Leaders from across the European Union and the Balkans gathered in Montenegro on Friday to discuss expanding the bloc to include countries in the region, seen as a key area in countering security and economic threats posed by Russia and China.

The EU-Western Balkans summit, being held in the Adriatic Sea coastal town of Tivat, brings together EU leaders including President Emmanuel Macron of France and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as well as the heads of candidate countries in the Balkans.

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia will strengthen its air defenses to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St. Petersburg.

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will travel to North Korea next week, both countries announced Friday, in what will be his first visit in nearly seven years.

His trip will be the latest in a series of steps by China to reinforce its close ties with its nuclear-armed neighbor. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reached out to Russia in recent years, notably by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine.

Russia fired hundreds of drones at Ukraine between late Thursday and early Friday, killing seven people and destroying a factory that produces milk for children.

A Russian drone strike on the food production facility near Ukraine's capital Kyiv killed four people early Friday, the region's governor said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Wednesday that lines of communication with the United States were still open, but "no tangible progress" has been made in negotiations to end the Middle East war.

"Communications with the Americans have not been cut off, and messages have been exchanged regarding the need to stop aggression against Beirut, but no tangible progress has been made in the negotiation process," the Tasnim news agency quoted him as telling Lebanon's Al Mayadeen TV.

The fate of Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpiles is at the center of talks with Washington, and Tehran has not yet agreed to a peace deal, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday.

Washington insists that Iran must turn over its near-weapons-grade enriched uranium, agree to curb its nuclear activities and re-open the Strait of Hormuz for any peace agreement to take hold.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Iran was "playing with fire" after the Islamic republic carried out an attack on Kuwait.

"Iran surely knows what the (U.S.) president has said, that if necessary, there'll be a full-scale return to military action," Netanyahu said in an interview with U.S. channel CNBC when asked if there was still a ceasefire following recent attacks on Kuwait and Bahrain.

A fire swept through a building in a New Delhi neighborhood Wednesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring several others, police said.

The building in the Malviya Nagar neighborhood in the southern part of the city had a restaurant on the ground floor and a hotel above. The predominantly residential area is densely populated and is popular with students and young professionals.

Ukrainian long-range drones struck an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and set it ablaze, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday, as the Russian city hosted an annual international economic forum promoted by President Vladimir Putin.

The drones flew more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to hit the terminal, Zelenskyy said on social media. Clouds of black smoke rose over the city's port after the attack.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday expressed hope that a deal to end the war in Iran was in the cards, stressing that Tehran must severely curtail its nuclear program before any sanctions are lifted.