(Reuters) – The Ukraine Black Sea grain deal has been extended by two more months, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, one day before Russia could have quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine denied on Wednesday that a Russian hypersonic missile had destroyed a U.S.-made Patriot missile defence system during an air strike on Kyiv. Russia’s defence ministry made the assertion on Tuesday after an overnight air attack on the Ukrainian capital.
* Ukraine’s military said it had made new advances on Wednesday in heavy fighting near the eastern city of Bakhmut, and that Russia was continuing to send in new units including paratroopers. The remarks were the latest by Kyiv in the past week to indicate that Russian forces have been pushed back in some areas around Bakhmut after months of combat.
* Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday its forces were continuing to fight to capture western parts of Bakhmut, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. It also said its forces had hit a large ammunition depot in the Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv overnight.
* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
DIPLOMACY AND ECONOMY
* Germany has neither the training capacity nor the right military equipment to actively contribute to a British-backed initiative to help Ukraine source fighter jets, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Wednesday.
* Hungary will block the next tranche of EU military support for Ukraine and any new sanctions package against Russia unless Kyiv removes Hungarian bank OTP from its list of war sponsors, its foreign minister said on Wednesday.
* German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday said his government wanted pragmatic measures to prevent the circumvention of sanctions imposed on Russia, appearing to temper U.S. calls for a more wide-ranging ban on exports.
* Zelenskiy says he is making progress in persuading the West to supply Ukraine with fighter jets – with U.S.-built F-16s flown by several NATO nations in particular focus.
* Finland’s embassy and consulate in Russia have had their bank accounts frozen and have had no explanation, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Finland formally joined NATO on April 4 in a historic policy shift brought on by last year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine.
* China has notified foreign embassies and international organisations not to exhibit “politicised propaganda” on their buildings, an instruction diplomats say is aimed at missions that have displayed Ukrainian flags since Russia’s invasion.
IN-DEPTH STORIES
* INSIGHT-Communities torn as Ukraine turns its back on Moscow-linked church.
* INSIGHT-How Russians end up in a far-right militia fighting in Ukraine.
* INSIGHT-Ukraine farms lose workers to war, complicating a tough harvest
* EXPLAINER-Why the EU is restricting grain imports from Ukraine
(Compiled by Reuters editors)
