Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* The Ukrainian military's daily roundup reported Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region were "creating conditions for the development of the offensive on Sloviansk", and an offensive on the towns of Lyman, Yampil and Siversk - all west of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk.

Russian forces cut off all routes for evacuating citizens from the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk by destroying the last bridge linking it to a Ukrainian-held city on the other side of the river, a Ukrainian official said. FIGHTING * Russian troops were "trying to gain a foothold in the central part of the city", the Ukrainian military said on Tuesday in its daily roundup of the conflict in various parts of the country. * Serhiy Gaidai, governor of the Luhansk region, said: "About 500 civilians remain on the grounds of the Azot (chemicals) plant... 40 of them are children," he said. The industrial zone was under heavy bombardment by Russian forces. * The Ukrainian military's daily roundup reported that Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region were "creating conditions for the development of the offensive on Sloviansk", and an offensive on the towns of Lyman, Yampil, and Siversk - all west of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. * Russia's TASS news agency reported at least five people were killed on Monday in the Russian-backed separatist Ukrainian region of Donetsk in what separatist officials said has been an upsurge in Ukrainian shelling. There was no independent confirmation of any of the attacks and Reuters could not ascertain whether they had taken place. There has been no immediate reaction from Kyiv to the reports. ECONOMY * Farmers of Ukraine's southern Odesa region have begun the 2022 grain harvest, taking advantage of favourable weather. DIPLOMACY * The European Commission will recommend granting Ukraine official status as an EU candidate country, Politico reported late on Monday, citing several unnamed officials. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that the EU executive's opinion would be ready in the coming week.

QUOTES "France has entered a war economy," President Emmanuel Macron said at the opening of the Eurosatory arms fair, the world's largest for ground forces. "We have to go much further, much more quickly and more strongly because geopolitics dictates," Macron said.

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