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Russian energy giant Gazprom says it has suspended gas supplies to Latvia - the latest EU country to experience such action amid tensions over Ukraine, BBC reported.

Gazprom accused Latvia of violating conditions of purchase, but gave no details of that alleged violation.

Latvia relies on neighbouring Russia for natural gas imports, but its government says it does not expect Gazprom's move to have a major impact.

Meanwhile, Ukraine says it killed 170 Russian troops in the past 24 hours.

Ukraine's military also said its forces had destroyed two Russian arms dumps in the Kherson area.

Ukraine has stepped up efforts to push the Russians out of Kherson, a major strategic city in the south. The BBC was unable to verify the latest Ukrainian claims.

The UK Ministry of Defence says Russian forces have probably established two pontoon bridges and a ferry system to enable them to resupply Kherson, after Ukrainian rockets damaged key bridges in recent days.

EU states accuse Russia of weaponising gas exports in retaliation for far-reaching Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine. 

In Latvia, gas forms only 27% of energy consumption. Edijs Saicans, a senior Latvian economics ministry official quoted by Reuters news agency, said Gazprom's move on Saturday was not expected to have a major impact, according to BBC.

Nato has bolstered forces in Latvia and its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania, as the region has long been seen as a potential flashpoint with Russia. 

Ethnic Russians form large minorities in the Baltic states. Those states - formerly part of the Soviet Union - plan to stop importing Russian gas next year.

Gazprom sharply cut gas deliveries to Europe via the Nord Stream pipeline on Wednesday to about 20% of its capacity. 

The EU rejects Russia's demand that member states pay for Gazprom gas in roubles, not euros. The EU says there is no contractual condition for rouble payments.

On Thursday the Latvian gas utility Latvijas Gaze said it was buying Russian gas but paying in euros.

Since Russia's February invasion of Ukraine and the tightening of Western sanctions, Gazprom has suspended gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Finland, Poland, Denmark and the Netherlands over non-payment in roubles. Russia has also halted gas sales to Shell Energy Europe in Germany, BBC reported.

The EU is now striving to boost gas imports from elsewhere, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Norway, Qatar and the US.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered all civilians still living in parts of eastern Donetsk region under Ukrainian control to evacuate, BBC reported.

Speaking during a late-night address from Kyiv, Mr Zelensky warned of an intensification of fighting. 

"The more people leave Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill," he said.

The region has seen heavy clashes amid a slow advance by Russian forces, who already control large parts of it. 

"The more people leave Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill," the Ukrainian leader said. "We will use all available opportunities to save as many lives as possible and to limit Russian terror as much as possible."

Mr Zelensky's intervention comes as Russia invited UN and Red Cross officials to investigate the deaths of 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in another part of Donetsk region held by Russian-backed separatists. 

The troops were killed in unclear circumstances during an attack on a prison in Olenivka, with both sides trading blame. 

Speaking on Saturday evening, Russian defence officials said Moscow would welcome an "objective investigation" into the incident.

The Red Cross said on Friday it was asking for access to the Russian-run detention facility and to surviving prisoners - but no permission was immediately forthcoming, according to BBC.

Its deputy head of delegation in Ukraine, Daniel Bunnskog, said granting access to POWs was an obligation under the Geneva Conventions.

The Olenivka prison camp is controlled by the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR).

What happened there on Friday remains unclear. Unverified Russian video footage of the aftermath shows a tangle of wrecked bunk beds and badly charred bodies.

On Saturday, Russia published a list of what it said were the 50 POWs killed in the strike. Moscow says the attack was carried out by Ukraine using a US-made HIMARS artillery system. 

Kyiv denies carrying out the strike and has alleged that Russia fired on the facility to cover up evidence of war crimes. 

Elsewhere, Ukrainian officials labelled Russia a "terrorist state" after Moscow's UK embassy tweeted that Ukrainian Azov battalion soldiers deserved a "humiliating death" by hanging. 

Twitter acknowledged that the post from the Russian embassy violated the social media company's "rules about hateful conduct" - but added that it might be in the public interest to keep it accessible.

The tweet sent out on Friday night said that Azov "militants deserve execution, but death not by firing squad but by hanging, because they're not real soldiers. They deserve a humiliating death".

The tweet included a video clip showing a couple in a wrecked building, accusing Azov troops of having shelled their home. The embassy's call for execution repeats what the man in the video says, BBC reported.

Azov troops were forced to lay down weapons in May after fiercely defending for weeks Azovstal, a giant steelworks in the south-eastern port of Mariupol that was eventually captured by Russia.

The Azov Regiment is a nationalist group with far-right links when it was set up in 2014. It was later incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard.

Russia has long accused the regiment of being neo-Nazis and war criminals, as part of the Kremlin's propaganda campaign to justify its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, according to BBC.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Baluwatar on Friday.

According to the US Embassy in Kathmandu, the duo discussed the ties between Nepal and the United States.

They also discussed the 75th year of diplomatic relations between Nepal and the US and the people-to-people relationship among other issues in the meeting, the Embassy said.

Earlier this afternoon, Lu held a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Naryan Khadka.

A parliamentary special probe committee formed to investigate charges against former Finance Minister Janardan Sharma tabled its report at the Parliament on Friday.

Before tabling it at the Parliament, Committee Chairman Laxman Lal Karna handed over the report to Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota today itself.

The panel prepared the report by holding discussions with various sides.

The committee had recorded the statement of former minister Sharma, secretary of the Finance Ministry and officials involved in making the budget. The panel was given 10 days to prepare its report.

The Parliament had extended the deadline of the committee by seven days after it could not complete the work within the given timeframe. The extended deadline ended on Thursday.

An 11-member probe committee was formed to investigate Sharma after he resigned following allegations that he allowed two unauthorized persons in the Ministry to tweak tax rates on the eve of budget announcement.

Laxman Lal Karna, Khagraj Adhikari, Dev Prasad Gurung, Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Man Bahadur Bishwokarma, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Bimala BK, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Sarala Kumari Yadav, Sita Ram Mahato and Surendra Yadav were in the committee.