(Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday it welcomed anything that could bring the end of the Ukraine conflict closer when asked what it thought of a phone call a day earlier between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. But it said it still needed to achieve the aims of its "special military operation" in Ukraine.
DIPLOMACY
* Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said he had invited Pope Francis to visit Ukraine and that he had discussed Kyiv's formula for peace during talks at the Vatican.
Shmyhal also told a news conference in Italy that a phone call between the leaders of China and Ukraine on Wednesday had been very productive and could prove a very positive beginning for future relations.
* NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the call between Xi and Zelenskiy, although he added this did not change the fact that China had still not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
* Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the Black Sea grain deal could only be saved by fully implementing it and that it was not "a buffet you can pick and choose from." Moscow says parts of the deal meant to allow it to export its own agricultural goods are not being honoured.
FIGHTING
* Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow did not intend to go down the path of nuclear escalation, but advised others not to test its patience.
* NATO allies and partners have delivered almost all their promised combat vehicles to Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. "More than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine have already been delivered."
* One person was killed and 23 people, including a child, were wounded in a Russian missile strike on an apartment block and houses in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv in the early hours of Thursday, officials said.
* Anti-tank ditches near Ukraine's occupied southeast town of Polohy stretch for 30 km (20 miles), behind are rows of concrete "dragon's teeth" barricades and further back trenches for Russian troops. The defences visible in satellite imagery taken by Capella Space are part of a vast network of fortifications from western Russia through eastern Ukraine and on to Crimea ready for a major Ukrainian attack.
* The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday it was suspending artillery fire in Bakhmut to allow Ukrainian forces on the other side of the frontline to safely show the city to visiting U.S. journalists..
* The remains of a "military object" were found in northern Poland on Thursday, which a broadcaster said authorities believed could be part of a missile stuck in the ground. Poland has been on alert for possible spillover of weaponry from the war in Ukraine.
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(Compiled by Reuters editors)
