MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's lower house of parliament on Wednesday approved a move to withdraw from a landmark agreement with the United States aimed at reducing vast stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium left over from thousands of Cold War nuclear warheads.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation said he believes the United States, Ukraine, and Russia are close to a diplomatic solution to end the war in Ukraine.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was delighted to learn last week that Russia and the United States had chosen his country as the venue for another summit on ending the war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev was in the United States for meetings with Trump administration officials including special envoy Steve Witkoff, according to media reports on Friday.

The European Union on Thursday formally adopted sweeping sanctions targeting Russia's energy sector, a day after the United States announced punitive measures against the Kremlin's oil industry.

For the first time in his second term, President Trump is imposing new sanctions, but they may not shift the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

As a Ukrainian, I’ve seen firsthand how Russia has learned to emulate American soft power for authoritarian ends.

By Dmitry Antonov, Pavel Polityuk and Simon Johnson MOSCOW/KYIV/LINKOPING, Sweden (Reuters) -Russia said on Wednesday it had carried out a major training exercise involving nuclear weapons, a day after the United States announced a delay in plans for a second summit between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on the war in Ukraine.