Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* The European Union has not yet found agreement on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, its top diplomat Josep Borrell said, although EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels did agree to give Ukraine another 500 million euros for arms purchases. FIGHTING * Ukraine said troops defending its second-largest city, Kharkiv, had repelled Russian forces and advanced as far as the border with Russia.

Vladimir Putin appeared to climb down from Russia's objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, as Ukrainian officials said a counter-attack had pushed Russian forces back from Kharkiv and advanced as far as the two countries' border. DIPLOMACY

* Putin said there was no threat to Russia if Sweden and Finland joined NATO - the war's biggest strategic consequence so far - but his calm reaction came with a warning that Moscow would respond to any military build-up in the alliance's new Nordic members. * The European Union has not yet found agreement on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, its top diplomat Josep Borrell said, although EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels did agree to give Ukraine another 500 million euros for arms purchases.

FIGHTING * Ukraine said troops defending its second-largest city, Kharkiv, had repelled Russian forces and advanced as far as the border with Russia. Reuters could not immediately verify Ukraine's battlefield account.

* In a video message, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the achievement and thanked the troops. ECONOMY

* The war and resulting surge in energy and commodity prices will slash economic growth in Europe and boost inflation to record levels, the European Commission forecast. * The world's largest burger chain, McDonald's Corp, whose arrival in Russia was an emblem of the Cold War's end, said it would sell all its restaurants there.

* Renault said it would sell its majority stake in carmaker Avtovaz to a Russian science institute, reportedly for just one rouble, with a six-year option to buy it back. * Zelenskiy said he had discussed the need for financial support for Ukraine's economy with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva.

QUOTES * "It is terrifying that St Petersburg and the Leningrad region will be so close to NATO's bases," said St Petersburg resident Natalia Vostrikova.

* "They are in hell. They receive new wounds every day. They are without legs or arms, exhausted, without medicines." Natalia Zaritskaya, wife of a member of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion, describes conditions at the besieged Azovstal steel works. "The whole union is being held hostage by one member state," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis calls on Hungary to accept an EU embargo on Russian oil. (Compiled by Stephen Coates, Nick Macfie and Catherine Evans, editing by Ed Osmond and Cynthia Osterman)

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