UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss holds frosty news conference with Russian counterpart
Sergei Lavrov says relations between UK and Russia leave "much to be desired"
Meanwhile Truss accuses Russia of "Cold War rhetoric"
In Brussels, Boris Johnson warns the Ukraine-Russia crisis is at its "most dangerous moment"
The UK PM then went to Poland as part of a diplomatic push
Russia has been massing troops on its neighbour's borders and in Belarus for months
And Johnson warns the intelligence on a possible invasion "remains grim"
That's the end of our live page today. Our writers were Doug Faulkner, Mary O'Connor, Jo Couzens, Marie Jackson, Alexandra Fouche, Patrick Jackson, Jeremy Gahagan, and Chris Giles. The editor was Owen Amos.
Keep up to date with our latest story here.
We'll shortly be closing our live coverage of the day's diplomatic moves.
Here's a quick roundup of today's developments:
Image source, Reuters
Image source, PA MediaOn a day dominated by geopolitics, earlier today four B-52 bombers arrived from the US at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
Jeffrey Lee Harrigian, commander of US Air Forces in Europe, said the long-planned arrivals coincided with an "ever-changing global security environment" and it was critical efforts with "allies and partners are unified."
In a statement, the US military said, external "the bomber rotations reinforce the US commitment to Nato allies and coalition partners to maintain our collective safety and sovereignty".
Image source, PA Media
Image source, EPAAndrzej Duda (L) with Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has wrapped up his lightning European trip by meeting Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.
The UK prime minister said Britain stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Poland and its eastern Nato allies. The two men then went into talks with their advisers.
After a day of meetings in Brussels and the Polish capital, Johnson is due to fly back to London on a chartered plane after talking to Duda.
As we reported earlier, the UK PM says that if Russia were to "be so foolish to make the catastrophic mistake of invading any part of Ukraine, the Ukrainian army... will fight and there will be bloodshed".
Watch his comments below.
UK PM warns Russia against invading Ukraine
Image source, TASS/GettySergei Lavrov has a reputation for biting sarcasm - and it has emerged the veteran Russian foreign minister tripped up his UK counterpart Liz Truss with a question when they met behind closed doors today.
Truss was pressing for Russia to pull its troops back from Ukraine's borders and Lavrov was arguing that they were on their own national territory, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reports, external.
"You do recognise Russia's sovereignty over the Rostov and Voronezh regions?" Lavrov asked, referring to two Russian regions.
After a brief pause, the paper says, Truss replied: "Great Britain will never recognise Russia's sovereignty over those regions."
"Great Britain's Ambassador to the RF [Russian Federation], Deborah Bronnert, had to step in, delicately explaining to Ms Truss that the two regions [Rostov and Voronezh] are indeed Russian," Kommersant writes.
The British Embassy later tweeted, external (in Russian) this response from Truss: "During the meeting it seemed to me that Minister Lavrov was talking about a part of Ukraine. I have made clear that these regions [Rostov and Voronezh] are part of sovereign Russia."
It is possible that Truss had been thinking of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where Russian-backed rebels control territory.
James Waterhouse
Kyiv correspondent, BBC News
The most striking thing is Ukrainians are used to this kind of tension. This wave of Russian aggression has been going on for eight years.
They have been at war, 14,000 lives have been lost, there have been 20 attempts at a ceasefire in the east. They have all failed. So that’s a long time for Ukrainians to be looking over their shoulder.
That said, over the past few weeks we have seen this heightening of language - notably between the West and Russia over the accusations of an impending invasion and Russia denying it, saying it is its sovereign right to stage military exercises in its own country.
That starts to trickle down and get harder to ignore. Ukrainians are expressing their exhaustion online and their growing anxiety - because it is difficult to live your day to day life with these reports swirling above you.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has been speaking to BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg following her talks with her Russian counterpart.
She tells him that the UK is "very united" with its European and American allies on the "very dangerous situation" in Ukraine.
She says it is "not just a threat to European peace, security and democracy" but a threat to global security - and warns there could be "dire consequences" for all of the world if a sovereign country can be invaded without consequences.
Truss says we need to see Russia "de-escalate" the situation and "we need to move forward into proper diplomatic talks to resolve this situation round the table rather than seeing an incursion in Ukraine".
Quote MessageWe were told in the press conference by Sergei Lavrov that Russia don’t have plans to invade, if that’s the case why are there 100,000 troops on the Ukranian border, why are there armoured divisions being amassed, why is there a threat through Belarus? That is the question that I put to Sergei Lavrov today that he has not answered - and the only way that Russia can dispel the fear that there is an impending invasion is to move those troops and forces away from the border."
Liz Truss
And here's more from Johnson's earlier chat with broadcasters in Warsaw.
He says there must be "an automatic package of sanctions ready to go" if Russia invades Ukraine - including on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline - a new 1,200km (745-mile) gas pipeline running from western Russia to north-eastern Germany.
"We all know how difficult that is for some of our friends and we all know that, particularly right now with the spike in gas prices, it will be tough to say 'no' to Nord Stream 2," Johnson says.
"But I think it is absolutely right that we need to make progress on that. That is a very, very important priority."
The €10bn (£8.3bn) Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is designed to double the amount of natural gas flowing from Russia straight to Germany.
Work on the pipeline finished last September. But Russian firm Gazprom is still awaiting approval from European regulators before it can open the taps and start pumping gas.
The pipeline would be able to pump 55 billion cubic metres of gas to Germany each year.
The UK PM has spent the afternoon with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw...
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As we've been reporting, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in Poland, where he met his Polish counterpart earlier for talks on the Ukraine crisis.
Speaking to reporters from a Polish military base, Johnson insists that everyone should be in "no doubt" that if Russia were to make the "foolish" and "catastrophic" mistake of invading Ukraine, the Ukrainian army would fight and there would be "bloodshed".
"Everybody in Russia must understand that and it will not be easy," he says.
Johnson adds that the West will strengthen Nato's eastern frontier - and that Vladimir Putin must understand that, if he wants a reduction in Nato forces on Russia's western borders, then its current position was "the wrong way to go about it".
It has been a busy day so far across Europe - here's a reminder of some of the key moments:
Image source, PA MediaBoris Johnson gave a news conference with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, after talks in Brussels. The PM warned tensions between Russia and Ukraine were at "the most dangerous moment".
Image source, EPAIn Moscow, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met her Russian equivalent, Sergei Lavrov, and warned that continued "aggression" would lead to "severe consequences". But Lavrov said it was Russia that was being threatened - adding that there was "a lot of hysteria in the West".
Image source, ReutersIt comes as around 130,000 Russian troops mass near the border with Ukraine. Russia and Belarus have also started 10 days of joint military drills.
Image source, EPAAfter Brussels, the PM headed to Warsaw for talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The pair held a press conference during which Johnson said that when "Poland is threatened, we are all threatened".
Joel Gunter
BBC News, Kyiv, Ukraine
Svetlana answers the phone at Ukraine's first suicide helpline
Russia's massing of troops along Ukraine's borders - the "escalation" as people often call it here - has led international front pages for weeks.
From outside Ukraine, it can appear as though the country is on the brink of war. But inside Ukraine the impression is different. The country is at war. It has been for eight years. At least 4,600 Ukrainian soldiers have died in the conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the east.
And the toll is not just counted in the country's dead. The conflict has stressed the national psyche. Among Ukraine's soldiers and veterans, it has resulted in high suicide rates, worsened by a deep stigma around mental health.
"In Ukraine, the son or daughter who committed suicide is never mentioned in the same breath as the one who died in combat," said Oksana Ivantsiiv, a Ukrainian journalist.
Staff at the country's first suicide helpline are trying to help, but the escalation is working against them, said Svetlana, a staff member there. "Callers are anxious about this uncertainty," she said. "It is dragging on."
You can read Joel's full report here.
Image source, TASS/GettyA rebel fighter on the front line in Luhansk this month
Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau has been having talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, in Kyiv.
Rau also heads up the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which monitors the ceasefire in the east.
"We are seriously concerned about the situation in and around Ukraine," he said, referring to "Russia's growing military presence along the border with Ukraine and in Belarus".
The OSCE plays an important role in Ukraine by monitoring the fragile ceasefire between government forces and Russian-backed rebels in the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
It publishes a daily report on ceasefire violations by both sides and its latest update, external, for Tuesday, conveys the level of ongoing unrest on the front line of what is supposed to be a frozen conflict.
The report records 11 ceasefire violations, including seven explosions, in Donetsk, while Luhansk saw 169 ceasefire violations, including 29 explosions.
It notes that most of the shooting appeared to be live-fire exercises but the truce has regularly been broken, with people killed or injured on both sides.
Watch this video about one Ukrainian soldier killed while serving on the front line.
'He gave his life for Ukraine'
The foreign secretary tweets for the first time since the talks with Sergei Lavrov...
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As we've been reporting, UK PM Boris Johnson is spending the afternoon with his Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw.
Earlier, the two men held a news conference - with Johnson saying "Poland and the UK won't accept a world in which a powerful neighbour can bully or attack their neighbours".
UK and Poland won't accept powerful neighbours bullying others
Image source, EPAIt's been a busy day for Boris Johnson - and with a visit to Brussels and two news conferences out of the way, he now is off to meet troops in Poland.
The prime minister and his Polish counterpart have been driven to the home of the 1st Warsaw Armoured Brigade in the south-east of the Polish capital after their bilateral talks at the chancellery.
They were met there by Polish defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak and Colonel Dai Bevan, commander of the UK contribution to the Nato-enhanced mission in Estonia and Poland.
The two politicians met some of the additional 350 Royal Marines deployed by Britain to reassure Nato's eastern members in the face of increasing fears over a Russian incursion into Ukraine.
And from earlier, here's Liz Truss addressing her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, over the situation in Ukraine...
Ukraine crisis: Liz Truss urges Russia to 'abandon Cold War rhetoric'
James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent
In case you missed it at 12:12 GMT, here's our diplomatic correspondent's analysis on the Lavrov-Truss talks earlier...
On the basis of this morning’s news conference in Moscow, relations between Russia and Britain remain as cold as ever.
The exchanges began slowly. Sergei Lavrov began with a gentle recitation of Russia’s demands and said the talks had improved the UK’s understanding of those demands.
Liz Truss responded by rejecting Russia’s core argument, namely that its security is somehow threatened by Nato expansion and the possibility of Ukraine joining the military alliance. “That is just not true,” she said.
She accused Russia of using aggression to try to “relitigate the past” in a way that was undermining its international standing. This lit Mr Lavrov’s fuse and he hit back.
The talks had been “disappointing”, he said, adding that it was as if the two sides were listening but not hearing. He accused the UK and the West of “hysteria” that was destabilising Ukraine. The West was demanding guarantees from Russia but offering none back in what he described as a “one sided dialogue”.
On Mr Lavrov went: "Russia has been cheated and wronged for many years."
Ms Truss responded robustly: Russia’s 100,000 troops were threatening Ukraine, she said, Russia needed to abide by agreements it had signed not to do so, and it needed to implement a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.
Mr Lavrov responded, again at length: Nato had promised not to expand but it had - the alliance had a history of being aggressive and cited the former Yugoslavia and Iraq as an example. He also compared the Ukrainian President Zelensky to the Nazi propagandist, Joseph Goebbels.
So diplomacy took place, messages were delivered and received. But there appeared little progress - and no warming of the frosty ground dividing Britain and Russia.
Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent
Image source, Getty ImagesAhead of Boris Johnson’s arrival, the first of 350 Royal Marines landed at Warsaw airport to boost the UK’s military presence in Poland.
Since 2017, there’s been about 150 British troops deployed in Poland as part of NATO’s US-led battlegroup in the north-east of the country.
In December, more than 100 British military engineers have been here advising Poland on the construction of a permanent fence designed to keep out migrants and refugees crossing illegally from Belarus.
Today’s arrivals will be heading to the south-east, close to the Ukrainian border.
The numbers are tiny compared to the amount of Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders.
But the UK’s military support has been warmly welcomed in Warsaw, with Polish officials speaking of the two countries’ “excellent” relations ahead of the visit.
Number 10 will also be hoping that its gesture will help it seal deals to sell British-made frigates and missiles to Poland.