(Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is "open to negotiations" on Ukraine but the West must accept Moscow's demands, the Kremlin said on Friday, a day after U.S. President Joe Biden said he was willing to talk if Putin were looking for a way to end the war.
FIGHTING
* Ukraine's armed forces have lost somewhere between 10,000 and 13,000 soldiers so far in the war against Russia, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told a Ukrainian television network.* Russia's Defence Ministry and the head of Ukraine's presidential administration said the two countries had swapped 50 service personnel in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides.* Russian rockets pounded neighbourhoods in Kherson knocking out power in the city where electricity had only begun to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian troops left.
* The Ukrainian government will draw up a law banning churches affiliated with Russia under moves described by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as necessary to prevent Moscow being able to "weaken Ukraine from within".
* The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the end of the year, the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog was quoted as saying.
DIPLOMACY, FOREIGN RESPONSE* Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a phone call on Friday that the German and Western line on Ukraine was "destructive" and urged Berlin to rethink its approach, the Kremlin said.
* Scholz urged Putin to find a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine conflict as soon as possible, "including a withdrawal of Russian troops", Scholz's spokesperson said.
* Several Ukrainian embassies abroad have received "bloody packages" containing animal eyes, Ukraine's foreign ministry said on Friday, after a series of letter bombs were sent to sites in Spain including Ukraine's embassy in Madrid.
* Russia's foreign ministry said on Friday that it was "outraged" by a statement from the French foreign ministry that supported plans to create a tribunal on possible crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
* Germany is preparing to deliver seven Gepard tanks to Ukraine, adding to the 30 air-defence tanks that are already being used to fight against the Russian army, according to a German government website.
* Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday no one can bypass EU sanctions against Russia through Serbia, which imports all of its gas from Russia and its sole oil company NIS is majority-owned by Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) Neft and Gazprom.
ECONOMY
* Russia's economy is set to shrink by 2.5% next year, on top of a 3% contraction in 2022, a Reuters poll suggested on Friday, with stubbornly high inflation giving the central bank only limited room to cut interest rates.
* Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure have increased the cost to keep Ukraine's economy going next year, adding up to $1 billion a month to previous estimates of $3-$4 billion, the head of the International Monetary Fund told the Reuters NEXT conference.