Putin meets Chinese defence minister in Moscow By Reuters

(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin met Chinese language Defence Minister Li Shangfu in Moscow on Sunday and each males hailed navy cooperation between the 2 nations, which have declared a “no limits” partnership.

GRAIN IMPORTS

* Unilateral motion on commerce by European Union member states is unacceptable, a European Fee spokesperson mentioned on Sunday, after Poland and Hungary introduced bans on grain and different meals imports from Ukraine to guard the native agricultural sector.

DIPLOMACY

* Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday once more proposed establishing a bunch of nations not concerned with the Russia-Ukraine conflict to dealer peace, saying he had mentioned the matter with Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this week.

PRISONERS RELEASED

* Russia’s strongest mercenary group, Wagner, despatched at the least 100 Ukrainian prisoners of conflict again to Ukraine to mark Orthodox Easter, in line with a video posted by the group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, on Sunday.

FIGHTING

* Ukrainian and Russian armed forces are combating terribly bloody battles within the smashed jap metropolis of Bakhmut, however pro-Kyiv forces are nonetheless holding on, Ukraine’s navy mentioned on Saturday.

* Russia’s defence ministry mentioned on Sunday that Wagner mercenary models captured two extra metropolis blocks within the northwest and southeastern components of Bakhmut.

* Russia’s common spring navy draft is continuing as scheduled and there are not any plans to ship out mass digital notices underneath a system simply signed into regulation by President Vladimir Putin, a prime official mentioned on Saturday.

Reuters couldn’t independently verify the battlefield stories.

ECONOMY

* A brand new worldwide financial assist package deal of $115 billion offers Ukraine extra confidence that it may possibly prevail in battling Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko advised Reuters on Saturday.

* Ikea lookalike Belarusian furnishings firm Swed Home opened its first retailer in Moscow on Saturday to blended reactions from customers.

PLAYING ON

* Ukrainian pianist Roman Lopatynskyi rehearsed at midnight and performed concert events by candlelight as air raid sirens resounded throughout his native Kyiv.

* Ukraine’s nationwide ice hockey gamers have been pressured to coach with air raid sirens interrupting apply, sending them underground for canopy as they fear about their family members, however they’ve managed to maintain their focus.

IN-DEPTH STORIES

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* INSIGHT-Ukraine’s tech entrepreneurs struggle conflict on completely different entrance

* Ukraine says it’s discovering extra Chinese language elements in Russian weapons