Putin oversaw a nuclear exercise on Wednesday involving Russia's full nuclear triad — land-based, sea-based, and airborne assets.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday dismissed the idea of halting the conflict at the current contact line. Moscow was only interested in "long-term, sustainable peace", Lavrov said, implying that freezing the front line would only amount to a temporary ceasefire.

Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio came to no agreement on a meeting during phone talks, casting a shadow over preparations for a planned summit between their presidents aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

The brutal aftermath of what Ukraine said was a Russian strike on Kharkiv that hit a kindergarten was laid bare in a video shared by Ukrainian emergency services, with crying children seen being carried away from the carnage. One small child yells out "mama, mama" as an emergency worker carries them away. Another clings to a toy.

President Vladimir Putin's investment envoy outlined a plan for U.S.-Russia tunnel connecting Alaska and Siberia through Bering Strait within eight years at $8 billion cost.

Ukraine's defense ministry said it continues to hit Russia's industries, "weakening the offensive potential of the aggressor state."

Athletes from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete as neutral athletes in qualification events for next year's Winter Olympics after FIS vote.

Slovakia, a holdout against supporting the European Union's 19th sanctions package against Russia, says it will back the measures if its demands are met during a summit of the bloc's leaders this week,