Russia attacked Kyiv with an hourslong barrage of missiles and drones, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 70 in its deadliest assault on the Ukrainian capital since last July and just as peace efforts are coming to a head.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the attack he is cutting short his official trip to South Africa and returning home as the city reeled from the bombardment that kept residents on edge for about 11 hours. It appeared to be Russia's biggest attack on Kyiv in nine months, and Zelenskyy called it one of Russia's "most outrageous."

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas on Wednesday, Turkey's disaster and emergency management agency said. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries in the metropolis of 16 million.

The earthquake had a shallow depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles), according to the United States Geological Survey, with its epicenter about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southwest of Istanbul, in the Sea of Marmara.

Iran's foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned the latest U.S. sanctions targeting its oil network, calling the move a sign of Washington's "hostile approach" ahead of a third round of indirect nuclear talks.

In a statement, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the US policy of imposing sanctions on the Iranian people was a "clear contradiction with the United States' demand for dialogue and negotiation and indicates America's lack of goodwill and seriousness in this regard."

Hubert Montoya burst out laughing when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security emailed to say he should leave the country immediately or risk consequences of being deported. He is a U.S. citizen.

"I just thought it was absurd," the Austin, Texas, immigration attorney said.

Gunmen shot and killed at least 26 tourists Tuesday at a resort in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said, in what appeared to be a major shift in a regional conflict in which tourists have largely been spared.

Police blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for the attack in Baisaran meadow, some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the disputed region's resort town of Pahalgam. At least three dozen people were wounded, many of them seriously, according to two senior police officers.

A planned meeting Wednesday between top U.S., British, French and Ukrainian diplomats to push forward a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine was scrapped at the last minute, with U.S. Vice President JD Vance saying negotiations are reaching a moment of truth.

"We've issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it's time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process," Vance told reporters during a visit Wednesday to Agra, India.

The bells of St. Peter's tolled Wednesday as the body of Pope Francis was transferred from the Vatican hotel where he lived into the basilica, escorted by a procession of solemn cardinals and Swiss Guards through the same piazza where the pontiff had greeted the faithful from his popemobile just days before in what became his final good-bye.

Pallbearers carried the simple wooden coffin on their shoulders through the Vatican's archway gates, out into St. Peter's Square and into the basilica, the cardinals in their scarlet cassocks, bishops in their purple robes and the Swiss Guards in their golden and blue uniforms processing slowly behind.

U.S. presidential envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in Moscow later this week, Russian state media reported Tuesday citing Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

"Yes," Ushakov said in response to a question from a journalist as to whether Witkoff would visit Moscow on what would be his fourth trip since U.S. President Trump took office with promises to bring a swift end to the Ukraine conflict.

Russian drones battered the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and glide bombs hit Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said Tuesday, as the Kremlin again warned that negotiators are unlikely to obtain a swift breakthrough in peace talks on the war.

Ukrainian, British, French and U.S. officials are due to meet in London on Wednesday to discuss the war. Anticipation is building over whether diplomatic efforts can stop more than three years of fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. Hostility has run deep since Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in 2014.

Federal immigration authorities denied Mahmoud Khalil's request for a temporary release from detention to attend the birth of his first child, who was born Monday in New York, according to emails shared with The Associated Press.

Khalil, a Columbia University activist who has been held in a detention center in Jena, Louisiana for six weeks, requested a two-week furlough on Sunday morning, noting that his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, had gone into labor eight days earlier than expected.