A corruption scandal engulfing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is casting an ominous shadow over plans by European nations to send Ukraine a big influx of money and over Kyiv’s bid to join the European Union.

Moscow’s attacks on gas supplies, the main source of warmth for most Ukrainian households, could plunge millions into the cold.

Thousands of miles from the frontlines in Ukraine, where the Kremlin's war machine is steadily grinding forward, Russian forces face a potentially catastrophic situation in the West African nation of Mali as Al-Qaeda-loyal militants close in on the capital.

Kyiv has ramped up its drone attacks deep inside Russia, aiming to knock out oil refineries, depots and pipelines and cripple Moscow's biggest source of funding for its war in Ukraine. Two industry sources told Reuters Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk halted oil exports on Friday after a Ukrainian drone attack.

A strike that killed six was the latest in a series of aerial assaults, many of which have targeted the power grid in an effort to deprive Ukrainians of energy as winter looms.

A Ukrainian commander says the Russian army has overrun three settlements in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region

Nadia Pishko's childhood was about survival. Growing up in Lviv, Ukraine she experienced mass starvation in the 1930's. And during World War II, she and her family fled the country as the Germans and Russians closed in.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said at the start of a meeting on Ukraine and defense cooperation that Kyiv needs to overcome what will be a “very difficult, very tough winter.”

Ukraine’s top military commander says he has visited troops holding the front line in the key eastern city of Pokrovsk, which is besieged by a bigger Russian force, to coordinate operations in person.

The Belgian government fears financial fallout and Russian retaliation from EU plan to fund Kyiv using Moscow’s money held in Belgium.