Russia-Ukraine War News LIVE Updates: Russia reinforces defensive positions in occupied southern Ukraine, UK military says

Russia says it shot down Ukrainian MI-17 helicopter, SU-25 aircraft

Russia strikes south Ukraine city, presses attacks in east

Russian defence ministry says its missile strikes have destroyed an Odesa depot containing harpoon rockets given to Ukraine by Nato

The government on Sunday said that the export quota for sunflower oil has been increased by 400,000 tonnes from the previous cap of 1.5 million tonnes while the restriction on exports of sunflower meal was raised by 150,000 tonnes from a previous limit of 700,000 tonnes. The restrictions are in place till August 31, 2022.

The country banned exports of sunflower seeds from the end of March until the end of August and imposed an export quota on sunflower oil to avoid shortages and ease pressure on domestic prices.

Meanwhile, Russia has increased the quota for its exports of sunflower oil and sunflower meal, the government said on Sunday, citing sufficient domestic supplies. (Reuters)

"The world is going to be at least bi-polar and possibly multi-polar," Blair said. "The biggest geo-political change of this century will come from China not Russia."

"We are coming to the end of Western political and economic dominance," Blair said in a lecture entitled "After Ukraine, What Lessons Now for Western Leadership?" according to a text of the speech to a forum supporting the alliance between the United States and Europe at Ditchley Park west of London.

The Ukraine war shows that the West's dominance is coming to an end as China rises to superpower status in partnership with Russia at one of the most significant inflection points in centuries, former British prime minister Tony Blair said. (Reuters)

An application to supply gas via the Sokhranovka entry point was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.

Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was seen at 41.0 million cubic metres (mcm) on Sunday, compared to 41.6 mcm a day earlier. (Reuters)

The reinforcements include movement of manpower and equipment, defensive stores between Mariupol and Zaporizhzhia, and in Kherson, while Russian forces in Melitopol are also increasing security measures, theBritish defence ministry wrote on Twitter in a regular bulletin.

UK Military Intelligence: Russia is reinforcing its defensive positions across the occupied areas of the south of Ukraine (Reuters)

Describing "a deluge of fire", regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko on Saturday said Grad missiles had pounded residential areas. "Rescuers found two dead people under the ruins" in the riverside city of Nikopol, he said.

The situation at the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is "extremely tense", Ukraine's atomic energy agency chief Petro Kotin said, adding that the Russians had installed missile launchers and used the facility to shell the Dnipro region.

The European Union will discuss tightening sanctions against Russia on Monday, as Moscow is accused of using the continent's largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and launch missiles on the surrounding regions of southern Ukraine. (AFP)

Russia preparing for next stage of offensive, Ukraine says

Petro Kotin, president of Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, called the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant "extremely tense" with up to 500 Russian soldiers controlling the plant.

More than 20 weeks since Russia invaded its neighbour, leading to thousands of deaths and millions of displaced Ukrainians, the war-ravaged nation's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Moscow for seeking to cause maximum damage, but pledged that Ukraine will "endure" in the conflict.

Ukraine's atomic energy agency accused Russia of using Europe's largest nuclear power plant to store weapons and shell the surrounding regions of Nikopol and Dnipro that were hit Saturday. (AFP)