Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

FIGHTING * Ukrainian forces are engaged in a "fierce defence" of the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, which is two-thirds surrounded by Russian forces and 90% destroyed by shelling, the Luhansk regional governor said.

Russian forces in eastern Ukraine captured the centre of the railway hub town of Lyman and encircled most of Sievierodonetsk, as Ukrainian forces fell back in the face of Moscow's biggest advance for weeks. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian forces are engaged in a "fierce defence" of the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, which is two-thirds surrounded by Russian forces and 90% destroyed by shelling, the Luhansk regional governor said. * Ukraine's forces may be forced to retreat from the final pocket of resistance in the region to avoid being captured, the governor said.

* Russian shelling killed at least seven civilians and wounded 17 in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, authorities said. * In the southern Kherson region north of Russian-held Crimea, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were fortifying their positions and trapping civilians with constant shelling.

* The U.S. Army has awarded a contract worth up to $687 million to Raytheon Technologies Corp for anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine, sources said. DIPLOMACY

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia was weaponising a global food supply crisis and the world must prevent large-scale famine. Moscow did not appear ready for serious peace talks, he said. * The Kremlin, which holds Ukraine and its Western allies responsible for the food crisis, said Kyiv was to blame for the fact that peace negotiations were frozen.

* Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Zelenskiy discussed ways to free up exports to tackle the food crisis, Draghi's office said. ECONOMY

* European Union countries are negotiating a deal to embargo Russian oil deliveries by sea but not pipeline to win over Hungary. EU ambassadors could seal a deal before a May 30-31 summit, an official said. * Ukraine's state gas company asked Germany to halt or curtail Russian gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

* Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, its finance minister said. The economy minister blamed Russia's economic troubles on low household spending. * Russia said it successfully paid coupons in foreign currency on two Eurobonds, a move that could mean Russia may have again averted a default.

QUOTES * "I'm afraid that Putin, at great cost to himself and to the Russian military, is continuing to chew through ground in Donbas," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Bloomberg UK, adding President Vladimir Putin was making "gradual, slow, but I'm afraid palpable, progress".

COMING UP * The EU summit on May 30-31 could see divisions between members who want to take a hard line against Russia and those calling for a ceasefire. (Compiled by Philippa Fletcher and Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Rosalba O'Brien)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)