Ukraine could benefit from Lockheed Martin's PAC-3 ACE missile project, a lower-cost Patriot interceptor. Despite Donald Trump casting doubt on a deal for Ukraine to build Patriots, discussions continue with US arms makers and officials. Lockheed Martin claims the interceptors would cost less than half of a normal Patriot missile and could use existing launchers and software.

Ukrainian forces, starved of interceptors, failed to shoot down a single missile during a Wednesday bombardment that killed 17 people in Kyiv. A US official suggested making Patriot components in Ukraine and assembling them in Germany, though Trump raised security concerns about sharing blueprints. Any production plan could take a year or more, with new lines typically requiring three to seven years.

Russian strikes killed three in Balakliia and three in Sumy, while Ukrainian drones hit the Slavneft-Yanos refinery (15m tonnes/year) for a second night. A drone with explosives was found at Leipzig airport, a NATO logistics hub. Russian drone chief Vladimir Tkachuk was critically injured in a car bombing, and a Moscow restaurant explosion killed five.

Ukraine ordered evacuation of 525 children from Kramatorsk as Russian forces closed within 20km. The Saratov refinery (Rosneft) halted its 20,000-tonne/day CDU-6 unit after a drone attack, and Russian fuel imports from Belarus surged in July due to refinery strikes.