(Reuters) – Russia halted gas supplies to Poland under the Yamal contract on Wednesday, data from the European Union network of gas transmission operators showed, in a deepening of the rift between the West and Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Bulgaria, like Poland a NATO and EU member, said earlier that Russia would also halt supplies of gas to it. There was no word early on Wednesday if Bulgaria’s supplies were also cut.
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.
DIPLOMACY, AID
* The United States hosted defence talks in Germany, involving over 40 countries, that sought to speed and synchronize the delivery of arms to Ukraine.
* 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 U.N. and International Committee for the Red Cross involvement in the evacuation of civilians from a besieged steel plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol, the United Nations said.
FIGHTING
Reports of battlefield developments below could not be immediately verified by Reuters:
* Ukraine’s general staff said Russia’s offensive continued in the eastern regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk, where it said they were taking “actions along almost the entire line of contact”.
* Russia is probably trying to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east, the British military said.
* Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had “liberated” the entire Kherson region in the south of Ukraine, according to Interfax news agency.
* A series of blasts was heard in the early hours of Wednesday in the Russian city Belgorod near the Ukrainian border, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said, and an ammunition depot in the province was on fire.
HUMAN AND ECONOMIC IMPACT
* Ukrainian authorities dismantled a huge Soviet-era monument in the centre of Kyiv meant to symbolise friendship between Russia and Ukraine, a response to Moscow’s invasion, according to the city’s mayor.
* Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia that borders the frontline are wearing body armour to plough their fields. Ukraine is the world’s fifth-biggest exporter of wheat.
* Nuclear engineer Liudmyla Kozak was part-way through a 12-hour overnight shift at the defunct Chornobyl plant when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 and workers heard explosions. What followed were the most dramatic events at the plant since the 1986 nuclear disaster.
RUSSIAN WARNING
* One of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies said Ukraine was spiralling towards a collapse into several states because of what he cast as a U.S. attempt to use Ukraine to undermine Russia.
QUOTES
* “Nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s imperial aggression.” – U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
(Editing by Mark Heinrich and Rosalba O’Brien)
