RUSSIA

Ivan Rossomakhin was recruited from prison in 2022, committed another killing while on leave in Russia and was sent back to the frontline.

Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to the Ukrainian troops who helped replenish the pool of prisoners for exchange.

The biggest attack on Russian soil since World War II has rattled Russia and penetrated several kilometres into Russia's Kursk region. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine now controls over 1,250 square kilometres (480 square miles) and 92 settlements.

Russia's prosecutor general on Monday said it had banned a foundation started by US film star George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greeted journalist Evan Gershkovich and two other Americans Thursday as they arrived back on US soil after being freed by Russia in a huge prisoner swap.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for a Berlin murder were among two dozen prisoners freed Thursday in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

Russia stated that its military deployed MiG-29 and MiG-31 fighter jets, which identified the U.S. aircraft as B-52H strategic bombers.

The United States foiled a Russian plot earlier this year to assassinate the chief executive of a major German arms maker supplying weaponry to Ukraine, CNN reported on Thursday.

With relations between NATO on the one hand and China and Russia on the other at a low ebb, analysts believe that Beijing wanted to send the alliance a warning message with the timing of the drills.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicated on Wednesday that Ukraine can use long-range missiles supplied by the UK to strike military targets in Russia during their war.

"Intentionally directing attacks against a protected hospital is a war crime and perpetrators must be held to account," Joyce Msuya, acting under-secretary for humanitarian affairs, told the emergency meeting.

Russia on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yulia Navalnaya, accusing the exiled opposition figure of participating in an "extremist organisation".

Ukraine is set for a fiery clash with Russia at the UN Security Council Tuesday after Kyiv's allies called for an emergency meeting in the wake of deadly strikes by Moscow.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Monday that world powers should help Russia and Ukraine re-start direct negotiations during a visit to Beijing branded a "peace mission" by the European leader.

Cybercrime gangs are looking to rebuild with new tactics after global police operations this year made a huge dent in their activities.

Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk killed five people and wounded dozens more on Monday, the governor of the Donetsk region said.

Attacks on churches and synagogues in Russia's Dagestan region killed 15 police officers and four civilians, officials said on Monday, stoking fears over Islamist violence in the historically restive North Caucasus.

The agreement includes a mutual defense clause and aims to strengthen economic and military ties amid ongoing Western sanctions and geopolitical tensions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday hailed North Korea for "firmly supporting" Moscow's war in Ukraine ahead of a visit to Pyongyang set to boost defence ties between the two nuclear-armed countries.

A Russian nuclear-powered submarine and other naval vessels on Monday left the port of Havana after a five-day visit to Cuba, the communist state off Florida's coast.