Ukrainian officials defiantly rejected a Russian demand that their forces in Mariupol lay down their arms and raise white flags Monday in exchange for safe passage out of the besieged port city. As Russia intensified its effort to pound Mariupol into submission, its ground offensive in other parts of Ukraine …

Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said the United States would send a contingent of troops to the country to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank amid the war in Ukraine. Petkov made the announcement after holding talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Sofia on Saturday. The US Stryker army contingent …

China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the disputed South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating nearby, a top U.S. military commander said …