Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko a week to dismantle Russian signal relay stations on Belarusian soil, warning that if he doesn't, Ukraine will take matters into its own hands. 'If he doesn't do it, we'll do it,' said the Ukrainian president, leaving everyone to wonder if that means a military strike or just a really sternly worded letter. The stations, located in two Belarusian regions bordering Ukraine, help Russian forces coordinate attacks on Ukrainian civilians - a fact that apparently didn't sit well with Kyiv.
Ukraine has been fortifying its northern border amid signs that Vladimir Putin might be looking to drag Belarus deeper into the conflict. This comes after a bizarre diplomatic exchange where Lukashenko apologized to Zelenskyy for past remarks and insisted Belarus wants no part in the war. Zelenskyy, unimpressed, retorted: 'What's the point of saying he doesn't want to be in the war? Let him remove this equipment, let him switch it off. I think a week will be enough for him to do that.' He also called out Lukashenko's oil refining industry, which has become a major supplier for the Russian army, suggesting the Belarusian leader could easily stop that too - if he felt like it.
Meanwhile, EU chief António Costa defended his diplomatic outreach to the Kremlin, arguing the bloc needs to 'listen' to Moscow despite pushback from some member states. 'It is precisely because we need also to support Ukraine through diplomatic means that we need to have a direct diplomatic channel with Russia,' Costa said after an EU summit. Russia, for its part, said it's open to dialogue but won't accept ultimatums - because nothing says 'we're open to dialogue' like refusing to entertain demands.
French President Emmanuel Macron insisted Europeans would be at the table for any Ukraine peace talks, stressing they're not mediators but firmly on Ukraine's side. He also noted the EU needs to clarify its position first - because nothing says 'decisive action' like a committee meeting. In a separate diplomatic kerfuffle, Poland's president Karol Nawrocki threatened to strip Zelenskyy of Poland's top honor after the Ukrainian president renamed an army unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a nationalist group that massacred Poles during WWII. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha called the Polish move a 'strategic error' that 'only benefits Moscow.'
On the ground, Russian shelling killed three civilians in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, with six others injured in two attacks near a high-rise and a car park. Elsewhere, French authorities detained a Belarus-born man suspected of spying for Russia on a French drone manufacturer. The 48-year-old was arrested on June 3 while filming a drone prototype - presumably for his Instagram, but allegedly for Russian intelligence.