Russia says it invaded Ukraine to halt Kyiv's ambitions to join NATO, the U.S.-led defensive alliance, which it saw as a major security threat. It also accuses Kyiv of persecuting ethnic Russians and their culture in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to London, a day before a critical U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.

The US-Russia summit lets Putin get back to the top table of international diplomacy and thumb his nose at critics. Here’s what else he stands to gain.