Ukraine wants to bolster military position before resuming talks with Russia -official

Ukraine wants to strengthen its positions on the ground with the help of new weapons deliveries from the West before it resumes peace talks with Russia, Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said. "Our armed forces are ready to use (the new weapons)...and then I think we can initiate a new round of talks from a strengthened position," he told Ukraine national television on Friday.

Ukraine said it had recaptured a chunk of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk in the Luhansk region, the focus of a Russian offensive to take the eastern Donbas region.