BATTLEFIELD AND MILITARY AID

* President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met troops in southeastern Ukraine during his tour of frontline regions.

* Two people were killed and 29 wounded when Russian forces fired two S-300 missiles at the eastern city of Sloviansk, northwest of Bakhmut, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. Zelenskiy posted a video of smouldering debris, saying that "Ukraine will not forgive" such attacks. Moscow denies targeting civilians.

* Russia is turning Ukraine's Avdiivka into "a place from post-apocalyptic movies", intensifying shelling and forcing a nearly full shutdown of the frontline city, a top official said.

* Ukrainian authorities said air defences shot down Russian drones near Kyiv and falling debris set a non-residential site ablaze, but no casualties were found.

* Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.

* The 18 Leopard 2 battle tanks pledged by Germany to support Kyiv in its war against Russia have arrived in Ukraine, a security source said.

DIPLOMACY AND IMPACT

* Russia failed to get the UN Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions in September on the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany that spewed gas into the Baltic Sea.

* Ukraine is trying to give hydropower facilities "maximum protection" by hiding equipment underground as it repairs an estimated $US1 billion in damage from Russian air strikes, a senior industry official said.

* Residents of the small Russian town of Kireyevsk expressed shock and anger that what was believed to have been a Ukrainian drone had been downed over their houses, bringing down roofs and ceilings and putting their lives in danger.

QUOTES

"I am sad to say this, but Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a place from post-apocalyptic movies," the city's military administration head Vitaliy Barabash said on the Telegram messaging app.

Australian Associated Press