This concludes our war policy in Ukraine for tonight: please stand firm.
We will be back with all major updates overnight and will be back to our ongoing policy soon.
Before leaving, here is a review of the key moments of the day:
The founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram has been arrested in France, French media reported.
French television channel TF1 reports that Pavel Durov was arrested tonight at Le Bourget airport, near Paris.
According to the channel, the businessman of Russian origin travels on his personal jet and is the subject of an arrest warrant in France.
Telegram responded to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency.
Durov, who also founded the now-state-controlled Russian social media service VK, left Russia in 2014 after resisting government pressure to provide information about Ukrainian protesters.
He now lives in Dubai and holds the nationality of the United Arab Emirates and France.
Telegram, introduced in 2013, is one of the five most downloaded apps in the world.
Lithuania has announced a new batch of military aid to Ukraine, drones and air defense missiles.
Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said the plan would help Ukraine “return the Russian occupiers to where they belong. “
In a message to X, Simonyte said the aid would consist of “short-range air defense systems and missiles, as well as anti-drones, weapons, ammunition and equipment. “
The package will arrive in kyiv until September, he said.
Vilnius has also pledged to send around 5,000 Lithuanian-made drones to Ukraine by the end of autumn and to allocate 35 million euros (£29. 6 million) for the purchase of radars and demining equipment.
The tanks passing through Poland are being used through Ukraine in their offensive in the Kursk region, President Andrzej Duda confirmed.
Vladimir Putin promised a “dignified response” to any use of Western weapons during the invasion.
Duda’s visit to kyiv today coincided with Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations.
In a speech on the occasion, he also said he was convinced that the war “will soon end with victory [for Ukraine]”.
“I have never had, and never had, the slightest doubt that, through their united efforts and struggle, the brave Ukrainians will protect their independence,” he said.
A Russian airstrike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy tonight wounded seven people, officials said.
The Sumy regional directorate reported on Telegram that Russia had carried out a missile attack on the city’s civilian infrastructure.
Seven other people were injured and two are in serious condition.
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones, don’t forget the cautionary signs in the air,” the management said.
Sumy is the administrative center of the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, bordering Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky signed several laws targeting Russia, adding one banning devotional organizations connected to Moscow.
The package of legislation included the ratification of a statute that paves the way for Ukraine at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ratification increases the chances that Russia will be prosecuted for war crimes it allegedly committed during its invasion of Ukraine, according to Zelensky.
Meanwhile, a law has been signed banning the operation of establishments in Ukraine that have links to Russia.
Under the new law, organizations would have nine months to sever ties with entities linked to Moscow.
Zelensky signed a law granting Ukrainian citizenship to foreigners fighting in his army opposed to Russia.
Ukrainian boxing star Oleksandr Usyk Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the coveted WBC heavyweight championship belt as the two men gathered to mark Independence Day.
Zelensky posted a video of the assembly on his Telegram channel and said it was an “honor” to get the belt.
“Thank you for everything you are doing for Ukraine. To glorify Ukraine and its invincibility. Thank you!” he wrote.
Usyk defeated Britain’s Tyson Fury to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion in May.
In an interview with Sky News last month, the boxer revealed how he cried behind closed doors over the war in his country.
Belarus and Iran congratulated Ukraine on its 33rd anniversary of independence from the former Soviet Union, despite both countries’ close ties with Russia.
According to Belarusian news firm Belta, President Alexander Lukashenko said his citizens “have always had special respect and consideration” for the Ukrainian people.
“We are united not only by common destiny and family ties, but also by the preference to be friends and get along with neighbors,” he said.
Belarus served as the setting for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Lukashenko is one of Vladimir Putin’s allies.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry posted a message on social media saying it congratulated the Ukrainian government and others on their independence.
Tehran has reportedly delivered a bunch of deadly drones, along with other weapons, to Moscow for use in its war against Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy used an Independence Day message to refer to Vladimir Putin as the “sick old man of Red Square. “
In his speech, Zelensky stated that the war unleashed in Russia had spread to his own territory.
“Those who seek to sow evil in our land will reap the rewards in their soil,” he said.
He also said that “those who sought to turn our land into a buffer zone now deserve to be interested in their own country not becoming a buffer federation. “
Five other people were injured after Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, the government said.
The country’s emergency said Russian forces fired rockets at the village of Novoosynove in the Kupyan district today.
Four people and one man were injured, while two residential buildings and a patch of dry grass caught fire.
“Rescuers put out the fire and prevented the flames from spreading to other houses,” Emergency said on Telegram, adding that medics were at the scene of the attack.