(Reuters) - Ukrainian forces were seizing an expanding area of previously Russian-held territory in the east in a "very sharp and rapid" advance, a Russian-installed regional official said on Friday, in a breakthrough that may mark a turning point in the war.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine's advance in the Kharkiv region has been "very sharp and rapid" and Ukrainian forces have recaptured a number of settlements, the Russian-installed administrator of Russian-controlled parts of the region said in a live online broadcast.
* Ukraine's rapid territorial gains have caught Russia off guard at a vulnerable section of their front line in an attack that threatens an important supply hub used by Moscow in the east, military analysts said.
* The Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Ukrainians were now within just 15 km of Kupiansk, a junction for the railway lines Moscow has been using for months to supply forces on the battlefields in the east.
* A Russian-installed official in Kharkiv region said civilians are being evacuated from three Russian-held towns in the region that have come under threat from a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
* Reuters was not immediately able to verify the reports.
ENERGY
* Shelling has destroyed power infrastructure in the city of Enerhodar where staff operating the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant live, posing a growing threat to the plant, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said.
* EU energy ministers on Friday tasked the European Commission to press ahead with a cap on the revenues of non-gas power producers benefiting from soaring energy prices, while backing away from capping Russian gas prices.
* VNG VNG.UL, one of Germany's biggest importers of Russian natural gas, asked the government for aid to stay afloat, the latest European energy firm to request state support in response to plummeting Russian supplies.
GRAIN
* Russia's Foreign Ministry said the deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea is being fulfilled "badly" and its extension, due in late November, will depend on how it is implemented, RIA reported. The White House said earlier that Washington sees no sign the deal is unravelling.
ECONOMY
* Russia's invasion caused over $97 billion in direct damages to Ukraine through June 1, but it could cost nearly $350 billion to rebuild the country, a report released Friday by the World Bank, Ukrainian government and European Commission shows.