Ukraine hopes to capitalize on Pope Leo’s calls for peace to coax the Vatican into helping secure the release of children and other prisoners held by Russia.

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had captured a string of frontline settlements in eastern Ukraine, a claim Kyiv has either denied or declined to acknowledge.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said two Ukrainian citizens working for Russia are suspected of blowing up a railway line in Poland over the weekend.

A bipartisan sanctions package against Russia with over 80 Senate co-sponsors stalls as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., dispute legislative procedures.

The Russian central bank said on Wednesday that its sales and purchases of gold in the domestic market for the budget reserve, the National Wealth Fund (NWF), have been increasing in recent years due to the enhanced liquidity of gold.

A one-time leading figure in Britain’s right-wing populist Reform UK party has been jailed for accepting cash bribes in exchange for making pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that Ukraine has to confront the possibility of losing its dignity or risking the loss of a key partner as it figures out how to respond to a U.S. peace proposal to end Russia's war with his country.

Oil futures fell to one-month lows as the Trump administration pressed Ukraine to accept a plan to end the war with Russia that could boost global oil supplies.