Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

ECON0MY * Two more grain-carrying ships left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Tuesday, Turkey's defence ministry said, as part of a deal to unblock Ukrainian sea exports, bringing the total to leave the country under a safe passage deal to 12.

Russia unleashed ground forces, air strikes, and artillery as it pressed ahead with a grinding offensive designed to complete its capture of eastern Ukraine, but Kyiv said its troops were putting up fierce resistance and holding the line. FIGHTING/DIPLOMACY

* The Kremlin on Tuesday dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's call for a Western travel ban on all Russians as irrational, saying that Europe would ultimately have to decide if it wanted to pay the bills for Zelenskiy's "whims". * Anti-aircraft defenses around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will be strengthened following days of reported shelling on the site, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian-installed separatist official as saying.

* Russia continued to focus on reinforcing its defenses in southern Ukraine over the weekend, while also maintaining attacks on Kyiv's positions in the Donetsk region in the east, Britain said. ECON0MY

* Two more grain-carrying ships left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Tuesday, Turkey's defense ministry said, as part of a deal to unblock Ukrainian sea exports, bringing the total to leave the country under a safe passage deal to 12. * Russian airlines, including state-controlled Aeroflot, are stripping jetliners to secure spare parts they can no longer buy abroad because of Western sanctions, four industry sources told Reuters.

* The United States will provide an additional $4.5 billion to Ukraine's government, bringing its total budgetary support since Russia's February invasion to $8.5 billion, the U.S. Agency for International Development said on Monday.