As the war in Ukraine marked its 100th day, Africa urgently sought relief from disruptions to critical supplies of grain and other staple foods. Some of the world’s poorest countries are facing alarming levels of hunger and famine, and the United Nations has warned that Russia’s naval blockade of Ukraine could lead to famines around the world.
African Union President Macky Sall met on Friday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Sochi on the Black Sea to urge the Russian leader to end the blockade on urgently needed grains and fertilizers from Ukraine to lift. Millions of tons of grain remain trapped in Ukraine, and Mr Putin has suggested it could be cleared for export if Western countries lift sanctions against Russia.
Sanctions have also led to a decline in Russian oil exports, leading to a realignment of the global energy market. On Thursday, OPEC Plus, a group of oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia, agreed to increase production in July and August more than planned. The agreement comes after months of lobbying by the White House and days after the European Union agreed to ban most imports of Russian oil.
As sanctions against Moscow are tightened, Russian troops are making slow but substantial gains in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Russian troops now control one-fifth of his land. The fighting continues, said Mr. Zelensky, along an approximately 620-mile front stretching from the northeastern city of Kharkov to the suburbs of Mykolaiv, near the Black Sea, in the south.
For now, Moscow’s main military target is Sievierodonetsk, the last major city in the eastern region of Luhansk that is not in Russian hands. Russia controls about 70 percent of the city, although a regional official on Thursday said Ukrainian troops had pushed back Russian soldiers from several streets amid fierce urban fighting.
In other developments:
Ukrainian forces have recaptured 20 small towns and villages in the south of the country, an official said Thursday, as part of a counter-offensive at a time when Moscow is intensely focused on its offensive in the east.
In his overnight speech, Mr Zelensky said 50 foreign embassies had resumed “full-fledged activities” in Kiev.
The US government has imposed sanctions on a yacht management company and its owners, describing them as part of a corrupt system that allows Russian elites and Mr Putin to enrich themselves, the Treasury Department said Thursday.