(Reuters) - Ukraine said its forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of four partially Russian-occupied regions that President Vladimir Putin formally incorporated into Russia in Europe's biggest annexation since World War Two.
BATTLEFIELD REPORTS
* A Russian rocket strike destroyed a five-storey apartment block in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing at least one woman and leaving other residents trapped under rubble, the regional governor said.
* Ukraine's armed forces have advanced up to about 55 km (34 miles) over the last two weeks in a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, a Ukrainian general said. Reuters could not independently verify Gromov's remarks.
* A Russian-installed official in Ukraine poured scorn on Moscow's generals and suggested its defence minister should shoot himself because of failures in the Ukraine conflict, in a highly rare public rebuke of the Kremlin's top brass.
NUCLEAR ANNEXATION
* Putin signed laws admitting the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson region and Zaporizhzhia region into Russia in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century.
* He also said Russia would stabilise the situation in the regions, indirectly acknowledging the challenges it faces to assert its control.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia on Thursday of "nuclear blackmail" over its seizure of the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southern Ukraine.
* The Kremlin said it was preparing to welcome the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to Moscow soon.
SANCTIONS
* Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected sanctions pressure on the Russian economy to intensify, in televised remarks from a meeting with government officials.
ENERGY
* A crime scene investigation of the damages on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines has strengthened suspicions of "gross sabotage", Swedish security police.
* Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia may cut oil production to offset negative effects from price caps imposed by the West over Moscow's actions in Ukraine.
* Europe may limp through the cold winter months with the help of brimming natural gas tanks despite a plunge in deliveries from Russia only to enter a deeper energy crisis next year, the head of the International Energy Agency said.
DIPLOMACY
* The Kremlin denied reports that 700,000 Russians have fled the country since Moscow announced a mobilisation drive to call up hundreds of thousands to fight in Ukraine.
* U.S. intelligence agencies believe parts of the Ukrainian government authorised a car bomb attack near Moscow in August that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, the New York Times reported.