Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin suspends key US-Russia nuclear treaty in speech denouncing West

Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Belarus Monday for a meeting with his ally Alexander Lukashenko amid fears Russia is seeking to force Belarus’ army into directly joining the war in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as "absolutely ridiculous conjecture" speculation Putin will attempt to force Lukashenko into sending troops to fight in Ukraine.

The two leaders are scheduled to meet in the Belarus’ capital, Minsk. Talks will center on "military questions," Peskov said without providing specifics.

This is the first time Putin has visited Belarus since 2019, and the trip comes amid warnings from Ukrainian commanders that Putin is preparing to launch a fresh offensive against Ukraine in early 2023.

Russia launched an unsuccessful attack on Kyiv in February from Belarus and it has long been believed the Kremlin is pressuring Lukashenko to send Belarusian troops to bolster Russia’s floundering war.

- ABC News' Patrick Reevell

A little over a week since he was freed in the prisoner swap for Brittney Griner, the Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout has visited the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, one of the regional capitals of the Donbas that is occupied by Russia.

Bout took part in a ceremony opening the local branch of the far right pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), of which he has become a member since his release.

Video of the event showed Bout with a senior MP from the party at the ceremony in a hall. Bout compared Lugansk’s annexation and return to Russia with his own return.

"I closely followed what was happening in Donbas all these 8 years," Bout said. "And you know, your example for me did a lot for me, it helped me, because you are all heroes … And so big thanks to all of you. And you were also for me an inspiration which allowed me to also return to the motherland, like all of Donbas, to return to Russia. Thank you."

Bout has expressed his "full" support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and in his first interview after his release said he would have gone to fight if he could.

Lugansk has been under Russian control since 2014, when Moscow used proxy fighters to help set up two breakaway statelets in Donbas. The Lugansk region was one of the four Ukrainian regions Putin annexed in September.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell

Ukraine's Air Force said it shot down 30 of the 35 Russian drones fired at Ukrainian targets overnight.

Ukrainian authorities said Russia's earlier drone attack on Kyiv damaged critical infrastructure and injured two people.

At least two explosions were heard Monday morning in the capital.

-ABC News' Guy Davies

A pre-recorded address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that was set to be played at the World Cup final Sunday was purportedly cut by the soccer tournament's governing body, FIFA, according to Ukrainian officials.

The office of the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States told ABC News on Sunday that Zelenskyy's speech did not air to the audience at the championship match between Argentina and France because "at the very last moment it was banned by FIFA."

FIFA has not confirmed whether it forbid the airing of Zelenskyy's speech at the match in Qatar that was won by Argentina.

In the one-minute and 43-second speech sent to ABC News by the ambassador's office, Zelenskyy praised the World Cup tournament as a "common victory, the celebration of the human spirit."

"The World Cup proved time and again that different countries and nationalities can decide who is the strongest in fairplay...," Zelensky said.

He added, "This is the dream of so many people when players compete, making everybody enjoy peace," he said. "Every father would like to take his son to the football match all over the world. Every mother would like her son to be back from the war."

Zelenskyy noted that Ukraine has proposed a "peace formula" for ending the war with Russia that he said is "absolutely fair."

"We offered it because there are no champions in war, there can be no draw," he said.

He ended the speech by inviting all countries to participate in a global peace summit that he has proposed for this winter.