapons, and we’re working with them and trying to help them,” adding, “You know, Biden emptied out our whole country, giving them weapons. And we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves.”
TIM SCOTT REJECTS ‘HOGWASH’ CRITICISM OF TRUMP’S HANDLING OF UKRAINE WAR
SMITH BLASTS ‘A BALD-FACED LIE’: In an interview on CNN Friday, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) called Trump’s statement “a bald-faced lie.”
“Nothing has been emptied out. Our stockpiles are just about where they were 3 1/2 years ago. We have met a number of demands, not just in Ukraine, but in the Middle East as well. But we are not emptied out,” Smith said. “Ukraine has used this assistance to stop Putin in his tracks and give them a real chance to force Putin to accept the fact that he’s not going to be able to take over Ukraine. But President Trump has come into office and just undermined Ukraine at every turn while making Putin think that if he just outweighs us, we’ll abandon Ukraine. No pressure has been put on Putin.”
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 16 members of Congress, 15 Democrats and one Republican, are calling for the Pentagon to resume arms shipments, citing the urgent need for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia’s intensified air campaign. “Ukraine’s fight for freedom is not hypothetical. It is happening now and we must stand with them by providing the arms they need to defend themselves,” the letter states.
“We … appreciate the need to maintain critical stockpiles of arms and munitions for our own use. However, the decision to halt shipments to Ukraine, reportedly to redirect them to other theaters, is a strategic mistake,” the members argue. “While the Administration has repeatedly stressed the need to reallocate resources to the Indo-Pacific, we would remind you that the Russian Federation remains the most immediate and pressing threat to our security, and that of our allies.”
In an op-ed in the New York Times, former national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Pentagon’s rationale “doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” noting that most of the paused munitions were purchased under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides funds to procure materiel directly from U.S. defense manufacturers.
“In this way, USAI shipments are not unlike U.S. defense exports to any other country in the world,” Sullivan argues. “As for the limited remaining drawdown shipments, the Department of Defense has been using congressional funding to replace what it sends with newer munitions, which actually strengthens the U.S. military.”
UKRAINE EMPHASIZES NEED FOR AIR DEFENSE IN WAKE OF US AID BEING WITHHELD
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HAPPENING TODAY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due at the White House this morning for talks with Trump, who is hoping to conclude a Gaza ceasefire deal and a “permanent” end to hostilities with Iran.
“I think we’re close to a deal on Gaza. We could have it this week,” Trump told reporters last night. “I think there’s a good chance we have a deal with Hamas during the week, during the coming week, pertaining to quite a few of the hostages.”
The proposal on the table was crafted by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, along with mediators from Egypt and Qatar, and reportedly calls for the exchange of 10 living hostages for a larger number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Before departing Israel, Netanyahu outlined his conditions for a ceasefire deal. “So far, we have freed 205 out of 255 hostages, including 148 alive. There are 20 living hostages remaining and 30 deceased. I am determined, we are determined, to bring them all back,” Netanyahu said. “We are also determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. This means we will not allow a situation where there are more kidnappings, more murders, more beheadings, more invasions. It means one thing: the elimination of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities. Hamas will not be there.”
WHERE THE CEASEFIRE NEGOTIATIONS STAND AHEAD OF TRUMP-NETANYAHU MEETING
TRUMP IS DONE WITH IRAN. IS NETANYAHU? Trump considers the 12-day war with Iran over and the problem of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions solved by America’s big, beautiful B-2 strike dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer.
“The attack turned out, according to every single atomic energy commission, a complete and total obliteration. And we had the pilots, as you know, at the White House on Friday. They were incredible. And they confirmed that,” Trump said yesterday. “They know better than anybody, by the way, but they confirmed that every bomb hit its mark perfectly. And they would have to start all over again at a different location.”
“The word I used was the correct word, ‘obliteration,’” Trump said, indicating it was time to make a new nuclear agreement. “We’re working on a lot of things with Israel, and one of the things is probably a permanent deal with Iran.”
In an op-ed in the Telegraph, a British newspaper, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton argues Netanyahu does not share Trump’s view that the bunker-busting bombs and submarine-launched cruise missiles delivered a total knockout blow to Iran’s nuclear program and believes “the time is ripe for further action against Iran, including actions to encourage the domestic opposition to move against the ayatollahs.”
“Israel seeks regime change in Iran, and Netanyahu needs at least Trump’s acquiescence for Israel to continue deconstructing the remains of Iran’s nuclear enterprise. Further U.S. participation would be icing on the cake,” Bolton writes. “By contrast, Trump desperately wants a Nobel Peace Prize. After all, he reasons, Barack Obama received one (which he didn’t deserve), so why not Trump?”
On CNN Sunday, former CIA Director and CENTCOM Commander retired Gen. David Petraeus said “They’re essentially defenseless right now,” adding, “The last 18 or more months have seen that Iran has had tremendous degradation to its security forces of all types, not just the Artesh, the traditional military, but also the revolutionary guards corps. Many of their leaders have been killed, well over a dozen of their scientists when it comes to their nuclear program.”
On the CNN broadcast, Bolton said, “To me, this is the moment to finish off the Iranian nuclear weapons program, which I think we have the capacity to do,” adding, “I think it’s doable. I think the regime is weaker than at any point since the 1979 Revolution.”
“I think we will never have an opportunity this good to remove not just the nuclear program, but the Iranian support for terrorism, which dates back to 1979, when they seized our embassy employees, and it went downhill from there,” Bolton told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER MAKES FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE SINCE IRAN-ISRAEL WAR STARTED
THE RUNDOWN:
Washington Examiner: Where the ceasefire negotiations stand ahead of Trump-Netanyahu meeting
Washington Examiner: Ukraine emphasizes need for air defense in wake of US aid being withheld
Washington Examiner: Deputy head of Russia’s navy killed in Ukraine attack
Washington Examiner: Trump ending Elon Musk’s federal contracts faces legal and national security problems
Washington Examiner: Two Chinese nationals arrested in US for trying to spy on military
Washington Examiner: Trump’s ‘approval’ of using National Guard as immigration judges sparks blowback
Washington Examiner: Tim Scott rejects ‘hogwash’ criticism of Trump’s handling of Ukraine war
Washington Examiner: Iran’s supreme leader makes first public appearance since Iran-Israel war started
Washington Examiner: Trump threatens to sue New York Times and CNN over Iran strike coverage
Washington Examiner: NOAA to end key weather program used by military
Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan: America’s urgent air defense munitions crisis
Washington Examiner: Tom Rogan Opinion: Two reasons the US and Iran look set to fight again
Politico: Iran Won’t Attack the US but Will Continue Nuclear Development, Senior Iranian Official Says
Wall Street Journal: Putin Plots Summer of Relentless Attacks on Ukraine
NBC News: Hegseth halted weapons for Ukraine despite military analysis that the aid wouldn’t jeopardize U.S. readiness
The Telegraph: Interceptor drones will decide Europe’s fate. Here’s why
Defense News: EU Militaries Game Out Ukraine-Inspired Resupply Tactics via Drones
AP: American Bombs in Iran Also Reverberate in China and North Korea
The Atlantic: The U.S. Is Switching Sides
AP: Crew abandons Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned ship attacked in the Red Sea, UK military says
AP: New details emerge on Gaza ceasefire proposal as Netanyahu heads to the White House
The Telegraph: Opinion: John Bolton: Trump and Netanyahu are heading for an Oval Office showdown
Air & Space Forces Magazine: B-21 Production Is Speeding Up, But How Much and For How Long Is Still Unclear
The War Zone: F-22 Raptors Will Be First to Control ‘Fighter Drone’ Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Defense Scoop: Pentagon’s AI Office Eliminates CTO Directorate in Pursuit of ‘Efficiencies’
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Trump Signs Reconciliation Bill, Securing Billions for Air Force and Space Force Programs
Space.com: Trump’s Signing of ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Includes $85 Million to Move Space Shuttle Discovery from Smithsonian to Texas
Stars and Stripes: Air Force Suspends Plan to Land Cargo Rockets on Remote Pacific Atoll
Naval News: China Builds New Large Jet-Powered Ekranoplan
Air & Space Forces Magazine: Air Force, Space Force to Triple Enlistment Bonus Funding in 2026
THE CALENDAR:
MONDAY | JULY 7
10 a.m. — American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research virtual discussion: “The Power Behind Israel’s Economic Strength in War,” with Israeli Minister of Economic Affairs Noach Hacker https://www.heritage.org/middle-east/event
1:30 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. NW — Hudson Institute discussion: “Designating the Polisario Front,” with Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC); and Michael Doran, senior fellow and director, Hudson Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East https://www.hudson.org/events/designating-polisario-front
TUESDAY | JULY 8
9:30 a.m. G-50 Dirksen — Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee markup of the National Defense Authorization Act for F.Y. 2026. http://www.armed-services.senate.gov
9:30 a.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “Iran-North Korea Cooperation,” with former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert, CSIS non-resident senior adviser and CSIS Korea chair; former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Shapiro, fellow at the Atlantic Council and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East; Sydney Seiler, CSIS nonresident senior adviser, CSIS Korea chair and former national intelligence officer for North Korea at the National Intelligence Council; and Victor Cha, president of the CSIS Geopolitics and Foreign Policy Department and CSIS Korea chair https://www.csis.org/events/iran-north-korea-cooperation-capital-cable-116
10 a.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “What the war in the Middle East and the NATO summit mean for Ukraine,” with Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center on Europe and Eurasia; former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan John Herbst, senior director, Atlantic Council Eurasia Center; Debra Cagan, senior adviser, Atlantic Council Eurasia Center; R. Clarke Cooper, fellow for Middle East programs, Atlantic Council; and Shelby Magid, deputy director, Atlantic Council Eurasia Center RSVP: [email protected]
12 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave — Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion: “Denmark’s Role in European and Transatlantic Security,” with Danish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen; and Danish Foreign Affairs Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen https://www.csis.org/events/denmarks-role-european-and-transatlantic-security
2 p.m. — Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies virtual discussion: “Resilient, persistent space sensing,” with Space Force Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer, Space Systems Command Space Sensing Directorate; and Jennifer Reaves, Mitchell senior resident fellow for spacepower studies https://www.mitchellaerospacepower.org/events/col-robert-w-davis/
2 p.m. — Center for Strategic and International Studies virtual discussion: “China’s New London ‘Super Embassy’: Soft Power Hub or Security Risk?” with Aosheng Pusztaszeri, research assistant, CSIS Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program; and Emily Harding, director, CSIS Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program https://www.csis.org/events/chinas-new-london-super-embassy
WEDNESDAY | JULY 9
8:50 a.m. 1201 15th St. NW — Defense Strategies Institute Defense Department Energy and Power Summit, July 9-10, with Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert Thompson; Nuclear Regulatory Commission Commissioner Annie Caputo; and Deputy Assistant Energy Secretary for Nuclear Reactors Rian Bahran https://power.dsigroup.org/
10 a.m. — Hudson Institute virtual discussion: “Israel’s Economic Resilience after October 7: Navigating War and Strategic Pressures,” with Israeli Minister of Economic Affairs Noach Hacker https://www.hudson.org/events/israels-economic-resilience-after-october-7
THURSDAY | JULY 10
3 p.m. 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW — American Enterprise Institute discussion: “National Security vs. Economic Gain: A Debate on US-China Export Policy,” with David Feith, adjunct senior fellow, Center for a New American Security; Aaron Ginn, CEO, Hydra Host; Derek Scissors, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute; and moderator Chris Miller, nonresident senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute https://www.aei.org/events/national-security-vs-economic-gain