The United States has blacklisted a network accused of aiding financial payments between Russia and North Korea, two isolated countries that have grown financially and militarily closer amid the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on a network of five groups and one person, based in Russia and the Georgian region of South Ossetia, for enabling payments between Russia and North Korea,

The U.S. State and Treasury departments announced new sanctions Thursday on five groups and one person said to be involved in illicit payment mechanisms between Russia and North Korea. In a statement issued by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control,

A dozen other people were injured, some seriously, in the attack in the city of Sumy, which has come under increased bombardment since Ukraine’s offensive into Russia’s nearby Kursk region.

Russia said it was working to repel a Ukrainian drone attack on Toropets, where there's a major military depot, as explosions lit up the night.

A large-scale Ukrainian drone attack on Russia triggered an earthquake-sized blast at a major arsenal in the Tver region on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of a nearby town, war bloggers and some media reported.