Russia's war on Ukraine latest: IMF approves $15.6 bln Ukraine loan

The International Monetary Fund said its executive board had approved a four-year $15.6 billion loan program for Ukraine, part of a global $115 billion package to support the country's economy as it battles Russia's 13-month-old invasion.

A $2.6 billion US military aid package that could include air surveillance radars, anti-tank rockets and fuel trucks for Ukraine's fight against Russia is expected to be announced as soon as Monday, three US officials said on Friday.

A senior Ukrainian official ruled out any ceasefire in Russia's war on his country that would involve Russian forces remaining on territory they now occupy in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia faced "existential threats" to its security and development from "unfriendly states" as he presented President Vladimir Putin with an updated foreign policy doctrine.

US Secretary of State Blinken will push back on Russia's attempts to "weaponized energy" and rally support for a Ukrainian counteroffensive when he meets NATO foreign ministers in Brussels next week, an official said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Russia, which has decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too.

At least six Russian missiles hit the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv late on Thursday, and officials are gathering details about damage and casualties, the regional governor said.

The advance of Russian soldiers on the outskirts of the eastern frontline town of Bakhmut "has been halted - or nearly halted", the director of the Ukrainian defense publication Defense Express said.

Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

Russia said on Friday that if the United States threatened Moscow over its arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, it would "reap the whirlwind", the state-owned news agency RIA reported.

A Nobel prize-winning Russian journalist said he did not believe that arrested American reporter Evan Gershkovich was a spy, adding he hoped diplomacy could bring about his quick release.

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