Kyiv braces for heavier fighting

KYIV, Ukraine: Moscow’s blockade of Ukrainian grain exports and a rail transit row sparked fresh tensions between Russia and the European Union on Monday, as Kyiv warned that Russian troops were intensifying their battle for control of eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of holding Africa "hostage" by blocking wheat deliveries, which has spurred food shortages and fears of famines in vulnerable areas.

Nearly four months after Russia launched its bloody invasion, Zelensky said Ukraine was headed into a "fateful" week with EU leaders set to discuss Kyiv’s bid to become a candidate for bloc membership on Thursday and Friday.

Ukraine said Russian troops appeared to be making small gains, including capturing a village near the industrial city of Severodonetsk, a focus of recent fighting. The fallout from the war continued to reverberate beyond Ukraine’s borders, with Russia threatening EU member Lithuania over its "openly hostile" restrictions on the rail transit of goods to Moscow’s exclave of Kaliningrad.

The Kremlin called the situation "more than serious" and Russia’s foreign ministry said if the cargo transit between Kaliningrad and the rest of Russia "is not restored in full, then Russia reserves the right to take actions to protect its national interests".

Lithuania said the ban was in line with European sanctions over Moscow’s aggression, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Moscow had no right to threaten the Baltic nation.

The West’s deteriorating relationship with Moscow was highlighted in harsh comments from the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell who called Russia’s blockade of vitally needed grain exports from Ukraine "a real war crime". "One cannot imagine that millions of tonnes of wheat remain blocked in Ukraine while in the rest of the world people are suffering hunger," Borrell said as EU foreign ministers met in Luxembourg.