(Reuters) - The battle for the Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk is brutal and will determine the fate of the Donbas region, the country's president said, as Russian troops lay waste to the city in an assault aimed at controlling eastern Ukraine.
FIGHTING
* "This is a very brutal battle, very tough, perhaps one of the most difficult throughout this war," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video statement on Wednesday.
"Sievierodonetsk remains the epicentre of the encounter in Donbas ... Largely, that is where the fate of our Donbas is being decided now," he added. nL1N2XV28Y]
* Russian forces control most of the strategic city of Sievierodonetsk and are heavily shelling the twin city of Lysychansk, causing major damage, the governor of Luhansk region said.
* Russia denies targeting civilians and has rejected allegations of war crimes.
* Two Britons and a Moroccan who were captured while fighting for Ukraine could face the death penalty after pleading guilty in a court of one of Russia's proxies in eastern Ukraine, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
* Western-supplied artillery systems are already making a difference on the ground for Ukraine and it is "just a question of time" before its forces win back significant ground in the south, the governor of the Mykolaiv region said.
DIPLOMACY
* Turkey has been trying to broker negotiations to open up Ukraine's Black Sea ports. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday and said a U.N.-backed deal on the ports was possible with further talks.
* Lavrov said Ukraine would have to remove mines from its ports to allow them to reopen.
* Lavrov said a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Zelenskiy could happen only after peace talks resume.
* Zelenskiy told a Yale University summit of business leaders by video link on Wednesday that he believes Russia will not seek a diplomatic end to the war unless the world supports Ukrainian troops in their fight.
POLITICS
* The United States and China are expected to use Asia's top security meeting this week to trade blows over everything from Taiwan's sovereignty to the war in Ukraine, although both sides have indicated a willingness to discuss managing differences.
* Russia's proxies in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia province announced plans to stage a referendum on joining Russia at an unspecified date later this year.
ECONOMY
* Russia's Rosneft is holding back on signing new crude oil deals with two Indian state refiners, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, as it has committed sales to other customers.
A lack of new term supply deals indicates that Russia has managed to keep exporting its oil despite increasing pressure from Western sanctions to choke off Moscow's revenues.