Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 400 of the invasion

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has made a second visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine amid an escalation in the fighting around it. Rafael Mariano Grossi was shown around the plant by Russian occupying forces and officials, telling reporters: “It is obvious that military activity is increasing in this whole region, so every possible measure and precautions should be taken so that the plant is not attacked.”

Russia has stopped informing the US about its nuclear activities, including missile test launches, after Moscow suspended its participation in the New Start arms control treaty last month, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, has said. The White House on Tuesday said the US had told Russia it would cease exchanging some data on its nuclear forces after Moscow’s refusal to do so.

Russia began exercises with the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system and several thousand troops, its defence ministry said on Wednesday. Vladimir Putin has aimed to make the Yars missile system, which replaced the Topol system, part of Russia’s “invincible weapons” and the mainstay of the ground-based component of its nuclear arsenal.

The German government has agreed to spend an additional €12bn on military support. The Bundestag’s budget committee gave the green light on Wednesday for about €8bn to be spent directly on purchasing weapons and equipment for Ukraine. The other €4bn will go to the German military to replenish stocks. Spain will send six Leopard 2A4 tanks to Ukraine after Easter, the Spanish defence minister, Margarita Robles, has said.

An explosion was reported near a Russian military airbase in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, according to footage shared on social media. The Russian-appointed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, posted to Telegram that “a UAV [drone] was shot down in the Simferopol region” and that there were “no casualties or damage”.

Ukrainian forces reportedly shelled the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol, south of the Zaporizhzhia region, and Russian media reported on Wednesday that as a result the city’s power supply had been cut. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, said on the Telegram messaging app there had been several explosions.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of Russia’s mercenary Wagner group, said the battle for the eastern city of Bakhmut had “practically destroyed” the Ukrainian army but his forces had also been “badly damaged”. The Russian-installed leader in the region said Russian forces were moving forward in Bakhmut despite fierce resistance and had almost taken full control of a metals plant there.

Russian forces trying to encircle the town of Avdiivka in recent days have made only marginal gains despite heavy losses in armoured vehicles, including a tank regiment, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

Vladimir Putin conceded that sanctions on Russia could have “negative” consequences for the economy but insisted Moscow was adapting to the penalties and that unemployment “remains at an all-time low”.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has extended an invitation to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to visit Ukraine. In an interview with the Associated Press, Zelenskiy said: “We are ready to see him here. I want to speak with him.”

Zelenskiy said Ukraine needed 20 Patriot batteries to protect against Russian missiles, and even that may not be enough “as no country in the world was attacked with so many ballistic rockets”. He added that a European nation sent another air defence system to Ukraine, but it didn’t work and they “had to change it again and again”. He did not name the country.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has urged Russians not to adopt children who she said were “stolen” from her country during the war and deported to Russia. Vereshchuk, posting to Telegram, said orphans had been “stolen in Ukraine” and allegedly given up for adoption in Russia.

Poland has urged the EU to limit the amount of Ukrainian grain entering the bloc’s market, its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has said, amid anger among farmers over the effect of imports on Polish grain prices.

Ukraine’s sports ministry has condemned what it said was a partial change of position by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in international competitions as neutrals. Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, described the IOC’s decision as “shameful”.