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Ukraine's army chief said on Saturday the situation on the eastern front had deteriorated in recent days with Russia intensifying its armoured assaults and battles raging for control of a village west of the devastated city of Bakhmut. The statement by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi more than two years since Russia's invasion evoked the increasingly grim mood in Kyiv as vital U.S. military aid that Kyiv expected to receive months ago remains stuck in Congress. Syrskyi said he travelled to the embattled area to stabilise the front as Russian assault groups using tanks and armoured personnel carriers took advantage of a period of dry, warm weather that was making it easier for them to manoeuvre.

eastern front has deteriorated significantly in recent days" in the face of a heightened Russian offensive, Ukraine's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday. Syrsky, who took over as commander-in-chief in February after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired his popular predecessor, Valery Zaluzhny, said Russians also had superior weapons. He spoke of «a significant intensification of the enemy's offensive after the presidential elections in Russia,» in the middle of March and added that decisions were being taken «to strengthen the most problematic defence areas with electronic warfare and air defence».

Ukraine, China is helping Russia ramp up its defence industrial base at such a large scale that Moscow is now undertaking its most ambitious expansion in military manufacturing since the Soviet era, CNN reported, citing senior Biden administration officials. One of the official claimed that the Chinese and Russian entitles have also been working jointly to produce drones inside of Russia. The support from China is having a significant impact on Russia's ability to continue its assault on Ukraine, while Ukraine's military has been plagued with equipment and weapon shortages. The challenge for Ukraine is exacerbated by Republicans in the US Congress continuing to block a vote on a new American military aid package to Kyiv.

China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90 per cent of Russia's microelectronics came from China, which Russia has used to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70 per cent of Russia's approximately USD 900 million in machine tool imports in the last quarter of 2023 came from China.

Hungary’s government will add new restrictions on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to protect Hungarian farmers from market fluctuations caused by cheaper Ukrainian imports

Russia launched a major missile-and-drone assault on Ukrainian power stations, part of a new campaign to exploit delays in Western aid for Kyiv to press Moscow’s growing advantage in the third year of war. The overnight strikes hit several regions across the country, destroying a power plant in the Kyiv region and inflicting fresh damage on others that had been struck in earlier attacks. Tens of thousands of homes were left without power, according to Ukrainian officials.

terrorism in South Asia. The meeting was significant in the backdrop of the recent terror attack in Russia that was carried out by extremists with Central Asian origins who may have been influenced by Pakistan-based seminaries. During the meeting that took place in Astana, both sides exchanged views on the terrorist threats in their respective regions, including State-sponsored, cross-border terrorism in South Asia, besides terror activities in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.

Retired U.S. Army Col. Joe Buccino discusses where ISIS might strike next after the Moscow concert hall terror attack on 'Varney & Co.'

Reuters as saying that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Beijing could be seen as preparation for "upcoming contacts at the highest level." ALSO READ: China Providing Geospatial Intelligence to Russia, US Warns "Indeed, such contacts are planned and there is an understanding of their expediency and necessity, given the high level of friendly relations between the Russian Federation and China," Peskov told reporters. ALSO READ: Yellen Threatens Sanctions for China Banks That Aid Russia War "But we still consider it premature to specify any time frames.

Russia and China have pledged to deepen their growing alliance and shared opposition to what they describe as the U.S.’s attempts to dominate the world order, with Moscow again seeking to boost trade with Beijing as it looks for new ways to bypass the Western sanctions imposed for its war on Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday after the U.S.

Russia to withdraw its military and civilian personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and return its full control to Ukraine. In a regular US State Department briefing on Monday (local time), spokesperson Matthew Miller said that the US is aware of the reports of a 'drone attack' on the power plant, and is monitoring the conditions there.

The Russian government’s crypto working group chairman believes Bitcoin (BTC) mining regulation is now a priority for Moscow.

Russia's Ural mountains on Sunday after Europe's third-longest river burst through a dam, flooding at least 10,000 homes and forcing thousands of people to flee with just their pets and a few belongings. Some of the worst floods in decades have hit a string of Russian regions in the Ural Mountains and Siberia, alongside parts of neighbouring Kazakhstan in recent days. The Ural River, which rises in the Ural Mountains and flows into the Caspian Sea, swelled several metres in just hours on Friday due to melt water, bursting through a dam embankment in the city of Orsk, 1,800 km (1,100 miles) east of Moscow.

Russian fintech firms have begun joining the country’s digital ruble pilot, as the Central Bank looks to widen the scope of its CBDC project.

Russia is renewing its strikes on Ukraine's energy system

Ukraine fired dozens of drones at Russia's southern Rostov region, home to its army headquarters for the military offensive, in the early hours of Friday, Russian officials said. Russia's defence ministry said it downed 53 Ukrainian drones overnight — 44 over the Rostov region — while the governor said a power station was damaged in the attack. Rostov-on-Don, the capital of the region that sits just across the border from Ukraine, is the command headquarters for Russia's military campaign and home to a swathe of Russian military sites.

When President John F. Kennedy met his French counterpart during the Berlin crisis of 1961, he found himself having to offer reassurances. With Moscow demanding that NATO withdraw its forces from the divided city, President Charles de Gaulle cast doubt on America’s determination to protect Europe.

Finland says it will extend the closure of its border crossing points with Russia beyond the current April 14 deadline “until further notice” due to a high risk of organized migration orchestrated by Moscow

SIBUR, Russia’s largest producer of plastics and rubbers, is collaborating with Indian businesses to process plastic waste. At the end of last year, EcoPartners, co-founded by the Indian entrepreneur Gaurav Sood, opened the largest plant in Russia for recycling plastic packaging waste. The plant has been gradually ramping up to its full capacity of 40 thousand tons per year. Called Total Cycle, the plantis located in the Tver region, which is between Moscow and St Petersburg – two major Russian cities that produce a large volume of waste. Total Cycle processes plastic packaging waste into secondary raw materials, including PET flakes.

United States and its Western allies are feuding with Russia over its diamond production, but they joined forces Wednesday to keep supporting the Kimberley Process, which aims to eliminate the trade in "blood diamonds" that helped fuel devastating conflicts in Africa. At a U.N. General Assembly meeting, its 193 member nations adopted a resolution by consensus recognizing that the Kimberley Process, which certifies rough diamond exports, «contributes to the prevention of conflicts fueled by diamonds» and helps the Security Council implement sanctions on the trade in conflict diamonds.

Anna Morris and PDO Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Eric Van Nostrand are travelling to New Delhi and Mumbai from April 2-5 to meet with government and private sector counterparts, the Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday. «They will discuss key bilateral issues, including cooperation on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism, other illicit finance issues, and continued implementation of the price cap, which seeks to further limit the profits Russia receives to fund its illegal invasion while promoting stable global energy markets,» it said. Following Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the G7 nations, the European Union, and Australia jointly implemented a price cap. This cap prohibits the utilisation of Western maritime services, including insurance, flagging, and transportation, for tankers transporting Russian oil priced at or above USD 60 per barrel.