Name: New Russian tactic on the second consecutive night of attacks on Kyiv
Uploaded: 2025-07-10T15:37:06.000Z
Duration: 10 min 48 s
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World leaders are gathered at a summit in Italy to consider how to rebuild Ukraine and its future.

We're expecting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak from that recovery conference next hour.

But some 2,000 kilometers away, Russia's attacks on Ukraine have shown no signs of slowing down.

Residents of Kiev are surveying the damage following one of the most ferocious aerial assaults by Moscow since the start of this war.

President Zelensky says some 400 drones were launched for over 10 hours as the bombardment continued for a second night on his country's capital.

And he called it an obvious build-up of terror by Russia.

Despite this, the Kremlin, for its part, says the peace process hasn't stalled and that Russia still prefers a diplomatic solution.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wiedemann is in Rome, where that Ukraine recovery conference is taking place.

And Ben, CNN produces on the ground in Kiev overnight, reporting drones and missiles, quote, flying at different altitudes, attacking from all directions, with some of the drones initially bypassing the capital before abruptly changing direction and speeding back towards the capital.

Ben, how are evolving Russian tactics, as you see it, and increased bombardments affecting the sense of urgency in the meetings where you are today?

Well, the meeting did seem to have an air of urgency in terms of just the strength of the rhetoric we are hearing from European leaders.

Donald Tusk, for instance, the prime minister of Poland, was saying that there will be no recovery without victory.

We are here to discuss how to help Ukraine not only to survive, but to win and to rise again.

Now, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, also was saying that this conference is really all about bringing Ukraine into Europe and that Ukraine has two flags, the flag of Ukraine and the flag of Europe, and that Ukraine's future is with Europe.

Now, Keith Kellogg, the American special envoy for Russia and Ukraine, is here in Rome.

He did attend the conference, and he gave a fairly boilerplate speech.

But really, the focus has been the urgency among European leaders that they really need to step up and take the lead, in a sense, in terms of supporting Ukraine.

Von der Leyen, for instance, made the point that Europe as a whole is the largest donor to Ukraine at the moment, although the United States is the single largest nation to provide assistance to Ukraine.

But I think the feeling is that given the unpredictability, so to say, of the Trump administration and the fact that this president in the White House seems to blow hot and cold on Ukraine, depending upon his mood at any given hour, that really the adults in the room, the European leaders who are so much closer to Ukraine, really have to focus on providing the assistance Ukraine needs at a time when we're seeing the pressure from Russia is increasing.

The Russians have always depended in Ukraine on the fact that it's a bigger country, a larger population.

They are able to sacrifice more in terms of resources and lives and wealth in this war.

And I think the Russians are trying to take the long view and just wear the Ukrainians down.

And I think the Europeans realize that if they don't step up, if they continue to depend on the United States, Ukraine may indeed start to seriously lose in this three-year-old war.  And I get your point.

It's so, you know, the people in the room, frankly, finding it quite difficult to sort of look beyond the conflict at present.

This is the fourth Ukraine recovery summit.

And I wonder whether those leading the conference have specific goals for rebuilding, considering Ukraine is increasingly ravaged by war.

For instance, today UNICEF reporting that 70 percent of Ukraine's kids don't have access to basic goods and services like food, clothes, books and heating.

And they urge those there where you are to ensure that the most vulnerable are front and center in any reconstruction plans.

So again, you know, how difficult is it for these guys in the room, men and women, to look beyond this conflict to ensure that there are plans in place and plans funded, importantly, for any sort of day after at this point?

Yeah, keep in mind that there are many companies that are taking part in this conference because it really is, even though the focus is on the situation today, the sort of long-term view is recovery after the war.

And certainly for the Europeans, they realize this is a large country, 40 million people with significant resources in terms of minerals, industry, agriculture, and so on.

And there is a realization that they do need to prepare the way when the war eventually comes to an end to provide the kind of assistance to prevent Ukraine from sort of going backwards in terms of its post-war recovery.

Of course, the fear is that once the war is over, the world's attention could turn elsewhere and the situation in Ukraine could deteriorate.

So definitely the focus is on opportunities, on the needs of Ukraine in the post-war era, although obviously the immediate focus is the situation in Ukraine right now.

Let's bring in Alex Goncharenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.

So Russia launched an intense aerial assault on Ukraine's capital just hours before world leaders gathered in Rome for the Ukraine recovery conference that gets underway next hour.

What are you hoping to come out of those meetings?

First of all, what Putin tried to show making this attack against Kyiv.

Kyiv was attacked most of all this night and that was an awful night in Kyiv.

And he did it to humiliate world leaders, because it sounds really ridiculous to discuss the recovery of Ukraine when destruction continues, awful destruction continues right now.

And Putin made this signal, I just don't care, I humiliate you.

And I think, I hope that leaders in Rome will give an answer on this.

And the answer should be, first of all, military support and more sanctions against Russia, because in Ukraine, we can discuss for years some reconstruction, but nothing will happen because destruction will continue.

So that's what I'm looking forward to today, because people are killed, people are killed, a lot of people are killed.

President Trump said Putin continues to kill people and that's true, and he should be stopped.

Ukraine's President Zelensky, as we just reported, discussed weapons supplies, air defences and joint defence production with the U.S. envoy on the sidelines of the summit.

And we're now learning that U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine have resumed after the defence department paused deliveries last week.

So what more are you expecting and hoping to come from the United States specifically?

That's great news that the shipments are resumed, but we need more.

So I heard some information about 10 Patriot missiles which will be finally sent to Ukraine.

But for your understanding, for example, this night it was near 700 air drones and missiles which attacked Kiev.

So 10 anti-missiles for Patriot, that's great, and we're thankful for every one of them, because every one of them can save human lives.

But we need not 10, not a dozen, we need hundreds and better thousands.

And Russia is producing their missiles and drones in thousands, as we see.

And the world should answer, because today it is Kiev.

If it will not be stopped and Russia will continue such pace of and the West will not ramp up its military production, sooner or later this will be Warsaw, Berlin, Paris and other European capitals which will be under Russian missiles attack.

And what more can you tell us about the impact of these recent and intense Russian attacks?

And what happens if the U.S. doesn't keep supplying more weapons for Ukraine in the weeks and months ahead?

We worry about that very much, because this is the biggest concern.

The United States is our biggest military ally.

We're thankful to all countries which support Ukraine, but the biggest military ally is the United States of America.

What will happen if there will be not a sufficient U.S. military support?

Thousands of people will be killed, Russia will continue to advance, and the whole world will ask, is the United States really a partner you can rely on?

If Ukraine, which voluntarily gave up its third largest nuclear arsenal in the world in 1994 under American and British guarantees, is coming through what we are coming, so what will happen with any other country in the world?

That will be the end of non-proliferation policy, and there will be start of complete chaos in the world when big countries will decide that they can take whatever they want from smaller ones.

Alex Gonchalenko, thank you so much for joining us.