Ukrainian officials said Monday that Russian military planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs on residential districts of Zaporizhzhia, a southern Ukrainian city that has long been a flash point in the war because Russian forces control a key nuclear power plant there.

The Sunday night bombing came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded anew for countries to provide Kyiv with more U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems. The systems, which are critical for blocking Russian missile onslaughts, are in short supply worldwide as a result of the ongoing U.S.-Iran war in the Middle East.

On a separate front, the Kyiv Post reported Monday that a major reshuffle of national security leaders within Mr. Zelenskyy’s Cabinet continues, with Rustem Umerov, former defense minister and secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, now appointed the head of Kyiv’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the SZRU.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told a press conference Monday that Tehran is not in talks with the U.S. over control of the Strait of Hormuz, even as Mr. Trump insists that final negotiations could begin as soon as this afternoon.

Iranian officials warned that the strait will remain mostly closed to commercial shipping until the U.S. ends its naval blockade and military campaign against Iran.

A tenuous ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appeared to be holding Sunday after Mr. Trump announced over the weekend that negotiators had hammered out a deal to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that the potential agreement led him to “cancel the attack” he had been planning.

The South Korean navy conducted its first-ever mine-clearance drill combining a crewed vessel with multiple unmanned systems on Monday near the port city of Busan on the southern end of the Korean Peninsula.

Asia Editor Andrew Salmon reports from Seoul that the trials involved both the South Korean navy and arms company Hanwha Systems, and included an artificial intelligence component. Assets engaged were a 730-ton minesweeper, aerial reconnaissance drones, two surface drones and underwater drones.

Monday’s testing followed the conclusion last week of the massive Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational military drills hosted by the U.S. Navy in Hawaii. The South Korean navy’s 3,100-ton frigate Daejeon was named “Top Gun” in deck gunnery during the drills. The vessel earned the honor after outshooting 13 warships from 10 nations in RIMPAC’s “Naval Surface Fire Support Rodeo” competition.

The Associated Press has a new feature story looking inside the workings of Phoenix Tailings, a company that recently received a $500 million loan from the Pentagon to build a factory in New Hampshire that could help the U.S. break the chokehold China has on the processing of critical minerals.

Phoenix Tailings CEO Nick Myers joined the Threat Status podcast for an exclusive interview last year, discussing Beijing’s dominance in rare earth elements critical to the manufacture of advanced-technology products, including high-end U.S. weapons systems.

The company produces critical precious metals from the powder left behind at traditional mines, using electrolysis in what’s known as the separation and metallization process, a particularly weak stage in the U.S. mines-to-magnets supply chain.

American military aviation is “second to none, not simply because we operate the world’s most advanced aircraft, but because of the exceptional patriots who fly them,” writes Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Virginia Republican and retired U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, who authored the Warrior Impact from Neurological and G-Force Stress (WINGS) Act.

The legislation is included in the version of the 2027 defense authorization recently passed by the House. Ms. Kiggans writes in an op-ed for The Washington Times that it “directs the secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a long-term study of military aviation veterans.

“By examining flight histories, operational exposures and long-term health outcomes,” she writes, “this research will help military leaders and medical professionals strengthen aviator health, sustain peak performance and preserve operational readiness throughout an aviator’s career.”

• Aug. 4 — Navigating the Strait of Hormuz Energy Crisis: Global Policy Responses, Center for Strategic & International Studies

• Aug. 4 — Taiwan’s Ever-Changing Security Environment, Hudson Institute

• Aug. 4-5 — 2026 Air Force & Space Force Procurement Conference, American Defense Alliance

• Aug. 5-6 — Border Security & Intelligence Summit, Defense Strategies Institute

• Aug. 9-12 — DoDIIS Worldwide Conference 2026, Defense Intelligence Agency

• Aug. 11-13 — Space & Missile Defense Symposium, Huntsville, Alabama

• Aug. 25-26 — Counter UAS Summit, Institute for Defense and Government Advancement