Ukrainian armed forces said they had killed 111 Russian soldiers in the south and east over the past day, as comments from Russia's foreign minister showed the Kremlin's goals had grown during the five-month war.

DIPLOMACY

* Sergei Lavrov's comments, the clearest acknowledgment yet that Russia's war goals have expanded over the five months of war, came after Washington said it saw signs Moscow was preparing to formally annex territory it has seized in its neighbour.

* European Union diplomats meeting in Brussels agreed a new round of sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine, including a ban on importing gold from Russia and freezing the assets of the country's top lender Sberbank.

* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy dismissed as inadequate a seventh round of European Union sanctions against Russia.

* Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska appealed to U.S. lawmakers to provide more help to her country as it struggles against a five-month-long Russian invasion, saying weapons could help assure a "joint great victory."

* The United States will send four more high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS) to Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

FIGHTING

* Ukrainian armed forces fighting in the south and east of the country said they had killed 111 Russian soldiers and destroyed 17 vehicles in the previous 24 hours.

* Ukrainian shelling badly damaged the crucial Antonivskyi bridge in the Russia-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, Moscow-installed regional authorities said.

* A 13-year-old boy was killed and his 15-year-old sister wounded by a Russian missile strike at a bus stop in Kharkiv, local officials said. Russia, which denies deliberately attacking civilians, did not immediately comment.

* Russia accused Ukraine of firing two drones at a nuclear power station in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia on Monday but said the reactor was undamaged.

ECONOMY

* The European Union told member states to cut gas usage by 15% until March as an emergency step after President Vladimir Putin warned that Russian supplies sent via the biggest pipeline to Europe could be reduced further and might even stop.

* Head of Germany's energy regulator said the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would resume at around 30% capacity when its maintenance period ends on Thursday.

* After meeting Putin in Tehran, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted an outline deal on resuming Ukrainian grain exports from the Black Sea - currently blockaded by Russian forces - to be put in writing this week.

* Ukraine's western creditor governments urged bondholders to accept Kyiv's request for a two-year delay on its debt payments and said they would suspend payments owed to them.

Reuters