Ukraine was bracing for an intensification of Russian activity in the eastern Donbas region after Russian suggestions that it intended to concentrate its efforts on “liberating” those Russian-speaking areas in the east of the country.

Azerbaijan exports natural gas to Turkey and Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor and continues to make inroads into an energy market which until now has been dominated by Russia.

Ukrainian forces made progress in pushing back the Russian invaders, recapturing towns north and west of the capital and in central Ukraine