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Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

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Russia is resuming supplies of gas via a major pipeline to Europe on Thursday, the pipeline operator said, amid concerns Moscow would use its vast energy exports to push back against Western pressure over its invasion of Ukraine.

ECONOMY

* The head of Germany’s energy regulator said flows of Russian gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could reach a pre-maintenance level of 40% capacity on Thursday but political uncertainty around supplies remained. He and the economy minister will give statements at 1200 GMT.

* Ukraine’s central bank devalued the hryvnia currency by25% against the U.S. dollar because of the impact of the war with Russia.

* Ukraine’s western creditor governments urged bondholders on Wednesday to accept Kyiv’s request for a two-year delay on its debt payments and said they would suspend payments owed to them.

FIGHTING

* Ukrainian forces fighting in the south and east of the country said they had killed 111 Russian soldiers and destroyed17 vehicles in 24 hours and that they saw no signs the Russians were creating special strike groups.

* One of the most densely populated areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second biggest city, is being shelled, mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, asking people not to leave shelters. The regional governor said two people had been killed and 19 wounded.

* Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, which Russian forces fully captured earlier this month, said on Telegram that “there is probably not a single square metre of land left untouched by Russian artillery,”

* The governor of the neighbouring Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, urged people to evacuate, saying Russian forces had destroyed schools in Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka and shelled the industrial part of Kramatorsk and central Bakhmut.

* Vitaly Kim, governor of Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine, said the region had been targeted with seven S300 missiles, with one person wounded and impacts on infrastructure, energy facilities and storage areas.

It was not immediately possible to verify the battlefield reports. Russia denies targeting civilians.

DIPLOMACY

* European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels agreed a new round of sanctions against Moscow on Wednesday for invading Ukraine, including a ban on importing Russian gold and a freeze on the assets of the country’s top lender Sberbank.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zelenskiy dismissed the sanctions, the seventh round from the EU, as inadequate.

* Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska appealed to U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday to provide more help to her country as it struggles against the five-month-long Russian invasion, saying weapons could help assure a “joint great victory.”

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