Trump 'humiliates' Pentagon over Ukraine weapons u-turn & Putin’s minister 'found dead' after firing

Day 1,231.

Today, we report on the sudden death of Russia’s former transport minister within hours of his sacking by Vladimir Putin. Then we examine Donald Trump’s pledge to resume weapons deliveries to Ukraine and look ahead to President Macron’s visit to the UK. Finally, we hear an updated figure of the number of children kidnapped by Russia, and discuss their fate if the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab closes this autumn amid its funding being pulled.

Contributors:

Adélie Pojzman-Pontay (Journalist and Producer). @adeliepjz on X.

Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor of Defence). @DomNicholls on X.

Francis Dearnley (Executive Editor for Audio). @FrancisDearnley on X.

Nathaniel Raymond (Lecturer & Executive Director Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health) @nattyray11 on X.

Content Referenced:

‘Help the Humanitarian Research Lab Keep Finding Ukraine’s Abducted Children ’:

https://medicine.yale.edu/lab/khoshnood/give-now/

Fired Russian minister ‘kills himself’ (The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/07/russian-minister-found-dead-after-being-sacked-by-putin/ 

Trump U-turns on sending weapons to Ukraine (The Telegraph):

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/07/08/donald-trump-us-sends-weapons-ukraine/

Russian airlines face $254 million losses from just 2 days of Ukrainian drone strikes, Kremlin media reports (Kyiv Independent):

https://kyivindependent.com/drone-disruptions-reportedly-cost-russian-airlines-254-million-exposing-economic-pressure-from-ukraines-campaign-06-2025/ 

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