UKRAINE

G20 foreign ministers open a two-day meeting Wednesday in Brazil, with the outlook bleak for progress on a thorny agenda of conflicts and crises, from the Gaza and Ukraine wars to growing polarization.

Eleven Ukrainian children crossed the border from Belarus to Ukraine Tuesday evening, in the latest return of children taken to Russia and occupied territories during the nearly two-year Ukraine war.

Ukraine said Tuesday it was fighting off dozens of attacks, after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces were exploiting delays in Western military aid and called the situation "extremely difficult".

President Joe Biden on Saturday told Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that he is "confident" the US Congress will renew war aid, but added that without American help Kyiv could lose further territory to Russian advances.

As President Volodymyr Zelensky headed for Berlin and Paris in a new bid to secure desperately needed military aid, Ukrainian generals said there was bitter fighting inside Avdiivka and that their forces were taking up "new positions".

US President Joe Biden will host Poland's squabbling premier and president next month, the White House said Thursday, to shore up solidarity for Ukraine's fight against the Russian invasion.

The human cost of the war in Ukraine, two years after the Russian invasion, is in the hundreds of thousands, but the exact toll is unknown, with both sides shrouding their losses in secrecy, and Russia covering up civilian deaths in areas it has conquered.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday discussed ramping up security cooperation in Europe with the leaders of Germany and France, as fears grow that Donald Trump's possible return to the White House might threaten Western solidarity against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Nepali mercenaries are fighting for Russia in Ukraine, lured to kill far from their Himalayan homeland by promises of a passport and cash, but wounded returnees warn anyone tempted to join the war: "Do not come."

US senators on Sunday released the text of a much-anticipated deal that would unlock billions in new aid for Ukraine and Israel while tightening US border laws, but the top House Republican quickly vowed to shoot it down.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Thursday that workers from Ukraine's atomic energy operator Energoatom have been barred from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

The package, blocked since December, was crucial for Ukraine's war effort.

Maryna and Vladyslava Aleksiiva are one of Ukraine's best hopes of a gold medal at the Paris Olympics after winning a bronze in artistic swimming at the Tokyo Games three years ago.

Polish farmers on Wednesday put up nationwide road blockades to protest against Ukrainian farm imports which they said were undermining their revenues.

All those on board the Il-76 transport plane that crashed in the Belgorod region were killed, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on his Telegram channel.

Top Ukrainian junior Yelyzaveta Kotliar said she was "deeply sorry" after her tennis federation criticised the 16-year-old for shaking the hand of a Russian opponent at the Australian Open.

Ukraine said it was behind a drone strike that sparked a huge inferno at an oil depot in western Russia on Friday, the latest in a series of escalating cross-border attacks.

France will deliver to Ukraine a new batch of around 40 SCALP long-range cruise missiles as well as hundreds of bombs as Kyiv fights the Russian invasion, President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.

The US special envoy for Ukraine's economic recovery said Monday that tapping frozen Russian assets would be an "easy" source of money for Kyiv, but the G7 must first agree collectively to do it.

On December 30, the city centre came under attack in the deadliest strikes inside Russia since the start of the conflict on February 24, 2022.

Ukraine's military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview published Friday that Kyiv's attacks in Russian-annexed Crimea were set to intensify, adding that Moscow's economy was proving surprisingly resilient despite sanctions.