Paul Adams
@BBCPaulAdams
BBC Diplomatic Correspondent. Previously in Washington, Middle East and Balkans. Now a lot of Ukraine.
It doesn’t seem so long ago that I was talking to a Khan Yunis resident, discussing whether he should stay or leave. Beyond belief that his city has since been almost completely destroyed. An entire city. Let that sink in. haaretz.com/israel-news/se…
Kill Russians, win points: Is Ukraine's new drone scheme gamifying war? bbc.com/news/articles/…
Trump’s about turn on Ukraine driven more by pique than principle? nytimes.com/2025/07/14/us/… via @NYTimes
If true, that’s a huge amount
⚡️ North Korea now supplies up to 40% of Russia’s ammunition in its war against Ukraine, Ukraine’s intel chief Budanov says. Pyongyang is also sending missiles and artillery in exchange for cash and tech. united24media.com/latest-news/no…
🔴 Russia’s June attacks skyrocketed over 1,000% from last year.
Kyiv’s night
The Russian missiles and most drones targeted Kyiv, with some hitting Poltava, and several more cruising across western Ukraine to trigger air raid alerts there too.
Kyiv under Russian drone attack again tonight. More deafening explosions. Air defences working frantically
Russia's use of shahed drones (real ones and decoys) is rising month by month
Last night, Russia launched the largest air attack on Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. Overnight from 8 to 9 July 2025, 741 missiles and drones were fired at Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. See below how the Russian drone attacks on Ukraine…
An incredibly busy night in Ukraine's skies, captured in one extraordinary map. Around half the drones were decoys. Ukraine shot down or diverted 718 drones or missiles. But 6 ballistic missiles got through. Only Patriot interceptors can shoot them down.
🔴 Russian forces have launched one of the most massive attacks on Ukraine to date tonight, with Lutsk and Zhytomyr being the primary targets. Preliminarily, the assault involved: - 540 to 620 Shahed drones or decoy drones - 6 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles - 4 Kh-101 missiles.
Inside Trump's Patriot missile plans for Ukraine axios.com/2025/07/08/tru…
The iconic #Oloffson Hotel of Graham Greene fame, was burned down at the weekend. A great loss of Haitian 'gingerbread' architecture. Like other journalists, I spent many nights there in the past. Greene set some famous scenes there in his novel, 'The Comedians'.
Profoundly disturbing testimony or “blood libels”? The questions about GHF’s Gaza aid distribution operation continue to pile up. haaretz.com/israel-news/20…
Donald Trump’s dialogue with @myroslavapetsa: — Is the US ready to sell Patriots to Ukraine? — Are you living in Ukraine? — My husband is there. — Is your husband a soldier? — Yes. — Wow. That’s tough. … We're going to see if we can make some Patriot missiles available.
"We can take his [Trump's] word for his word…But I'm not going to speculate in a larger sense on what that would mean.” 🤔 bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx23…
One drone's 2 min journey from lift off to touch down. The drone flies low and fast (around 50mph) before the pilot reaches Belaya airbase and looks around for a suitable target, a Tu-22M3
A more modest assessment of the success of Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web.
On 1 June 2025 Ukraine launched an unprecedented attack on at least four Russian airbases using short-range explosive-laden UAVs focused against Russia’s missile-carrying bomber fleet that is used extensively against Ukraine. The IISS has assessed individual aircraft losses…
Ukrainians roll their eyes when they see headlines like this. What do we think has been happening for the past 3 years? What happened the night before Op Spider’s Web? This is not retaliation. It’s continuation.
Observations on an extraordinary day. What sort of message does Operation Spider’s web send. bbc.com/news/articles/…
