TOP HEADLINES

· Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine has brought the world closer to 'Armageddon' than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, U.S. President Joe Biden said.  READ MORE BELOW

· Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said remarks by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggesting NATO should launch preventive strikes on Russia confirmed the need for what it calls its "special operation" in Ukraine. 

· Zelenskyy's spokesperson said the President was referring to imposing sanctions on Russia when he suggested preventive strikes were necessary to preclude any use of nuclear weapons.

· Two Russians fleeing military service have claimed asylum in the U.S. after arriving by boat in Alaska, authorities said. READ MORE BELOW

· A four-member team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts is due to arrive at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday to replace the previous team of two specialists from the agency. "They will live at the nuclear plant, just like their predecessors," the Russian-installed head of the Enerhodar administration said.

· EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell pushed the 27-nation bloc on Friday to earmark more money to pay for the military support of Ukraine.

· At least five people were killed and as many injured after Ukrainian forces shelled a bus in the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region, reported Russia's TASS news agency.

· Türkiye President Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call on Friday, discussing the latest development on the conflict with Ukraine and their intentions to improve bilateral relations.

· The West must build strong deterrence in its support of Ukraine to make sure that Russia does not want to risk expanding the conflict, Lithuania's president Gitanas Nauseda said.

· The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill said Vladimir Putin's reign over Russia had been mandated by God, congratulating the Kremlin chief on his 70th birthday.

· Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov called on Russian troops to lay down their arms, promising them "life and safety." "You can still save Russia from tragedy and the Russian army from humiliation," Reznikov said in Russian in a video addressed to Russian troops.  

IN DETAIL

World closer to 'Armageddon' over Putin's nuclear threat - Biden

Russian President Vladimir Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine has brought the world closer to "Armageddon" than at any time since the Cold-War Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. President Joe Biden said.  

With the conflict in Ukraine seven months old, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv's forces were swiftly recapturing more territory, including more than 500 square kilometers in the south where they burst through a second major front this week.

Biden said the prospect of defeat could make Putin desperate enough to use nuclear weapons, the biggest risk since U.S. President John Kennedy and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev faced off over missiles in Cuba in 1962.

"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis," Biden said. "For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, we have a direct threat to the use of nuclear weapons, if in fact things continue down the path they'd been going."

Biden added: "Putin was not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."

Russians seek asylum in U.S. after fleeing to Alaska

Two Russians who landed on an island off the coast of a remote part of rural Alaska are seeking asylum in the U.S., politicians in the far northern state said. The pair landed just weeks after Putin ordered an unpopular mobilization of citizens in a bid to turn the tide of the war on Ukraine.

"Two Russian nationals landed at a beach near Gambell, located on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in Alaska, and requested asylum in the United States," said a joint statement from senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.

The spot is 80.5 kilometers from the tip of Russia's far east. A spokesman for the U.S. Department for Homeland Security said the two Russians, whom it did not identify, arrived on a small boat.

Their cases are being reviewed "in accordance with applicable U.S. immigration laws," he said. The arrival of two people from Russia makes it clear that "the Russian people don't want to fight Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine," said Sullivan.