Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Italy of discrimination and said it had caved into misplaced Ukrainian lobbying after Italian authorities cancelled a classical music concert by Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.

Russia's lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma, put forward a bill on Tuesday that, if passed, would expand Russia's seasonal draft into a year-round event.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end their ongoing war.

Putin’s refusal to compromise on Ukraine, say analysts, is a colossal error costing Russia regional influence, lucrative energy markets and its place in the world.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard blew the dust off a long-suppressed House Intelligence Committee report that takes aim at one of the most sacred narratives of American liberal orthodoxy: that Russia wanted Donald Trump to win in 2016.

President Vladimir Putin has tightened rules for ships entering Russian sea ports from abroad, giving the nation’s main security service a bigger role following a series of mysterious blasts on oil tankers.

One day after President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of treason over the intelligence assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and sought to help Trump, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a highly sensitive congressional report she claimed was more evidence of a “treasonous conspiracy.

Putin has spurned Zelensky’s previous offers of a face-to-face meeting to end Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

Russia and Ukraine discussed further prisoner swaps on Wednesday at a brief session of peace talks in Istanbul, but the sides remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders.