(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had discussed improved air defences and intensified sanctions against Russia with two U.S. lawmakers who are backing a bill to impose tougher punitive measures against Moscow.

One of Russia’s most powerful men, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is set to visit North Korea this weekend, in a sign of deepening relations between Moscow and Pyongyang as North Korea gets pulled deeper into Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is on a visit to North Korea, said Moscow respects and understands why Pyongyang is developing its nuclear program.

Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said.

Trump’s decision to help Ukraine fight an onslaught of Russian attacks reverses a Pentagon decision to withhold defensive weapons.

Russia’s war is also criminal, under the very rules of warfare America helped enshrine in 1945. 7 Scenes of vast destruction in Kyiv, where a warehouse was one of the many targets hit during one ...

During a rare news conference on Friday, the head of the French military, Thierry Burkhard, said Russia remains a “lasting, close” threat.

Britain must prepare for war with Russia within five years by building bunkers and investing in air defences, the former Army head has warned. Gen Sir Patrick Sanders, who stood down as Chief of the General Staff last summer, said the UK needed to accept that war with Putin by 2030 was a “ realistic possibility ”.