Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russians press attacks on Bakhmut

* A Russian defence ministry journal says Moscow is developing a new type of military strategy using nuclear weapons to protect against possible U.S. aggression, RIA news agency reported. * Russia's top lawmaker said he was introducing amendments to a wartime censorship law that would increase the maximum penalty for discrediting the army from five to 15 years in jail and extend the law to cover the Wagner mercenary force.

Ukrainian forces hung onto their positions in the ruined eastern city of Bakhmut on Thursday under constant attack from Russian troops seeking to claim their first major victory for more than half a year. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian forces are fiercely resisting a Russian attempt to seize the small city of Bakhmut and are throwing massive extra reserves into the bloody battle, said Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Russia's Wagner mercenary force. * Delivering a regular morning round-up of the situation across the frontlines, the Ukraine military general staff said on Thursday that the enemy was continuing to advance toward Bakhmut and "is storming the city".

* Russia says seizing Bakhmut would open the way to fully controlling the rest of the strategic Donbas industrial region bordering Russia. * Ukraine says Bakhmut has limited strategic value but is putting up fierce resistance to inflict as many Russian losses as possible and make Russia use its ammunition and resources. Thousands of civilians remain inside Bakhmut from a pre-war population of around 70,000.

* A Russian missile hit a five-storey building in Ukraine's southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, killing three people and wounding at least four, Ukraine's police said. * The latest rotating team of experts from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog has failed to take up its duties at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, a senior Russian official told TASS.

* Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports. DIPLOMACY

* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on foreign ministers from the Group of 20 (G20) nations on Thursday to find common ground on global issues as he inaugurated a meeting that looks set to be dominated by Russia's year-long war in Ukraine. * A Russian defence ministry journal says Moscow is developing a new type of military strategy using nuclear weapons to protect against possible U.S. aggression, RIA news agency reported.

* Russia's top lawmaker said he was introducing amendments to a wartime censorship law that would increase the maximum penalty for discrediting the army from five to 15 years in jail and extend the law to cover the Wagner mercenary force. ECONOMY

* Russia said it would only agree to extend the Black Sea grain deal, which allows grain to be safely exported from Ukrainian ports, if the interests of its own agricultural producers are taken into account. ANNIVERSARY

* TIMELINE - Major developments since Russia's invasion * Ukraine's Zelenskiy has defied Putin against the odds

* Putin, secure in power, has set the stage for long war * A year on, Ukraine and its government have not just survived. They've fought back

* Toughened by war's scars, Kyiv presses on * Graphics of a year of war in the markets: How the dollar, energy and food prices swirled

* Russian economy holds up but the road back to prosperity may be long * Moscow's decades-old gas ties with Europe lie in ruins

* Top brands pull out of Russia, but goods easy to find * Can U.S. support for Ukraine last?

* External backers pour billions into Ukraine * How has China stood by 'no limits' partner Russia?

* A year into war, older refugees running out of hope * Life and death in Mariupol - a survivor's tale of war

* Family mourns Bucha victim who became symbol of war PODCAST

Learn more about the Ukraine war. Listen to a special episode of the Reuters World News Podcast.