WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine's government promised to create shelters to provide heat and water and encouraged citizens to conserve energy as a harsh winter loomed amid relentless Russian strikes that have left its power structure in tatters.

POWER SUPPLIES

* Head of Ukraine's national power grid operator said the damage dealt to power-generating facilities by Russian missile attacks was "colossal" but he dismissed the need to evacuate civilians.

* Special "invincibility centres" will be set up around Ukraine to provide electricity, heat, water, internet, mobile phone connections and pharmacy service, free of charge and around the clock, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

* The Kremlin said no substantive progress had been made towards creating a security zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

* There were no immediate nuclear safety or security concerns at the Russian-held reactor complex despite shelling at the weekend that caused widespread damage, the U.N. atomic watchdog said after its experts toured the site.

* Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for repeated shelling in the immediate area of the facility. CONFLICT

* Battles continued to rage in the east, where Russia has sent some of the forces it moved following its withdrawal from around the city of Kherson in the south. Moscow is pressing an offensive of its own along a stretch of frontline west of the city of Donetsk, held by its proxies since 2014.

* "The enemy does not stop shelling the positions of our troops and settlements near the contact line (in the Donetsk region)," the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said.

* Russian air defences repelled two drone attacks in Crimea, annexed from Ukraine in 2014, including one targeting a thermal power station near Sevastopol, the home port of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the regional governor said.

* Russian shelling hit a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Orihiv, a town in southeastern Ukraine, killing a volunteer and wounding two women, the regional governor said.

* Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield accounts.

FOREIGN RESPONSE, AID

* The Group of Seven nations should soon announce the price cap on Russian oil exports and the coalition will probably adjust the level a few times a year, a senior U.S. Treasury official said.

* Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany must be ready for the situation in Ukraine to escalate but that his recent trip to China was worthwhile if only for spelling out the two countries' joint stance against using nuclear weapons.

* Disbursement of $4.5 billion in U.S. economic aid for Ukraine will begin in the coming weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

A new line of defense is being created on the frontier between Ukraine and Russia’s western Belgorod Region, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced during a press conference on Monday.

The official said the move comes in response to increasing tensions at the border, but did not disclose details about the construction, warning that his statements are “being carefully listened to by our enemies.”

“I will state this briefly: the work is being carried out on a large scale. Since April, within the framework of our powers, we have been actively engaged in strengthening the borders,” Gladkov said.

Asked if he is referring to the so-called “Wagner line” — a system of anti-tank structures built by the Russian private military organization the “Wagner group” in the Donbass Region — Gladkov said he would prefer not to comment on other “respected people” and wanted to focus on Belgorod’s so-called ‘zasechnaya’ line.

A ‘zasechnaya’ line refers to wooden defensive structures, consisting of felled trees, used by Russia between the 10th and 18th centuries to defend against enemy raids.

“The Belgorod Region has always stood at the frontier of the defense of the Russian state, and continues to do so,” the governor said.

After Russia began its military operation in Ukraine in late February, Kiev’s forces have repeatedly shelled and launched drones against civilian and military targets in the region. In some cases, private residences, as well as a school and kindergarten have been struck.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a “medium action level”alert in some parts of Western Russia. It grants regional officials additional authority to ensure security and quickly react to any emergencies.

Reuters/RT