This undated photo, provided by his campaign, shows Jim Griffin, Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District, in Connecticut. (Courtesy Jim Griffin via AP)

JIM HEINTZ

Ukrainian servicemen sit inside their APC after returning from Russian Kursk region, near Russian-Ukrainian border, Sumy region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

What we know about Ukraine’s surprise push into Russian territory

For more than a week, Ukrainian troops have pushed into the Kursk region of Russia, just north of their border, in the most extensive incursion by Kyiv’s forces in the 2½-year-old war.

A view of the column of Russian Army trucks damaged by shelling by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the highway in the Sudzhansky district, Kursk region of Russia, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (Anatoliy Zhdanov/Kommersant Publishing House via AP)

Russia tightens security in Kursk region, as fight continues against Ukraine’s surprise incursion

Russia has announced increased security measures in the border region of Kursk. An incursion there this week by Ukrainian forces caught Russian troops off guard and exposed its military vulnerabilities in the nearly 2½--year-old war.

FILE - A cyclist passes over the Glienicke Bridge between Potsdam and Berlin, Germany, on May 6, 2009. They sometimes see those who are part of the swap as they pass each other on an airport tarmac or, as in the Cold War, the Glienicke Bridge connecting West Berlin to Potsdam. In decades of prisoner exchanges, those released have included spies, journalists, drug and arms dealers, and even a well-known athlete. (AP Photo/Sven Kaestner, File)

As a historic prisoner exchange unfolds, a look back at other famous East-West swaps

When Washington and Moscow exchange prisoners, it usually comes after months of secret, back-channel negotiations. Swaps these days often take place on an airport tarmac.

FILE - Russian opposition activist and former municipal deputy of the Krasnoselsky district Ilya Yashin gestures, smiling, as he stands in a defendant's cubicle in a courtroom, prior to a hearing in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 9, 2022. Ilya Yashin, a prominent Kremlin critics who is serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for criticizing Russia's war in Ukraine, has been taken away from his prison to an unknown destination, his lawyer said Tuesday. (Yury Kochetkov/Pool via AP, Pool, File)

A well-known Russian dissident is moved from prison along with others, their destinations unknown

A lawyer for Ilya Yashin says the prominent Kremlin critic has been moved to an unknown destination from his prison where he was serving an 8 1/2-year sentence for criticizing Russia’s war in Ukraine.

People watch the television broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France via Kazakhstan satellite channel sitting in the Waterloo pub & bar in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, July 26, 2024. Watching the Paris Olympics will be difficult for most people in Russia, and in the view of local media it's not really worth the effort. Russia's state TV channels won't be broadcasting any of the events. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russian media throw shade at Paris Olympics, which TV won’t show

Watching the Paris Olympics will be difficult for most people in Russia, and in the view of local media it’s not really worth the effort. Only 15 Russian citizens will be competing in the Games and in principle they won’t be representing Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, speaks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an informal meeting at Novo-Ogaryovo residence, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, July 8, 2024. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin meets Indian prime minister in Russia on his first visit since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Moscow on a two-day visit, his first since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, which has complicated the relationship between the longtime partners and pushed Russia closer to India’s rival, China.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Fifteen months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, Gershkovich returns there for his trial starting Wednesday behind closed doors. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the charges. (AP Photo)

A US journalist goes on trial in Russia on espionage charges that he and his employer deny

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has gone on trial in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un pose for a photo during a signing ceremony of the new partnership in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024. Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a new partnership that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked, during a Wednesday summit that came as both face escalating standoffs with the West. (Kristina Kormilitsyna, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

What’s known, and not known, about the partnership agreement signed by Russia and North Korea

Both Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un say a new strategic partnership is a breakthrough, but what it means for their relationship is still uncertain.

People watch the opening ceremony of the BRICS Games, an international competition in Kazan, Russia, Wednesday, June 12, 2024. Thousands of worldwide athletes in both major and highly obscure sports are vying for medals in the Russian city of Kazan at the BRICS Games, an international competition shadowed by politics amid Russia's exclusion from major world sports events. (AP Photo/Denis Bushkovsky)

Russia, largely excluded from international sports, hosts athletes at BRICS Games

Thousands of athletes in major and obscure sports are vying for medals in the Russian city of Kazan at the BRICS Games, an international competition shadowed by politics amid Russia’s exclusion from major sports events.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko shake hands during a welcome ceremony at the Palace of Independence in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, May 24, 2024. (Dmitriy Azarov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

On a visit to his Belarusian ally, Putin questions Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as Ukraine’s leader

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited his Belarusian counterpart and close ally for talks in Minsk.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses members of the Defense Ministry, the National Guard, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service and the Federal Guard Service at the Kremlin, in Moscow on June 27, 2023. Putin will begins his fifth term as Russian president in an opulent Kremlin inauguration on Tuesday after destroying his political opposition, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and consolidating power. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

As Putin begins another 6-year term, he is entering a new era of extraordinary power in Russia

Just a few months short of a quarter-century as Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin starts another six-year term as president holding extraordinary power.

FILE - TV presenter and actress Anastasia Ivleeva, center, perform during VK Festival in Moscow, Russia, on July 15, 2023. A Moscow court on Thursday imposed a 50,000-ruble ($560) fine for discrediting the military on Anastasia Ivleeva, a TV presenter and actress whose party for scantily clad guests sparked an explosion of public indignation in the increasingly traditionalist country. (AP Photo, File)

A Russian actress who called for peace was fined for hosting an ‘almost naked’ party

A Moscow court has imposed a 50,000-ruble ($560) fine on a TV presenter and actress who gained notoriety for hosting an “almost naked” party, saying her social media posts calling for peace discredited the military.

FILE - Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev attends a session of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) in Minsk, Belarus, Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. The head of Russia's national security council on Wednesday contended that the United States shares blame for the attack by gunmen on a Moscow concert hall that killed 144 people, even though a branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

Russia: US shares blame in a concert hall attack claimed by Islamic militants

The head of Russia’s national security council says the United States shares blame for the attack by gunmen on a Moscow concert hall that killed 145 people, even though a branch of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility.

People light candles and lay flowers at a makeshift memorial in front of the Crocus City Hall on the western outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on Sunday, March 24, 2024. There were calls Monday for harsh punishment for those behind the attack on the Russia concert hall that killed more than 130 people as authorities combed the burnt-out ruins of the shopping and entertainment complex in search of more bodies. (Sergei Vedyashkin, Moscow News Agency via AP)

Moscow theater shooting fans flames of a disinformation war

Immediately after the Friday evening attack in Moscow that killed at least 137 people, Russian officials were suggesting, without presenting evidence, that Ukraine was responsible.

In this photo taken from video released by Investigative Committee of Russia on Sunday, March 24, 2024, a suspect in the Crocus City Hall shooting on Friday is escorted to the Russian Investigative Committee headquarters in Moscow, Russia. (Investigative Committee of Russia via AP)

Russian massacre suspects’ homeland is plagued by poverty and religious strife

The four men charged with the massacre at a Moscow theater have been identified by the Russian government as citizens of Tajikistan.

In this photo provided by Telegram Channel of Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, smoke and fire rise over the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant after Russian attacks in Dnipro, Ukraine, Friday, March 22, 2024. (Telegram Channel of Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal via AP)

Russia launches sweeping attack on Ukraine’s power sector, a sign of possible escalation

Russia unleashed one of its most devastating attacks against Ukraine’s electric sector, an aerial assault it said was retaliation for recent strikes inside Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks on a visit to his campaign headquarters after a presidential election in Moscow, early Monday, March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Putin extends rule in preordained Russian election after harshest crackdown since Soviet era

President Vladimir Putin has extended his reign over Russia in a landslide election whose outcome was never in doubt, declaring his determination to advance deeper into Ukraine and dangling new threats against the West.

A woman casts a ballot as a police officer guards at a polling station during the presidential election in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, March 17, 2024. Voters in Russia are going to the polls for the last day of a presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule after he clamped down on dissent. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Putin basks in electoral victory that was never in doubt even as Russians quietly protest

Russian President Vladimir Putin is basking in a victory that was never in doubt, as partial election results showed him easily securing a fifth term after facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices.

A student of the Maritime State University named after admiral Gennady Nevelskoy leaves a voting booth at a polling station during a presidential election in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, 6418 kms. (3566 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 15, 2024. Voters in Russia are heading to the polls for a presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule after he clamped down on dissent. (AP Photo)

Russians are voting in an election that holds little suspense after Putin crushed dissent

Russia has begun three days of voting in a presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule for six more years after he stifled dissent.

FILE - Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during an interview with a Russian state-owned media organization in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. As Vladimir Putin heads for another six-year term as Russia’s president, there’s little electoral drama in the race. What he does after he crosses the finish line, however, is what’s drawing attention and, for many observers, provoking anxiety. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

The drama in Russia’s election is all about what Putin will do with another 6 years in power

As Vladimir Putin heads for another six-year term as Russia’s president, there’s little electoral drama in the race. What he does after he crosses the finish line, however, is what’s drawing attention and, for many observers, provoking anxiety.

FILE - Fighters of Russian Volunteer Corps stand atop on an APC during press conference not far from the Ukraine's border with Russia in Sumy region, Ukraine, on May 24, 2023. Fighters from Ukraine made an attempt to cross into the town of Tetkino, which lies right on the border, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)

Russia says it killed 234 fighters while thwarting an incursion from Ukraine

Russian officials say Ukrainian long-range drones have smashed into two oil facilities deep inside Russia.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell rings a bell to signify the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels, Monday, Feb. 19, 2024. European Union foreign ministers on Monday will discuss, among other issues, the situation in the Middle East and Russian aggression against Ukraine. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

EU launches mission to protect ships in Red Sea from Houthis. It won’t partake in military strikes

The European Union has launched a naval mission to help protect cargo ships in the Red Sea. Attacks on civilian maritime traffic by Houthi rebels in Yemen are hampering trade and driving up prices.

FILE - The Shell Ethane Cracker Plant on the Monongahela River in Monaca, Pa., is shown on Nov. 30, 2023. On Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, the Labor Department releases producer prices data for January. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

US wholesale inflation accelerated in January in latest sign that prices picked up last month

Wholesale prices in the United States accelerated in January, the latest sign that some inflation pressures in the economy remain elevated.

FILE - Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny takes part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, Russia on Feb. 29, 2020. Russia's prison agency says that imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has died. He was 47. The Federal Prison Service said in a statement that Navalny felt unwell after a walk on Friday Feb. 16, 2024 and lost consciousness. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Alexei Navalny, galvanizing opposition leader and Putin’s fiercest foe, died in prison, Russia says

Alexei Navalny, who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests as President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest foe, has died in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence.

Bruins take losing streak into matchup with the Kings

The Boston Bruins will try to end a three-game slide when they play the Los Angeles Kings.

Igor Girkin also know as Igor Strelkov, the former military chief for Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, sits in a glass cage in a courtroom at the Moscow's City Court in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian courts jail a Putin critic and a woman convicted of a blast that killed a pro-war blogger

The former leader of separatist rebels in Ukraine and a woman convicted of a bomb attack which killed a pro-war blogger were jailed by Russian courts Thursday.

FILE - The embalmed body of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, is seen on display in his mausoleum on Moscow's Red Square, Russia, on Wednesday, April 16, 1997. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his death. While he remains lauded by Communists with his body still on view, he is more of a curiosity than a leading force in Russia. (AP Photo/Sergei Karpukhin, File)

A century after Lenin’s death, the USSR’s founder seems to be an afterthought in modern Russia

FILE TV presenter and actress Anastasia Ivleeva, center, performs during the VK Festival in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, July 15, 2023. A court in Moscow on Wednesday turned back a class-action lawsuit against a Russian TV presenter that sought $11 million in moral damages for her hosting a party where guests were encouraged to show up wearing next to nothing. The suit against Anastasia Ivleeva was one element of a scandal that erupted after her bash at a Moscow nightclub and sent a well-known rapper who attended wearing only a sock around his genitals and two on his feet to jail. (AP Photo, File)

Moscow court rejects lawsuit against ‘almost naked’ party that caused scandal in Russia

A court in Moscow has rejected a class-action lawsuit against a Russian TV presenter that sought $11 million in moral damages after she hosted a party where guests were encouraged to show up wearing next to nothing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin talks with awarded Russian servicemen after a ceremony to present Gold Star medals to Heroes of Russia on the eve of Heroes of the Fatherland Day at the St. George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Dec. 8, 2023. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin will seek another term as Russian president, aiming to extend his rule of over two decades

Vladimir Putin has moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win.

FILE - Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former owner of the Yukos Oil Co., poses for a photo after being interviewed by The Associated Press in London, Tuesday, July 24, 2018. After President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, he was reported to have told about two dozen of the men regarded as Russia's top oligarchs that if they stayed out of politics, their wealth wouldn't be touched. Khodorkovsky, regarded as Russia's richest man at the time, established the Open Society reformist group and showing increased political ambitions. But he was arrested in 2003 and spent a decade in prison on convictions of tax evasion and embezzlement before Putin pardoned him and he left Russia. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

Under Putin, the uber-wealthy Russians known as ‘oligarchs’ are still rich but far less powerful

When Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, the outside world viewed “Russian oligarchs” as men who whose vast wealth, ruthlessly amassed, made them almost shadow rulers.