Fierce fighting continued in and around Bakhmut as Kyiv mocked Russian claims to have captured the administrative centre of the eastern Ukrainian city, saying its foes had raised a victory flag over "some kind of toilet".

DIPLOMACY

* Finland will become a member of NATO on Tuesday, completing a historic security policy shift triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, while neighbour Sweden is kept in the waiting room.

* The West is trying to drive a wedge between Russia and China by talking about their unequal relations and Moscow's dependence on Beijing, Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview.

* Lavrov also said that the EU had "lost' Russia and that it may get tough with Europe if need be and that the U.S. was trying to wreck Russia's planned summit with African countries.

* American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested and charged with espionage in Russia last week, has appealed against his pre-trial detention as Washington said it was "pushing hard" to secure his release.

* Russia's commissioner for children's rights, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges arising in Ukraine, is likely to brief an informal meeting of the U.N. Security Council, according to a note seen by Reuters.

 

BATTLEFIELD

* Russia sent 17 Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Ukraine overnight, Ukraine's air force command said early on Tuesday, with its air-defence systems destroying 14 of them.

* Ukraine's eastern military command said Russian forces were "very far" from capturing Bakhmut.

* Ukrainian President Zelenskiy paid tribute to the courage of nearly 400 residents of a village in north Ukraine held in a school basement under Russian occupation for 27 days one year ago.

 

RUSSIAN WAR BLOGGER KILLED

* Russia accused Ukraine of organising the murder of prominent war blogger Vladlen Tatarsky in a St Petersburg cafe and arrested a Russian woman shown in a police video admitting planting the bomb that killed him.

 

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* SPECIAL REPORT-Wagner's convicts tell of horrors of Ukraine war and loyalty to their leader. (Compiled by Reuters editors)