Russian Federation

Naval drones could be seen speeding towards hulking tankers followed by powerful explosions that caused fires on the vessels.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet with Ukrainian negotiators in Florida for talks on a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine, a senior US official says.

It come as Kyiv battles to persuade US officials to defend Ukraine's interests in peace agreement talks with Russia expected to take place in the coming days. 

Vladimir Putin suggests he is open to developing a new agreement, but says Russia will continue fighting if no deal is struck. 

In the nearly four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the talk of a possible peace deal has never been louder.

US President Donald Trump has been ratcheting up the pressure on Ukraine to agree on a proposal that Russia will consider. Norman Hermant reports.

It comes as a senior Kremlin official confirms Steve Witkoff is set to visit Moscow next week as efforts to find a consensus on ending the nearly four-year war between Russia and Ukraine pick up speed.

The latest Asia Power Index shows Australia slipping behind Russia for influence, while the region remains dominated by the US and China.

Donald Trump says he has instructed his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a "fine-tuned" peace plan for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warns his country's borders "cannot be changed by force", highlighting a key sticking point in negotiations with the US over a potential peace deal with Russia.

As European security threats grow, German soldiers carry out drills in metro stations to prepare for urban warfare.

The US and Ukraine say they have created an "updated and refined peace framework" to end the war with Russia, apparently modifying a Trump-backed plan Kyiv and its allies saw as too sympathetic to Moscow.

Ukraine and its European allies are scrambling to come up with counter-proposals after US President Donald Trump gave Kyiv a tight deadline to approve a deal to end the war that accepts some of Russia's hardline demands.

In a sombre address to Ukraine's citizens, the president vowed he would not betray Ukrainian interests in the US-led peace process. 

Britain's National Crime Agency says criminal cash has been funnelled through a bank in Kyrgyzstan, then on to Russia.

The White House says senior Trump administration officials have met Ukrainian officials in the past week to discuss the plan. 

European allies of Kyiv say "peace cannot be capitulation" as details of a new plan to end the Ukraine war emerge.

The Russian vessel had directed lasers at pilots of surveillance aircraft monitoring its activities.

A Russian drone and missile barrage has killed 25 people, including two children, in a western Ukrainian city, around 200 kilometres from the Polish border. 

Polish authorities say "everything indicates" Russian involvement in a blast along a railway line used to transport goods to Ukraine, as they identify two people believed to be responsible.

Simeon Boikov, the pro-Putin propagandist hiding from authorities in the Russian consulate in Sydney, launches an extraordinary attack on his hosts, saying they are subjecting him to "prison-like conditions" in a bid to "push me out".