TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine has so far thwarted an attempted Russian advance into the north of its Donetsk region, but the city of Sloviansk and other civilian areas there were being heavily shelled, Ukrainian officials said.

• Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it in their campaign to secure the Donbas region. Sloviansk has been subjected to "massive" Russian bombardment in recent days. READ MORE BELOW

• More than 8.79 million people have crossed the border from Ukraine since the conflict started in late February, the UN refugee agency said. On its website, the agency said 8.793 million people had made the crossing since February 24.

• Ukraine has 11 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in underground storage versus a government target of 19 bcm, the head of its gas transmission system operator said. "This winter will probably be the most difficult in our history," Sergiy Makogon, chief executive of the transmission system operator, told a news briefing.

• Ukraine expects a grain harvest of at least 50 million tonnes this year, which is "not bad given all the difficulties," the country's first deputy agriculture minister said. Ukraine, a major global grain grower and exporter, harvested a record 86 million tonnes of grain in 2021.

• Moscow admitted Turkey was conducting checks on a Russian ship in the Black Sea that Ukraine says is carrying stolen Ukrainian wheat. "The (Zhibek Zholy) ship is currently in the roadstead of the Karasu port and is going through standard procedures, including sanitary control," a spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry, Alexei Zaitsev, said at a briefing. 

• Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev suggests the world could be headed for nuclear war if the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine, punishes Moscow for its suspected crimes. "The idea to punish a country that has the largest nuclear arsenal is absurd in and of itself," Medvedev said on messaging app Telegram. "And potentially creates a threat to the existence of mankind."

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the publication of a call between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin was a breach of "diplomatic etiquette". 

• Norway's foreign ministry said it had found a "solution" to allow Russian cargo, which was blocked due to sanctions, to reach the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, easing a dispute with Moscow.

• Russia's parliament is introducing harsh prison terms for cooperating with foreigners and calls to undermine national security. In a bill harking back to the Soviet era, establishing and maintaining "confidential" cooperation with a foreigner or international organization and helping them act against Russia's interests will be punishable by up to eight years in prison.

• Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said the Baltic state will reinstate compulsory military service following growing tension with neighboring Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine. "The current military system of Latvia has reached its limit. Meanwhile we have no reason to think that Russia will change its behavior," Pabriks told reporters.

IN DETAIL

Sloviansk: Not 'a day without shelling'

Ukrainian officials have called on civilians to urgently evacuate the city of Sloviansk as Russian troops press towards it in their campaign to secure the Donbas region.

Sloviansk has been subjected to "massive" Russian bombardment in recent days, with at least two people killed and seven others wounded in an attack on a marketplace.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, which includes Sloviansk, told Ukrainian media his "main advice is evacuate!"

"This week there hasn't been a day without shelling," he said, adding that the city was now within range of Russian multiple-rocket launchers.

"The enemy is shelling chaotically, the attacks are aimed at destroying the local population," he said.

"So, once again, the main advice is to evacuate."

AFP journalists on the ground in Sloviansk saw rockets slam into the marketplace and surrounding streets, with firefighters scrambling to put out the resulting fires.

Kyrylenko also reported shelling across "the entire frontline" in the eastern Donbas region, where Russia has refocused its efforts since abandoning its initial aim of capturing Kyiv, following tough Ukrainian resistance.

Donbas is mainly comprised of Luhansk, which Russian forces have almost entirely captured, and Donetsk to its southwest - the current focus of Moscow's attack.

The fall of Lysychansk in the region on Sunday, a week after the Ukrainian army also retreated from the neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, has freed up Russian troops to advance on Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.