There are no signs of the Ukrainian conflict ending or any phase of it concluding,” Peskov said. Read also: Putin incorporates Ukraine's 'denazification' in new anti-extremism strategy – ISW Despite online reports of "historic meetings" and "the end of the hot phase of the war,

The Kremlin has dismissed any immediate prospects of peace in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov declaring that there are "no grounds" for ending hostilities. While Russia claims to remain open to negotiations,

Russia and Japan have never signed an official peace treaty to end the second world war because of a dispute over the Kuril Islands. The Soviet army seized the Kurils at the end of the war in 1945 and expelled Japanese residents from the islands, which are now home to about 20,000 Russians.

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one on Sunday evening.

A senior Russian general was killed in a bomb blast in a residential neighborhood in Moscow, Russian media reported early Tuesday.

A passenger jet that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 people, was likely shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft missile, according to multiple reports.

The cause of the crash of Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, is still unknown. The Kremlin has so far been tight-lipped, prompting questions over its messaging.

Russia’s aviation chief says that a Ukrainian drone attack was underway in the Russian region that an airliner was destined for before it diverted and crashed earlier this week.

RUSSIA downed a passenger plane over Kazakhstan on Christmas Day killing 38 in a fireball crash, according to government sources. An initial investigation by the Azerbaijani government reportedly

White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the US “have seen some early indications" that the plane was "brought down by Russian air defense systems."

Thirty-eight passengers and crew died when Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 from the airline’s hub at Baku to Grozny, the capital of Russia ‘s Chechnya, crashed short of Aktau airport in Kazakhstan; 29 survived.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks in the Kremlin with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.