TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine said the conflict in the east of the country had hit its fiercest level yet. Moscow's troops are pushing into the industrial Donbas region after failing to take the capital Kyiv, closing in on several urban centers, including the strategically located Severodonetsk and Lysychansk.

• Seven people were killed in fresh Russian shelling of Ukraine's second city Kharkiv on Thursday, a regional official said, where many have returned after Russia's attempts to capture the eastern city were repelled.

• A Russian resolution on the health crisis in Ukraine was solidly rejected by World Health Organization member states on Thursday. A prior Ukrainian resolution which condemned Russia's "military aggression" in Ukraine "in the strongest terms", and called on Moscow to "cease any attacks on hospitals", was passed by 88 votes to 12.

• Germany is working to transport millions of tonnes of grain by rail, currently blocked in Ukraine's sea ports by the Russia military, a top US defense official said on Thursday.

• Moscow is ready to make a "significant contribution" to averting a looming food crisis if the West lifts sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone call with Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

• British clothing and food retailer Marks and Spencer announced a full exit from Russia following the country's military offensive in Ukraine.

• Moldova placed the country's pro-Russian former president Igor Dodon under house arrest for 30 days after he was detained on suspicion of treason and corruption, a court in the capital Chisinau said.

• A Russian court confirmed the dismissal of 115 national guardsmen who challenged their sacking after refusing to take part in Moscow's military operation in Ukraine. 

• Two captured Russian soldiers pleaded guilty to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine in the second war crimes trial of the conflict. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country "badly" needed multiple launch rocket systems to match Russian firepower as he pressed Western allies for heavy weapons at the WEF.

• Dmytro Kuleba accused NATO of "doing literally nothing" in the face of Russia's offensive, while praising the EU for its "revolutionary" decisions to back Kyiv. 

• Putin fast-tracked citizenship for residents of two regions of Ukraine, prompting protests from Kyiv that the move violated its sovereignty. READ MORE BELOW

IN DETAIL

'Russia is here forever'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday fast-tracked citizenship for residents of two regions of Ukraine, prompting protests from Kyiv that the move violated its sovereignty.

Putin signed a decree affecting residents of the southern region of Kherson, which is under the full control of Russian troops, and the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia, partially controlled by Moscow.

Moscow and pro-Moscow officials have said both regions could become part of Russia.

"The simplified system will allow all of us to clearly see that Russia is here not just for a long time but forever," the Moscow-appointed deputy leader of Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency.

The new authorities want to help those wishing to "join the big family of Russia", he added.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry swiftly protested against the "illegal issuing of passports."

The move "is a flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as norms and principles of international humanitarian law," it said in a statement.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price voiced concern that the plan was part of "Russia's attempt to subjugate the people of Ukraine - to impose their will by force." 

"That is something that we would forcefully reject," Price told reporters.

'I am completely guilty'

Two captured Russian soldiers pleaded guilty on Thursday to shelling a town in eastern Ukraine in the second war crimes trial of the conflict.

At the trial in the Kotelevska district court in central Ukraine, state prosecutors asked for Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov to be jailed for 12 years for violating the laws of war.

A defense lawyer asked for leniency, saying the two soldiers had been following orders and repented.

Bobikin and Ivanov, who stood in a reinforced glass box, acknowledged being part of an artillery unit that fired at targets in the Kharkiv region from the Belgorod region in Russia. The shelling destroyed an educational establishment in the town of Derhachi, prosecutors said.

The servicemen, described as an artillery driver and a gunner, were captured after crossing the border and continuing the shelling, the prosecutor general's office said. 

"I am completely guilty of the crimes of which I am accused. We fired at Ukraine from Russia," Bobikin told the court in proceedings that were streamed live.

Asking not to be handed the maximum jail term, Ivanov said: "I repent and ask for a reduction in the sentence."

The hearing lasted under an hour. The verdict is expected on May 31.