Russia’s war on Ukraine latest: Russians press battle for Bakhmut

March 1 – (Reuters) – Russian forces launched sustained attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut in a bid to gain a breakthrough in the years-long war, despite a US official predicting few near-term territorial gains for Russia.

DIPLOMACY

* The International Criminal Court has a “historic” role in finding justice for crimes committed during the war in Ukraine and ensuring long-term security, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday after a meeting with the chief prosecutor of the ICC.

* Colin Kahl, the US undersecretary for defense policy, described the frontline in Ukraine as “a grinding drudgery” and said he does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains any time soon.

* Ukraine has appealed to the UN and Turkey to start negotiations on extending a grain export deal, but there has been no response, a Ukrainian government source said.

* The Kremlin reiterated its position that Russia is open to negotiations to end the Ukraine conflict, but that new “territorial realities” cannot be ignored.

* The United States will not hesitate to impose sanctions on Chinese companies and individuals if they violate US sanctions against Russia over the war, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

* Foreign ministers from around the world meet in New Delhi this week in the shadow of war and tensions between the US and China.

BATTLE

* Russian President Vladimir Putin has called on the state security service FSB to step up its activities to counter what he says is increasing espionage and sabotage against Russia by Ukraine and the West.

* A drone crashed near a natural gas distribution station southeast of Moscow on Tuesday in an apparently failed attack 110 km from the Russian capital, the regional governor said.

* A hacking attack prompted some Russian regional broadcasters to broadcast a false alert urging people to protect themselves from an incoming missile attack, the Emergencies Ministry said.

* Russia’s Defense Ministry said it was conducting air defense drills with interceptors after St Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport was forced to suspend all flights for an hour on Tuesday.

* Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

BUSINESS

* Insurers are about to pay state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) $22.48 million for their ship that was hit by a missile during fighting in Ukraine, two officials involved said.

* Russia and the United States have fallen out over whether Russian fertilizer could be donated to Syria, as Moscow ramps up complaints about obstacles to its fertilizer shipments ahead of renewing a deal to export Black Sea grain to Ukraine.

* Russia’s oil and gas export revenues fell nearly 40% in January as price caps and Western sanctions squeezed earnings from Moscow’s most lucrative export, the International Energy Agency said.

ANNIVERSARY

* TIMETABLE – Major developments since the Russian invasion

* Selenskyj from Ukraine unexpectedly defied Putin

* Putin, secure in power, has created the conditions for a long war

* A year later, Ukraine and its government not only survived. You fought back

* Hardened by the scars of war, Kiev pushes on

* Graphs of a war year in the markets: how the dollar, energy and food prices tumbled

* Russia’s economy is holding up, but the road back to prosperity could be long

* Moscow’s decades-long gas relationship with Europe is in tatters

* Top brands are withdrawing from Russia, but goods are easy to find

* Can US support for Ukraine last?

* External donors are pumping billions into Ukraine

* How did China face the “No Limits” partner Russia?

* A year after the start of the war, elderly refugees are losing hope

* Life and Death in Mariupol – a survivor’s war story

* The family mourns the victim of Bucha, which became a symbol of the war

PODCAST

Learn more about the Ukraine War. Listen to a special episode of the Reuters World News Podcast.

(Compiled by Reuters editors)

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