Russia halted gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland for rejecting its demand for payment in roubles, taking direct aim at European economies in its toughest retaliation so far against international sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
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The step was denounced by European leaders as "blackmail", and comes as European countries have joined the United States in ramping up arms shipments to help Ukraine fend off a new Russian assault in the east.
Russia reported a series of blasts in the south of the country and a fire at an ammunition depot, the latest in a spate incidents that a Ukrainian official described as payback and "karma" for Moscow's invasion.
FIGHTING
* Russian forces were attacking a huge steel plant where fighters and some civilians are holed up in the southern city of Mariupol, an aide to the city's mayor said.
* Aide Petro Andryushchenko also said no agreements had been reached on trying to evacuate civilians from Mariupol on Wednesday.
* Russia's defence ministry said its Kalibr missiles had struck an arms depot in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region housing weapons from the United States and European countries.
* Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces were pressing their offensive in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions and they had captured several settlements.
Reports of battlefield developments could not be immediately verified by Reuters.
DIPLOMACY, AID
* Ukraine's lead negotiator said no agreement had been reached for the Ukrainian and Russian presidents to discuss the war despite efforts by Turkey to arrange talks.
* Germany announced its first delivery of heavy weapons - Gepard tanks with anti-aircraft guns - to Ukraine after weeks of pressure at home and abroad.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed "in principle" to United Nations and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in the evacuation of civilians from the Mariupol steel plant, the United Nations said.
SPILLOVER INTO MOLDOVA?
* Ukraine accused Russia of trying to drag Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria into its war after authorities in the Russia-backed region, adjacent to southwest Ukraine, said they had been targeted by a series of attacks.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
* The European Commission proposed a one-year suspension of import duties on all Ukrainian goods and a lifting all EU anti-dumping and safeguard measures on Ukrainian steel exports to help its economy during the war with Russia.
* Ukrainian authorities dismantled a huge Soviet-era monument in Kyiv meant to symbolise friendship between Russia and Ukraine.
* Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia that borders the frontline are wearing body armour to plough their fields.
QUOTES
Russia is "beginning the gas blackmail of Europe" - Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Australian Associated Press
