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[DaffyVina]

10:08
More than 1,900 civilians killed - UN
A woman next to a grave
Copyright: EPA
Image caption: Mariia Skorokhod's daughter Alla Hrytsenko, 63, was killed during Russia's invasion

The UN has recorded the killing of more than 1,900 civilians since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but warned the "actual figures are much higher".

Of the 1,982 civilians killed between 24 February and 14 April, 162 were children, said the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

A further 2,651 civilians had been injured - 256 of them children.

Most of the deaths and injuries had been caused by shelling and air strikes, the OHCHR said.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has previously expressed horror at reports of civilians killed in the town of Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, saying they raised "serious and disturbing questions about possible war crimes" and calling for evidence to be preserved.

[DaffyVina]

11:09
'No words can describe how scary it is' - Kyiv attacks
Smoke rises over the outskirts of Kyiv
Copyright: Getty Images

Details are starting to emerge about strikes in Kyiv overnight, with the city's mayor saying there were explosions in the Darnytskyi district on the capital's outskirts.

Rescue workers and medics were at the site, Vitali Klitschko said in an online post. It remains unclear if there have been any casualties and what specifically has been hit.

Last night was the second consecutive night that the Kyiv region has been targeted, after two weeks of relative calm in the area.

Anna Budko, a local resident, told BBC correspondent Yogita Limaye: "You forget sometimes that you’re still afraid of every sound, even if it comes from your neighbour’s house, or if someone bangs a car door.

"You shiver and try to overcome that. No words can describe how scary it is."

It comes after Russia on Friday threatened more strikes on strategic targets in Kyiv if Ukraine continued shelling Russian villages along the border.


12:09
One person killed in Kyiv attack
One person has been killed and several wounded in the missile strikes that hit Kyiv earlier today, Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko says.

Klitschko added that medics were fighting for the lives of those who had been wounded.

He added that Russian generals had threatened missile strikes on the capital - and that was what was occurring.

Air defences were trying to protect people, Klitchko added in his update on Telegram, "but the enemy is ruthless".

[DaffyVina]

14:34 16 Apr
Russia plans to restrict Mariupol access from Monday, city officials say
Tom Bateman
Reporting from Dnipro

There are reports that Mariupol will be completely closed for entry and exit from Monday, potentially sealing the city and preventing further humanitarian evacuations.

An adviser to the city's mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, said on Telegram earlier today that Russian forces plan to bar people from leaving or entering Mariupol starting from 18 April.

I’ve spoken to Deputy Mayor Serhii Orlov who says such a closure has already been in place for the last four or five days.

Mr Orlov is no longer in Mariupol but suggested he has contact with those who are. He told me that Russia plans to extend the policy for a further week from Monday. He added he believes Russian forces plan to implement “more strict” rules within the city involving checkpoints to monitor and restrict movement between districts.

“They ask for internal passes, and [those] who do not have these passes will go to ‘filtration’,” he says, referring to camps reportedly used before people are deported to Russia.

The military siege and collapse in communications in Mariupol means it is not possible to verify the reports.

Despite the report of a closure already in place, an official from Ukraine’s central government in Kyiv says more than 360 people from Mariupol arrived in Zaporizhzhia on Friday. It’s not clear when they left the city. The hazardous journey can often take several days.

On Friday Moscow said it had been opening “humanitarian corridors” every day from Mariupol “towards Russia” and routes from Mariupol to the nearby city of Berdyansk and to Zaporizhzhia.

It has not commented on freedom of movement within the city.

[DaffyVina]

15:38 16 Apr
Ukrainian Mariupol fighters 'to be eliminated'

Ukrainian fighters who remain in Mariupol and refuse to surrender will be eliminated, the head of the Russian-backed Donetsk people's republic (DPR) has said.

Russian-allied soldiers are close to capturing the southern city of Mariupol, but Ukrainian forces are thought to be resisting the onslaught from the port area and the Azovstal factory - a massive iron and steel plant.

Videos have emerged of Ukrainian forces vowing not to surrender their positions.

This week Moscow said more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines had surrendered in Mariupol, but Ukraine denied the claim.

Talking to journalists in Mariupol, DPR head Denis Pushilin said: "Those members of the regular army, like the marines you have seen, who are prepared to surrender have surrendered.

"Whereas the nationalists, that is members of the nationalist battalions, it appears, have no intention of surrendering, that is why they are to be eliminated."

Footage of Mr Pushylin making the statement, standing next to Chechen politician Adam Delimkhanov and surrounded by troops, was broadcast on Russian news channel Rossiya 24.

Mariupol lies in territory claimed by the so-called DPR and is of strategic significance to the Russian army as it seeks to establish a land route between Crimea in the west and Donbas in the east.


16:23 16 Apr
What we know about the Lviv attack
Toby Luckhurst
Reporting from Lviv

The Ukrainian authorities have said at least one person has died after the Russian attack on the capital Kyiv overnight.

Explosions were also heard in Lviv last night. But officials in the region say this was because of the successful defence of the area - anti-aircraft units managed to destroy “four cruise missiles” fired by Russian Su-35 planes, according to the head of the regional government Makysm Kozytskyi.

In an update filed on Telegram Kozytskyi added that the jets took off from Baranovichi airfield in Belarus.

There has been no comment from Russia about the attack.


17:34 16 Apr
Zelensky: Eliminating Mariupol defenders will end talks

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said eliminating Ukrainian fighters in the southern port city of Mariupol will put an end to talks with Russia.

Referring to a town outside Kyiv that has been devastated by heavy shelling, Mr Zelensky told the Ukrainska Pravda news website: "Mariupol could be like 10 Borodyankas.

"I want to say that the elimination of our military, our guys, will put an end to all negotiations."

Borodyanka: 'There are a lot of people left under the rubble'
He said Ukraine would trade neither its territory nor its people, adding: "The more places like Borodyanka there are, the harder it will be".

Earlier, Ukraine insisted its troops were still holding out in the ruins of Mariupol, where Ukrainian forces have been pushed back to the Azovstal metal works near the port.

[DaffyVina]

20:19 16 Apr
Don't return yet, Klitschko warns Kyiv exiles

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko has issued an uncompromising message to Ukrainians who have fled the city in recent weeks - now is not the time to think about returning to their homes.

Some residents have been making their way back home in recent days after two weeks of relative calm in the capital city, but Klitschko pointed out that there had been a mortar shell attack in the Darnytskyi district overnight.

And this came after Friday's Russian attack on a factory producing Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, like the ones that hit the Russian warship Moskva.

Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, said residents should be wary of further attacks and also the danger of landmines in northern parts of the city.

And he added on his official Telegram channel: "Those Kyivites who left earlier and are already going to return to the capital, I ask you to refrain from this and stay in safer places.”



20:57 16 Apr
Shelling disrupted evacuation from eastern region, says local leader
A total of 1,449 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Saturday, Ukraine says - but a local leader says Russian shelling of one city stopped those figures from being higher.

Serhiy Haidai, governor of the eastern Luhansk region, said that Russia had violated a ceasefire agreement by opening fire in the centre of the city of Lysychansk.

That prompted local residents to seek safety in their basements and not attempt their planned journeys.

Evacuations went on from other towns and cities including 42 residents from Severodonetsk, 11km away and 11 people from Rubizhne 21km to the north.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, made the announcement of the total number of 1,149 evacuations from across the country - but this was a lower number than he has announced on several previous days.



23:15 16 Apr
Video of second British prisoner appears
A video has emerged on social media of a second British member of the Ukrainian armed forces captured in Mariupol by Russians.

The man, who gives his name as Shaun Pinner, is shown saying he was fighting in Mariupol but has been captured and is now in the territory of the breakaway Donetsk People's Republic, in eastern Ukraine.

Mr Pinner is one of two prisoners mentioned by the wife of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, arrested last week by Ukrainian security agents while attempting to flee to Russia, as a possible swap for her husband.

As we reported in an earlier post, in a video address to Boris Johnson, Oksana Marchenko calls on the UK PM to arrange an exchange between Mr Medvedchuk and Mr Pinner, along with Aiden Aslin, another Briton taken prisoner in Mariupol last week.

Mr Aslin's capture has already been widely reported, and his family has expressed grave concerns about his welfare.



0:08
Russia urges Mariupol forces to lay down arms

Russia has offered to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the key port city of Mariupol - but only if they lay down their arms on Sunday.

The Russian government said Ukrainian soldiers and “foreign mercenaries” still fighting in Mariupol, which Russia says it has nearly taken control of, could lay down their weapons between 06:00 and 13:00 Moscow time (03:00-10:00 GMT) and their safety would be guaranteed.

Those doing so would be treated in line with the Geneva convention on prisoners of war, it said.

The statement did not say what would happen to any soldiers who refused to stop fighting - and said the offer was being made on "purely humane principles".

Russia says the only remaining Ukrainian troops in the city are contained in a small area around the Azovstal steelworks area.

The statement said Russian forces would "continuously broadcast" details of the offer to the soldiers still at Azovstal every 30 minutes throughout the night.

It also encouraged the troops not to wait for permission to surrender from Kyiv, but to make the decision themselves.

Earlier, President Zelensky warned that "eliminating" the remaining fighters in Mariupol would put an end to talks with Russia.



1:03
Zelensky: Situation in Mariupol still severe

Following the news that Russia has given Ukraine's fighters in Mariupol hours to lay down their arms, what has Ukraine said about the fate of the city?On Saturday, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledged that Ukrainian forces held control of just a small portion of Mariupol, saying his government was in daily contact with those defenders.

The situation was extremely severe, Reuters quoted the president as saying.

But he did not address Russia's claims that its military had cleared out Ukrainian forces from almost all of the besieged port city, except for those holding out inside the Azovstal factory - a massive iron and steel plant on the outskirts.

A spokesman for Russia's defence ministry said some 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers were inside the plant, their exit blocked by Russian troops, according to the state news agency Tass. The BBC has not independently confirmed these reports.

[DaffyVina]

1:43
Photos posted online crucial to war crimes research

How do you track war crimes and build a case against those responsible?

The answer to those questions have changed dramatically in recent years as online posts document so much of what happens on the ground in war.

Open-source information - such as photos that are freely available to anyone online - have "completely transformed our way of knowing about human rights violations", one expert says.

"We're seeing increasingly the UN commissions of inquiry, fact-finding missions, even the International Criminal Court in the Hague, using this kind of evidence," she explained.


3:01
What's happened in Mariupol?

We've been talking about the possible imminent fall of the southern city of Mariupol for a few days now. Here's what's happened there so far.

The besieged port city - which the Ukrainian leadership has described as "the heart of this war today"- has been the subject of a devastating, six-week assault by Russian forces.

Russian troops started encircling it in early March.

The siege has killed thousands of civilians and unleashed a struggle for survival for trapped residents who remained there, amid relentless Russian shelling, hunger and freezing temperatures.

Russian bombardment has reduced the city to ruins, forcing civilians to hide in cellars, while access to electricity, heating, fresh water, food and medical supplies was cut.

Thousands of people have escaped further north, risking a deadly journey through the front line.

In recent days, Russian forces are thought to have pushed in further by dividing the remaining holdout of Mariupol's defenders, according to think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russian television previously broadcast footage which it said showed marines giving themselves up at the Illyich iron and steelworks plant there.

But earlier this week, an adviser to Ukraine's president insisted that the marines had in fact broken through to connect with Ukrainian fighters of the Azov battalion at the Azovstal metalworks.

Now, it is difficult to know with certainty how many remain, though Ukrainian President Zelensky has acknowledged that Ukrainian forces hold only a small part of the city.


3:37
Russia says it shot down plane carrying Western arms

Russia says its air defence units have brought down a Ukrainian military plane it says was carrying a shipment of arms sent by Western countries.

The attack took place outside the city of Odessa in south-west Ukraine, Russian state news agency TASS reported, quoting Defence Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Igor Konashenkov.

The BBC hasn’t independently verified the information, and it wasn’t immediately clear if there are any casualties.

Gen Konashenkov also claimed that in the last 24 hours, Russian air units had hit dozens of locations with a concentration of Ukrainian military troops or hardware.

[DaffyVina]

3:58
Moscow's surrender window begins

A satellite image shows a heavily industrialised area on the coast
Copyright: Maxar via Reuters
Image caption: Ukrainian troops are thought to be mostly isolated to the heavy industry region of the Azovstal steelworks

Russia has said it will guarantee the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol who surrender in the coming hours.

From 06:00 Moscow time (03:00 GMT or 04:00 BST) and for several hours after, Russian forces have said they will allow soldiers to leave the stronghold of the Azovstal steelworks - provided they leave their weapons and ammunition behind.

Those who do will be treated in line with the Geneva convention on prisoners of war, a statement from Russia's defence ministry said.

The statement, issued hours ago, said Russian forces have been broadcasting details of the deal to their Ukrainian counterparts every 30 minutes overnight.

If they accept, Russia says, Russian forces will raise red flags at 06:00 and Ukrainians should raise white flags around the perimeter of the steelworks.

Ukrainian officials have given no sign that they plan to accept the offer.


4:38
Putin could use nuclear weapons: Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter

Video content
Video caption: Ukraine war: Nuclear weapons possibility for Putin - professorUkraine war: Nuclear weapons possibility for Putin - professor

The great-granddaughter of the former Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, has warned that Russia may be prepared to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs in the US, told the BBC that she believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will eventually do whatever it takes to claim victory in the war.

“I think this war is really the one that Putin plans to win, and plans to win at any cost. If he needs to declare victory and he may need to use tactical nuclear weapons - I’m not predicting that - that could be one of the options the Russians may be prepared to use,” she said.

Tactical nuclear weapons are less powerful than the longer-range missiles that loomed over the Cold War era when Nikita Khruschev led the Soviet Union.

But Ms Khrushcheva - a Russia scholar at the New School in New York and long-time critic of Mr Putin - fears Moscow could use them to devastating effect on Ukrainian soil.

In March, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ms Khrushcheva had said she was embarrassed by the development and that her great-grandfather would have found the attack "despicable".


5:30
Reports of explosions in Kyiv
Explosions have been heard in the capital Kyiv, Reuters news agency reports, though the cause is not clear.

Yesterday, one person was killed and several others were wounded in air strikes on the city.

Meanwhile, local media outlet the Kyiv Independent says that air raid alerts were issued in almost every Ukrainian region in the early hours.


7:21
US military assistance starts arriving in Ukraine - reports
Some shipments of military assistance from the US have started arriving in Ukraine, according to a White House official quoted by CNN.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden approved an additional $800m (£600m) worth of military aid to Ukraine.

He said the support would include new weapons tailored to combat Russia's expected "wider assault" in the east.

The extra $800m shipment means the US has pledged to provided more than $3bn (£2.3bn) in military assistance to Ukraine under the Biden administration.


7:48
Russia may have shifted forces but not aims - UK MoD
Russia's aims of asserting its regional dominance and getting Ukraine to abandon its "Euro-Atlantic orientation" remain the same, despite its move towards concentrating its attacks on eastern Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

In its latest intelligence update, it said that Russian forces continued to redeploy combat and support equipment from Belarus towards eastern Ukraine - including locations close to Kharkiv and Severdonetsk.

It adds that locations throughout the east of the country continue to be struck.


8:06
Explosions hit infrastructure on Kyiv's outskirts - mayor
More information has come in on the explosions heard in Kyiv this morning.

According to the local mayor, infrastructure in the Brovary area, on the outskirts of Kyiv, was damaged during the strikes.

Mayor Igor Sapozhko gave no details of whether there were any casualties or any significant damage caused.


8:30
Why capturing Mariupol is key to Russia’s plans

After a devastating assault over six weeks, there are growing signs that Russia is close to fully capturing the port city of Mariupol.

Thousands of people have been killed in the siege, which began when Russian troops started encircling the city in early March.

But why is Mariupol so important to Russia’s plans? The BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner has broken down the reasons:

Securing a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas
Geographically, Mariupol occupies only a tiny area on the map but it stands in the way of Russian forces from the Crimean peninsula. Securing the city will allow Russia to build a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, a major strategic and military success.

Strangling Ukraine's economy
Mariupol is the biggest port in the Azov Sea region and home to a major iron and steel works. It was also a key export hub for Ukraine's steel, coal and corn. Losing it would be a major blow to what is left of Ukraine's economy.

Propaganda opportunity
Mariupol is home to a Ukrainian militia unit called the Azov Brigade, which contains far-right extremists, historically including neo-Nazis. Although they form only a fraction of Ukraine's fighting forces, this has been a useful propaganda tool for Moscow. If Russia manages to capture alive enough Azov Brigade fighters they may be paraded on Russian state-controlled media to discredit the Ukraine government.

Major morale boost
President Vladimir Putin sees Ukraine's Black Sea coastline as belonging to something called Novorossiya (New Russia) - Russian lands that date back to the 18th Century empire.

Putin wants to revive that concept, "rescuing Russians from the tyranny of a pro-western government in Kyiv" as he sees it. Mariupol currently stands in the way of him achieving that aim.


9:27
Russian forces hit ammunition factory near Kyiv, says Russia
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Russian armed forces destroyed an ammunition factory near Kyiv, according to Reuters.

Earlier on, there were reports of explosions in Ukraine's capital Kyiv. But there is limited information on where they took place.

Konashenkov said: "Overnight, high-precision air-launched missiles destroyed an ammunition factory near the town of Brovary in Kyiv region".



11:00
Another Russian general reported dead
The deputy commander of the 8th army of Russia's armed forces, Vladimir Petrovich Frolov, has died in the war in Ukraine, the Russian news agency TASS has reported.

The news was confirmed by St Petersburg governor Alexander Beglov. Beglov said: "Vladimir Petrovich Frolov died a heroic death in battle with Ukrainian nationalists."

The governor said Frolov "sacrificed his life so that children, women and the elderly in the Donbas would no longer hear bomb explosions. To stop waiting for death and leaving home, to say goodbye as if it were the last time".

But most of the shelling taking place in Ukraine is being carried out by Russia.

Throughout the war several Russian generals and high-ranking military personnel have been reported dead. It is unusual for such high-ranking officers to put themselves in danger by getting so close to the battlefield, and Western sources believe that they have done so in order to get some control over operations which have, in some areas, badly stalled.



11:53
Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol 'will not surrender', says Ukrainian MP

Ukrainian MP for Odesa Oleksiy Goncharenko tells the BBC that Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol won't surrender to Russia.

"I spoke with them yesterday, and I know that they're going to fight until the end," he says.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that eliminating Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol would put an end to peace talks to end the war.

Russia said it would guarantee the lives of Ukrainian soldiers who would surrender, with the Kremlin adding that the only Ukrainian soldiers left in the city were at a giant steelworks.

Goncharenko said the situation in Mariupol was "a real genocide" and estimated that about 100,000 civilians were in the city.

He added that it was considered "more than 20,000 people" have been killed in the besieged port city.



12:18
Soldiers in Mariupol 'continue to hold the defence' - Ukrainian official
As we've been reporting, there is no indication from Ukraine that it will be surrendering to Russia in the besieged city of Mariupol.

An adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andriushchenko, said on Telegram that despite Russia's "'surrender corridor' for the remaining troops" in the city, "our defenders continue to hold the defence".

Andriushchenko added that the hostilities from Russia are not limited to the Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers are reported to be staying.

"During the fighting, the occupiers shelled private residential houses with heavy artillery again", he said.

[DaffyVina]

13:12
Pope refers to 'Easter of war'
Pope Francis during his Easter Sunday Mass
Copyright: Reuters

Pope Francis has urged leaders to hear the people's plea for peace in Ukraine and criticised Russia for dragging the country into a "cruel and senseless" conflict.

Speaking during his Easter Sunday Mass to some 50,000 people in St Peter's Square, he said: "Our eyes, too, are incredulous on this Easter of war. We have seen all too much blood, all too much violence.

Our hearts, too, have been filled with fear and anguish, as so many of our brothers and sisters have had to lock themselves away in order to be safe from bombing."

Ukraine was "sorely tried by the violence and destruction of the cruel and senseless war into which it was dragged", he added at his first Easter Mass since 2019 that the public was allowed to attend following two years of Covid restrictions.


13:56
BREAKING
Deadly shelling hits Kharkiv
Five people have been killed and 13 injured in shelling of the city of Kharkiv, local officials say.

"Rescuers are operating in the sites," the Ukrainian Suspilne public broadcaster reports.

We'll provide more details as we get them.


14:48
Mykolaiv under continuous attack, says governor

Catherine Byaruhanga
Reporting from Odesa

The governor of Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region has told the BBC that there have been continuous rocket attacks in the city and surrounding areas since Sunday morning.

Vitaliy Kim said: “Today in the morning there were rockets, which damaged the electricity lines that provide for one of the regions of our city.”

A BBC team approaching the centre of town heard explosions in the distance.

The military spokesman for the region says, the Russians are bombing power grids, houses and playgrounds with various types of missiles.

One eyewitness in Mykolaiv said it was hard to pinpoint the location of the strikes.

The military in Mykolaiv has held off Russian forces seeking to take over the south-eastern corner of Ukraine, including the strategic port city of Odesa.

Kim said that despite the recent attacks, the Russians have not yet moved the front line.

“They [Russian forces] can't advance in one day, even in one a week, they can’t advance and reach Mykolaiv. So people will have some time to leave Mykolaiv, if it becomes dangerous. And if I see it becoming dangerous in the city, I will tell everyone to leave,” he said.

He added: “But for now, we have no threat about them circling us or occupying us.”

The region is now in its fourth day without water after an explosion on a central water pipe along the battle lines. Most people can get drinking water from wells, but there’s no running water for hygienic purposes.


15:18
More on the deadly shelling in Kharkiv
Damaged apartment in Kharkiv
Copyright: EPA
Earlier on we reported on the deadly shelling in Kharkiv, which led to five people being killed and 13 injured, according to regional health officials.

A series of strikes were heard across the city.

The shelling hit the city centre and saw fire engines called into operation from all areas. Firefighters have been battling the blazes in residential buildings.

Reporters from the news agency AFP were on the scene and have described what happened. They said that the shelling ignited fires throughout the city and tore roofs from buildings, showering debris onto the roads below.

Ever since Russia pulled back from its offensive to capture the capital Kyiv, the Kremlin has scaled up attacks on the east of Ukraine including Kharkiv, which is just 21km (13 miles) from the Russian border.

On Friday, shelling of residential areas of the city killed 10 people, and on Saturday a strike claimed two more lives.

[DaffyVina]

15:44
Ukraine has no intention of surrendering Donbas - Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is fighting in the Donbas region and it has "no intention of surrendering".

In an interview broadcast on Sunday by CNN, Zelensky brushed aside the idea of letting Moscow take over the Donbas and part of eastern Ukraine to stop the conflict.

He added: "Ukraine and its people are clear. We have no claim to anyone else's territories but we are not going to give up ours".



16:31
Celebrity chef José Andrés’ kitchen destroyed in bombing

A community kitchen set up by celebrity chef José Andrés was among the buildings destroyed by Russian bombing in Kharkiv city on Saturday.

Kharkiv’s mayor said three people were killed and 34 wounded by missile strikes in the city.

Nate Mook, CEO of World Central Kitchen, tweeted a video of himself at the destroyed building, adding that four staff members were injured in the missile attack.

Andrés founded World Central Kitchen in 2010 after the devastating earthquake in Haiti that displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Since then, the organisation has set up community kitchens in several disaster zones around the world.

World Central Kitchen now operates kitchens in 30 Ukrainian cities and says it provides nearly 300,000 meals a day.

The Associated Press news agency reported that Andrés said the Kharkiv attack in Kharkiv showed that giving food “in the middle of a senseless war” was an act of courage, and that his chefs wouldn’t stop their work.



16:55
Ukrainian forces will 'fight to the end' in Mariupol - PM

In an interview with ABC, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that remaining Ukrainian forces in the southern port city of Mariupol are still fighting and will continue to defy Russia's ultimatum for them to surrender.

"The city has not fallen", Shmyhal said.

On Sunday, Russia said it would guarantee the lives of Ukrainian soldiers who would surrender, with the Kremlin adding that the only Ukrainian soldiers left in the city were at a giant steelworks.

Other Ukrainian officials have been reiterating the same message. Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko told the BBC earlier on that he had spoken to soldiers in Mariupol and "they're going to fight until the end".



17:32
Bust of Soviet WWII hero in Kharkiv pulled down
A monument to the Soviet commander and hero of World War Two Marshal Georgy Zhukov has been pulled down in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

Video footage circulating on social media shows the bust being toppled from its pedestal.

Local official Tatyana Topchiy told Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne the incident happened very quickly at about 11:00 local time (08:00 GMT), adding that she did not know who was responsible. Local authorities in the city have been long opposed to the dismantling of the monument.

Konstantin Nemichev, leader of a military unit called the Kraken, affiliated to the far-right National Corps, said the unit had carried out the act.

A longer version of the video published in his Telegram channel shows the bust being driven away in a truck and dumped at a rubbish tip.

Marshal Zhukov is regarded as the most important Soviet commander of the Second World War.

He played key roles in the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, and commanded the final assault on Berlin.

The manner of the monument's removal is likely to be seen as a serious provocation by many Russians.



18:27
Mariupol may be a red line for talks - Kuleba

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, said Russia and Ukraine have not had any recent diplomatic communications.

In an interview on CBS News, Kuleba said: "Mariupol may be a red line" for peace talks and the situation over there is "dire".

Russia's guarantee that it would spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers who surrender and lay their arms down has been rejected by Ukraine.

Earier on, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukrainian soldiers have remained in the besieged city of Mariupol and they "fight to the end".

The Kremlin has said that its forces had almost completely seized the city.



18:49
Mariupol steelworks really well set for defence - analyst

The Ukrainian troops defending the huge Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol may hold out for a long time with guerrilla tactics, using its nuclear bunkers and tunnels, a military expert says.

Justin Crump of security consultancy Sibylline told the BBC "they are really well set for defence", having had more than 50 days to fortify the site and build escape routes.

"I suspect that unless they are wiped out they’ll be there a long time - they could do nasty stuff at night, and go back in."

He estimates as many as 800 fighters are defending the plant, led by the far-right Azov Battalion - a group vilified by Russia as "neo-Nazis".

"The soldiers there don’t want to get captured, I don’t think they'll surrender. And Russia doesn’t want to go in and clear it out metre by metre, underground, that's horrendous," he said.

Ukraine has managed to resupply its beleaguered forces in Mariupol in very risky night-time missions, he said.

The steelworks is a key industrial site and, if Russia does get control of it, "maybe the Chinese will get them back in operation, as they want the steel", Mr Crump said. But it will take years to rebuild devastated Mariupol, he added.


20:49
Civilians face daily threat as Russia steps up offensive in east
Joe Inwood
Reporting from Dnipro

Firefighters tackle fires caused by shelling in Kharkiv
Copyright: Reuters
Image caption: Kharkiv saw fresh shelling on Sunday

Across eastern Ukraine, air raid sirens have gone from sporadic to near constant. Areas we visited where we expected to feel relatively safe, proved to be anything but.

It seems nowhere is that the case more than in the city of Kharkiv. Terrifying footage, filmed by the Sun newspaper’s defence editor Jerome Starkey, shows a team of paramedics coming under attack from above. A man in red shields a wounded woman on the floor, while others flee in panic past him.

Fires are said to be raging throughout the city, with five people reported killed.

But it’s not just Kharkiv where Russia is reportedly taking civilian lives. Zolote is a village right on the frontlines of the Donbas. We visited it a week ago, filming in the trenches with Ukrainian soldiers.

Even then it was astonishing to think that civilians were still living in an area that felt like a warzone. Now, with Russia’s main offensive gathering pace, it is simply incomprehensible that people are still there.

But, with reports of two dead and four injured in the area, it is evident that there are still many civilians who have been unable or unwilling to flee.

Ukrainian armed forces say they have repelled a number of attacks today, taking out dozens of tanks, armoured vehicles and drones.

But, the more Russia is frustrated on the ground, the more they are expected to vent their anger from above. For the people of the eastern Ukraine, that is a terrifying prospect.

[DaffyVina]

0:44
Photo claiming to show stricken Russian warship appears online
An unverified photo claiming to show the Russian warship Moskva stricken at sea has been posted online.

The source of the image is unclear, and the BBC has not verified its authenticity.

Military watchers say the photograph may be genuine. Rob Lee, a PhD student at the Department of War Studies at King's College London, tweeted that it "looks like a legit photo".

And OSINTtechnical, a well-known Twitter account sharing open-source intelligence information, wrote: "I can’t verify the authenticity, but this is a Slava class cruiser and I don’t think any of them have been destroyed in this manner."

The fate of the ship has been hotly contested by Ukraine - which says it sank it with a missile strike - and Russia, which says it sank after a fire on board.


1:16
Russia wants to raze Mariupol to the ground - Ukraine minister
Ukraine’s foreign minister says the city of Mariupol “doesn’t exist anymore”.

The south-eastern port city has been devastated by continuous Russian attacks since the war began nearly two months ago.

Dmytro Kuleba told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday that the invading troops have “decided to raze the city to the ground at any cost”.


2:02
Life amid destruction in Donbas
After a number of defeats near Ukraine's capital Kyiv, Russia has shifted most of its focus to the east, into the disputed Donbas region.
Ukrainian and Russian forces are now preparing for what might be a decisive battle there.

But for now for residents of Sievierodonetsk - a government-held city nestled within Donbas - this change in strategy means coping with daily life amid the ruins left by the war. These photographs, taken on Saturday, show the extent of some of the damage.

Local resident Viacheslav walks on debris of a residential building damaged by a military strike, as Russia"s attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine April 16, 2022
Copyright: Reuters


A cat sits on debris of a residential building damaged by a military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine April 16, 2022.
Copyright: Reuters

A Ukrainian service member shows a kindergarten damaged by a military strike, as Russia"s attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine April 16, 2022
Copyright: Reuters


A view shows an ambulance damaged by a military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region, Ukraine April 16, 2022
Copyright: Reuters


A local resident prepares food on a street, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region,
Copyright: Reuters