(Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to halt all energy shipments to Europe, if Brussels goes ahead with a proposal to cap the price of Russian gas, in a combative speech declaring Russia would not lose the war in Ukraine.
EU energy ministers are due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the proposed price cap.
FIGHTING
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported “good news” from the front near Kharkiv in the east, saying some settlements had been recaptured as both sides reported heavy fighting in the region.
* An explosion at a power plant near Odesa in the south cut electricity supplies to 360,000 people, a spokesperson for the regional administration said.
* Russian forces overnight fired rockets and heavy artillery into towns in several districts, killing seven civilians, wounding others and damaging more than a dozen houses and buildings, local Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday.
* Putin said in a combative speech on Wednesday to an economic forum in Russia’s Far East that Russia would not lose what he calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
* The United States accused Moscow of war crimes by unlawfully detaining, interrogating and deporting up to 1.6 million Ukrainians, including 1,800 children.
GRAIN SHIPS
* Putin said Russia and the developing world had been “cheated” by a UN-brokered Ukrainian grain export deal as the grain was not going to the world’s poorest countries and he wanted to discuss amending the deal.
* Ukraine says around 2.37 million tonnes of food has already left its Black Sea ports, including 1.04 million tonnes for Asian countries and 470,000 tonnes for African states.
* About 280,000 tonnes of agricultural products will be exported in the near future from Ukrainian ports in the framework of the global programme to fight hunger, Ukrainian infrastructure ministry said late on Wednesday.
(Compiled by Michael Perry; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
