Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is awaiting White House approval for a major drone production agreement proposed by Kyiv last year. Speaking on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the deal would cover various types of drones and air defenses to protect against swarms of Iranian-designed Shahed drones. Countries are scrambling to modernize their air defenses after the Iran war exposed shortcomings. Russia has fired tens of thousands of Shaheds at Ukraine since it invaded its neighbor just over four years ago. Iran has responded to joint U.S.-Israeli strikes by firing the same type of drones at targets in the Middle East.

Russia and Ukraine have made competing claims about who is gaining ground, as Russian strikes keep hitting Ukrainian cities and U.S.-backed talks in Turkey were postponed. A Ukrainian general said Kyiv's forces push Russians back in parts of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Another Ukrainian officer tells the AP that troops have advanced more than 6 miles, while Russia's leader said his army expanded gains in the Donbas. There was no independent verification of either side's claims. Meanwhile, Russian glide bombs hit Sloviansk and killed four people and drone attacks wounded more civilians, a Ukrainian official said Tuesday.

Russia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region. That's according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter. The officials, who were not authorized to comment publicly on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the U.S. intelligence has not uncovered that Russia is directing Iran what to do with the information. Still, it's the first indication that Moscow has sought to get involved in the war that the U.S. and Israel launched on Iran a week ago.

Russia has condemned U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and urged an immediate stop to the campaign and a return to diplomacy. In a Telegram post on Saturday, Russia's Foreign Ministry called the strikes preplanned and unprovoked aggression against a U.N. member state. It said the United States and Israel used Iran's nuclear program as a cover. It claimed they are really seeking regime change. Russia warned the attacks could spark humanitarian and economic disaster. It also warned of a possible radiological catastrophe, saying strikes on safeguarded nuclear sites are unacceptable. It said Moscow is ready to help broker peace.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a Ukrainian delegation is set to meet on Thursday with U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys ahead of another round of trilateral talks with Russia. Zelenskyy told reporters on Wednesday that Ukraine's negotiator Rustem Umerov will hold talks with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Geneva. A round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran is expected to be held on the same day in the Swiss city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that Russia has not "broken Ukrainians" nor triumphed in its war. He spoke Tuesday four years after an invasion that has severely tested the resolve of Kyiv and its allies and fueled European fears about the scale of Moscow's ambitions. In a show of support, more than a dozen senior European officials headed to the Ukrainian capital to mark the grim anniversary. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, upended life for millions of Ukrainians, and created instability far beyond its borders. Zelenskyy said his country has withstood the onslaught by Russia's bigger and better equipped army. He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "not achieved his goals."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago launched Europe's biggest conflict since World War II. It has caused immense suffering for civilians and harrowing ordeals for soldiers while rewriting the post-Cold War security order. The fighting enters its fifth year on Tuesday. A U.S.-based think tank says that as many as 1.8 million soldiers may have been killed, injured or missing on both sides. Another think tank says Russia controls nearly 20% of Ukrainian land. The U.N. says at least 14,999 civilians have been killed in Ukraine.

The latest U.S.-brokered talks between envoys from Moscow and Kyiv over Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine have ended with no sign of a breakthrough. Both sides said Wednesday the talks were "difficult," as the war's fourth anniversary approaches next week. The negotiations in Switzerland were the third round of direct talks organized by the U.S., after meetings earlier this year in Abu Dhabi that officials described as constructive but which also made no major headway. Expectations for significant progress in Geneva were low. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of "trying to drag out negotiations" while it presses on with its invasion.

The former Ukrainian army general widely seen as the top political rival to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken publicly for the first time about a deep rift between the two men. The comments made by Valerii Zaluzhnyi to The Associated Press signal his possible desire to run for the presidency after the war is over. Zelenskyy ousted Zaluzhnyi as head of the army in 2024 and later appointed him ambassador to Britain. Zaluzhnyi told AP that their strained relationship reached a boiling point in 2022, when domestic intelligence agents raided his office. Ukraine's security service said no search was ever carried out at Zaluzhnyi's office, though it acknowledged that the address was part of an investigation unrelated to him. The AP could not confirm Zaluzhnyi's account of the raid.