Western sanctions have driven Russia and its close ally Belarus "mighty close" to default, the World Bank warned Thursday. 

Sweeping sanctions imposed on the two countries over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine have left their economies in “square default territory,” the development organization's chief economist Carmen Reinhart told Reuters. 

“They're n

Russian forces on Thursday rolled their armored vehicles up to the northeastern edge of Kyiv, edging closer in their attempts to encircle the Ukrainian capital.

An AFP team saw plumes of smoke rise over the village of Skybyn, just a few hundred meters past the last checkpoint marking Kyiv's northeastern city limits.

Ukrainian soldiers described a

Russia on Thursday accused the United States of funding research into the development of biological weapons in Ukraine, as Moscow stepped up its campaign to gain control of key Ukrainian cities.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a televised briefing that "the purpose of this — and other Pentagon-funded biological research i