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The US Senate has unanimously approved legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium, after the House of Representatives passed the bill in December.

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Uranium is used to power commercial nuclear reactors that produce electricity.

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The US president, Joe Biden, who last week signed a foreign aid bill to provide billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine, is expected now to sign the uranium imports bill into law.

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American nuclear power plants imported about 12% of their uranium from Russia in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

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A spokesperson for the national security council had said that Congress imposing the ban “would provide assurance to industry, allies, and partners that the US has made a clear decision to establish a secure nuclear fuel supply chain, independent of adversarial influence, for decades to come”.

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Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog.

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Reuters is reporting that the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has ordered more, and swifter, delivery of weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

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At a meeting with the top military command for Moscow’s fight in Ukraine, the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the operation, delivered a report to Shoigu, the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram.

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“To maintain the required pace of the offensive … it is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops, primarily weapons,” it cited Shoigu as saying in a statement posted on Telegram.

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With Kyiv blaming lack of weapons, Russian forces have made nearly daily tactical advances in recent weeks along the frontline in Ukraine’s southeast. Russia has taken about half a dozen villages in the Donetsk region, while firming up battlefield positions in the Kharkiv region.

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In other news:

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• Ukraine launched drones on several Russian regions in hours leading to Wednesday morning, Russian officials said, with unofficial Russian news outlets reporting a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery after the attack. Pavel Malkov, governor or the Ryazan region, which shares a border with the Moscow region in its northwestern parts, said that there were no injuries in the drone attacks there.
  Russian Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security services, reported that the attack sparked a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery. The governors of the Kursk and Voronezh regions in southwest Russia that border Ukraine also reported drone attacks on their territories, saying there was no damage or injuries.

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• Russian strikes on Kharkiv, in north-east Ukraine, killed at least one person and injured nine others on Tuesday, the regional governor said. Ukraine’s railway company said the 24-year-old victim was one of its employees.

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• A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine has escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10km (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane. Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska became separated from her family and continued alone after they decided to leave the frontline town of Ocheretyne.

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• Russian-occupied Crimea has come under Ukrainian attack, the Moscow-installed authorities said, from what they described as US-supplied Atacms missiles.

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• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country needed “a significant acceleration” in deliveries of weaponry. “We are very much counting on prompt deliveries from the United States,” he said. “These supplies must make themselves felt in disrupting the logistics of the occupiers, in making them afraid to base themselves anywhere on occupied territory and in our strength.”

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• The International Rescue Committee described a worsening situation in Kharkiv, which lies near the Russian border and is Ukraine’s second-largest city, with an increasingly anxious population. The IRC said recent attacks had caused “extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and led to a sharp increase in casualties among the local population … air raid sirens sound day and night”, with people “experiencing heightened anxiety and distress”.

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Key events

These images reveal the aftermath of Russian strikes on Kharkiv yesterday, which, according to the regional governor, killed at least one person and injured nine others.

Security officials believe the Kremlin’s original war aims are unchanged, more than two years after Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion. They include seizing the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa and occupying Ukraine’s southern Black Sea coast.

They assess that Russia will not be able to storm Kharkiv, a city of more than 1 million people close to the Russian border but will continue to bomb and to threaten it.

US Senate approves ban on Russian uranium imports

The US Senate has unanimously approved legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium, after the House of Representatives passed the bill in December.

Uranium is used to power commercial nuclear reactors that produce electricity.

The US president, Joe Biden, who last week signed a foreign aid bill to provide billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine, is expected now to sign the uranium imports bill into law.

American nuclear power plants imported about 12% of their uranium from Russia in 2022, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

A spokesperson for the national security council had said that Congress imposing the ban “would provide assurance to industry, allies, and partners that the US has made a clear decision to establish a secure nuclear fuel supply chain, independent of adversarial influence, for decades to come”.

Russia’s defence minister orders more weapons for war in Ukraine

Good morning and welcome to our Ukraine blog.

Reuters is reporting that the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has ordered more, and swifter, delivery of weapons for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

At a meeting with the top military command for Moscow’s fight in Ukraine, the chief of the general staff, Valery Gerasimov, who is in charge of the operation, delivered a report to Shoigu, the Russian defence ministry wrote on Telegram.

“To maintain the required pace of the offensive … it is necessary to increase the volume and quality of weapons and military equipment supplied to the troops, primarily weapons,” it cited Shoigu as saying in a statement posted on Telegram.

With Kyiv blaming lack of weapons, Russian forces have made nearly daily tactical advances in recent weeks along the frontline in Ukraine’s southeast. Russia has taken about half a dozen villages in the Donetsk region, while firming up battlefield positions in the Kharkiv region.

In other news:

• Ukraine launched drones on several Russian regions in hours leading to Wednesday morning, Russian officials said, with unofficial Russian news outlets reporting a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery after the attack. Pavel Malkov, governor or the Ryazan region, which shares a border with the Moscow region in its northwestern parts, said that there were no injuries in the drone attacks there.
  Russian Telegram channel Baza, which is close to the security services, reported that the attack sparked a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery. The governors of the Kursk and Voronezh regions in southwest Russia that border Ukraine also reported drone attacks on their territories, saying there was no damage or injuries.

• Russian strikes on Kharkiv, in north-east Ukraine, killed at least one person and injured nine others on Tuesday, the regional governor said. Ukraine’s railway company said the 24-year-old victim was one of its employees.

• A 98-year-old woman in Ukraine has escaped Russian-occupied territory by walking almost 10km (six miles) alone, wearing a pair of slippers and supported by a cane. Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska became separated from her family and continued alone after they decided to leave the frontline town of Ocheretyne.

• Russian-occupied Crimea has come under Ukrainian attack, the Moscow-installed authorities said, from what they described as US-supplied Atacms missiles.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country needed “a significant acceleration” in deliveries of weaponry. “We are very much counting on prompt deliveries from the United States,” he said. “These supplies must make themselves felt in disrupting the logistics of the occupiers, in making them afraid to base themselves anywhere on occupied territory and in our strength.”

• The International Rescue Committee described a worsening situation in Kharkiv, which lies near the Russian border and is Ukraine’s second-largest city, with an increasingly anxious population. The IRC said recent attacks had caused “extensive damage to civilian infrastructure and led to a sharp increase in casualties among the local population … air raid sirens sound day and night”, with people “experiencing heightened anxiety and distress”.

The Guardian