Voting on the last day of Russia's presidential election has been marked in part by protesters opposed to Vladimir Putin turning out at voting sites at noon.
Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin is listed as a passenger on a private jet which has crashed north of Moscow with no survivors, raising fears among his allies that he has been killed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to crush what he called an armed mutiny by mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, warning those who have taken up arms against the Russian military will face "inevitable punishment".
Outspoken Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza has been jailed for a quarter of a century by a Moscow court, the harshest sentence of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine, after it found him guilty of treason and other offences he denied.
The Australian government says Dutch prosecutors have provided conclusive evidence of Russia 's involvement in the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight 17.
Ukraine has dismissed as a trick a unilateral order by Russia for a 36-hour ceasefire, as US and German leaders say they are sending armoured fighting vehicles in a boost for the Kyiv government.
Ukraine says Russia had destroyed homes in the south and knocked out power in the north in a new round of missile attacks as Russian President Vladimir Putin drove across a bridge to Crimea that was damaged by an attack in October.
Russia has rained cruise missiles on busy Ukrainian cities in what the United States called "horrific strikes," killing civilians and knocking out power and heat with its most widespread air attacks since the start of the war.
Russia has struck cities across Ukraine during rush hour, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure in apparent revenge after President Vladimir Putin declared an explosion on the bridge to Crimea to be a terrorist attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of orchestrating the powerful blast that damaged a bridge linking Russia and Crimea, describing the explosion as an "act of terrorism".
Russia has paved the way for the formal annexation of swathes of Ukrainian territory, backing referendum plans in areas of Ukraine its soldiers control in a move that could sharply escalate the conflict.
As Russian missiles struck a key Ukrainian city, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expanded a fast-track procedure for obtaining Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians, another effort to strengthen Moscow's influence over war-torn Ukraine.
Ukraine claims to have recaptured a large chunk of territory in the devastated eastern city of Sievierodonetsk and foiled an attempted advance by Russian troops on the 100th day of Moscow's invasion.
