TOP HEADLINES

• EU states will hold their first talks on proposed sanctions over the Ukraine conflict that could see Chinese and Iranian companies targeted and export curbs applied to third countries that break with existing Western trade restrictions.

• France's parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution that calls on the EU to formally label Russian mercenary force Wagner a "terrorist group." READ MORE BELOW

• The UN said inspections have resumed on vessels leaving Ukraine under an agreement allowing the safe export of the country's grain via the Black Sea, after Moscow threatened to pull out of the deal over Western restrictions on its own grain and fertilizer exports.

• An "enemy" drone flying over Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine was shot down, its governor said, adding that the debris damaged a house and a gas pipeline.

• Two drone attacks targeting a military facility in Russia's Voronezh region failed, its governor announced. 

• Ukraine's military said its forces had fought off 46 attacks in 24 hours along the eastern front in Donetsk region, including in the strategic city of Bakhmut. It added that eight strikes on Russian "power and personnel" were carried out as well as two strikes on an anti-aircraft missile system.

• Arman Soldin, a 32-year-old video journalist for Agence France Presse in Ukraine, was killed by Grad rocket fire near the eastern city of Chasiv Yar, the French news agency announced. 

• Russia fired cruise missiles at Kyiv as its troops marched in formation across Moscow's Red Square for its annual Victory Day parade celebrating Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. Less equipment was on show this year due the majority of Russia's military hardware being tied up in the Ukraine conflict.

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed Ukraine as "the beating heart of today's European values" in a symbolic visit to Kyiv that coincided with Russia's World War II Victory Day.

• The U.S. on Tuesday announced a new $1.2 billion weapons package for Ukraine to bolster its air defenses and stocks of heavy artillery ammunition ahead of Kyiv's anticipated spring offensive. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the military assistance as a "sign of solidarity" on a "symbolic day" for Ukraine, Victory Day. 

• Russia will evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town that serves the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Ukraine's state-owned Energoatom company said would result in a "catastrophic lack" of personnel. Kyiv's planned counteroffensive is expected to involve the attempted recapture of the whole of the Zaporizhzhia region.

IN DETAIL 

'Terrorist group'

France's parliament has called on the EU to formally label Russian mercenary group Wagner as a "terrorist group." The non-binding and symbolic resolution was passed with support across the political spectrum.

"Wherever they work, Wagner members spread instability and violence," the resolution's author, ruling party MP Benjamin Haddad, told parliament. "They kill and torture. They massacre and pillage. They intimidate and manipulate with almost total impunity."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the French parliament while calling on other countries to send a similar message to EU heads of state. 

"Every manifestation of terrorism must be destroyed, and every terrorist must be convicted," he added.

Being listed as a terrorist group means EU members could freeze assets of the Wagner group and its members. However, Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have already been repeatedly sanctioned by the the bloc, in February for alleged human rights abuses in Africa and in April for participating in Russia's assault on Ukraine.

Prigozhin had his assets in the EU frozen in 2020 and was placed on a visa blacklist over the deployment of Wagner fighters to war-torn Libya. Prigozhin is a close ally of Putin, and his fighters have been heading the long-protracted attempt to capture Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna admitted that legally the EU terrorist label would not have any "direct supplemental effect" on the group. The EU's terrorist list, which is approved by leaders of the bloc's member states, currently includes 13 people and 21 groups or entities including Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The parliaments of Lithuania and Estonia have also dubbed Wagner a "terrorist organization" while Britain was reported set to follow with similar measures.

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