Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Ukrainian troops plan counterstrike

* Reuters could not immediately verify battlefield reports. DIPLOMACY * Finland's defence minister on Thursday said he did not want to donate Hornet fighter jets to Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops, on the defensive for four months, will launch a long-awaited counterassault "very soon" now that Russia's huge winter offensive is losing steam without taking Bakhmut, Ukraine's top ground forces commander said on Thursday. FIGHTING

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the southern region of Kherson

, where he toured local infrastructure and promised to "restore everything" following Russia's invasion. * British military intelligence said on Thursday that Russia had partially regained control over the approaches to the eastern Ukrainian town of Kreminna, after its troops were pushed back from the region earlier this year.

* The Russian-backed administration in Sevastopol suspended ferry routes around the Crimean port, shortly after its governor said air defences repelled a Ukrainian drone attack. * Reuters could not immediately verify battlefield reports.

DIPLOMACY * Finland's defence minister on Thursday said he did not want to donate Hornet fighter jets to Ukraine. "My view as Finland's defence minister is that we need these Hornets to secure our own country," Antti Kaikkonen said.

* Slovakia has handed over the first four MiG-29 jets

it has pledged to donate to Ukraine, with the rest of the planes to be delivered in the coming weeks, the Slovak Defence Ministry said on Thursday. * Hungary would not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he entered the country, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Thursday, adding that it would have no legal grounds.

* Any attempt to arrest Putin

after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the Kremlin chief would amount to a declaration of war against Russia, his ally Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. *

Russian leaders should be put on trial for the invasion of Ukraine even if they cannot be arrested and brought to court in person, Kyiv's top prosecutor said on Thursday.

* EU Union leaders

held talks on Thursday with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on global food security and sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, and were also expected to endorse a plan to supply more artillery shells to Kyiv. * Peace plans and pipelines: What came out of the Putin-Xi talks?

* U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said China is "very carefully" watching the global response to the invasion but has not yet crossed the line of providing lethal aid to Moscow. (Compiled by Reuters editors)