The news that American basketball player Brittney Griner had arrived in the IK-2 penal colony in Mordovia, also known as the Russian "land of prisons," left locals rather unmoved.

The double Olympic gold medalist was handed nine years in prison in August for drug possession and trafficking over possessing vape cartridges with a small quantity of

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Saturday used his first visit to Kyiv to announce a major new air defense package, as the country celebrated retaking the southern city of Kherson.

Kyiv meanwhile said it was checking the authenticity of video footage Moscow says shows surrendering Russian soldiers being executed.

"I am here today to say that

The West's attempts to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, after a series of major military victories by Kyiv, are "bizarre" and amount to asking for its capitulation, a key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency told AFP.

"When you have the initiative on the battlefield, it's slightly bizarre to receive proposals like: 'you will not be able to

Russia Saturday blasted Warsaw's refusal to allow Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to attend a meeting next month of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe as "unprecedented and provocative".

"The decision from Poland, which is the acting chairman of the OSCE, to refuse the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei