Overview

• Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said 30–40 foreign leaders had sent messages, noting “warm and original” greetings from China’s Xi Jinping and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, with Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko among the first.
• Ushakov said most congratulatory calls were scheduled for after 2:00 p.m. in Moscow, and TASS reported a call with U.S. President Donald Trump was not planned for the day.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s grandchildren would congratulate him, as state-friendly displays included school and nursery tributes and activist formations spelling “Putin,” “Russia,” “Strength,” “Honour,” and “Pride.”
• Russian authorities reported shooting down more than 200 Ukrainian drones over the Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, and Belgorod regions, and said a drone was launched toward a Voronezh nuclear facility without causing damage.
• Local media in Russia’s Tyumen region reported a suspected Ukrainian drone strike on a major oil refinery, while the Kremlin detailed Putin’s upcoming trip to Tajikistan for meetings and CIS-related summits from October 8–10.