One of Russia's most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing plumes of ash 5 kilometres into the sky over the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula and briefly triggering a "code red" warning for aircraft.
Ukrainian forces have pushed on with their major cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region, claiming to have taken more ground, captured more Russian prisoners and destroyed a jet bomber.
Russia on Saturday announced increased security measures in the border region of Kursk, where an incursion this week by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off guard.
If confirmed, the cross-border foray would be among Ukraine's largest since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, and unprecedented for its deployment of Ukrainian military units.
The multinational deal set some two dozen people free, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and corporate security executive Paul Whelan.
A 40-year-old Russia-born man was charged with "conducting intelligence work on behest of a foreign power" with an aim to "provoke hostilities in France".
One of the two Russians accused of attempting to leak military secrets to Moscow told his work colleagues he'd been in Russian special forces, Nine News can reveal.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum-security prison on charges that his employer and the US government have rejected as fabricated.
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess, speaking alongside Kershaw, said the arrests came after a "lengthy and complex investigation" by law enforcement agencies.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the world must not wait for November's presidential election in the United States to take action to repel Russia's invasion of his country.
Russia's southernmost province has announced a temporary ban on the wearing of niqabs as a security measure following deadly attacks by gunmen last month.
West, who now goes by Ye, arrived in Moscow on a private visit, according to the brand team for Russian designer Gosha Rubchinskiy, state media TASS reported.
Former Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov are accused of international crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
They are allegedly responsible for two war crimes: directing attacks at civilian objects and causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects
A nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier arrived in South Korea for a three-way exercise involving Japan as they step up military training to cope with North Korean threats, which have escalated following a security pact with Russia.
Nuclear-armed countries are strengthening their arsenals and several have made ready new nuclear-armed or nuclear-capable weapons systems amid rising geopolitical tensions, a new report has found.
Putin is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for talks as they deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.