Victory Day will be celebrated on Monday 9 May: for decades a hymn to peace, lately more a display of military power; this year millions and millions of people hope it will mark peace again

The Russian wrestling federation has declared that 10 of its wrestlers who were offered a place as neutrals at the Paris Olympics will refuse to compete

According to the New York Times, Moscow suffered significant losses in May in Ukraine due to waves of frontal attacks: figures from Western intelligence speak of one thousand dead and wounded per day

Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un signed an agreement in which they pledge to help each other in the event of aggression against either country, a pact cementing a rapidly expanding partnership that has worried a number of neighboring countries and the West

Russia and Ukraine said they released 75 people each in a prisoner exchange brokered by the United Arab Emirates: the first time prisoners have been exchanged between the two countries in the past four months