Parties are close to an agreement to extend the Black Sea grain initiative, after two days of negotiations in Istanbul, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in comments reported by Reuters.

Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and U.N. officials have been discussing the fate of the deal, which Moscow says will expire by May 18 unless Russian demands are met.

The U.N.-brokered Black Sea agreement was struck last July to mitigate a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The deal eased Russia’s naval blockade and reopened three Ukrainian ports, easing shipments of agricultural goods.

Russia and Ukraine accounted for almost a quarter of global grain exports prior to the war.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said he approved a plan to overhaul his country’s criminal and legal enforcement systems, in a bid to clinch Kyiv’s expedited accession to the European Union.

“We must provide for a system that guarantees justice and rule of law in our country, compatible with our aim of quickly joining the EU,” Zelenskyy said in a video address, according to Reuters.

Ukraine has formally applied to join the EU bloc and was granted candidate status in June last year. The EU in February acknowledged “the considerable efforts that Ukraine has demonstrated in recent months towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for EU membership.”

The EU sees judiciary and anti-corruption reforms as key to Ukraine’s admission. Kyiv ranks 116 out of the 180 countries assessed by Transparency International in its 2022 corruption perceptions index.

— Ruxandra Iordache

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday denied reports that Ukrainian military forces breached various areas of the front lines.

The ministry’s response comes after Russian military bloggers reported alleged Ukrainian advances north and south of the embattled city of Bakhmut, flagging a prospective counteroffensive.

“Statements circulated by individual telegram channels about “defense breakthroughs” that took place in various parts of the contact line do not correspond to reality,” the ministry said on Telegram on Friday, according to a Google translation.

It stressed that “the general situation in the area of ​​the special military operation is under control.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday told Western media that Kyiv required more time and more military aid to begin a proper counteroffensive.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of the Russian private military company Wagner Group that is carrying out Russian hostilities in Ukraine, nevertheless said later that day that Ukrainian forces had begun their counterattack and were approaching from the flanks of Bakhmut.

— Ruxandra Iordache

U.S. and Chinese officials met for two days in Vienna to discuss a range of topics, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, amid tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

“The two sides had candid, substantive, and constructive discussions on key issues in the U.S.-China bilateral relationship, global and regional security issues, Russia’s war against Ukraine, and cross-Strait issues, among other topics,” the White House said Thursday in a readout of the meeting between Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, and China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi.

The White House National Security Council and the State Department did not respond to CNBC’s requests for more details on the meeting.

Sullivan has previously reiterated deep U.S. concerns about China’s alignment with Russia and the possibility that the world’s second-largest economy might attempt to help Moscow blunt sanctions.

In the months following Russia’s invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions vaulting Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world’s most-sanctioned country.

Read the full story here.

— Amanda Macias

G7 members export approximately $4.7 billion a month to Russia, which is about 43% of what they did prior to the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a new report from the Atlantic Council. 

“After 15 months of conflict, the G7 have implemented nearly all the economic measures against Russia that garnered consensus within the group,” writes Niels Graham, an assistant director for the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center.

“The options they have left will be increasingly contentious and will impose higher costs on the G7 countries’ domestic economies,” he added.

Here’s a look at the G7’s remaining exports to Russia and the full report.

The war in Ukraine looks to have created deep and lasting tensions between Russia’s leadership in Moscow and its mercenary fighters on the ground.

The acrimony between the two sides descended into openly hostile criticism this week, with mutual accusations of treachery this week.

The head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner Group could barely contain his rage on Tuesday when he said promised supplies of ammunition to his fighters in Bakhmut had not arrived.

The Kremlin appeared to comment on tensions Wednesday, saying “emotions are boiling over” in Bakhmut.

Read more on the story here: The Ukraine war is driving a wedge between Moscow and its mercenaries — and the Kremlin knows it