Ukraine confirms strike on missile battery plant in Lipetsk During a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on July 3, Russian President Vladimir Putin said "Russia will continue to pursue its goals" in the war against Ukraine,

Ushakov said that both Putin and Trump did not talk about the US decision to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine. On Iran, he said, "the Russian side emphasised the importance of resolving all disputes, disagreements and conflict situations exclusively by political and diplomatic means".

Ukraine and Russia exchanged a new group of captured soldiers on Thursday (Jun 26), the latest in a series of prisoner swaps agreed during peace talks in Istanbul earlier this month.