Russia launched more than 700 drone attacks targeting various Ukrainian cities on Tuesday night, according to officials in Kyiv, who said nearly all of the drones were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defense systems, either with ballistics or electronic jamming software.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the city of Lutsk took the brunt of Russia’s attack, with 10 other provinces also coming under attack. Lutsk authorities reported the attacks damaged civilian infrastructure but did not result in any casualties. Lutsk is less than 150 miles from the Polish border, and Polish authorities scrambled several jets to ensure airspace security.

Tuesday night’s assault came after Mr. Trump’s promise this week to deliver more military aid to Ukraine, despite a Pentagon order calling for a limited pause. Mr. Zelenskyy confirmed Tuesday that he had ordered an extension of Ukraine’s military contracts with the U.S. to ensure the delivery of aid.

Two Chinese nationals and a New York woman pleaded guilty this week to money laundering charges as part of a major Chinese drug operation. Three others in the case also pleaded guilty in April as part of what the Justice Department is calling “Operation Take Back America,” a nationwide anti-drug and illegal immigration crackdown.

National Security Correspondent Bill Gertz offers a deeper dive, reporting that the New York case provides some of the first public details on how Chinese nationals are working with Mexican drug cartels in shipping into the U.S. the deadly fentanyl synthetic opioid that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past several years.

The money laundering operation took bulk cash from drug trafficking and deposited the money in banks. The organization used couriers, covert bank-account holders, coordinators and foreign-based operatives, according to court documents in the case.

U.S. Army soldiers who deployed to any of 14 countries in the Middle East and Africa between October 2023 and June 2025 can now wear the coveted combat patch on their right shoulder. It signifies a soldier’s service in a combat zone with a particular unit.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George last week approved granting combat patches for soldiers who were deployed during the covered time period to Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Also on the list is Djibouti, home to U.S. Africa Command’s Camp Lemonnier.

The authorization applies to active-duty soldiers and those in the Army Reserves and National Guard. They must have served for at least a day during the authorized time frame, Army officials said. The Army directive does not authorize financial entitlements to soldiers, such as hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay, officials said.

Pentagon Correspondent Mike Glenn examines a range of opinions about combat patches that have appeared during recent days on the Army Reddit page.

Mr. Trump took “necessary and decisive action with a targeted military action against Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” writes Sen. Rick Scott, Florida Republican and a member of both the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees.

“Mr. Trump gave Iran the opportunity to come to the table. He set clear expectations and provided Iran a path for diplomacy and peace, and he was clear about the consequences of Iran continuing to pursue its nuclear ambitions and attacks on our ally, Israel,” Mr. Scott writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times. “Iran chose to reject the path to peace, and its leaders learned that Mr. Trump is a man of his word and will do what it takes to ensure the safety of our nation and pursue peace through strength.

“These brave actions confirmed decades of strategic thinking about deterrence,” the senator writes. “After our attack, Iran chose survival over nuclear ambitions because when the United States projects decisive strength and follows through when our red lines are crossed, our adversaries back down.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, with a brazenness that defies decency, stood before Europe last week and “all but confessed to China’s true strategic calculus,” writes Miles Yu, director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute and an opinion contributor to Threat Status.

“Beijing cannot afford a Russian defeat in Ukraine, Mr. Wang emphatically stated to the European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, lest a victorious United States turn its unencumbered gaze toward dealing with China,” writes Mr. Yu, who argues that “China’s unwavering support for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s predatory war is the ultimate testament to its moral bankruptcy.”

“Rather than siding with a sovereign nation defending its life and liberty, Beijing has chosen to back Moscow’s expansionism, cloaking it in the false narrative of being ‘cornered’ by the United States,” he writes. “This is moral rot, plain and simple, the mindset of a thug dressed up in a diplomat’s suit.”

• July 9 — Prospects for a U.S.-Korea Econ Reset: Opportunities and Obstacles, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• July 10 — Federal IT Efficiency Summit, GovCIO Media & Research

• July 11 — The Han Kuang Exercise and the Taiwanese Military’s Road to Readiness, Hudson Institute

• July 13-17 — GenAI Summit, GenAI Week

• July 15 — Rare Earth Mining and Conflict Economies in Northern Myanmar, Stimson Center

• July 15-18 — Aspen Security Forum, Aspen Institute

• July 16 — Global Swing States and the New Great Power Competition, Center for a New American Security