Russia said Monday it will extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative after it expires on March 18, but only for 60 days. The announcement came after consultations between U.N. representatives in Geneva and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin.

"The Russian side, noting the package nature of the Istanbul agreements proposed by UN Secretary General António Guterres, does not object to another extension of the Black Sea initiative after the expiration of the second term on March 18, but only for 60 days," Vershinin said, according to Russian media reports.

Russia's consultations in Geneva on the grain deal were not easy, Vershinin said. Russia will rely on the effectiveness of the implementation of the agreement on the export of its agricultural products when deciding on a new extension of the grain deal, according to reports.

Ukraine, which is a key world exporter of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and fertilizer, had its shipments blocked in the months following the invasion by Russia, causing a worldwide spike in food prices. The first deal was brokered last July.

Russian forces suffered more than 1,100 dead in less than a week during battles near the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, the focal point of fighting in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

During his nightly address, Zelenskyy described the battles as "Russia's irreversible loss."

Russian forces also sustained about 1,500 "sanitary losses," meaning soldiers were wounded badly enough to keep them out of further action, Zelenskyy said.

Dozens of pieces of enemy equipment were destroyed, as were more than 10 Russian ammunition depots, Zelenskyy said.

-ABC News' Edward Seekers

The investigation into who was behind the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion should be "objective, impartial and transparent," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agency Interfax.

"I do not want to threaten anyone. I do not want to hint at anything either. I just know that this flagrant terror attack will not go uninvestigated," Lavrov added.

Russia also said it will distribute its correspondence with Germany, Denmark and Sweden on the investigation of the Nord Stream explosion among the members of the United Nations Security Council soon.

Russia claimed the three countries are denying Russia access to information and participation in the investigation, first deputy permanent representative to the U.N. Dmitry Polyansky said in an interview, according to Russian news agency TASS.

-ABC News' Anastasia Bagaeva and Tanya Stukalova

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied that Ukraine had anything to do with the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions last year.

"As for the Nord Stream, we have nothing to do with it," Zelenskyy said Friday.

The New York Times published a report that U.S. intelligence suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the pipeline.

Zelenskyy also suggested that the information being spread about the involvement of pro-Ukrainian groups in the attack could be done to slow down aid to his country.

-ABC News' Natalia Shumskaia

Speaking to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed where things stand in the Russia-Ukraine war on Friday, one year after it began.

"Ukraine is still standing, it remains free, it remains independent," Blinken said. "Putin's first objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to erase its identity, to absorb it into Russia. That has failed and will never succeed."

"Now, there's a fierce battle going on for the territory that Russia has seized," he added. "Ukraine's gotten about 50% of what Russia's taken since last February and now, there's a fight for the rest."

When asked how long Ukraine can hold on, with its economy devastated and Russian President Vladimir Putin seemingly preparing for a long war, Blinken said he thinks "the Ukrainians are the ones who are going to fight to the finish."

"There's one big difference: The Ukrainians are fighting for their country, for their land, for their future; the Russians are not," he noted. "And at the end of the day, assuming the support continues from so many countries around the world -- material support, military, economic, humanitarian -- Ukraine will succeed."

Blinken said it's "hard to predict" when the war will end.

"No one wants peace more than the Ukrainians, but it has to be a just and durable peace," he added. "Just in terms of reflecting the basic principles that are at the heart of the U.N. Charter, which is territorial integrity of countries, their sovereignty. And durable in the sense that wherever it lands, we don't want it to land in place where Russia can simply repeat the exercise a year or two or five years later."