Freedom of Information

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Anti-war protesters detained in Russia

Anti-war demonstrations are once again taking place around the world, including in Russia - where vocal Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny has called for people there to take a stand against President Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.

Police rounded up some of the protesters in Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow, as you can see below.

2 Images of one person surrounded by riot police in black, hiding their faces.

Journalists 'detained during Russian anti-war protest'
At least 13 journalists and 12 others are reported to have been detained during anti-war protests in St Petersburg.

“They didn’t explain the reason for the detention," journalist Andrey Okun wrote on his Telegram channel.

He said the detained reporters were all wearing press vests and carrying their press cards: "But this is of no interest to anyone, the goal is to make sure that no-one covers anything."

Image of several people, who look young and are wearing press badges they show to the camera.

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Crowds take to the streets of Kherson
Crowds have taken to the streets of the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson to protest its occupation by Russian forces.

It comes amid reports that Russia is planning to stage a sham referendum in the city so as to create another breakaway region, like those in Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, and install a puppet administration.

Pictures showed people gathered in Freedom Square in the centre of Kherson waving Ukrainian flags and holding signs saying: "Kherson is Ukraine."

Image: Crowds wave Ukrainian flags on the streets of Kherson - Copyright: Suspilne Kherson

Image: A person holds a sign with Ukrainian lettering that translates as 'Kherson is Ukraine' -Copyright: Suspilne Kherson

Image: A line of people at a protest is seen holding a long Ukrainian flag - Copyright: Suspilne Kherson

Caption: People line the roads in Freedom Square

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Lviv citizens pray as war moves closer to historic city

Yalda Hakim- BBC World News presenter, in Lviv

Image of Citizens of Lviv praying for the fallen in Ukraine - Light comes through the upper windows to the altar and crowd of people below- BBC

At a Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church in Lviv, just 80km from Poland, hundreds of mourners gather to remember the fallen.

Just two weeks into this war, Ukraine's president says more than 1,300 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed.

Air raid sirens interrupt the service, but many of the faithful who have gathered this Sunday morning continue to pray.

Others rush down into the crypt of the church, which now also serves as a bunker from potential Russian bombing.

The conflict feels like it is getting dangerously close to this part of the country, which has become both a sanctuary and a way station to Europe for tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting which has convulsed the north, east and south of Ukraine.

The citizens of Lviv tell me, although military bases around them are increasingly being targeted by Russian missiles, they hope their city - a Unesco world heritage site - will be spared destruction as it was, miraculously, during the Second World War.

But they also have no illusions about the potential for catastrophic violence and say they are preparing themselves should the war arrive on their doorstep.

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US journalist killed near Kyiv

Picture of Brent Renaud from 2015 - Getty Images

A US journalist, Brent Renaud, has been shot dead in the town of Irpin outside Kyiv, police say.

Kyiv's police chief Andriy Nebytov said he had been targeted by Russian soldiers. Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital.

It is the first reported death of a foreign journalist covering the war in Ukraine.

Photographs are circulating showing a press ID for Renaud that was issued by the New York Times.

In a statement, the newspaper said it was saddened to hear of Renaud's death but that he had not been working for the newspaper in Ukraine.

He last worked for the newspaper in 2015, the NYT said, and the press ID he was wearing in Ukraine had been issued years ago. It was not immediately clear who Renaud was working for in Ukraine.

'They started shooting at us' - US journalist's colleague

We have more about the events leading to the death of US journalist Brent Renaud.

Another US journalist, Juan Arredondo, was taken to hospital after the incident. He told an Italian reporter that he was with Brent Renaud when they came under fire, in a video published on Twitter:

"We were across one of the first bridges in Irpin, going to film other refugees leaving, and we got into a car, somebody offered to take us to the other bridge and we crossed a checkpoint, and they start shooting at us.

"So the driver turned around, and they kept shooting; there's two of us. My friend is Brent Renaud, and he's been shot and left behind."

He goes on to say he doesn't know what happened to Renaud.

"I saw him being shot in the neck, and we got split," adding he was brought to a hospital by ambulance.

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The occupied town no-one has heard from in eight days

Abdujalil Abdurasulov -BBC News, Kyiv

The Ukrainian authorities have announced a number of evacuation routes. But in Kyiv region, they do not mention the villages and towns that are closer to the border with Belarus.

The Russian forces entered the town of Ivankiv, 65km north-west of Kyiv in the beginning of the invasion. The residents who spoke to the BBC at that time said that Russian soldiers opened fire at anyone who tried to leave the town. They couldn’t even collect their bodies.

As more troops arrived in Ivankiv from Belarus, it is believed that the Russians are using this place as a ground base for reinforcement before launching a new offensive on the capital Kyiv.

Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why they are not letting any civilians to leave since they could inform the Ukrainian forces about the movements of Russian troops and their positions.

The last time when the BBC was able to connect to the residents of Ivankiv, they said that they were running out of food supplies and were desperately hoping to be evacuated.

It’s been eight days since all communications with Ivankiv were cut off.

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More than 2,100 Mariupol residents killed - officials

Over in the surrounded south-eastern city of Mariupol - which has been under bombardment without essential services and supplies for nearly two weeks, the city council says 2,187 residents are now known to have been killed.

Local officials said there had been at least 22 Russian strikes on the city in the past day.

"People have been in a difficult situation for 12 days. There is no electricity, water or heating in the city. There is almost no mobile communication. The last reserves of food and water are running out," a statement said.

Russian forces have captured the city's eastern outskirts.

Recent satellite photos show extensive damage to residential and civilian infrastructure.

Image: Before and After Pictures of a Residential Area of Mariupol - from Satellite

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Journalists under fire in Ukraine

As we've been reporting, American Brent Renaud is thought to have been the first foreign reporter killed in the Ukraine conflict.

But there has been at least one other journalist killed - a cameraman who died in the Kyiv TV tower attack.

Yevhenii Sakun, a correspondent and camera operator for the Ukrainian television channel LIVE who was also working for the Spanish news agency EFE, was killed during a strike on the tower on 1 March, the International Federation of Journalists says.

And several others have come under fire, including Swiss photographer Guillaume Briquet, who was shot at by presumed members of a Russian special commando shortly after he passed a checkpoint on a road towards the southern city of Mykolaiv on 6 March, Reporters Without Borders says.

Briquet says he was also harassed by the soldiers, who stole €3,000 ($3,275; £2,500) and reporting equipment from him.

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Kyiv residents pray and wait for war to come
Wietske Burema - BBC News, Kyiv

Image of Emergency services personnel attending a ceremony at St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine - Copyright: Wietske Burema

The mood in central Kyiv is one of deep apprehension.

During a sombre morning service at St Volodymyr's Cathedral I saw two Ukrainian soldiers standing among the congregation, dressed in camouflage uniforms and with blue tape around their arms.

About 15 to 20 emergency services personnel, in their blue uniforms, said prayers as they lit candles in front of icons. One of them said they had come to the cathedral especially because they did not know what was going to be happening in a week’s time.

With Russian troops advancing on the capital, everyone seems to be waiting for war to come.

As I walked down one street, a soldier asked me: “Why are you still here?”

I also saw a slim woman in a blue duffel coat, standing straight and stock still, carefully taking in the city. It was as if she wanted to drink in the moment - remembering the city as it now, beautiful and intact, and wondering whether it will still be there when she looks again.

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18:01
'They must know they are bombing residential areas'
By Oleh Chernysh, BBC Ukrainian

Picture of a destroyed school in Zhytomyr - EPA Copyright

A lot of our reporting today has focused on the Yavoriv military base near Lviv, Irpin outside Kyiv where an American journalist was shot dead, and the desperate humanitarian situation in the south-eastern city of Mariupol.

But there are countless other towns with their own stories of what the war has brought.

One is Zhytomyr to the west of Kyiv - hit by more than 40 rocket and air attacks with dozens killed, both soldiers and civilians.

Mayor Serhiy Sukhomlyn says the town is a key logistics hub, with aid from Europe being delivered from there to Kyiv and beyond while refugees travel in the opposite direction.

Nina, a resident, told the BBC that her entire street of bungalows had been destroyed, with three people killed and many seriously injured.

She ran with her children to a neighbour's basement as soon as she heard the air raid siren.

“It sounded like the plane was very low, nearly touching us. The ground was shaking. How could they not see they are bombing residential areas?” Nina asked.

One of her neighbours, a mother-of-three, had been badly wounded in the head and stomach by flying glass, she said.

Nina has since left Zhytomyr and is heading to Poland, but her daughter has decided to stay in the city with her boyfriend, who was badly injured in the leg during the bombing.

Now the town is bracing for a possible ground offensive; the mayor meanwhile is working to ensure the remaining half of the local population still has access to basic services.

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Big anti-war protest in Berlin

Picture: Protesters demonstrate in support of Ukraine in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, Copyright: EPA

Earlier today up to 30,000 protesters waved Ukrainian flags and held anti-war banners at a big demonstration in central Berlin.