Ukraine dismissed comments by former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that Russia wanted a "negotiated solution" to the war and said any talks would be contingent on a Russian ceasefire and withdrawal of its troops.
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ECONOMY
* The first grain ship to leave a Ukrainian port in wartime passed through the Bosphorus Strait on the way to Lebanon for a delivery that foreign powers hope will be the first of many to help ease a global food crisis.
* Ukraine's forecast for its 2022 harvest has increased to 65 million-67 million tonnes of grain from 60 million tonnes, the prime minister said.
* Russia had no reason to hold up the return of a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that had been serviced in Canada but has since been stranded in Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. European governments accuse Russia of throttling gas supplies in revenge for war-related sanctions.
* One of the companies affected by the sanctions, US oil producer Exxon Mobil, is making progress exiting its stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas development in the Russian far east, a company spokesperson said.
DIPLOMACY
* The US Senate approved Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
* A fact-finding mission will begin into an attack on a prison in eastern Ukraine last week that killed prisoners held by Russian-backed separatists, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine said Russia had started creating a military strike force aimed at President Volodymr Zelenskiy's hometown of Kryvyi Rih and that Moscow could be preparing new attacks in southern Ukraine.
* Russia is engaged in considerable military activity in the east, northeast and south of Ukraine, a statement by the General Staff of the Armed forces said.
* Reuters was not able to immediately verify battlefield reports.
Australian Associated Press
