Latest Ukraine updates: Russia eyes ’60-day’ grain deal extension

Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker reports live from Kyiv for the latest updates.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine’s future depended on the outcome of battles in key points in the east of the country.

“It is very tough in the east – very painful. We have to destroy the enemy’s military power. And we shall destroy it,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, referring to “Bilohorivka and Marinka, Avdiivka and Bakhmut, Vuhledar and Kamyanka – and other places where the kind of future we are to have is being decided. Where the future of all Ukrainians is being fought for”.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says Kyiv’s membership in the EU and NATO should not be seen as “charity” or a “payoff” but as something in the “best pragmatic interest of the European community”.

“The EU and NATO membership of Ukraine will guarantee long-term peace and stability,” Kuleba said during a speech at the Oxford-Ukraine Summit in the UK. “On the other hand, adding more ambiguity would be incredibly reckless. Half-baked solutions like keeping Ukraine in the background or in the waiting room would invariably result in new Russian aggression, which is not in Europe’s best interests.”

Kuleba argued that it is not necessary to consider what Russia says because Putin is “done” and the Kremlin has “laid out all of its cards on the desk”. He also contended that Ukraine must triumph to ensure that Moscow is not rewarded for “what it has done”.

The UN has affirmed its commitment to the Black Sea grain deal, saying its chief would do everything possible to preserve its “integrity” after Moscow floated renewing it for a shorter period.

“The UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres] has confirmed that the UN will do everything possible to preserve the integrity of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and ensure its continuity,” the UN said in a statement after a meeting in Geneva on its renewal.

Russia is seeking a 60-day continuation of the deal, half the previous extension.

The administration of US President Joe Biden is allowing thousands of Ukrainians who fled their homeland when Russia invaded a year ago to stay in the US longer, the administration has said.

The decision provides relief to Ukrainians whose one-year authorisation to remain in the US was set to expire soon.

The Department of Homeland Security said the extension is for certain Ukrainian nationals and their immediate family members who were let into the US before the Uniting for Ukraine programme started.

Ukrainians who came in under the Uniting for Ukraine programme generally got two years of humanitarian “parole” in the US, whereas those who arrived before them generally got permission to stay only for one year.

US Department of State spokesperson Ned Price has said it is a “critical moment” in negotiations on the United Nations-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, which Washington hopes will be extended before it expires on March 18.

Russia has suggested extending the deal, which allows the safe export of grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, but only for a period of 60 days.

Price said the world needs the initiative, which he said allowed grain shipments to developing countries and helped bring down food prices.

“This is a critical instrument at a critical time,” Price said.

Ukraine has not confirmed a call between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to United States national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan said Washington has been publicly and privately encouraging Xi to talk to Zelenskyy so that they hear “not just the Russian perspective” on the ongoing war.

The United Kingdom has detailed plans to bolster military and security spending to confront the “epoch-defining challenge” posed by China while also countering Russia, as London updated its strategic foreign and defence policy.

In a “refresh” of the so-called Integrated Review, the UK government identified “the threat posed by Russia to European security” as the most pressing short- to medium-term priority.

But the 63-page report – compiled after months of work across government – also labelled China a “systemic challenge with implications for almost every area of government policy”.

Russia’s position to extend the Black Sea grain deal “only for 60 days contradicts the document” signed by Turkey and the United Nations, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksandr Kubrakov has said.

“#BlackSeaGrainInitiative agreement involves at least 120 d. of extension, therefore Russia’s position to extend the deal only for 60 d. contradicts the document signed by Turkey & the UN,” Kubrakov said on Twitter.

“We’re waiting for the official position of @UN & Turkey as the guarantors of the initiative.”

#BlackSeaGrainInitiative agreement involves at least 120 d. of extension, therefore Russia’s position to extend the deal only for 60 d. contradicts the document signed by Turkey & the UN. We’re waiting for the official position of @UN & Turkey as the guarantors of the initiative pic.twitter.com/TPhpaHUdhg

— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) March 13, 2023

Ukrainian soldiers have wrapped up a four-week training course in Spain on how to operate the Leopard 2 tanks Western allies have agreed to deliver to help Kyiv fight Russian forces, the Spanish government has said.

The 55 Ukrainian trainees arrived mid-February in Spain and are scheduled to fly to Poland on Wednesday as they start to make their way back to Ukraine and the front line, government sources said.

They have been training 12 hours a day, six days a week, at a Spanish military base in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, Captain Contreras, who declined to give his first name, told reporters Monday during a tour of the San Gregorio training military camp.

Finland’s prime minister has said that she was open to discussing giving fighter jets to Ukraine, despite facing criticism at home, as Kyiv has pleaded for more advanced weapons systems.

While Finland is currently operating a fleet of F/A-18 Hornet jets, it announced in December 2021 that it was ordering 64 F-35A multirole fighter jets from US contractor Lockheed Martin.

“We have new F35 fighters coming … When these old Hornets are decommissioned, we can discuss their future use,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin told reporters.

However, while Finland plans to replace the jets – the model of which entered into production in the 1980s – the new aircraft are not due to arrive until 2025.

The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy has said it is escorting a Russian frigate and tanker in waters close to the UK, having shadowed the vessels through the English Channel on Sunday morning.

“The Royal Navy routinely responds to escort warships in our territorial waters and the adjacent sea areas to ensure compliance with maritime law and to deter malign activity,” the Royal Navy said in a statement.

“Escorting the Russian task group alongside allied partners demonstrates the commitment of the Royal Navy and the NATO alliance to maintaining maritime security which is crucial to our national interests.”

Russia is not opposed to extending a deal that allows for Black Sea grain exports but only for a limited time, the RIA Novosti news agency cited Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergey Vershinin, as saying.

Monday marked the first day of talks between Russia and representatives from the UN in Geneva.

According to the Vershinin, Russia does not object to extending the deal after it expires on March 18 “but only for 60 days”.

In the early days of the war, one couple who had initially planned to flee Ukraine decided to stay in Kyiv and keep their five nail salons open.

Bunny Nails, the only nail salons in the city still operating, defied Russia’s aggression and the gloomy economic reality that came with it.

For many Ukrainians, the salons have became a place to forget about the war and remember a time not wrapped up in survival.

Read more here.

Russia began the closed-door trial of opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who faces up to two decades in prison on treason charges for making comments critical of the Kremlin.

Kara-Murza, 41, was charged over comments made at three public events abroad, his lawyer told the TASS news agency, insisting the words “did not pose any threat to the country”.

“A true Russian patriot, he stands accused of high treason for his tireless fight for a Putin-free Russia,” his wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, wrote on social media.

Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed in April on charges of disseminating what the authorities consider “fake news” about the Russian army.

His trial is the latest in a string of cases against opposition voices as a Kremlin crackdown on dissidents has intensified since the invasion of Ukraine.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili has accused Zelenskyy of meddling in his country’s political affairs by commenting on recent protests.

The demonstrations were held against legislation that would have required all people, media and civil society organisations that received more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad to register as foreign agents. During those rallies, Zelenskyy thanked protesters for waving Ukrainian flags, saying it showed respect, and wished Georgians “democratic success”.

“When a person who is at war … responds to the destructive action of several thousand people here in Georgia, this is direct evidence that this person is involved, motivated to make something happen here too, to change,” Garibashvili said in an interview with Georgian IMEDI television, referring to Zelenskyy.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Oleh Nikolenko rejected Garibashvili’s accusations and said they “have nothing to do with reality. The Georgian authorities are looking for an enemy in the wrong place.”

Georgia’s Parliament voted down the bill on Friday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is expected to seek arrest warrants against Russians involved in the conflict in Ukraine “in the short term”, a source with knowledge of the matter tells the Reuters news agency.

The ICC’s prosecutor is expected to ask a judge to approve issuing warrants against several Russians for the abduction of children from Ukraine to Russia and the targeting of civilian infrastructure, the source said on the condition of anonymity.

The New York Times, which also reported on the expected ICC warrants, added that it was not clear who the court is planning to charge, but it would be the first international charges to be brought since the conflict began.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak has criticised the Academy Awards after Zelenskyy was not granted permission to send a video message to the ceremony.

In a Twitter post, the adviser referenced the academy awarding a documentary about imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and said: “If Oscar is outside of politics, how should we understand the documentary manifesto Navalny where internal Russian politics is overflowing?”

“If Oscar is out of the context of the war in Ukraine & the mass genocide of Ukrainians, why do you constantly talk about humanism & justice?” he asked.

If #Oscar is outside of politics how should we understand the documentary manifesto Navalny where internal Russian politics is overflowing?
If Oscar is out of the context of the war in Ukraine & the mass genocide of Ukrainians, why do you constantly talk about humanism & justice?

— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 13, 2023

The Wall Street Journal reports that Chinese leader Xi Jinping plans to speak with Zelenskyy for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine.

People familiar with the proposed call said it would likely occur after Xi visits Moscow next week to meet with Putin and reflects Beijing’s efforts to mediate the conflict.

Here are three maps we update daily, charting the latest war developments.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 383 of the war.

Keep reading:

• Alexey Navalny film on fighting the Kremlin wins Oscar
• Ukraine is world’s third largest arms importer: SIPRI
• ‘Forcible transfer’: Orphans from Ukraine ‘taken’ by Russia
• ‘Forever remembered’: Ukraine leader honours executed soldier

A senior Russian lawmaker has introduced a bill to change the age of compulsory military service to 21 to 30 years of age from the current 18 to 27 years.

Andrey Kartapolov, a former general, introduced the bill. He is chairman of the State Duma’s defence committee and represents the ruling United Russia bloc.

Because there would be two transition years, 2024 and 2025, the conscription age would span 10 or 11 years instead of the usual nine, so the bill would increase the number of men subject to compulsory service.

Putin gave his backing in December to Ministry of Defence proposals to push back the age range.

Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu also plans to increase the number of serving combat personnel to 1.5 million from 1.15 million.

Al Jazeera’s Ukrainian producer Dmytro Prytulenko reflects on the war in his home country after it entered its second year.

According to the British Ministry of Defence, Prigozhin has “likely lost access to recruiting in Russian prisons due to his ongoing disputes with the Russian MoD leadership”.

The Wagner mercenary group owner “is highly likely pivoting recruitment efforts towards free Russian citizens. Since the start of March 2023, Wagner has set up outreach teams based in sports centres in at least 40 locations across Russia,” a ministry intelligence update said.

The ministry said masked Wagner recruiters were seen in schools “distributing questionnaires entitled ‘application of a young warrior'”.

“If the ban endures, Prigozhin will likely be forced to reduce the scale or intensity of Wagner operations in Ukraine,” the update said.

Asked about reports that India is abiding by a Western price cap on Russian oil exports, the Kremlin has said it would be guided by its contacts with India rather than by news reports.

On Sunday, Bloomberg said India would not breach Western sanctions on Russian oil prices.

India has significantly increased oil imports from Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russian forces have lost “more than 1,100” soldiers during the battle for Bakmut.

In his nightly Telegram address, Zelenskyy said, “In less than a week, starting from 6th March, we managed to kill more than 1,100 enemy soldiers in the Bakhmut sector alone, Russia’s irreversible loss, right there, near Bakhmut,”

He said Russian forces had also sustained 1,500 “sanitary losses” – soldiers wounded severely enough to keep them out of further action.

The Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva says negotiations between United Nations officials and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin on a possible extension to the Black Sea grain deal have begun.

The Black Sea grain initiative, brokered between Russia and Ukraine by the UN and Turkey last July, aimed to prevent a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain to be safely exported from three ports.

But the deal is set to expire on March 18 if a renewal agreement is not reached beforehand.

Moscow has already signalled that it will agree to an extension only if restrictions on its exports are lifted.

Still, many diplomats and senior officials, including Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, are optimistic that the deal will be renewed.

The Kremlin has not ruled out Russian President Vladimir Putin attending a summit of G20 leaders in September in New Delhi.

Asked whether Putin will attend the Delhi summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It can’t be ruled out. Russia continues to participate fully in the G20 framework. It intends to continue to do that. But no decision has been made yet.”

Putin has not travelled beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union since the invasion of Ukraine.

The head of the Wagner mercenary forces says in an interview that he had ambitions to turn his company into an “army with an ideology” that would fight for justice in Russia.

“After the capture of Artyomovsk [Bakhmut], we will begin to reboot,” Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a clip posted on Telegram.

“In particular, we will start recruiting new people from the regions.”

“The Wagner private military group must turn from just a private, the best, army in the world which is capable of defending the state, into an army with an ideology. And that ideology is the struggle for justice,” he added.

One of President Vladimir Putin’s top allies doubts that a pro-Ukrainian group blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year.

Last week, the New York Times reported that intelligence reviewed by US officials suggested that a pro-Ukraine group attacked the pipelines in September.

Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev cast doubt on whether such a group would have the capability to carry out sabotage.

“In an attempt to cover up the true people behind the crime, pro-government Anglo-Saxon media – on orders from above – have named a culprit – a group of Ukrainian terrorists,” Patrushev told the Argumenti I Fakti newspaper.

Patrushev said Russia still did not know who was behind the attack because it had not been included in the investigation.

On Sunday, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said the situation in Bakhmut was “tough, very tough”.

“The closer we are to the centre of the city, the harder the fighting … The Ukrainians throw in endless reserves. But we are advancing and we will be advancing,” Prigozhin said in comments released by his press service.

Ukrainian forces faced relentless Russian attacks on Bakhmut on Monday, with both sides reporting mounting enemy casualties.

“All enemy attempts to capture the town are repelled by artillery, tanks, and other firepower,” Colonel general Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Ukraine’s Media Military Centre Telegram channel.

Ukrainian forces currently control the west of Bakhmut, while Russia’s Wagner mercenary group controls most of the eastern part, with the Bakhmutka River that flows through the town marking the front line, British intelligence said in a weekend update.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is planning to travel to Moscow to meet his Russian counterpart as soon as next week, people familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.

China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the Kremlin declined to comment.

No other details were immediately available.

At least one person has been wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod after Russian forces shot down four missiles, the region’s governor said.

“At this time, one person is known to have been injured,” Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Telegram. “There is also damage from rocket debris in two residential buildings.”

Belgorod, which borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, has repeatedly come under fire since the beginning of the Ukraine war.