Russia on Sunday claimed its troops had captured a strategically important town in eastern Ukraine, as part of a grinding campaign to weaken Kyiv’s grip on the country’s industrial heartland.

With Russia wearing down Ukraine’s stretched forces and U.S. President Donald Trump pressuring the two sides to end their nearly 3-year-old war, Kyiv and some of its European allies are discussing how that might be achieved in a way that would guarantee Ukraine’s future security.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claims that Russian troops have fought their way into the center of a strategically important eastern Ukraine town and raised the Russian flag there after a monthslong battle

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in remarks published on Friday that he saw no objective signs that Ukraine or the West were ready for peace talks despite all their increasingly loud statements about the need for such talks.

Videos showed fireballs over a facility in Ryazan, 110 miles southeast of Moscow. Kyiv is seeking to disrupt Russian military logistics and put pressure on the country’s economy by striking its oil industry.

President Donald Trump suggested in an interview that aired Thursday night that Ukraine should not have fought when Russia invaded it.

Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has been a splitting point between Trump and the more hawkish Republican Senate conference. Last year, Trump blew up a deal to swap additional provisions for border security in exchange for aid to Israel and Ukraine. Aid to Ukraine ultimately passed without additional border security spending.

Budanov said North Korea has sent 120 self-propelled howitzers and 120 MLRS to Russia, and is likely to send the same number again.

Since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russia’s economy has surpassed expectations. But some experts say this image of resilience is a mirage crafted by the Kremlin.

As Eisenhower once said of how conflicts end, 'sometimes it just gets down to the dirty job of killing until one side or the other cracks.'

Europe’s longest-serving leader won re-election in a contest widely believe to have been rigged. The result cements the power of a leader whose country is considered Russia’s staunchest ally.