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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

5:44 a.m.: The latest Ukraine assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said Russian forces conducted ground attacks south and northeast of Bakhmut and along the western and northern outskirts of Donetsk City.

Russian forces continued targeting Ukrainian rear areas along ground lines of communications and may be reinforcing the Southern Axis by reallocating equipment from Russian rear areas in Donbas and Crimea, the update said.

Ukrainian officials, the update said, reported that positional battles are under way in unspecified areas of Kherson Oblast and that Ukrainian forces are continuing to strike Russian ground lines of communications, logistics nodes, and reinforcement efforts throughout southern and central Kherson Oblast.

4:38 a.m.: The latest Ukraine intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said that with fighting continuing in the Donbas and Kharkiv sectors, a key decision for Russian commanders in coming days will be where to commit any operational reserve force they can generate.

3:22 a.m.: Russia has asked for 56 visas from the United States to allow Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his delegation to travel to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this month, but so far has received none.

In a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, seen by Reuters on Friday, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this was alarming because for the past several months Washington had “been constantly refusing to grant entry visas” to a number of Russian delegates for other U.N. events.

The United States takes seriously its obligations as U.N. host country, said a State Department spokesperson, adding that visa records are confidential under U.S. law so it could not comment on individual cases.

Under the 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the United States is generally required to allow access to the United Nations for foreign diplomats. But Washington says it can deny visas for “security, terrorism, and foreign policy” reasons.

2:32 a.m.: A power grid stress test has shown that extending the lifespan of two of Germany’s nuclear power plants could avert an energy shortage this winter, sources told Reuters on Friday, though the government said the results of the tests were not finalized.

Germany has three nuclear power plants still in operation but they are scheduled to be shut down by the end of this year. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition has grappled with whether to keep them running to counter the effects of soaring gas prices and decades-high inflation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The stress test showed two plants in the south would help avert an energy crisis if, for example, coal power stations were not producing enough and there was high electricity demand in neighboring France, the sources said. A third nuclear plant in Lower Saxony was not required, the sources said.

1:15 a.m.: U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow on Saturday, a State Department spokesperson said Friday.

Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, died Tuesday at 91 at a Moscow hospital.

12:02 a.m.: A senior Russian diplomat warned Washington on Friday against supplying long-range weapons to Ukraine, noting that the U.S. is balancing on the edge of direct involvement in the conflict.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also pointed to the country’s military doctrine that envisages the use of nuclear weapons in case of a threat to the existence of the Russian state.

“We have repeatedly warned the U.S. about the consequences that may follow if the U.S. continues to flood Ukraine with weapons,” Ryabkov said. “It effectively puts itself in a state close to what can be described as a party to the conflict.”

He emphasized that Russia will push its offensive in Ukraine until it reaches its aims.

Some information in this report came from Reuters.