By EMMA BURROWS and ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

Russia unleashed one of its largest aerial assaults on Ukraine in recent months, only hours before the U.K. and Germany are to chair a meeting to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump’s plans for NATO allies to provide Ukraine with weapons.

The attack killed two people and wounded 15, including a 12-year-old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

In Kyiv’s Shevchenkivskyi district, a drone struck the entrance to a subway station where people had taken cover. Videos posted on social media showed the station platform engulfed by smoke, with dozens of people inside. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said the station had to be ventilated in what he called an “enhanced mode.”

Firefighters work in a destroyed apartment building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The heaviest strikes hit Kyiv’s Darnytskyi district, where a kindergarten, supermarket and warehouse facilities caught fire.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot arrived in Kyiv on Monday and visited some of the damage.

The hourslong drone and missile assault on Kyiv overnight into Monday underscored the urgency of Ukraine’s need for further Western military aid, especially in air defense, a week after Trump said deliveries would arrive in Ukraine within days.

US defense chief and NATO leader will attend Ukraine meeting

The virtual meeting will be led by British Defense Secretary John Healey and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius. Healey said U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and NATO leader Mark Rutte, as well as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, will attend the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.

Moscow has intensified its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities, and analysts say the barrages are likely to escalate as Russian drone production expands.

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In an shift of tone toward Russia, Trump last week gave Moscow a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire or face tougher sanctions.

At Monday’s meeting, Healey was expected to urge Ukraine’s Western partners to launch a coincidental “50-day drive” to get Kyiv the weapons it needs to fight Russia’s bigger army and force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the U.K. government said in a statement.

Trump’s arms plan, announced a week ago, involves European nations sending American weapons to Ukraine via NATO — either from existing stockpiles or buying and donating new ones. The U.S. president indicated discussions were partly focused on advanced Patriot air defense systems and said a week ago that deliveries would begin “within days.”

But last week various senior officials suggested no transfers had yet taken place.

NATO’s Grynkewich told The Associated Press on Thursday that “preparations are underway” for weapons transfers to Ukraine while U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker said he couldn’t give a time frame.

Ukraine wants American-made Patriot missile systems

Germany has said it offered to finance two new Patriot systems for Ukraine and raised the possibility of supplying systems it already owns and having them replaced by the U.S.

But delivery could take time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz suggested, because “they have to be transported, they have to be set up; that is not a question of hours, it is a question of days, perhaps weeks.”

Other Patriot systems could come thanks to Switzerland, whose defense ministry said Thursday it was informed by the U.S. Defense Department that it will “reprioritize the delivery” of five previously ordered systems to support Ukraine.

While Ukraine waits for Patriots, a senior NATO official said the alliance is still coordinating the delivery of other military aid — such as ammunition and artillery rounds — which includes aid from the U.S. that was briefly paused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Zelenskyy said Saturday that his officials have proposed a new round of peace talks this week. Russian state media on Sunday reported that no date has yet been set for the negotiations, but said that Istanbul would likely remain the host city. The Kremlin spokesman said Sunday that Russia is open to peace with Ukraine, but achieving its goals remains a priority.

Ukraine also fires drones at Moscow

The overnight Russian barrage of Kyiv began shortly after midnight and continued until around 6 a.m. Residents of the capital were kept awake by machine-gun fire, buzzing drone engines and multiple loud explosions.

It was the first major attack on Kyiv since Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, arrived in the city last Monday. Russia halted strikes on Kyiv during his visit.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its attack used drones and Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. It said that the barrage successfully targeted airfield infrastructure and Ukraine’s military-industrial complex.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 426 Shahed and decoy drones overnight Monday, as well as 24 missiles of various types. It said 200 drones were intercepted with 203 more jammed or lost from radars.

Four Ukrainian planes “unintentionally penetrated” Romanian airspace for several minutes but did not pose a threat to national security or civilian lives, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said. It said the brief incursion occurred as Ukraine took measures to move military aircraft away from airfields in western Ukraine amid the Russian bombardment.

Ukraine, meanwhile, continued to deploy its domestically produced long-range drones. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said that its forces shot down 74 Ukrainian drones overnight, with almost a third of them destroyed close to the Russian capital. Twenty-three drones were shot down in the Moscow region, the ministry said, 15 of which were intercepted over the city itself.

Novikov reported from Kyiv, Ukraine. Associated Press writer Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this report.

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran said Monday it would hold renewed talks this week with European nations over the country’s nuclear program, with discussions to be hosted by Turkey.

The talks, to be held in Istanbul on Friday, will be the first since a ceasefire was reached after a 12-day war waged by Israel against Iran in June, which also saw the United States strike nuclear-related facilities in the Islamic Republic. A similar meeting had been held in the Turkish city in May.

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The discussions will bring Iranian officials together with officials from Britain, France and Germany — known as the E3 nations — and will include the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.

“The topic of the talks is clear, lifting sanctions and issues related to the peaceful nuclear program of Iran,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in his weekly briefing. He said the meeting will be held at the deputy ministerial level.

Under a 2015 deal designed to cap Iran’s nuclear activities, Iran agreed to tough restrictions on its international program in exchange for an easing of sanctions. The deal began to unravel in 2018, when the United States pulled out of it and began to reimpose certain sanctions. European countries have recently threatened to trigger the 2015 deal’s “snapback” mechanism, which would allow sanctions to be reimposed in the case of non-compliance by Tehran.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Giese, asked who Germany will send to the talks and what its expectations are, said that “the talks are taking place at expert level.”

“Iran must never come into possession of a nuclear weapon,” so Germany, France and Britain are “continuing to work … at high pressure on a sustainable and verifiable diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program,” he said. “This course of action is also coordinated with the U.S.”

“It’s very clear that, should no solution be reached by the end of August … snapback remains an option for the E3,” Giese told reporters in Berlin.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Sunday the three European nations lack “any legal, political, and moral standing” to invoke such mechanisms, and accused Britain, France and Germany of failing to uphold their commitments in the deal.

“Attempting to trigger ‘snapback’ under these circumstances, in defiance of established facts and prior communications, constitutes an abuse of process that the international community must reject,” Araghchi said.

He also criticized the three European nations for “providing political and material support to the recent unprovoked and illegal military aggression of the Israeli regime and the US.”

The U.S. bombed three major Iranian nuclear sites in Iran in June as Israel waged an air war with Iran. Nearly 1,100 people were killed in Iran, including many military commanders and nuclear scientists, while 28 were killed in Israel.

Araghchi stressed in the letter that his country is ready for diplomatic solutions.

After U.S. President Donald Trump pulled his country out of the 2015 deal, Iran has gradually increased its nuclear activities, including enriching uranium up to 60%, a step away from weapons-grade nuclear materials, or 90% enrichment of uranium.

Iran denies allegations it is seeking a nuclear weapon and has long said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report

Bethel University has named Tom Brown as dean of its new business school, with his role starting Aug. 4.

The announcement this month comes as part of a larger restructuring at the Arden Hills university which includes four new colleges. All four schools are expected to launch in the fall. University officials made the announcement about the first of the colleges, the Anderson Family College of Health Sciences, in October.

In addition to Brown, the university’s new appointments include Matthew Vraa as dean of the Anderson College of Health Sciences, Barrett Fischer as interim dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Education and Peter Vogt as dean of the School of Theology and Bethel Seminary.

The university’s school of business is currently in development and brings together the university’s business and communication studies programs, including undergraduate, adult undergraduate and graduate programs and certificates, according to a Bethel university publication.

Brown has more than 30 years of higher education experience, most recently serving as head of the School of Marketing and International Business at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business.

“He has lived a life of deep faith while leading at one of the top business schools in the country, where he built meaningful connections with local industry,” said University Provost Robin Rylaarsdam. “As a marketing expert, he has a gift for understanding people and helping them see how stories — told with clarity and integrity — can inspire action and build trust. He brings that same discernment and vision to Bethel.”

In addition to publications in academic journals and co-authoring a textbook on marketing research, Brown has been named to the Stanford/Elsevier list of the top 2% of researchers across scientific disciplines. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from Oklahoma State University before receiving his PhD in business from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

While working at Oklahoma State has been “an amazing thing,” Brown said he is excited to combine his faith and expertise within his role at Bethel.

“The Twin Cities is blessed with wonderful business opportunities, and we think we’re going to be able to do some great things to support the local businesses and the region and the state and the country and around the world,” Brown said.

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Today is Monday, July 21, the 202nd day of 2025. There are 163 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 21, 1925, the so-called ‘Monkey Trial’ ended in Dayton, Tennessee, with John T. Scopes found guilty of violating state law for teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. (The conviction was later overturned.)

Also on this date:

In 1861, during the Civil War, the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Virginia, resulting in a Confederate victory.

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In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during World War II, capturing it from the Japanese some three weeks later.

In 1954, the Geneva Conference concluded with accords dividing Vietnam into northern and southern entities.

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the ascent stage of the lunar module for docking with the command module.

In 1970, construction of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed.

In 1972, the Irish Republican Army carried out 22 bombings in Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing nine people and injuring 130 in what became known as “Bloody Friday.”

In 2002, Ernie Els won the British Open in the first sudden-death finish in the 142-year history of the tournament.

In 2008, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic (RA’-doh-van KA’-ra-jich), one of the world’s top war crimes fugitives, was arrested in a Belgrade suburb by Serbian security forces. (He was sentenced by a U.N. court in 2019 to life imprisonment after being convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.)

In 2011, the 30-year-old space shuttle program ends as Atlantis landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after the 135th shuttle flight.

In 2012, Erden Eruc became the first person to complete a solo, human-powered circumnavigation of the globe.

In 2023, the “Barbenheimer” buzz reached its peak as the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened in theaters; the critical and public acclaim for both films led to the fourth-largest weekend box office of all time.

Today’s Birthdays:

Singer Yusuf Islam (also known as Cat Stevens) is 77.
Cartoonist Garry Trudeau is 77.
Author Michael Connelly is 69.
Comedian Jon Lovitz is 68.
Retired soccer player Brandi Chastain is 57.
Rock-soul singer Michael Fitzpatrick (Fitz and the Tantrums) is 55.
Actor/singer Charlotte Gainsbourg is 54.
Actor Justin Bartha is 47.
Actor Josh Hartnett is 47.
Reggae singer Damian Marley is 47.
Basketball Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings is 46.
Former MLB All-Star pitcher CC Sabathia (suh-BATH’-ee-uh) is 45.
Singer Blake Lewis (“American Idol”) is 44.
Latin singer Romeo Santos is 44.
Actor Betty Gilpin is 39.
Actor Juno Temple is 36.
Actor Rory Culkin is 36.