"Unfolding Conflict: Real-time Updates on Russia's War in Ukraine"

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone with American citizen Paul Whelan, who has been wrongfully detained in Russia for over four years. The Biden administration continues to push for Whelan's release, but Russia has not responded substantively to the proposal. Meanwhile, Ukrainian shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region resulted in one death and two injuries, while Russian forces targeted Ukrainian ports for the seventh time since withdrawing from the Black Sea Grain initiative. Additionally, Russian shelling in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions of Ukraine caused casualties and damage. Lithuania temporarily closed two border checkpoints with Belarus due to concerns about Wagner forces, and the European Commission redirected funding originally intended for Russia and Belarus to Ukraine and Moldova. Lastly, the Wagner mercenary group has registered as an "educational" organization in Belarus, and complications have arisen around the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, where Russian forces are making a push.