Renowned Russian conductor Valery Gergiev's concert in an Italian palace has been canceled without explanation amid an uproar over his support for Vladimir Putin.

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday accused Italy of discrimination and said it had caved into anti-Russian lobbying after a planned classical music concert by high-profile Russian conductor Valery Gergiev was cancelled.

Anti-government protests have broken out in Kyiv as hundreds flocked to the streets to oppose a decision to curb the powers of two anti-corruption agencies. Ukraine has toughened restrictions on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Vladimir Putin has issued a stark warning following the U.S. deployment of B61-12 nuclear bombs to the UK—just 2,800 kilometers from Moscow. The Kremlin accused Washington of provoking nuclear tensions and deliberately escalating global instability.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has renewed his call for direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end their ongoing war.

President Vladimir Putin has tightened rules for ships entering Russian sea ports from abroad, giving the nation’s main security service a bigger role following a series of mysterious blasts on oil tankers.

The grueling war in Ukraine has upended the delicate balance of power in Russia as the Kremlin desperately tries to support the massive country's war machine

In July alone, Andrei Badalov, the vice-president of state-owned pipeline company Transneft, fell to his death from a balcony at his home. A former deputy defence minister was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment on charges of corruption, only for a fellow military official to go down for 17.

How Russia has amped up its aerial strikes on Ukraine - The Russian army launched a fresh drone assault on Kyiv overnight, following a pattern of attacks in the past two months

The rebels warned that Russia was on the threshold of mass tragedies and that Putin and his regime would not hesitate to condemn people to death and hunger for the sake of power and war.