Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin will sign documents on Friday proclaiming Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions, as Moscow rushes to lock in territorial claims that the Ukrainian army is threatening to reverse on the battlefield.
REFERENDUM
* On Moscow's Red Square, a stage with giant video screens has been set up, with billboards proclaiming "Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson - Russia!"
* Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin would sign accession documents for the four regions at a ceremony on Friday in an ornate Kremlin hall, and give a speech. A pop concert will be held on Red Square outside the Kremlin walls.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised a strong response and summoned his defence and security chiefs for an emergency meeting on Friday.
* The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said it could consider the incorporation of the four regions on Tuesday, three days before Russian President Putin's 70th birthday.
* Residents who escaped to Ukrainian-held areas in recent days have told of people being forced to mark ballots in the street by roving officials at gunpoint.
* The United States said it would impose new sanctions on Russia for the referendums and the European Union's executive proposed more sanctions, but the bloc's 27 member countries will need to overcome their own differences to implement them.
POLITICS
* Finland said it would ban arrivals by land of Russians holding tourist visas issued by other countries in the EU's Schengen border-free zone.
FIGHTING
* Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would need to keep fighting until it had taken control of all of Donetsk. Around 40% is still under Ukrainian control and the scene of some of the war's heaviest fighting.
* Ukraine's armed forces conducted strikes on Russian forces in four areas near the city of Kherson as part of their counter-offensive, while its aircraft hit six targets, said the Ukrainian Armed Forces southern command.
* The United States is preparing a new $1.1 billion weapons package for Ukraine that will be announced soon, U.S. officials said.
GAS LEAK
* The Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline operator said it was likely to halt the gas leak on Monday following the unexplained damage to the pipes.
* Sweden's coast guard discovered a fourth gas leak on the damaged Nord Stream pipelines this week, a spokesperson told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper.
* The European Union promised a "robust" response to any intentional disruption of its energy infrastructure after saying it suspected sabotage was behind gas leaks discovered this week on subsea Russian pipelines to Europe.
* NATO also called the pipeline leaks sabotage and said it would respond robustly to any deliberate attempt to target infrastructure of alliance members.
* Moscow said the gas leaks appeared to be a work of state terrorism and would benefit the United States.
(Compiled by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel, Peter Graff)
