Ukraine updates: Wagner rep barred from Russian army headquarters

Ukraine has broadened a request for controversial cluster bombs from the United States to include a weapon that it wants to cannibalise to drop the antiarmour bomblets it contains on Russian forces from drones, according to two US legislators.

According to the Reuters news agency, Kyiv has urged members of Congress to press the White House to approve sending the weapons, but it is by no means certain that the Biden administration will sign off on that.

Cluster munitions, banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.

Ukraine is seeking the MK-20, an air-delivered cluster bomb, to release its individual explosives from drones, said US Representatives Jason Crow and Adam Smith, who serve on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. That is in addition to 155 mm artillery cluster shells that Ukraine already has requested, they said.

They said Ukrainian officials urged US legislators at last month’s Munich Security Conference to press for White House approval.

The US’s list of recently sanctioned entities for alleged support for Russia’s war in Ukraine includes two Canadian companies, US and Canadian authorities have said.

The two electronics distribution companies from Montreal — Cpunto Inc and Electronic Network Inc — were listed for “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States” and are subject to US export restrictions, according to the US Commerce Department.

The Commerce Department list did not mention what the two companies shipped or attempted to ship that triggered US action.

Ukraine’s air force has said it shot down 13 explosive drones launched from southern Russia overnight after air raid sirens sounded for hours in Kyiv.

The air force said on Telegram that Russian forces had launched 15 Iran-made Shahed drones from the Bryansk region northeast of Kyiv, 13 of which Ukrainian forces shot down.

Russia has been launching missile and drone attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure since October, spurring Kyiv to bolster its air defence systems with Western help.

In Kyiv, air raid signals rang out for several hours early Monday, and the authorities said air defences were triggered by an “aerial target”.

The Norwegian state raked in record oil and gas revenues last year after the war in Ukraine sent energy prices soaring, official figures have shown.

Norway earned $140bn in revenues from oil and gas, according to estimates by Statistics Norway (SSB).

It was “by far the highest ever recorded in the statistics” and almost three times what was earned in 2021, according to SSB.

Norway became Europe’s largest natural gas supplier in 2022 as Russia cut deliveries and the Scandinavian country increased its exports.

Russian freelance journalist Andrei Novashov has been handed an eight-month corrective labour sentence after being convicted of knowingly distributing false information about the Russian army, his former employer said.

Siberia.Realities, a local project of US broadcaster Radio Free Europe which Russian authorities have designated a “foreign agent”, said a court in the Siberian region of Kemerovo had handed down the guilty verdict.

Novashov was reported to have been found guilty of discrediting the army for four posts on social media, plus a repost of an article which accused Russian forces of shelling civilian infrastructure in their campaign to capture the Ukrainian city of Mariupol last year.

Russia introduced sweeping wartime censorship laws shortly after ordering tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine a year ago.

German authorities say they have uncovered a hacking network with links to Russia that targeted more than 600 victims.

The operation was conducted with the FBI and Europe’s policing agency. Dutch and Ukrainian police were also involved in the operation.

The network is accused of “digital blackmail” and “computer sabotage” and allegedly targeted its victims with ransomware and extorted large sums of money from them.

German authorities have issued arrest warrants for three suspected masterminds of the group, who allegedly have links to Russia. A worldwide hunt is under way for the trio.

Germany is on high alert for online sabotage as tensions surge with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s foreign minister has urged the International Criminal Court to investigate footage circulating on social media that he said showed Russian forces killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

“Horrific video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW executed by Russian forces merely for saying ‘Glory to Ukraine’. Another proof this war is genocidal,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on social media.

Kuleba said it was “imperative” that International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan “launches an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime”.

He was referring to what appears to be amateur footage of a detained combatant standing in a shallow trench, wearing camouflage, smoking a cigarette and being shot to death with automatic weapons after saying, “Glory to Ukraine.”

Horrific video of an unarmed Ukrainian POW executed by Russian forces merely for saying "Glory to Ukraine". Another proof this war is genocidal. It is imperative that @KarimKhanQC launches an immediate ICC investigation into this heinous war crime. Perpetrators must face justice.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) March 6, 2023

Ukraine’s economy ministry has lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2023 to 1 percent, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports, citing a deputy minister.

The ministry had previously projected that the economy, which has been hit by Russia’s invasion and shrank by about a third last year, would grow 3.2 percent this year.

Speaking at an event in Kyiv, Deputy Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev said the new figure was based on an assessment that fighting would continue beyond the middle of this year.

He also projected that inflation would fall to 24 percent from 26.6 percent last year, Interfax reported.

Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk has dedicated her first WTA singles title to those “fighting and dying” in her home country after she defeated Russian Varvara Gracheva 6-3, 7-5 to win the inaugural Austin Open.

The 20-year-old collapsed on the court and covered her face with her hands after securing the title on Sunday but declined to shake the hand of her Russian opponent at the net.

“Everyone who is in the stands and everyone who is watching, especially in Ukraine, I want to say, ‘Slava Ukraini,'” Kostyuk said during the trophy ceremony. The Ukrainian phrase means “Glory to Ukraine.”

“Being in the position that I’m in right now, it’s extremely special to win this title,” she said. “I want to dedicate this title to Ukraine and all of the people who are fighting and dying right now.”

Kyiv says its troops are still holding out in a brutal fight for Bakhmut while Washington says that even if the eastern Ukrainian city should fall to Russia, it would not necessarily give Moscow momentum in the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office said he had discussed Bakhmut with his chief of the general staff and commander of ground forces, who both “spoke in favour of continuing the defensive operation and further strengthening positions in Bakhmut”.

Volodymyr Nazarenko, a Ukrainian commander in Bakhmut, said there had been no order to retreat and “the defence is holding”, albeit in conditions of “utter hell”.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya has been handed a 15-year prison term after being convicted in absentia of treason and conspiracy to seize power, a verdict she says was punishment for her efforts to promote democracy.

Tsikhanouskaya, 40, a former English teacher, fled to neighbouring Lithuania in 2020 after running against incumbent Alexander Lukashenko in a presidential election, which official results showed Lukashenko won by a landslide.

She and the opposition said at the time that the results had been doctored to hand victory to Lukashenko. Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus with an iron hand for nearly 30 years, denied the claim.

Mass protests against Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, then erupted. Security forces suppressed them and jailed Lukashenko opponents. Others fled the country.

In 2022, Lukashenko allowed Putin to use Belarus as a springboard for Russia’s failed offensive to capture Kyiv in the early days of its invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian government has branded the global anti-corruption group Transparency International as “undesirable”, effectively banning it from operating in the country.

The Russian prosecutor’s office charged that while “formally acting as an organisation fighting corruption around the world, it interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, which poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the Russian Federation”.

The Berlin-based group is known for an annual index ranking countries, including Russia, on their degree of corruption.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says there would be “consequences” if China sends weapons to Russia for Moscow’s war in Ukraine but he is pretty optimistic that Beijing will refrain from doing so.

When asked by CNN if he could imagine sanctioning China for aiding Russia, Scholz replied: “I think it would have consequences, but we are now in a stage where we are making clear that this should not happen, and I’m relatively optimistic that we will be successful with our request in this case, but we will have to look at [it], and we have to be very, very cautious.”

US officials have warned recently that China was considering providing arms and ammunition to Moscow.

Chevron Chief Executive Mike Wirth says the global natural gas market has been more fundamentally changed for the long term by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than by oil markets.

“Gas markets, I think, are structurally changed for the longest,” Wirth said.

As a result of the war, Europe turned away from Russia for its gas supplies, and the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline makes it long-lasting, he said in remarks at the CERAWeek energy conference.

As Russia’s Wagner Group mercenary forces say Bakhmut will soon fall and Ukrainian officials promise to defend the front line, what will it mean if Russia succeeds in seizing the eastern city?

Some analysts say a decision to withdraw would be far from disastrous for Ukraine. As United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said, “The fall of Bakhmut won’t necessarily mean that the Russians have changed the tide of this fight.”

Read more on everything you need to know about Bakhmut.

Russian wheat prices have fallen despite continued uncertainty surrounding the fate of a Black Sea grain export agreement, analysts say.

Prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content delivered free on board from Black Sea ports were down $4 per tonne from last week to $292, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.

Russian wheat exports are rising. They totalled 890,000 tonnes last week, compared with 530,000 the previous week, said Sovecon, a Black Sea agricultural markets research firm, citing port data.

The market is still waiting for clarity on whether the Black Sea grain exports deal will be extended this month.

The initiative allows grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports despite a Russian blockade. It is up for renewal on March 18, but Russia has signalled it is unhappy with parts of the deal.

The European Union is getting closer to a landmark agreement to jointly procure ammunition to help Ukraine and replenish members’ stockpiles.

EU defence ministers are to discuss plans this week to speed up the supply of 155mm ammunition to Ukraine, which is pleading for more artillery shells to fight Russian forces.

Hanno Pevkur, the defence minister of Estonia, said he believes the ministers will reach a consensus to pursue joint procurement when they meet in Stockholm on Wednesday.

But he said key issues were still up for debate, such as how to pay for the joint purchases.

Pevkur insisted EU members could not use money already committed for military aid to Ukraine.

“We need a clear consensus that there has to be new money for this initiative,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Here are four maps we update daily, charting the latest development in the war.

Andrey Kelin, Russian ambassador to the United Kingdom, told Al Jazeera that the war in Ukraine could be understood as a “civil war” as he blamed the West for creating an “existential threat” for Russia.

Ukraine’s grain exports are down 26.6 percent at 32.9 million tonnes in the 2022-2023 season after Russia’s invasion caused a smaller harvest, agriculture ministry data show.

The volume so far in the July-to-June season includes about 11.4 million tonnes of wheat, 19.1 million tonnes of corn and 2.1 million tonnes of barley.

Exports during the same time in the previous season were almost 44.8 million tonnes.

The ministry said grain exports so far in March were 641,000 tonnes, down from 1.33 million tonnes in the same period last year.

Ukraine is a significant global grain grower and exporter. Its output is likely to have dropped to about 54 million tonnes in clean weight in the 2022 calendar year, down from 86 million tonnes in 2021.