Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

The Kremlin blamed Kyiv for stalled peace talks. ECONOMY * The EU is seeking a deal this weekend to ban Russian oil deliveries by sea but not pipeline to win over Hungary. Zelenskiy has accused the EU of dithering. * Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, its finance minister said.

Ukraine said its forces may need to retreat from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being captured by Russian troops pressing a rapid advance in the east that has shifted the momentum of the three-month-old war. FIGHTING

* In the Kherson region north of Russian-held Crimea, Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were fortifying their positions and trapping civilians with constant shelling. * The U.S. Army has awarded a contract worth up to $687 million to Raytheon for anti-aircraft Stinger missiles to replenish stocks sent to Ukraine, sources said.

DIPLOMACY * Zelenskiy said Russia was weaponising a global food supply crisis and the world must prevent large-scale famine. Moscow did not appear ready for serious peace talks, he said. The Kremlin blamed Kyiv for stalled peace talks.

ECONOMY * The EU is seeking a deal this weekend to ban Russian oil deliveries by sea but not pipeline to win over Hungary. Zelenskiy has accused the EU of dithering.

* Russia will need huge financial resources to fund its military operation in Ukraine, its finance minister said. The economy minister blamed Russia's economic troubles on low household spending. * Russia said it paid coupons in foreign currency on two Eurobonds, a move that could mean it again averted default.

* S&P cut Ukraine's credit rating to 'CCC+/C' from 'B-/B', citing a larger impact from Russia's attack on the country. QUOTES

* "We are tired of being so scared," Natalia Kovalenko, a resident of the ruined city of Popasna, told Reuters as she sheltered in the wreckage of her flat. COMING UP

* An EU summit on Monday and Tuesday could see divisions between members who want to take a hard line against Russia and those calling for a ceasefire. (Compiled by Grant McCool and William Mallard)

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