Russia has continued to make billions from fossil fuel exports to the West, data shows, helping to finance its full-scale invasion of Ukraine – now in its fourth year.

The United States and Russia quarrelled in public on Wednesday over the intensifying Ukraine war after U.S. President Donald Trump warned that President Vladimir Putin was "playing with fire" and Moscow massed 50,

President Aleksandar Vučić, who has refused to join western sanctions against Russia for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, last year told the Financial Times that Serbian arms and ammunition were ending up on the Ukrainian side via intermediaries he claimed to have no control over.

A Ukraine presidential advisor says Ukraine is ready to resume direct peace talks with Russia in Istanbul on Monday but insists that the Kremlin provide a promised memorandum setting out its position on ending the war.

The Kremlin expects Russia and Ukraine to discuss the list of conditions for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine next week in Istanbul, its spokesman said on Friday, praising the U.S. role in mediating the talks.

While world leaders bicker over the prospects for peace, the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two is heating up fast.

Germany and Ukraine strike a deal to jointly develop weapons with "no range restrictions," as the Kremlin says Trump's jabs at Putin are due to him "not being informed."

Franklin Graham reflected on a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying he prayed for peace in Ukraine and believes “only God can solve" the conflict with Russia.

Germany has given Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia using long-range weapons supplied by Berlin, in a decision that signals a notable hardening of Western resolve as the war grinds on.

Ukraine's rocky relationship with Hungary reached new lows this month with the uncovering of an alleged spy ring run from Budapest. Arrests, tit-for-tat expulsions, and a stream of accusations from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban soon followed in a diplomatic scandal with potentially massive ramifications for both countries.