Russia Pounds Ukraine as US Warns of Missile Delays

Russia opened the day with two Tsirkon missiles and 174 drones against Ukraine; air defenses downed 141, but strikes hit fifteen sites, and drone debris sparked a fire in Kyiv's Dniprovskyi district, no one hurt. The wider 24 hours were bloodier: strikes on Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson killed eight civilians and wounded thirty-three, Kharkiv worst-hit with five dead. Russia staged sham Duma elections in occupied Kherson, with Soviet-themed polling stations and gifts for voters, while blogger Andriy Beskresnov accused Syrskyi of ignoring MESH drone warnings for a year. In Washington, Trump signed the Lindsey Graham Russia and Iran Sanctions Act, expanding penalties on Moscow and Tehran. The same day the US warned allies of delays up to five years in missile deliveries, including Patriots for Ukraine, rebuilding arsenals drained by the Iran war; NATO envoy Whittaker blamed production capacity, not political will. Elsewhere, the US and Denmark ended months of friction with a Greenland deal Copenhagen called good for NATO and Europe. Iran executed a man convicted of spying for Mossad amid tensions with Israel, and Trump said his son will repay Russian businessman Umar Kremlev for funding Bahamas wedding celebrations, which the AG declined to probe. In Odesa Oblast, the village of Orlivka reopened a Romanian-language first grade after years of absence, enrolling seven children.