Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

Ukraine is trying to extend an offensive in the east and President Zelenskiy made a surprise visit to the devastated, recently recaptured town of Izium on Wednesday, but pro-Russian officials said they had halted Kyiv's forces for now.

Ukraine is trying to extend an offensive in the east and President Zelenskiy made a surprise visit to the devastated, recently recaptured town of Izium on Wednesday, but pro-Russian officials said they had halted Kyiv's forces for now. FIGHTING

* The eastern frontline is approaching the borders of territory claimed by the separatist Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), a senior Russian-backed LPR military commander said. * In Izium, bus stops were daubed with "Z" markings, the symbol Russian forces use to identify themselves, a derelict bath house had a hole blasted in its side; meat shops, pharmacies, a shoe shop and a beauty salon were sprayed with shrapnel.

* With a pink hood wrapped around her face for warmth, Lyubov Sinna, 74, said residents were shell-shocked. "There is also fear - fear that the Russians could return here," she said. "Because we lived through this whole six months. We sat it out in cellars. We went through everything it is possible to go through. We absolutely cannot say that we feel safe."

* In another battle-scarred northeast Ukrainian town, Balakliia, regional police officers on Tuesday showed reporters the bodies of two men they said were civilians shot dead at a checkpoint on Sept. 6 when the town was still under Russian control. Reuters could not independently verify the details of what happened in Balakliia. Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine. * Zelenskiy said Ukraine had recaptured around 8,000 square km (3,100 square miles), apparently all in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. About half that area had been made secure and "stabilisation measures are still ongoing" in the other half.

* Ukraine has made significant progress as it pushes back Russian forces but it is not possible to tell if the war is at a turning point, U.S. President Biden said. * Five civilians have been killed in Bakhmut, while 16 were wounded in the Ukraine-controlled part of the Donetsk region, governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.

* In the south, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported heavy Russian shelling of the city which damaged residential buildings. No reports on casualties. * Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

* Russian authorities are facing challenges in other former Soviet republics, with over a 100 dead amid fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as shooting between guards patrolling the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. DIPLOMACY

* Vladimir Putin's chief envoy on Ukraine told the Russian leader as the war began that he had struck a provisional deal with Kyiv that would satisfy Russia's demand that Ukraine stay out of NATO, but Putin rejected it and pressed ahead with his military campaign, according to three people close to the Russian leadership. * German Chancellor Scholz urged Russian President Putin in a phone call to find a diplomatic solution as soon as possible, based on ceasefire, complete withdrawal of Russian troops and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.

QUOTE * "Putin will fail and Ukraine and Europe will prevail," European Union chief executive Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual address to the European Parliament. "This is about autocracy against democracy."

(Compiled by Himani Sarkar and Frank Jack Daniel)

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