Merkel, Macron, Putin discuss Sputnik V vaccine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has promoted his close accomplice, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, to colonel general. Who is Putin's self-avowed 'foot soldier'?

The papers are analysing how Saturday’s bombing of a bridge in Crimea is both a strategic and symbolic “slap in the face” for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow has repeatedly made threats that the war in Ukraine could escalate to a nuclear conflict. But is the Russian president really prepared to deploy nuclear weapons?

In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24 following Russia’s recent missile attacks on Ukraine, Lithuania’s Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said the reason civilians are being targeted is because Russia is “losing on the battleground”, and want to “create panic and exert pressure on Ukrainian society - and us”.

The Turkish president said his government would quickly start working on plans for the project — despite facing criticism from fellow NATO members over his relations with Russia amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

A wave of missile attacks the likes of which had not been seen in months: Russian missiles rained down on cities across Ukraine this week, including in Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, and many others. The attacks follow the explosions on the Kerch bridge that links Russia to the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula.

Putin, army preparing Russian public for Kherson withdrawal: Analyst

Ukrainian member of parliament Maria Mezentseva is part of a working group, created by President Volodymyr Zelensky, tasked with campaigning for a special international tribunal to prosecute the crime of "aggression" in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She joins FRANCE 24 from Kharkiv, the Ukraine’s second largest city.

The popular Russian media figure, who has often been critical of President Vladimir Putin, flew to Lithuania a day after police searched her home.

As Ukraine presses its counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces in the south, Moscow’s doing some nuclear muscle flexing, conducting military exercises simulating response to a nuclear attack and accusing Kiev of planning to launch one.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said civilians should be evacuated from the region of Kherson. Meanwhile, the G7 agreed on the need for a mechanism to help Ukraine repair its critical infrastructure. DW has the latest.

Setting up a special international tribunal to try Russia's aggression against Ukraine would be an important signal, Claus Kress of the University of Cologne told DW — even if there were no convictions.