Putin hails advances in Kursk during a rare visit, promising to fully liberate the region from Ukrainian forces soon. Ukrainian troops appear on the point of losing their hard-won foothold inside Russia’s Kursk region as Moscow claims further advances there and military bloggers on both sides say Kyiv’s forces are withdrawing. Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming...

A spokesperson for DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi told the Reuters news agency that they had received an invitation from Angola for the talks. The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels will hold talks next week, mediator Angola has announced. A statement from President Joao Lourenco’s office on Wednesday said the two parties would begin “direct peace negotiations” in the Angolan capital...