Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Russia agrees to rejoin wartime grain deal

Russia’s defense minister has told his Turkish counterpart that Moscow has agreed to return to a Turkish and UN brokered deal that allowed the shipment of millions of tons Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Turkey’s president says. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu called Turkey’s Hulusi Akar and informed him that the grain corridor agreement would “continue in the same way as before” as of Wednesday.

The world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt Ukraine's grain export corridor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as more ships were loading despite Moscow suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal. One of the global consequences of Russia's war on its neighbour has been food shortages and a cost of living crisis in many countries, and a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on July 22 had provided safe passage for vessels carrying grain and other fertiliser exports.

Authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday. Missile and drone attacks have damaged 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure and have already briefly left large parts of Kyiv without power and water, prompting power rationing. On Wednesday, Klitschko wrote on messaging app Telegram that city authorities were considering different scenarios due to missile attacks.

With Russian artillery exploding around him, a Ukrainian soldier takes shelter in a tunnel and recounts the scene at the front line in Bakhmut, just a kilometre away. "It's horror over there. The ground is black like asphalt. Everything is destroyed," 38-year-old serviceman Yevgen told AFP. "There are bodies everywhere". The eastern Ukraine town, known for its salt mines and vineyards, has been under attack for months by Russian forces, who are mostly on the defensive in other regions across Ukraine. A driving force behind the offensive is the Wagner mercenary group, say war observers and Ukraine troops.