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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday in an unannounced diplomatic mission. He landed in Poland on the way there.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has replaced Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu in a rare Kremlin shake-up that took place even as a Russian offensive in northeastern Ukraine is making gains. The Associated Press' Emma Burrows explains.

As Moscow pushes ahead with a ground offensive, a new war front opens in Northeast Ukraine.

Sergey Shoigu, a key figure in Putin's orbit, was defense minister for 12 years.

Thousands more civilians have fled Russia’s renewed ground offensive in Ukraine’s northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire. By Sunday afternoon, the town of Vovchansk, with a prewar population of 17,000, emerged as a focal point in the battle, with regional officials saying Russian forces were in the outskirts of the town and approaching from three directions. (AP video by Vasilisa Stepanenko/Producer: Volodymyr Yurchuk)

Speaking from his window overlooking St. Peter’s Square during the Regina Caeli prayer, the Pope assured all parties involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, “that the Holy See remains ready to facilitate every effort in this regard, especially for those who are seriously wounded and sick.”

STORY: :: WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT A Ukrainian missile struck a restaurant in the city of Donetsk killing three people, according to a Russian-installed local official on Saturday. It was one of three separate Ukrainian drone and artillery strikes that also hit the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk. The strikes killed five people in all and several more were wounded, according to officials from those regions. Donetsk, which fell under the control of Russian-backed separatists in 2014, regularly came under Ukrainian shelling after Moscow invaded the country in February of 2022. But the city had been more secure after Ukrainian troops were forced from its outskirts earlier this year. Both Belgorod and Kursk have come under regular attack since the war began. Separately, a Russian-installed official in Ukraine's Luhansk region said the death toll from a missile strike that caused a large fire at an oil depot had risen to four, with many more injured. :: File Russia's defense ministry said earlier on Saturday that it had intercepted a string of attempted Ukrainian strikes on its territory, saying forces had downed 21 rockets and 16 drones across Russia's border regions. Meanwhile, fierce fighting raged into a second day on the fringes of Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region on Saturday. Russia said it had captured five villages in the region, while Ukraine said it was repelling the attacks and battling for control of the settlements.

Kyiv rushes reinforcements to the Kharkiv region as fighting rages on.

STORY: :: Zelenskiy says Ukrainian forces were ready for Russia's attack on Kharkiv :: May 10, 2024 :: Kyiv, Ukraine “Russia started a new wave of offensive actions in this direction (Kharkiv region). Ukraine met them there with troops: brigades and artillery. It is important to understand that they can increase and bring more forces in this direction. It is a fact. But our military and military commanders were aware of it and assessed its forces in order to meet the enemy with artillery fire.” Russian forces launched an armored ground attack near Ukraine's second city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country and made limited gains, opening a new front in a war that has long been waged in the east and south. Ukraine sent in reinforcements as fighting raged in the border areas of the region, the defense ministry said, adding that Russian had pounded the border town of Vovchansk with guided aerial bombs and artillery. A senior Ukrainian military source who declined to be named said Russian forces had pushed 0.6 miles inside the Ukrainian border near Vovchansk. The source said Russia's forces were aiming to push the Ukrainian armed forces as far back as 6.2 miles inside Ukraine as part of an effort to create a buffer zone, but that Kyiv's troops were trying to hold them back. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Russian forces have launched a new push into the Kharkiv region in Northeastern Ukraine as the Biden administration announces a desperately needed $400 million aid package for Ukraine.

STORY: Zelenskiy spoke from a school basement in the northern Ukrainian village of Yahidne where nearly 400 residents were held under Russian occupation for 27 days in 2022. For Russia, May 9 is one of its most important national events - a remembrance of sacrifices made by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany. Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine sustained appalling loss of life in the war. Ukraine marks the anniversary on May 8. Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender came into force at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, which was on May 9 in Moscow. Russian missiles and drones struck nearly a dozen Ukrainian critical infrastructure facilities in a major airstrike early on Wednesday (May 8).

STORY: This hulking German-supplied howitzer rumbles out of its forest hideout. It only has a few minutes to fire before slipping back under cover, to evade Russian surveillance in the skies above. Ukrainian artillery units are playing a cat-and-mouse game to avoid Russian drones hunting high-value weapons like this self-propelled Panzerhaubitze 2000. Crews, including the 43rd Artillery Brigade Reuters recently visited, say they face increasing harassment from enemy drones, now a staple of Russia's arsenal. This battery commander, who goes by his call sign "Lyova" says his unit had been directly hit four times by Russian high-tech attack drones. "They use a lot more strike drones, like "Privet-82". They have different variations of "Lancet" drones which were upgraded. They have cumulative, high-explosive warheads. There were attacks before, but not the same amount. Now it's really scary." Western-supplied artillery, like the German howitzer, is a priority target for Moscow. It has pledged to focus its strikes on these types of weapons. Senior battery officer Andriy Stavnychyi. "The situation has become more difficult because they have a lot of electronically warfare equipment. They don't allow our "birds" to fly over their territory, thus it's harder to detect targets and hit them. The other reason are their kamikaze strike drones. They have an abundance of ZALA and Orlan drones. Sometimes it happens that there's lots of work for the day, but we can't move because something is always flying above. If these "birds" could be shot down or jammed, we'd then be more effective and could work more." Like other Ukrainian artillery units, the 43rd Brigade faces a critical shell shortage that limits the howitzer's potential - forcing it to fire far fewer shells per day. Ukrainian troops across the sprawling front are anxiously awaiting shipments from a long-delayed $61-billion U.S. military aid package. Repairing the vehicle is also a challenge. The availability of spare parts is limited and the navigation system frequently malfunctions and is difficult to fix on the battlefield. Stavnychyi, like many others, is calling for more electronic warfare systems to jam the Russian drones. "The main problem here is spare parts and shells. But even if there were parts and shells, you'd have the problem of enemy 'birds.' So everything needs to work together in a system: electronic warfare and surveillance, artillery. Then our hit percentage would be much higher. Here is what I think."

Russia's defence ministry on Friday invited foreign military attaches to an exhibition in Moscow of Western armoured vehicles captured in Ukraine. (3 May 2024)

An extraordinary new church is bringing spiritual comfort to war-weary residents of the Ukrainian village of Lypivka. The building, which was damaged in recent fighting, features vibrant works by famed 77-year-old artist Anatoliy Kryvolap. (AP video by Vasilisa Stepanenko and Alex Babenko)