Summary

  • Russia has begun implementing plans to call up reservists to fight in Ukraine after suffering setbacks there

  • President Vladimir Putin's order to mobilise 300,000 more Russians with military experience sparked protests on Wednesday

  • More than 1,000 anti-mobilisation protesters are reported to have been arrested

  • Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has not denied media reports that some protesters were given draft papers

  • Meanwhile the BBC has spoken to young men fleeing over the border into Georgia - one of the few remaining countries Russians can get to without a visa

  • And Ukraine is celebrating a prisoner exchange which saw more than 200 prisoners of war released by Russia

  • They include more than 100 members of the Azov Battalion, hailed as heroes for mounting resistance at a steelworks in Mariupol

  • Five British nationals also freed have arrived back in the UK

Live Reporting

Edited by Jeremy Gahagan

  1. Occupied areas announce votes to join Russia

    Welcome to our live coverage of the Ukraine war, which begins as multiple Moscow-backed officials in occupied regions in the east and south announce they will be holding votes on whether or not to join Russia.

    The votes - which have long been rumoured - will take place within days, the regional heads said, angering Ukrainian officials.

    This is not the first time Russia has held a referendum on Ukrainian territory like this: back in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, after a vote widely condemned as a sham.

    Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russia's lower house of parliament has approved a bill incorporating tough punishments for a number of crimes linked to wartime - including stiffer penalties for absconding from a unit during a period of mobilisation, martial law or wartime.