Experts say that Russian and Chinese support for Venezuela has largely dried up, with no prospect of real military or financial aid.

Russia is pushing to take over all of eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, where one resident tells NPR that she feels her "life depends on how our guys at the front hold on."

The U.N. passed the resolution on Thursday, with few countries—such as Russian ally Belarus, China and North Korea —voting against it. A representative of the U.S. delegation said its vote was not related to its stance on Ukraine or nuclear safety, but to the resolution's references to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

At least three oil tankers have been hit by explosions in what appears to be a stepped up unilateral effort by Ukraine to sink Russia's sanctions-dodging oil sales.

Russia attacked two Ukrainian ports on Friday, damaging three Turkish-owned vessels including a ship carrying food supplies, Ukrainian officials and one ship owner said, days after Moscow threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea".

Ivan Urgant was an unstoppable Russian megastar. Then he expressed opposition to President Vladimir V. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus had previously faced Western sanctions for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine