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A fire at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, caused by an apparent drone strike, has been extinguished, the Moscow-installed governor there said on Saturday.
FIGHTING
* Russia hurled missiles at cities across Ukraine early on Friday as people slept, killing at least 25 civilians in the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months, as Kyiv said it was nearly ready to launch a huge assault to retake occupied land.
* Ukraine said at least 23 civilians were killed in the central town of Uman and two in the southeastern city of Dnipro in the strikes on Friday. Victims included several children.
* Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
ECONOMY
* The European Commission said on Friday it had reached a deal in principle to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain to resume through five European Union countries that had imposed restrictions.
* Ukraine had protested to key allies the European Union and Poland over restrictions on its grain supplies on Friday, before the European Commission announced later in the day that a deal had been reached in principle to resolve the matter.
* A new Russian decree exempts contracts with “friendly” countries and companies from a ban on Russian oil sales imposed in response to price caps.
POPE MEETS UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
* Pope Francis met Ukrainians who fled the war on Hungary’s eastern border, telling the refugees that a different future is possible.
DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS
* Russia on Saturday promised it would respond harshly to what it said was Poland’s illegal seizure of its embassy school in Warsaw, an act it called a flagrant violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
* The United States is “deeply disappointed” by Russia’s rejection of a U.S. embassy request to visit detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in prison, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Friday.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree giving people in parts of Ukraine under Moscow’s control a path to Russian citizenship. He also increased the maximum sentence for treason in Russia to life in jail
* Putin said on Friday Russia must act quickly to counter the West’s “economic aggression” and will expand ties with countries in Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America.
* Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, sanctioned by the West and dubbed the “Butcher of Mariupol” by the EU, has been removed as deputy defense minister, reports said.
* A United Nations committee said on Friday it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape, and extrajudicial executions.
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