At least 23 people were killed and 28 wounded in a Russian missile strike that hit a convoy of civilian vehicles on the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, the regional governor said.

A suicide attack at a learning centre in the Afghan capital killed 19 people as students prepared for exams on Friday morning, police said.

Russia is expected to annex four occupied regions of Ukraine at a lavish Kremlin ceremony on Friday that follows a threat by President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in their defence.

Ukrainian troops are moving to capture the Russian-held eastern town of Lyman, threatening a new setback for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's campaign in the Donbas as he prepares to declare the region part of Russia.

According to the U.S. GAO report, the original cost of the project was $379 million, which has now escalated to $621 million with $504 million already spent.

Taiwan's navy took delivery on Friday of a new, domestically made amphibious warfare ship that can be used to land troops and bolster supply lines to vulnerable islands, part of President Tsai Ing-wen's defence self-sufficiency push.

The naval forces of South Korea, the United States and Japan will stage their major trilateral anti-submarine exercises for the first time in five years on Friday, amid tension over North Korea's recent series of missile tests.

"If a mistake is made, I repeat, it must be corrected. Those who were called up without proper reason should be returned home," Putin said in a videoconference with his top security officials.

Protests continued in several cities across Iran on Thursday against the death of young woman in police custody, state and social media reported, as a human rights group said at least 83 people had been killed in nearly two weeks of demonstrations.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set out a 200 billion euro ($194 billion) "defensive shield", including a gas price brake and a cut in sales tax for the fuel, to protect companies and households from the impact of soaring energy prices.