❗️Lukashenko left Moscow after two days of talks with Putin. No results from the closed negotiations were announced, and official sources did not publish details on the agenda or substance of the meeting.
Ukraine installed a bust of Hetman Ivan Mazepa at Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, with Zelensky calling it the correction of a historical injustice. He said Mazepa, a major Ukrainian figure and patron of the Lavra, deserves a full monument in central Kyiv, at the site on Shevchenko Boulevard where Lenin’s statue fell in December 2013.
Zelensky confirmed Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two Russian refineries overnight on Constitution Day: the Slavyansk refinery in Krasnodar region, about 300 km from the front, and a refinery in Yaroslavl region, roughly 700 km from Ukraine’s border.
❗️Putin and Lukashenko held closed talks for a second day in Valdai, Novgorod Oblast, after the Belarusian president urgently arrived in Russia on June 26. Official sources have published no agenda, comments, or explanation for the meeting.
Zelensky said Russia attacked 15 Ukrainian regions over the past week, launching nearly 1,400 strike drones, almost 1,500 guided aerial bombs and 19 missiles, including ballistic missiles, in one of the largest sustained attack campaigns.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski criticized President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, calling it an inappropriate reaction that personally humiliated the Ukrainian president. Sikorski said he would instead have proposed naming Jasionka Airport after victims of the UPA.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland is ready to act in the event of a direct Russian threat. He warned that if Moscow seeks escalation after its war against Ukraine, Poland will respond as it has before and will defend every inch of NATO territory.
🇻🇪 #Venezuela Earthquake Updates: According to state media, acting President Delcy Rodriguez said in an update on Friday that at least 589 people were killed and another 2,980 were injured in the two powerful earthquakes that struck Venezuela late on Wednesday.Follow us -> LiveLeak
Zelensky said another 160 Ukrainian servicemen returned from Russian captivity, almost all held since 2022. The group includes defenders of Mariupol, Azovstal, Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv and Sumy axes. He said Ukraine has returned more than 9,500 people since the full-scale war began, including 1,596 this year.
❗️Russian hardliners are urging Putin to abandon US-mediated diplomacy and escalate the war after Ukrainian deep strikes hit Moscow, St Petersburg and Crimea, Reuters reports. Nationalist commentators are calling for full mobilization, heavier bombing, strikes on Kyiv’s leadership and attacks on European drone factories, while the Kremlin has so far kept talks open.
CyberBoroshno analysis finds Putin’s residence in Valdai has been demolished. Analysts said the logic remains unclear, but suggested fear of a drone strike on the site as a possible motive. A section of the M-11 highway near the residence was also closed today.
Zelensky confirmed Ukraine brought home 160 servicemen from Russian captivity. All had been held since 2022. The released troops include Armed Forces personnel, transport service members, National Guardsmen and border guards who defended Mariupol, Azovstal and fronts across Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions.
Moscow built another S-400 air defense position less than 10 km from the Kremlin, near Moscow State University on Vorobyovy Gory, Radio Svoboda reports. The site is located on territory tied to Innopraktika, a foundation linked to Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova.
In a rather long statement, Putin said cooperation between Russian and Belarusian regions is a key element of the two countries’ strategic partnership. In a video address to the XIII Forum of Regions, he cited 26 joint import-substitution projects in high-tech sectors, new cross-border suburban trains and plans for a Moscow-Minsk high-speed railway.
❗️NATO allies are expected to announce billions in new arms contracts, expand defense production and pledge €70 billion in military support for Ukraine at next month’s Ankara summit, with a similar funding commitment planned for 2027, POLITICO reports.