Russia

Day 390 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow on Monday on a three-day visit that offers a strong political boost for Russian President Vladimir Putin as fighting in Ukraine grinds on.

China and Russia have described Xi's trip as part of efforts to further deepen their "no-limits friendship."

Ads costing $3.6 million have sought aid for Ukraine from seven countries of the Western Balkans since Russia's invasion a year ago, a BIRN analysis shows.

An American investigative journalist and political writer, Seymour Hersh, recently covered the investigation into diversions on the Nord Stream pipeline, through which he suggested that the USA was actually behind the sabotage.

"They deceived us and made fun of us," Putin said.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, told Sputnik that these are Soviet fighters and helicopters, which the countries of the former Warsaw Pact handed over to Ukraine, as well as a part that the Americans withdrew from Afghanistan.

Russia agreed on March 13 to extend the Ukraine grain export deal, but only for a further 60 days, in a proposal criticised by Kiev.

Following talks with the United Nations in Geneva, Moscow said it would not oppose prolonging the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative aimed at easing the global food crisis, as had been feared.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday evening that he could not "swear" Serbia will not impose sanctions on Russia at some point, over its invasion of Ukraine.

Hungary will have to review its relations with Russia because of the "changing geopolitical reality", and good cooperation with Moscow is in Budapest's interest.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed this opinion at the economic forum in the Hungarian capital, Bloomberg reported.

Iran has secretly supplied Russia with large quantities of weapons, rockets and mortar shells for the war in Ukraine and plans to send more, a security source told Sky News.
It states that two Russian-flagged cargo ships sailed from an Iranian port in January towards Russia via the Caspian Sea with a cargo of approximately 100 million bullets and about 300,000 shells.