Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russian forces said to make progress in Bakhmut

ARMAMENTS * The United States and Germany are poised to boost Ukraine's war effort with the delivery of heavy tanks, sources said, support that Russia condemned as a "blatant provocation".

The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine's Donetsk region said units of the Wagner contract militia were advancing in the town of Bakhmut, with fighting taking place in previously Ukrainian-held neighbourhoods. ARMAMENTS

* The United States and Germany are poised to boost Ukraine's war effort

with the delivery of heavy tanks, sources said, support that Russia condemned as a "blatant provocation". * While there was no official confirmation from Berlin or Washington by late on Tuesday, officials in Kyiv hailed what they said was a potential game-changer on the battlefield.

* The United States is poised to start a process that would eventually send dozens of M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, two U.S. officials told Reuters. * A Swiss parliamentary body proposed waiving a re-export ban that prevents ammunition made in Switzerland from being re-exported from another country to Ukraine.

* Norway is considering whether to send some of its German-made Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, Oslo-based newspapers Aftenposten and Dagens Naeringsliv reported

. * A delivery of tanks by the United States to Ukraine would be a "another blatant provocation" against Russia, Anatoly Antonov, Russia's ambassador, said.

* The Russian Defence Ministry said the frigate Admiral Gorshkov had tested its strike capabilities in the western Atlantic, running a computer simulation on hypersonic Zircon missiles. CIVILIANS

* The Ukrainian Red Cross said it was preparing for more aid to the civil population in war zones in light of a possible new Russian offensive. UKRAINIAN POLITICS

* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy fired a slew of senior officials on Tuesday in the biggest political shake-up of the war, saying he needed to clean up internal problems that were hurting Ukraine. * Ukraine's ruling party drew up a bill aiming to boost transparency in defence procurement after an army food contract became the focus of high-profile corruption allegations, according to parliament's website.

* Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers praised Ukraine's government for taking swift action. RUSSIAN ECONOMY

* President Vladimir Putin said there were shortages of some medicines in Russia and that prices had gone up, despite the production of more of its own drugs. * The Kremlin said it wanted skilled workers based abroad to return to Russia and work to benefit the country after hundreds of thousands of people fled abroad in the past year.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)