Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged Russian troops to flee from an offensive launched by his forces near the southern city of Kherson, saying Ukraine's military were taking back their territory.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has urged Russian troops to flee from an offensive launched by his forces near the southern city of Kherson, saying Ukraine's military were taking back their territory. Russia said the assault had failed. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian troops mounting a counter-offensive have broken through Russian defences in several sectors of the front line near the city of Kherson, a senior adviser to Zelenskiy said. * Ukraine's armed forces have heightened the rate of artillery fire across southern Ukraine, and long-range precision strikes have continued to disrupt Russian resupply, Britain's defence ministry said.

* Russian shelling hit residential areas of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, killing two people and destroying homes, city officials and witnesses said. Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield reports.

NUCLEAR PLANT * A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog (IAEA) is heading to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the agency's chief said, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of shelling in its vicinity, stirring fears of a radiation disaster.

* Russian-installed authorities in the town of Enerhodar accused Ukrainian troops of once again shelling the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Russia's TASS news agency said. * The White House said Russia should agree to a demilitarized zone around the plant.

* Thousands of people fleeing Russia-occupied areas of south Ukraine are arriving in a city near the Zaporizhzhia site despite fears of a radiation leak from fighting. For many, shelling in their hometowns is a more urgent danger. DIPLOMACY, ECONOMY

* European Union defence ministers might agree in principle at a meeting on Tuesday to set up an EU military training mission for Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief said. * Germany faces the "bitter reality" that Russia will not restore gas supplies, the German economy minister said, ahead of the planned halt by state energy giant Gazprom of exports to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

* Russia's oil output has exceeded expectations in the wake of the war in Ukraine but it will find it increasingly difficult to uphold production as Western sanctions begin to bite, the head of the International Energy Agency said. * Ukraine's agricultural exports could rise to 6 million-6.5 million tonnes in October, double the volume seen in July, as its seaports gradually reopen, the agriculture minister said.