Estimates from researchers in the U.S. in July suggested that the Kremlin faces eye-watering costs for its payouts to troops injured in the war in Ukraine.

Russia is changing the rules for payments made to soldiers wounded in the war on Ukraine as the costs of the invasion pile up.

The current maximum amount of compensation is 3 million rubles (nearly $29,000), but the severity of the injury is not considered for its allocation. The change approved by Putin classifies injuries into three categories.

According to the assessment of a nation in the Group of Seven, China is unlikely to be pleased with the alliance between Russia and North Korea, the people said. The upcoming G-20 summit in Rio will be an opportunity to push the issue with Beijing, said the people, without providing more specifics.

The U.S. says there will be a "firm response" as Ukrainian forces holding ground in Russia's Kursk region now face North Korean troops "engaging in combat."

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday, authorities reported, as the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow’s war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine’s army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.