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A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment says Russia is acquiring millions of artillery shells and rockets from North Korea for its six-month-old invasion of Ukraine, in an indication of the effect that Western sanctions are having on the Russian war effort.

The New York Times published the findings but said the specifics of such shipments including their type and timing were unclear.

The Czech Republic and Poland are sending additional weaponry to Ukraine as it struggles against a renewed Russian offensive in the eastern parts of the country, government officials and local media report.

Czech Defense Minister Jana Cernochova told public broadcaster CT on May 29 that Prague intends to soon send Kyiv armaments worth $26 million to $30 million.

"It's crucial that the aid is steady," she said, adding that the country has sent more than $150 million in military aid supplies since the start of Russia's invasion on February 24.

European Union negotiators failed to reach a deal on an embargo of Russian oil but will continue attempts to reach an accord before the beginning of an EU summit starting on May 30, an EU official said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is scheduled to address the summit through a video link to press efforts to intensify sanctions against Moscow to punish it for its invasion of his country.

EU countries are discussing a proposal in which member nations would accept a ban on Russian oil delivered to the EU by sea by the end of the year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he has fired Kharkiv's top security services officer for not working hard enough on the city's defense since the beginning of Russia's February 24 invasion.

"I came, understood, and fired the head of the Security Service of Ukraine of the [Kharkiv] region for the fact that he did not work on the defense of the city from the first days of the full-scale war, but thought only about himself," Zelenskiy said in his daily address to the nation on May 29.

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on May 28 that he was barred from leaving the country and accused the government of breaking a so-called political cease-fire in place since Russia invaded on February 24.

Poroshenko was in power from 2014 to 2019, and his European Solidarity party is the second-biggest party in Ukraine's parliament after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's ruling Servant of the People party.

Poroshenko was elected as the head of a pro-Western government after popular protests in 2014 ousted Russia-backed former President Viktor Yanukovych.

When Vladimir Putin took in a Paul McCartney concert on Red Square nearly two decades ago this month, Andrei Makarevich rocked out next to the Russian president as the ex-Beatle performed an encore of “Back In The U.S.S.R.”

Russian forces continued their offensive in eastern Ukraine, closing in on strategic towns and cities and shelling Kharkiv after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the northeastern city in his first trip outside Kyiv since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.

Russian forces increased the pressure on Syevyerodonetsk and Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine after claiming to take the nearby city of Lyman, with Ukrainian officials saying defenders were holding out under desperate conditions in those strategic areas.

Russia's Defense Ministry says 771 Ukrainian fighters at the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol -- Ukraine's last stronghold in the besieged southern port city -- have "surrendered" in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 1,730 since May 16 as the Red Cross began registering "hundreds" of them.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Russia to allow the secure export of grain through Ukrainian ports.

The ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and others have been cut off by Russian warships in the Black Sea, so the grain can only travel on congested land routes that are far less efficient.

Speaking on May 18 at a major United Nations summit in New York on worldwide food insecurity, Guterres called on Russia to free up exports of Ukrainian grain.

MOSCOW -- Russia's government has relaxed safety and emission standards for locally built vehicles as it looks to stimulate production following an exodus of Western manufacturers over Moscow's war in Ukraine.