As it happened: Kyiv warned of toxic fumes after strike on oil depot

1. Russian missiles hit an oil depot in Vasylkiv, its mayor said, prompting fears of toxic fumes
2. Air raid sirens in Kyiv sound shortly before midnight local time (2200g) warning of incoming missiles
3. A curfew is in place from Saturday evening until Monday morning
4. Kyiv's mayor says anyone seen in the streets will be considered a Russian "saboteur"
5. The US, EU, UK and other allies say they have agreed to remove some Russian banks from the Swift payments system
6. They also pledge to limit the sale of "golden passports" - citizenship - to wealthy Russians
7. Huge numbers of people are fleeing Ukraine, with a 27-hour-long queue of women and children on the Moldovan border
8. Germany also announces it is sending anti-tank missiles and other weapons to Ukraine - marking a major change in policy

Ukrainian disunity on display in eastern town

BBC

Some Ukrainians in the east of the country say they welcome what has happened

About 20km (12 miles) from the Donetsk breakaway republic, in eastern Ukraine, I got a glimpse of clashing views about Russia’s invasion as people did some early morning shopping on Thursday.

"Just bear in mind that the Donbas is pleased things turned out like this," one white-haired woman said, when I told her I was a journalist from the BBC.

"Because how much can they bomb Donetsk?" she went on. "Or don’t you realise that they are bombing?"

She was telling me that the Ukrainian military had been bombing Donetsk - a Ukrainian city that was seized by Russian-backed rebels in 2014 - and saying the people of the wider region, the Donbas, supported the latest Russian action.

In recent days there has been little or no evidence of Ukrainian attacks on Donetsk.

And the woman’s claim that the people welcomed the invasion was immediately challenged by a man who shouted that no-one was bombing Donetsk - and that Vladimir Putin was bombing Ukraine.

Lithuania ready to defend our homeland, MP says

Joshua Nevett

BBC political reporter

Facebook

Dovilė Šakalienė

Lithuania is “fully ready to defend our homeland” following the Russian military assault on Ukraine, a Lithuanian MP has told the BBC.

Dovilė Šakalienė of the Social Democratic Party said the Russian attack “was to be expected”, but no-one could make “definite conclusions” about President Vladimir Putin’s next move.

Earlier, EU and Nato member Lithuania imposed a state of emergency after the Russian army's air and ground attack on Ukraine.

Lithuania, a small former Soviet republic of 2.8 million people, shares borders with Russia and Belarus.

When asked if she feared Russia could go farther than Ukraine, Šakalienė said “we feel that Lithuania is safer than ever as a member of Nato” and hoped President Putin would “not try to start a war” with the alliance.

Šakalienė said she would urge her government to start consultations within the EU about providing military support to Ukraine.

Biden's sanctions aim to stop next conflict

Sarah Smith

North America Editor

Reuters

The words coming from the White House sound defiant but the mood is sombre, as President Joe Biden contemplates the scale of human suffering that will be caused in Ukraine - along with the possible wider consequences for security in Europe.

For weeks the US has been threatening punishing sanctions against Russia, but what was meant to serve as a deterrent has clearly failed.

So President Biden and his allies have to respond - knowing that it is concrete action and not harsh words of condemnation that matter to Vladimir Putin.

No-one expects any economic punishment against Russia to halt its advance on Ukraine.

The aim now is to have an enduring impact on the Russian economy and to weaken the state so it is unable to pursue further military action outside its borders.

That will take long-term commitment and resolution from America and its allies.

This is a huge challenge for President Biden and to America's position on the world stage.

US troops will not engage militarily in Ukraine. Sanctions are the only weapon America is prepared to deploy.

But will the use of economic measures limit Russia's ambitions and actions in Eastern Europe?

'We do not expect anyone to fight for us'

Tara McKelvey

BBC News, Washington

Reuters

Oksana Markarova asked people to pray for Ukraine

At a hastily convened press conference in Washington DC, Oksana Markarova, Kyiv’s ambassador to the US, called for massive sanctions and military assistance.

When I asked her if she expected - or hoped - that US troops would be sent to Ukraine, she said: “We do not expect anyone to fight for us.”

On Thursday, she and the others who work at the embassy looked exhausted and pale, as if they had not slept for some time.

Still, she was determined to put on a brave face for the 30 or so reporters in the room.

President Zelensky is still in Ukraine, Markarova told us, but she left it unclear whether he was still in Kyiv, or in a safer location.

She asked people to pray for Ukraine, adding: “But we also demand justice.”

US sanctions on Russian energy 'off the table'

TASS via Getty Images

At the White House daily briefing, a reporter asked Biden economic adviser Daleep Singh if sanctions on the Russian energy industry were "totally off the table".

"Our measures were not designed to disrupt in any way the current flow of energy to Russia to the world," he said, adding that the sanctions on technology would disrupt Russia's ability to develop the energy industry in the long term.

"Nothing in the short term as it relates to energy,” he concluded.

Canada announces new sanctions

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today condemned Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified attack” and announced fresh sanctions on 62 Russian entities and individuals, including banks and the country’s "elite".

Along with allies like the US, Canada imposed a first round of economic sanctions on Russia on Tuesday. It also deployed up to 460 Canadian military members to the Nato mission in eastern Europe.

While Trudeau said on Thursday Canada would respond "forcefully" to Russia's aggression, he did not say whether Canada was considering deploying troops directly to Ukraine.

Canada has one of the world's largest populations of Ukrainian immigrants.

At the same briefing, Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland - who is Ukrainian-Canadian - spoke to the diaspora.

"To my own Ukrainian-Canadian community, let me say this: now is the time for us to be strong as we support our friends and family in Ukraine," she said, before speaking in Ukrainian.

Reuters

What happened in the first day of fighting?

DPSA via Reuters

The Russian invasion of Ukraine rolls on as countries around the world impose new sanctions against Moscow.

If you're just joining us, or catching up on events, here's the latest:

• Night has fallen and a curfew is in effect in the capital of Kyiv after the first full day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• Russian forces moved quickly across Ukrainian territory on several different fronts on Thursday, with gunfire, explosions and aerial combat reported across the country

• Fighting broke out at key locations, including at an airfield near the capital that was seized by Russian troops and which Ukrainian paratroopers claimed to have re-taken
• Russian forces, however, took control of Chernobyl, site of the 1986 nuclear disaster and a place that remains radioactive to this day - prompting significant concern from international nuclear watchdogs
• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed to continue fighting, saying that "a new iron curtain" is falling into place - and his job is to make sure his country remains on the western side
• He also said that 137 Ukrainian citizens have been killed - both soldiers and civilians - in the first day of combat
• A general mobilisation has been ordered, meaning all Ukrainians who can carry arms have been urged to defend their homeland
• Western nations have stepped up financial sanctions on Russia's banks and high-ranking officials, with the US cutting off high-tech exports to Russia - but Nato nations will not send troops to Ukraine

• The sanctions also target Russian elites, leading a White House adviser to declare: "Those who shared in the Kremlin's corrupt games and stored their wealth in yachts and luxury condos and fancy cars will now share in the pain of these measures"

• The US has ordered 7,000 additional troops to Europe - saying the deployment to Germany was intended to "reassure Nato allies" in the region
• Meanwhile, anti-war protests and demonstrations in support of Ukraine have been held in cities across Europe - and also in Russia, despite a crackdown that has resulted in more than 700 arrests
• Amid all the fighting, the United Nations estimates that more than 100,000 people have already fled their homes, and border guards at neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary and Moldova have seen migrant families arrive

If you want more detail, you can read our guide to the conflict, and how it has unfolded today, by clicking here.