The United States and its allies sought to step up sanctions pressure on Russia over the deployment of troops in separatist regions of eastern Ukraine, in one of the worst security crises in Europe in decades reut.rs/3p6aUXy
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia was always open to diplomacy but put its own national security interests first and would continue to strengthen its military in the face of what he called a difficult international situation reut.rs/3LRsMPB
Ukraine's parliament approved sanctions against 351 Russians, including lawmakers who supported recognizing the independence of two separatist-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine and the deployment of Russian troops there reut.rs/3LSWO5q
Ukraine will introduce a nationwide state of emergency in which special restrictions will apply in order to keep the country calm and protect its economy amid fears of a Russian invasion, a senior Ukrainian security official said reut.rs/3seFaBy
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told representatives of the finance industry, regulators and trade associations he wanted the toughest possible next wave of sanctions against Russia, a government source tells Reuters reut.rs/35l7wke
BREAKING: U.S. to sanction the company building Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, source tells Reuters
A @Reuters source says the Biden administration plans to announce sanctions on Nord Stream 2 AG, the company in charge of building Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and would be part of U.S.-imposed penalties against Russia reut.rs/3vaNROY
Two separate convoys of military equipment with no identifiable insignia were moving toward the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine along different roads from the direction of the Russian border, a Reuters witness reported reut.rs/35kIiTo
The U.S. State Department said a Russian invasion of Ukraine remains potentially imminent, adding that Washington has not seen any indication of Russians backing away. Watch live: twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Moscow has approved an offensive and not replied to an invitation for talks reut.rs/3t2KS8z
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Russia said it had detained a citizen of Uzbekistan who had confessed to planting and detonating a bomb that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov in Moscow a day earlier on the instructions of Ukraine's security service 1/9 reut.rs/41Yg643
Kirillov, who was chief of Russia's Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, was killed outside his apartment building along with his assistant when a bomb hidden in an electric scooter went off 2/9reut.rs/3ZJSX2s
Ukraine's SBU intelligence service, which accused Kirillov of being responsible for the use of chemical weapons against Ukrainian troops, something Moscow denies, took responsibility for the killing 3/9
Firefighters in Malibu, California, are making some progress in containing a raging wildfire, but it continues to threaten several structures and force residents to flee 1/6
The Franklin Fire is burning in the steep, rugged terrain northwest of Los Angeles 2/6 reut.rs/4ffSWsO
No deaths or injuries from the wildfire have been reported. Officials say the cause remains unknown. Anthony Marrone, Los Angeles County Fire Chief gave an update ⬇️ 3/6
Syrians awakened to a hopeful if uncertain future, after rebels seized the capital Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family's brutal rule 1/10 reut.rs/4iojhYr
The lightning advance of a militia alliance spearheaded by Hayat al-Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, marked one of the biggest turning points for the Middle East in generation 2/10
Moscow gave asylum to Assad and his family, Russian media reported and Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, said on his Telegram channel 3/10
Russian presidential aircraft and funds were used in a program that took children from occupied Ukrainian territories, stripped them of Ukrainian identity and placed them with Russian families, according to a report by Yale's School of Public Health 1/6reut.rs/3CR1mcs
The US State Department-backed research identified 314 Ukrainian children taken to Russia in the early months of the war in Ukraine as part of what it says was a systematic, Kremlin-funded program to 'Russify' them 2/6
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his child rights' commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged war crime of deportation of Ukrainian children 3/6reut.rs/3B1oKUi
World leaders rushed to congratulate Republican Donald Trump after he claimed victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the US presidential election, which would cap a stunning political comeback four years after he left the White House reut.rs/3NY78vo
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy: 'I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the “peace through strength” approach in global affairs. This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer' reut.rs/3UHeXcp
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: 'Congratulations on history's greatest comeback! Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America' reut.rs/4fhyxEs
The US Justice Department has opened 12 investigations into possible civil rights abuses by police departments since Democratic President Joe Biden took office, but has not secured even one binding settlement to implement reforms in any of them 1/9 reut.rs/40mKyni
After winning office following a wave of mass protests in 2020 over police killings of Black people, the Biden administration highlighted 'pattern or practice' investigations of alleged systematic civil rights violations by state or local police as critical to police reform 2/9
Attorney General Merrick Garland got off to a swift start, in April 2021 launching investigations into the Minneapolis and Louisville police departments, which became the focus of widespread protests after white police officers killed George Floyd and Breonna Taylor 3/9