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STORY: Ukrainian prosecutors say they've arrested the head of the country's Supreme Court over an alleged bribery case, a day after releasing these photos that appear to show stacks of American hundred-dollar bills lined up on a couch, found during an investigation involving its justices. This was the National Anti-corruption Bureau press conference on Tuesday. Its director did not name the person arrested, only that it was the head of the court and that they were suspected of taking a bribe worth $2.7 million and the highest profile discovery in the agency's history. The current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is Vsevolod Kniaziev, who could not immediately be reached for comment, although the Supreme Court says it's fully cooperating with the investigation and has initiated a process for expressing no confidence in Kniaziev. On Monday the anti-corruption bureau said it was investigating what it called "large-scale corruption" at the court. The bribe is said to have been payment for ruling in favor of the Finance and Credit financial group, and that it might be part of a broader plot to pressure the court. The financial group's owner, a prominent businessman Konstiantyn Zhevago, has denied wrongdoing. Ukraine has historically had issues with corruption and has redoubled efforts to clamp down on it despite the war with Russia. Anti-corruption efforts are also central to its bid to join the European Union.

STORY: Ukraine's military says it destroyed six Russian hypersonic missiles over the skies of Kyiv overnight, out of a volley of 18 aimed at the country. And, if confirmed it could mark a major demonstration of the effectiveness of its newly deployed Western air defenses against what Russia has previously described as an unstoppable superweapon: called the Kinzhal missile, or Russian for "dagger." But what is the Kinzhal missile? What makes it supposedly so potent, and what would their purported interception suggest? These photos are said to show the aftermath of the wreckage falling below. Three people were reportedly injured. The Kinzhal is said to be able to travel at 10 times the speed of sound, hence the label hypersonic. Russia's defense ministry says a Kinzhal destroyed a Patriot air defense system in the overnight volley, an American model recently deployed by Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has frequently described the Kinzhal as proof of "next generation" weapons that can take on NATO, with a range of 2,000 miles and the ability to carry a nuclear or conventional warhead. They were first unveiled to public in 2018. This footage from Russia's defense ministry shows them launching from a fighter aircraft. Russia says it used them for the first time in Ukraine last year and has only acknowledged their use on a few occasions. Earlier this month Ukraine claimed it shot one down over the capital for the first time, using one of those Patriot air defense systems. Previously the ability for Patriots to intercept Kinzhals was only theoretical. Hitting six at once would suggest it could be a reliable defense, rather than just a lucky shot. The Kinzhal is not Russia's only hypersonic weapon. It also possesses a hypersonic cruise missile called the Zircon, which can be deployed by naval ships.

STORY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy won fresh pledges for new long-range drones when he met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday (May 15). That's as Ukraine hails its first substantial battlefield advances for six months. The promise of weapons adds to a haul of Western arms for a counteroffensive against Russian invaders. Since last week, the Ukrainian military has started to push Russian forces back in and around the small eastern city of Bakhmut – its first significant offensive operations since its troops recaptured Kherson in the south in November. The battle for Bakhmut has become the longest and bloodiest of the war and has symbolic significance for Russia. Over the past half of a year, Kyiv has held its troops on the defensive while Moscow mounted its campaign, sending hundreds of thousands of fresh reservists and mercenaries into Europe's bloodiest ground combat since World War Two. Kyiv is now preparing a counteroffensive using hundreds of new tanks and armored vehicles sent by Western countries since the start of this year. Their aim is to recapture the sixth of Ukraine's territory that Moscow claims to have annexed. Russia said it did not believe the added British hardware would change the course of the conflict. Zelenskiy's trip to Britain was the latest stop on a tour that saw him visit Rome, Berlin and Paris, pocketing major weapons pledges along the way.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday following stops in France, Germany and Italy. Kyiv has asked for more military support ahead of an expected offensive against Russia. Photo: Carl Court/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Ukrainian troops pushed forward in what could be the start of a counteroffensive as Russians fought back with a drone attack.

STORY: Klyntsy is about 25 miles (40 km) from the border in the Bryansk region, where Kommersant said the incident took place. Kommersant said on its website that the Su-34 fighter-bomber, Su-35 fighter and two Mi-8 helicopters had made up a raiding party, and had been "shot down almost simultaneously" in an ambush in Bryansk, adjoining north Ukraine. Kommersant provided no evidence for its report that four aircraft had been downed, but the same assertion was also made by several heavily followed pro-war military bloggers. The Russian state news agency TASS said a Russian Su-34 warplane had crashed in that region but did not specify a cause. It also cited an emergency services official as saying an engine fire in a helicopter had caused it to crash near Klyntsy, but made no mention of any Su-35, or a second helicopter. The Moscow Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

STORY: The pope gifted Zelenskiy with a bronze sculpture symbolizing peace while the Ukrainian president offered the pontiff a bulletproof vest that had been used by a Ukrainian soldier and later painted with an image of the Madonna. At the start of the war, the pope tried to take a balanced approach in hopes of being a mediator but later began forcefully condemning Russia's actions, comparing them to some of the worst crimes against Ukraine during the Soviet era. Francis has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.

STORY: On Twitter, Zelenskiy called his visit to Italy and the Vatican "An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine!" Meloni visited Zelenskiy in Kyiv in February to assure him of Italy's continued support for Ukraine, despite some of her allies, most notably former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, having longstanding, close ties with Moscow. The meeting with the pope is expected to be the most significant part of Zelenskiy's time in Italy. He previously met the pope at the Vatican in 2020 and the two have had several phone conversations since the war began.

STORY: A quarrel over the affiliation of the village church. Voices are raised and it ends in tears. The parish in Karyshkiv in western Ukraine belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or UOC, which Kyiv says is under the influence of Moscow. "Russia kills us, rapes us," this woman says. It's also about the language. "We must pray in Ukrainian!" she says. The UOC uses Church Slavonic - an archaic religious language with similarities to Russian. Most here want to switch to a new church backed by the government, as hundreds of other communities have voted to do since Russia invaded. But not everyone wants that. This is no time to quarrel, another woman says. Reuters visited two villages in late April in the western region of Vinnytsia. Dozens of residents spoke of a deep rift in their communities. In neighboring Hrabivtsi, parishioners voted in March for their 300-year-old church to switch to the Kyiv-backed - and similarly named - Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Towns and villages across Ukraine have held such votes. Serhiy Fretsyuk is the local librarian. "I think it's right that we switched because Russia is the aggressor, and it will forever remain the aggressor. Ties with them must be severed." Ukrainian authorities have cracked down on the UOC since Russia's invasion. More than 60 criminal cases have been opened against its clergy, many accused of collaboration and spreading pro-Russian propaganda. A legal battle is also raging to evict the church from its historic monastery headquarters in Kyiv, one of the holiest sites in the Orthodox Church. Authorities are encouraging people to sever all ties with Russia, but there are deep-rooted relationships that go back centuries. Olga Hrebenyuk sings in the choir. "There is no reason to be sad. The others will realize later and make the switch. It’s difficult for them because we got used to (singing in) Church Slavonic, but now we need to switch. For some it’s hard, for others it's easier." "There’s a barrier, like when a man goes to another woman. There’s something not quite right." The UOC denies being allied to Moscow and says it has seen no evidence of wrongdoing by its clergy. Many of its believers are patriots fighting Russian forces, it says. Despite that, polls show Ukrainians turning their back on the church in droves.

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Donald Trump said that as president he would be able to resolve the Ukraine war in one day, speaking at a Republican presidential town hall Wednesday hosted by CNN. Photo: CNN

Russia is the world’s second-largest arms exporter, but the war in Ukraine could change that as Moscow’s share of the global weapons trade declines. WSJ explains how sanctions and the domestic need for weapons hurt Russia’s arms exports. Photo: Sergei Fadeichev/Zuma Press