India, Sept. 28 -- Russian strikes on Ukraine killed at least two people overnight into Sunday, officials said, hours after Moscow rejected German calls to ease off its escalation toward NATO.

Russia's top diplomat on Saturday brushed off what's believed to have been the first tete-a-tete with his German counterpart since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meeting was held during the UN General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders, as an intensifying aerial war between Russia and Ukraine shows no sign of slowing.

Ties between Russia and Germany have soured in recent weeks, following an attempted drone attack last month at Leipzig airport that Berlin blamed on the Kremlin.

With front-line positions largely unch...