Russia has opened a direct air route between Moscow and Pyogyang in a move reflecting closer ties between the two countries.

Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev slammed President Trump’s new deadline for a cease-fire in Ukraine as “a threat and a step towards war.”

Russia will launch direct passenger flights from Moscow to North Korea 's capital Pyongyang on Sunday, Russian authorities said, as the two former communist bloc allies move to improve ties following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

At least 22 Ukrainians have been killed and another 85 injured in Russian strikes across the country overnight, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to call for “very harsh, truly painful” sanctions on Russia.

President Trump’s threats have raised questions about how much leverage the United States has left with Moscow.

In the first seven months of 2025, Moscow exported 4 per cent less crude than it did in the comparable period of 2024, with an even sharper drop from the same timespan in 2023, ship-tracking by Bloomberg shows.

A sweeping cyberattack has forced hundreds of pharmacies across Russia—primarily in Moscow—to shut down, per reports. The breach comes just one day after a massive hack crippled Aeroflot, Russia's largest airline,

Russian airline Aeroflot cancelled dozens more flights on Tuesday but said it had now stabilised its schedule after a major cyberattack a day earlier.