Zelenskyy said that on 31 July he "received a good phone call" from Vance and hinted that a key topic of the conversation was interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems.

"We followed up on our recent meeting with President Trump in Washington, which was positive and productive. As Russia's air attacks on our country continue unabated, air defence – specifically Patriot interceptors against ballistic missiles – remains a top priority," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

Received a good phone call from the Vice President of the United States, @JDVance. We followed up on our recent meeting with President Trump in Washington, which was positive and productive. As Russia's air attacks on our country continue unabated, air defense – specifically… pic.twitter.com/eK9pKbeGtR

– Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 31, 2026

They also discussed the impact of Russia's war on global markets.

"We agreed that our teams will stay in touch and work through everything discussed today. I thank the United States for its support of Ukraine and our people," the president added.

US President Donald Trump said that he is "not sure" whether to allow Ukraine to produce interceptor missiles for Patriot systems.

According to The Atlantic, during closed-door talks at the White House on 28 July, Zelenskyy asked Trump to allow Ukraine to use the Starlink system on Russian territory to strike ballistic missile launchers.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X that analysts had identified a pro-Russian media network led by Pravda and RT, which has been spreading thousands of publications about the migration crisis in Ceuta.

According to estimates, more than 1,500 such publications have been recorded, including 300 published by the Spanish-language version of Pravda.

Sybiha stressed that Russia has for years used migration and other sensitive issues to fuel fear and destabilise European countries.

He also called on European partners to fully ban all Russian propaganda outlets.

"This is not about the situation itself, but about the way Russia tries to exploit any topic that can benefit its agenda. The only way to protect the public from this interference is to cut it off," Sybiha said.

Spain's Interior Ministry reported that since the start of the migration crisis, more than 50,000 people have illegally entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from Morocco, while local authorities say the real figure is even higher.

Amid the crisis in Ceuta, governments in Italy and Czechia have called for the Schengen Area to be closed to Spain.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would step up support for Spain in response to the migration crisis in Ceuta, where tens of thousands of migrants have entered illegally from Morocco.

"Today, the Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in connection with the missile that hit Polish territory yesterday," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X.

The Polish prime minister did not provide further details about the summons.

Polish investigators have confirmed that a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, manufactured in the second quarter of 2026 at a factory in Moscow Oblast, crashed in the Lublin Voivodeship on 30 July.

Polish Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk stated that a Ukrainian pilot tracked the Russian Kh-101 missile until the very last moment, but was unable to shoot it down and was forced to turn back 20 seconds from the border.

Tusk said there are no grounds to believe Poland was the target.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki expects to receive a detailed government report on the Russian missile incident and will not be convening a meeting of the National Security Council.

Some of these criticisms are entirely justified. The Court needs to become more efficient, transparent and consistent. 

Increasingly, the issue under dispute is no longer the quality of the work of a particular institution, but the very right of an independent international court to investigate the gravest international crimes.

Political pressure exerted by individual states on an independent international court creates a dangerous precedent.

Read more in the article by international criminal justice expert Gunduz Mamedov, who examines the recent challenges facing the ICC and explains how Ukraine should respond: International criminal justice under pressure: why Ukraine cannot afford to stand aside.

Mamedov notes that the International Criminal Court became the first permanent institution established to ensure that accountability for the gravest international crimes would no longer depend on the need to create a new tribunal each time.

"At the heart of the Rome Statute lies a simple yet profoundly important principle: individuals must be held accountable for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. High office, military rank, or a state's nuclear status should not automatically guarantee impunity," Mamedov writes.

He also emphasises that the primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting international crimes rests with states themselves.

According to the expert, the International Criminal Court intervenes only where a state is unwilling or genuinely unable to carry out an investigation or prosecution. This is why the ICC is not an alternative to national justice but rather its complement and a safeguard that the gravest international crimes will not go unpunished even when a national system proves incapable of fulfilling its responsibilities.

"These principles are now facing one of their greatest tests," the author writes.

At the same time, he argues, external political pressure is not the only challenge the Court has faced in recent times.

An equally serious challenge has been the internal crisis involving the now former Prosecutor Karim Khan. Recently, the Assembly of States Parties decided to terminate his mandate on the grounds of serious misconduct.

In Mamedov's view, it will be presented as evidence of the institution's moral crisis and its inability to judge the conduct of others.

The author argues that Ukraine is now one of the states whose experience will largely shape the future development of international criminal justice.

"Our voice in the discussion on the future of the ICC carries particular weight. And it must be heard loudly," he writes.

According to Mamedov, for Ukraine, protecting the ICC and international criminal justice is not merely a matter of principle but also one of practical importance.

He also argues that it cannot independently arrest suspects or bring them to The Hague. It depends on the cooperation of states. The arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin was an important decision by the Court.

"It is equally important to raise the issue of the consequences of non-compliance with those warrants, the role of the Assembly of States Parties, and mechanisms for the collective support of the Court. Without this, international criminal justice risks becoming a system of decisions with only limited practical effect," Mamedov writes.

As a full State Party to the Rome Statute, he concludes, Ukraine must be among those who shape the future of this system, defend its independence, and insist on the implementation of its decisions.

As reported by The Atlantic, Kyiv is offering the US a way out of supplying Ukraine with interceptor missiles for Patriot systems, stocks of which have been dramatically depleted by the US's war with Iran. Instead, Ukraine wants to be able to expand its use of another American technology – the Starlink satellite communications network controlled by Elon Musk.

According to two officials speaking on condition of anonymity, Zelenskyy asked Trump to secure Musk's permission for Ukraine to use Starlink to guide drone strikes on Russian territory. A third official confirmed that the Ukrainian president made this request.

So far Musk has only allowed Ukraine to use Starlink on its own territory, including in Crimea and other Russian-occupied oblasts. Musk's company SpaceX has also restricted the use of Starlink on Russian territory.

On 28 July, Zelenskyy explained to Trump that Kyiv needs to be able to hit small, mobile targets on Russian territory such as the ballistic missile batteries Russian forces use to strike cities across Ukraine.

During his visit to the US, Zelenskyy also requested a meeting with Musk to discuss his plan for destroying these launch systems, but according to The Atlantic's source, Musk declined.

The source said Trump told Zelenskyy during the White House meeting that he will consider these requests, but gave no indication as to whether he will ultimately agree to them.

One official said Trump's final decision on Zelenskyy's proposal would likely depend heavily on whether the US president believes it could help bring the war to a swifter end. If he believes that using Starlink would allow Ukraine to force Putin to the negotiating table, Trump may support the proposal. But if he believes it would only escalate the situation, he is likely to withhold support, the official said.

Zelenskyy also pointed out to Trump that Ukraine needs to be able to counter the missile threat before winter, when Russia may again try to cripple the country's energy grid and heating system.

In early July, Trump told Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the NATO summit that the US would grant Ukraine the right to manufacture Patriot air defence systems.

However, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, Trump said he has not yet decided whether to allow Ukraine to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.

"The pilot who was tracking this latest missile, which he was unable to shoot down, turned back 20 seconds from the border [with Poland]," Tomczyk stated to TVN 24.

Tomczyk explained that the Ukrainian aircraft could not enter Polish airspace. There was also a risk of it being downed by a Polish F-16.

He noted that the Russians typically attack with 10 to 20 missiles, whereas on 30 July "there were around 70 missiles in total, 20 of which were heading towards Poland at 03:00".

"It is also worth adding that the vast majority of these missiles were shot down by Ukraine over Ukrainian territory, which clearly bore the full brunt of the strike," he said.

Asked whether the Russians launched the missile deliberately, Tomczyk replied that either scenario is possible. "We don't know, and if we do find out, it will be primarily intelligence information. We will likely have more answers in the coming weeks," he said.

Further procedural steps and an expert examination of the missile debris are scheduled to take place in Poland on 31 July, with a Ukrainian expert set to join the investigation.

Commenting on the Russian missile crash in Lublin Voivodeship, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said there are no grounds to believe Poland was the target.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki expects to receive a detailed government report on the Russian missile incident and will not be convening a meeting of the National Security Council.

As reported by Polish news portal RMF24, Prosecutors completed their examination of the crash site in Tarnawa-Kolonia, around 95 km from the Ukrainian border, on the evening of Thursday 30 July. Investigators have recovered numerous missile fragments, which will undergo detailed forensic examination on 31 July with the participation of a Ukrainian expert.

Marcin Kozak, a spokesperson for the Lublin prosecutor's office, said on 30 July that the impact crater had been filled in and the land could once again be used by its owner.

He added that soldiers from Poland's Territorial Defence Forces had searched an area of about 3 sq km, recovering numerous fragments of the missile, including parts of its engine.

The crater created by the missile impact on 30 July after it was filled in with soil. Photo: RMF24

Kozak said further procedural steps would take place on Friday 31 July, including a forensic examination of the debris at military police headquarters. A Ukrainian expert will assist Polish investigators in identifying the recovered object.

On the evening of 30 July, Poland's Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk confirmed that the missile that fell in the Lublin district was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.

Earlier, Kozak said investigators had examined the explosion site, a crater measuring about 10 m in diameter and 5 m deep. They documented missile debris and components and collected soil samples.

Earlier, NATO said it was in close contact with the Polish authorities over the incident involving the Russian Kh-101 missile.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also spoke with his Polish counterpart, Radosław Sikorski, after the Russian cruise missile entered Polish airspace. Sybiha assured him that Ukraine stands in full solidarity with Poland.

Commenting on the missile's crash in Lublin Voivodeship, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said there was no reason to believe that Poland itself had been the intended target.

As reported by the Polish Press Agency (РАР), Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said Ukraine's proposal is straightforward: Poland would supply the fighter jets, while Ukraine would provide drone technology in return. She added that the government is "not currently discussing" a scenario in which Poland would pay to modernise the aircraft.

"A concrete response from the Ukrainian side has been on the table for several days now, detailing what drone technology they can provide in exchange for the MiG fighter jets," she said.

She was also asked why Poland was not selling the MiG-29 fighter jets to Bulgaria, which has expressed an interest in purchasing them.

In response, Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said negotiations on the aircraft had initially begun with Ukraine.

She added that Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz would make a decision after reviewing Ukraine's proposal.

Sobkowiak-Czarnecka also stressed that the matter would not remain unresolved for long and should be decided within "a matter of weeks at most".

At the end of June, Kosiniak-Kamysz said Ukraine had withdrawn from the proposed "MiGs for drones" agreement. A few days later, he claimed this was due to a historical dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw.

However, in July, Kosiniak-Kamysz said reaching an agreement on the issue was still possible.

He later stated that Bulgaria was interested in purchasing Polish MiG-29 fighter jets, which Ukraine also wants, but that Warsaw had not ruled out reaching an agreement with Kyiv.

On 29 July, Kosiniak-Kamysz said the Ukrainian side had once again expressed interest in acquiring Polish MiG-29 fighter jets in exchange for drone technology.

In the call with Tusk, Rutte stressed that the incident, in which a Russian missile landed in Lublin Voivodeship, is a direct consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine and yet another reckless act by Moscow.

He condemned Russia's strikes across Ukraine on the night of 29-30 July and reaffirmed NATO's continued support for Kyiv.

"NATO continues to provide essential support so Ukraine can defend itself. Our commitment is unwavering," Rutte wrote on X.

The Secretary General added that Poland and NATO activated their air and ground defence assets during the attack.

He expressed solidarity with Poland, adding that the allies will continue to strengthen NATO's readiness to defend against any threat, including missile attacks.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has stated that everything currently indicates that the object that crashed in Lublin Voivodeship was a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile. The crater left by the missile measures approximately 10 metres in diameter and is 5 metres deep, and the debris is scattered across a 200-metre radius. CCTV footage of the moment when the missile hit has been posted online.

Following the incident, Tusk announced that Warsaw will shortly consider the possibility of sending Ukraine additional missiles for Patriot air defence systems.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he will be considering the matter following an incident in which a Russian Kh-101 missile violated Polish airspace.

"After this incident, we will... consider the question of further assistance to Ukraine as soon as possible, including the transfer of additional missiles for Patriot systems should the need arise," Tusk said, as quoted by Ukrinform.

As previously reported, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked US President Donald Trump for an emergency package of Patriot interceptors during their meeting in Washington on 28 July.

Zelenskyy said that during his latest meeting with Trump at the White House, the two leaders discussed licences for the production of Patriot interceptor missiles and "several other ideas that could help".