Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Ukrainian forces hold out in Bakhmut

Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germany's leader on Friday.

Ukrainian forces clinging to the eastern city of Bakhmut dug new trenches in an attempt to hold back Russian attackers, as the United States said new military aid for Ukraine would be discussed at a meeting with Germany's leader on Friday. FIGHTING

* In the past 24 hours, Ukrainian forces repelled more than 170 attacks on the five principal sectors of the front line, Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said on YouTube on Thursday night. * Russian forces have for months been attacking Bakhmut. Moscow regards Bakhmut as key to gaining control of the Donbas industrial region, and the town has become one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

* President Vladimir Putin said Russia had been hit by what he called a terrorist attack in its southern Bryansk region bordering Ukraine. He vowed to crush what he said was a Ukrainian sabotage group that had fired at civilians. * A Russian missile hit a five-storey building in Ukraine's southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, killing at least four people, Ukraine's police said.

* Reuters was not able to verify battlefield reports. * A network of at least 20 torture chambers in the recently liberated southern Ukrainian region of Kherson was "planned and directly financed by the Russian State," war crimes investigators said, citing new evidence. The Kremlin press office did not respond to a request for comment.

DIPLOMACY * Russia and the United States' top diplomats spoke to each other face-to-face for the first time since Moscow's invasion, meeting on Thursday on the sidelines of a G20 meeting where ministers traded blame over the conflict.

* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, a senior U.S. official said. * Washington will announce a new $400 million military aid package for the Kyiv government, and is expected to be a major topic between U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz when they meet at the White House, officials said.

* Biden and Scholz could also touch on concerns that China may provide lethal aid to Russia, a senior administration official said. * Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the United States of providing intelligence on the location of strategic sites inside Russia to Ukraine, for it to attack them with drones. Washington said that was nonsense.

ANNIVERSARY STORIES * 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. (Compiled by Reuters editors)