For now, the fighting goes onpublished at 18:31 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March

18:31 GMT 24 March

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent in Kyiv

Image source, Reuters

There may be ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia. But on the ground in Ukraine the firing continues without cease.

Today it was the turn of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine. It’s long been the subject of Russian attacks – it’s just over the border from the Kursk region of Russia occupied by Ukraine last year. But the missile strike that laid waste to parts of the city this afternoon was exceptional.

The authorities said a school, hospital and apartment blocks were damaged. Scores were injured – including children.

So far there’ve been no reports of any deaths. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andriy Sybiha, asked how Moscow could speak of peace while carrying out such brutal strikes. Instead of making hollow statements about peace, he said, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.

For its part, Ukraine destroyed four Russian attack helicopters in a missile attack in the Belgorod region.

And Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in the Krasnodar region. For now, the fighting goes on.

We're now pausing our live coverage of the Ukraine war, should there be any key developments we will be back to bring you the latest.

Ben Hatton
Live reporter

Image source, Reuters

US-Russia negotiations in Saudi Arabia continue as we await an update on the outcome of the talks. We heard from the Ukrainian delegates that their conversation with American officials on Sunday was "productive".

At least 65 people, including several children, have been injured by a missile strike in Sumy, Ukraine's prosecution service says. Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha have both used the incident to question Russia's desire for peace.

Russia claims Ukraine struck an oil pumping station in the early hours of Monday, according to Pravda. The Kremlin said last week that Putin had agreed to halt strikes on energy infrastructure during a call with US President Donald Trump.

Ukrainian President Zelensky, in an interview with Time Magazine, said he believes "Russia has managed to influence some people on the White House team". Speaking to reporters in Washington DC, Trump appeared to accept this claim as he said the US wants to "get things settled".

Several residential buildings and at least one school damaged in Sumy attackpublished at 18:20 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March

18:20 GMT 24 March

Image source, Reuters

By Joshua Cheetham, Benedict Garman and Shayan Sardarizadeh

BBC Verify has been looking at videos of the latest Russian strikes in the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

We’ve located them to an area in the north-west of the city, but we can’t report the exact address due to local restrictions.

Authorities have not yet named the location.

Footage shows damage to several residential buildings, and at least one school - with a huge black smoke cloud billowing from one site.

It's also unclear what weapon was used to carry it out, since no fragments of debris from munition are clearly visible. Authorities have described it as a missile strike.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

A senior MP from President Zelensky’s party has called for US envoy Steve Witkoff to be removed from peace talks following his interview with journalist Tucker Carlson.

In the interview, Witkoff made several false claims about Ukraine and repeated various Russian arguments, including that Ukraine was "a false country". He also asked when the world would recognise occupied Ukrainian territory as Russian.

Oleksandr Merezhko, who heads the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, calls Witkoff’s remarks “shameful and shocking.”

“I don’t know if it’s naivety, ignorance or lack of professionalism,” Merezhko tells US-funded Radio Liberty. “As a presidential representative, it is his job to know certain basic, obvious things. He doesn’t. He rebroadcasts Russian propaganda.”

“Of course, we cannot dictate to our American friends who will be representing them. But that man must be removed from their delegation. He cannot be a presidential representative because he is either absolutely unprofessional or he is simply repeating Putin’s narratives,” Merezhko says.

“My question is: is he Trump’s envoy or Putin’s?” he asks.

Merezhko is a member of Zelensky’s Servant of the People Party. Earlier this month, Trump issued an order stripping back funding for Radio Liberty and other foreign-facing US broadcasters such as the Voice of America.

Image source, Reuters

As we reported earlier, US President Donald Trump says the American delegation in Saudi Arabia have a "great group of people" working on a possible ceasefire deal.

We can bring you more from Trump now, as he expects a deal giving US firms access to Ukrainian critical minerals will be signed "very soon".

Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump says his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, has told him "the agreement on rare earths is just about completed". "They'll sign it shortly," Trump adds.

• As a reminder, the minerals deal was expected to be signed during Zelensky's visit to Washington in February, but was put on hold after the meeting in front of journalists and TV cameras turned into a shouting match

Image source, Reuters

The US-Russia and US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia are not the only diplomatic efforts due to be held this week in relation to the Ukraine war.

Representatives from the so-called "coalition of the willing" will meeting in Paris on Thursday, according to French President Emmanuel Macron.

The coalition is being led by the UK and France, and aims to provide possible solutions to ensure any potential ceasefire agreement can be maintained and give Ukraine confidence about its future security.

Zelensky will be in Paris for the latest talks, Macron told reporters last Thursday.

The meeting will be a chance to "discuss and fine-tune" plans, he said, according to the AFP news agency.

Image source, PA Media

The prime minister is continually updating the White House on meetings with his allies, following conversations on military planning, a Downing Street spokesperson says.

Over the past month, Keir Starmer has hosted international leaders and top military figures in an effort to launch his so-called "coalition of the willing".

The spokesperson says "conversations are happening the whole time between the US, UK and other allies".

The statement adds that these conversations aren't "linear" as they are happening at the same time as the US-led talks in Riyadh.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

In the Time interview mentioned in the previous post, Zelensky also claimed that Russia had managed to influence "some people on the White House team through information."

When I asked President Trump if he had a response to this a moment ago, he replied they probably "have been influenced to get this thing settled, because Ukraine wants to see it settled. Russia wants to see it settled."

He went on to say the US has "a great group of people working on it."

Image source, EPA

As possible ceasefire talks continue in Saudi Arabia, Time Magazine has published, external a lengthy interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In it he talks about the US's ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelensky says Donald Trump "seems to be the only one that Putin fears."

"The Russians got really scared" at one point in the peace process when the US threatened to sanction the Kremlin for its continued bombing raids against Ukraine, Zelensky says.

The Ukrainian president also says that over time he hopes Trump will realise Putin is untrustworthy and weaker than he seems.

He goes on to say that Russia's victory in the war would be a disaster not just for Ukraine but the entire West, including the US's current leaders.

Trump and his team would not accept such a loss, saying they "see their role in history" as powerful leaders and people who can achieve a dignified end to the war, the Ukrainian president concludes.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC

Good afternoon from the White House, where we had a wet, drab morning.

Shortly, at 1400 EST (1800g), President Trump has an event scheduled with the Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry.

That event will be open to the White House press "pool" - which today will include the BBC. As often happens at similar events, it's likely Trump will speak about, and take questions on, other topics - which today is sure to include the talks about Ukraine in Saudi Arabia.

Later in the afternoon, Trump and the White House will host an event to mark Greek Independence Day.

We'll bring you the latest from the White House if anything develops.

Matt Spivey
Live editor

Throughout the day we've been reporting on continuing strikes carried out by both Russia and Ukraine as the war rages on.

In Sumy, a Russian missile attack on "children's establishments", hospitals and homes has left at least 65 people, including several children, injured, Ukraine's prosecution service says.

Nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) away in a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States have been holding talks in the hopes of bringing peace to the region.

Representatives from Kyiv and Washington met on Sunday, talks which Ukraine's defence minister hailed as "productive", though no details of those discussions have been released.

Currently, teams from Moscow and Washington are holding their own separate talks, where the main focus is believed to be on a Black Sea deal – which could allow Ukraine to export its grain by sea without being attacked by Russia, which pulled out of a similar deal in Summer 2023.

As conversations remain behind closed doors, we are waiting to hear updates from key officials. Following their "focused" discussion yesterday, Ukraine and the US are set to meet again, but again, we have no further details on that at the moment.

Our team in London will be bringing you the latest updates, and we will have analysis from the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner, who is in Riyadh, and James Landale, who is in the Ukrainian capital.

The Russian defence ministry says Ukraine launched a drone attack against the Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station in the Krasnodar at 02:00 today, according to Pravda.

State news agency Tass says the attack "impossible to transport oil from it to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system in the foreseeable future"

On Saturday Ukraine launched two drone strikes at the Valuyki gas distribution station in the Belgorod region, state news agency RIA reports the Russian defence ministry as saying, with damage caused to technological equipment.

• For context: Following talks with US President Donald Trump last week Vladimir Putin agreed not to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure. Within hours of this being announced both Moscow and Kyiv accused the other of breaching the agreement.

Image source, Reuters

We can now bring you fresh reaction to the Russian missile attack in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says Russia is "once again showing that it wants to continue the terror".

"The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to stop the aggression and ensure justice and save the lives of Ukrainians," he writes on X.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha echoes this, saying that "instead of making hollow statements about peace, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians".

"Any diplomacy with Moscow must be backed up by firepower, sanctions, and pressure."

We've just heard a bit more about the Russian strike on Sumy from the head of the Sumy regional administration, Volodymyr Artyukh.

He says Russia "launched a rocket strike on the city centre" and damaged several high-rise buildings and a school.

"The children were in a protective structure and were evacuated," he says, before adding "all are alive".

"Rescue services are working to eliminate the consequences and extinguish the fires," Artyukh adds.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Sumy’s acting mayor Artem Kobzar has amended his posts on social media to say that the Russian missile strike today targeted “children’s establishments and a hospital”. The original version said “residential areas and infrastructure including children's hospitals” were the target.

Sumy is the administrative centre of northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia’s Kursk region. Ukraine launched an incursion into Kursk region last August, but over the past weeks Ukrainian forces have been withdrawing under pressure from the Russians.

Sumy has been the target of numerous Russian attacks in the past, and recently the regional authorities have been warning of increasing number of missile and drone attacks, as well as attempts by Russian units to cross the border into Sumy region.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

The number of people confirmed as wounded in the Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy has risen to 65, including 14 children, Ukraine's prosecution service says.

In a statement, it says the attack was carried out at about 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and targeted a densely populated area.

They add that an investigation into the missile attack has been launched.

Russia has slowly made advances since launching its full-scale invasion three years ago, particularly in the east.

Attacks there have intensified in recent days, as well as north of Kharkiv, while Ukrainian troops have been forced back from the Kursk region of Russia.

In eastern Ukraine, Moscow's war machine has been churning mile by mile through the wide open fields of the Donbas, enveloping and overwhelming villages and towns.

Despite this, Ukrainian forces claim to have recaptured a village in the Luhansk region - their first successful counter offensive in the east of the country for many months.

• Ukraine in maps: Tracking the war with Russia

Image source, Getty Images

As we've just reported, at least 28 people have been injured in a missile strike on Sumy, northern Ukraine, and elsewhere the fighting continues.

Ukraine's Armed Forces says on Telegram that there were 140 clashes over the past day, including 74 air strikes on Ukrainian units and settlements.

It highlights attacks in the northern Sumy and Kharkiv regions as well as the eastern Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Several efforts to break the Ukrainian lines were repelled, it says, and the Ukrainian Defense Forces has continued its operation in the Kursk region of Russia.

"Our soldiers inflict significant losses on the occupation forces in manpower and equipment, and are actively undermining the enemy's offensive potential in the rear," the post says, adding that Russia lost 1,280 people and numerous pieces of equipment in the past day.

Russian military says they intercepted 28 Ukrainian drones overnight as Ukraine's Special Operations Forces (SSO) say they destroyed four military helicopters parked at a concealed location in Russia’s Belgorod region.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
Russia editor, BBC Monitoring

At least 28 people, including four children, have been injured in the Russian missile attack on Sumy, acting Mayor Artem Kobzar says.

According to him, the attack targeted residential areas and infrastructure including children's hospitals.

Update at 15:03 GMT - Kobzar later updated his post to say "children's establishments and a hospital" were hit, rather than "children's hospitals"