winter via a pipeline across the Balkans. The deal was announced after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens on Sunday. Greece is working to increase the flow of American LNG to its terminals to "replace Russian gas in the region", Mitsotakis said recently. The European Commission plans to ban all imports of Russian gas to EU member states by the end of 2027, arguing revenue from such sales funds Russia's war in Ukraine. In Ukraine, which experiences freezing winters, there are fears of an energy crisis as Russia attacks energy facilities.

Zelensky is currently in France, where he President Emmanuel Macron signed a letter of intent to buy up to 100 Rafale jets. Fighting continued overnight, with six people reportedly killed in Russian attacks in the Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk regions of Ukraine. Russia's military said it had taken control of three more Ukrainian villages - one each in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. None of the reports could be independently verified.

Speaking earlier in Athens, Zelensky was quoted as saying that deliveries of US LNG would begin in January. "We rebuild each time the Russians destroy but this truly requires time, much effort, equipment and, regarding gas... imports to compensate for the destruction by the Russians of our own production," he said. "Greece is becoming an energy security provider for your homeland," Mitsotakis told the Ukrainian president. Zelensky said Kyiv had allocated funds for gas imports from European partners and banks under European Commission guarantees, as well as from Ukrainian banks, to help cover imports through to March at a cost of nearly €2bn (£1.8bn; $2.3bn), according to news agency Reuters. (BBC)