Russia accuses Ukraine's special services of murdering Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin
She died in a suspected car bombing on a road outside Moscow on Saturday
Putin calls her death a "vile, cruel crime" and says she was a "bright, talented person", in a message from the Kremlin
But Ukraine denies any involvement
Meanwhile, Kyiv officials ban mass events in the Ukrainian capital, while the northern city of Kharkiv plans a curfew from Tuesday evening
It comes after Ukraine's President Zelensky warns Russia could do "something particularly ugly" ahead of Wednesday's Independence Day celebrations
We're now pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Thanks for joining us.
The page was written by Jack Burgess, Matt Murphy, Marita Moloney, Laurence Peter and Malu Cursino. It was edited by Chris Giles, Alexandra Fouché, and Jasmine-Taylor-Coleman.
You can follow our story here for further updates or read analysis on today's developments here.
Image source, Russian Investigative Committee/ReutersInvestigators at the site of the suspected car bomb attack that killed Darya Dugina
We'll be pausing our live coverage of the war in Ukraine shortly. Here's a round up of what's been happening today:
"Tense" is how Ukrainian TV has described the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant a little earlier.
A correspondent for United News - a Ukrainian television service - has said Russia's troops are continuing to fire provocatively at the power station's industrial site. But Russia blames Ukraine for the shelling.
She says yesterday an overpass was hit "creating a serious risk of violating fire and radiation safety".
According to the correspondent, paramedic Bohdan Bondarenko has said Russian servicemen have shown radiation sickness symptoms and were taken to hospital after one of the plant's generating units was shelled.
However, she adds the general radiation level at the plant and in the city is normal, according to Enerhodar's exiled mayor Dmytro Orlov.
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Image source, ReutersThe US has warned Russia's ambassador to Washington against Moscow escalating its war in Ukraine and called on military operations to stop around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russia was warned "to cease all military operations at or near Ukraine’s nuclear facilities and to return full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukraine".
The message was conveyed to Ambassador Anatoly Antonov during a visit to the State Department on 18 August, a department spokesperson said today.
Europe's largest nuclear power plant, overrun by Russian troops in March, remains the target of repeated shelling, with both Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for the attacks.
Image source, ReutersWe've been hearing a lot about Darya Dugina, who died in a suspected car bombing on a road outside Moscow on Saturday.
Here's what we know so far:
Image source, Isakov/TelegramEduard Isakov claims he tried to make his daughter more "adult"
A Russian lawmaker has condemned his daughter as a “traitor” for opposing the war in Ukraine, which Russia has consistently called a “special military operation”.
Senator Eduard Isakov said 25-year-old Diana Isakova, a yoga teacher, had given interviews to “foreign agent media” and “sold her father, family, motherland and left Russia”.
“It’s hard to put it into words, when your daughter turns out to be a traitor,” he writes on the Telegram messaging service. He represents the large Khanty-Mansi region in Siberia.
He says she had a troubled youth, involving previous rows with him and alleged attempts to take her own life. Before the war they had fallen out over her support for LGBT rights.
He wears a jacket in parliament sporting a big Z – a Russian pro-war symbol.
Ms Isakova has spoken to BBC Russian and the Meduza news website.
In an Instagram post, she said: “I’M AGAINST this war! NO WAR!”
She says she had “appeased” President Vladimir Putin’s government “by my silence, passivity and fear for my life, though I knew how cruel and immoral it was”.
“But now it’s all too much appeasement and fear. Now our government is making our nation and a neighbouring one suffer.”
She was detained and questioned by police for an anti-war protest in April, and left Russia on 19 August.
Image source, Isakova/InstagramDiana Isakova calls the Putin government "immoral"
Image source, ReutersNearly 9,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of Russia's invasion, Ukraine's commander in chief, general Valeriy Zaluzhny says.
Zaluzhny's statement, reported by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, provides an estimate of the number of losses since the war began almost six months ago.
In June, Ukraine's presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych had said 10,000 soldiers had died since the beginning of the conflict.
Russia has not updated its official death toll since 25 March, when authorities said 1,351 soldiers and officers had died.
The BBC cannot verify either figure, but recent analysis from BBC Russian based on open sources suggests that - as of 19 August - there have been 5,701 confirmed deaths of Russian soldiers and officers.
However, the number of confirmed deaths the BBC has access to may contain at least 40-60% fewer names than those who have actually been buried in Russia, as the analysis relied on confirmed death reports.
Image source, ReutersAs the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the six-month mark, here's a brief recap of some key moments from the war:
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Image source, Getty ImagesRussia's State Duma council will meet on Thursday to discuss the standoff over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
Europe's largest nuclear facility has been under Russian control since March, with both Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of shelling the plant.
Kyiv has accused Russia of "nuclear terrorism" and of turning the site into a military base.
In an official notice, the Duma said MPs would convene to discuss "the threat to the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant".
The assembly's speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, tells state media a statement will be released after the meeting addressed to the UN and other international bodies.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to allow inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to visit the site.
A top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky has hit back at Russian accusations that Ukraine was responsible for the bomb that killed Darya Dugina.
Earlier, Moscow alleged that a Ukrainian national working on behalf of Kyiv's security services planted the bomb, before fleeing across the border to Estonia.
But Mykhailo Podolyak called Moscow's accusations "fictional" and accused Russia of spreading propaganda.
Kyiv has consistently denied being behind the blast and yesterday Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian MP and prominent critic of President Vladimir Putin, said that internal groups opposed to the current regime were behind the bombing.
Ponomarev claimed the bombing was the work of a group called the National Republican Army, a collection of anti-Putin activists who have allegedly staged other attacks in Russia. The BBC cannot independently verify his claims.
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Image source, ReutersThe car bomb that killed Darya Dugina on Saturday was detonated remotely, Russia's state news agency Tass reports.
Russia's FSB security service has blamed Ukrainian intelligence agents for her death, but Ukraine has denied involvement.
The FSB says there was a "remote-controlled explosion of the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado car Dugina was driving", according to Tass.
Darya Dugina was the daughter of the prominent Russian ultra-nationalist thinker Alexander Dugin and there has been widespread speculation the bomb may have been intended for him.
Image source, ReutersDarya Dugina died on Saturday when a car she was driving exploded near Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his "sincere condolences" to the family of Darya Dugina.
In a message released by the Kremlin, Putin calls her death a "vile, cruel crime" and describes her as "a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart - kind, loving, sympathetic and open".
Russia has accused Ukraine's special services of murdering Dugina, who is the daughter of ultra-nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
Ukraine has denied involvement in her death.
Will Vernon
BBC News, Moscow
Alexander Dugin is a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, as was the late Darya Dugina.
The FSB Security Service has said that Ukrainian intelligence agents were responsible for her murder.
In a statement released today, the FSB claimed that Ukrainian operatives fled to Estonia after blowing up Dugina's car.
An adviser to the Ukrainian president has denied Ukraine was involved.
This morning, the Time Will Tell programme on Russian state TV paid tribute to Dugina, a regular guest.
“She died for the idea of the ‘Russian World’,” said presenter Olesya Loseva.
Image source, Russian Investigative Committee/GettyOne studio guest suggested the response would be “holy fury” and the programme showed a photograph of mortar shells, apparently belonging to pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, one of which had “this is for Darya!” scrawled on the side.
If Dugina’s killing was meant to intimidate Russia, bellowed several of the guests, “it will have the opposite effect”.
Analyst Yekaterina Shulman says the outpouring of anger amongst pro-Kremlin commentators in response to the car bomb attack appears suspicious.
“The reaction…was immediate. It looks as if they were waiting for something like this to happen,” she says.
Image source, ReutersWhoever was responsible, says Shulman, the killing “could possibly be used to ramp up some public outrage within the country to justify even more active repressive actions on the part of the state”.
Amongst ordinary Russians though, the killing of Dugina - a very minor figure in Russia - will have made little impact, if any.
But many here will be worried about the worsening security situation in Russia.
A series of explosions have hit Russian bases in occupied Crimea, and in Russian regions near the border with Ukraine, in recent weeks.
And some opinion polls do show that more Russians are becoming concerned that the ‘special military operation’ – what the Kremlin likes to call its invasion of Ukraine – is dragging on, and is unsuccessful.
The father of Darya Dugina, Alexander Dugin, has given a statement on the death of his daughter.
He calls her death "a terrorist act by the Ukrainian Nazi regime" and says his daughter was "brutally murdered in front of me".
"She was a beautiful Orthodox woman, patriot, war reporter, an expert for central TV and philosopher," he says.
"We only need our victory. My daughter sacrificed her young woman's life to its altar. So please, achieve it!"
Ukraine has denied involvement in Dugina's death.
Will Vernon
BBC News, Moscow
Muscovites on Monday morning awoke to a smoky haze that had enveloped the city: nearby wildfires were to blame, say the authorities.
The other topic of conversation – no less murky than the smog – who killed the ultra-nationalist Darya Dugina, and was she the intended target?
The 29-year-old was killed in a car bomb explosion on Saturday night.
Russian media reported that her father, radical philosopher Alexander Dugin, was supposed to be travelling in the vehicle, but changed his mind at the last minute.
This led to speculation that Dugin was the intended victim.
Image source, ReutersAlexander Dugin addresses a rally in Moscow
Dugin, a philosopher with a long grey beard, is a controversial figure in Russia.
His political ideology, Eurasianism, sees Russia as the centre of a new empire that will challenge liberal democracy and Western culture.
Previously on the fringes of political life here, Dugin’s ideology went mainstream as Russia became more belligerent on the world stage.
But he has never held any official positions in state structures.
Political analyst Yekaterina Shulman told me that theories of Dugin being ‘close to Putin,’ or ‘Putin’s brain’ are incorrect.
“He may have been influential indirectly – some things he wrote may appeal to [people in the security services]….but he did not have any direct influence on the decision-making process, ever," she said.
Image source, ReutersDarya Dugina, 29, was a journalist, political commentator and vocal supporter of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
She regularly appeared on Russian television and in May called the war in Ukraine “a clash of civilisations”.
Earlier this year she was sanctioned by US and UK authorities, external, who accused her of contributing to online "disinformation" about Russia's invasion.
Dugina was killed on Saturday evening when a bomb exploded in the car she was driving near Moscow.
There has been widespread speculation the bomb may have been intended for her father, the Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin.
If you're just joining us, here's a round up on the latest from Ukraine today:
Hugo Bachega
Reporting from Kyiv
Image source, Russian Investigative Committee/EPAInvestigators working at the scene of the car explosion outside Moscow
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, said yesterday that Ukraine was not involved in the attack on Darya Dugina and, so far, there is no evidence to suggest this bombing is linked to the conflict here.
“Ukraine has absolutely nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state like Russia, or a terrorist one at that,” he said on national television.
Russian authorities have opened a murder investigation into the killing and a spokesperson for the country’s foreign ministry said if any Ukrainian link was found, it would amount to state terrorism.
It's early days. There's been a lot of speculation, but if you look at the bigger picture, this is obviously something that raises a lot of concern in Moscow.
This assassination comes after a string of explosions and attacks in Crimea and in Russian regions near Ukraine and although there is no evidence these events are connected, they're putting a lot of pressure on the Kremlin.
More now on Russia's allegations that Ukraine was behind the assassination of Darya Dugina.
Security officials in Moscow say the suspect - a Ukrainian woman - had rented an apartment in the same block where Dugina lived to collect information on her lifestyle and movements.
They said the attacker followed Dugina in a Mini Cooper - including to a festival outside Moscow, where Daria and her father were guests of honour. Dugina died when her car was torn apart by a bomb on her way back.
Russia's FSB says the attacker then fled to EU member Estonia.
Dugina, 30, is the daughter of Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin, who is often referred to as "Putin's brain".
In 2014, Dugin told the BBC that war between Russia and Ukraine was "inevitable" and called on Putin to intervene militarily "to save Russia's moral authority".
Image source, ReutersRussia has accused Ukrainian intelligence officers of organising the assassination of Darya Dugina, the daughter of one of President Vladimir Putin's top supporters.
The FSB, Russia's internal security service, said a Ukrainian citizen who arrived in the country in July was behind the attack on Saturday night.
Officers said that the suspect fled Russia into Estonia after Dugina was killed in a car bomb on a road outside Moscow. The BBC cannot independently verify the allegations.
Ukraine has denied involvement in the attack and Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian MP, said yesterday that internal groups opposed to Putin's rule were behind the assassination.