Freedom of Information

[DaffyVina]

7:22
Ukraine emergency services detonate unexploded devices and put out fires
Ukraine authorities say in the past 24 hours they've contained multiple fires and explosions from Russian shelling.

On Thursday, the state emergency service extinguished 13 fires in Kyiv and six in Kharkiv caused by Russian strikes, the Internal Affairs ministry said.

Emergency workers in Kharkiv have also been clearing rubble from destroyed buildings and battling 25 grassfires and other blazes in open areas.

Local workers also managed to contain a blaze at an oil depot in Kalynivka, a small town just south of Kyiv.

In Luhansk, one of the breakaway eastern regions, Ukraine officials said Russian shelling had struck more than 30 buildings, including several tower blocks, houses and utilities.

Photo: SES workers douse fires from Russian shelling
Copyright: Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs
Image caption: Firefighters putting out a blaze in Kyiv after this building was hit by Russian strikes

Photo: SES worker detonates unexploded munition
Copyright: Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs
Image caption: Workers have also been disposing of unexploded arms - 42 were detonated in Kharkiv on Thursday, the ministry said

Photo: Firefighters on a truck outside a unit building damaged by Russian shelling
Copyright: Ukraine Ministry of Internal Affairs
Image Caption: A block of flats hit by Russian shells in Luhansk

7:36
Ukraine says 135 children killed since invasion began
Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office says 135 children have been killed and 184 wounded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Giving an update on recent casualties, officials say two children were killed during fierce fighting in the city of Rubizhne, Luhansk region.

And on Thursday, two children aged six and 13 were injured in Novomykhailivka, Donetsk region, following Russian shelling.

Prosecutors added that three teenagers - aged 13, 14 and 15 - were blown up by a mine in Obilne in the Zaporizhia region.

They were taken to Melitopol Hospital where one is in a critical condition in intensive care.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these reports.

9:53
It will take years to rebuild Mariupol, city's mayor says

Hugo Bachega - BBC News, Lviv

Photo: Destroyed buildings are seen in Mariupol as civilians are evacuated along humanitarian corridors
Copyright: Getty Images

The humanitarian situation in the besieged city of Mariupol continues to deteriorate, with Russia blocking the delivery of humanitarian aid, the mayor has said.

The strategic port city has been surrounded by Russian troops since the early days of the war, with no electricity, running water or gas. Most of the city now lies in ruins.

“The situation is really complicated. It’s a humanitarian crisis,” Vadym Boychenko told me. “Part of the city is occupied by Russian [forces] but our soldiers are still controlling the city, but there is non-stop fighting.”

About 100,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol and efforts to carry out large-scale evacuations have failed. Thousands have managed to leave in recent days in private vehicles. Many have spoken of water, food and medical supplies running out, and relentless Russian attacks.

“We’re working on the evacuation [of residents] and I believe that's the only thing that can save people,” the mayor said. “The city is destroyed. It’ll take years to rebuild it.”

He said 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid had been waiting to be delivered but “Russian forces just don’t let it in”.

On Thursday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister accused Russia of blocking the entry of humanitarian aid convoys for three days.

10.41
Four killed in Russian strike on medical centre in Kharkiv, say police
Four civilians have been killed and several others wounded after Russian strikes hit a medical centre in Kharkiv, local police say.

Kharkiv is Ukraine's second-largest city and stands near the Russian border in the east.

"This morning, following a bombardment on civilian infrastructure from several rocket launchers, seven civilians were injured, four of them died," police said.

The strikes had targeted a medical centre in the city's Osnovyansky district, they said.

The BBC has not independently verified this.

Russian forces have been trying unsuccessfully to encircle Kharkiv, with analysts saying they are short of ammunition.

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville says Ukrainian resistance in the city has frustrated the Russians, who have turned to artillery strikes, destroying entire neighbourhoods.

[DaffyVina]

12:46 25 Mar
UN warns of potential war crimes in Ukraine

Imogen Foulkes -BBC News, Geneva

Russia's use of explosives with "wide area effects in or near populated areas – including missiles, heavy artillery shells and rockets as well as airstrikes" could amount to war crimes, the UN's human rights monitoring mission for Ukraine has said.

The head of the UN human rights mission in Ukraine, Matilda Bognor, cited two specific examples: An attack on a school in Chernihiv, and the attack on the maternity hospital in Mariupol.

The UN also has reports of Russian forces shooting at and killing civilians who were trying to evacuate by car, and of civilians being killed during peaceful assemblies.

There are also allegations of indiscriminate shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces in Donetsk which the UN is looking into, and reports that people perceived to be Russian sympathisers have been beaten or ill-treated by Ukrainian police.


13:02 25 Mar
UN identifies mass grave in Mariupol with up to 200 bodies

The UN has identified a mass grave in the besieged southern city of Mariupol it says could hold about 200 people.

Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said her team was trying to assess the scale of the civilian casualties.

"One mass grave we've been able to get satellite information on, and we estimate that one of those mass graves holds about 200 people," she said.

But "that does not mean all those people are civilian casualties", she added - since the UN's numbers do no include military deaths or those who die for other reasons during a war.

At least 1,035 civilians have been killed, she said – though the UN has consistently said it believes casualty numbers are "considerably higher" than its official numbers, due to the difficulty in verifying reports and getting information from war-hit areas.

Earlier this week, local commanders said they thought Mariupol's death toll alone could be more than 3,000. Bodies are often left in the streets because it is too dangerous to retrieve them, and many of them later end up in mass graves.

[DaffyVina]

13:33 25 Mar
Russian TV protester avoids criminal charges

Marina Ovsyannikova, the journalist who made international headlines for her live on-air anti-war protest on Russian state TV, has escaped criminal charges under Russia's strict new media laws.

Russia's Interfax news agency says that a court in Moscow has registered her case under the administrative offences code, rather than criminal charges - meaning she faces a fine of up to 50,000 roubles - about $500/£380 - for allegedly discrediting Russia's armed forces.

On 14 March, Ovsyannikova - a journalist at Russia's state-controlled Channel One - ran out behind the evening news presenter holding a placard that said: "No war, stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here."

Some lawyers and activists had feared she would face prosecution under the new criminal offence that could send anyone spreading "fake news" about the military to prison for up to 15 years.

Speaking to the independent news outlet Meduza, Ovsyannikova said: "I am glad that this is not a criminal article. So I can continue to fight for the truth.”

She has already been fined 30,000 roubles and was detained for 14 hours - but later told the BBC it was important for her to stop being a "cog in the Russian propaganda machine".



13:44 25 Mar
More than 1,000 civilian deaths confirmed by UN
The UN rights office says it has confirmed that at least 1,081 civilians have died and 1,707 have been injured in Ukraine since Russia invaded the country, adding that the true death toll was likely to be considerably higher.

Monitors are working to verify reports of further deaths in places of intense fighting in various regions, including Donestsk, where the city of Mariupol is located, the UN says.

The UN has previously said casualty figures are likely higher than official numbers because of the difficulty in getting information from war-hit areas.

[DaffyVina]

13:59 25 Mar -BREAKING
Russia to focus war on eastern Ukraine - Russian army chief
The chief of the Russian army says Russia will now focus its main war effort on the "complete liberation" of the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region.

The defence ministry said Russia had been considering two options for its "special military operation" - one covering the whole of Ukraine and one focusing on the Donbas.

The comments - carried by Russian state news agencies - hinted at a possible downgrading of Russia's war aims. Russian forces have met strong resistance in the north of Ukraine and around Kyiv.

Sergey Rudskoy, head of the main operational department of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, said 93% of Luhansk oblast and 54% of Donetsk oblast was under Russian control.

Russia had destroyed the vast majority of Ukraine's air force and navy, and this marked the successful end of the first phase of the conflict, he added.

However, the defence ministry did not rule out storming Ukrainian cities that had been blockaded and said Russia would react immediately to any move to close airspace over Ukraine - something President Zelensky has repeatedly urged.

The ministry also said Russia would continue its invasion until targets set by Putin had been achieved, Ria news agency reported, without specifying what the targets were.


14:55 25 Mar
Russia gives update on its military casualties

The Russian defence ministry has given an update on its military casualties – for only the second time – claiming 1,351 of its soldiers have been killed and 3,825 wounded, news agency Ria Novosti reports.

Ukrainian military sources have previously estimated that as many as 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, though this figure may include injured as well as dead. US intelligence suggests half that number may have died.

The first update from the Russian defence ministry on casualties was on 2 March, and stated that 498 servicemen had died during the invasion.

Intriguingly, on 21 March staunchly pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) published an article quoting the defence ministry as saying 9,861 Russian servicemen had been killed in the conflict.

Later, part of that article disappeared and KP's editor told the BBC the information had been the result of a hack.



16:54 25 Mar
No progress on key issues - Russian negotiator
Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine are continuing - but there has been little progress on the main political issues, according to a member of the Russian negotiating team.

Vladimir Medinsky said the two sides were "treading water".

However, he said they were coming closer to an understanding on secondary issues.


18:27 25 Mar
First indication Moscow may be limiting war aims

Lyse Doucet -Chief International Correspondent, Kyiv

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is the main focus now says Moscow.

That includes Donetsk and Luhansk, held by Russian backed separatists since 2014 and officially recognised as independent by Russia just before this invasion began.

Over the past month, Russian forces made significant advances in this region and along a southern corridor linking it with Crimea - the peninsula annexed by Moscow, also in 2014.

Major General Sergei Rudskoi said Russia did not exclude attacks on other cities, including the capital Kyiv, but this wasn’t its main objective.

These comments are the first indication Moscow may be limiting its war aims after a month where it’s failed to seize any major Ukrainian city and its operations have been plagued by logistical difficulties and tactical mistakes as well as fierce Ukrainian resistance.

But for now, its forces are still on the ground and in action across large parts of Ukraine. And many Ukrainians are suffering bitterly, as the human cost becomes ever clearer.

Details are only now emerging of the number of dead in last week’s direct attack on a theatre in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol. Urgent rescue efforts have been blocked by incessant Russian shelling.

But there had been hope that some 1,000 people, mainly women and children, sheltering in its underground bunker had been protected. Officials now say at least 300 people were killed.

And the pitched battle for Mariupol, which now lies in ruin, goes on.
"Negotiations have been going on all week, from Monday to Friday, in video conference format, and will continue tomorrow," he said.


18:45 25 Mar
Putin doesn't care about you - ex-Georgian leader to Lukashenko
A bit random, but Georgia's former leader Mikheil Saakashvili - a pro-Western reformer - has been addressing the longtime Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko on Twitter.

Belarus is effectively a client state of Russia. Russian troops invaded Ukraine from Belarus territory. However despite speculation Belarusian troops might be called to take part in the war, this has not yet happened.

Saakashvili told Lukashenko that his reign would be over if he sent his own troops into Ukraine.

"Luka, I've never given you bad advice. If you send troops to Ukraine, you will no longer be in power in a month at the most and you will end up very badly. Putin doesn't care about your fate, you know," the Georgian wrote.

Saakashvili himself remains in prison in Georgia. He made a surprise return to the country last year and was then arrested for a conviction he was given in absentia. He says he is a political prisoner.

[DaffyVina]

19:15 25 Mar
Satellite photo shows destroyed Russian ship
satellite pic of berdyansk port - Copyright: Reuters

New satellite photos from Maxar show the part-submerged Russian vessel that was destroyed in the occupied port of Berdyansk on Thursday.

The Ukrainian military said the Saratov, a landing ship, had been hit by its forces. The vessel had previously incorrectly been identified as the Orsk, the military said, adding that two other Russian landing ships had also sustained damage.

The satellite photos taken today shows black smoke continuing to billow from a structure on the port close to several fuel storage tanks.

[DaffyVina]

19:31 25 Mar
Ukraine denies significant progress in peace talks
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said peace negotiations with Russia are difficult, and denied reports that progress had been made in resolving four out of six key issues.

It comes after a member of the Russian negotiating team earlier said that the two sides were coming closer to an understanding on secondary issues. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was also reported as saying progress had been made in the talks.

But Kuleba said "there is no consensus with Russia on the four points".

"The negotiation process is very difficult," he posted on Facebook. "The Ukrainian delegation has taken a strong position and does not relinquish its demands. We insist, first of all, on a ceasefire, security guarantees and territorial integrity of Ukraine."

Kuleba later tweeted that there was "no consensus in negotiations yet", complaining "Russia sticks to ultimatums".

He added: "To stimulate a more constructive approach we need two things: more sanctions and more military aid for Ukraine."


20:06 25 Mar
WATCH: Putin has started a civil war, says former Russian MP
Video content
Video caption: Putin has started a civil war, says former Russian MPPutin has started a civil war, says former Russian MP

Former Russian MP Ilya Ponomarev, a long standing Putin critic, tells the BBC's Hardtalk programme that the Russian president has started "an imperialist war" in Ukraine that could rip Russia apart.


20:44 25 Mar
How could Nato respond to a chemical attack in Ukraine?

Frank Gardner- BBC Security Correspondent

Nato leaders have been growing increasingly concerned that Russia, faced with something of a military stalemate in much of its campaign in Ukraine, could be preparing to launch a chemical attack in order to break the deadlock. There is no published evidence on the ground to back this up but President Biden has warned that Nato would respond to a chemical attack "in kind".

So what does that mean exactly? Well it does not mean a Nato chemical attack in response. Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, made that clear on Friday when he said the US would not use chemical weapons under any circumstance. Both the US and Russia are signatories to the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty outlawing these horrific weapons, also signed by 191 other nations.

Russia is supposed to have destroyed all its chemical weapons stocks by 2017. But the following year it was blamed for the poisoning in Salisbury of former KGB officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter using the nerve agent Novichok smeared onto their front door. This is why President Biden has said Russia has used chemical weapons before.

Even if Russia has secretly held back some stocks of poison gas or liquid nerve agent, which it has not admitted to, it is unlikely to be in a position to use this on a mass scale on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Instead, experts believe, the most likely risk is that Russian forces could attempt a deliberate release of toxic industrial chemicals like chlorine from existing Ukrainian factories. This could have a devastating effect on civilians living in a built-up area and in the fog and confusion of war it may not be immediately clear who was responsible. A recent release of ammonia gas was deemed to be accidental.

If such a blurred line existed it might be hard for Nato countries to reach a unanimous decision on how harshly they should respond.

[DaffyVina]

20:27 25 Mar
Kherson 'contested territory again' - US defence official

Kherson, the southern Ukrainian city that was the first major population centre captured at the start of the war, is "contested territory again," a US defence official has told journalists.

If the city, which is relatively close to the Crimean peninsula, were to be retaken by Ukraine, it would represent a major setback for Russia's offensive.

Russia's military has disputed that it has lost control of Kherson, and Ukrainians on the ground there have not reported that it has been recaptured.

"The Ukrainians are trying to take Kherson back, and we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again," the Pentagon official told reporters on Friday.

"We can't corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson but the point is, it doesn't appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before," added the official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

Fighting is ongoing in the larger region of Kherson Oblast, according to the latest reports, as Russia continues to focus its efforts on taking the southern Black Sea coast.


20:57 25 Mar
More than 7,000 evacuated through humanitarian corridors today - deputy PM
A total of 7,331 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors today, a senior official said.

This is more than double the 3,343 who managed to escape on Thursday.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post that 2,800 people had left the besieged city of Mariupol using private transport.


21:05 25 Mar
France working with Turkey and Greece on plan for Mariupol evacuations

French President Emmanuel Macron has said he's working with Turkey and Greece on plans for a "humanitarian operation" to evacuate people from the devastated southern city of Mariupol.

He said he hoped to speak to Russia's President Putin "within the next 48 to 72 hours" regarding the planned initiative.

The port city of Mariupol lies in ruins after relentless Russian shelling. Tens of thousands remain trapped inside, with little access to food, water, electricity or gas.

Macron told reporters there was a "concrete" discussion today with the mayor of Mariupol. "We are coordinating and we will then negotiate with the Russians," he said.

Earlier, an official told the BBC that an estimated 300 people had died in last week's attack on a theatre in the city, where civilians had been sheltering.

[DaffyVina]

21:33 25 Mar
It doesn't matter what's written on the sign - Russian asterisk protester
Caroline Davies - BBC Moscow Correspondent

Dmitry Reznikov is a 22-year-old student in Moscow. He was detained on 13 March for holding up a sign with no words, only asterisks. He was fined 50,000 roubles (about £380) for discrediting Russia's armed forces.

"I made the decision to do it on an impulse," Reznikov says. "I knew it doesn’t matter what is written on the sign, it could have been blank, we've seen people arrested for that before. Everyone understands what this sign is about and what side it expresses."

He adds, "It's important that people shouldn't stay silent if they agree that what is going on is terrible, they should express their opinion."

Reznikov tells me: "The main reason I did it is because there is no justification for this conflict. Civilians and soldiers are dying. I wasn’t trying to discredit the army."

The 22-year-old has been detained twice since the start of the conflict. He used to protest before what is being described here as President Putin's special military operation, but says, "Now I am far more afraid to do it. There’s more repression and criminal prosecutions."

Reznikov says he doesn't know what will happen next in Russia. "I hope the conflict will stop, that no more people will die."


21:47 25 Mar
Macron dismisses Putin demand for gas payments in roubles

French President Emmanuel Macron has said there is no reason to accept a demand from Russia to pay up in roubles for Russian gas.

Europe is attempting to reduce its reliance on Russian gas due to the invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted "unfriendly" countries to buy its gas with roubles. The move is understood to be aimed at boosting the Russian currency, which has lost over 20% in value this year.

"All the texts that have been signed are clear. This is forbidden," Macron told a news conference after a European Union summit in Brussels.

"European firms that buy gas and which are operating on European territory have to do so in euros. Therefore it is not possible today to do what is being demanded, it is not contractual," added Macron.


22:19 25 Mar
Navalny working to counter Kremlin narratives - aide

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is in good spirits and working hard to counter Kremlin war propaganda, his chief-of-staff tells the BBC.

Leonid Volkov says he received a note from Navalny today and his lawyers visit him nearly every day.

"He isn’t desperate, his moral condition is very good and he is very actively involved in the work the Anti-Corruption Foundation is doing to reach more Russians with counter-propaganda," Volkov said.

Navalny - whose sentence was recently extended by nine years - was working to "increase the cost of this war to Vladimir Putin", Volkov added.

The opposition leader has called on Russians to demonstrate against the war. Thousands of demonstrators have been detained in Russia.

Read more - Alexei Navalny: Russia's jailed vociferous Putin critic

[DaffyVina]

23:24 25 Mar
Latest US intelligence assessment

A senior US defence official has just given a briefing from Warsaw, where President Joe Biden has been speaking to American troops stationed in Poland.

As we reported earlier, the official - who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity - argued that Ukrainian forces could retake Kherson, the southern city captured by Russia in the first days of the war.

Here are some other key points:

Russia has conducted 1,250 missile launches in the first 30 days of the war
Russia has increased its aerial sorties in recent weeks, now flying an average of 300 per day
US officials confirm Ukraine's claim that it destroyed a ship transporting Russian tanks in the occupied port city of Berdyansk
Troops around Kyiv are digging in, and do not appear to be preparing for a ground assault on the capital
Makariv, a suburb west of Kyiv, is also now heavily contested by both sides
Russian troops are making no progress in their attacks on Kharkiv, in the north
Russian troops are stationed around 15km outside of Mykolaiv, a city near Kherson, and are trying to close the city off to resupply from Ukraine
Putin's troops managed to break through a Ukrainian defence near Izyum, and have moved south towards the Donbas territory


0:28
Russian defence minister 'suffers heart attack'

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, has claimed that Russia's defence minister suffered a heart attack.

Sergei Shoigu had not been seen publicly since 11 March, until he appeared briefly in a video released by Putin on Thursday 24 March.

"Shoigu's heart attack happened after a tough accusation by Putin for a complete failure of the invasion of Ukraine," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook, adding that he is currently "undergoing rehabilitation" in hospital.

There has been no confirmation from Russia of Shoigu's alleged health problems.

[DaffyVina]

2:36
Ukrainian boxing champ leaving military for match

Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has confirmed he is preparing for a rematch with Britain's Anthony Joshua.

Usyk is set to face Joshua in July after his victory last year saw him crowned unified heavyweight champion.

The 35-year-old left his native Ukraine, where he had been helping to defend the country from the Russian invasion, on Wednesday.

"I decided to start preparing for a rematch with Anthony Joshua," Usyk posted on Instagram on Friday.

Usyk enlisted in Ukraine's military in March following the Russian invasion.

A banner reading "Hands off Ukraine, Putin!" could be seen behind Usyk in his Instagram video.

"A large number of my friends support me, all the rest of the good and peace, thank God for everything," he wrote.