The Latest Breaking News from Moscow

It took Russia weeks of fierce fighting, an untold number of casualties, and relentless shelling before the exhausted Ukrainian defenders of Sievierodonetsk received orders to quit its smouldering wreckage.

Ukrainian forces are retreating from the eastern city after weeks of fierce fighting.

Al Jazeera speaks to geopolitical expert Agnia Grigas on the tensions between Russia and Lithuania.

Vladimir Putin’s military assault continues in face of near-unanimous international condemnation

Moscow's foreign ministry on Friday blamed the United States for a Lithuanian ban on sanctioned goods crossing from the Russian mainland to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which has increased already high tensions between Moscow and the West.

President Tokayev publicly refused to recognise separatist regions in Ukraine, enraging some Kremlin officials.

Targeting Western sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the world "must abandon Cold War mentality" and "bloc confrontation."

One of Vladimir Putin's close allies, reservist general MP Andrey Gurulyov, 54, who is also a member of Russianparliament’s defence committee, said Moscow won't target "Warsaw, Paris or Berlin" and launch missiles at London instead

EU leaders on Friday warned that "cheap energy is gone" and agreed to boost preparations for further cuts in Russian gas, accusing Moscow of "weaponising" energy via a supply squeeze which Germany warned could partly shut its industry.

EU leaders granted "candidate status" to Ukraine in its bid to join the bloc, as tensions deepened over Russian gas supplies and Moscow's forces closed in on key cities.

The European Union has agreed to make Ukraine a candidate for EU membership, setting in motion a very long process. Gaining membership could take years or even decades. Countries must meet a detailed host of economic and political conditions, including a commitment to the rule of law and other democratic…