Ukrainian forces shot down five Russian cruise missiles on Tuesday, most of them in the south, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, but he made no mention of a new military success in the east hinted at by officials earlier.

ENERGY

* United Nations chief Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday to agree a demilitarized perimeter around the Russian-held Zaporozhzhia nuclear power plant.

* Russia's Gazprom says it has signed an agreement to start switching payments for gas supplies to China to yuan and roubles instead of dollars.

BATTLEFIELD REPORTS

* The Russian-installed commandant of a southern Ukrainian city was badly injured in a blast, an official said, the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts in occupied areas.

* Though Ukrainian officials did not give specific details, military bloggers and witnesses reported fighting around Balakliia, an eastern town between Kharkiv and Russian-held Izyum that is a railway hub used by Moscow.

DIPLOMACY/POLITICS

* Russia could be about to buy "literally millions" of artillery shells and rockets from old Cold War ally North Korea, the White House said.

* Russia questioned a U.N.-brokered deal with Ukraine to boost grain and fertiliser exports by both countries, accusing Western states of failing to honor pledges to help facilitate Moscow's shipments.

* Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss, spoke with President Zelenskiy in her first call with a foreign leader and accepted an invitation for her to visit Ukraine.

ECONOMY/MARKETS

* The head of Russia's VTB said that the nation's banking sector had largely overcome the most serious effects of Western sanctions and that systemic capitalisation of Russian banks was likely not needed.

* The U.S. Treasury is seeking to design a simple compliance regime for enforcing a price cap on Russian oil exports and hopes that China and India join the coalition or at least take advantage of it, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.

Reuters