That concludes our policy of war 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 Russian-born businessman is traveling on his personal jet and the subject of an arrest warrant in France.
Telegram responded to a request for comment from news agency Reuters.
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 applications in the world.
Lithuania 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 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 committed to sending around 5,000 Lithuanian-made drones to Ukraine by the end of autumn and allocating €35m (£29. 6m) for the purchase of radars and demining equipment.
Tanks passing through Poland are used in Ukraine in its 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 never had, and have never had, the slightest doubt that, through their united efforts and struggle, the brave other peoples of Ukraine 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 against the city’s civilian infrastructure.
Seven other people were injured, two of them in serious condition.
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones, forget about air caution signs,” the management said.
Sumy is the administrative center of the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, on the border with Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky signed several laws targeting Russia, adding one banning devotional organizations connected to Moscow.
The legislation package included the ratification of a statute paving the way for Ukraine’s accession to 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 was signed banning the operation of devotional establishments in Ukraine with ties to Russia.
Under the new law, organizations would have nine months to sever ties with Moscow-linked entities.
Zelensky signed a law granting Ukrainian citizenship to foreigners fighting in his army opposed to Russia.
Ukrainian boxing star Oleksandr Usyk presented Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the coveted WBC heavyweight championship belt when the two men came together 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 do for Ukraine. To glorify the Ukrainian and 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 had “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 stage for the Russian 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, as well as other weapons, to Moscow for use in its war against Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy used an Independence Day message for Vladimir Putin, the “sick old man of Red Square. “
In his speech, Zelensky claimed 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 that Russian forces fired rockets today at the village of Novoosynove in the Kupyan district.
Four people and a man were injured, while two residential buildings and a dry grass field caught fire.
“Rescue personnel put out the fire and prevented the flames from spreading to other houses,” the emergency service said on Telegram, adding that doctors were at the scene of the attack.