President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Defense Minister Rustem Umerov would sit down with Russian officials at the second round of peace talks on Monday.

In Istanbul, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place, but it did not result in the expected breakthrough. The meeting lasted less than an hour, and neither side was able to reach an agreement on a ceasefire.

The recent direct talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul, Turkiye, had initially rekindled hopes for a ceasefire, leading to lasting peace after more than three years of conflict. But the latest developments, with various parties involved, show it is not the case.

After closing out its best month since 2023, Wall Street opened with losses on Monday as the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated over the weekend, contributing to broader market anxiety and a jump in oil prices.

Russia fired four glide bombs at the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local authorities have said, heavily damaging the government building and injuring two people. Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of the Kherson region,

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Pope Leo for offering to help settle the Ukraine conflict and told him Kyiv is intent on "escalating" the war, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. A Kremlin statement said they spoke by phone but did not give a date.

Russia’s security chief Sergei Shoigu discussed the Ukraine conflict with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on a visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday, both countries said. North Korea has become one of Russia’s main allies during Moscow’s more than three-year-long Ukraine offensive,

China urged all parties involved in the Russia-Ukraine war to cool down the conflict in response to Kyiv's stunning Operation Spiderweb against Russian airfields, which destroyed a number of Moscow's strategic nuclear bombers deep inside Russia.