Russia launches drones at Ukraine, air defense at work in Kyiv Oblast

"As you mark this important day, know the United States respects your fight, honors your sacrifices, and believes in your future as an independent nation," U.S. President Donald Trump said in a letter of support to Ukraine.

The deal will make it easier to establish Ukrainian defense companies in Canada and provide Kyiv "with modern weapons and military equipment in the long term," Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

The joint operation "took the occupiers by surprise" and cost Russia "about a company of personnel," Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced on Independence Day.

"When we come to a stage when you have to sign documents, we would need a very clear understanding by everybody that the person who is signing is legitimate, and ... Mr. Zelensky is not," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Ukrainian troops have liberated the villages of Zelenyi Hai, Mykhailivka, and Volodymyrivka, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi reported on Aug. 24.

Although this time Ukraine has not yet announced the number of people released, the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) said among them were eight civilians, including Ukrainian journalists Dmytro Khyliuk and Mark Kaliush and former mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolaienko.

Zelensky’s statement follows a recent report by the Wall Street Journal saying that the U.S. has quietly implemented a review process giving Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authority to bar Ukrainian long-range strikes inside Russia with American missiles.

In the latest episode of Ukraine This Week, the Kyiv Independent’s Anna Belokur breaks down Monday’s meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which came just a few days after Trump’s Aug. 15 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.

The upcoming delivery is part of the support package Canada pledged earlier in June during the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the defense ministers of Sweden, Denmark, Romania, Lithuania, and Latvia, as well as the U.K. Minister for Veterans Affairs, are also in Ukraine for Independence Day.

Ukrainian drones struck a natural gas terminal in Russia's Leningrad region and an oil refinery in Samara region on Aug. 24.

"We prove that Ukrainians exist and Ukrainians will remain on this land," President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his address.