The Kremlin on Wednesday declined to comment on a media report that the U.S. and Russia have been secretly working on a peace plan for Ukraine.

"In this case, there is nothing new that we can inform you about," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in response to a question about the report by U.S. website Axios.

A Russian missile and drone strike on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens, officials said Wednesday, updating a previous toll.

"Nineteen people were killed as a result of a massive combined Russian strike on the city. Another 66 people were wounded, including 16 children," the interior ministry said on social media.

Chileans face perhaps the starkest choice in the history of their country's young democracy when they vote next month in a presidential runoff that pits hard-right José Antonio Kast against communist Jeannette Jara.

Neither candidate cleared the 50% threshold to win, but Kast heads into the second round of voting best positioned to succeed after an unprecedented 70% of voters backed an array of right-wing parties in Sunday's poll.

The House is expected to vote Tuesday on legislation to force the Justice Department to publicly release its files on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, the culmination of a monthslong effort that has overcome opposition from President Donald Trump and Republican leadership.

When a small bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a petition in July to maneuver around House Speaker Mike Johnson's control of which bills see the House floor, it appeared a longshot effort, especially as Trump urged his supporters to dismiss the matter as a "hoax." But both Trump and Johnson failed in their efforts to prevent the vote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that he will travel to Turkey this week in an attempt to jump-start negotiations on ending Russia's invasion, which began nearly four years ago.

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff will join Zelensky in Turkey, a senior Turkish official told The Associated Press, but the Kremlin said that Russia won't be sending anyone.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was ready to talk "face to face" with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, who hours earlier mentioned possible talks between the two leaders amid soaring military tensions in the Caribbean.

"This country will continue to be at peace, and in the United States, anyone who wants to talk to Venezuela will talk face to face, without any problem," Maduro, whose reelection last year was rejected by Washington as fraudulent, said on his weekly television program Monday.

Less than a month into her term, Japan's conservative leader has stirred tensions with China by suggesting a Chinese move against Taiwan could prompt a Japanese military response.

China objects to the involvement of other countries in Taiwan, notably the United States, which is the main supplier of weapons to the self-governing island. Beijing claims it as its own and says it must come under its control. It says it's a domestic issue and "a red line" that others should not cross.

South Korea proposed talks with North Korea to clarify the rivals' border line and ease military tensions, saying Monday that North Korean soldiers' repeated border intrusions have raised worries about an armed clash.

South Korea's military says it has been firing warning shots to repel North Korean troops who violated the border's military demarcation line numerous times since they began works to boost front-line defenses last year. North Korea has denied its soldiers' alleged border breaches and threatened unspecified responses.

A railway line linking Warsaw to southeastern Poland was damaged by a weekend explosion that the prime minister on Monday called an act of sabotage.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who visited the site, said that the line is "crucially important for delivering aid to Ukraine."

A special tribunal sentenced Bangladesh's ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and one of her close aides to death on charges of crimes against humanity for her crackdown on a student uprising last year that killed hundreds of people and led to the toppling of her 15-year rule.

The International Crimes Tribunal based in Dhaka, the capital, sentenced Hasina and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan to death for their involvement in the use of deadly force against protesters.