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Russian forces are stepping up their use of heavy artillery and air strikes in the devastated eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the commander of Ukraines ground forces said on Tuesday.

Poland and Ukraine will resume negotiations early on Tuesday to try to reopen the transit of food and grains, the Polish agriculture minister told public radio station PR1. The two countries held talks on Monday over bans by central eastern European countries seeking to shelter their farmers from the impact of an influx of cheaper Ukrainian grain.

Romanias ruling Social Democrat party (PSD) has said it will ask the coalition government to approve an emergency decree enforcing a temporary ban on Ukrainian grain imports, mirroring similar moves by countries in central and eastern Europe.

Russias defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, told his Chinese counterpart on Tuesday that their countries military cooperation was a stabilising force in the world and helped to reduce the chances of conflict.

Security concerns have prompted Russian authorities this year to cancel traditional immortal regiment nationwide victory day processions where people carry portraits of relatives who fought against Nazi Germany in the second world war.

The UK has condemned the sentencing of Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was jailed for 25 years on Monday for opposing the war in Ukraine. UK foreign secretary James Cleverly summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrei Kelin, for an explanation. Kara-Murza holds dual Russian-British citizenship.

Kara-Murzas wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, told British broadcaster LBC that she was baffled by the UK governments weak response. Introducing sanctions against his perpetrators would actually be a very practical step that I would very much like to see, she said.

The UNs human rights head, Volker Trk, urged Russia to release him, while Baltic neighbour Latvia sanctioned 10 Russian officials and lawyers involved in the case.

Russias leading opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, faces the prospect of new criminal charges, one of his lawyers has claimed. Vadim Kobzev alleged on Twitter that authorities had provoked Navalny by placing another inmate in his cell, and that Navalny had been given no choice but to drag him out. He had then been told he would be charged with thwarting prison authorities, which carries a maximum sentence of five years, Kobzev said.

The Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, held a meeting with the Russian-installed head of Ukraines occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, on Tuesday.

Russia is not yet planning to block Wikipedia, its minister of digital affairs said on Tuesday as a Moscow court handed the online encyclopaedia another fine for failing to remove content Russia deems illegal.

G7 foreign ministers have condemned Russias irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and its threat to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus as unacceptable, after a three-day meeting in the Japanese resort town of Karuizawa. Any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with severe consequences, they warned.

The Pentagon said it expected findings within 45 days from a review into how the US military handles classified information after last weeks arrest of an airman over the leak a trove of highly classified documents online.

Russia said it had repelled an illegal Ukrainian attempt to infiltrate Russian territory in the southern border region of Bryansk, 11 days after reporting a similar incident. The intruder stepped on a mined protection line, said regional governor Alexander Bogomaz on Telegram.

Excerpt from:
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 419 of the invasion - The Guardian