(Reuters) – Russian shelling killed at least 13 people in Ukraine's central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight, governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Wednesday, as Britain said Russia had "almost certainly" established a major new ground force to support its war.

FIGHTING/DIPLOMACY

* Reznychenko said more than 20 buildings were damaged in Marganets, a city across the Dnipro river from the Russian-captured Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, where there have been other reports of shelling.

* The new Russian ground force, called the 3rd Army Corps, is based out of the city of Mulino, east of Russia's capital Moscow, Britain said in an intelligence update on Twitter. There was no immediate comment from Moscow.

* A senior Ukrainian official suggested blasts at a Russian air base in the annexed Crimean peninsula that a Russian official said had killed one person on Tuesday could have been the work of partisan saboteurs. Kyiv denied any responsibility for the incident deep inside Russian-occupied territory.

* In the northern town of Bucha, 15 bodies were buried on Tuesday after they were found four months after Russian forces withdrew from the area. Bucha mayor says all the people who were shot and exhumed from a mass grave have torture marks on them.

Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports.

* The head of Ukraine's state nuclear power firm warned on Tuesday of the "very high" risks of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south and said it was vital Kyiv regains control over the facility before winter.

DIPLOMACY

* U.S. President Joe Biden signed documents on Tuesday endorsing Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

* The U.S. State Department has approved $89 million worth of assistance to help Ukraine equip and train 100 teams to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance for a year, an official said on Tuesday.

ECONOMY

Russia's government has received requests for extra state spending of around 5 trillion roubles ($82.99 billion) annually for the 2023-2025 period, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.* Germany's network regulator, which would be in charge of gas rationing in the event of a supply emergency, has received scores of exemption requests from across industry, reflecting fears of potential production cuts and subsequent losses.

(Compiled by Cynthia Osterman, Michael Perry and Philippa Fletcher)

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