Russian invasion forces claim to have seized two small cities in southeastern Ukraine and the area around a nuclear power plant, but ran into stiff resistance elsewhere as Moscow's diplomatic and economic isolation deepened.
Western allies have announced sweeping new sanctions against Moscow as a defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces were repelling Russian troops advancing on Kyiv.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has told senior European officials that China respects countries' sovereignty, including Ukraine's, but that Russia's concerns about NATO's eastward expansion should be properly addressed.
Russia has ignored global condemnation to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, unleashing air strikes on cities and military bases in an attack that could rewrite the post-Cold War security order.Â
Ukraine has declared a state of emergency and told its citizens in Russia to flee while Russia began evacuating its Kyiv embassy in the latest ominous signs for Ukrainians who fear an all-out Russian military onslaught.
The bombing of Darwin serves as a painful reminder of the cost of war as Australia "watches with alarm" at events in Ukraine, the Northern Territory's chief minister says.
An SAS soldier has testified Ben Roberts-Smith bragged that blowing the brains out of a trembling and unarmed Afghan man was "the most beautiful thing".
More Afghans are likely to flee their homes due to escalating violence, the UN refugee agency warns, as the Taliban take control of more territory in response to the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces.
