Sped-up footage appears to show large queues of cars at a checkpoint on the Georgia-Russia border.

As we reported earlier, our correspondent Rayhan Demytrie, who is at the Upper Lars checkpoint, has spoken to two people who recently crossed who said that a queue of at least 5km (3.1 miles) had built up on the Russian side.

Georgia is one of the few remaining countries Russians can reach without a visa.

It follows President Putin's order yesterday to mobilise 300,000 more Russians with military experience, which has also sparked protests in Russian cities.

Moscow has already begun implementing its plans to call up reservists to fight in Ukraine, where it has suffered setbacks in recent weeks.

Jen Monaghan
Russian media analyst at BBC Monitoring

President Putin’s order for a partial mobilisation of Russian reservists has been met with concern in opposition media but pro-Kremlin outlets have sought to justify the move and allay public fears over the news.

In the hours after the announcement, the talk shows on Russia’s two main channels got to work selling the mobilisation to the public, framing it as a logical response to threats posed by the West.

"The Russian Federation, in my view, always acts consistently in response to a direct threat to its existence and security," said a pundit on state-controlled Channel One.

Today's papers offered their own take on the mobilisation and what it could mean for the conflict going forward.

Popular daily Moskovsky Komsomolets, external saw the partial mobilisation as raising the stakes over Ukraine.

"What is happening now is a classic zero-sum game. A simultaneous victory for Moscow, Kyiv and the West is no longer possible. For someone to win, someone has to lose. This determined, determines and will determine the further course of events,” it said.

The pro-Kremlin Izvestia, external daily asked its readers: “Do you want peace? Fight for it.”

"The West did not leave us the option to achieve peace without mobilising and winning."

Striking images show Russian police officers, clad in riot gear, taking a heavy-handed approach yesterday to anti-mobilisation protesters.

President Putin informed Russians on Wednesday that he had signed a decree which would enable him to call on up to 300,000 military reservists to be deployed to Ukraine.

Photographers have captured the scenes in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Rex Features

As we've reported, 16 people detained at protests against mobilisation were given a summons to report for military duty, according to Russian human rights group OVD-Info.

Many Russian commentators have warned that, as of yesterday, people who have taken part in unsanctioned protests risk more than jail and could be sent to the front in Ukraine instead.

President Vladimir Putin ordered part mobilisation yesterday, meaning 300,000 military reservists will be called up.

More than 1,300 people have been arrested for protesting the order, according to OVD-Info.

Image source, Rex Features

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainians are celebrating the biggest prisoner exchange with Russia since Moscow's invasion seven months ago.

Residents in Kyiv told Reuters TV they were over the moon to hear the news.

"This is very good news", Iryna Vyshnyk, 35, says, "a sign that Moscow is slowly giving up already".

Twenty-three-year-old Yullia Adamovych says she didn't know the prisoners of war personally, but she was "sheer happiness for them coming back".

"We have been witnessing their stories, so we are practically acquainted with them and who they are", Yullia says.

"We were cheering for them, so I am very happy this [the prisoner swap] was successful."

Stas Halaidiuk, 32, says he had "lost hope that they would be returned".

He thought Russia would never return soldiers from the Azov battalion, who fought back against Russian troops in Mariupol.

Last night, more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged for 55 Russian troops and former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk.

Stas says he didn't understand at first, but then he saw news that Medvedchuk had been exchanged for them and it all made more sense.

Medvedchuk is a wealthy Ukrainian businessman and pro-Russian politician, and his daughter has Russian President Vladimir Putin as a godfather.

In Ukraine, President Zelensky has taken to Telegram to thank Turkey and Saudi Arabia for their respective roles in last night's prisoner of war exchange.

First mentioning the 215 Ukrainian soldiers "returned from from Russian captivity", Zelensky says he appreciates "the contribution of everyone involved in rescuing the defenders". He specifically mentions "President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for leading this process".

The five released commanders of Mariupol's Azovstal iron and steel works will remain "in comfortable conditions in Turkey until the end of the war and will be able to see their families," he explains.

Of the British, American, Moroccan, Swedish and Croatian nationals released, Zelensky adds:

Rayhan Demytrie
Reporting from the Georgia-Russia border

At the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Georgia-Russia border, a trickle of vehicles with Russian license plate numbers are crossing through the windswept mountain valley.

But while cars are being let through slowly, two people who recently crossed told the BBC that a queue of at least 5km (3.1 miles) had built up on the Russian side.

In one minivan from the Russian city of Stavropol, sleepy passengers, most of them young men, rested after waiting for seven hours. They wanted to find an internet connection to inform relatives back home that they had reached safety.

One man, who did not wish to be named, said he had decided to leave immediately after Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilisation to boost his Ukraine war effort yesterday morning.

The man fleeing said there was no time to pack his belongings; he just grabbed his passport and left because he fell under the category of those being drafted.

Georgia is one of the few remaining countries Russians can reach without a visa.

Nearly 140,000 Russian citizens have entered Georgia since the start of the war, and calls are growing from Georgian opposition politicians for the government introduce a visa regime to control the influx of Russian citizens.

The Kremlin's spokesman has said that reports of an exodus of Russian men who could be called up as reservists under new mobilisation plans are "exaggerated".

Those reports came after President Putin's speech yesterday, in which he said partial mobilisation was necessary to ensure Russian territorial integrity - with some 300,000 military reservists facing being called up to fight.

In a call with reporters spokesman Dmitry Peskov also declined to deny Russian media reports that some anti-mobilisation protesters detained on Wednesday had been given draft papers, saying: "This is not against the law."

More than 1,300 people have been arrested for protesting the order since Putin's address, according to Russian human rights group OVD-Info.

Of those detained, 16 were given summons to report for military duty, the group claims.

In Moscow, officials are celebrating the return of 55 servicemen who were also freed in last night's prisoner exchange - Russia's largest swap with Kyiv since the start of the war.

"All servicemen have been delivered to the territory of the Russian Federation by military transport aircraft and are in medical institutions of Russia's defence ministry," the Kremlin department said in a statement.

It added that the released prisoners were receiving the "necessary psychological and medical assistance".

The statement did not mention Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian MP accused of high treason and of being a Vladimir Putin ally. He was also released in the swap, as we reported earlier.

As we have been reporting, five British men released by Russian-backed forces in a prisoner exchange have arrived back in the UK. They are:

• Aiden Aslin, 28, who was sentenced to death after being captured fighting with Ukrainian forces in Mariupol
• Shaun Pinner,48, who was captured and sentenced to death alongside Aslin
• John Harding, in his 50s, who is understood to have been captured defending the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol
• Andrew Hill, 35, from Plymouth, who was fighting with Ukraine's International Legion
• Dylan Healy, in his early 20s, is from Hungtingdon, Cambridgeshire. He had been volunteering in Ukraine as an aid worker when he was captured at a checkpoint in April, alongside Paul Urey, who died in July while being held by Russian-backed separatists.

Image source, Family/SWNS

Emma Vardy
BBC News

It's been confirmed that five British captives, freed by Russian backed forces in Ukraine, have arrived back in the UK.

Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy were flown to Riyadh in Saudi Arabia before being flown back to Britain.

They were reunited with their families this morning.

The names of the five British nationals released in a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia have been confirmed.

As we have reported Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, who had been sentenced to death in a Russian proxy court, are among them.

The other three are Dylan Healy, Andrew Hill and John Harding.

The Presidium Network, which has been supporting the family of Dylan Healy, said: “We know that all are back safely in the UK."

This has yet to be confirmed by the government.

Saudis see surprise role in prisoner release as leveragepublished at 10:37 British Summer Time 22 September 2022

10:37 BST 22 September 2022

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The sudden announcement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the release of 10 prisoners held by Russia came as a surprise to many, including their families.

It’s been welcomed by Prime Minister Liz Truss and the British government has thanked both Ukraine and Saudi Arabia for their role in securing the men’s release.

It’s believed to have been a personal initiative of the Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed Bin Salman.

The Saudi role is also something of a surprise.

Until now, the Saudis have kept a low profile over the Ukraine conflict. They may be a strategic ally of the US, but they have a strained relationship with the Biden administration and they are reluctant to upset Russia.

When the Saudi crown prince attended the G20 summit in Buenos Aires four years ago he was shunned by Western leaders who suspected him of authorising the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which he denied.

However, one leader there greeted the Saudi crown prince effusively with a high-five gesture. That leader was Vladimir Putin, and the Saudi prince won’t have forgotten that.

As he now seeks to shake off something of a pariah status in the West he appears to have leveraged his Russian connection to good effect and to Western gratitude.

In an unexpected turn of events, Ukraine and Russia last night exchanged Prisoners of War they were detaining, along with some non-military personnel.

Five British nationals, one Moroccan, one Swede, one Croatian, and two Americans were flown to Saudi Arabia - after the country helped broker their freedom - before returning to their respective homes.

In Ukraine, more than 200 soldiers were exchanged for 55 Russian troops and former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk.

Here are some pictures of the releases:

Image source, Saudi Press Agency

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Use of nuclear weapons far from imminentpublished at 10:01 British Summer Time 22 September 2022

10:01 BST 22 September 2022

Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

Vladimir Putin raises nuclear weapons when on the back foot – like after the initial failure to overthrow the Ukrainian government and now when his military has retreated.

His hope is that a reminder of their devastating potential will intimidate and deter his opponents.

The Russian population will also have been alarmed by events and Putin’s claim that Nato is threatening Russia.

So his words are also a way of reassuring domestic opinion that the country can defend itself.

Russian military doctrine says nuclear weapons will only be used if the Russian state itself is threatened and Putin framed his warning by saying he was responding to Western threats.

His reference to this not being a "bluff" referred to a situation when Russia’s territory was threatened.

An important question is how far he sees that territory extending after the upcoming so-called referenda in Ukraine.

All of this suggests the use of nuclear weapons is far from imminent.

The possibility can never be entirely dismissed but Western intelligence will watch closely Russia’s actual behaviour rather than Putin’s rhetoric.

Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would use "all means we have" to defend Russian territory, raising concerns around the world.

But as with previous warnings, analysts suggest his actions should probably be interpreted as a warning to other countries not to escalate their involvement in Ukraine, rather than signalling any desire to use nuclear weapons.

Let's have a look at how many nuclear weapons Russia has and how that compares with other countries:

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, a prisoner exchange has seen more than 200 prisoners of war released by Russia.

Two US nationals held by Russian-backed forces were also freed.

US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink expressed her gratitude towards Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his team for including all prisoners of war in negotiations, "including two US citizens who will be reunited with their families".

US Security Adviser Jake Sullivan also extended his thanks to Saudi Arabia's crown prince and government, for facilitating the prisoner exchange.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia said it had brokered the exchange between Russia and Ukraine of 10 detainees.

As we've been reporting, five British nationals held by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine were freed last night as part of a prisoner of war exchange.

The news ended "months of uncertainty and suffering for them", UK Prime Minister Liz Truss said.

Aiden Aslin, John Harding and Shaun Pinner, who were captured while fighting with Ukraine forces, were among those released. Aslin and Pinner had been sentenced to death by Russian forces in what critics called a sham trial.

The identities of the other two UK citizens freed remain unknown.

You can read about the swap in detail here.

Last night, more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged for 55 Russian troops and former Ukrainian MP Viktor Medvedchuk.

Ukraine's President Zelensky celebrated the news, saying, external: "We were ready to exchange Medvedchuk for one of our heroes from the Azov regiment. But the fact that we have managed to exchange such a number for him is indeed, pardon me, a reason for the state to have a drink."

But who is the - clearly very valuable - Viktor Medvedchuk?

The wealthy businessman led the pro-Russian Opposition Platform - For Life party in Ukraine, and his daughter has President Putin as a godfather.

He had been under house arrest in the capital Kyiv - but escaped soon after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

He was arrested in April, when Ukraine's security service SBU said they had foiled an attempt by Russia to get him out of the country. He was facing charges of treason in Ukraine.

Mr Medvedchuk, 67, denied wrongdoing.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded "just punishment" for Russia as he spoke to the UN General Assembly in New York last night.

In a pre-recorded video, the Ukrainian leader called for the creation of a special war tribunal and detailed alleged war crimes by Russia.

He also set out a "formula" to achieve peace, which included more military support and to punish Russia on the world stage.

Zelensky's address received a standing ovation from many of the session's attendees.