Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Russian forces pressed closer to the centre of the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk in a drive to grab a swathe of eastern Ukraine, while the United States said it would supply advanced rockets to Kyiv to help force Moscow to negotiate an end to the war. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian forces are holding just a fifth of Sievierodonetsk but there is still hope that they can prevent Russia taking full control, the head of the city administration told Reuters by telephone. * Russia criticised a U.S. decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine, warning of an increased risk of direct confrontation with Washington.

* Russia's nuclear forces are holding drills in the Ivanovo province, northeast of Moscow, the Interfax news agency cited the Russian defence ministry as saying. * Ukrainian forces have had some success near the southern city of Kherson and are advancing in parts of the Kharkiv region to the east of Kyiv, President Zelenskiy said.

TRADE * European Union leaders have agreed an embargo on Russian crude oil imports that will take full effect by the end of the year, but Hungary and two other landlocked Central European states secured exemptions for pipeline imports.

* German companies Uniper and RWE have paid for Russian gas under a new scheme proposed by Moscow, in a bid to ensure continued supply of the fuel that is critical to Europe's top economy. * Russia's Gazprom said it will turn off supplies to several "unfriendly" countries which have refused to accept Moscow's roubles-for-gas payment scheme.

* Ukraine's 2022 wheat harvest is likely to drop to 19.2 million tonnes from a record 33 million tonnes in 2021, Ukrainian grain traders' union UGA said. ECONOMY

* Russia's economy will contract less than expected this year and inflation will be lower than previously thought, a Reuters poll showed. * Poland stands to get an economic boost from agreements to help Ukraine, the prime minister said as he opened temporary housing funded and built by Warsaw in a town that was largely destroyed during the war with Russia.

DIPLOMACY * Russia said on Wednesday that it did not rule out a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, but that any such talks needed to be prepared in advance.

(Compiled by Hugh Lawson)