MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia sees no point in a weak ceasefire to freeze the war in Ukraine but Moscow wants a legally binding deal for a lasting peace that would ensure the security of both Russia and its neighbours,

The future of gas transit through Ukraine is at a turning point. If a last-minute deal isn’t struck by Wednesday, billions of cubic meters in gas flows could come to a halt.

Benchmark European natural gas futures jumped as much as 5% in early trading Friday after Russia's President Putin said it would be impossible to reach agreement on any new transit contract for the flow of natural gas through Ukraine to Europe before year’s end.

Russia’s top security agency says that it has arrested several suspects accused of involvement in an alleged Ukrainian plot to assassinate senior military officers.

With much fanfare, Ukraine was granted permission to fire Western long-range missiles at Russian military targets more than a month ago. But after initially firing a flurry of them, Ukraine has already slowed their use.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Saturday it had foiled a plot by Ukraine to kill a high-ranking Russian officer and a pro-Russian war blogger with a bomb hidden in a portable music speaker.

Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied and demoralised in the battle for Russia's Kursk region.View on euronews

Five months after their shock offensive into Russia, Ukrainian troops are bloodied by daily combat losses and demoralized by the rising risk of defeat in Kursk

The spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council, John Kirby, reported that soldiers from North Korea are taking their own lives, fearing for their families' fate if they surrender to Ukrainian forces.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Russia was trying to "conceal losses" of North Korean troops fighting against Ukraine.

North Korean soldiers sent to aid Russia in its fight against Ukraine are dying in droves and some of them have even chosen suicide over surrender, according to officials. More than 1,000 North Korean soldiers were killed fighting in the Kursk region this past week — almost 10% of its deployment to Russia — after generals ordered a “human wave” attack,