TOP HEADLINES

• A grain export deal between Kyiv and Moscow key to alleviating a global food crisis has been extended. The original deal was due to expire just before midnight on Saturday, Istanbul time. 

• ​​The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. Moscow dismissed the orders as "void."

• Ukraine this week won promises of 17 Soviet-design MiG-29 jets to replace fighters lost in the war, yet the planes are not expected to radically shift the balance on the ground. NATO member Poland said it would supply Kyiv with four of the aging fighter jets and Slovakia pledged another 13 – all of which the Kremlin promised to destroy.

• Ukraine said Saturday it was struck overnight by a volley of explosive drones, some of which reached the relatively peaceful Lviv region in the war-battered nation's west.

• Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected comparisons between the invasion of Iraq by a U.S.-led coalition and Russia's attack on Ukraine. He was speaking in an interview ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Iraq war.

• Russia's Wagner mercenary group plans to recruit approximately 30,000 new fighters by the middle of May, its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday.

IN DETAIL

Grain deal extended

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced the extension of a grain deal allowing ships carrying food to pass through the Black Sea. As Ukraine is one of the world's biggest wheat exporters the agreement was seen as key to avoiding food shortages and curbing inflation across the globe.

The original agreement was scheduled to renew for 120 days after its expiry on March 18, but Russia indicated this week that it supported a 60-day extension. Erdogan did not reveal the terms of the renewal.

ICC finds "reasonable grounds" to issue arrest warrant for Putin

The International Criminal Court announced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.

The Hague-based ICC said it had also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on similar charges.

Moscow dismissed the orders as "void." Russia is not a party to the ICC so it was unclear if or how Putin could ever end up in the dock.

Iraq War anniversary

Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. Former UK prime minister Tony Blair, who has been accused of war crimes for his role in the invasion, told the news agency AFP that there was no comparison to be made with the conflict in Ukraine.

Blair said Ukraine had not posed a threat to Russia and said that the goals of the Iraq war were to introduce democracy to the country.

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