TOP HEADLINES

· Ukraine attacked occupied Melitopol, a strategically located city in the country's southeast. The Russian-installed authorities said a missile attack killed two people and injured 10, while the exiled mayor of the city said scores of "invaders" were killed.

· More than 1.5 million people were without power in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa after a night attack by Russian "kamikaze drones," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The region's energy authority warned that repairs after the strikes would take weeks, perhaps up to three months. READ MORE BELOW

· President Vladimir Putin said Russia could amend its military doctrine by introducing the possibility of a preemptive strike to disarm an enemy. He spoke in response to a question from a reporter who asked him to clarify his statement from earlier this week on the use of nuclear weapons.

· The European Union embargo on Russia's oil and an international cap on the price of the country's crude is disrupting the maritime transport sector. The EU on Monday enforced an embargo on Russian crude shipments, the bloc's latest sanction in retaliation for Moscow's offensive in Ukraine. This week also saw the start of a $60 cap on a barrel of Russian crude, agreed by Western nations.

· The U.S. expressed alarm over a "full-scale defense partnership" between Moscow and Tehran, describing it as "harmful" to Ukraine, Iran's neighbors and the world. Iran stands accused by Western powers of supplying drones to Russia - which rejected the U.S. allegations - as Moscow batters Ukraine's energy infrastructure in search of an advantage in the conflict.

· "Putin is determined to conquer parts of Ukraine and shows no restraint in his brutality, but it is still important to keep contacts open in case a moment arrives to end the war," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

· Traders have no plans to suspend grain shipments from Ukraine's Odesa Black Sea ports due to the latest Russian attack on the region's energy system, Ukraine's Agriculture Minister Mykola Solky said.

· Russia's ex-president Dmitry Medvedev said the country was ramping up production of new-generation weapons to protect itself from enemies in Europe, the U.S. and Australia. "We are increasing production of the most powerful means of destruction. Including those based on new principles," Medvedev said on messaging app Telegram.

IN DETAIL

Odesa power outage: 'The situation remains difficult'

Over 1.5 million people were without power in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa after a night attack by Russian "kamikaze drones", President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. The region's energy authority warned that repairs after the strikes would take weeks, perhaps up to three months.

"After the night strike by Iranian drones, Odesa and other cities and villages of the region are in darkness," Zelenskyy confirmed. "As of now, more than one and a half million people in the Odessa region are without electricity."

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, said only critical infrastructure including hospitals and maternity wards had access to electricity.

"The situation remains difficult, but is under control," Tymoshenko said.

Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the region, said Russia had attacked the city with "kamikaze drones" overnight.

"As a result of the strike, there is no electricity in almost all districts and communities of our region," he said.

Two drones were shot down by Ukrainian air defense units, Marchenko added.