(Reuters) – China pledged a deeper partnership with Russia on Wednesday while U.S. President Joe Biden reaffirmed security assurances for NATO’s “frontline” eastern members, highlighting global tensions as the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches.

DIPLOMACY* Russia will stick to agreed limits on nuclear missiles and keep informing the United States about changes in its deployments, a senior defence official said, despite the suspension of its last remaining arms control treaty with Washington.

* Biden met leaders of NATO’s eastern flank to show support for their security after Moscow suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, which he called a “big mistake”.

* Britain has begun to “warm up” its production lines to replace weapons sent to Ukraine and increase production of artillery shells to try to help Kyiv push back Russian forces, defence minister Ben Wallace said.

* Russia said that it was studying a newly released paper on Beijing’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s flagship security proposal.

* Moldova is prepared for a “full spectrum of threats”, foreign minister Nicu Popescu said, amid fears that Russia could intensify attempts to destabilise the small nation already reeling from the war in neighbouring Ukraine.

* Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said he urged Biden to seek NATO deployment of additional military equipment, such as HIMARS artillery or attack helicopters, in the Baltic states.

* Ukraine has not violated any agreements by deepening the Bystre Canal on the Danube to increase food exports from its river ports, and is ready to show Romania the work it has carried out, a senior Ukrainian official said.

* At a meeting on Wednesday of the United Nations General Assembly to mark the war’s anniversary, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced Russia’s invasion as a violation of the founding U.N. Charter and international law and called out Moscow’s threats about possible use of nuclear weapons, saying: “It is high time to step back from the brink.”

SANCTIONS

* European Union countries did not reach agreement on Wednesday about new sanctions against Russia, and planned more talks to have the package ready for the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday, diplomats said.

* India does not want G20 nations to discuss additional sanctions on Russia, government sources said on Wednesday, as it hosts a meeting of the bloc’s finance chiefs at which the United States and allies were set to push for further action.

* The Olympics cannot be divisive and exclude athletes, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said, defending its plan to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to qualify for the Paris 2024 summer Olympics.

FIGHTING

* Two civilians were killed in Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and two were wounded in a missile strike on the northeastern city of Kharkiv, regional officials said.

* Two civilians were wounded in a Russian missile strike on Wednesday on industrial facilities in Kharkiv, the biggest city in eastern Ukraine, local officials said.

* Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin took a bitter public feud with the top army brass to a new level, publishing a grisly image of dozens of his fighters he said had been killed after being deprived of ammunition.

* Near Bakhmut, the focal point of Russian advances in the eastern region of Donetsk, 18 towns and villages came under fire, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a statement on Tuesday night.

* Russian prosecutors on Wednesday said they were proceeding with a case against exiled science fiction writer Dmitry Glukhovsky, accused of publishing “false information” about Russian atrocities in the war.

ANNIVERSARY

* Ukraine’s Zelenskiy has defied Putin against the odds, a year into war.

* Putin, secure in power, has set the stage for a long and draining war.

* A year on from Russia’s invasion, Ukraine and its government have not just survived. They’ve fought back.

* Toughened by war’s scars, Kyiv presses on while Russia attacks

* Hairdresser by day, drone hunter by night helps defend skies over Ukraine

* Russian defence chief keeps job despite Ukraine routsthanks to Putin

OPINION

* BREAKINGVIEWS-Even a weak Russia is a problem for Europe

* BREAKINGVIEWS-Ukraine yet to make defence a safe investor haven