Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 9 that the US has always provided military assistance to Ukraine, trying to downplay the significance of US President Donald Trump's decision on July 7 to grant Ukraine a license to produce the Patriot interceptor missile.
This is what the "Institute for the Study of War" (ISW) writes.
The Kremlin views Trump's statements as a "misunderstanding", not an escalation. Peskov also said on July 9 that Trump did not call Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 8, but noted that Putin remained open to talks.
Russian Foreign Ministry (MFA) spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reiterated on July 8 the Kremlin's claim that the United States remains uninterested in contributing to European security and that European countries are preparing for a long-term conflict with Russia.
The responses indicate that the Kremlin has yet to develop a coherent response to the Trump administration's recent efforts to confront it. For example, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on July 6 that no written agreement had been reached since the August 2025 U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, which prevents Russia from trying to use it as a bargaining chip for negotiation purposes.
Senior U.S. officials have also recently acknowledged Ukraine’s tactical and operational successes, contrary to Russian claims that its forces are advancing along the entire front line.
The Kremlin still appears to be hopeful that Russia can still extract concessions from Ukraine and its partners.
An anonymous Russian general has admitted that the Kremlin is exaggerating Russian combat successes to create a false impression of Russia’s progress in an attempt to persuade Ukraine and the West to capitulate to its demands.
Ukrainian forces appear to have begun a new phase in their campaign to isolate occupied Crimea by attacking Russian offshore gasoline tankers. The commander of the Ukrainian Unmanned Systems Forces, Major Robert "Magyar" Broddi, reported on July 9 that Ukrainian forces had struck 14 Russian ships in the Sea of Azov on the night of July 8-9, including 12 gasoline tankers, the tugboat "Alfeo" and one dry cargo ship.
Broddi reported that Ukrainian forces had struck the "Chelsea-6", "Aura", "Sonar-1", "Ilya Repin", "Galiaskar Kamal", "Venera-3", "Penelope" and five other gasoline tankers. Brody added that Ukrainian forces have struck 35 Russian gasoline tankers, dry cargo ships, and unspecified special vessels in the past 96 hours.
Ukraine's ongoing campaign of medium- and long-range strikes against Russian land transport routes is deteriorating logistics between Russia and occupied Crimea, forcing occupied Crimea to rely on sea-based gasoline deliveries to cope with gasoline shortages.
Ukraine's increasing attacks on Russian sea-based fuel tankers demonstrate a new phase in Ukraine's ability to quickly adapt to Russia's shift to sea-based fuel transport and are likely to continue to disrupt Russia's ability to maintain logistics and transport fuel between Russia and occupied Crimea in an effort to isolate the peninsula.