Europe

The Kremlin's decision affects a host of European countries, including France, Italy, and Spain.

Sweden and Finland officially apply to join NATO, overshadowing Russia's advances in Mariupol. Ukraine hopes to exchange the last bastion of resistance in the besieged city for Russian prisoners of war.

Sweden decides to seek NATO membership following a similar decision by neighboring Finland. Western Ukrainian city of Lviv rocked by loud explosions. Israeli ambassador to Ukraine and staff return to Kyiv for first time since evacuation on Feb. 21.

"Despite small-scale initial advances, Russia has failed to achieve substantial territorial gains over the past month whilst sustaining consistently high levels of attrition," the British defense ministry says on Twitter.

NATO says Russia's war falters as Britain reports that Moscow has lost a third of its forces in Ukraine. Kyiv hails Eurovision win. Missile said to hit military infrastructure in western Ukraine.

The New York Philharmonic is set to take up residency at the Usedom Music Festival, once the secretive home of the Third Reich’s rocket and nuclear development program.

To evade a Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, EU plans to export Ukrainian grains by rail, road, and river to regions at risk of food insecurity. The new routes could also help get goods and humanitarian aid into the country.

Such an expansion of the military alliance would leave Russia surrounded by NATO countries in the Baltic Sea and the Arctic and would amount to a stinging setback for Putin, whose efforts to divide and roll back NATO in Europe have backfired.

Pushback could signal shift in the momentum of the war. Ukraine shuts down pipeline carrying Russian gas across country to Western Europe, disrupting the westward flow of one of Moscow's most lucrative exports.

The pint-size Jack Russell terrier has been credited with detecting over 200 explosives and preventing their detonation since the start of the war on Feb. 24, quickly becoming a canine symbol of Ukrainian patriotism.