Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Ukraine said Russia had started creating a military strike force aimed at President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, while NATO moved closer to its most significant expansion in decades as it responds to the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine said Russia had started creating a military strike force aimed at President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's hometown, while NATO moved closer to its most significant expansion in decades as it responds to the invasion of Ukraine. DIPLOMACY/ECONOMY

* The U.S. Senate and the Italian parliament both approved Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO. * Zelenskiy is seeking "direct talks" with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to help end the war with Russia, the South China Morning Post reported.

* The first grain ship to leave a Ukrainian port in wartime passed through the Bosphorus Strait en route to Lebanon for a delivery that foreign powers hope will be the first of many to help ease a global food crisis. * Ukraine has to export a minimum 10 million tonnes of grain to help bring down its budget deficit which is running at $5 billion a month, Zelenskiy said.

* Ukraine increased its 2022 crop forecast to 65 million-67 million tonnes of grain from 60 million tonnes. * Russia had no reason to hold up the return of a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that had been serviced in Canada but has since been stranded in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. European governments accuse Russia of throttling gas supplies in revenge for sanctions.

* One of the companies affected by the sanctions, U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil, is making progress exiting its stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas development in the Russian Far East, a company spokesperson said. FIGHTING

* Russia is engaged in considerable military activity in the east, northeast and south of Ukraine, a statement by the General Staff of the Armed forces said. * Mayor Yevhen Yevtushenko of Nikopol, to the west of Zaporizhzhia in central Ukraine, said on his Telegram channel that his city had been shelled overnight.

* The whole point of the Russian offensive in the east is to force Ukraine to divert its troops from the area that is truly a danger - Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview posted online. * Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports. (Compiled by Himani Sarkar and Grant McCool; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)