Russia's chess team is to remain banned from international competitions, officials have ruled. In a dramatic move, an International Chess Federation (Fide) general assembly meeting in Budapest voted to maintain sanctions against Russia and its ally, Belarus.

Chess governing body FIDE's general assembly agreed to consider lifting parts of a ban on Russian and Belarusian players imposed after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, in a vote on Sunday in Budapest.

The top body in chess has rejected a proposal to readmit Russia and Belarus, but will consider allowing players under 12 or with disability to take part in events.

A missile is reported to have exploded in its launch silo, leaving a massive crater and causing significant damage to the test site.

A Russian test of the RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), known as Satan II in NATO terminology, has reportedly ended in a catastrophic failure. Ukrainian sources report that satellite imagery from the Plesetsk launch site in northwestern Russia shows significant damage,

Russian strikes have hit high-rise apartment blocks in Ukraine’s Kharkiv, leaving dozens wounded in a second consecutive nighttime attack this week

Russia will take no part in any follow-up to the Swiss-organized "peace summit" held in June as the process amounts to "fraud," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday. Russia was not invited to the June meeting,

Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, has stated that Russia is not going to attend the second Peace Summit. Source: press service for Russia's Foreign Ministry, citing Zakharova Details: Zakharova called the preparation for the second Peace Summit "yet another manifestation of the fraud by the Anglo-Saxons and their Ukrainian puppets" who want to "push the absolutely unviable Zelenskyy formula as the sole basis for resolving the conflict,

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Russia will not participate in any continuation of the peace summit organized in Switzerland in June. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had not ruled out Moscow's participation in the talks earlier.