TOP HEADLINES

• Delegates from the world's most powerful countries have reached a compromise on language to describe the Ukraine conflict, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has confirmed, as their leaders kicked off the annual G20 summit on Saturday in New Delhi. The group is heavily divided over the issue, with Western nations pushing for strong condemnation of Russia in the Leaders' Declaration to be issued at the end of the summit, while others are calling for a focus on broader economic issues.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Western allies were easing sanctions against Russia, demanding they keep up economic pressure on Moscow. His statement follows a foreign ministry spokesperson rejecting flat-out any suggestion of loosening such sanctions in a bid to restore the U.N.-backed agreement to ship grain through the Black Sea. READ MORE BELOW

• The UN has informed Russia that it could potentially reconnect to the SWIFT international payments system within 30 days via a subsidiary, as the international body continues to look for ways to improve Russia's grain and fertilizer exports in a bid to convince Moscow to return to a deal that had allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain.

• The Kremlin said, however, it was sticking to its conditions for a return to the Black Sea grain deal which it quit in July, stating that its state agricultural bank - and not a subsidiary - would first need to be reconnected to the SWIFT system.

• EU Council president Charles Michel has hit out at Russia for its "cynicism" in pulling out of the deal, saying the offer of a million tons of grain to African countries was a "parody of generosity" during his speech at the G20.

• A Russian missile hit a police building in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, killing a policeman and injuring at least 73 people, according to Ukrainian officials, while a further three people were killed in an airstrike on the Kherson village of Odradokamianka.

• The world's richest man Elon Musk said he refused a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite network in Crimea's port city of Sevastopol last year to aid an attack on Russia's fleet there, saying he feared complicity in a "major" act of war.

• President Zelenskyy has claimed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was behind the death of mutinous mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in an unexplained plane crash with his top lieutenants last month. The Kremlin says it is investigating the crash, but called the suggestion that Putin ordered the death of Prigozhin an "absolute lie."

• Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies have frozen more than $80 million in assets belonging to one of the country's richest men Ihor Kolomoisky as part of an ongoing crackdown on graft. Kolomoisky, a one-time Zelenskyy supporter, was detained last week on suspicion of money laundering.

• Ukraine will play England on Saturday in a Euro 2024 qualifying game in the Polish city of Wroclaw, where many Ukrainian refugees are currently living. "We know there are thousands of Ukrainians here," England manager Gareth Southgate said, adding that his team were "expecting a passionate crowd but we are here to win a football game."

IN DETAIL

Moscow digs in over Black Sea grain deal 

Russia has said it is sticking to its conditions for a return to the Black Sea grain deal which it quit in July, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stressing that Russia needed its state agricultural bank - and not a subsidiary of the bank, as proposed by the UN - to be reconnected to the international SWIFT bank payments system.

"All our conditions are perfectly well known. They do not need interpretation, they are absolutely concrete and all this is absolutely achievable," Peskov said.

"Therefore Russia maintains its responsible, clear and consistent position, which has been repeatedly voiced by the president."

The Black Sea deal was brokered by Turkey and the UN in July 2022 to enable Ukraine to export grain by sea despite the war and help ease a global food crisis.

It was accompanied by an agreement to facilitate Russia's own exports of food and fertilizer, which Moscow says has not been fulfilled. Since quitting the grain deal, Russia has repeatedly bombed Ukrainian ports and grain stores, prompting Kyiv and the West to accuse it of using food as a weapon.

Moscow's reiteration of its position came five days after President Vladimir Putin met his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the grain issue.

Russia appears to have drawn encouragement from Erdogan's statement at that meeting that Ukraine should "soften its approaches" in talks over reviving the deal, and export more grain to Africa rather than Europe. Ukraine said it would not alter its stand and would not be hostage to "Russian blackmail."

Russia says its grain and fertilizer exports, though not specifically sanctioned by the West, face barriers in practice because of sanctions affecting port access, insurance, logistics and payments - including the removal of agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank from SWIFT.

The U.N. has proposed that a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of Rosselkhozbank could immediately apply to SWIFT to "effectively enable access" for the bank within 30 days.

"The agreements say that SWIFT should be open to Rosselkhozbank, and not to its subsidiary. That is, we are talking about the need to return to the basics, to the agreements that were in place originally and which we were promised would be fulfilled," Peskov said.

"The president clearly said that the moment they are fulfilled, then the deal will immediately resume. But not vice versa," he added.

In a speech at the annual G20 summit in New Delhi, Charles Michel, president of the European Council, accused Russia of cynicism for pulling out of the deal, while Kyiv has rejected any suggestion of loosening sanctions against Russia in order to revive the agreement. 

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