Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia would focus its trade on the other BRICS emerging economies. * Ukraine said it exported 48% less grain in the first 22 days of June than a year earlier.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow's massive air and artillery attacks were aimed at destroying the entire Donbas region and urged Ukraine's allies to accelerate the shipment of weapons to match Russia on the battlefield. FIGHTING

* The fight for Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine's Luhansk region is "entering a sort of fearsome climax", said Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to Zelensky. * Ukrainian forces are defending Sievierodonetsk and the nearby settlements of Zolote and Vovchoyrovka, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gaidai said on Thursday, but added Russia had captured Loskutivka and Rai-Oleksandrivka to the south.

* "All of Lysychansk is within reach of their fire, it is very dangerous in the city," Gaidai said. * Tass news agency cited pro-Moscow separatists as saying they had captured most of Vovchoyarivka, a village some 12 km (7.5 miles) southwest of the city of Lysychansk.

* According to Britain's defense ministry, Russian forces have highly likely advanced more than 5 km (3.11 miles) towards the southern approaches of Lysychansk since June 19. * Russian forces pounded Kharkiv and its surrounds, killing at least 20 people. Kyiv said Moscow was trying to force it to divert battlefield resources to protect civilians there.

* Two drones flying from the direction of Ukraine hit Russia's Novoshakhtinsk oil refinery, near the border. Production has been suspended. * Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.

ECONOMY AND DIPLOMACY * Zelenskiy said he believed all European Union members would back granting Ukraine EU candidate status.

* The EU will temporarily shift to coal to cope with slowing Russian gas flows and soaring prices, an official said on Wednesday. * Leaders from the Group of Seven and NATO will seek to increase pressure on Russia at meetings next week, U.S. administration officials said on Wednesday.

* Moscow is working on a "practical" response to Lithuania's ban on the transit of goods sanctioned by the EU to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Russian officials said on Wednesday. * President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday Russia would focus its trade on the other BRICS emerging economies.

* Ukraine said it exported 48% less grain in the first 22 days of June than a year earlier. * Putin signed a decree on Wednesday establishing temporary procedures to fulfill foreign debt obligations.

QUOTE "Harry Potter is better than Voldemort, and we know who is Voldemort in this war, and who is Harry Potter, so we know how the war will end," Zelensky said, speaking to a student in Canada who compared him to the fictional boy wizard.