Russia

• Pres. Zelensky offered the closest we've seen to an official acknowledgment that Ukraine has staged attacks inside Russia: he didn't explicitly confirm the attacks, but said: "gradually, the war is returning to the territory of Russia."
• In addition, other senior Ukrainian officials confirmed Kyiv was behind recent drone bombings of Moscow.
• Ukrainian officials had previously avoided responding to accusations that Kyiv was responsible for attacks inside Russia out of fears that overt incursions into Russian territory could escalate the war and boost Russian public support for it. I'm not sure why Ukraine's calculus seems to be changing now.

• Pres. Ali met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing yesterday and likely discussed Chinese investment offers for Guyana.
• Chinese state media celebrated the meeting's success with misleading headlines like: "Guyana willing to negotiate with China to sign BRI [Belt and Road] cooperation plan: joint statement." [The actual joint statement they signed doesn't make any BRI commitments; rather, it vaguely notes both sides want to expand bilateral relations and cooperation.]

• The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed economic sanctions on the junta that took control of Niger last Wednesday, and threatened the "use of force" as a last resort to restore democracy - though it seems unlikely Niger's neighbors would actually want to start a war.
• The junta says ousted Pres. Bazoum's foreign minister - acting as prime minister - authorized French troops to raid the presidential palace to free Bazoum. France didn't respond to the accusation.
• Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin celebrated the coup and has reportedly offered the junta his services - likely with references from the junta in next door Mali, who hired Wagner after overthrowing the government there.
• As in Burkina Faso, pro-coup demonstrators in Niger are already waving Russian flags just days after the coup. Some analysts suspect Wagner planted the flags - and perhaps even encouraged the coup.

• A suicide bombing killed at least 54 people at an election rally for a pro-Taliban cleric in Bajur, Pakistan - near the Afghan border.
• If this had happened in Afghanistan, I'd suspect Islamic State was responsible. Across the border, though, it could have also been a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban. Neither has claimed the attack yet (Islamic State usually doesn't claim its attacks - especially when they kill children, as this one did).