Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Moody's said Russia may be in default because it tried to service its dollar bonds in roubles, which would be one of the starkest consequences to date of Moscow's exclusion from the Western financial system since the invasion of Ukraine. QUOTES "The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet has sunk after what Kyiv said was a Ukrainian missile strike, dealing one of the heaviest blows yet to Moscow's war effort and providing a powerful symbol of Kyiv's resistance against a better-armed foe. FIGHTING

* Ukraine's defence ministry said Russia had used long-range bombers for the first time to attack the besieged port city of Mariupol and that street fighting was currently going on there. * Russia said its forces had taken full control of the Ilyich Steel Plant in Mariupol. The report could not be confirmed.

* More than 20 buildings and a school were damaged as a result of Ukrainian shelling of a Russian village in the Belgorod region on Thursday, TASS news agency reported, citing regional authorities. * Russia's defence ministry said it had struck a military target on the edge of Kyiv overnight with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

* Ukraine's military said it had repulsed eight attacks in the east in the past 24 hours and destroyed several vehicles, including four tanks. The reports could not be verified. * The governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region urged residents of six towns to evacuate, adding that one person had been killed and five wounded in Russian shelling of the town of Kreminna.

DIPLOMACY * Russia has warned the United States that there will be "unpredictable consequences" if Washington keeps arming Ukraine, The Washington Post reported.

* The threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly, but the CIA has not seen a lot of practical evidence reinforcing that concern, CIA Director William Burns said. ECONOMY AND BUSINESS

* Ukraine's biggest steelmaker Metinvest said its enterprises would never operate under Russian occupation and that Ukraine had lost access to 30% to 40% of its metallurgy production capacity in Mariupol. * Moody's said Russia may be in default because it tried to service its dollar bonds in roubles, which would be one of the starkest consequences to date of Moscow's exclusion from the Western financial system since the invasion of Ukraine.

QUOTES "The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime," the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement. (Compiled by Gareth Jones)

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