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14:59 28 Apr
US to seize and sell Russian oligarchs' property
Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov's yacht
Copyright: Getty Images
Image caption: Russian oligarch Alexei Mordashov's yacht was seized by police last month while docked in Italy

The White House has proposed giving the government greater power to seize and sell the assets of Russian oligarchs, and transfer their proceeds to Ukraine.

The legislative proposal will be presented to Congress for consideration.

It follows similar legislation recently passed in the US House of Representatives.

But the new White House plans go further, focusing on collaboration between Justice, Treasury, State and Commerce departments.

The measures would make it easier for the US to seize and sell oligarchs' assets, and use the funds "to remediate harms of Russian aggression", the White House said in a statement.

15:23 28 Apr
Germany will provide Ukrainians with military training, Scholz says

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany will provide Ukraine with training on how to use howtizers - a type of artillery weapon - sent by the US.

There had already been a major policy shift in Berlin, with Germany previously authorising the supply of 50 anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine.

Germany has long had a policy of not supplying heavy weaponry to conflict zones and its decision surprised the world.

Scholz is currently in Tokyo, Japan, seeking closer ties with countries that share its democratic values in the Asia-Pacific region.


15:37 28 Apr
Ukraine has right to defend itself by attacking Russia, says presidential aide
A Ukrainian presidential aide says the world recognises that his country has the right to defend itself by carrying out attacks on Russian military bases and warehouses.

"Russia has attacked and [is] killing civilians. Ukraine will defend itself in any way, including strikes on the warehouses and bases of the killers," Mykhailo Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

"The world recognizes this right."

Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls its "special military" operation in Ukraine.

Earlier, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned the West against encouraging Ukraine to attack inside Russian territory.

Further "provocation" would be met with a "harsh response", she said.


Ukraine conflict: British man Scott Sibley killed
By Doug Faulkner
BBC News
Published19 hours ago

Photo: Scott Sibley

A British national has been killed in Ukraine and a second is missing, the UK Foreign Office has said.

Sources in Ukraine told the BBC the dead man is Scott Sibley, who is understood to have been fighting for Ukrainian forces.
He is the first British national confirmed to have been killed in the conflict and has been described as a "friend like no other".

The Foreign Office has not released the identity of either person.
But a spokesman said it was supporting both their families.

Details of Mr Sibley's death and how or when the second person went missing have not been given.
Diplomatic sources have said it was most likely the two individuals were foreign volunteers serving with Ukrainian armed forces in either Mariupol or elsewhere in Donbas.

Tributes have been paid online to Mr Sibley, who is understood to be a former member of British armed forces, including on Facebook and on fundraising pages set up in his memory.
A post on the Logistics Support Squadron Facebook page described him as a "former serving soldier" of the squadron and said he had "showed Commando spirit until the end".
The founder of a fundraising page described Mr Sibley, also known as Sibs, as a "friend like no other" and "the bravest person I've had the pleasure to have known".
"His life may have been cut short but he lived to the full and did things the Sibs way, right until the end," he wrote.

The Foreign Office spokesman said it was "urgently seeking further information" on the missing British national.

Three former members of UK special forces were reportedly killed in March during a Russian missile attack on a military training centre near the border with Poland - but this was never confirmed.

The government urged British nationals to leave Ukraine in February and has told people not to travel to the country since Russia invaded.

In the early days of the war Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said she supported individuals from the UK who might want to go to Ukraine to fight but the government has since advised against this.

Hundreds of former British soldiers have said they wanted to go to Ukraine to fight or help with humanitarian efforts, while others without a military background have travelled to offer support to the Ukrainians.

The authorities in Ukraine have estimated that at least 20,000 people have come from overseas to join the fight against Russia, although not all of those will be British.

Two British men who were fighting with Ukrainian forces have already been captured by Russian troops.
Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who had both lived in Ukraine since 2018, were taken captive while defending the south-eastern city of Mariupol earlier this month.


16:06 28 Apr
German energy giant gives in to Russian rouble demand
Daniel Thomas
Business reporter, BBC News

One of Germany's biggest energy firms has said it is preparing to buy Russian gas using a payment system that critics say undermines EU sanctions.

Uniper says it will pay in euros which will be converted into roubles, meeting a Kremlin demand for all transactions to be made in the Russian currency.

Other European energy firms are reportedly preparing to do the same amid concerns about supply cuts.

Uniper said it had no choice but said it was still abiding by EU sanctions.

The European Commission said last week that if buyers of Russian gas could complete payments in euros and get confirmation of this before any conversion into roubles took place, that would not breach sanctions.


16:18 28 Apr
Robust military assistance necessary - Biden
Biden is now setting out his plans at the White House.

He says it is critical the additional $33bn (£27bn) in funding he is proposing gets approved by Congress as soon as possible.

Biden says backing Ukraine is "not cheap" but the US can't "stand by".

16:20 28 Apr
US not attacking Russia but aiding Ukraine - Biden
President Biden says the US is not attacking Russia but instead helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.

"Just as Putin made the choice to begin this brutal invasion, he could make the choice to end it," he says.

"Russia is the aggressor and the world must, and will hold, Russia accountable."

He says the Russian invasion is yielding immense human cost in the horrifying evidence of atrocities and war crimes in areas they try to control.

16:22 28 Apr
Aid helped drive out Russian forces from Kyiv - Biden
Biden says it is "thanks to the aid we've provided that Russian forces have had to retreat from Kyiv".

But the US president warns that this does not mean the Russian army won't return.

That's why, he says, the additional military and financial aid is important for Ukraine.

16:26 28 Apr
More funding necessary to address food shortages, Biden says
Biden says more funding is needed to ensure food security in Ukraine is restored.

He urges Congress to pass the new bill as soon as possible to ensure that grain exports are restored.

Biden adds that this will help restore food security for both Americans and Ukrainians. He says it'll help ease rising food prices as well.

16:30 28 Apr
We're out of money, Biden says
Biden says the US has sent more than 50 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, as well as providing 10 anti-armoured systems for every Russian tank in Ukraine.

He says the White House has almost exhausted the "draw down" authority that Congress authorised for Ukraine last month.

Explaining his proposal for Congress, Biden says: "Basically we're out of money - that’s why today, in order to sustain Ukraine, I'm sending congress a supplemental budget request to keep weapons and ammunition flowing to Ukraine and continue the delivery of economic and humanitarian assistance.

"This funding addresses the needs of military in critical months ahead and begins transition to longer term security symptoms to deter Russian aggression."

16:32 28 Apr
Russia using energy as a weapon - Biden
Biden says that despite Russia's claims to be a reliable source of energy for the world, "their actions towards Poland and Bulgaria show otherwise".

He is referring to yesterday's announcement that Russian energy giant Gazprom has cut off gas to both countries.

This, Biden says, shows Russia is using energy "not just as a commodity, but a weapon".

"We will not let Russia intimidate and blackmail their way out of those sanctions", he adds.

16:38 28 Apr
Russia should not make 'idle comments' on nuclear weapons - Biden
Responding to Russia's comments about the possibility of the Ukraine war escalating into a nuclear conflict if the West continues supporting Kyiv, US President Joe Biden says it is "a reflection of Russia's failure".

Biden says Russia's comments concern him "because it shows Russia's desperation".

But, the US president adds: "No one should be making idle comments about use of nuclear weapons."

On Wednesday, President Putin said western powers intervening in Ukraine would face a "lightning-fast response".

Russia, he said had "all the tools for this, that no one else can boast of having". He added: "we'll use them, if needed. And I want everyone to know that".

Also speaking on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov warned that the risk of a nuclear war is "very serious now" and they shouldn't be underestimated.

16:41 28 Apr
Arming Ukraine is a small price to pay, US president says
"Aggression will not win, threats will not win," Biden adds.

He says the war in Ukraine has presented a serious problem but also an enormous opportunity to deter future wars.

"All these actions are about the truth - investing in Ukraine's freedom and security is a small price to pay to punish Russia's aggression to lessen the risk for future conflict."

He finishes with an "unmistakable message to Putin: You will never succeed in dominating Ukraine".

16:48 28 Apr
We're prepared for whatever Russia does - Biden
After finishing his speech, Biden takes questions from reporters.

He is asked about whether the US is now in a "proxy war" with Russia and how concerned he is about how the Kremlin might respond.

Biden says "we're prepared for whatever they do".

Russia has repeatedly suggested that the West's support of Ukraine - particularly with military aid - amounts to a proxy war.

16:54 28 Apr
US could divert sale of natural gas to help Poland and Bulgaria, Biden says
Also in the Q&A session, Biden says that in an effort to aid Poland and Bulgaria - after Russia cut off gas supplies to them yesterday - the US will work with allies and may divert the sale of natural gas to them.

He says: "Poland indicated significant reserves of gas, as does Bulgaria, but not as much.

"We've worked with allies from Japan, and may divert the sale of natural gas from those countries to Poland and Bulgaria.

"That's all I can say right now."

The press conference has now ended. We'll wait to see how the Kremlin responds to what Biden has outlined.

17:57 28 Apr
Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis, says UN secretary general
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is now speaking, following a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He says the situation in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol is a "crisis within a crisis".
"We are doing everything possible to evacuate people from Mariupol's Azovstal" steel works, he says.
But he tells reporters he won't "enter into any comment that could undermine that possibility".

We'll bring you more updates on the talks as we have them.

18:08 28 Apr
UN Security Council failed - Guterres
UN Secretary-General Guterres and Ukraine's President Zelensky attend a joint news conference, in Kyiv
Copyright: Reuters
Image caption: Guterres and Zelensky (right) giving a joint news conference in Kyiv

Continuing, Guterres has criticised his own organisation's security council for failing to prevent or end the war in Ukraine.
He says: "Let me be very clear: the security council failed to do everything in its power to prevent and end this war, and this is a source of great disappointment, frustration and anger. But the men and women of the United Nations are working every day for the people of Ukraine, side by side, with so many brave Ukrainian organisations."

He says he's had "intense discussions" with President Zelensky to make an evacuation from Mariupol a reality.

18:20 28 Apr
Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates UN charter - Guterres
Speaking in Kyiv, Guterres restates that Russia's invasion is "a violation" of both Ukrainian territory and the UN charter.
He says the UN continues to strive for a complete ceasefire.
And he adds UN food aid has reached more than two million Ukrainians already.

18:28 28 Apr
Russia's violation of human rights is the focus of talks, says Zelensky
Addressing the media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's "violation of human rights" is one of the main things he's been discussing with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

He says they've also spoken about how to save people from the steel plant in Mariupol.
"I trust and believe - just as many relatives of those people who are blocked in Azovstal do - that the secretary general and we will be able to have a successful result."

Zelensky also calls for more humanitarian assistance, and says he's urged Guterres to take steps to prevent what he calls the deportation of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.

18:31 28 Apr
Two explosions heard in Kyiv, Reuters reports
Two explosions have been heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Reuters reports.
The news agency says eyewitnesses were able to confirm the blasts but there are no further details of what caused the explosions.
The BBC has not been able to independently confirm this.
We'll bring you updates when we know more.

18:59 28 Apr
Strikes in Kyiv carried out by Russia, authorities say
We are getting more information about the two explosions heard in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.
On its Telegram channel, Kyiv city council says Russia caused two explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district.
Officials say that all emergency services are responding, and information about potential victims is still being clarified.

The two explosions come as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Kyiv for talks, and has been giving a joint news conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Earlier today, the Russian foreign ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned the West against encouraging Ukraine to attack Russian territory.

19:24 28 Apr
Missile strikes 'postcard from Moscow', Ukraine's presidential advisor says
Ukraine's presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak says missile strikes hit Kyiv during the official visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Podolyak adds: "The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, and today explosions are above his head. Postcard from Moscow?"

Earlier on, Guterres said Russia's invasion of Ukraine violated the UN charter.


19:41 28 Apr
Ukraine deserves our full commitment - Guterres
Screenshot: Guterres interview
Copyright: BBC

Meanwhile, the BBC has been talking to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres says the United Nations won't give up and he wants peace in Ukraine, "in line with UN charter".
He says "Ukraine needs and deserves our full commitment and full support".

Russia continuous to warn the West that it is provoking a proxy war by providing Ukraine with military equipment. Asked about a potential World War Three, Guterres says a "nuclear war is unthinkable".

He adds: "We need to do everything possible to make it impossible."

19:53 28 Apr
Russia keeps warning the West, but what could Putin do?
Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

President Putin is clearly frustrated that Nato’s supply of lethal weaponry to Ukraine, coupled with his own army’s patchy performance, is hindering his plans to bring Ukraine back under Moscow’s control.
His warnings to the West are becoming increasingly strident.
But Nato isn’t backing down and, if anything, it is stepping up its long-term military support for Ukraine.

So what are Putin's options?
They include, in ascending order of seriousness, the following:

Intensify Russian precision missile strikes on western arms supplies coming into Ukraine
Targeting Ukraine’s command and government centres in the heart of Kyiv, even when western officials are present
Targeting western embassies in Kyiv or their consulates in Lviv
Carrying out a chemical attack in a built-up area in Ukraine, most likely blaming it on the Ukrainians
Targeting an airbase or depot supplying arms to Ukraine across the border in a Nato country - this would be a major escalation
Launching a major cyber attack on western nations most actively helping Ukraine, especially Britain
Firing a "tactical" nuclear warhead inside Ukraine - this could destroy something the size of a football stadium but its strategic effect would be huge, breaking the 77-year-long global nuclear embargo and generating a mushroom cloud and radioactive fallout
And what about the elephant in the room – a full-scale nuclear exchange?

British defence and intelligence officers currently assess Putin’s veiled nuclear threats to be rhetoric aimed at scaring Nato off helping Ukraine defend itself.
That said, they also believe that if the battles for the Donbas do not go his way then Putin will be tempted to escalate this war in some form.
He cannot afford a long drawn-out stalemate.


Posted at 20:26 28 Apr20:26 28 Apr
At least three injured in Kyiv blast, city's mayor says
As we've been reporting, two missile blasts hit Ukraine's capital Kyiv a short while ago.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the blasts hit the central Shevchenkivskyi district.

One missile is reported to have hit the lower floors of a residential building. Klitshko said three people have been taken to hospital.

Press secretary for the State Emergency Service, Svetlana Vodolaga, said the second missile hit an unnamed facility close to the residential building.


20:43 28 Apr
Kyiv strikes are heinous barbarism - Ukrainian minister
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has condemned the missile strikes on Kyiv, which happened as the country's leadership was hosting visiting foreign dignitaries.

"Russia [struck] Kyiv with cruise missiles right when UN Secretary General @antonioguterres and Bulgarian PM @KirilPetkov visit our capital," he tweeted.

"By this heinous act of barbarism Russia demonstrates once again its attitude towards Ukraine, Europe and the world."


21:11 28 Apr
WATCH: Nuclear war is unthinkable - Guterres
Video content
Video caption: Ukraine conflict: Nuclear war is unthinkable - Guterres

We've been reporting today on the UN's Antonio Guterres' visit to Kyiv, where he met President Zelensky.
Later the Secretary General spoke to the BBC.

Guterres was asked if he is concerned about the war escalating into World War Three, following Russia's recent comment that Nato is fighting a "proxy war".
Here's his answer.

Transcript from video:
I sincerely believe that a nuclear war is unthinkable, and obviously this is a matter of concern when these things are discussed, but a nuclear war is unthinkable and we need to do everthing possible to make it impossible.

21:31 28 Apr
'It's hard to live normally with the enemy at your window'
Toby Luckhurst and Mariana Maglych in Lviv

Protesters in Kherson on 27 April 2022
Copyright: Reuters
On Wednesday people held a pro-Ukraine demonstration in the southern city of Kherson, currently occupied by the Russians.

It came after reports that Russia planned to hold a referendum in the region on forming an independent republic. Russian state media has quoted a local official saying the area would start using the Russian rouble on 1 May.

Olga (not her real name) was one of those who took part in the demonstration. Her family decided to join after hearing about the planned referendum.

"It was broken up quickly, because we were attacked by stun grenades and tear gas grenades," she said. "We were forced to fall back."

She said she saw one woman wounded at the scene. "The side of her body was burned," she said. The mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev later announced that four people were injured.

Olga said the mood in the city is tense after the occupation began. At night Russian armoured vehicles sometimes drive by shining lights in people's windows.

"People experience it differently, some try to face it with the smile, some get sad. It's hard to live normally while the enemy is walking by your window."

But she says Kherson remains Ukrainian.

"That's why we went to demonstrate, even though we knew there would be shooting. Because we needed to show ourselves that we still exist, that there's a resistance," she said.

"We have no doubts there will be a [Ukrainian] victory."

22:09 28 Apr
Russian missile struck residential Kyiv building - officials
Rubble of tall building in Kyiv
Copyright: Ukraine's State Emergency Service

More news now on the missile strikes in Kyiv, a city that has been relatively calm in the past few weeks as Russia focuses its efforts on taking Ukraine's east.

According to a Telegram message from Ukraine's State Emergency Service, a residential building was "partially destroyed as a result of enemy shelling" on Kyiv.
Fires sparked by the bombing were reported at 20:13 local time in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital.

The fire in the 25-storey building was extinguished by 21:25 after burning a total area of 100 square meters and causing the "partial destruction" of the 1st and 2nd floors.
"According to preliminary data, five people were rescued and ten were injured," the government agency reported, adding that the figures were still being verified.

22:39 28 Apr
Zelensky thanks American people for proposed aid package
The massive $33bn aid package for Ukraine that is expected to be authorised by the US later on Thursday will make a big difference in Ukraine's fighting capabilities, President Volodymyr Zelensky says in his nightly address to the nation.

At the beginning of his remarks, he thanks the American people and President Biden, and agrees with Biden's comment earlier today that the package is "not cheap", but is necessary to stop Russian aggression.

Zelensky also repeats his vow to hold accountable any Russian troops found to have committed war crimes in Ukraine. He adds that 10 Russian motorised rifle troops have been identified as "suspects" of atrocities.

He says the "thugs who killed and tortured Ukrainians" will be brought to trial, but cautions that many may not survive the war.

"This Russian brigade was relocated to the Kharkiv region. There they will get retribution from our military," Zelensky says.

He adds that he met in Kyiv today with the Bulgarian prime minister and the UN secretary general, and told him that Russia's actions violated everything the UN was set up to do.

"And today, immediately after the end of our talks in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew into the city. Five missiles," he says.

"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN."

He adds that missiles also struck Odesa, Fastiv and other cities.

Zelensky sends his personal gratitude "to each of our defenders who are holding positions".

"We are doing everything to help our army, to provide the military with all the necessary weapons."

23:06 28 Apr
Report of missile over nuke plant 'extremely serious'
Grossi held a news conference in Vienna on Thursday after visiting Chernobyl
Copyright: Getty Images

The world nuclear regulatory watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday it is investigating reports that a missile passed directly over a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Ukraine had informed it that a missile flew over a plant in the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk on 16 April.

The allegation would be "extremely serious" if true, he said.

"Had such a missile gone astray, it could have had a severe impact on the physical integrity of the plant, potentially leading to a nuclear accident," he added.

The IAEA did not say who had fired the missile. Ukraine has accused Russia of sending missiles over nuclear plants in the country.

23:23 28 Apr
Kyiv rocket struck 'near UN chief's hotel'
Fire sparked by the missile trike
Copyright: Reuters

One of the rockets that struck Kyiv on Thursday landed near the hotel where the visiting UN secretary general is staying, according to his spokesman.

The rocket hit barely an hour after Antonio Guterres held a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Guterres and his team are safe, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US.

He added that the UN delegation was meeting the prime minister in his office and were not in the hotel at the time.

"I am in Kyiv today. Two rockets have exploded in Kyiv, I was shocked to be informed that two rockets had exploded in the city where I am," Guterres told BBC News during his visit.

"So this is a dramatic war, and we absolutely need to end this war, and we absolutely need to have a solution for this war."

23:40 28 Apr
US accuses Russia of planning to replace Ukraine leaders
Paul Adams
BBC News

Russia’s war on Ukraine began with an attempt to capture the capital, Kyiv, and replace the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

That failed, but in areas now under Russian control in the south and east, America says the purging of local government is well under way.

According to Ambassador Michael Carpenter, Washington has information that Russia is planning to dissolve municipal governments.

New structures, complete with new constitutions, are envisaged.

Anyone who supports Ukraine’s legitimate government is to be banned.

A map showing areas of Russian military control in Ukraine
Image caption: Russia has moved most of the focus of its war to eastern Ukraine

The ambassador wouldn’t say where his information came from, but insisted it was credible and drawn from a variety of sources.

There’s already plenty of circumstantial evidence.

Images of a mayor being abducted in March, plans for referendums being discussed in Moscow and the introduction of the Russian currency, the rouble, point to the Kremlin’s desire to remove all trace of Kyiv’s authority.

Ambassador Carpenter said the forced transfer of civilians continues and that locally elected leaders are being abducted, tortured and in some cases murdered.

0:01
WATCH: End the war to prevent a food crisis - Zelensky
Video content
Video caption: Ukraine conflict: Ending the war is fundamental to preventing a food crisis - Zelensky

Earlier we reported that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv, and met President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Later at a press conference, Zelensky said the war with Russia is preventing it from supplying the world with enough food.

Zelensky said they had discussed deblocking Ukraine's ports to allow the export of food and avert a global food crisis.

5:16 Welcome back (BBC)
We're resuming our live coverage of the war in Ukraine, where it is now 07:15.

In the last few hours, Nato has warned that the West needs to be prepared for the long haul.

Speaking to the BBC, deputy secretary-general Mircea Geoană said: "It's clear that the next few days and weeks could prove decisive, but the war would probably take longer.

"Could be weeks, could be months, could be even years - it depends on a lot of factors. But, in the end, probably this will be fought and won, hopefully, by Ukraine on the battlefield."

Russia yesterday sent targeted missiles to Kyiv during UN chief Antonio Guterres' visit to the capital.

6:09
OSCE to stop eight-year monitoring mission in Ukraine
A damaged OSCE monitoring car in eastern Ukraine
Copyright: SOPA images

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has maintained an observational and monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine for years, announced yesterday that it would have to end the long-running deployment.

Moscow - one of the group's members - vetoed an extension of the mission.

“This is not an easy decision to take... but the position of the Russian Federation left us with no choice but to take steps to close down the Mission,” said the OSCE chairman and Poland's foreign minister Zbigniew Rau.

“The Mission played a crucial role in providing objective information on the ground, facilitating ceasefires and working to ease the effects of the conflict on the civilian population."

The OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine had been deployed since 2014 when conflict first broke out between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels. The OSCE was the only international organisation which directly followed the conflict.

6:40
Huge deployment of UK troops in show of solidarity - Wallace

Around 8,000 British Army troops will join a series of exercises across Europe this summer, in one of the largest deployments since the Cold War.

The training has been planned for some time, but the scale of the exercises has been ramped up since the invasion of Ukraine.

The Defence Secretary Ben Wallace described the move as "a show of solidarity and strength" that will "deter aggression at a scale not seen in Europe this century".

The soldiers will join forces with allies across Nato and the Joint Expeditionary Force alliance, which includes Finland and Sweden.

7:12
Ukraine planning 'operation' to evacuate civilians from Azovstal steel plant today
Ukraine is hoping to evacuate civilians from the vast Azovstal steel plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol today, the Ukrainian president's office has said.

"An operation is planned today to get civilians out of the plant," Reuters news agency quoted Volodymyr Zelensky's office as saying.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres discussed evacuating civilians from Mariupol when he met Zelensky on Thursday.

Guterres said intense discussions were under way to enable the evacuation of the Azovstal steel plant - the last part of the city not under Russian control - which has been pounded by Russian forces.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed "in principle" to the involvement of the UN and International Committee for the Red Cross in evacuating people from the plant.

It is believed hundreds of men, women and children are still sheltering beneath the site.

7:33
Heavy fighting in Ukraine's east - UK defence ministry
The Ministry of Defence's morning intelligence briefing reiterates that Russia's efforts are on the eastern states of Donetsk and Luhansk, known as the Donbas region.

"The Battle of Donbas remains Russia's main strategic focus," the ministry said, noting Moscow's state aim to secure control of the area, where Russian forces have supported rebel leaders since 2014.

It noted fighting had been particularly heavy around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, and there had been an attempted advance south towards Slovyansk.

8:04
Ukraine's foreign minister urges allies to decide on security guarantees

Ukraine's foreign affairs minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has urged the country's allies to "decide which security guarantees they are ready to provide" Kyiv.

In a tweet, he said Ukraine had given up its nuclear weapons "for the sake of world peace," but had been left vulnerable as a result.

"We have then been knocking on Nato’s door, but it never opened."

8:14
Russia trying to humiliate UN with air strikes on Kyiv, Zelensky says
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv
Copyright: EPA

As we've been reporting, several Russian air strikes hit the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Thursday as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the city to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a late-night address, Zelensky condemned the attack, saying it "says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions".

Ukraine's president accused Russia's leadership of trying to "humiliate the UN and everything that the organisation represents," adding it "requires a strong response."

Russian attacks in other cities across the country, including Fastiv and Odesa "once again prove that we cannot let our guard down", he said.

"We cannot think that the war is over. We still have to fight. We still have to drive the occupiers out," he added.

Zelensky stressed it was important that the UN chief visited sites of mass graves in Borodyanka, and the Kyiv region, to see "with his own eyes what the Russian occupiers had done there".

8:35
Russian checkpoint shelled, says governor
A checkpoint in a Russian village bordering Ukraine was shelled on Friday, the governor of the Kursk region has said, Reuters news agency reports.

Roman Starovoyt said mortars hit a checkpoint in Krupets, not far from the Ukrainian city of Sumy in the north-east.

"There were no casualties or damage."

Starovoyt said Russian border guards and military gave retaliatory fire.

A Ukrainian father's terrifying journey to a Russian prison and back
Text and photographs by Joel Gunter
in Kyiv, Ukraine
Published6 hours ago
Anna Pantyukhova contributed to this report.

Nikita Horban sits in a medical facility in Zaporizhzhya. "It still hurts," he said. "The wounds are still fresh."

Nikita Horban was sitting cross-legged on an old-fashioned steel hospital bed, running his fingers over the flat part of the bandage where his toes used to be.

He was still wearing the clothes the Russians sent him home in - a military green t-shirt and tracksuit bottoms. He looked pale and gaunt, older than 31.

"I have lost a lot of weight," he said, looking down. "I don't look good."

He shifted position on the bed. It had been about two weeks since he'd been able to stand, and he had to move his legs regularly to stop them aching. It was a bright spring day in Zaporizhzhia, in the south of Ukraine, but the Russians were running bombing raids in the region and the windows in the hospital were blacked out. The air on the ward was hot and stale.

Nikita had been handed back to Ukraine just three days earlier, as part of a prisoner exchange, and brought to this hospital with another man. They had spent three grim weeks in a prison in Russia. The other man, Serhiy Vasylyha, 28, was returned with both feet amputated. "He was not as lucky as me," Nikita said.

The prisoner swaps are being negotiated by Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, who confirmed that Nikita had been sent back from Russia. "There were badly injured people in this exchange - amputated limbs, sepsis, other severe injuries," Vereshchuk told me.

"There were clear signs of torture," she said. "The stories they told us are terrible."

For five days after he was returned, Nikita had to wear the clothes he was sent back in, with Russian markings.


Nikita's ordeal began in early March when the Russian army rolled into Andriivka, a small village west of Kyiv. Nikita, a lab assistant at a Kyiv hospital, was hiding in a cold, damp cellar under the garden with his father Sasha, their wives, and Nikita's five-year-old son. Sasha was Nikita's stepfather but the distinction had long faded. They called each other father and son.

The Russians were going house to house, and they pulled the two men out of the cellar and beat them, Nikita said. "There was shooting, people in the village were being killed, it was terrifying."

They were blindfolded and taken at gunpoint to what seemed like a field, where they were tortured. Nikita has a fresh scar on his knuckle, which he said was caused by the Russians tightening a wrench around the knuckle and turning it until the skin tore open. He could hear others around him, but he didn't know how many or who.

"All I can remember thinking is where is my father? What if he is not with me anymore?"

The Russians took away their boots, filled them with water and put them back on. Then the prisoners were forced to lie face down on the field in the freezing cold. "We lay like that for three or four nights, under the rain, getting colder and colder," Nikita said.

Sasha and Nikita's house in Andriivka. They were pulled from the basement by Russian soldiers.


When he could no longer hear the Russians nearby, Nikita called out quietly, "Dad are you there?" And Sasha's voice came quietly back. They were together. From that point, they would keep talking whenever it seemed safe, reassuring each other they were close.

As they lay in the field, a deep cold set into Nikita's feet. Soon he could not feel them at all. Then shells started falling close to them, announcing themselves with earth-shaking booms. "We lay for a long time like that on the ground, saying goodbye to our lives over and over again," Nikita said.

Eventually, they were hauled up from the ground and loaded onto trucks. Blindfolded, Nikita struggled to gauge how much time was passing. At some point, they were combined with another group of prisoners and loaded onto helicopters. Hunger was setting in - they had only been given one bowl of porridge, a piece of bread and a biscuit since they were taken, Nikita said.

From the helicopters they were transferred onto a cargo plane. Nikita felt the engines revving and the plane speeding down the runway and taking off. He guessed he was with about 10 or 12 other prisoners.

"Are you OK?" he said aloud, over the sound of the engines.

"Yes, I'm OK," Sasha replied.

Nadia Holumenkov holds pictures of her grandson Nikita and son Oleksandr

Back in the village, Nikita and Sasha's wives, Nadia and Svitlana, and Nikita's son Artem had moved from their cellar to a bigger shelter under the neighbour's house. They had no idea where their husbands were.

A few houses over, Sasha's parents, Nadia and Volodymyr, were also beginning to worry. Sasha had stopped answering their calls, but it was impossible to venture out of the house to find out if he was safe. Shells were raining down around the village, and during pauses in the bombardment Russian soldiers would ransack houses. For more than a month, during the occupation, no family group would know if any other was alive.

At some point, Nikita and Sasha crossed into Russian airspace, and the cargo plane began to descend. They were taken to a detention camp where their blindfolds were finally removed and they saw each other. They embraced. The Russians had also used the wrench on Sasha's knuckle, Nikita said, but worse, and one of his fingers was hanging by a small amount of tissue and skin. He was taken to a field hospital for treatment.

With the blindfold off, Nikita could finally see his feet. His toes had turned black. He knew he was getting severe frostbite from the cold and he asked for medical attention. At the field hospital, they dried and bandaged his toes but that was it. They put his boots back on and after five days in the camp the prisoners were transported by truck to the Pre-Trial Detention Centre Number 1 - a prison in the Russian city of Kursk.


Volodymyr Holumenkov at Sasha and Nikita's home in the village. "Everyone here is going through their own grief," he said.

The new inmates were put in uniforms and had their hair cut and were told they would be "vaccinated", which turned out to be a euphemism for a beating, Nikita said. By the time he and Sasha were locked in a cell with 10 others, Nikita was becoming convinced he could lose both his legs.

"That first night I realised I could neither feel nor control my feet at all," he recalled. "And they had started to smell awful."

Others were facing the same grim situation. Some would later lose entire limbs. The care at the prison was minimal - an antibiotic shot and bandage changes once every three days. According to Nikita, the prison doctor told him: "We have good medicine and medical treatment here, but it is not for you."

The prisoners kept each other entertained in the cell by talking about their families and telling jokes. They were forced to learn patriotic Russian songs by heart and perform them for the guards, Nikita said. "The anthem of Russia, another disgusting Putin-glorifying song. They gave them to us in the morning and told us to learn them by lunchtime," he said.

They were interrogated two or three times a day and beaten, he said. Afterwards they were forced to sign documents declaring they had been treated and fed well and not harmed, which is how they learned where they were, because the documents were stamped "Kursk Pre-Trial Detention Centre 1".

Map of Ukraine

After three weeks in the prison, the condition of Nikita's feet had worsened dramatically, and he was finally transferred to hospital with two others. A surgeon told him he was going to have all his toes amputated. "They were in such bad condition by then that during the examination one of my toes just fell off."

He spent a week in the hospital after his surgery, before an official there told him that he and several other badly wounded men would be sent home "to be taken care of by your families instead".

Vereshchuk, the deputy prime minister, told me the Russians had tried to exchange civilian hostages for Russian military prisoners in Ukraine - a move forbidden by the Geneva Convention. "That's why they captured all these hostages - civilians, women, employees of local councils, to try and use them," she said.

"We know there are more than a thousand hostages there - including almost 500 women. We know they are in prisons and pre-trial detention centres in Kursk, in Briansk, in Riazan, in Rostov."

Nikita was never taken back to the prison in Kursk, where he had last seen Sasha. From the hospital, he was loaded once again onto a cargo plane, this time to Simferopol in Crimea. The Russian authorities told Vereshchuk they had no ambulances spare, so gravely injured prisoners were put in the back of empty flatbed trucks for the five-hour drive to the exchange.

Nikita will have to relearn to walk after his toes were removed in Russia.


At the meeting point, the Russians laid the wounded men on the highway on their stretchers and walked away, and Ukrainian soldiers came and picked them up. Nikita still didn't believe he was in Ukraine, he said, right up until the moment one of the soldiers looked him in the eyes and said in Ukrainian, "Welcome back buddy."

"I was in pieces," he said. "I knew I was back in my homeland."

But he didn't know if his family was alive. He knew nothing of what had happened in Ukraine in the past month. Nikita gave a Ukrainian official the number for his wife Nadia and waited, his heart pounding in his chest.

"I was just waiting for the dialling sound, to know at least that her phone was alive," he said. "Then it started dialling and she declined the call, and I knew she was alive."

On the second attempt, Nadia picked up. She told him she was in Belgium with Artem and they were safe. "For five minutes we just cried into the phone," Nikita said. "We tried to talk to each other but we couldn't. There were tears running down my cheeks. I just heard her say hello and I couldn't take a breath."

Nadia called Sasha's brother Vyacheslav, and his parents Nadia and Volodymyr, to let them know the news. But there was a big piece still missing. "We know now that Sasha was alive when Nikita left but that was two weeks ago," his mother Nadia told me. "So we are still here waiting and hoping. We are still not doing good."

Sasha's brother Vyacheslav and his wife, at Sasha and Nikita's house in the village

Since his arrival in back in Ukraine, Nikita had been trying to arrange a transfer from Zaporizhzhia to the hospital in Kyiv where he worked. It appeared to be stalled. Then suddenly, early on Tuesday morning, a nurse came in to tell him he was going home.

After a long ambulance journey across the country, Nikita was wheeled in to a hero's welcome from his colleagues at the Kyiv Civilian Hospital No 5. He was taken up to a private room with a large open window overlooking pine trees. About mid-morning on Wednesday, the chief of medicine and chief surgeon came to visit him. They had been waiting nervously for news of Nikita, and they were both brought to tears by his return. Two of their other colleagues, a married couple, had recently been killed with their children by a Russian shell.

"It means everything to us to have him back," said the surgeon, Yuriy Shylenko. "He will need to relearn to walk, but we are going to do everything for him."

Nikita put on a pair of hospital slippers and showed off his progress by standing and taking a few steps. The doctors were talking through his recovery plans. But he wasn't really listening. "I have only one thing on my mind," he said, after they'd left. "Going to my wife and son."

Nikita Horban sits on his hospital bed in Kyiv. He has begun to take a few steps.

9:10 BREAKING
One dead after Kyiv missile strike - city mayor
One person has died following yesterday's Russian missile strike in Kyiv, the city's mayor has said.

In a post on his Telegram channel, Vitali Klitschko said rescuers had found a body while searching through the rubble of a residential building that was hit by a rocket in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

The strikes took place while United Nations Security General Antonio Guterres was in the capital to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky accused Russia of trying to humiliate the UN.

Russia has not commented on the incident.

9:47
Zelensky makes second request to address African leaders
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a fresh request to address African Union heads of state, according to AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki.

Faki received the request during a call with Ukraine's foreign minister, he said on Twitter.

The pair also talked about President Zelensky's "wish to develop closer ties with the AU".

Faki didn't disclose whether the request will be granted but said he had "insisted on the need for a peaceful solution to the conflict with Russia".

African countries dominated the list of nations that abstained from voting on a UN resolution to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

Earlier this month, Zelensky held a call with his Senegalese counterpart Macky Sall, the current AU chairman, and asked to address African leaders.

10:02
Two UK aid workers captured by Russia, says NGO

Two British volunteers providing humanitarian assistance in Ukraine have been captured by the Russian military, an aid organisation has said.

The non-profit Presidium Network said the men were detained at a checkpoint near the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Monday.

They are believed to have been working independently, but were in touch with the Presidium Network.

Presidium Network's co-founder, Dominic Byrne, said the two workers were trying to evacuate a Ukrainian family caught in the fighting.

"They got through a Ukraine checkpoint to go south through Russian controlled area when we lost contact on Monday morning," he told BBC Breakfast.

He said the civilians waiting to be evacuated began receiving strange texts from the Briton's phone and two hours later, Russian soldiers stormed the civilians house, asking how they knew the British men and that they believed they were spies.

The Foreign Office has said it is urgently seeking more information.

10:18
Russia claims missile strikes, including in Kyiv
Russia has confirmed that it launched multiple missile strikes on Ukraine yesterday, including in the Kyiv area.

The Russian defence ministry said it used "high precision" missiles to destroy the production facilities of a space-rocket plant in the capital.

It also said its air strikes hit ten Ukrainian "military assets", and destroyed three power substations across the country.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

There was no mention of rockets hitting a residential block in the capital, where one person has now been reported dead.

10:43
Journalist killed in Kyiv strike, radio station says
Ukrainian journalist Vera Hyrych
Copyright: Vera Hyrych/Facebook
Image caption: Vera Hyrych was described by Radio Liberty as "a true professional"

A journalist for Radio Liberty in Ukraine has been killed during Russian shelling of Kyiv, the station has said.

Vera Gyrych was at home when a missile hit her building, according to a statement from Radio Liberty.

She was described as "a bright and kind person, a true professional" by her employer.

"A wonderful person is gone," her colleague Oleksandr Demchenko said on Facebook.

Radio Liberty, also known as Radio Free Europe, is a US-funded organisation which broadcasts news in areas of the world where free press may be restricted or not yet established.

Earlier, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said one body had been recovered after yesterday's missile attack, though no further details of the person killed were given at the time.

Moscow has confirmed that it hit Ukrainian targets, but has not commented on the strike on the building.

11:10
Young couple's lucky escape from Kyiv blast
Sarah Rainsford
Reporting from Kyiv

Rescuers attend to a damaged residential building in Kyiv
Copyright: BBC

The bottom floors of this new block of flats have been destroyed in the attack in central Kyiv. The entire front wall has been blown off; the insides of apartments shattered and burned.

Forensic teams are working at the scene as rescuers clear heaps of rubble and metal from the pavement, and scour the ruins for bodies or survivors.

The target seems likely to have been a large military factory, Artem, across the street: its windows have been blown out and workers are sweeping up heaps of glass.

But the victims confirmed by Ukrainian officials – one dead and several injured - are civilians.

Radio Liberty has confirmed that its journalist, Vera Hirych, was killed in her home. She was 55. Her body was discovered this morning, carried out to a morgue van in a black bag.

Closeup of a damaged residential building in Kyiv
Copyright: BBC

A little earlier, I saw a young couple emerge from the wreck, carrying a few belongings. Olya had a skateboard under one arm and a cardboard box filled with houseplants.

She and Misha, both in their twenties, only moved into the building two weeks ago. Their flat was on the 14th floor, on the side looking away from the strike.

"We'd just got into the flat when we heard the first blast immediately. We’d only just come out of the lift," Misha says, explaining that they'd managed to make it onto their balcony and escape the fire.

"If we'd been a minute longer, we'd have been burned. Thirty seconds longer, and we'd have been killed," he says. "I'm lucky."

There could have been many more casualties here, but the building was so new many of the flats were not occupied: there are tattered "for sale" signs hanging from shattered windows.

Photo: Damage to a residential building in Kyiv

Analysis
Posted at 11:35
Russian strike on Kyiv a display of Putin's contempt for world leaders
Jenny Hill
Reporting from Moscow

Moscow has confirmed it struck Kyiv last night, but claims that its target was a military one - specifically, a plant which manufactures missiles.

It’s two weeks since Russian forces last attacked the Ukrainian capital in a series of strikes which were widely interpreted as retaliation for the sinking of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Moskva warship.

It’s perhaps no coincidence that the plant targeted last night is, reportedly, involved in the manufacture of the Neptune missile which Ukraine claims it used to destroy the flagship of the Black Sea fleet.

But Putin knows that, in striking Kyiv during the visit of the secretary general, he is sending a powerful message to the international community.

He wants its leaders and institutions to know that he holds them in contempt.

And he wants them to understand that he’ll do what he wants and that, as far as he’s concerned, no one has the power to stop him.

11:51
UK war crimes investigators to assist Ukraine
Damaged street in Bucha
Copyright: EPA
Image caption: War crimes are being investigated in Bucha and other cities

The UK is to provide Ukraine with experts to help gather evidence and prosecute potential war crimes by Russia.

Kyiv says it is investigating 7,600 war crimes and at least 500 suspects.

The UK Foreign Office says its team will arrive in Poland in early May. They will meet international partners, NGOs, refugees and the Ukrainian government to work out how they can best provide assistance.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Russia has brought barbarity to Ukraine and committed vile atrocities, including against women. British expertise will help uncover the truth and hold Putin's regime to account for its actions."

The announcement comes as Truss travels to The Hague for talks with her Dutch counterpart Wopke Hoekstra and the International Criminal Court President, Judge Piotr Hofmanski.

12:18
What's going on at the Azovstal steel plant?
Emily McGarvey
BBC News Live reporter

Smoke rises above a plant of Azovstal Iron and Steel Works in Mariupol
Copyright: Reuters

As we've been reporting, the Ukrainian president's office has said there will an attempt today to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel plant. Here's a quick recap of the situation there.

What's going on in the steelworks?

The last Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol are still defending the Azovstal steel plant - a huge industrial site, and the last part of the city not under Russian control.

They are holed up in a network of bunkers and tunnels underneath the plant which has been sealed off by Russian troops.

Despite Putin last week abandoning plans to storm the plant after declaring victory in Mariupol, Ukraine's officials say there has been no let-up in air strikes.

Which groups of fighters and civilians remain there?

The Azov regiment, originally a far-right group that was later incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard, are still there along with Ukraine’s 36th marine brigade.

Hundreds of civilians are said to be stuck there including elderly residents, children and many people with disabilities, many of whom need medicine. Food and water is running out and families are pleading to be evacuated.

There are said to be about 600 seriously wounded fighters in need of urgent care, including major surgery such as amputations.

Why haven't civilians been evacuated?

Depending on what happens today, it would be the first attempt to get civilians out of the Azovstal plant.

Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed "in principle" earlier this week to the UN and the Red Cross evacuating civilians from the Azovstal steelworks.

Fighters have asked to be given safe passage out of the plant, saying they are outnumbered and running out of supplies.

But attempts at establishing humanitarian corridors in Mariupol have so far largely failed, with Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of acting in bad faith in negotiations.

Ukraine war: Two UK aid workers captured by Russia, says NGO
By Joseph Lee
BBC News
Published2 hours ago

A residential area damaged by shelling in Zaporizhzhia
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The city of Zaporizhzhia took in many people fleeing besieged Mariupol, but was also shelled itself

Two British volunteers providing humanitarian assistance in Ukraine have been captured by the Russian military, an aid organisation has said.

The non-profit Presidium Network said the men were detained at a checkpoint near the city of Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine on Monday.

The Foreign Office is said to be urgently seeking more information.

On Thursday, the government confirmed that one Briton had been killed in Ukraine and another was missing.

The two aid workers who were reportedly captured are believed to have been working independently, but were in touch with the Presidium Network.

They were said to be trying to rescue a family from a village south of Zaporizhzhia at the time of their capture.

Presidium Network's founder, Dominic Byrne, told the BBC it had taken the men six hours of negotiation to get through the last Ukrainian checkpoint and into Russian territory, where they were detained.

Mr Byrne said he was making an appeal on behalf of the captured men "to get the support we need from the UK government and from the international community, as well as on the ground".

He said he also wanted "to get clarification about how they are and how safe they are" and to know whether they were being "treated properly".

Two other British men, Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured earlier this month while fighting in the south-eastern city of Mariupol and shown on Russian state TV with apparent facial bruising.

In other developments:

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the UK is sending war crimes experts to help Ukraine investigate allegations of Russian atrocities, including experts in conflict-related sexual violence
About 8,000 British Army troops and dozens of tanks will take part in exercises across eastern Europe this summer. This is part of a long-planned action which was scaled up after the invasion of Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence said

Ukraine war: Two UK aid workers captured by Russia, says NGO
By Joseph Lee
BBC News

Update Published 42 minutes ago

A residential area damaged by shelling in Zaporizhzhia
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption, The city of Zaporizhzhia took in many people fleeing besieged Mariupol, but was also shelled itself

Two British volunteers providing humanitarian assistance in Ukraine have been captured by the Russian military, an aid organisation has said.
The non-profit Presidium Network said Paul Urey and Dylan Healy were detained at a checkpoint in southern Ukraine on Monday.

The Foreign Office is said to be urgently seeking more information.

Mr Urey's mother said she was extremely worried for his welfare, as he has type 1 diabetes and needs insulin.

Meanwhile, Russia has released a video of a man who it says has surrendered to Russian troops.
The man, who is wearing a military camouflage uniform, said he was called Andrew Hill, from Plymouth and has children and a partner.
In the video, the man who is shown with a cast on his arm, asked if he was a safe and if he could be taken to a hospital.
The video has not been verified by the BBC and it is not clear if the man is speaking under duress.

Photo: Paul Urey
IMAGE SOURCE,HANDOUT
Image caption, Family members said they were "extremely worried" about Paul Urey, who has Type 1 diabetes and needs insulin

The two captured aid workers are believed to have been working independently, but were in touch with the Presidium Network.
They were said to be trying to rescue a family from a village south of the city of Zaporizhzhia at the time of their capture.

In a statement passed on by Presidium, Linda Urey said she was "extremely worried".
Ms Urey also told Sky News she felt like she was living her "worst nightmare".
"I just don't know what to do," she said.
"I know nothing and just want to get him back."

Mr Urey's mother said she knew something was wrong when she did not hear from her son, who usually messages her "20 times a day" and calls via FaceTime "eight to nine times a day".
"Something's wrong and all he wanted to do was help people," she said.

Presidium described Mr Urey as a family man from the Manchester-Warrington area, and said he had previously spent eight years as a civilian contractor in Afghanistan.

Mr Healy is described as a chef by training, originally from Huntington in Cambridgeshire. He was driving the car at the time of the men's capture, Presidium said.

Map showing how Russian forces have moved in on Mariupol

Presidium Network's founder, Dominik Byrne, told the BBC it had taken the men six hours of negotiation to get through the last Ukrainian checkpoint and into Russian-controlled territory, where they were detained.
Mr Byrne said he was making an appeal on behalf of the captured men "to get the support we need from the UK government and from the international community, as well as on the ground".

He said he also wanted "to get clarification about how they are and how safe they are" and to know whether they were being "treated properly".

On Thursday, the government confirmed that one Briton had been killed in Ukraine and another was missing.
Sources in Ukraine told the BBC the dead man is Scott Sibley, who is understood to have been fighting for Ukrainian forces.
Two other British men, Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured earlier this month while fighting in the south-eastern city of Mariupol and shown on Russian state TV with apparent facial bruising.

12:35
Professor in UK tells of elderly mother's death in Mariupol
Doug Faulkner
BBC News Online

Andrei Kirilenko's mother Svetlana
Copyright: Andrei Kirilenko

A Ukrainian professor at the University of Cambridge has told how his mother was found dead by a neighbour in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Andrei Kirilenko told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the neighbour's son had found his 85-year-old mother Svetlana in her home on 11 March and they could not bury her due to the danger from Russian shelling.

It was too dangerous so he took her body into a cold garage, so that it would be preserved for longer, he said.

Kirilenko said the last time he spoke to his mother was in early March when they said goodbye to each other.

"She was talking a bit about her past and was also asking a bit about my son, her grandson, who is college-bound, so she was thinking a bit about her past but also about the future," he said.

12:53
Germany condemns Russia for 'inhumane' Kyiv missile strikes
Rescuers work at a site of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv
Copyright: Reuters

Germany has criticised Russia for carrying out an air strike on Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, calling it "inhumane".

"We strongly condemn the Russian missile attack on Kyiv while... Guterres was in talks yesterday," government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner said.

Moscow has confirmed it struck Kyiv last night, but claims that its target was a military one - specifically, a plant which manufactures missiles.

US-funded broadcaster Radio Liberty says one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in the strike when a missile hit her home.

13:13
WATCH: Putin showed 'middle finger' to UN with strike - Klitschko
Video content
Video caption: Ukraine war: Putin showed 'middle finger' to UN with missile strike - Klitschko

Russian missile strikes in Kyiv during a visit by UN Secretary General António Guterres was Putin showing his middle finger, says Kyiv's mayor Vitali Klitschko.

Moscow has confirmed it targeted the capital last night, including a missile production facility.
It has not commented on the strike on a residential building in which one person was killed.

13:33
Russia should be pushed back from Ukraine, says Estonia PM
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas
Copyright: EPA

Russia should be expelled from Ukraine and "pushed back to Russia", Estonia's prime minister has said.

Kaja Kallas said western countries should share her aim that Ukraine wins the war and Putin loses. But she says keeping unity will become more difficult as the war goes on.
"If there is some kind of peace agreement, everybody stays where they are, then the [Russian] aggression really pays off," she told the BBC's Newshour.
"Not only do you take neighbour's land by force but you also appease in the end and we shouldn't allow that."

She said European security was at stake, adding "we all need to have this understanding that our neighbour's problem today is our problem tomorrow".

It mirrors comments by UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss who said Russian forces must be pushed out of "the whole of Ukraine".
Not all western powers share Truss and Kallas' target. French and German officials have been more cautious about stating war aims that risk provoking Russia, preferring to focus instead on language about defending Ukraine.

13:48
WATCH: Firefighters battle flames after Kyiv attack
Video content
Video caption: Ukraine conflict: Kyiv firefighters battle fires following missile strike

A video showing firefighters tackling flames following missile strikes in Kyiv yesterday evening has been released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES).

The attack happened as UN chief Antonio Guterres was in the Ukrainian capital for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Journalist Vira Hyrych was killed in one of the strikes on Kyiv, Ukraine's Radio Liberty has said.

14:06
Who was the journalist killed during missile strikes on Kyiv?
Ukrainian journalist Vira Hyrych
Copyright: Vira Hyrych/Facebook
Image caption: Radio Liberty called Vira Hyrych a "bright and kind person"

Vira Hyrych was a 55-year-old Ukrainian journalist for US-funded broadcaster Radio Liberty, which described her as "a true professional".
Her body was discovered this morning after a missile struck her home in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Thursday, according to a statement by the radio station.
"A wonderful person is gone," her colleague Oleksandr Demchenko said on Facebook.

The Russian missile strikes came as UN chief Antonio Guterres was visiting Kyiv for talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Moscow has confirmed that it hit Ukrainian targets, but has not commented on the strike on the building.

14:17
Ukraine says Russia used phosphorous munitions in Donbas region

Russian troops have used phosphorous munitions in the eastern village of Solovyove, the head of the Donetsk regional military administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko, has said.

While phosphorus is not classed as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention, using it as an incendiary weapon near civilians is illegal.

Russian forces also shelled the village of Lastochkyne again, damaging a residential house and a shop, Kyrylenko said on the Telegram messenging service.

According to Kyrylenko, Russians targeted Avdiivka with Grad multiple rocket launchers at night, followed by an air raid and further shelling in the morning.

He added that residential houses and civilian infrastructure were damaged.

Moscow has largely turned its military focus to the eastern states of Donetsk and Luhansk, known as the Donbas region.

14:40
What is Radio Liberty?

As we've been reporting, Radio Liberty says one of its journalists, Vira Hyrych, was killed in a Russian missile strike in Kyiv on Thursday.

Radio Liberty broadcasts news in countries where a free press is banned by the government or not fully established.

Also known as Radio Free Europe, it works in 23 countries and in 27 languages to provide "uncensored news, responsible discussion, and open debate", its website says.

The American-funded operation was established during the Cold War in an effort to transmit reliable information to people living behind the Iron Curtain. It started broadcasting in 1950.

The local branch, Radio Svoboda, operates from a bureau in Kyiv.

The service offers coverage of the whole of Ukraine - including the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, and the Donbas region where Russian-backed separatists control some territory.

Hyrych started working at the bureau in 2018, a statement said.

14:52
Ukraine claims Russia has lost 23,000 military personnel
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence claims Russia has suffered 23,000 military personnel losses since the beginning of the war, in an update on Telegram.
It claims that since Russia invaded on 24 February, the Ukrainian military has destroyed:

986 tanks
2418 armoured combat vehicles
435 artillery systems
189 aircraft
eight ships
155 helicopters
It said Russia experienced the greatest losses in the direction of Izyum, in eastern Ukraine.

Estimates of Russian military losses vary widely, but Moscow has previously admitted to suffering "significant losses of troops" during the invasion.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify Ukraine's latest claims.

15:18
In maps: Slow Russian advance continues in the east
Map showing areas of Russian control in eastern Ukraine

Russian forces are continuing to make advances in east of the country but strong resistance from Ukrainian troops is slowing their progress.

In the latest developments Russian forces continue to make small gains around eastern city of Izyum, but strong Ukrainian defences in Donbas region are holding for now.

The UK's Ministry of Defence said on Friday the battle for Donbas, in the east, remained Russia's main strategic focus. It said fighting had been particularly heavy around Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, and there had been an attempted advance south towards Slovyansk.

Map showing how Russian forces have besieged Mariupol

The devastated port city of Mariupol, which has been encircled since the start of March, is now mostly under the control of Russian forces - although several hundred Ukrainian troops remain in the Azovstal metal works factory in the south of the city.

Russian forces have blockaded the sprawling industrial complex and are continuing their aerial bombardment of it, but no attempt has been made yet to clear Ukrainian troops from a network of tunnels beneath the factory.

15:38
Russian losses 'colossal' - Zelensky aide
As heavy fighting continues in the east, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has acknowledged serious losses - but said Russia's were even worse.

Oleksiy Arestovych said Ukraine had lost control of some towns and villages - but claimed Russia's own casualties had been "colossal".

Arestovych said Russia was losing a company of troops every day, according to remarks quoted by the UNIAN news agency.

He said his soldiers were continuing to conduct a successful defensive operation.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims.

Earlier this month, Russia conceded that it had suffered "significant losses" of troops during its invasion - but has not been frequently updating its numbers.

Meanwhile, the civilian toll continues to mount as fighting in the east of Ukraine rages on.

The regional governor of Luhansk - part of the Donbas - has again urged remaining civilians to leave.

Meanwhile, police in the Donetsk region say three people were killed and six wounded over the past day during Russian strikes.

And the north-eastern Kharkiv region continues to see heavy fighting as well. Officials there say five civilians were killed in the latest shelling.

16:09
Refugees continue to arrive at Zaporizhzhya refugee centre
Laura Bicker
Reporting from Zaporizhzhya

A refugee centre in Zaporizhzhya
Copyright: BBC

Cars packed full of women, children, prized pets and hastily gathered belongings piled in every free corner, continue to arrive at the refugee centre in the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhya.

They are from all over the south of the country - Odesa, Melitopol, Kherson and Donetsk. It is rare that someone escapes from besieged Mariupol.

Kyiv said plans are in place to evacuate civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol where Ukrainian forces and civilians are encircled by Russian troops. But, so far, there are no signs that a humanitarian corridor has been set up.

On Thursday, the UN chief said everything was being done to facilitate the rescue of civilians from the city.

Serhii and his daughter Anhelina
Copyright: BBC
Image caption: Serhii and his daughter Anhelina made it to a refugee centre in Zaporizhzhya

We met one family who had spent two weeks and two days to get here, skirting various checkpoints and, at one stage, walking with their two young children in a shopping cart.

When the war started the family hid in a basement bunker. They spent more than six weeks underground eating canned supplies to survive while listening to relentless shelling. They counted 60 to 80 air strikes on some days.

As his family hid, dad Serhii fought. He was eventually told to lay down arms and leave on 13 April, which is when he grabbed his family and escaped.

Mariupol is no more, he told me as his family received help at the refugee centre. He is determined to fight again. His three-year-old daughter Anhelina grabs my microphone and smiles as she says: "Glory to Ukraine."

16:23
Russian forces will collapse in weeks, predicts military expert
A Ukrainian soldier walks next to destroyed Russian military vehicles, one marked with the "Z" symbol earlier this month in the Kharkiv region
Copyright: Reuters

Russia's assault on Donbas has "sort of fizzled" and the battle for the region will be over in two to four weeks, says military expert Dr Mike Martin.

The war studies visiting fellow at King's College London says: "Basically the Russians are gonna run out of troops, and the Ukrainians are going to counterattack."

The Russians have squandered their one chance to take the region, he believes.

"They pulled all of these mauled units out of Kyiv, and then tried to reconstitute them for combat in the east," he explains.

But they were "bruised and damaged" by the battle for the Ukrainian capital and Russia failed to build them up and "do some bold manoeuvre".

And Martin says there has been a "major strategic shift" in the war, with the UK declaring its aim is to clear Russian forces from Ukraine, including Crimea.

He adds that UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is "wrong", however, to say this would take 10 years, insisting: "Russian forces will collapse before that, and we’ll see a coup."

And with the US announcing US$33bn (£26bn) of funding for Ukraine, "that is an extremely clear signal of intent", says Martin.

It also means Nato and the US have decided Vladimir Putin is bluffing about using nuclear weapons if Nato up the ante, he adds.

16:37
14-year-old Ukrainian athlete and her mother killed in Mariupol
Alina Peregudova
Department of Physical Culture and SportsCopyright: Department of Physical Culture and Sports


A 14-year-old girl who won gold medals in Ukraine's national weightlifting championships has been killed by Russian shelling in Mariupol, the city's council has said.

Alina Peregudova was a candidate for the national team of Ukraine and aspired to represent her country at the highest level.

"The 'Russian peace' came which liberated her from this future," Mariupol city council said on Telegram.

"The promising sportswoman from the Donetsk region died from enemy shells."

Her mother was also killed in the attack.

Alina was a pupil at the Donetsk Regional Specialised Professional College of Sports and the Serhiy Bubka College of Olympic Reserve.

"'Russian Peace' is killing - Mariupol and the world will never forget Russia's crime against humanity," the council added.

Ukraine's Department of Physical Culture and Sports said: "It's hard to find the words to convey my deepest condolences to all who knew the lost."


17:08
Ukraine says it has re-taken village near Kharkiv
Ukrainian special forces have regained control of the eastern village of Ruska Lozova, Ukraine's Ministry of Defence has said on Twitter.

The village is near the country's second city, Kharkiv, and is roughly 25 miles from Ukraine's border with Russia.

Kharkiv has suffered intense bombardments, with airstrikes and shelling, since the start of Russia's invasion.

17:22
UK ambassador arrives back in Kyiv
The UK's ambassador to Ukraine, Melinda Simmons, says she is back in Kyiv after leaving the city when Russia invaded.

Boris Johnson announced during a visit to Delhi last week that the British embassy in the Ukrainian capital would reopen this week.

It comes after Russia withdrew forces from around Kyiv when it failed to seize the capital, and launched an assault on the eastern Donbas region.

17:38
US does not believe Russia will use nuclear weapons, says defence official
The United States does not believe there's a threat of Russia using nuclear weapons despite a recent escalation in Moscow's rhetoric, a senior US defence official has said, according to Reuters.

The US is continuing to monitor Russia's nuclear capabilities every day "the best we can", the official says, speaking anonymously.

"We do not assess that there is a threat of the use of nuclear weapons and no threat to Nato territory," they say.

17:52
Russian casualty rate slowing - Western officials

The rate at which Russian troops are being killed in Ukraine has slowed down, according to remarks from Western officials reported by the Reuters news agency.

They observed the decrease after Russia narrowed its operations to concentrate on eastern Ukraine.

But the numbers are still "quite high", Reuters quotes them saying.

As we've been reporting, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has conceded his country has seen losses in the east - but claimed Russia's own numbers were "colossal".

We've not been able to verify the claim. However, earlier this month, the Kremlin conceded it had experienced "significant losses".