Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call on Thursday that Moscow wants a negotiated end to the Ukraine war but will not step back from its original goals, a Kremlin aide said.

Russia unleashed a massive drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, hours after US President Donald Trump expressed frustration at failing to make any progress toward ending Moscow’s war on Ukraine during a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Are Russia's most advanced fighter-bombers actually safe, even hundreds of miles from the combat zone? The recent Ukrainian drone attack on Marinovka airfield reopened controversy over Russia's much-touted Su-34 fleet vulnerability and the revamping balance of air power in Eastern Europe.

Ukrainian media outlets had earlier reported the major general's death in a HIMARS strike, citing pro-Russian military bloggers. Now, Russia's Ministry of Defense and the Governor of Primorye Oleg Kozhemyako have confirmed the loss of Gudkov.

The deputy chief of the Russian Navy has been killed by Ukraine in Russia’s Kursk region, Oleg Kozhemyako, the governor of the Primorsky region in Russia’s far east, said Thursday.

An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine. That is scattering Kyiv’s precious reserve troops and threatening to expand the fighting to a new Ukrainian region as each side seeks an advantage before the fighting season wanes in the autumn.