Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia had no plans to attack NATO or Europe but, if the West escalated the Ukraine war any further, then Moscow should respond and, if necessary,

Monthly price growth in Russia slowed significantly in June, the first meaningful sign that the central bank’s battle against inflation may be turning a corner after a protracted period of ultra-tight monetary policy.

Russian officials and commentators have shown little indication that Moscow is about to change course under new pressure.

Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more bodies of their war dead, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday, part of an agreement struck at the second round of peace talks in Istanbul in June.

Ukraine’s military commander in charge of the country’s drone warfare program urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv’s use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not “hard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.

"Putin's criminal war is getting closer to our borders," Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Republicans will vote on a Russia sanctions bill once Trump approves it, as pressure mounts on Moscow to negotiate peace in Ukraine.

A bipartisan bill in Congress would enable President Trump to slap "bone-crushing sanctions" on Russia, says Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

President Donald Trump is downplaying the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range weapons as Kyiv awaits an injection of U.S. weaponry that it hopes will help it beat back an intensifying Russian air offensive.

Georgia was the poster child of post-Soviet countries on their way to democracy and freedom. US lawmakers hope a bill will help combat democratic backsliding.