Vladimir Putin praised North Korean troops fighting in Ukraine as “heroic” in a letter to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported Friday.

Ukrainian forces struck an oil refinery in Russia's Samara Oblast and other Russian targets in attacks overnight on Aug. 15, Ukraine's General Staff said. The refinery is located in Syzran, the third largest city in Samara Oblast. Syzran lies about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Ukraine's border with Russia.

Belarus and Russia are scheduled to conduct a joint four-day military exercise in September, a move that has put NATO and Ukrainian officials on high alert.

Russian forces have floundered in Ukraine and history shows Russia's army can be beaten in combat, Poland's president told a military parade on Friday marking the 105th anniversary of a victory over the Red Army by Polish defenders.

Authorities say Russian missiles have hit a Ukrainian army training ground and killed three soldiers as Ukraine struggles to make up a severe manpower shortage in the three-year war

Military production and defense spending are propping up Russia's economy and may shape its future long after the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday that it had pushed Russian forces back by about 2 kilometres (1.2 miles) on part of the Sumy front in northern Ukraine.

The comments by Viktor Khrenin come just two days before U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet in Alaska to discuss a possible deal to end the full-scale war in Ukraine,

A Fort Bliss soldier was already under criminal investigation when he called a Russian Embassy to share the weaknesses of the U.S. Army’s tanks.

Russia is preparing to test its new nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered cruise missile and if successful, plans to use the results to bolster its negotiating position with the West, Ukrainian military intelligence said on Friday.