Finland is expected to announce its intent to join NATO with Sweden likely to follow soon after, diplomats and officials said, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine reshapes European security and the Atlantic military alliance.
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FIGHTING
* Ukraine reported pushing back Russian forces in a counterattack that could signal a shift in the momentum of the war and shut gas flows on a route through Russian-held territory, raising the spectre of an energy crisis in Europe.
* Ukrainian forces are keeping up a counterattack to the north of the second largest city of Kharkiv and recapturing several towns and villages toward the Russian border, Britain's defence ministry said on Thursday.
* Ukrainian officials issued dire warnings about the fate of civilians and the last fighters in the southern port of Mariupol, after weeks of Russian bombardment which the city's mayor said had turned it into a "medieval ghetto".
POLITICAL AND HUMAN IMPACT
* The Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine plans to ask Russian President Putin to incorporate it into Russia, TASS news agency said, citing a Russian official. The ousted governor said the region's people want to return to being part of Ukraine.
* The near-constant crump of shellfire washed over the battered hamlet of Vilkhivka, testifying to fierce fighting beyond its wind-swept fields between Ukrainian troops pressing a counter-offensive and Russian forces that once occupied the area. Villagers have only just begun filtering back to retrieve possessions from properties, salvaging what they can despite the peril from unexploded ordnance.
ENERGY AND SANCTIONS
* Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine fell by a quarter after Ukrainian forces halted use of the Sokhranovka transit route.
* Moscow has slapped sanctions on the owner of the Polish part of the Yamal pipeline that brings Russian gas to Europe, as well as the former German unit of the Russian gas producer Gazprom, whose subsidiaries service Europe's gas consumption.
* Germany is examining the Russian announcement of sanctions on parts of Gazprom Germania, an Economy Ministry spokesperson said.
NATO
* NATO allies expect Finland and Sweden to apply to join the alliance in the coming days and will grant membership quickly, diplomats and officials said, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine forces a radical rethink of European security.
* President Sauli Niinisto is expected to give a greenlight on Thursday for Finland to join NATO.
* Sweden's ruling Social Democrats called a parliamentary debate for Monday as the country prepares for an expected decision to join NATO, abandoning decades of military non-alignment.
RECONSTRUCTION
* The president of the European Investment Bank supports a multi-trillion-euro "Marshall"-style plan to rebuild Ukraine, pledging the firepower of the EU's lending arm.
QUOTES
* "The war will end when Russia returns our right to live," Ukrainian President Zelenskiy told French students via videolink.
* "This war will not last forever. There will be a time when peace negotiations will take place. I do not see that in the immediate future. But I can say one thing. We will never give up," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.
Australian Associated Press
