UKRAINE

The visit will be the first between the two leaders since the start of the Ukraine conflict.

The Ukraine government called the fighting in the town of Marinka the worst since a ceasefire was signed in February.

Russia said that those responsible for the fresh assault were hindering the progress of the peace deal brokered in February.

Wednesday's incident, from a power failure caused by a reported artillery shelling, ended much better than the mine explosion in March.

The U.S. Air Force formally kicked off a competition for development of new prototype rocket propulsion systems, and address the "urgent need" to end U.S. reliance on Russian engines to launch military and intelligence satellites.

U.S. officials made the rare decision to release the footage in an effort to curtail "erroneous" descriptions of the encounter in foreign media.

Officials of Almaz-Antei, which makes Buk missiles, claimed that Russia no longer owns the type of missile used to bring down Flight MH17.

“Serious human rights abuses, intimidation, and harassment of the local population perpetrated by the armed groups continued to be reported."

A forensic analysis by an independent group found that the dates posted on the Russian satellite images were falsified and the photographs were digitally altered.

The airline's CEO, who had previously warned of the need for a "bitter" pill to overhaul the carrier, plans to lay off thousands and substantially reconfigure its fleet.

The removal of Russian and Iranian advisers points to the possibility the battle is turning against the regime.

European authorities brand the blacklisting of 89 dignitaries as "arbitrary and unjustified," while Russian officials say it was a response to Western sanctions.

Russian military aircraft were scrambled to head off a U.S. warship that was acting "aggressively" in the Black Sea, state news agency RIA reported on Saturday.

The former president of Georgia, the pro-Western Mikhail Saakashvili, has been appointed the governor of the region of Odessa in Ukraine.

The FIFA head was re-elected Friday despite condemnation from other soccer authorities and countries around the world.

Russia has asked for the list, which includes names of 89 EU politicians, not to be made public.

The denial comes just one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin made information on Russian casualties in peacetime a secret.

The location of the U.S.-led drills has led the Kremlin to conclude that they will simulate interception of Russian ballistic missiles.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 "in spite of successive ceasefires," the U.N. Human Rights Office has said.

The Russian president approved legislation Thursday that made information on peacetime casualties a secret.

The defense linkup between the two Scandinavian countries comes as Russia steps up activity in the Baltic.