In a major shakeup, President Vladimir Putin has nominated former First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov to replace longtime Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the upper-house Federation Council announced Sunday night.

The ouster of Shoigu, a longtime Putin ally, comes nearly a week after Putin was sworn into a fifth term in office, cementing his

Updated with injury, death count.

Rescue workers in the western Russian city of Belgorod have recovered the bodies of 15 people buried beneath the rubble of an apartment building that collapsed earlier on Sunday after being struck by a Ukrainian missile.

"The main part of removing rubble from the apartment building on Shchors Street has been

Russia's Defense Ministry said Sunday that its forces had captured four more villages in Ukraine's Kharkiv region as thousands of residents were evacuated amid Moscow's surprise ground offensive.

The ministry said its forces had "advanced deeply into the enemy defenses" and taken villages including Gatishche, Krasnoye, Morokhovets, and Oleinikovo.

Uk