The United States and its allies plan to ramp up criticism of Russia for its war in Ukraine and press other countries to join in their forceful condemnations of the conflict.

Also, five commanders who led the defense of a steel plant in Mariupol are traded for 55 Russians.

Anti-war groups say the limited airplane tickets out of Russia reached enormous prices due to high demand and swiftly became unavailable.

The first such call-up in Russia since World War II sent some Russians scrambling to buy plane tickets out of the country, and hundreds of people were arrested at anti-war demonstrations across the country.

The referendums would make redrawn frontiers ‘irreversible’ and enable Moscow to use ‘any means’ to defend them, according to former President Dmitry Medvedev and current deputy head of Russia’s Security Council.

A missile landed within 328 yards of the reactors at the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, renewing fears the nearly 7-month-long war in Ukraine might produce a radiation disaster.

Workers hauled body after body out of the sandy soil in a pine forest near Izium that police said contained 445 graves in an area recently recaptured from Russian forces.