U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday he expressed "disappointment and frustration" to his Russian counterpart over the lack of progress on resolving the Ukraine war.

"I echoed what the president (Donald Trump) said, both a disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress," Rubio told reporters after the meeting with Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering in Malaysia.

The Security Service of Ukraine said Thursday that one of its members had been killed in central Kyiv, in the most recent apparent targeted attack of security personnel since Russia invaded Ukraine.

"A criminal investigation has been launched into the murder of an SBU employee in the Golosiivsky district of Kyiv," the SBU said in written comments to AFP.

U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting five West African leaders on Wednesday for a "multilateral lunch" at the White House as the region reels from the impact of U.S. aid cuts.

The leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau are expected to discuss key areas of cooperation, including economic development, security, infrastructure and democracy, according to a statement from the Liberian presidency. The White House has not provided further details.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez presented anti-corruption measures in response to the mounting corruption cases involving his Socialist Party, and again said he would not step down from office.

Speaking in parliament Wednesday at an extraordinary session about a corruption probe involving a former Socialist Party official, the Spanish leader took responsibility for his poor judgement but repeatedly said he would not step down, calling himself "an honest politician" with "the pride of leading an exemplary party."

Russia fired a record 728 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine overnight, as well as 13 cruise and ballistic missiles, the Ukrainian air force said Wednesday, in the latest escalation after weeks of mounting Russian aerial and ground attacks in the more than three-year war.

The city of Lutsk, which lies in Ukraine's northwest along the border with Poland and Belarus, was the hardest hit, though 10 other regions were also struck, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been nominated again for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump on Monday that he recommended him for the prestigious award, handing the American leader the letter he said he sent the Nobel committee.

U.S. President Donald Trump has lashed out at his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin over peace talks in Ukraine, as he hinted at interest in placing fresh sanctions on Moscow.

"We get a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin if you want to know the truth. He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless," he told reporters Tuesday during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

After months of fighting meter-by-meter towards the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, Russia announced this week that it had finally gained a foothold in the industrial territory.

Iran said Tuesday it has not made any request for talks with the United States, after President Donald Trump said Tehran was seeking negotiations following last month's war with Israel.

Berlin on Tuesday said the Chinese military had targeted a laser at a German aircraft participating in an EU-led mission to protect marine traffic in the Red Sea.