Russia Friday ruled out an immediate meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, as diplomatic tension escalated with the Ukrainian president and US mediation efforts appeared to stumble. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said "no meeting" between Vladimir Putin and Zelensky was planned,

Ukrainian forces obliterated a critical part of Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline overnight — as Kyiv fought back against Moscow’s ramped-up attacks despite ongoing peace deal talks.

Trump, who has vowed to end what he calls the "bloodbath" in Ukraine, told reporters he was exploring the possibility of a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting. "Well, we'll see. We're going to see if Putin and Zelenskyy will be working together.

India and Russia agreed to boost trade ties on Thursday as their foreign ministers met in Moscow, giving little indication that U.S. President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on India for buying Russian oil would disrupt their relations.

The violence drew concern from human rights groups. “Central Asian migrants seeking work in Russia due to dire economic conditions in their countries of origin today face ethnic profiling, arbitrary arrests, and other harassment by police in Russia,” Human Rights Watch said in a report on the anniversary of the attack.

Russia has yet again ignored Donald Trump’s bid to hold a summit between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky and said attempts to resolve security issues for Kyiv without Moscow’s participation was a “road to nowhere”.

Moscow is preparing to raise taxes and cut spending as it tries to maintain high defence expenditure with Russia's economy creaking under the weight of financing the more than three-year war in Ukraine,