When Russia launched its war on Ukraine, a Syrian student in the city of Kharkiv joined the exodus of people fleeing the onslaught. It was the third time that 24-year-old Orwa Staif, who grew up in the suburbs of Damascus, was being displaced by war and crises.

For Staif, it was a jarring déjà vu: columns of people, many on foot, carrying what few belongings they could, desperate to escape bombs and missiles. He had seen it all before, in his native Syria.

Just as millions of people dared to hope a two-year pandemic was receding, war broke out in Ukraine, triggering a new surge of anxiety in Western Europe and fears about wider conflict -- or worse.

Rights groups and observers say Russia is using cluster bombs in its invasion of Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies. If confirmed, deployment of the weapon, especially in crowded civilian areas, would usher in new humanitarian concerns in the conflict, Europe's largest ground war in generations.

Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas in south Lebanon, including during the 1982 invasion that saw Israeli troops reach the capital Beirut.

When Volodymyr Zelenskyy was growing up in southeastern Ukraine, his Jewish family spoke Russian and his father once forbade the younger Zelenskyy from going abroad to study in Israel. Instead, Zelenskyy studied law at home. Upon graduation, he found a new home in movie acting and comedy — rocketing in the 2010s to become one of Ukraine's top entertainers with the TV series "Servant of the People."

In it, he portrayed a lovable high school teacher fed up with corrupt politicians who accidentally becomes president.

It has been a long time since the threat of using nuclear weapons has been brandished so openly by a world leader, but Vladimir Putin has just done it, warning in a speech that he has the weapons available if anyone dares to use military means to try to stop Russia's takeover of Ukraine.

The threat may have been empty, a mere baring of fangs by the Russian president, but it was noticed. It kindled visions of a nightmarish outcome in which Putin's ambitions in Ukraine could lead to a nuclear war through accident or miscalculation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched an invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, has long been obsessed with returning the country to Moscow's fold, in the name of Russia's greatness.

Russia began evacuating its embassy in Kyiv, and Ukraine urged its citizens to leave Russia on Wednesday as the region braced for further confrontation after President Vladimir Putin received authorization to use military force outside his country and the West responded with sanctions.

Hopes for a diplomatic way out of a new, potentially devastating war in Europe appeared all but sunk as the U.S. and key European allies accused Moscow on Tuesday of crossing a red line in rolling over Ukraine's border into separatist regions — with some calling it an invasion.

While the world's attention has been focused on Ukraine, the Biden administration also has been racing with world powers toward restoring the 2015 international nuclear deal with Iran.

After months of negotiations in Vienna, the various sides have indicated a new deal is close, perhaps in the coming days. But instead of the "longer, stronger" agreement originally promised by the U.S., the deal is expected to do little more than reinstate the original pact, whose key restrictions on Iranian nuclear activity expire in a few years.

Russia's military buildup along its border with Ukraine is testing the possibility of a Moscow-Beijing axis lining up against the U.S. and its allies.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin's meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing this month fed speculation that a new alliance could form between the two great powers as they face off with the U.S. over a range of issues.

World leaders are making another diplomatic push in hopes of preventing a Russian invasion of Ukraine, even as heavy shelling continues in Ukraine's east and the Kremlin considered recognizing the independence of the separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

The White House said President Joe Biden had agreed "in principle" to meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he refrains from launching an assault on his neighbor that U.S. officials say appears increasingly likely.