US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin were to visit Kyiv on Sunday to discuss Ukraine's request for more powerful weapons after two months of combat with invading Russian forces. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the visit.
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FIGHTING
* Eight people died in Russian attacks in Ukraine's Luhansk region on Saturday, regional Governor Serhiy Gaidai wrote in a post on social media.
* Russia has deployed Iskander-M mobile battlefield missile launchers within 60 km of the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's military said. The mobile system's two ballistic missiles have a range of up to 500 km (300 miles) and can carry conventional or nuclear warheads.
* Ukraine has repelled numerous Russian assaults along the line of contact in Donbas this week, a British military update said.
* Russia resumed its assault on the last defenders in a giant steel works in Mariupol, a Ukrainian official said on Saturday, days after Moscow declared victory in the southern port city and said its forces did not need to take the factory.
DIPLOMACY
* United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit Ankara before heading to Moscow next week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and then to Ukraine for talks with Zelenskiy, a UN statement said on Saturday.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
* The International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukraine had asked for "a comprehensive list of equipment" to operate its nuclear power plants, including radiation measurement devices, protective material, computer-related assistance, power supply systems and diesel generators.
QUOTES
* "I want to see the sun because in here it's dim, not like outside. When our houses are rebuilt we can live in peace. Let Ukraine win because Ukraine is our native home," said an unnamed boy speaking on a video released by the Azov battalion showing civilians holed up in a steel works in Mariupol.
Australian Associated Press
