Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov stated on Thursday that Russian forces have advanced to within 4 kilometers of the eastern outskirts of Sloviansk and have breached the first line of defense of the Sloviansk-Kramatorsk fortifications in some areas, with operations now progressing along a 160-kilometer front. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Friday welcomed the letter sent by Spain, Sweden, Poland, and the Netherlands to the European Commission, calling for the revival of a plan to use over 200 billion euros of frozen Russian central bank assets to finance Ukraine's war efforts. Sybiha stated that using Russian assets instead of European taxpayers' money to cover Ukraine's defense costs is fair and logical.