(Reuters) – The U.N. chief and the presidents of Turkey and Ukraine discussed ways to end the war started by Russia and secure Europe’s largest nuclear power station, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of new shelling near the plant.

DIPLOMACY

* The U.N.’s Guterres said after talks in Lviv, Ukraine, that he was gravely concerned by circumstances at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and called for military equipment and personnel to be withdrawn.

* The Russian foreign ministry has rejected a proposal by Guterres to demilitarise the area.

* The United States is preparing about $800 million of additional military aid to Ukraine and could announce it as soon as Friday, three sources familiar with the matter said.

FIGHTING

* At least four explosions hit an area near the Russian Belbek military airport north of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea, three local sources said, but a pro-Moscow official said no damage had been done.

* Seventeen people were killed and 42 wounded in two separate Russian attacks on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, the regional governor said.

* The inhabitants of two villages in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border were evacuated after a nearby ammunition storage depot caught fire but no one was hurt, an official said.

* Reuters could not confirm battlefield reports independently.

QUOTE

“Personally, I maintain my belief that the war will ultimately end at the negotiating table. Mr Zelenskiy and Mr Guterres have the same opinion in this regard,” Turkish President Erdogan after talks with Ukrainian President Zelenskiy and Guterres.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow.