Lavrov ‘ready’ to meet US officials after reports of rift with Putin - Comes as Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles targeting energy infrastructure and killing at least seven people in Ukr

Thousands of miles from the frontlines in Ukraine, where the Kremlin's war machine is steadily grinding forward, Russian forces face a potentially catastrophic situation in the West African nation of Mali as Al-Qaeda-loyal militants close in on the capital.

The Kremlin is focusing its fire on Pokrovsk, a gateway to the Donetsk region, which Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, has long coveted.

Kremlin hits out at long-running reports of rift between Putin and Lavrov - Top diplomat insists peace cannot be achieved without ‘taking Russian interests into account’

The US has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies as it called on Moscow to agree to an immediate ceasefire in its war with Ukraine.