Former Russian president and prime minister brushed off US officials’s warnings that Russia needs to begin peace deal talks to end the war in Ukraine

President Trump has shortened his deadline for Putin to end the war in Ukraine, now demanding action within 10-12 days and threatening severe tariffs. Medvedev responded sharply, calling Trump's ultimatum a dangerous escalation towards war,

Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, says the Kremlin supports diplomacy in resolving the war. At the same time, Moscow complained that Ukraine had allegedly rejected the possibility of dialogue. Peskov was asked how relations between Russia and Ukraine will be built after the war is over.

Ukrainian analysts have told Newsweek the move undoes a decade of democratic progress, although its president Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he backed a new draft law aimed at strengthening the independence the anti-corruption institutions. Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian president's office and the Kremlin for comment.

Russia pummeled Ukraine overnight, killing 10 and injuring as many as 61 civilians, in part of a ramped up aerial campaign to advance strongman Vladimir Putin’s war into the Eastern European country.

Nikolai Patrushev, a senior Kremlin official and former head of Russia's FSB security agency, warned of possible armed conflict.

Moscow has reportedly struck a deal with New Delhi to bring in up to one million Indian workers to help ease manpower problems as the war in Ukraine continues

The third round of negotiations in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia has concluded. The two sides agreed to conduct another major prisoner exchange and issued a series of statements. RBC-Ukraine summarizes the key outcomes of the third meeting.