Ukraine, Briefly

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• Russia claimed Tuesday that it had taken wide sections of eastern Ukraine following a weeks-long assault and the recent deployment of more troops, the Associated Press wrote. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Moscow’s forces control 97 percent of the Luhansk region.

• The Russian military announced on Tuesday that the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk, which were recently captured by Russia, had been demined and are ready to carry grain, according to the Washington Post. Meanwhile, Moscow is under fire for holding hostage millions of tons of Ukrainian wheat, a critical food source, for political advantage in the midst of a deepening food crisis, the New York Times added.

• Russian lawmakers passed legislation Tuesday that would eliminate the European Court of Human Rights’ jurisdiction in Russia after Moscow declared it would leave the court, Reuters reported. The parliament passed two measures: One removing the country from the court’s jurisdiction and a second setting March 15 as the cut-off point, with rulings against Russia made after that date not to be implemented.

• Mariupol, the Ukrainian city that has been under siege for months, is possibly facing a cholera epidemic, according to local officials, NBC News noted. An adviser to the mayor of the captured port city claimed Tuesday that rotting waste and bodies had polluted the city’s drinking water, raising the likelihood of a cholera epidemic.