Even under fire, Ukraine is ramping up its arms industry. President Volodymyr Zelensky says the country now produces more than 50% of the weapons it uses on the front line. Almost its entire inventory of long-range weapons is domestically made.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told ABC News during an exclusive interview in Moscow on Monday that he believes the warring parties are close to a deal.

The European Commission has proposed that the leaders use some of the frozen assets — totaling 210 billion euros ($246 billion) — to underwrite a 90 billion-euro ($105 billion) “reparations loan” to Ukraine. The U.K., Canada and Norway would fill the gap.

President Donald Trump has directed U.S. officials to help to facilitate a “lasting and durable peace" between Ukraine and Russia, with a "very, very strong" package being presented.

Finding a legal way to use frozen Russian assets to help finance Ukraine remains "far from easy", Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, ahead of a summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says peace proposals for U.S. officials to present to Russia could be finalized within days

Kyiv has now expressed readiness to drop its bid to join the NATO military alliance if the U.S. and other Western nations give it similar security guarantees.

Ukraine’s long-range drones lit up the Russian night once again, striking oil depots, refineries, and power plants deep inside Russia. Fires burned from Volgograd to Krasnodar as Ukraine targeted the energy lifeline funding Putin’s war.