Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Safety at Zaporizhzhia at risk, Ukraine says

* Russia is turning Ukraine's Avdiivka into "a place from post-apocalyptic movies", intensifying shelling and forcing a nearly full shutdown of the frontline city, a top official said. * Ukrainian authorities said air defences shot down Russian drones near Kyiv and falling debris set a non-residential site ablaze, but no casualties were found.

Ukraine's president said Russian troops were holding the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant "hostage" and its safety could not be guaranteed until they left it. BATTLEFIELD AND MILITARY AID

* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met troops in southeastern Ukraine during his tour of frontline regions. * Russian forces are moving forward in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut despite fierce resistance and have almost taken full control of a metals plant there, the Russian-installed leader in the region said.

* Russian forces trying to encircle the town of Avdiivka in recent days have made only marginal gains despite heavy losses in armoured vehicles, including a tank regiment that has likely lost a large proportion of its tanks, Britain's Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update. * Russia is turning Ukraine's Avdiivka into "a place from post-apocalyptic movies", intensifying shelling and forcing a nearly full shutdown of the frontline city, a top official said.

* Ukrainian authorities said air defences shot down Russian drones near Kyiv and falling debris set a non-residential site ablaze, but no casualties were found. * Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

* The 18 Leopard 2 battle tanks pledged by Germany to support Kyiv in its war against Russia have arrived in Ukraine, a security source said. DIPLOMACY AND IMPACT

* Russia failed to get the U.N. Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions in September on the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany that spewed gas into the Baltic Sea. * Ukraine is trying to give hydropower facilities "maximum protection" by hiding equipment underground as it repairs an estimated $1 billion in damage from Russian air strikes, a senior industry official said.

* Residents of the small Russian town of Kireyevsk expressed shock and anger that what was believed to have been a Ukrainian drone had been downed over their houses, bringing down roofs and ceilings and putting their lives in danger. QUOTES

"I am sad to say this, but Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a place from post-apocalyptic movies," the city's military administration head Vitaliy Barabash said on the Telegram messaging app. RECENT IN-DEPTH STORIES

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