Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their first direct peace talks in three years, but hopes for a breakthrough remained dim after Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned an offer by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet face-to-face in Turkey.

Russia claims that its deadly missile attack on Ukraine’s city of Sumy that killed and wounded scores on Sunday had targeted a gathering of Ukrainian troops.

New Zealand’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom has lost his job over remarks he made about President Donald Trump at an event held by the Chatham House think tank in London this week.