Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* A dozen EU countries have now been affected by cuts to gas supply from Russia, the bloc's climate policy chief said. QUOTES "Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense," Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said of the situation in Sievierodonetsk. * "Ukraine's future is in the EU," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter.

Ukrainian troops will "have to be withdrawn" from the mostly Russian-occupied battleground city of Sievierodonetsk in eastern Donbas, the regional governor said on Friday. The day marks four months since Russian President Vladimir Putin sent forces across the border into Ukraine, sparking the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two.

FIGHTING * Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said Ukrainian forces will have to leave Sievierodonetsk. He said troops had already received the order to move to new positions but didn't indicate whether they had already done so or where they were going.

* A district south of the city of Lysychansk in the Luhansk region was "fully occupied" by Russian forces as of Friday morning, a local Ukrainian official said on television. Lysychansk is the last major Ukrainian-held city in Luhansk. * Authorities in the town of Derhachi, to the northwest of Kharkiv, said heavy Russian shelling had knocked out most of the electrical and natural gas supply.

* In Ukraine's south, three cruise missiles hit the port city of Mykolaiv on Thursday, while two more were shot down near Odesa, the Ukrainian armed forces said. * Reuters was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.

MILITARY AID * Ukraine said it had received U.S. supplies of powerful HIMARS long-range weapon systems.

* The United States will provide an additional $450 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including more long-range rocket systems, U.S. officials said on Thursday. ECONOMY AND DIPLOMACY

* Moscow said it couldn't comment on a report in the German magazine Der Spiegel that Germany was looking at expropriating part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. * However, if Germany took concrete steps on expropriation, those would in first instance be a matter for lawyers, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

* Germany's Economy Ministry is considering converting parts of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline into a connection for a liquefied natural gas terminal on the Baltic Sea coast, Der Spiegel reported. * Setting up reliable transport routes for grain from Ukraine is a top priority to prevent a global food crisis, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

* Moscow's foreign ministry blamed the United States for a Lithuanian ban on sanctioned goods crossing from the Russian mainland to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. * The G7 rich democracies will seek to show long-term support for Ukraine at a summit starting on Sunday.

* Turkey said it was investigating claims that Ukrainian grain was stolen by Russia and shipped to countries including Turkey, although no stolen shipments had been found so far. Russia has previously denied theft allegations. * A dozen EU countries have now been affected by cuts to gas supply from Russia, the bloc's climate policy chief said.

QUOTES "Remaining in positions smashed to pieces over many months just for the sake of staying there does not make sense," Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said of the situation in Sievierodonetsk.

* "Ukraine's future is in the EU," Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter. * "Ukraine will prevail. Europe will prevail. Today marks the beginning of a long journey that we will walk together," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.