Bashar al-Assad

Ukrainian intelligence has carried out a comprehensive strike on the Russian base at the Kuveyres airfield in Syria. The attack took place after Putin's meeting with Assad, and destroyed electronic warfare equipment and military facilities at the airfield.

According to the secretary of the National Security Council of Ukraine, Russia may repeat the strategy used in Syria's Aleppo in 2016, destroying infrastructure and bombing civilian areas to force the population to leave Kharkiv.

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and other passengers were killed in a plane crash in northwestern Iran, leading Vice President Mohammad Mohber to take over as acting head of Iran until new elections within 50 days.

The EU does not have an agreed position on whether or not to recognize Vladimir Putin as the legitimate president of Russia, but all 27 member states have recognized that the elections in Russia were not transparent.