The first direct Ukraine-Russia talks did not deliver a ceasefire but it did result in the largest prisoner swap of the war. CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — For hours Friday, a crowd of hopefuls stood on the roadside wrapped in blue-and-yellow flags and clutching photos of captured Ukrainian soldiers — their eyes peeled for any sign of buses.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cast doubt on Friday over the Vatican as a potential location for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, saying that the Holy See itself would find it uncomfortable to host two mainly Orthodox Christian nations.

Several months of intensified U.S. and European pressure on the two sides to accept a ceasefire and negotiate a settlement have yielded little progress.

The U.S. National Security Agency says hackers working for Russian military intelligence tried to access the systems of Western technology and logistics companies involved in shipping assistance to Ukraine.

Russian armed forces are creating a “security buffer zone” along the border between Russia and Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would not allow Russian-speakers in Ukraine to remain under the rule of what he called a "junta" led by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The White House has said president Donald Trump “believes” Vladimir Putin is winning the war with Ukraine.The statement follows a Wall Street Journal that Mr Trump told European leaders after a phone call with Mr Putin that the Russian president is not ready to end the war.

Over the last day, from May 22 to May 23, the Russian army lost 1,050 soldiers and 187 units of military equipment at the front, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports. The total combat Russian losses from February 24, 2022, to May 23 ...