Kim paid public tribute to North Korean soldiers killed in Russia’s war against Ukraine, part of an effort to cement the two countries’ strategic defense pact.

Russia has made incursions near two towns key to army supply routes in eastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian military official said on Wednesday, as Moscow seeks a breakthrough in a summer offensive at a time of uncertainty over U.

Moscow's forces made gains in the Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

An emboldened Russia has ramped up military offensives on two fronts in Ukraine, 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.