Russia has repeatedly painted modern Ukraine as a Nazi state, in a crass distortion of history. Putin had already seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula eight years earlier, after a revolution that ousted Ukraine's pro-Russian president and replaced him with a more pro-Western government.

NBC News' Keir Simmons reports from Moscow on overall sentiment in Russia and on his interview with the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman.

President Trump has said he finds it more difficult to deal with Ukraine than Russia. He’s calling on both countries to negotiate a peace deal. CGTN’s Nick Harper has the latest

Ukraine’s presence in Russia’s Kursk region has deteriorated sharply, with the advance threatening Kyiv’s sole territorial bargaining counter at a crucial time in the war.

Ukraine’s military and Russian war bloggers say Russian special forces walked inside of a gas pipeline to strike Ukrainian units from the rear in the Kursk region