Russian army controls half of eastern Ukraine city

The Russian army has brought more than half of the long-contested city of Toretsk in eastern Ukraine under its control, a Ukrainian official says.

"Roughly 40 to 50 per cent of the city is under the control of the Ukrainian armed forces. The rest of the city is occupied by the enemy," the head of the city's military administration, Vasyl Chynchyk, told Ukrainian television news.

A further Russian advance was prevented on Thursday, he said.

Of the former population of over 30,000, around 1150 people are still said to be holding out in the heavily destroyed city.

Russian troops already control several streets in the city centre. There have also been Russian attacks on the neighbouring city of Chasiv Yar, which is almost 20km away.

Ukraine has been defending itself against the Russian invasion with Western help for more than two and a half years. Despite a Ukrainian advance into Russian territory in the Kursk region in August, Ukrainian troops in eastern Ukraine are increasingly under pressure.

According to Russian media, Russian troops have launched major counterattacks in the Kursk region and are once again in control of some towns. Russia had massively increased its forces there in order to bring the region completely back under Moscow's control.

Four more people, including a 16-year-old girl, have died in the latest Russian attacks on the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa, authorities said on Friday.

A night-time missile strike on a house in Odessa city brought the number of civilians killed in the region to 13 since Wednesday, the region's governor Oleh Kiper posted on the Telegram messaging platform.

Ten people were injured, four of them seriously.

The Russian military has repeatedly attacked the Odessa region with missiles and drones. The port infrastructure in the Black Sea region is regularly affected, impacting exports of Ukrainian grain and other commodities overseas.

The Lithuanian government has received the first 1000 combat drones from five manufacturers, which are to be handed over to the Ukrainian armed forces, the Ministry of Defence said on Friday.

The drones are expected to be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks, the ministry said.

The delivery will also include additional accessories, launch and control equipment for the drones and training measures, the ministry said.

Lithuania has ordered over 7000 combat drones from local manufacturers for a total of $US8.8 million. Of these, roughly 2300 are intended for its own army and almost 5,000 for the Ukrainian forces.

According to the Ministry of Defence, the drones are to be delivered by the end of this year. The purchase program is also set to continue next year.

Separately, The European Union is expected to impose sanctions on Monday on people and organisations linked to Iranian transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia, two European diplomats and a high-ranking EU official said on Friday.

EU foreign ministers will approve sanctions on 14 individuals and organisations over the transfer, including airlines and other companies, according to one of the diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity.

EU officials did not identify the firms or individuals. Diplomats had previously said the EU was looking at measures that would curb the operations of national airline Iran Air.

Last month, the United States, citing intelligence it said had been shared with allies, said Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran for its war in Ukraine.

Washington immediately imposed sanctions on ships and companies it said were involved in weapons transfers.

The EU then said it had received "credible information" on the transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia and foreign policy chief Josep Borrell proposed "a substantial set of decisive and targeted measures" against Iran in response.

with Reuters