(Reuters) – Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying.
DIPLOMACY
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutterres told a meeting chaired by Russia’s foreign minister that the invasion of Ukraine is “causing massive suffering and devastation” while Moscow warned global risks were possibly worse than during the Cold War.
* Security will be a key issue at a wind energy summit of seven countries surrounding the North Sea, Belgium said. Dutch intelligence agencies have accused Russia of planning sabotage to offshore turbines. Russia rejects that.
* Turkey’s defence minister said he planned to meet his Syrian, Russian and Iranian counterparts in Moscow on Tuesday, amid efforts to rebuild Ankara-Damascus ties after years of animosity during the Syrian war.
* EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed confidence that the bloc would finalise a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine.
CHINA SEEKS TO END SOVEREIGNTY ROW
* China respects the status of former Soviet member states as sovereign nations, its foreign ministry said, distancing itself from comments by its envoy to France that triggered uproar.
FIGHTING
* Russia’s Black Sea Fleet repelled a drone attack on the Crimean port of Sevastopol, the Moscow-installed governor of the city said through social media.
GRAIN DEAL
* Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects for a deal on grain exports.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin a “way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion” of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, a U.N. spokesperson said.
ECONOMY
* A new round of European Union sanctions against Russia is under discussion but adoption of the package is unlikely earlier than “deep into May”, Poland’s Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said.
* Russia needs an estimated 500 billion roubles ($6.1 billion) for the development of a drone project announced by Putin in February, the Russian RBC news outlet reported.
SPORTS
* Ukraine will play Euro 2024 soccer qualifying matches despite a government ban on national teams taking part in competitions involving athletes from Russia and Belarus.
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(Compiled by Reuters editors)
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