Russia ends call-up for war on Ukraine

Russia said on Friday it had drafted 300,000 people in a month and is ending its call-up of reservists to fight in Ukraine, a divisive move that led to tens of thousands of Russian men fleeing and brought the first sustained public protest against the war.

Here are some of the other latest development in the war in Ukraine:

• Russian conscripts are so poorly prepared and equipped that Moscow will soon need more men to send to the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

• Russia said the accelerated deployment of modernised US B61 tactical nuclear weapons at Nato bases in Europe would lower the "nuclear threshold" and that Russia would take the move into account in its military planning.

• The United Nations on Friday urged parties to renew a Black Sea grain and fertiliser deal for Ukrainian and Russian exports, with a UN spokesperson saying it would contribute to cushioning food supply shortages and the global cost of living crisis.

• The Ukrainian foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart on Friday to stop sending weapons to Russia. Iranian-made drones have been used by Russia to hobble Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Ukraine says. Iran and Russia deny the charge.

• Russian naval forces repelled a drone attack in the Bay of Sevastopol, where the Black Sea Fleet in headquartered, on the annexed Crimean peninsular, the Russian-installed leader of the area said.

• Both sides exchanged rocket, mortar and artillery fire from trench lines north of the Russian-held southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, where one of the war's most consequential battles is looming.

• The Russian defence ministry said its forces had repelled attempted Ukrainian advances in the east and had destroyed a Ukrainian military factory near the town of Pavlograd.

• Reuters could not verify battlefield accounts.

• Russia's finance ministry has significantly cut expectations of taxable oil production for 2023, according to the draft budget for the next three years, in the expectation Western sanctions will mean an overall decline in output and refining volumes.

• Canada will sell a government-backed, 5-year bond to raise money for Ukraine, the first country to do so, and it will impose new sanctions on 35 Russians, including Gazprom executives, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday.