Russian President Vladimir Putin is stalling over a ceasefire. Meanwhile, Trump has changed his mind about sending weapons to Ukraine.

A third round of peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials is planned to take place later this week in Turkey, according to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.  “Today, I

Russian and Ukrainian negotiating teams will again meet in Istanbul, Turkey, on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed, for the first such meeting since President Donald Trump set a 50-day deadline for a ceasefire to be reached.

A city with a pre-war population of 60,000, Pokrovsk is located west of Avdiivka which fell to Russian forces in February 2024 and is a critical hub in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.

Russian forces have attacked three Ukrainian cities overnight, killing a child and wounding at least 24 people.

The grueling war in Ukraine has upended the delicate balance of power in Russia as the Kremlin desperately tries to support the massive country's war machine

Russia has advanced around Pokrovsk for many months, but has so far failed to entirely encircle or seize control of the city.

Ukraine said it would send a high-level negotiating team to Turkey peace talks with Russia, even as Moscow wrote off the talks before they had started.

Tensions between Russia and the neighbouring Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan are escalating against the backdrop of Moscow's war in Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned Baku not to jeopardize relations between the two countries because of the war.

Russia and Ukraine again exchanged a series of major overnight drone strikes as the two sides maneuvered ahead of a possible resumption of ceasefire talks later this week.Renewed talks -- if they do happen -- would take place as both Kyiv and Moscow near new records for the scale and intensity of cross-border strikes,