Here are the latest developments in Ukraine.

As President Biden geared up for an extraordinary set of strategy summits with NATO allies and the European Union on Thursday, Ukrainian forces made gains in beating back Russian troops in the battle for the capital, Kyiv.

Russian troops were pushed back by several miles to the east of Kyiv and appeared to be stopping their advance an digging in defensive positions to the northwest of the city, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday evening. Britain’s defense intelligence agency confirmed that assessment, saying that Ukrainian forces were carrying out successful counterattacks on Kyiv’s outskirts.

With the war entering its second month, Russia’s military has increasingly unleashed artillery, bombs and missiles against civilian targets as its invasion has stalled. The U.S. government has formally concluded that Russian forces had committed war crimes.

Amid fears that President Vladimir V. Putin might turn to more deadly tactics, NATO on Wednesday said it would help Ukraine prepare for possible chemical, biological and even nuclear threats from Russia. The alliance also announced it was doubling its military presence in the countries on its eastern flank near Ukraine.

In other major developments:

The White House has assembled a team of U.S. national security officials to sketch out scenarios of how the United States and its allies should respond if Mr. Putin unleashes chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called for global protests to mark one month since Russia’s invasion. “The world must stop the war,” he said. “Come to your squares, your streets. Make yourselves visible and heard."

Mr. Biden is not expected to press his European counterparts to cut off their flow of Russian energy. Instead, European leaders are set to announce steps they will take, with the help of the United States, to reduce their dependence on it.

A Russian rocket attack on a residential area in Kyiv appeared to be from a Grad multiple rocket launcher, the first time such weapons have struck the heart of the Ukrainian capital and a further indication that Russian troops have artillery within range of the city center. Read more

@nytimes