Russia blasted an apartment block in Ukraine with missiles yesterday after launching a swarm of drones at cities overnight, a deadly display of force following a solidarity visit by China’s leader Xi Jinping.

The United States said Tuesday it does not see China as capable of being an impartial mediator between Moscow and Kyiv over the war in Ukraine.

Russia blasted an apartment block in Ukraine with missiles on Wednesday after launching a swarm of drones at cities overnight, a deadly display of force following a solidarity visit by China's leader Xi Jinping

After talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Chinese proposals could be used as the basis of a peace settlement in Ukraine but the West and Kyiv were not yet ready.

Moscow is ready to help Chinese businesses replace Western firms that have left Russia over the Ukraine conflict, President Vladimir Putin told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday during talks at the Kremlin.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday, seeking both to deepen economic ties with an ally he sees as a useful counterweight to the West and to promote Beijing’s role as a potential peacemaker in Ukraine.

Russia's top investigative body said on Monday it had opened a criminal case against the International Criminal Court prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to Mariupol, the Kremlin said yesterday, his first visit to territory captured from Ukraine since the start of Moscow’s invasion.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea on the ninth anniversary of the peninsula's annexation from Ukraine, Russian state TV reported

Ukrainian forces continued to withstand Russian assaults yesterday on the ruined city of Bakhmut, as officials said China’s President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow next week to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday announced it had issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, including “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children.

The International Criminal Court issued the warrant accusing Putin of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine

In a rare move, the Pentagon yesterday released a de-classified video showing Russia’s intercept of a US military surveillance drone downed over the Black Sea two days ago.

Russia’s forced transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounts to a war crime, UN investigators said yesterday, also warning of possible crimes against humanity.

Kyiv yesterday accused Russian leader Vladimir Putin of trying to widen the conflict in Ukraine after Washington said Russian fighter jets intercepted a US drone over the Black Sea, causing it to crash.

Ukraine’s future hinges on the outcome of battles in the east, including in and around Bakhmut, President Volodymyr Zelensky said early yesterday, as Russian troops keep coming in waves along the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine has accused two Russian soldiers of sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl and gang raping her mother at gunpoint in front of her father, as part of widespread allegations of abuse during the more than one-year-long invasion..According to Ukrainian prosecution files seen by Reute

Moscow and Kyiv both reported fierce fighting in the war’s bloodiest battle over the eastern city of Bakhmut, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to visit Russia as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter said yesterday.

The court would also seek arrest warrants for several people

The Ukrainian military was preparing for an upcoming counteroffensive yesterday, with a top commander saying his forces’ ongoing defence of Bakhmut in the face of fierce and sustained Russian attacks was necessary to “buy time” for that push.