TOP HEADLINES

•EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed confidence on Monday that the bloc would finalize a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kyiv expressed frustration at wrangling among EU member states. READ MORE BELOW

•Russia said on Saturday it was expelling more than 20 German diplomats in a tit-for-tat move.

•The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers called on Sunday for the "extension, full implementation and expansion" of the grain deal that enables vital exports of food from Ukraine.

• Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G7 moved to ban exports to Russia, it would respond by terminating the grain deal, which it has already signaled it will not allow to continue beyond May 18.

• Global military spending rose to a record last year as the Russia-Ukraine conflict drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a prominent conflict and armaments think tank said on Monday.

•Turkey's Defense 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. 

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IN DEPTH

EU close to agreement over ammunition for Ukraine

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed confidence on Monday that the bloc would finalize a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine after Kyiv expressed frustration at wrangling among EU member states. 

"Yes, still there is some disagreement. But I am sure everybody will understand that we are in a situation of extreme urgency," Borrell told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. 

"I am sure that in the following days we will reach (an agreement)," he said. 

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed frustration in a tweet last week that the landmark deal for EU countries to jointly buy artillery shells for Kyiv has not yet been implemented due to disagreements over how much of the business has to stay within Europe. 

"For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives," he warned on Thursday. 

Kuleba was expected to make his case directly to EU foreign ministers at Monday's meeting, addressing them by video link on the state of the war triggered by Russia's invasion last year. 

Artillery rounds, particularly 155 milimeter shells, have become critical to the conflict as Ukrainian and Russian forces wage an intense war of attrition. Officials say Kyiv is burning through more rounds than its allies can currently produce. 

The joint procurement plan is part of a multi-track EU deal to get 1 million artillery shells or missiles to Ukraine within 12 months and ramp up European munitions production, approved by foreign ministers last month. 

The first element is the most immediate. It sets aside 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to reimburse EU governments for sending munitions to Ukraine from existing stocks. Borrell stressed that track was up and running. He said EU countries had already requested reimbursements for ammunition worth 600 million euros ($660 million). 

But the second track, worth another 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to fund joint procurement, has yet to be finalized. EU officials have said they hope to sign the first contracts with arms firms at the end of next month.

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