Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Western nations on Monday pledged unwavering support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, including more sanctions on Moscow and air-defence systems, as Russian forces closed in on the last big city still held by Ukrainian troops in eastern Luhansk province.

Western nations on Monday pledged unwavering support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, including more sanctions on Moscow and air-defence systems, as Russian forces closed in on the last big city still held by Ukrainian troops in eastern Luhansk province. FIGHTING

* A Russian missile struck a crowded shopping centre in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, killing at least two people and wounding 20, senior Ukrainian officials said. * Russian shelling of the city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine killed four people and wounded 19, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

* Russia's defence ministry said it had hit a factory belonging to a missile manufacturer in Kyiv, but denied it was responsible for a missile that hit a residential area in the city. * The city of Lysychansk is suffering "catastrophic" damage from shelling, Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Gaidai wrote on Telegram, days after its twin Sievierodonetsk fell to pro-Russian forces.

* Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said missiles that struck the central city of Cherkasy on Sunday hit a strategic bridge linking the country's west with eastern battlefields. * A missile strike in the Odesa region destroyed homes, causing a fire, and injuring six, including a child, said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the regional administration.

ECONOMY AND DIPLOMACY * Russia defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century, the White House said, as sweeping sanctions have effectively cut the country off from the global financial system. Russia rejected the claim.

* The Group of Seven rich democracies will commit on Tuesday to a new package of coordinated actions meant to raise pressure on Russia, including sanctions on gold, and will finalise plans for a price cap on Russian oil, a senior U.S. official said. * Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked the G7 to provide missile defence systems, and said the time was not right to negotiate with Russia.

* Zelenskiy was focused on securing an "advantageous position" in its conflict with Russia in months rather than years, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said, with a European official saying the Ukrainian leader wanted the war to be over by winter. * The G7 leaders wealthy democracies pledged to stand with Ukraine "for as long as it takes" by cranking up sanctions on Russia and backing security commitments for Kyiv in a post-war settlement.

* The United States is likely to announce this week the purchase of an advanced medium- to long-range surface-to-air missile defence system for Ukraine, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. * U.S. President Joe Biden raised the tariff rate on certain Russian imports to 35% as a result of suspending Russia's "most favored nation" trading status.

QUOTES * "We have to stay together," Biden told allies, as world vowed more sanctions on Russia at the G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps. (Compiled by Himani Sarkar and Catherine Evans)