Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

A vital grain export deal between Ukraine and Russia has been extended for 60 days, according to Russia’s deputy foreign minister, who was quoted by a Russian news agency.

The deal, known officially as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, has facilitated the export of agricultural products, such as wheat, corn and sunflower oil, from Ukraine via the Black Sea. Early on in the war a blockade on such exports contributed to global food shortages and rising prices.

The grain initiative, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last July, has enabled millions of tons of agricultural products to be exported from Ukraine, alleviating shortages elsewhere.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko was quoted as saying that the deal has been extended on the previous conditions, state news agency Tass reported, but that Russia wanted to ensure all the conditions of the agreement were met.

Moscow has complained that international sanctions on its logistics, insurance and payments industries have continued to impede its own agricultural exports of grain and fertilizers.

Grushko said “Russia will persistently seek to ensure that all obligations under the deal are fulfilled,” adding that Russia will “strive to ensure that all those promises, obligations that were given to Russia regarding the implementation of the second track [grain deal], and this is the lifting of all sanctions — direct and indirect — for the supply of agricultural products of the Russian Federation to international global markets, were completed,” Tass reported.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian artillery ammunition shortages have likely worsened in recent weeks to the extent that “extremely punitive shell-rationing is in force on many parts of the front,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Tuesday.

“This has almost certainly been a key reason why no Russian formation has recently been able to generate operationally significant offensive action,” it added.

The ministry noted that it was likely that Russia was already resorting to issuing old munitions stock which had previously been categorized as unfit for use.

The ministry noted that a presidential decree on March 3 laid down measures for Russia’s Ministry of Trade and Industry to bypass the authority of the managers of defense industries who fail to meet their production goals.

“Russia is increasingly applying the principles of a command economy to its military industrial complex because it recognises that its defence manufacturing capacity is a key vulnerability in the increasingly attritional ‘special military operation’,” the U.K. noted.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisted his forces could win the battle for Bakhmut in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, as doubts continue over whether Ukraine should spend more manpower and resources on defending the besieged city.

“As always, today I was in touch with our commanders, with intelligence [officers]. It is very hard in the east – very painful,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.

“We must destroy the enemy’s military power – and we will destroy it,” he said, adding that the defense of settlements big and small, such as Bilohorivka and Avdiivka or Bakhmut and Vuhledar, could determine what Ukraine’s future looks like.

On Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s military said in a Facebook post that Russian offensives continued around Bakhmut and surrounding towns “despite significant losses.” It added that its forces had repelled more than 100 attacks in the Donetsk region but noted that Russian forces were relentless in their pursuit to capture Bakhmut.

There are doubts over the merits of defending Bakhmut, a city said to be almost completely surrounded by Russian forces and mercenary units.

Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said Ukraine was suffering losses among reserves it intended to use in planned counteroffensives against Russian forces, expected in late spring, and noted in an interview reported by Reuters that, “we could lose here everything we wanted to use for those counter-offensives.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said at a briefing in Geneva that Moscow may extend its participation in the Black Sea Grain deal but only for 60 days, according to Russian-state media RIA Novosti.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw three key Ukrainian ports reopen. The deal is set to expire on March 18.

“Our further position will be determined depending on the real – not in words, but in deeds – progress towards the normalization of our agricultural exports, including bank payments, transport logistics, insurance, unfreezing of financial activities and the supply of ammonia through the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline,” Vershinin said, according to an NBC News translation.

So far, more than 700 ships have sailed from Ukrainian ports.

— Amanda Macias

The Biden administration’s proposed budget request for the fiscal year 2024 sets defense spending at $886 billion.

The defense budget includes about $1.7 billion to help Ukraine rebuild its critical infrastructure amid Russia’s war. The budget will also finance multi-year contracts for missiles and other munitions to replenish U.S. stockpiles.

The federal budget also includes $63.1 billion for the State Department and USAID.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a separate statement that the proposed funding “will make it possible for us to continue to promote U.S. national interests, lead the world in tackling global challenges, and continue support for the people of Ukraine.”

— Amanda Macias

The Spanish military shows Ukrainian soldiers how to use Leopard 2A4 tanks during a training exercise conducted at the San Gregorio military base outside Zaragoza, Spain.

The military aid for Ukraine has stoked tensions within Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s governing coalition with its junior partner, the far-left Unidas Podemos party, urging the administration to focus on pushing for peace instead of sending weaponry. 

Ukraine’s military said that there is a shortage of skilled workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant due to Russia’s ongoing war.

“The shortage of skilled workers who can ensure the vital activity of the nuclear power plant is growing catastrophically,” Ukraine’s military said in an update posted on Facebook and translated by NBC News.

The nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, was captured by Russian forces in the early days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military also said that “the Russian occupiers employed people without the appropriate education and experience at the nuclear power plant.”

“All this can lead to unpredictable consequences,” the group added.

— Amanda Macias