Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* A village in Russia's western province of Kursk bordering Ukraine came under Ukrainian fire, regional Governor Roman Starovoit said, but there were no injuries. DIPLOMACY * Russia and Ukraine are not holding talks "in any form", Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko as saying.

Ukraine's military said it was working to evacuate all remaining troops from their last stronghold in the besieged port of Mariupol, ceding control of the city to Russia after months of bombardment. FIGHTING, CIVILIANS

* Ukraine is working on "further stages" of the evacuation of fighters defending the Azovstal steel plant in the southern city of Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. She gave no other details in a post on the Telegram messaging app but wrote: "God willing, everything will be fine.". * Russia-backed separatists said on Tuesday that 256 Ukrainian servicemen who had been holed up in the steel plant "have surrendered" and that 51 were wounded.

* Russia's defense ministry said that its missiles destroyed the U.S. and European arms shipments in Ukraine's western Lviv region. * A village in Russia's western province of Kursk bordering Ukraine came under Ukrainian fire, regional Governor Roman Starovoit said, but there were no injuries.

DIPLOMACY * Russia and Ukraine are not holding talks "in any form", the Interfax news agency cited Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko as saying. "Ukraine has practically withdrawn from the negotiation process," Interfax quoted Rudenko as saying.

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Finland and Sweden joining NATO would probably make "not much difference" as the two countries had long participated in the alliance's military drills. * The U.S. Senate voted to advance $40 billion more aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia, setting the stage for a vote on the bill possibly later this week.

ECONOMY * U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called for U.S. allies to step up financial support for Ukraine, saying that funds announced so far would not be sufficient for the country's short-term needs.

* German Finance Minister Christian Lindner is open to the idea of seizing Russian state assets to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine, he said in an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt and three other European newspapers. QUOTES

"We hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys ... Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive," Zelenskiy said of the defenders of Mariupol. 

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