Russia and Ukraine made enough progress on resolving their dispute over blocked grain exports that "a final agreement" could be reached next week, the UN and Turkey said after face-to-face talks in Istanbul.

DW correspondent Juri Rescheto brings us this story of a Russian teacher who has been suffering consequences for expressing her anti-war stance. She has refused to be silenced despite pressure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is responding to Western sanctions with his own. His blockade of gas and grain supplies has caused food and energy crises elsewhere. Guests: Vendeline von Bredow (The Economist), Prof. Kwesi Aning (security expert), Vladimir Esipov (DW)

In eastern Ukraine, Russia continues its push to control the entire Donbas region. The strategic towns of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Bakhmut have all seen intense bombardment in recent days, leaving Ukrainian forces to shore up their lines of defence. Our reporters Luke Shrago, Taline Oundjian and Achraf Abid spent the night with some of those forces near the front, offering a glimpse into the life of a typical Ukrainian soldier at war.

More than five million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country since Russia's invasion, and many are seeking jobs in host countries throughout Europe. The Tent Partnership for Refugees has launched a new initiative, which aims to integrate displaced Ukrainian women into the workforce in the EU. Dozens of major European corporations have signed on to the Sunflower Project.

After orders to step up operations in Ukraine, Russian forces appear to be resuming their attacks in the Donbas region with small-scale offensives near the city of Sloviansk.

The Russian TV journalist who protested the war in Ukraine was briefly detained in Moscow. She had recently returned to Russia after working for German newspaper Die Welt.

Analysts say Russia may be seeking to take over Ukraine's second largest city, Kharkiv. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his head of state security and his prosecutor general. Follow DW for more.

The US Department of Defense believes Russia is installing proxy officials in order to seize Ukrainian land. A bridge in the Russian-controlled Kherson region was reportedly damaged by shelling. DW rounds up the latest.

Amnesty International says it has "credible information" that Myanmar's military deployed landmines in Kayah State. These mines have injured and even killed civilians.

Vladimir Putin works his Middle East connections. For his first international outing since the war in Ukraine, he went to Iran to meet with supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Iran and Russia are seeking closer ties in the face of Western sanctions. Also on the agenda: negotiations over blockaded imports of Ukrainian grain and the situation in Syria.

Germany's foreign minister told DW that Moscow's justification for focusing on territory beyond the Donbas does not stack up. She also said Berlin must not leave itself open to blackmail from other states.