Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris

France's Foreign Legion has given special authorisation for Ukrainian soldiers to travel to the conflict zone to provide help to their families.

In the last few days 74 permissions have been issued, allowing Ukrainian legionnaires to go off base for up to two weeks.

They may only go to countries neighbouring Ukraine in order to meet with fleeing relatives. They do not have permission to cross into Ukraine, and are certainly not authorised to fight.

In addition Foreign Legion spokesman Jean-Philippe Bourban said that around 20 Ukrainian legionnaires have disappeared without leave from their bases in France since the start of the conflict.

It is not known if they have deserted in order to fight inside Ukraine, or if they will seek retrospective authorisation under the new dispensation.

Founded in 1831, the 9,000-strong Foreign Legion currently has 710 Ukrainians, as well as 450 Russians. The spokesman said there was no tension between the two groups.

Image source, Tania Shevereva

Tania Shevereva, 30, and her mother Iryna sought refuge in the mountains when bombing began in Kyiv.

They travelled for 28 hours through Slovakia to reach Prague in the Czech Republic.

Iryna has been with her British partner Jock Mendoza-Wilson long enough to qualify under the UK government's scheme for people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

But Tania, who worked as an art director in Kyiv, does not think she will be able to join Iryna in the UK.

"Of course I want to be close to my mum. She has a problem with her heart and she is crying all the time so I am worried about her," she says.

"When you are close, you can check and you can make her comfortable. But if she is far away, I will worry much more."

As for so many, it is still sinking in how quickly their fortunes have turned around.

"I still can't believe that I am a refugee because I have a very good education. I had a very prestigious job in Kyiv. I won international awards," she says.

"It is so hard to believe that now you are a refugee. You don't have clothes, you don't have anything."

Image source, Iryna Shevereva

Image source, Getty Images

The UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's has announced that it is renaming "Chicken Kiev" as "Chicken Kyiv" - reflecting Ukraine's preferred spelling of its capital city's name, as opposed to the Russian spelling used under Soviet rule.

Sainsbury's has also announced that it will stop selling products that are 100% sourced from Russia, including vodka and black sunflower seeds.

It follows supermarkets Morrisons and Co-op which are also removing Russian vodka from their shelves.

Sainsbury's says: “We stand united with the people of Ukraine."

Image source, Cleared for use

Ana Morari, from Leicestershire, has family in Izyum, north-eastern Ukraine, who have been sending her updates.

Her cousin has a three-year-old baby and has moved to safety in Petrovs'kyi in the east. Meanwhile, his mum, dad and brother are still in Izyum.

"My cousin has moved to safety, but the rest of his family didn't want to leave Isyum.

"My aunty is a pharmacist. She's been working full time, but unable to go to shops.

"They are absolutely trapped. They’ve been bombed for three days non-stop. They're in a shelter.

"Russian news say Izyum is a military strategic point. Maybe it was 100 years ago. It had one weapons factory which was closed 30 years ago. However, the Russians are saying this is what needs levelling down.

"Now they're firing on blocks of flats, on homes, on schools. One warehouse has been shelled. They have nothing there.

"We're looking at how we can help get supplies to them. They asked for diapers etc. In the same cellar, there are kids. My uncle is very ill, not very mobile.

As we reported earlier, access to the BBC's news services have been restricted in Russia.

The BBC Press Office has now issued a statement on how to get around these restrictions.

It says circumvention tools - such as the Psiphon app (available on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac) - can be used to access the BBC's website.

It also says the Tor Browser has a dedicated BBC site. The Tor Browser is privacy-focused software used to access the dark web.

With that, or similar browsers, such as the Onion Browser for iPhones, you can access via this URL., external

Below are links to access BBC News in Ukrainian, Russian and English via Onion:

• BBC News in Ukrainian: https://www.bbcweb3hytmzhn5d532owbu6oqadra5z3ar726vq5kgwwn6aucdccrad.onion/ukrainian, external
• BBC News in Russian: https://www.bbcweb3hytmzhn5d532owbu6oqadra5z3ar726vq5kgwwn6aucdccrad.onion/russian, external
• BBC News internationally: https://www.bbcweb3hytmzhn5d532owbu6oqadra5z3ar726vq5kgwwn6aucdccrad.onion, external

Here is the advice in Russian:

And below in Ukrainian:

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says there is evidence Russia is using cluster bombs in its invasion.

At a news conference, he told reporters: "We have seen the use of cluster bombs and we have seen reports of use of other types of weapons which would be in violation of international law."

He also says the Western military alliance would not set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine - nor send its troops there - but promises other help to Kyiv and urged President Vladimir Putin to end the invasion immediately.

Image source, VITALII TATARYNOV

Vitalii Tatarynov has travelled from London to Poland on a mission to rescue his 18-year-old sister Anna, and mother, Viktoria, who fled there from Ukraine.

The women had just spent 36 hours on a treacherous journey from the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih.

Anna and Viktoria travelled through military checkpoints and huge, snaking traffic jams to cross the border.

Now, instead of searching for a place at university, as she had hoped, Anna is a refugee.

"It would be great to come to the UK, because this country has many more possibilities to have a better life," she says.

Vitalii wants to bring them back to the UK with him - but the 18 months he has spent living and working in London isn't long enough to qualify for the UK government's extended family refugee scheme.

"There are requirements from the government that I need to have the settled status to be allowed to bring my family to the UK so I can take care of them," he tells the BBC over a video call.

"It would be really nice if they can live next to me and I can help them on an everyday basis, rather than sitting and wondering if they are OK."

Image source, .

Image source, Oleksandra

Oleksandra has been sheltering in the bathroom of her flat in the north-eastern city of Kharkiv with her four dogs since the shelling began.

The 25-year-old has been speaking regularly to her mother, who lives in Moscow, Russia.

But during these conversations - and even after sending videos from her heavily bombarded hometown - Oleksandra is unable to convince her mum about the danger she is in.

"I didn't want to scare my parents, but I started telling them directly that civilians and children are dying," she says.

She adds that even though her parents worry about her, "they still say it probably happens only by accident, that the Russian army would never target civilians. That it's Ukrainians who're killing their own people".

Oleksandra says her mother repeats the narratives of what she hears on Russian state TV.

Read her full story here

Image source, Oleksandra

As we've just reported, Ukraine says "several" people were "killed and injured" when Russia attacked and seized control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that none of the safety systems at the plant were affected, and there was no release of radioactive material.

But nuclear experts say the attack created a very risky situation.

If a reactor - the device responsible for generating energy in a nuclear power plant - and the building housing it are damaged, the reactor could overheat and lead to a core meltdown.

Radiation from the plant could then leak into the surrounding environment. If people were exposed to this radiation it could cause severe immediate and long term health impacts, including cancer.

Yet experts say that - although the attack was dangerous - there are important differences between the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia plants.

Read more here.

Image source, Reuters

Several people have been killed or injured in the fire that broke out from Russian shelling of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant, Ukraine’s foreign affairs ministry says.

Employees are monitoring the Zaporizhzhia plant to make sure it’s operating safely and radiation levels are currently normal, the ministry says in a statement on Facebook, external.

But if the process for cooling the nuclear fuel inside the power units is disturbed, there could be widescale radioactive damage.

“Thousands of people – including civilians who are currently unable to evacuate the area near the plant due to ongoing shelling and fighting – would be hurt by this,” the statement says.

In line with the reaction from the Ukrainian president, the ministry says a nuclear disaster at Zaporizhzhia could be worse than previous accidents at nuclear plants – such as at Chernobyl and Fukushima.

“Russia has consciously undertaken an armed attack on the nuclear power site, an action that violated all international agreements within the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency],” the statement adds.

The ministry urges the international community to help force Russian troops out of the area, to ensure its safety.

Joel Gunter
BBC News, Ukraine

Image source, .

Russia escalated its air campaign against Ukrainian cities on Thursday and through the night into Friday, killing dozens of civilians in the northern city of Chernihiv and continuing to lay siege to residential areas in Mariupol and Kharkiv.

At least 47 people died in Chernihiv, according to Ukrainian emergency services, after aerial attacks destroyed high-rise apartments buildings, damaged clinics and a hospital.

"We can hear the sounds right now of air strikes nearby," said Chernihiv resident Svitlana, 40.

On Friday morning, she was hiding under her dining table with her two children, aged six and three, and her neighbours in a five-floor apartment building.

Svitlana said an apartment building 500m away was destroyed on Thursday.

"There are no military targets here, there is only a cemetery, residential buildings, clinics and a hospital," she said. "Why are they bombing us?"

Svitlana's apartment building sits just 50m from a children's hospital which treats cancer patients.

She said children from the oncology ward of the hospital had been taken to the shelter between the two buildings - but medical staff were not able to create a sterile environment there, and were struggling to find a way to evacuate the children.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine’s energy minister says the nuclear power plant taken over by Russian troops is being run safely by the existing staff.

But German Galushchenko tells the BBC that Russia's shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant "is real nuclear terrorism".

"They shelled directly to the station - they know what they did," he says.

He is concerned that if fighting continues around the plant a missile could hit the nuclear storage areas or others around Ukraine and cause an "incredible situation".

He says this is a question of global security and asks for a no-fly zone - designed to stop Russian warplanes - over Ukraine.

"We need to close the sky to be safe," he says. "Not just for Ukraine but for the whole world."

Sarah Rainsford
BBC in Kharkiv

Image source, .

As soon as we crossed the checkpoint into Kharkiv this morning we saw the queue: cars and buses, standing three or four thick on the road to get out of town.

Some drivers crossed the central reservation, trying to jump the line that went on for miles into the distance.

Many vehicles had handwritten signs taped to the window - they just say "children" or "people".

A yellow school bus went past us, crammed full of pensioners, children and women hugging plastic bags of their belongings on their laps.

Every so often there was a car flying a defiant Ukrainian flag. The man in the car next to me had his open passport on the dashboard for rapid checking by the army and militia at the many road blocks along the road.

We passed one small car with the "children" sign on the back and a white T-shirt hanging out of the window.

But no one was going anywhere fast. These families had been on the road since first light and the end of curfew, anxious to flee the shelling of their city.

People told us it was a little quieter last night, so it seems some of those who’d been too scared to leave their bunkers have now gathered their nerve, got in their cars and headed out.

But they will spend hours in this traffic jam and they don’t know how long this road will be safe for. While we waited at one checkpoint, we heard a couple of explosions in the distance.

Most people here have no real plan, nowhere to go, no way of knowing how long they’re even leaving for.

More now from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who's been warning countries against imposing further sanctions on his country.

He says those that refuse to co-operate will harm themselves - as well as harming Russia.

But despite that harm, he says his country is developing "new competencies" and projects to "solve the tasks facing us".

"We will benefit from this [the sanctions]," he claims.

Image source, Getty Images

There's been global outcry to Russia's overnight attack on the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, in Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine.

The attack caused an administrative building to catch fire, but the plant itself is safe - although under Russian control.

"The reckless actions of President Putin could now directly threaten the safety of all of Europe," UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says.

"It's not just dangerous for Ukraine and the Russians, it's dangerous for Europe and it is playing with fire that really is beyond anything to do with logic or necessity," UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace adds.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the "horrific attacks" from Russia "must cease immediately", while US President Joe Biden has urged Moscow to stop its military activities around the site.

Jens Stoltenberg, the head of Nato, says the attack demonstrates the "recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it".

A statement from Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi condemns the "heinous attack" as "an attack on everyone's security" and calls on the EU to "continue to react with unity and with the utmost determination" to support Ukraine.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has also shown "strong condemnation" of the shelling.

"This kind of attack is madness," he says.

Ukrainians wait 15 hours to enter Moldovapublished at 12:26 Greenwich Mean Time 4 March 2022

12:26 GMT 4 March 2022

Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Palanca border crossing, Moldova

When Odesa flinches, Palanca catches the blow.

This small Moldovan crossing point, squeezed between two swathes of Ukrainian territory, now bears the hallmarks of a full-blown refugee crisis.

Thirty miles (50km) from Ukraine’s third-largest city, the southern port of Odesa, it's also drawing people from further along the country’s southern coast as Russian operations there intensify.

It's a long cold wait to cross this border - those without vehicles have reported queuing for 10-15 hours.

Arrivals here used to be met by a gaggle of local volunteers offering lifts in their private cars.

Now, buses destined for emergency shelters elbow their way inch by inch through the crowd. Aid tents offer a little warmth and shelter to those waiting for a space inside.

Stretching back along the road towards the Moldovan capital, Chisinau, are the cars of refugees who drove here from cities in southern Ukraine.

The number-plates emblazoned with the Ukrainian flag, now as familiar as those from back home: BH for Odesa; BT for Kherson; AH for Mariupol.

Refugee agencies here say that the Russian advance in the cities and towns of southern Ukraine has triggered this uptick in arrivals.

The UNHCR says almost 170,000 people have passed through Moldova in the past week. Around 70,000 are staying here to see how events unfold. Those are big numbers for a small country of three million people.

With Odesa poised for a full-blown assault, officials say arrivals here could surge again.

Jeremy Bowen
Reporting from Kyiv

These young men have volunteered to fight for Ukraine. When we met them yesterday, the youngsters still had a sense of excitement, patriotism - even of invincibility - that young men, not much more than boys, have always had when they sign up for war.

Some older men were there too, and they looked more apprehensive than the 18 and 19-year-olds.

The teenagers looked like students off for a camping trip, except they were carrying assault rifles. They said they’d only get three days' training, but they already knew how to fire and maintain their weapons.

This morning I saw them manning road blocks on the edge of the city. Apart from light weapons they had Molotov cocktails.

Ukraine has a professional army and the volunteers will most likely be used in support roles behind the front line.

But if and when Kyiv is attacked that could change quickly - and the volunteers old and young could find themselves deeply involved in the fighting.

Image source, Jeremy Bowen

Image source, Jeremy Bowen

And here's more from the UN Human Right Council's vote to condemn the Russian invasion and set up an inquiry (see earlier post).

The overwhelming vote to investigate abuses shows Vladimir Putin "the whole world is against you", says Ukraine's ambassador to the UN.

Yevheniia Filipenko told reporters: "The message to Putin has been clear: You're isolated on a global level and the whole world is against you."

This photograph shows the damage after Russian shelling hit an administrative building of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Mayor Dmytro Orlov of nearby Enerhodar says "continuous enemy shelling of [the plant's] buildings and units" seemed to cause the fire.

We've got security camera footage of what happened here.

Image source, Reuters