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

Ukraine said yesterday its forces were fighting fierce battles near Chasiv Yar, a strategic hilltop settlement whose capture would give Moscow a powerful foothold in the eastern Donetsk region.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that a Russian strike on his home town in southern Ukraine had left eight people dead and wounded 21 more.

Ukrainian strikes on parts of the Russian-held Lugansk and Kherson regions killed 26 people and injured dozens more on Friday, occupation authorities said.

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 22 of the 27 Shahed-type drones launched over five Ukrainian regions in Russia’s overnight attack yesterday.

Russia fired a combined 100 missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight, in a barrage that targeted energy sites across the country, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

President Joe Biden quietly has authorised Kyiv to launch US-supplied weapons at military targets inside Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, four US officials said on Thursday

Ukraine’s military intelligence service said yesterday its forces had used naval drones to destroy two Russian patrol boats off Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that if US President Joe Biden missed a peace summit organised by Kyiv in Switzerland next month, it would be like a standing ovation for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A Russian strike on a crowded DIY hardware store in Kharkiv killed 16 people and wounded dozens more, Ukrainian prosecutors said yesterday morning, the death toll rising as the country’s second-largest city reeled from two attacks a day earlier.

Russian forces have become “bogged down” trying to capture the Ukrainian border town of Vovchansk but have intensified their offensive elsewhere on the eastern front, Ukraine’s top general said yesterday.

Russia pounded Kharkiv with missiles yesterday, killing seven people inside a printing house, and President Volodymyr Zelensky chided Ukraine’s western allies for not providing enough military support to rebuff Russian attacks.

The deputy head of the Russian army's General Staff has been accused of taking bribes and arrested, investigators said on Thursday, the latest in a slew of high-profile cases of alleged corruption to shake the military's top brass

Ukraine attacked a number of villages in Russia’s Belgorod border region and the occupied eastern city of Lysychansk yesterday, killing two people, authorities and Russian media said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an exclusive interview with AFP on Friday he expects Russia to step up its offensive in the northeast and warned Kyiv only has a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the front line

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russian forces advancing in Ukraine’s northeast were carving out a buffer zone to protect Russia from attacks and said the West was “sick in the head” if it thought it could dictate terms to Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Thursday with counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing as he seeks greater support from China for his war effort in Ukraine and his isolated economy

Russia has launched a cross-border ground offensive into Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region and fighting there is ongoing, the Ukrainian defence ministry and a high-ranking military source said yesterday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday fired the head of the department responsible for his personal protection after two of its officers were detained this week over an alleged assassination plot

Ukraine said yesterday it had unravelled a Russian plot to assassinate senior Ukrainian political and military figures, including President Volodymyr Zelensky.