Extract from ABC News
Moscow says Donald Trump's guilty verdict shows that all "legal and illegal" means are being used in the United States to get rid of political rivals.
Trump became the first US president to be convicted of a crime on Friday morning, Australian time when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
"If we speak about Trump, the fact that there is simply the elimination, in effect, of political rivals by all possible means, legal and illegal, is obvious", Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a news briefing on Friday, local time.
The 34 felony charges of which Trump was convicted were brought against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, rather than the US Justice Department, which is nominally overseen by the White House.
There is no evidence US President Joe Biden or his campaign had anything to do with the charges being brought against Trump or with the way the case was prosecuted.
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Biden's campaign said it proved that "no one is above the law", but would do little to change the dynamics of the November 5 election.
Trump, 77, is due to be sentenced on July 11, though he plans to appeal the verdict.
Russian forces advancing in Kharkiv
The Kremlin's statement came after Russia's defence minister said the country's forces were advancing in Ukraine, and had taken control of 28 settlements in May.
Speaking at a meeting of regional defence ministers in Kazakhstan, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said Russian forces had captured a total area of 880 square kilometres so far this year, and had forced Ukrainian troops to fall back by 8 to 9 kilometres in key parts of the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
"Russia is continuing the special military operation and all its objectives will certainly be achieved," Mr Belousov said.
"Russia's military grouping is forcing the enemy out of their positions, advances are taking place in all tactical directions.
"Russian armed forces are systematically reducing the combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces."
Russia casts its decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to safeguard its own defence and that of Russian speakers living in Ukraine.
Kyiv and most Western countries call it an illegal war of conquest, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to expel every Russian soldier from Ukrainian territory.
NATO chief dismisses Russian warnings
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday dismissed warnings by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons for strikes inside Russian territory might lead to an escalation.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Prague, Mr Stoltenberg said the alliance had heard such warnings many times before.
"This is nothing new. It has … been the case for a long time that every time NATO allies are providing support to Ukraine, President Putin is trying to threaten us to not do that," he said.
"And an escalation – well, Russia has escalated by invading another country."
Mr Putin on Tuesday warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire their weapons into Russia, and again raised the risk of nuclear war after several allies lifted restrictions imposed on the use of weapons donated to Kyiv.
In a marked policy shift, Mr Biden on Thursday approved Ukraine using American weapons to strike targets inside Russia that were attacking the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed in Prague.
Mr Blinken said the change in direction was simply the US adjusting and adapting to the battleground, and indicated it was made necessary by Moscow's continuing attacks on the city, which is just 30 kilometres from the border with Russia.
Russian fighter jets flying inside Russia out of reach of Ukrainian air defences have been supporting the offensive on Kharkiv by loosing high-precision glide bombs into the city, where they have caused numerous civilian casualties.
Germany followed America's move soon afterwards, with a government spokesman on Friday saying Ukraine could use weapons supplied by Berlin to defend itself against attacks launched from just inside Russia against the Kharkiv border region, in accordance with international law.
Lithuania, Poland and the Netherlands have already spoken out about the need to allow Ukraine to define its own targets as it defends itself from Russia's invasion.
But other allies such as Italy refuse to go this far, with its foreign minister arguing that his country was banned by its constitution from allowing Kyiv to use donated weapons outside Ukraine.
First prisoner swap in months made
Ukraine and Russia exchanged prisoners for the first time in nearly four months on Friday, after negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Mr Zelenskyy said 71 members of the Ukrainian armed forces had been returned from Russia, along with four civilians.
Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine handed over 75 people in a deal brokered by the UAE, RIA news agency reported.
Pictures released with a statement from the committee showed servicemen draped in blue and yellow national flags.
Ukrainian officials said they brought back 19 defenders of Snake Island, a tiny rocky outcrop in the Black Sea that became a symbol of Ukrainian defiance in the first days of the war when Ukrainian guards refused to surrender to Russian forces.
The committee also said that as a part of the swap, the bodies of 212 Ukrainian defenders were handed over by Russia.
US, allies 'gravely concerned' by North Korean involvement
Also on Friday, the US and its main allies said they were "gravely concerned" by deepening cooperation between North Korea and Russia, and called for an end to North Korean arms transfers for use against Ukraine.
Mr Blinken joined foreign ministers from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Britain, as well the EU representative, in issuing a joint statement highlighting their recent coordination of sanctions measures in response to such activity.
"Our governments stand in resolute opposition to these continued arms transfers, which Russia has used to strike Ukraine's critical infrastructure, prolonging the suffering of the Ukrainian people," the foreign ministers said.
They added that the deepening North Korea-Russia cooperation was in "flagrant violation" of multiple UN Security Council resolutions.
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied accusations of arms transfers, but vowed last year to deepen military relations.
The joint statement also condemned Russia's March veto of a UN resolution that would have extended the mandate of an expert panel tasked with monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions against North Korea.
Days before its mandate expired, the UN panel submitted a report confirming that, in a violation of UN sanctions, a North Korean-made ballistic missile known as Hwasong-11 had struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Reuters/ABC
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