President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine plans to boost domestic arms production to meet half its military's needs within six months.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia had no plans to attack NATO or Europe but, if the West escalated the Ukraine war any further, then Moscow should respond and, if necessary,

Republicans who previously have sounded off about U.S. aid to Ukraine sounded cautiously optimistic about the new plan to offer U.S. weapons to the war effort through a purchase by other NATO countries.

As President Donald Trump hardens his position toward Moscow and seeks new ways to bring the conflict to an end, he is leaving open the prospect of allowing shipments of longer-range missiles to the country that would allow it to strike deeper into Russia,

Ukraine's newly appointed Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said on Thursday that her government would be launching a full audit of public finances to achieve "real savings", and that large-scale privatisations should be accelerated.

Three days earlier, the war had spilled across the breadth of Russia as the Ukrainians smuggled a fleet of cheap drones across the border and used them to attack several military airfields, damaging or destroying Russian warplanes worth billions of dollars.

Ukraine seeks ironclad guarantees against future Russian aggression. These can come in two general forms: outside assurances, with the most conspicuous one being the Article V protections that come with NATO membership, or the “steel porcupine” strategy whereby Ukraine builds up its own robust domestic deterrent with assistance from Western states.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more bodies of their war dead, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday, part of an agreement struck at the second round of peace talks in Istanbul in June.