8:02

Two Reuters journalists were wounded and their driver killed after their car came under fire in eastern Ukraine, a spokesperson for the news agency said.

The driver of the vehicle was killed and the two journalists “sustained minor injuries” while en route to the key eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Reuters said in a statement.

The statement continued:

They were travelling in a vehicle provided by the Russian-backed separatists and driven by an individual assigned by the separatists. The driver of the vehicle was killed.

The agency extended its deepest sympathies to the family of the driver for their loss. It did not provide any further details about the incident. 

17:53 Patrick Wintour

The west needs to test Vladimir Putin’s sincerity in saying he will release grain trapped in Ukraine’s ports in the interests of preventing a world wide famine, the Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer said.

The Austrian leader, speaking at a conference in Bratislava, said the world did not have the time to sort out the crisis, warning the threat of a famine all over the world was “really dangerous” and likely to see governments being destabilised.

Nehammer is one of a small group of European politicians that has remained in touch with Putin. He nevertheless said he had received verbal guarantees from Putin that he would allow grain convoys to leave Odesa, adding if the port was de-mined by Ukraine Russian ships would not attack Odesa.

he question always is, if you talk to the President of the Russian Federation, is how far we can trust him….We have to try to find out if he is really a partner on the question of bringing out the corn out, or not.

As much as 20m tonnes of corn is waiting to be shipped out of Odesa, but the cargo ships cannot sail both because Odesa port is mined and there is no guarantee that the Russians that control the Black Sea will not intervene.

Nehammer added there could be no question of the EU lifting sanctions on Russia in return for Russia giving the grain convoys safe passage.