Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea said they shot down a Ukrainian missile targeting a city on the peninsula. Ukrainian General Staff said Russia had stepped up its readiness to evacuate residents in some regions of Kherson and Zaparujia.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry renewed Kiev's refusal to cede Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, in exchange for ending the war that has been raging since February 2022. U.S. Institute for the Study of War said Russian forces continued to advance in and around Pakhmut.