By ILLIA NOVIKOV, Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, was in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the three-year war.

Trump last week said he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.

Trump has long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin, and after taking office in January repeatedly said that Russia was more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal. At the same time, Trump accused Zelenskyy of prolonging the war and called him a “dictator without elections.”

But Russia’s relentless onslaught against civilian areas of Ukraine wore down Trump’s patience. In April, Trump urged Putin to “STOP!” launching deadly barrages on Kyiv, and the following month said in a social media post that the Russian leader “ has gone absolutely CRAZY!” as the bombardments continued.

“I am very disappointed with President Putin, I thought he was somebody that meant what he said,” Trump said late Sunday. “He’ll talk so beautifully and then he’ll bomb people at night. We don’t like that.”

The European Union can’t buy Patriot missiles

Russia has pounded Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the U.N. human rights mission in Ukraine said. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.

At the same time, Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 620-mile front line.

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Trump confirmed the U.S. is sending Ukraine more badly needed Patriot air defense missiles and that the European Union will pay the U.S. for the “various pieces of very sophisticated” weaponry.

While the EU is not allowed under its treaties to buy weapons, EU member countries can and are, just as NATO member countries are buying and sending weapons.

Germany has offered to finance two new Patriot systems and is awaiting official talks on the possibility of more, government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius said Monday in Berlin.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was traveling to Washington on Monday to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Germany has already given three of its own Patriot systems to Ukraine, and Pistorius was quoted as saying in an interview with the Financial Times that it now has only six.

Trump ally says war at inflection point

A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of U.S. taxpayer money.

“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”

Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s envoy for international investment who took part in talks with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia in February, dismissed what he said were efforts to drive a wedge between Moscow and Washington.

“Constructive dialogue between Russia and the United States is more effective than doomed-to-fail attempts at pressure,” Dmitriev said in a post on Telegram. “This dialogue will continue, despite titanic efforts to disrupt it by all possible means.”

NATO chief visits Washington

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as members of Congress.

Talks during Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv will cover “defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak.

“Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,” Yermak said.

Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.

Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

A union organizer has entered the race for the Minnesota 8th Congressional District seat.

Chad McKenna, 43, of Duluth, announced Thursday morning he is seeking the seat, which covers much of north-central and Northeastern Minnesota, and has said he’ll seek the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party nomination.

McKenna said the district’s current representative, U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber, a Republican from Hermantown, “has stopped working for us — his constituents.”

“He seems more focused on appeasing party bosses in Washington than supporting the policies that matter most to people here at home,” McKenna said in a news release. “If elected, I’ll do what Representative Stauber won’t: expand healthcare access, make childcare more affordable, make real investments in our infrastructure, strengthen our unions, and fight everyday for an economy that ensures that if you work hard, you can build a good life. I won’t side with corporate interests, out-of-state billionaires, and the political forces that seek to divide us.”

McKenna works as a labor relations field manager for the Minnesota Nurses Association, a union representing health care workers.

Stauber’s campaign declined to comment on McKenna entering the race.

Although the November 2026 election is still a year and a half away, four DFL candidates have entered the 8th District race.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, John-Paul McBride has also filed to run as a DFL candidate in the 8th Congressional District. Little is known about McBride’s campaign, which is registered to a West Duluth address, according to FEC filings.

Reached by phone Thursday morning, McBride said he was at work and would get back to the News Tribune when he was available.

McKenna and McBride join two other DFL candidates who entered the race in June: Cyle Cramer, 32, of Chisago City, and Emanuel Anastos, 25, of Tower.

Cramer, who grew up in Faribault, Minnesota, and served in the Army National Guard, works as an attorney for Nichols Kaster, PLLP in Minneapolis.

Anastos grew up on New York’s Long Island and came to Minnesota to attend Carleton College in Northfield. He works as an Indian child welfare case manager for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.

Stauber, who has held the seat since 2019, has also filed for reelection, according to the FEC.

A staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, Stauber said earlier this year he would not be running for governor or Minnesota’s open U.S. Senate seat in 2026.

A Republican has not won a statewide election in Minnesota since 2006, but the 8th Congressional District, once a Democratic stronghold and later a battleground, has moved safely into the red category.

Stauber most recently cruised to victory over DFL challenger Jen Schultz, of Duluth, with 58% of the vote, slightly higher than his margin over the same opponent in 2022.

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The Pembina County man accused of threatening to harm the acting U.S. Attorney for North Dakota as well as several state officials pleaded not guilty during his first in-person appearance in a Fargo courtroom on Friday.

Charles Dalzell, 46, was present with his attorney Rhiannon Gorham for the hearing, which was an arraignment for a grand jury indictment issued June 26. A previous arraignment scheduled for June 27 was canceled.

Dalzell appeared to cry throughout the reading of the charges against him by Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal. The case stems from a criminal complaint brought against him on June 16, the day after he allegedly emailed threats to Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl, referencing the violent shootings, two fatal, of two legislators and their spouses on June 14 in Minnesota.

He is also accused of threatening to harm Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Attorney General Drew Wrigley and a state court judge in his email to Puhl.

“Now I’m going to be honest with you I don’t want this situation to end up like Minnesota over the weekend, do you,” Dalzell’s email to Puhl read, in part, according to the complaint. “I’m trying to get all of you to actually follow the law, not ignore me, not lie to me … that is what you all have done and this makes me wonder if these bad situations are really what you want or do you hope that I flip out and end up dead by a police officer?”

Prosecutors said Dalzell tried to retrieve a gun that had been confiscated from him just days before he sent the email.

He was ordered to be detained pending his trial, which Senechal tentatively set for Sept. 9.

Three prosecutors from South Dakota’s U.S. Attorney’s office have been appointed to try the case for the government, but the case is scheduled to proceed in the District of North Dakota.

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North Dakota has reported its first case of measles in more than a month, just as the state hit a milestone that declared the outbreak in the state over.

The state Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to The Forum that the case was reported Thursday, July 10. An unvaccinated person from Williams County who recently traveled out of state contracted the virus, said HHS spokeswoman Mindy Michaels.

The case comes a day after North Dakota hit 42 days without any reports of measles. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers an outbreak to have ended if 42 days have passed without a new report of measles.

The Peace Garden State’s last report of measles was May 28. Thursday’s case brings North Dakota to 35 cases reported this year.

The clock won’t reset because of the new case, said HHS Adult Immunization Manager Jenny Galbraith.

“This case is unrelated to the previous measles cases identified earlier this year in Williams County and is believed to have been acquired out of state,” she said. “At this time, there is only one confirmed case, and there is no evidence of community spread. As a result, a new outbreak has not been declared in Williams County related to this case.”

Williams County is on North Dakota’s western border. Its county seat is Williston.

HHS said it will continue to monitor measles activity.

Measles is a highly contagious virus that can be deadly, especially in children younger than 5 years old, according to the CDC. Nine in 10 people who are not vaccinated become infected, the CDC said.

There is no treatment for measles.

The U.S. declared measles eliminated in 2000 after the country developed a “highly effective vaccination program,” the CDC said. Outbreaks in multiple states have produced 1,288 cases as of Wednesday, the most reported in the U.S. in more than three decades.

More than two-thirds of the cases were found in people under the age of 20, the CDC said.

Three people have died from measles, and 162, or 13% of total cases, resulted in hospitalizations, the CDC said.

Vaccination rates across the country have declined in recent years, from 95% in 2019 to below 93% in 2023, according to the CDC.

The CDC recommends a vaccination rate of at least 95% to prevent the virus from spreading, according to HHS. North Dakota’s rate is less than 90%, though some counties dipped below 80%, according to HHS data.

North Dakota reported its first case of measles since 2011 on April 29. An unvaccinated child from Williams County likely contracted the virus while traveling out of state, according to HHS.

Reports of cases came in slowly through May, often one at a time. The most cases reported in one day was four on May 6, according to an HHS dashboard.

Of the state’s cases, 26 came in residents ages 5 to 19 years old, HHS said. Only two were hospitalized, according to the dashboard.

Four counties had measles cases. Williams County had the most with 16 reports.

Grand Forks County reported 10 cases, Cass County had seven and Burke County recorded one, according to the state dashboard.

North Dakota’s measles numbers are the worst since 1978, when the state reported 211 cases, HHS Immunization Director Molly Howell said in a late May statement. By the end of May, the state had 3.7 cases per 100,000 residents, the highest rate in the country.

As of Thursday, North Dakota tied for fourth-most measles cases in the U.S., according to a dashboard from the Center for Outbreak Response Innovation at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Texas has the most with 792, followed by New Mexico with 95, Kansas with 87 and Ohio with 35, the data said.

Minnesota reported five this year, according to the dashboard.

Strict quarantine routine

Essentia Health in Fargo has been on high alert since the outbreak began in North Dakota, said Kelsey Nefzger, a registered nurse and immunization manager for the health care provider’s west market. Despite the contagious nature of measles, the state has not seen a lot of cases, which is great news, she said.

That’s likely because the state has a strict routine for quarantine, Nefzger said. Those who get the disease are advised to quarantine for 21 days.

“Making sure that we’re following those guidelines and educating patients once they are diagnosed with measles is really truly the thing that helps it from spreading,” Nefzger said. “I would say that the patients who have been identified as being exposed or being positive for measles have done an excellent job of helping to protect themselves and also protect our communities.”

She noted some counties have low vaccination rates because the state hasn’t seen measles in more than a decade.

“A lot of parents kind of have believed that, because we haven’t seen large amounts of measles, that it isn’t a dangerous disease, or that our grandparents survived it and it was all OK,” Nefzger said.

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Getting vaccinated is “incredibly important” to prevent the spread of measles, she said. The CDC recommends two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine for those born after 1957 — one for children ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

Two doses of the MMR vaccine is 97% effective, while one dose is 93%.

“I think since the outbreaks in North Dakota, we have definitely seen parents bringing their children in to get vaccinated,” Nefzger said.