The CBO estimates the six-month U.S. war against Iran has cost $38 billion through August 1, with spending projected to increase by $3 billion a month as depleted munitions, higher energy prices and borrowing pressures deepen the fiscal impact.

Zelensky questioned how Ukraine could organize elections while 9 million citizens are abroad and parts of the country remain occupied, raising concerns over access, oversight and voting under Russian military control.

A German defense ministry team of fewer than 20 people has emerged as the fast-moving center of Berlin’s Ukraine weapons effort, bypassing conventional procurement procedures to turn Kyiv’s requests into contracts in as little as two weeks.

Boris Johnson said Russia’s war in Ukraine is rooted in Moscow’s imperial view of history, arguing that Western ambiguity over Kyiv’s future has prolonged uncertainty and must give way to a clear path toward NATO and Western institutions.

Putin’s annual Valdai conference has been shifted from Sochi to Moscow after his security service raised concerns over Ukraine’s expanding long-range drone campaign and repeated strikes near Russia’s Black Sea resorts.

Orlen advanced $230 million for Venezuelan crude, only for the money to move through Dubai crypto firms and Caracas brokers while its tankers waited empty. The failed trade has since become a criminal, legal, and political crisis in Poland.

Washington has publicly acknowledged an on-orbit weapon capability for the first time, with the Space Force saying such systems can be used for “disruption, degradation and even destruction” in offensive or defensive operations.

A Russian frigate fired two flares toward a Danish Fennec helicopter conducting routine reconnaissance in international waters, prompting Copenhagen to summon Moscow's ambassador and condemn the incident.

U.S. oil executives say months of falling inventories, depleted strategic buffers and escalating attacks on Middle Eastern energy infrastructure have pushed the global fuel market into the crisis they had warned was coming.

Trump said Ukraine had agreed to stop striking Russian energy targets and that Moscow would reciprocate, one day after he pressed Zelensky to halt attacks on Russian diesel infrastructure over their impact on global fuel prices.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said a Russian attack on NATO Europe would be met by overwhelming allied air power, arguing Moscow could be defeated quickly if European forces fully employed their strike capabilities.

Ottawa is discussing a contribution to the EU’s €90 billion Ukraine loan as Mark Carney seeks closer economic and security ties with Europe while reducing Canada’s reliance on the U.S.

Berlin is preparing to spend nearly €3.4 billion on U.S.-made Typhon launchers and Tomahawk missiles, a procurement that would give the Bundeswehr its first ground-based long-range strike capability while opening talks on German industrial participation.

Leaders from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed an agreement asserting their right to self-determination and calling on the British government to prepare for constitutional change across the U.K.

China’s state-backed Global Times said Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call to slow frontier AI development masks an effort to constrain China through chip controls, regulatory barriers and exclusion from global AI governance.

An IDF drone operator says Israeli forces in Gaza operated without meaningful accountability, with civilians marked for attack, strikes justified retroactively, and soldiers able to kill Palestinians at will.

Russia is rapidly producing Geran drones and Banderol cruise missiles using inexpensive Chinese components, creating faster, harder-to-intercept weapons at roughly $100,000 each while Ukraine and Western militaries struggle to match its production cycle.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for moderating the pace of AI development, warning that advanced models could resist shutdown attempts and potentially be exploited for biological weapons or bioterrorism.

Donald Trump urged Volodymyr Zelensky to halt Ukrainian attacks on Russian diesel infrastructure, arguing that refinery strikes have tightened fuel supplies and are “hurting the world” as U.S. diesel prices rise.

A chartered train carrying Boris Johnson and senior security advisers from the U.K., Germany, France and Italy was halted and partly evacuated after a Russian drone struck a passenger locomotive on the same route near Poland.