DESPERATE Vladimir Putin has strapped jet engines onto old Soviet-era bombs to strike deeper into Ukraine. The tyrant’s last-ditch move comes as the Kremlin battles to secure Pokrovsk

More than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Kyiv's foreign minister said on Friday.

North Korea and Russia are strategic allies. The East Asian nation supplied caches of weapons as well as some 15,000 troops, according to South Korean estimates, to aid the Russian war effort against Ukraine. The Koreans mainly fought in Kursk, successfully beating back a Ukrainian invasion of the Russian border region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ukrainian troops should surrender to save themselves in Pokrovsk, a transport and supply hub seen as a gateway to bigger nearby cities.

Ukraine accuses Russia of "systematic energy terror" as the global atomic energy watchdog warns Moscow's latest strikes jeopardize nuclear plants' safety.

The European Union on Friday made it harder for Russian citizens to enter Europe’s ID-check free travel area due to Russia's continued war on Ukraine, increasing acts of sabotage blamed on Moscow and the potential misuse of visas.

Russia bombarded Ukrainian cities with 705 missiles and drones overnight into Thursday, according to Ukraine’s air force.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has "ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of these young men into these seemingly mercenary activities," a government spokesman said. The statement did not say which side of the conflict the South Africans were fighting for.

While Russia remains tied down in a costly war, a German general has warned Moscow could still launch an attack on NATO territory at any time. On the battlefield, Ukraine is trying to hold a key city,