Image source, Getty Images

Things are moving fast on the ground in Ukraine so let's have a recap of the latest developments:

• Fresh explosions have been heard in Kyiv, with the mayor warning of a "threatening" situation
• Ukraine says 18,000 machine guns have been handed out to volunteers
• Videos from earlier today showed armoured vehicles advancing through northern districts of the city

• The EU has hit Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with sanctions. The BBC understands it's an asset freeze and not a travel ban and that the UK is going to do the same
• Nato says it is deploying thousands more troops to Eastern Europe
• Ukrainian men are reportedly being separated from their families as they try to flee the country. Men aged 18-60, who could be conscripted, are now barred from crossing the border
• The UN says it's scaling up operations to help civilians affected by Russia's invasion. It's estimated that more than 100,000 have already fled their homes

We've got some reaction now to the news the UK will impose sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The BBC understands that this will take the form of an asset freeze, but not a travel ban - which is what the EU has announced too.

Prof John Heathershaw, who leads research into international kleptocracy at the University of Exeter, warns Russia "will not take these sanctions seriously" due to the UK's "kleptocracy problem".

"There are professional 'enablers' that help Russian kleptocrats obscure their ownership and sources of wealth, gain UK residency and property, and launder their reputations," he says.

Tackling this, he says, would involve regulation that is "opposed" by many big businesses.

Image source, Getty Images

More now on reports of shelling in the Ukrainian capital city Kyiv.

The city's mayor, the former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, says five blasts have been reported across the capital, with some explosions heard near a power station in the north of the city.

"The emergency services are [responding]. We're finding out the details," Klitschko said.

"The situation now - without exaggeration - is threatening for Kyiv," he added. The night, he said, would be "very difficult".

Image source, @Pontifex

Pope Francis has posted an anti-war message on his Twitter feed in Ukrainian, Russian and English, saying that "every war leaves our world worse than it was before".

"War is a failure of politics and humanity," he added, calling it a "shameful capitulation, a stinging defeat before the forces of evil".

It is a quote from one of his writings, called Fratelli Tutti.

Russia's invasion is not going entirely to planpublished at 18:58 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

18:58 GMT 25 February 2022

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

We've been reporting on what appears to be fresh fighting near Kyiv. Here's a look at the bigger picture from Frank Gardner:

Russia's invasion, long in the planning, is not going entirely to plan but the odds are not in Ukraine’s favour either.

Russian forces outmatch and outnumber Ukraine's in nearly every sphere. Putin's invasion plan, concocted during lockdown with his Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, involves making as rapid a three-pronged attack as possible, neutralising resistance then eliminating the elected government and installing a pliant, pro-Moscow one.

Ukraine will then be announced as having been "liberated" and "returned to its rightful place".

But Ukrainian resistance is inflicting casualties on the invaders – more than 450 so far, according to the UK's Defence Intelligence – and the longer it takes Moscow to subjugate its neighbour the more problems it will encounter.

We are seeing the beginnings of civil resistance with the government handing out thousands of weapons to Kyiv's residents.

But Putin will have noted how his autocratic neighbour in Belarus successfully snuffed out popular protest through mass arrests and in some cases torture.

Nato, meanwhile, will not intervene directly, but may choose to supply weapons to the future insurgency.

There have been more explosions heard in the Ukrainian capital.

Reuters news agency say blasts caused by artillery rounds have been heard, along with intense gunfire in western districts of the capital.

US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a 40-minute call on Friday, in which the two discussed sanctions and US defence aid to Ukraine.

According to the White House, the two leaders spoke for 40 minutes.

Following the meeting, Zelensky tweeted that the two discussed "strengthening sanctions, concrete defense assistance and an anti-war coalition."

No further details of the call were revealed.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier today in a neighbourhood in north Kyiv, less than ten miles from Russian forces, we saw men queueing to volunteer to defend their streets.

No combat experience is necessary, just the will to fight. This is what the force taking on the mighty Russian military looks like now.

All men from the ages of 18 to 60 could be called up.

The defence ministry also urged residents to prepare Molotov cocktails - petrol bombs - to repel invading forces.

There was even a call for hackers to help battle in Russia’s cyberwar.

There are of course Ukrainian troops armed with Western weapons and ammunition, some of whom have trained for years with Nato soldiers. But Ukraine isn't a Nato member.

And in this intensifying conflict there's a growing sense, that for all the talk of a war against security in Europe, it's coming down to a fight between the president and the people – the president of Russia and the people of Ukraine.

That's what the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has been saying for weeks, with more than a little bitterness – when Russia invades, Ukraine is on its own.

Image source, EPA

Putin's talks offer: Hardly an olive branch to Ukrainepublished at 18:38 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February 2022

18:38 GMT 25 February 2022

Caroline Hawley
BBC News in Moscow

Image source, Getty Images

A little earlier we told you the Kremlin had signalled Russia was willing to hold talks with Ukraine.

But as the Russian military pounds targets across Ukraine, it's hardly an olive branch.

In fact, the Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted the Ukrainian army would have to lay down its arms first and surrender. And his boss, Vladimir Putin, called on Ukrainian troops to overthrow their leader, President Zelensky.

So who would even do the talking?

President Putin has made his agenda pretty clear – nothing short of the overthrow of Ukraine’s current government.

It's probably no coincidence that this "offer" of talks comes after China's President, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone earlier today.

The Kremlin has few friends at the moment and President Putin may want to pay lip service to China's calls for a return to dialogue.

But right now it's definitely the guns that are doing the talking.

Simon Jack
BBC Business Editor

Image source, Getty Images

Energy firm BP is under pressure from UK government to offload its 20% stake in the Russian oil giant, Rosneft.

In a call with BP's chief executive Bernard Looney today, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was said by an official to have "left Mr Looney in no doubt about the seriousness of the government concerns about BP's overexposure to Russian interests".

BP has owned the stake for over a decade and Looney has a seat on the board alongside Chairman Igor Sechin – a close friend and ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Officials hinted that a disposal of the stake looked like the only plausible option to remedy a "deeply unsatisfactory" arrangement.

We reported earlier that Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were to be subject to EU sanctions.

Now it's been confirmed.

The BBC understands it's an asset freeze and not a travel ban. We don't know the details of assets that would potentially be affected, or indeed if either man has assets in the EU.

"Let me flag that the only leaders in the world that are sanctioned by the European Union are Assad from Syria, Lukashenko from Belarus and now Putin from Russia," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says.

A few minutes ago, we brought you the news that the UK is going to make a similar move - but we don't know when and we don't know if the UK is going to go further than the EU.

Image source, EPA

Ukrainian men are being separated from their families on Ukraine's border with Poland, a British citizen who is there has told the BBC.

Thousands of Ukrainians have left their homes to escape the fighting and many are trying to cross into neighbouring countries. But Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 are not allowed to leave.

"It's horrible to see these people get off and stand there in a coat and a bag and watch their family drive off," James Freeman told BBC Radio 5 Live.

He's been living in Lviv, in western Ukraine, but is returning to the UK and was speaking from the Polish border.

Poland says it is ready to welcome all arrivals and will offer help. But Freeman said conditions on the border were difficult, with many people, including children, having to wait outside in queues in freezing temperatures for well over an hour.

The UK will introduce sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov imminently, Boris Johnson has said.

A No 10 spokeswoman said that during a phone call with Nato leaders on Friday, the UK prime minister warned Putin was "engaging in a revanchist mission to over-turn post-Cold War order" and that his "ambitions might not stop there and that this was a Euro-Atlantic crisis with global consequences".

The statement also mentioned the Swift international payments network, which Ukraine has been calling for Russia to be banned from.

"The prime minister urged leaders to take immediate action against Swift to inflict maximum pain on President Putin and his regime," it says.

It comes on top of the sanctions package the UK announced yesterday, which will see major Russian banks excluded from the UK financial system among other measures.

Jens Stoltenberg is addressing how many Nato troops have been deployed to eastern Europe.

"We are deploying the Nato response force for the first time in a collective defence context. We speak about thousands of troops. We speak about air and maritime capabilities," he tells reporters.

"Several allies have already assigned troops and forces to the Nato response force," he adds.

"We have the high readiness force, the Nato response force, and that is why we are deploying it. To prevent any misunderstanding that we are not prepared to protect all allies," Stoltenberg says.

He adds that Europe is focussing on strengthening its cyber defence.

Nato's Stoltenberg tells reporters that Nato has deployed elements of its rapid response force on land, sea and in the air to eastern Europe.

He says that the security bloc has "already strengthened our defence" and that the US, Canada and European countries have already deployed thousands of troops to the region.

More than 100 fighter jets are now operating in 30 defence locations in Europe, accompanied by more than 120 ships and three strike carrier groups, Stoltenberg says.

He emphasises that the forces will defend "every inch of Nato territory" and adds that it will continue to offer support to Ukraine, as well as other nations in the region threatened by Russia - including Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia.

It's important to note that Nato has already been very clear it won't send troops to Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance.

More now from Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who is speaking from Nato headquarters in Brussels.

He says that the invasion has caused enormous suffering and argues that Western leaders must "stand ready to do more, even if it means we have to pay a price, because we are in this for the long haul".

He adds: "The world will hold Russia and Belarus accountable for their actions. Russia as the aggressor, Belarus as the enabler."

Stoltenberg says that the "Kremlin's objectives are not limited to Ukraine" and notes that Russia has demanded legally binding agreements to halt further Nato expansion.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg is holding a press conference now from the defence alliance's headquarters in Brussels.

He is speaking following a meeting of Nato representatives and tells reporters that Russia has "shattered peace in Europe". He adds: "Our thoughts are with those killed injured and displaced."

He calls on Russia to immediately cease its assault, withdraw its forces from Ukraine and to re-enter peaceful dialogue.

"This crisis affects us all."

Nato leaders say they are deploying more troops to Eastern Europe after Russia's invasion.

"No one should be fooled by the Russian government's barrage of lies," the 30 leaders say in a joint statement.

Nato calls on Moscow to withdraw all its forces from Ukraine and "to turn back from the path of aggression it has chosen".

"President Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine is a terrible strategic mistake, for which Russia will pay a severe price, both economically and politically, for years to come," the statement says.

On sending troops to to eastern Europe, Nato says it "will make all deployments necessary to ensure strong and credible deterrence and defence".

"Our measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory," it adds.

Image source, Facebook

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has published a video from the streets of Kyiv after rumours in the Russian media that he had fled the capital.

"We are all here," he said, surrounded by key advisers and his prime minister.

"We are protecting our independence, our state. And we will continue to do so."