Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

ANNEXATION * Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proclaimed the annexation of four regions in Ukraine, while Kyiv said it would continue its fight to retake occupied land.

Ukraine has encircled Russia's forces around a bastion that is critical for Moscow at the eastern town of Lyman, in an operation that is still under way, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said. ANNEXATION

* Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday proclaimed the annexation of four regions in Ukraine, while Kyiv said it would continue its fight to retake occupied land. * Before signing documents to annex the four regions - an act denounced as illegal by Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and the head of the United Nations - Putin delivered a 37-minute anti-Western diatribe.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday the country was formally applying for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance and that Kyiv was ready for talks with Moscow, but not while Putin was president. * The United States responded on Friday to the annexations by imposing more sanctions on Russia, targeting hundreds of people and companies, including those in Russia's military-industrial complex and lawmakers.

* Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution introduced by the United States and Albania condemning Moscow's proclaimed annexations, with Russia's strategic partner China abstaining from the vote. CASUALTIES

* At least 30 civilians were killed and almost 100 wounded in what Kyiv said was a cynical Russian missile strike on Friday on a convoy of civilian cars in southern Ukraine. ZAPORIZHZHIA

The director general of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was detained by a Russian patrol, according to Energoatom, the state-owned company in charge of the plant. 

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