Russian civilian and military administrator Kirill Stremousov said the Russian ruble will be introduced in regions of Ukraine that are under Russian military control, specifically in the Kherson region.

“Beginning May 1, we will move to the ruble zone,” Stremousov said, as cited by Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

He noted there would be a four-month grace period during which both the ruble and Ukraine’s currency, the hryvnia, could be used. “Then we will completely switch to …

The CEO of the firm that own Azovstal Iron & Steel Works in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol says the facility had started preparing for a possible Russian invasion in 2014, Sky News reported.

In an interview with the British news agency, CEO of the Mariupol-based mining and metallurgy group Metinvest Holding, Yuriy Ryzhenkov, said “The situation there is, I would say, a humanitarian catastrophe.”

He noted that he wasn’t sure how many people were still at the plant, but that Azovstal has …

Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine happened because "Kyiv was pushed from the outside to a direct clash with Russia," said Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Council of the Federal Assembly. According to him, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prevented "a large-scale conflict in the territory of Russia."

According to Putin, Russia's opponents, who were allegedly preparing for war in Russia, "do not need such an independent, large, even huge, country."

"They believe that it presents a …

Advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration, a member of the delegation at the talks with Russia, Mykhailo Podolyak commented on the fires in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions of the Russian Federation.

“The Belgorod, Voronezh and Kursk regions are also beginning to learn such a concept as demilitarization. Disarmament. In these Russian regions, large fuel depots that supply fuel for Russian armored vehicles are periodically catching fire, and ammunition depots are …

Russia is stopping gas supplies to Poland through the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, reported the polish news website Onet, citing sources in the government and the Polish oil and gas company PGNiG.

Moscow did not provide the reasons for stopping the gas supplies, the newspaper writes. The Polish government has convened an emergency group.

On April 26, the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs imposed sanctions against the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which owns 48% of the shares of the Polish …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russian wants to avoid a nuclear war.

"This is our principled position. We proceed from it, and, of course, now, when the risks are very, very significant, I would not like these risks to be artificially inflated. But there are a lot of people who want this. The danger is serious, it is real, it cannot be underestimated," Lavrov said on the air of the program "The Big Game" on Russia 1 TV Channel.

Lavrov also said that he hopes that Western …

The German government is likely to allow the supply of Flakpanzer Gepard anti-aircraft self-propelled guns from its industrial reserves to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, repots Der Spiegel, citing its sources.

According to the newspaper, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht will announce this today at an Allied conference at the Ramstein air base in Germany.

Also, according to the source, she will announce that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be trained to operate Panzerhaubitze 2000 …

UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced Monday that Britain will send a “small number” of Stormer armored vehicles fitted with launchers for Starstreak anti-air missiles to Ukraine to bolster the country’s air defenses.

Wallace told the House of Commons the Stormers would offer improved "short-range anti-air capabilities both day and night".

The anti-aircraft missiles can be used to target fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.

He added the Starstreak missiles had already been deployed to …