War

Washington denounced Xi's visit, which comes just days after an international court accused Putin of war crimes.

Analysis - As Iraq's neighbours, Iran and Saudi Arabia, pledge to restore diplomatic ties, the time might be right for New Zealand to take another look at the region, Geoffrey Miller writes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has paid a surprise visit to Mariupol, a Ukrainian port captured by Russia after its forces pounded much of it to ruins.

Warfare around Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant has prompted warnings of possible disaster - but workers say the scenes inside are just as alarming.

Analysis - The extraordinary footage of a Russian jet intercepting a US drone over the Black Sea earlier this week demonstrates just how potentially disastrous such encounters outside actual war zones…

China's President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow next week to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials say.

Russia is operating more icebreakers along its Arctic coast now than at any time in the country's three-decade, post-Soviet history.

Ukraine's military says it has managed to push back intense Russian attacks on the city of Bakhmut, despite a Russian claim of control over its eastern half.

Opinion - New Zealand's new triumvirate of ministers with responsibility for foreign affairs and defence seem to hint the country will join Indo-Pacific countries in rearming, Geoffrey Miller writes.

Thousands of Russian troops have died trying to take Bakhmut, which had a pre-war population of around 75,000. About 4000 remain.

It would be an absolute "red line" if China provided weapons to Russia, a senior European Union official said.

Vladimir Putin said Russia had been hit by what he called a terrorist attack in its southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine.