Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Ukraine raids tycoons home, tax office in wartime clampdown

* Ukrainian security forces also raided the Tax Office and the home of former interior minister Arsen Avakov, and a new Customs Service chief was named, two days before Ukraine hosts a summit with the European Union at which Kyiv wants to show it is cracking down after years of chronic corruption. * Avakov said investigators were looking into the purchase of helicopters of the type of one that crashed on Jan. 18, killing 14 people including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi.

Security services searched the home of one of Ukraine's most prominent billionaires, moving against a figure once seen as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's sponsor in what the authorities called a war-time anti-corruption purge. CRACKDOWN IN UKRAINE

* The security service later said it had uncovered a scheme to embezzle more than $1 billion at oil producer Ukrnafta and oil refinery Ukrtatnafta, companies that the billionaire, Ihor Kolomoiskiy, used to partly own. Kolomoiskiy, who could not be reached for comment, has previously denied any wrongdoing. * Ukrainian security forces also raided the Tax Office and the home of former interior minister Arsen Avakov, and a new Customs Service chief was named, two days before Ukraine hosts a summit with the European Union at which Kyiv wants to show it is cracking down after years of chronic corruption.

* Avakov said investigators were looking into the purchase of helicopters of the type of one that crashed on Jan. 18, killing 14 people including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi. CONFLICT

* Russian forces were manoeuvring to try to surround the eastern city of Bakhmut, where troops were fighting building to building for gains of barely 100 metres (yards) a night amid constant Russian shelling, a soldier in a Ukrainian unit of Belarusian volunteers told Reuters from inside the city. * Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

* President Vladimir Putin said Russia's military must stop the shelling of Russian regions from Ukrainian territory, which he said had left many people homeless or without power. ARMS AND DIPLOMACY

* Germany needs to order new Leopard tanks quickly to replace those going to Ukraine, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said, adding that he did not care where the money came from. * EU countries will seek a deal on Friday on a European Commission proposal to set price caps on Russian oil products amid divisions between member states, diplomats said.

* Olympic officials are working behind the scenes to contain growing opposition to its plans for Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete at the Paris Olympics as the Ukraine war threatens to rekindle Cold War-era sporting frictions. * Russia said it wanted to preserve its last remaining nuclear treaty with the United States despite what it called a destructive U.S. approach to arms control. Washington on Tuesday accused Moscow of violating the New START treaty by refusing to allow inspections on its territory.

* The United States imposed sanctions on 22 individuals and entities in multiple countries that Washington accused of being tied to a global sanctions evasion network supporting Russia's military-industrial complex. QUOTE

"Are there any other children you can play with here?" policeman Pavlo Dyachenko asked six-year-old Arina after finding her in Bakhmut. "No", she replied, and started to cry. (Compiled by Philippa Fletcher and Gareth Jones)

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