Russia and China's foreign ministers on Sunday discussed their relations with the United States and the prospects for ending the war in Ukraine, Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov exchanged new ideas for ending the Ukraine conflict amid Trump's consideration of increased sanctions against Russia and military aid to Ukraine

The co-sponsors of new bipartisan U.S. sanctions package targeting Russia have briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation.

Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth some $50 billion over the past three years, underscoring the scale of the transformation into a "fortress Russia" economic model during the war in Ukraine,

EXCLUSIVE: People are exhausted, children wake up screaming, elderly neighbours spend nights in stairwells - and residents of Kyiv go to work, said Inna Sovsun.

Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine within his first 24 hours in office. His patience with Russia's Putin now appears to be wearing thin.

Italy said on Thursday that firms that have helped Russia fund its war on Ukraine by doing business with the country should be excluded from profiting from Ukraine's reconstruction. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said earlier that participants at a Rome conference on the economic recovery of Ukraine had pledged more than 10 billion euros ($11.

A soldier who defected from Russia's notorious mercenary army has slammed military leaders who left troops to "rot in the fields". The Wagner soldier, named as Yevgeny, has reportedly defected to Finland after fighting as part of Russia 's new assault forces in Ukraine.