Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

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Russian artillery fired at Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight, local officals said on Sunday, adding to residents’ anguish as reports of shelling around the plant fueled fears of a radiation disaster.

FIGHTING

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* Britain’s defense ministry said it was not yet clear how Russia would achieve an announced large increase in its armed forces, but the boost was unlikely to substantially increase its combat power in Ukraine.

* Ukrainian mayor of occupied Melitopol told Ukrainian TV that government forced shelled Russian military base in the city at around 1 a.m. “According to preliminary information … one of the largest military bases that was located … in the city of Melitopol was also damaged and partially demilitarized”

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* Russian air forces hit workshops at a Motor Sich factory in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine where helicopters were being repaired, Russian state news agency RIA quoted the defense ministry as saying. The defense ministry also said Russian forces destroyed fuel storage facilities in Ukraine’s Dnipro region, Interfax news agency reported.

* Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.

ECONOMY

* Six ships laden with food left the Ukrainian port of Odesa, the spokesman for the regional administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Telegram app.

* Millions of tonnes of food from previous harvests in Ukraine still must be cleared to make room in silos for the next one, the U.N. coordinator for a key grains export deal said on Saturday.

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* Merchant sailors will be allowed to leave Ukraine if they receive approval from their local military administrative body, the Ukrainian prime minister said on Saturday, a move that could ease the process of shipping grain.

* Germany may nationalize the energy business abandoned by Russia’s Gazprom in April. The government has set up a holding company to carry out a possible nationalization of Gazprom Germania, Welt am Sonntag reported.

* Dell Technologies, a vital supplier of servers in Russia, said on Saturday it had ceased all Russian operations after closing its offices in mid-August, the latest Western firm to exit.

(Compiled by William Mallard and Frances Kerry)