NATO allies will unveil billions in new contracts to bolster their ability to "defer and defend", Secretary General Mark Rutte said Monday on the eve of the military alliance's summit.

Britain on Monday unveiled sanctions against seven Russian scientists and two research labs said to have helped develop chemical weapons used in two attacks.

A series of attacks by Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces near the western border with Chad have razed multiple villages and displaced thousands of people, according to two survivors and the United Nations.

The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese army since April 2023, and has been accused by the UN of committing repeated massacres against Darfur's non-Arab ethnic groups, including the Zaghawa who inhabit the western villages of North Darfur state.

Russia launched waves of missiles and drones targeting Kyiv early Monday that killed at least 10 people, authorities said, hours after Ukraine's president warned that another large-scale attack was imminent.

Another 46 were injured, according to local officials, as emergency workers combed through rubble looking for survivors at residential high-rise buildings in two locations that suffered direct hits.

President Donald Trump plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa on Wednesday while attending the NATO summit in Turkey, the White House said. Those discussions will come as Kyiv tries to refocus Trump's attention on the conflict with Moscow and as Trump has publicly mused about Syria's role in the Middle East.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly confirmed the meetings in a call with reporters while previewing the upcoming summit in Ankara, where Trump also plans to meet with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. Before returning to the United States on Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to have a news conference, Kelly said.

Iran's ambassador to China insisted that new fees would be charged to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz -- an idea rejected by Washington -- while assuring that "friendly" nations would receive special treatment.

The initial deal struck between Iran and the United States to end their war stipulated that commercial ships would transit the strait free of charge for 60 days, but it remains unclear what will be in place after that period.

Prayers were held Sunday over the casket of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the second day of funeral ceremonies that have drawn huge crowds to pay their final respects in Tehran.

Khamenei ruled the Islamic republic from 1989 until he was killed aged 86 in an airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on February 28.

Mourners beat their chests and chanted "revenge, revenge" as thousands gathered in Tehran early Saturday for a final farewell to slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

President Donald Trump has berated and belittled many of his European counterparts expected to attend next week's NATO summit in Turkey. But host Recep Tayyip Erdogan has drawn on his close ties with the U.S. president to secure his presence at the Ankara event — an appearance that may even come with a significant gift related to Turkish defense.

Trump has frequently lavished praise on the Turkish president, calling him a "hell of a leader" and a good friend. "I would not have gone for most people," Trump said last week. "But he called me up. He said: 'Please, I have it in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has to be in there.' And so I'm going out of respect to President Erdogan."

Despite severe fuel shortages across Russia, President Vladimir Putin appears unbothered by Ukraine's increasing attacks on his country's oil refineries.

He has shrugged off the setback for one of the world's leading oil producing nations as "not critical," dismissed ceasefire proposals and insisted the war will continue until his goals are met.