Freedom of Information

[DaffyVina]

4:58 -BREAKING
Explosions heard in Lviv region - reports

Several eyewitnesses have told BBC Ukrainian that they heard explosions in the region of western city of Lviv.

The UNIAN news agency has also cited social media users who have reported two strong explosions in the city.

According to local media reports, air raid sirens went off throughout the night in Lviv and many other regions in Ukraine.

The Kyiv Independent meanwhile says there are reports that Lviv is under Russian missile attacks.

The cause of the explosions is still unknown, and the BBC cannot confirm eyewitness accounts.
We'll bring you more information once we know more.

Lviv is a stronghold in western Ukraine where many foreign media teams are currently based, and a city where many refugees are passing through on their way out of Ukraine.

5:07 - BREAKING
Explosions reported in Ivano-Frankivsk
Eyewitnesses have also told BBC Ukrainian that they heard explosions in the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Ukrainian news outlets are also reporting similar blasts.

5:40
Air raid sirens in multiple cities
Air raid sirens have been sounded in several parts of Ukraine, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reports.

Alarms were sounded in Zhytomyr, west of the capital Kyiv, as well as in the Ternopil, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in the west.

Sirens have also gone off in the Volyn region in the northwest and Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.

[DaffyVina]

Why is Lviv important?

As reported earlier, Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces have conducted a missile strike on a military training centre outside the city of Lviv.
BBC journalists in Lviv say that no blasts were heard in the city centre.

Lviv is only 80km (50 miles) away from the Polish border and a destination for many Ukrainians fleeing from from other parts of the country.


In the initial days of the invasion, Russian forces targeted regions in the north, east and south, including the capital Kyiv. But in recent days Russian forces have been targeting regions in the centre, such as Dnipro, and the west such as Ivano-Frankivsk, as well.

Image of Russian invasion map 11 march - BBC Copyright

Lviv, a historical and picturesque city known for its cultural heritage, has so far been left untouched.

But it has been bracing for war and carrying out preparations to protect its historical landmarks.

Image of Lviv stats

What is the IPSC?

Lviv's regional military administration say that the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre (IPSC), in the Yavoriv district, was targeted earlier this morning by Russian forces.

Located 30km (19 miles) from Lviv, the IPSC was formed in 2007 to train Ukraine's armed forces, particularly for peacekeeping missions.

It also regularly hosts international troops. A Nato document on the centre says that the centre aims to provide de-mining and mine safety training for Ukrainian and other nations' troops.

BBC Ukrainian's Myroslava Petsa says that the IPSC is one of two sites in Ukraine where international military exercises take place.

She also noted that the centre is just kilometres away from the border of Poland - and therefore the European Union and Nato.

[DaffyVina]

Foreign military instructors work at attacked base - Ukraine

Foreign military instructors work at the military base in western Ukraine that has been attacked by Russia, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov says.

Local officials say eight missiles struck the International Centre for Peacekeeping and Security, 10km (6 miles) from the Polish border.

"Information about the victims is being clarified," Reznikov says.

A witness told Reuters news agency they saw 19 ambulances with their sirens on driving from the direction of the military base.

"This is new terrorist attack on peace and security near the EU-Nato border," Reznikov writes on Twitter.

map showing how the centre is closer to the Polish border than the city of Lviv itself.

[DaffyVina]

Refugee evacuation train attacked - rail company

A passenger train on its way to pick up refugees being evacuated from eastern Ukraine came under fire from Russian forces, killing a conductor, Ukraine’s national rail company says.

The conductor was killed and another employee was taken to hospital with injuries when the train was attacked near Brusyn station in the Donetsk region, it says.

The train was about to pick up residents being evacuated from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions at Lyman station, including 100 children.

The company says it is "making every effort" to evacuate all the train's passengers and crew, as well as the evacuees at the station.

[DaffyVina]

Air strike destroys apartment block in Chernihiv

Image showing aftermath of blast in Chernihiv with Fire-engine and long ladder in use - State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuters

A Russian air strike has destroyed a high-rise apartment building in the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukraine's State Emergency Service says.

At least one person has been killed and another wounded in the attack, while seven were rescued, the Service says.

Unverified videos on social media showed black smoke pouring from the nine-storey building as firefighters battled to contain the blaze.

Image showing Rescue operation at tower block with Fire-engine and Fire-Crews- State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuter

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Chemical weapons use could prompt Nato intervention, says Polish president

The use of chemical weapons by Russia in Ukraine could prompt Nato to reconsider its decision not to intervene militarily in the conflict, the Polish president has said.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sophie Raworth, Andrzej Duda was asked whether he believed President Putin could be preparing to use chemical weapons.

“This is something the world has not seen on this scale since the Second World War,” he said.

“If you’re asking me whether Putin can use chemical weapons, I think Putin can use anything right now, especially when he’s in this difficult situation.

“Politically, he has already lost this war, and militarily, he’s not winning it.”

Asked whether any such use could prompt a Nato intervention, he said: “Of course, everybody hopes that he would not dare do that.

“But… if he uses weapons of mass destruction, this would be a gamechanger in the whole thing.

“For sure, [Nato]… would have to sit at the table and they will really have to think seriously what to do, because then it starts to be dangerous, not only for Europe…, but the whole world.”

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10:04 - BREAKING
Mayor of Dniprorudne abducted - Ukraine foreign minister

Image of Yevhen Matveyev from Yevhen Matveyev/Facebook
Image caption: Yevhen Matveyev is the second Ukrainian mayor allegedly abducted

Russian forces have abducted the mayor of the southern city of Dniprorudne, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says.

Yevhen Matveyev would be the second Ukrainian mayor allegedly abducted by advancing Russian troops in the past three days, after the mayor of nearby Melitopol was reportedly detained on Friday.

Kuleba says "Russian war criminals" had abducted Matveyev.

"Getting zero local support, invaders turn to terror. I call on all states and international organizations to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and democracy," he says.

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Mariupol: 'We didn’t know whether they would shoot us'
Abdujalil Abdurasulov - BBC News, Kyiv

Our correspondent in Kyiv spoke to a priest from Mariupol who managed to flee the besieged city last Sunday. Father Pavel Pomashevsky said he had witnessed the misery, suffering, and darkness that the besieged city has endured.

“They bombed us non-stop, day and night. Day and night," he said.

"It was impossible to sleep or sit. Something whistled and exploded, jets roared above us and threw bombs, they shelled with Grad [a Soviet rocket launcher] missiles.”

On the 5 March, a humanitarian corridor was announced for the first time. But the column with evacuees never left the city as the Russian authorities renewed the shelling of Mariupol.

Father Pavel managed to get out of the city just before the bombardment started. He was in a column of private cars that left early in the morning. At one of the Russian checkpoints, however, they were stopped and told that no men were allowed to pass.

“We didn’t know whether they would shoot us or not,” he said. “It was very scary. We thought that was our end.”

But then the Russian soldiers allowed them to stay overnight in a nearby village. The column of about 100 cars headed there. The next morning some local drivers offered a different route to bypass the Russian checkpoint to get to the territory controlled by Ukraine. They decided to take the risk.

“On our way, we saw some gruesome scenes of recent battles. There were dead Russian soldiers along the road,” he said.

“We passed several Russian checkpoints. At one place they pointed their machine guns at us thinking that we were Ukrainian soldiers.”

He still doesn’t understand why the Russians let them pass but says that, when they reached the Ukrainian checkpoint, everyone was full of joy.

[DaffyVina]

Pope: 'Stop the massacre'
Pope Francis has issued a strong condemnation of the Russian attack on Ukraine.

“In the name of God, let the cry of the suffering people be heard, and let the bombings and attacks stop," he said during his weekly Sunday prayer at St Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

“In the name of God, I ask you, stop this massacre.”

Bombing of children’s hospitals and civilian targets is “barbaric” and has “no valid strategic reason”, the Pope added.