Ukraine latest: Japan bans steel, aircraft exports to Russia in latest sanctions

The war that began with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has passed a grim one-year milestone, with mounting military and civilian deaths.

As fighting rages in and around Bakhmut, Western nations have raised their military support for Ukraine to the highest level yet, with commitments to send main battle tanks.

Japan bans Russia-bound exports of steel, aluminum and aircraft including drones in its latest sanctions imposed due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the country's trade ministry said. The latest measure, which also prohibits Japanese entities from exporting a wide variety of industrial items such as construction machinery, ship engines, testing equipment and optical devices to Russia, will go into effect on April 7, the ministry said in a statement. The announcement comes days after Russia's Defense Ministry said the navy had fired supersonic anti-ship missiles at a practice target in the Sea of Japan.Turkey's parliament ratifies Finland's application to join NATO, lifting the last hurdle in the way of the Nordic country's long-delayed accession into the Western military alliance. All 276 lawmakers present voted in favor of Finland's bid. "This will make the whole NATO family stronger & safer," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter in welcoming Turkey's action. Alarmed by Russia's invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Finland and Sweden abandoned their decades-long policy of nonalignment and applied to join the alliance. Full unanimity is required to admit new members into the 30-member alliance, and Turkey was the last NATO member to ratify Finland's accession.