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8:46
Russians allegedly exhuming bodies in Mariupol - city council
City officials in Mariupol say Russian occupiers have begun exhuming bodies buried in the yards of residential blocks.

Mariupol City Council said on Telegram that the occupiers are not allowing residents to bury people allegedly killed by the occupiers.

Each yard now has a supervisor to enforce this rule.

There are 13 mobile crematoria in Mariupol, according to Ukraine, and the city authorities suspect the Russians are trying to cover up war crimes.

The BBC is unable to verify the claims, but what we do know is that seven weeks of relentless Russian shelling, hunger and freezing temperatures have left thousands of Mariupol residents dead.



9:16
Russia vows more strikes on Kyiv after 'missile attack'
The Russian defence ministry says it has carried out missile strikes targeting Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, warning that attacks like this will intensify in retaliation for what it called Ukrainian "terror attacks" or "acts of sabotage" in Russia.

Russia says its sea-based cruise missiles struck a factory in the city overnight, which produces air-defence systems and anti-ship missiles.

As a result, the plant's "workshops for the production and repair of long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as anti-ship missiles, were destroyed", the ministry added in a statement published on its Telegram channel.

On Thursday, Russia accused Ukraine of sending helicopters across the border to attack several Russian towns.

The BBC is unable to verify these claims from Moscow.


9:48
Humanitarian corridors difficult to implement on the ground - ICRC

Nine humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians have been agreed on in east and south Ukraine today, according to Ukraine's deputy prime minister.

But while humanitarian corridors are often agreed on in principle, it is far more difficult to implement them in practise, according to a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is helping to assist the implementation of these corridors.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme, Lucile Marbeau said that implementing the corridors on the ground is challenging: the "frontline is always volatile, truces are fragile, and you also need the whole chain of command of course to be aware of this truce, what is the precise route, what is the time frame, and this is what makes it so hard actually to implement".

However, she said that they had been successful in some regions, with 2,500 people evacuated from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine yesterday.

In other areas like Mariupol, however, she said evacuating corridors had proven harder to implement, with people resorting to walking out of the besieged city, "exposing themselves to huge danger".

She added that humanitarian corridors are also vital for bringing in humanitarian aid to civilians who aren't able to leave.



10:09
Ukraine's battle for control of its skies

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent in the Donbas

The BBC was given an exclusive interview with a Ukrainian air defence officer about the battle for control of Ukraine's skies.

Russia may have received a bloody nose in its aborted attempts to take Kyiv, but with the Eastern region of the Donbas now firmly in Moscow's sights, the men and women of Dnipro's Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade will continue to play a key role in the next phase of the war.

Defending Ukraine's skies from Russian attacks is already proving a challenge. As one Ukrainian air defence officer told the BBC, it is like trying to use a giant fly swatter which had large holes in it.

"We can't cover the whole airspace," Capt Kravchuk says simply.

The fact he is even sitting here speaking to us is somewhat remarkable - especially given the fact that "many air defence facilities were destroyed fully or partially" in the first days of the war.

It's a rare public admission by Ukrainian forces that they suffered significant losses in the early stages of the war.



10:34
Explosions heard in Kyiv overnight
We have more on the Russian missile strikes on Kyiv we reported earlier.

The strikes were carried out using sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles and targeted the Vizar machine-building plant in the Kyiv suburb of Zhulyany, the Russian defence ministry said in a statement published on its Telegram channel.

Overnight, Kyiv residents say they did hear explosions, and social media users wrote that electricity had gone out in some places, BBC Ukrainian reports.



10:52
Russia's probably getting very frustrated, says analyst

As we've been reporting, the Russian army is on the brink of taking the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol - strategically important to Russia's attempts to build a southern corridor from Russia to Crimea.

Justin Crump, chief executive of intelligence consultancy Sibylline, and a British Army veteran, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme the situation in the city is a "ghastly humanitarian tragedy" with "appalling scenes of destruction", the likes of which have not really been seen since World War Two.

There's going to be fighting for a period of time, he says, especially focused on the Azovstal steel works - to the east of the city centre.

He explains: "There's a lot of Soviet-era bunkers there, it's industrial terrain, it's been prepared for defence for a long time by Ukrainian forces, including the Azov battalion who are very focused on the defence. And they're a very important target for the Russians because they are part of the right wing in Ukraine.

"It's going to be very hard to root out people who aren't going to surrender, over a long period of time."

Crump says around half of Russia's total force originally deployed to Ukraine is now in the south-east, with much of the rest preparing to move there, and with separatists joining them.

"We do understand they're under pressure from Putin to deliver results by the first week of May, and the victory parade in Russia. And that's included an order, we understand, to destroy things that can't be taken by then. And that may extend as far as the capital city... which saw raids last night.

"So that's all linked and Russia's probably getting very frustrated about the slow tempo of operations and success."

12:21
I had to hide behind my car - eyewitness describes Kyiv blasts
There's more coming in from Kyiv now, where Russia says it's hit a weapons factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital.

Kirill Kyrylo, 38, a worker at a car repair shop in the city, told Reuters he'd seen three blasts hit an industrial building across the road, causing a blaze that was eventually put out by firefighters.

“The building was on fire and I had to hide behind my car,” he said, pointing to shattered glass and shards of metal that had been scattered from the burning building across the street.

Russia's defence ministry warned on Friday that it would intensify attacks on the capital "in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory".


12:58
Man thrown off feet by Kyiv blasts
There are further details emerging about the explosions in Kyiv, after Russia said it carried out strikes on a missile plant in the capital.

AFP is reporting that one of its journalists at the scene says a Ukrainian military factory is partly destroyed.

A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, which lies near Kyiv's international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged, the journalist has said.

Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a wood workshop, told AFP that the blasts came overnight.

"Around 1:30am, my security guard called me because there was an air strike," he said.

"There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast."

He also said he believed Russia was taking revenge for the sinking of the Moskva warship, which Ukraine claims it hit with Neptune missiles.


15:15
Russia used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol - Ukraine
For the first time since its invasion, Russia's military has used long-range bombers to attack the besieged port city of Mariupol, according to Ukraine's defence ministry.

A spokesman for the ministry, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, said Russia was now concentrating its efforts on seizing the eastern Ukrainian cities of Rubizhne and Popasna, and the southern city of Mariupol.

He added that street battles were ongoing in Mariupol, which Russian forces had not managed to completely capture since the war began.

He said active fighting was taking place around the city's Illich Steel and Iron Works, as well as in the port area.



15:30
Kyiv to rename streets and squares associated with Russia - mayor
Kyiv's mayor has announced plans to rename streets and squares in the capital which are currently associated with Russia.

Writing on Telegram, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Kyiv's former Square of Friendship between Kyiv and Moscow will be renamed for "the Heroes of Mariupol".

He added that other names - such as streets and subway stations - will also be changed.

According to the BBC's Ukrainian service, the idea of renaming Kyiv's railway station had been discussed prior to Russia's invasion, against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between the two countries.



15:42
'Highly likely' that Finland will join Nato, says Finland Europe minister

Finland's Europe minister Tytti Tuppurainen said in an interview with Sky News that a "huge majority" of people in Finland are supportive of the country's Nato membership.

She said a decision has not been made and the issue will be discussed in parliament, but it is "highly likely" that Finland will join the alliance.

Tuppurainen said Russia's actions against Ukraine have been "brutal" and the war is "a wake-up call" to the world.

Asked about the potential Nato membership of both Finland and Sweden, she said "every country has the right to do its own security arrangements".

Tuppurainen added: "So, whatever Russia is saying, we of course are hearing that, but we are doing our own decisions based on our interests, and on our conditions, our consideration of the overall situation."

On Thursday, Russia said that it will be forced to take security measures if Sweden and Finland join Nato.

The Kremlin's deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko said to the Tass news agency that membership of the military alliance will lead to "the most undesirable consequences".

15:58
Russians clearing up their crimes - Mariupol mayor
Toby Luckhurst and Mariana Maglych
BBC News, Lviv

Earlier today we received unconfirmed reports that Russian forces have been digging up bodies in Mariupol, parts of which are under Russian military control.

The city’s council said on Telegram that the Russians were not allowing residents to bury people allegedly killed by the occupiers.

The BBC cannot independently verify these claims. But we managed to speak on the phone to Mariupol’s mayor, Vadym Boychenko, who backed up the council's statement.

Boychenko is no longer in the city - and did not tell us where he is now, for security reasons, other than saying he was close by. But he said Ukrainian intelligence agencies and Mariupol residents have said the Russians have been exhuming some of the dead.

"They are clearing up their crimes after the publicity of what happened in Bucha and Irpin. They clean up the bodies of civilians killed by enemy weapons, enemy planes,” he told us.

He also repeated claims the Russians have brought in mobile crematoria to dispose of the bodies.

The Russians have besieged and bombarded Mariupol for six weeks, and reports suggest the city could soon fall.

Boychenko said it remains in Ukrainian hands, but called for more military support.

“Today the Ukrainian flag flies over Mariupol. It's hard, but the guys hold on,” he said.

“We only need weapons, we have enough soldiers. But we must be given the opportunity and the weapons.”

He also called for more aid for those trapped in the city. Some 100,000 civilians are still within Mariupol, he said.

“Many countries and organisations like France and Turkey and the Red Cross have tried to help. But no mission has ever reached Mariupol directly."


16:13
Russia blocks Moscow Times in Russian, and French broadcaster's sites

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor has blocked access to the Russian-language edition of the Moscow Times, reacting to a story about the Ukraine conflict, the outlet says.

The block came after "what the authorities call a false report on riot police officers refusing to fight in Ukraine", the English-language edition said. The report said the 11 Omon officers had gone home after their refusal.

The Moscow Times was launched in 1992 and an online version has appeared in Russian since March 2020. The block only affects the Russian edition.

Roskomnadzor has also blocked access in Russia to Radio France Internationale’s English, French and Russian-language websites. The regulator has not explained its move.

Independent media including the BBC have been restricted in Russia under an order requiring them to rely on Russian official reports on the Ukraine war, which the Kremlin calls a “special operation”.

A new Russian law imposes prison terms of up to 15 years for publishing allegedly “fake” information about the Russian military.


16:33
Over five million refugees have left Ukraine - UN
Ukrainian refugees sit in an Abdar Polish travel agency coach on their way from Lviv heading for Poland on 12 April
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
More than five million refugees have now fled Ukraine since Russia invaded in February, according to the latest figures released by the UN.

The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says over 4.7 million refugees have crossed Ukraine's borders.

In addition, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM), cited by AFP, says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals - people who are neither citizens of Ukraine nor the country they entered - have also escaped to neighbouring countries.

The highest proportion of refugees - 2.7 million - have fled to Poland. However, official figures suggest some people are now choosing to return to Ukraine.


16:58
Russia expels 18 EU diplomats
Moscow has declared 18 members of the EU delegation in Russia "persona non grata".

The staff members "will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Responding, the EU said it "deplores the unjustified, baseless" order, adding there were "no grounds for Friday's decision by the Russian authorities beyond being a pure retaliatory step".

Dozens of Russian diplomats have been expelled by EU countries over the past month.

At the end of March, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic issued coordinated orders to expel a total of 43 Russian embassy staffers suspected of spying.

And on 5 April, the EU ordered 19 Russians to leave host nation Belgium for "engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status".

Russia has tended to respond to such decisions with reciprocal action.


17:12
US believes Moskva ship hit by two Ukrainian missiles - official
The United States now believes that the Russian Moskva warship that sank was hit by two Ukrainian missiles, a senior US official has told Reuters news agency.

Kyiv says its missiles hit the ship, but Russia has not reported any attack and claims the vessel sank after a fire caused its ammunition to explode.

Ukrainian military officials said they struck the Moskva with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles - a weapon designed after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which increased the naval threat to Ukraine in the Black Sea.



17:49
Russian casualties suspected after Moskva sinking - US official
The US also believes there were casualties when the Russian missile cruiser Moskva sank, the same official tells Reuters news agency.

The senior US official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of casualties was unclear.

The ship had a crew of about 500 sailors, and Russia previously said they were successfully evacuated to other ships.

In a Facebook post before the ship sank, Ukrainian officials said Russian rescue efforts were being hampered by ammunition exploding on board and stormy weather.

The BBC is currently unable to verify whether lives were lost.


17:58
Sunken ship was one of biggest threats to Odesa, says mayor

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC News reporting from Odesa, Ukraine

The mayor of the port city of Odesa has told the BBC that one of the biggest threats in the Black Sea region has been taken away, after the Russian warship Moskva sank. The flagship carrier was destroyed after it suffered an explosion and fire.

Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov told me: "The Moskva cruiser had the most modern missile equipment. It was a big threat for us as it could have supported an attack by land if it happened here.”

The historic city of Odesa has Ukraine’s biggest seaport and has been living in fear of a full-scale invasion by Russia’s navy positioned offshore.

General view of a barricaded street in the South Ukrainian city of Odesa, Ukraine, 18 March 2022
EPACopyright: EPA
A view of a barricaded street in Odesa on 18 MarchImage caption: A view of a barricaded street in Odesa on 18 March
Even though the warship is now destroyed, Mr Trukhanov warned that the situation is still dangerous.

“Unfortunately, the enemy has missiles - not only those that were on the Moskva cruiser but also on the land, in Crimea too. We can see it, as there were attacks in Ukraine last night. They were done from the territory of Crimea.”

And there was another reminder of the threat from Russia. Rockets hit the coastal city of Mykolaiv to the east of Odesa. The army there told the BBC several civilians were killed or injured. There has been no comment from Moscow on the strike.


18:17
Russia mourns loss of flagship Moskva

Russia has held a ceremony to mourn the loss of its Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva, the missile cruiser which sank on Thursday after munitions exploded on board.

The ceremony took place in Sevastopol, the fleet’s base in Russian-annexed Crimea.

Ukraine says it hit the Moskva with two anti-ship missiles, which set the ship ablaze.

Russia’s defence ministry reported the fire without specifying its cause and said the blaze had detonated on-board munitions. It sank in a storm while being towed to Sevastopol, the ministry said.

At the ceremony, Capt (reserve) Sergei Gorbachev said the Moskva “was a symbol for everyone, symbol of our power, our hope, the revival of the fleet in the 90s”.

And a priest said losing the Moskva was “a tragedy for all those tens of thousands of people who served there for over 20 years”.

The Soviet-built ship was playing a major role co-ordinating fleet operations off Ukraine.

Russia has given no casualty figures concerning the Moskva. The defence ministry said the crew were rescued by other fleet vessels in the area.

No total has been given for the crew on board at the time - various sources estimate that it was 510.

Sevastopol’s Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said “the crew was evacuated, they were rescued. That’s the main thing. We await our heroes in Sevastopol”.

Ilya Ponomaryov, a former Russian MP who now lives in Kyiv, alleges that just 58 crew members out of 510 survived. But it is not clear where he got that figure from.

Ukrainian reports - unconfirmed - say the ship’s captain Anton Kuprin was among those who died when the ship caught fire and blew up.

Last month Sevastopol mourned the loss of Black Sea Fleet deputy commander Andrei Paliy, killed in the war-torn port city of Mariupol on 20 March.

18:40
900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region - police chief

Ukrainian authorities continue to discover more bodies around the capital, Kyiv, more than a week after Russian troops left the area to concentrate on east Ukraine.

"Regretfully, I can say that we have found the bodies of 900 deceased civilians and transferred them to forensic experts," Kyiv Region police chief Andriy Nebytov told a briefing.

Nebytov said more than 350 of the bodies were retrieved from Bucha - where evidence of atrocities has led to accusations of war crimes against Russian troops, vehemently denied by Moscow.

The removal of rubble in Borodyanka and Makarov is still ongoing and "there will still be bodies of dead people under the rubble," the police chief added.

He stressed that those killed were civilians and had nothing to do with military formations.

The BBC is unable to verify these specific claims independently.

However, BBC journalists have seen bodies in civilian clothes on the roads outside Kyiv, and documented the sizeable operation to collect and identify the dead in Bucha.



19:19
Fewer people evacuated on Friday
As we reported earlier, nine humanitarian corridors have been set up to allow people out of areas of active fighting in east Ukraine.

The country's deputy prime minister said 2,864 people had managed to leave those regions today. The figures included 363 from Mariupol, who managed to get out of the devastated city on their own.

Russian troops have had Mariupol under siege for weeks and refuse to agree to the organised evacuation of people, either by Ukrainian authorities or the Red Cross.

Today's evacuees join more than five million people who have been forced out of their homes since the invasion began, the UN says.



19:52
Would-be evacuees killed on buses yesterday - Ukraine
Further to the news of some successful evacuations, the office of Ukraine's prosecutor general has also alleged that several people were killed and injured on Thursday while trying to flee the country's east.

"On April 14, Russian servicemen fired on evacuation buses carrying civilians in the village of Borova in the Izium district," a statement said.

"Preliminary data shows seven people died. Another 27 people were injured."

The BBC has not verified the claim.

Last week Russian forces were accused of deliberately mounting a deadly attack on a train station in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, where people were waiting for evacuation trains.



20:11
Churches will be closed on Orthodox Easter
Churches in Ukraine will be closed during the curfew for Orthodox Easter, taking place on Sunday 24 April.

The news has been reported by Ukraine's police, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The consecration of Easter baskets will still be held, but it will also respect the curfew.

Orthodox Easter services, due to take place next week, will also be cancelled during the curfew.

1:20
A quick recap
If you're just joining us or need a catch-up, here are the latest developments in Ukraine:

The police chief of the Kyiv region says Ukrainian police have found the bodies of 900 civilians around the capital, more than a week after Russian troops pulled out of the area. The largest number of bodies, some 350, were reportedly found in the town of Bucha
Russia says it struck a Ukrainian plant making anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles outside Kyiv, hours after admitting that the Russian warship Moskva had sunk following an explosion on Thursday
US officials, speaking anonymously, say the US believes the Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles and there were Russian casualties when the ship sank
Ukrainian officials claim several civilians were killed and injured on Thursday while trying to flee the country's east after Russian forces opened fire on evacuation buses
In the destroyed city of Mariupol, much of which is occupied by Russian forces, Ukrainian officials have accused the occupiers of exhuming bodies to hide evidence of crimes
The UN says more than five million Ukrainians have been forced out of their homes during the conflict

1:23
Russia warns West of 'unpredictable consequences'
David Willis
BBC News

Russia has formally warned the US - and other allied nations - against supplying weapons to Ukraine.

The warning came in a formal diplomatic note from Moscow, a copy of which has been reviewed by media outlets in the US.

The two-page diplomatic note – forwarded to the US State Department by the Russian embassy in Washington - warns that US and Nato weapons shipments are "adding fuel" to the conflict in Ukraine, and could lead to what Russian diplomats refer to as "unpredictable consequences".

It was sent on Tuesday, just as word of a new US military aid package for Ukraine had started to leak out. Only hours later President Biden approved the shipment of $800m of military assistance - including, for the first time, long range artillery weapons such as howitzers – with the aim of matching Russia’s military capability in Ukraine.

A senior US administration official was quoted as saying the warning could be seen as a concession by Russia that US and Nato military assistance to Ukraine was proving effective.

The first part of this latest shipment is expected to arrive in Ukraine in the next few days, as Russian forces continue to mobilise in the east of the country, ahead of what is expected to be a major assault on the disputed Donbas region of Ukraine in the next few weeks.

Since the war began the US has supplied more than $3bn in military assistance to Ukraine.


1:27
Trapped Ukrainians 'starving to death'
The United Nations is appealing for access to Ukrainians trapped in war zones after it said people in besieged areas were starving to death.

The World Food Programme (WFP) based in Rome says it has delivered aid to 1.4 million people in Ukraine since the war began, but it needs safe access to deliver food to 2.3 million people this month.

It said it had not been allowed access to the southern port city of Mariupol, where Russia has been accused of trying to starve its population of 300,000 into surrendering, and the heavily shelled city of Mykolaiv, east of Odessa.

"It's one thing when people are suffering from the devastation of war. It's another thing when they're being starved to death," WFP executive director David Beasley said in a statement.

More than seven million people are displaced inside Ukraine with the normal supply chains to deliver food to the population "broken down in many areas", WFP said.

Almost 1.5 million people have no access to running water and more than 4.5 million could lose it due to damage to water pipes or electricity lines, Ukraine's ombudsman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, added.


1:30
Zelensky warns of potential Russian nuclear strike

The world should be prepared for the possibility that Russia will target Ukraine with a nuclear strike, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday.

Zelensky was asked in a CNN interview about whether he was worried about recent comments by the CIA's director, who said on Thursday that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons in its invasion.

"Not only me - all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real information, but it can be the truth," Zelensky said, briefly switching to English for emphasis.

"We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready," he continued. "But that is not a question for Ukraine - not only for Ukraine - but for all the world, I think."

Last month, a Kremlin spokesman said Russia would only resort to nuclear weapons if it faced an existential threat.

Zelensky was also asked about the sinking of Russia's prized warship, the Moskva, but was cagey about reports that it was hit by two Ukrainian missiles.

"We know that it does not exist anymore. For us, it is a strong weapon against our country, so its sinking is not a tragedy for us.

"The less weapons the Russian Federation that has attacked our country has, the better for us."


3:09
Minesweeping dog helps clear Chernihiv
A Jack Russell has been been hard at work helping to remove explosive devices left behind by Russian troops.

Patron is currently working in the Chernihiv region, north of Kyiv, and has so far helped to remove hundreds of devices.

Video content
Video caption: Ukraine war: Minesweeping dog helps clear Chernihiv of Russian explosives


3:20
Zelensky on how long the war will last

In President Zelensky's latest nightly address to the nation, he says it is difficult to predict how long the war will last.

"Of course, I also hear different predictions. I have much more information than some media outlets about the intentions and capabilities of the Russian army," he says.

"About the potential of the Russian economy. About the emotional state of society in Russia."

He says two factors will determine the conflict's duration.

"The success of our military on the battlefield is really significant," he says. "Historically significant. But not enough to clean our land from the occupiers yet. We’ll beat them more," he says.

"Sanctions against Russia are very significant. Economically painful. But still not enough for the Russian military machine to be left without means of subsistence. We promote stronger, more destructive ones."

Zelensky adds: "If someone says: year or years, I answer: you can make the war much shorter. The more and the sooner we get all the weapons we have requested, the stronger our position will be and the sooner peace will come."


5:07
Zelensky says up to 3,000 Ukrainian troops dead
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said up to 3,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died and as many as 10,000 have been left injured since the invasion began.

He gave the update of between 2,500 and 3,000 deaths in an interview with CNN, in which he also warned about the threat of potential Russian nuclear strike, as we reported earlier.

A month ago, Zelensky estimated that around 1,300 Ukrainian troops had died. But on both occasions, he claimed far more Russian soldiers had been killed.

The BBC has been unable to independently verify these figures, which do not include civilians.

Both sides in the conflict have made frequent claims about the casualties they have inflicted on each other - usually far higher than what their opponent's official count is.

'I'm shocked by my church leaders in Moscow' - priest in Ukraine
By Aleem Maqbool, religion editor
Chernivtsi, western Ukraine
Published1 day ago

Image caption, Father Nicolay Pluzhnik

The Russian Orthodox Church has echoed the rhetoric of the Kremlin in justifying the war in Ukraine. It is a stance that appears to be driving large numbers of Ukrainian priests and parishioners to turn their backs on Moscow.

"I will never forget the moment when I woke up early to go to mass, only to suddenly hear the shocking sounds of bombing," says Father Nicolay Pluzhnik.

"The wonderful woman who cooked at our church and her son, who was in a wheelchair, were both killed when an artillery shell hit their apartment. I now know of several other of our parishioners who have died."

Like most clergy in the region of north-eastern Ukraine where he is from, Father Pluzhnik belonged to the branch of the Russian Orthodox Church which takes its direction from its religious leadership in Moscow.

But now, he says, has applied to join the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - which was finally granted independence from the Russian Orthodox Church in 2019, in a move never recognised by Russia.

He says many fellow priests who followed Patriarch Kirill in Moscow are doing the same because of the Church leader's stance on the war.

IMAGE SOURCE,FATHER NICOLAY PLUZHNIK
Image caption, Father Nicolay Pluzhnik in his church in Chuhuiv, in the Kharkiv region, before he fled west

Father Pluzhnik and his family fled under artillery fire and now have a temporary new home in the town of Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine.

"When the war started, I was waiting to hear from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the 'father' of our church. But first there was no reaction at all, and then there was worse," he says.

"Patriarch Kirill blessed the Russian army and gave his blessing to the war. It was not just him but the majority of priests of the Moscow Patriarchate [Russian Orthodox Church] including some that even have Ukrainian roots. I was in shock."

As well as having failed to unequivocally condemn the killing of innocent people in Ukraine, or call for a ceasefire, the Patriarch has held large televised services in Moscow to bless Russian troops. He has also suggested in sermons that the Kremlin's war is a righteous one about the future of Christianity.

"What is happening today is much more important than politics," he said last month. "We are talking about human salvation, about where humanity will end up and on which side of God the Saviour."

IMAGE SOURCE,RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Image caption, Patriarch Kirill, in green robes, at a recent service attended by military personnel

There are religious undertones in much of the Kremlin's narrative justifying its invasion of Ukraine. It is a fight for the conservative ideals of the Russian Orthodox Church based in Moscow, against an immoral outside world. President Putin has said Ukraine is not only an "inalienable part" of Russia's history and culture - but also its "spiritual space".

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has said he finds Patriarch Kirill's sentiment concerning.

"There are elements in the Russian Christian tradition that can become really toxic when they get in their head a particular kind of Christian nationalism, a sort of messianic approach to the fate of the nation," said Dr Williams during a visit to western Ukraine this week.

He was part of an extraordinary high-level, multi-faith delegation - including Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders. They met refugees who had fled the horrors in the eastern part of the country.

Dr Williams has long studied and written about the positive contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church, and appears deeply saddened by the role the Moscow Patriarchate is playing in the war.

"I think that the increasing influence in the Patriarchate of Moscow of ultranationalist ideals - often including a strand of anti-Semitism - has been going on for some time.

"And it has now expressed itself in this very uncritical support of Russian national ambitions, a very aggressive attitude towards many other Orthodox churches. The writing has been on the wall for some time," he said.

President Vladimir Putin with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, 20 November 2021
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Patriarch Kirill has echoed President Putin's claim that Russian speakers and followers of Moscow's Russian Orthodox Church living in eastern Ukraine need liberating after years of oppression.

"Our brothers and sisters were really suffering, they suffer for their loyalty to the Church," said Patriarch Kirill a week into the war.

But Father Pluzhnik, a Russian speaker and a follower of the Moscow Patriarchate all of his adult life, is angered by those claims.

"When I hear them say they are protecting us and fighting some 'Holy War', I think they are either blind, or they are not serving God but the devil," he says.

"We were living peacefully until they came. But far from protecting us they bombed and tortured and killed. Before the war, parishioners were completely free to choose what church they went to, they just went to the church closest to their home. For many of them it was not even a significant difference to go to a church that followed Moscow or not, they just wanted to pray to God. Now that has changed."

Dr Sergii Bortnyk, a professor at the Kyiv Theological Academy and an adviser to the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, acknowledges that there has been a widespread movement of people and parishes across the country abandoning their loyalty to Moscow.

"I think it is maybe half of the 12,000 parishes [of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine] that have said that they want to break away now," says Dr Bortnyk.

"Patriarch Kirill has not said anything about all the Christians in Ukraine that have been killed, so I believe the members of our church are free to end their connection to him as the patriarch," he says.

"The connection to all of our [Moscow Patriarchate Russian Orthodox] Church in Ukraine to Moscow is in question now."

The Kremlin's aim, backed by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow, had been to unite Russia and Ukraine in a single "spiritual space".

But the manner by which they have tried to achieve that appears to have had precisely the opposite effect.

5:39
In Chernihiv, 'silence is scary'
Juli is an artist from Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.

For weeks, she's been documenting attacks by Russian forces, showing the destruction of large parts of the city.

But around two weeks ago, the shelling stopped.

"This silence is scary," she said, adding that many in the city were still living in constant fear.

"We really do not believe [the Russians] will not come back."


6:15
Aid delivery a 'significant challenge', UK says
Damage to Ukraine's transport infrastructure by Russian troops has presented a "significant challenge" to those delivering humanitarian aid to several parts of the north, the UK's Ministry of Defence says.

Russian troops are said to have destroyed bridges, used land mines and abandoned vehicles along key routes as they withdrew from the northern region.

In the city of Chernihiv for example, river crossings were destroyed - leaving behind only one pedestrian bridge in the city, which used to be home to 285,000 people.


6:49
No quick return to normal for Bucha

Anna Foster
Reporting from Kyiv

In just a few weeks, the locals in Bucha have become accustomed to death.

It was once a peaceful and little-known suburb of Kyiv, before being occupied for Russian forces as they attempted to assault Kyiv.

Denys Davidoff stayed in the town throughout the occupation. When the Russians left he ventured back onto the streets, and was confronted with a vision of horror.

Many people around the world saw photos and videos of bodies lying scattered on the ground in Bucha, some with hands bound behind their backs. But Denys witnessed them himself.

"Some corpses were lying for such a long time that you could see their bodies were covered with the sand and the earth after it rained. At some point I realised I knew some of the people who were killed."

The people of Bucha are still processing the devastation they've lived through. But they aren't entirely safe just yet. More than 3,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance have been found around the Kyiv region so far.

Making these towns safe again for people to return to will be a huge job.

7:03
BREAKING
Explosions in Kyiv - mayor
Explosions have hit Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, according to the city's mayor.

Writing on Telegram, Vitali Klitschko said blasts hit the Darnytskyi district on the outskirts of the city.

He added that the number of casualties was unknown and that rescue workers were at the site.


7:11
BREAKING
Explosions heard in Lviv
As well as Kyiv, explosions have also been heard in the city of Lviv, in western Ukraine this morning.

In the Telegram messaging app, Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said an air raid had taken place between 05:46 and 07:02 local time.

He said Ukraine's air defences were working, but supplied no further information on what was hit and whether there were any casualties.


7:55
Jets seen flying over Lviv
Toby Luckhurst
BBC News, Lviv

Blasts heard here in the western city of Lviv this morning are far from the front lines in eastern Ukraine.

Air raid sirens are nothing new, however. Russian forces attacked the city in late March, striking industrial targets and injuring at least five people.

The most recent alarm rang out at 05:46 local time (03:20 BST) and was lifted just after 07:00. The official Telegram channel for Maksym Kozytsky, the governor of the region, has given no information about what happened, simply stating “our air defences were working” and promising more detail later.

None of the BBC team heard any explosions from our hotel here in the city centre. A contact in Lviv messaged to say that he saw two jets fly overhead early this morning - something we can’t independently confirm ourselves.

Telegram channels, however are quiet, suggesting at this stage that this wasn’t as significant an attack as the last in March. We’ll wait for more official comment on what may have happened.

8:12
Deaths and casualties across Ukraine overnight
Map showing east Ukraine. Updated 11 April
Copyright: BBC

Battles continue to be fought across parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, according to the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces.

In its latest update, it said battles were most fierce in the eastern regions of Donetsk ad Luhansk.
It added that Russia was also focusing its efforts on establishing full control of the city of Mariupol in the south, as well as attacking Kharkiv in the north-east.

Attacks from the sky have also continued, causing deaths and casualties across a number of regions.
One of the most severely impacted regions is Luhansk, where the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and Kreminna were hit overnight. One person was killed and three were injured, according to Luhansk's regional governor. He added that a gas pipeline in Severodonetsk was cut off, and the city was without water or gas at present.

In central Ukraine, Poltava and Kirovograd also sustained casualties. In Poltava, one person was killed and one other was injured after a village in the region was hit, according to the regional governor.

The BBC cannot verify these reports.


8:30
Russia still trying to gain control of Mariupol - Ukraine
Russian troops are still trying to establish complete control of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine say.

The capture of Mariupol by Russia, if it happens, will be psychologically significant for both sides in this war.
A Russian victory in Mariupol would enable the Kremlin to show its population - through state-controlled media - that Russia was achieving its aims and making progress.

Here's what else the Ukrainian general staff said:
Russia is continuing its partial blockade on the city of Kharkiv, where Ukraine's army has been repelling Russia for weeks
Ten attacks have been repelled in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, with some military transport destroyed.

The BBC could not independently verify these reports.



9:17
Military factory hit in Kyiv - reports
Clouds of thick black smoke are seen rising over the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv
Copyright: Getty Images

More now on the explosions in Kyiv this morning.

Russian strikes targeted a military factory in the capital, according to Russia's defence ministry cited by TASS news agency.

Defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said 16 enemy targets were destroyed with high-precision missiles, including equipment, warehouses and weapons storage bases.

He added that a military equipment repair shop in Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine was also hit.