Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:
- Erdogan trip 'powerful message': Zelensky -
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky hails a visit from Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "powerful message of support".
He says in a statement during the meeting in the western city of Lviv that they would move on to discuss cereals exports and the crisis at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Erdogan, who maintains a close working relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, met with the Russian leader less than two weeks ago in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, whom Zelensky also met in Lviv, were key brokers of a deal last month under which Moscow and Kyiv allowed the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine after Russia's invasion blocked essential global supplies.
Kyiv said Thursday that a 25th cargo ship carrying grain had departed Ukraine under the deal.
- 'Ensure security' of nuclear plant, Zelensky urges UN -
Zelensky calls on the United Nations to ensure security at the Zaporizhzhia power plant, where increased fighting has raised fears of a nuclear incident.
"The UN must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarisation and complete liberation from Russian troops," he says in a statement after meeting UN chief Guterres in Lviv.
The Ukrainian leader also criticises "deliberate" Russian attacks on the facility.
He was speaking after the defence ministry in Moscow denied it has deployed any heavy weapons at the power plant in southern Ukraine which it has controlled since shortly after its February 24 invasion.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, fuelling fears of an accident to rival the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
- At least six killed in Kharkiv strikes -
Russian strikes batter the northeast Ukraine region of Kharkiv, killing at least six and leaving 25 injured, a day after Russian bombardments killed 13 in the eponymous city.
The head of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Synegubov, says Moscow's forces launched eight missiles from Russian territory at around 04:30 am (0130 GMT) striking across the city.
Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv has been subjected to persistent Russian shelling since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion.
- Hypersonic weapons to Kaliningrad enclave -
Russia relocates three warplanes equipped with hypersonic missiles to its exclave of Kaliningrad on the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Wedged between EU and NATO members Lithuania and Poland the heavily militarised region of Kaliningrad does not share a land border with Russia.
Russia's defence ministry says in a statement the three Mig-31i aircraft with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles will be on "round-the-clock combat duty".
Russian President Putin, who unveiled the Kinzhal missile in 2018, has termed it "an ideal weapon" that flies at 10 times the speed of sound, making it extremely difficult for missile defences to intercept.
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© Agence France-Presse
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