(Reuters) - Russia has begun using its new T-14 Armata battle tanks to fire on Ukrainian positions "but they have not yet participated in direct assault operations", the RIA state news agency reported, quoting a source close to the matter.
DIPLOMACY
* Risks of a direct military confrontation between the two nuclear powers, Russia and the United States, are steadily growing, the TASS news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying.
* Russia may retreat from the moratorium on the deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles due to the actions of the United States, TASS quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told a meeting chaired by Russia's foreign minister that the invasion is "causing massive suffering and devastation", while Moscow warned global risks were possibly worse than during the Cold War.
* EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed confidence that the bloc would finalise a plan within days to buy ammunition for Ukraine.
* Russia's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Moldovan ambassador in Russia over the expulsion last week of a Russian diplomat in Moldova, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
GRAIN DEAL
* Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine of attempting to attack its ships in the Black Sea, which it said was threatening prospects for extension of a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain through Black Sea waters, controlled by Russian invasion forces.
* U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin a "way forward aimed at the improvement, extension and expansion" of the deal, a U.N. spokesperson said.
ECONOMY
* A new round of European Union sanctions against Russia is under discussion but adoption of the package is unlikely earlier than "deep into May", Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said.
* The European Union and Japan have pushed back against a U.S. proposal for G7 countries to ban all exports to Russia, the Financial Times reported.
* Security will be a key issue at a wind energy summit of seven countries surrounding the North Sea, Belgium said. Dutch intelligence agencies have accused Russia of planning sabotage to offshore turbines. Russia rejects that.
* Russia needs an estimated 500 billion roubles ($6.1 billion) for the development of a drone project announced by Putin in February, the Russian RBC news outlet reported.
CHINA SEEKS TO END SOVEREIGNTY ROW
* China respects the status of former Soviet member states as sovereign nations, its foreign ministry said, distancing itself from comments by its envoy to France that triggered uproar.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine's military said on Tuesday that Russia maintained its offensive action in the Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Maryinka areas on the eastern front, with "heavy fighting" for the city of Bakhmut.
* Russian forces shelled a museum in the centre of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, killing one person, wounding 10 more and burying others under rubble, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
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(Compiled by Reuters editors)
