A conversation on Friday between President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump was "very substantive and friendly" and neither leader wanted to be the first to end the call, Russian news agency Interfax quoted a Kremlin aide as saying.
Russian troops have taken control of 19 settlements in southeastern Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions over their summer campaign, the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday.
Russia's human rights commissioner published on Wednesday a list of 224 Ukrainian prisoners of war that she said Moscow was ready to exchange but that Kyiv had rejected, part of a dispute over which side is hampering exchange efforts.
Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said on Saturday that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine might be reached if the sides froze the conflict and resumed negotiations.
The Russian Athletics Federation said on Thursday it had lodged an appeal with sport's highest court over the World Athletics Council's decision to extend the suspension of Russian athletes from international competitions.
In Russia's grain belt, farmers fret they will be unable to harvest their crops as a fuel crisis sparked by Ukraine's drone attacks on oil refineries and depots disrupts daily life.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia was ready to resume peace negotiations with Ukraine from the point where they left off.
Russian crude oil production dropped around 5% year-on-year last month to 8.7 million barrels per day, 10% below May's target, due to Ukrainian strikes on its energy infrastructure, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday.
Egypt, the biggest buyer of Russian wheat, aims to create a global grain trading and storage hub, Supply Minister Sherif Farouk said on Friday, speaking at a grains event in the Russian city of Sochi.
The Congolese army called on deserters to rejoin their units on Thursday, as rogue soldiers fired guns and looted parts of the eastern town of Lubero after fleeing nearby clashes with advancing Rwandan-backed rebels.
