Hundreds of Russian attack drones and more than two dozen cruise missiles targeted Ukraine overnight, killing at least two people, Ukraine said.

Between January and June, the number of Russian drone and missile attacks exceeded 23,000, a roughly 605% increase compared to the same period last year.

Russian authorities have confiscated assets worth some $50 billion over the past three years, underscoring the scale of the transformation into a "fortress Russia" economic model during the war in Ukraine,

Ukrainian officials say Russia has fired more than 700 attack and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight. That tops previous nightly barrages for the third time in two weeks.

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.

Kyiv was the main target of an hourslong assault that killed at least two people, officials said. The barrage came hours before the top American and Russian diplomats met.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. and Russia have exchanged new ideas for Ukraine peace talks after he met with his Russian counterpart in Malaysia on Thursday.

Facing a numerically superior foe, Ukraine is under pressure to replenish its ranks on the battlefield where, after three years of war, recruitment is already a challenge.

An U.S. official says some weapons shipments to Ukraine have resumed, as the country's leader seeks more urgent support from his partners.