U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ukraine, with grain exports and concerns about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant top of the agenda.
FIGHTING
* Two civilians were killed and 18 wounded in a pre-dawn rocket attack on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Thursday, regional governor Oleh Synehubov said. The strike followed a Russian attack on Kharkiv on Wednesday in which Synehubov said seven civilians were killed and 17 wounded. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians.
* Russia’s Black Sea fleet based in annexed Crimea has installed a new commander, RIA news agency cited sources as saying on Wednesday, after Russian military bases on the peninsula were rocked by explosions in the past nine days.
* Reuters could not confirm battlefield reports independently.
DIPLOMACY
* Guterres, Zelenskiy and Erdogan are due to hold a joint news conference after their meetings in Lviv. Guterres also plans on Friday to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa, where grain exports have resumed under a U.N.-brokered deal aimed at easing a worsening global food crisis.
* Russia warned on Thursday of the risk of a man-made nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and accused Ukraine of planning a “provocation” there during Guterres’ visit to Ukraine. Reuters could not verify Russia’s assertion. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for shelling.
ECONOMY
* One more ship carrying grain has left Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port, Turkey’s Defence Ministry said on Thursday, bringing the total number of vessels to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports under the U.N.-brokered grain export deal to 25.
* Russia forecasts its average export gas price will more than double this year to $730 per 1,000 cubic meters before gradually falling until the end of 2025, as pipeline gas exports decrease, an economy ministry forecast seen by Reuters showed.
