politics
Ukraine Recovery Conference Opens in Poland Without Zelensky
A two-day Ukraine recovery conference opened Thursday in Gdansk without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Officials from both countries attended amid strained relations over unresolved historical issues.
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Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
A two-day conference on Ukraine's post-war reconstruction opened Thursday in Gdansk, Poland, without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky is not attending the event amid a diplomatic row with Warsaw. Ukrainian officials are represented at the summit by the prime minister while the Polish delegation is led by its prime minister.
Ursula von der Leyen is set to announce the first payment from a €90 billion EU loan package agreed in December. The €3.2 billion tranche will support Ukraine's financial and budgetary needs. A second payment of about €5 billion for drone production is expected before the end of the month.
Several other senior figures are scheduled to attend, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and European Council President António Costa.
General Mark Rutte continued meetings in Washington, DC, as part of a two-day visit ahead of a July 7-8 summit in Ankara. Rutte met Vice President Vance and other Trump administration officials. He is scheduled to meet congressional members and CIA officials later in the day.
The meetings precede next month's publication of the 2026 annual Rule of Law report. McGrath said the discussions would review progress and remaining challenges regarding institutions, justice, transparency, and accountability. MEP David Casa stated concerns that rule-of-law safeguards have weakened since the 2017 assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
