Image source, EPA

In what seems like a world away from the war in Ukraine, Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been meeting staff from state airline Aeroflot.

In the meeting, broadcast on state TV, Putin said Russia would consider any country that imposed a no-fly zone over Ukraine as having committed an act of war.

• Watching the war on Russian TV - a whole different story

Sitting around a packed table of about 20 women, the image is very different to a recent photo of him holding a meeting on a long table, several metres away from his closest military commanders.

The meeting came as Aeroflot said it was cancelling all international flights - except to and from Belarus.

Russian airlines have been banned from UK, EU and US airspace as part of a raft of sanctions over the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Russia's foreign ministry has released a statement taking direct aim at the British government for its support of Ukraine.

Maria Zakharova, the foreign ministry spokesperson, says Russia won't forget the UK's cooperation with Kyiv, or with what she calls the "ultra-nationalist forces of Ukraine", according Russian media.

"The sanctions hysteria in which London plays one of the leading, if not the main, roles, leaves us no choice but to take proportionately tough retaliatory measures," she said, adding that British interests in Russia would be "undermined" by Moscow's response.

The official narrative in Russia is that the threat to civilians in Ukraine comes not from Russian forces, but from "Ukrainian nationalists".

The UK government has provided weapons and financial aid to Ukraine amid the invasion.

Yalda Hakim
BBC correspondent, Lviv, west Ukraine

A Saturday in snowy Lviv sees dozens of young people queuing patiently outside an art gallery - not to look at the pictures inside or have brunch, but to do their bit for the war effort.

Inside, an industrial scale operation is taking place to produce camouflage netting for the front line.

Giant wooden frames have been set up and bags upon bags of scrap material have been separated and sorted.

Then it’s woven patiently and slowly on green plastic webbing into giant nets, which will then be sent out east to help those fighting.

Of course, the people here are mainly female. The men will be the ones using the camouflage.

Every now and then an announcement is made in Ukrainian about the progress of the war. People down tools - their hands - and join in a patriotic chant.

The humanitarian organisation that had be due to oversee the evacuation of Mariupol and Volbovakha today has described the scenes there and in other cities in Ukraine as "heart-breaking".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its priority was the "safety and wellbeing of all civilians living through terrifying situations in Ukraine".

"We remain in dialogue with the parties about the safe passage of civilians from different cities affected by the conflict," the neutral ICRC said, external.

It called on those involved in the fighting "to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure" in accordance with international law.

A ceasefire deal that was supposed to provide respite from the shelling of Mariupol and Volnovakha on Saturday morning collapsed amid continued Russian attacks.

Russia's continued shelling of Mariupol meant a planned evacuation - offering the hope of escape for thousands of residents - had to be cancelled.

The city has been under heavy fire for days. But why is it so strategically important?

It's one Ukraine's biggest ports on the Black Sea - and a key city on the route between Crimea and Russia.

If Russia takes over Mariupol, it could take control of a route linking the regions in Luhansk and Donetsk, which are controlled by Russian-backed separatists, and Crimea - which Russia annexed in 2014.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine could soon exceed 1.5m people, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

"This is the fastest moving refugee crisis we have seen in Europe since the end of World War Two," the UNHCR's head told Reuters news agency.

Around 1.3m people have already fled their homes since the invasion began.

Poland is said to have taken in over half of all the refugees so far, according to the country's president.

The number is also high in countries like Hungary and Romania.

But not all refugees are choosing to stay in the countries they first arrive in.

Take Romania for instance. Of the 200,000 people who travelled there in the first eight days of the war, 140,000 then left to travel onto other countries, leaving around 60,000 in Romania, according to the UNHCR.

Countries bordering Ukraine are therefore acting as the first stop for many people fleeing the war, as they travel onto other European countries further away.

Image source, .

As we reported earlier, an anti-Russia protest has taken place in the Ukrainian city of Kherson - which is occupied by Russian forces. Around 2,000 protested - watch the footage below.

Image source, Reuters

More than £85m has been raised in the UK to provide help for Ukraine.

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) - which is made up of 15 UK charities including the British Red Cross and Oxfam - thanked everyone who has contributed since the appeal was launched on Thursday.

The committee said "generous donations" have already been made to the appeal by the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cambridge, as well as thousands of members of the public.

The latest total includes £25m from the UK government.

People have been encouraged to continue to donate, as the DEC has warned that support for Ukraine is likely to be needed for "months and years".

Claire Marshall
BBC News

As we've been reporting, anti-war protests have been taking place across the world.

In Bath, in the UK, Olena Shackell says her entire family is sheltering in the city of Kharkiv.

Her 68-year-old father works in a home for disabled children - 50 of whom are trapped in shelters.

“Two of the disabled children are on oxygen masks," she says.

"Four days ago the power was cut off. I'm not sure how those children are going to survive.

"I asked my father to run, to save his life, but he said he would not leave the children or his colleagues."

Simon Browning
Business Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Fashion and technology. Some of the biggest interests for young people around the world.

But today, young Russians are having their choices and access to them severely restricted, as huge global businesses continue to turn their backs on Russia.

Samsung sells the most popular smartphones in Russia, but when current stocks sell out, there’ll be fewer options to get an upgrade because the company is stopping its shipments.

And Zara, known for its up-to-date and on-trend fashions will be unavailable for fashion conscious Russians as the shutters stay down in its shops and the website closes.

We don’t know how they’ll respond, but the Ukrainian deputy prime minister thinks restricting access to tech will motivate young Russians to object to the invasion.

And as more western retailers close, what reasons are these business owners giving to their Russian employees about their reasons for closing?

Read more on this story

As we reported earlier, Russia accused Ukrainian "nationalists" of breaking the ceasefire that was supposed to start in Mariupol and Volnovakha at 07:00 GMT.

In the past hour, Ukraine's foreign ministry has again laid the blame on Russia.

It called on the international community to condemn Russia for what it described as their “gross violation of the agreements on the opening of humanitarian corridors”.

“The ongoing shelling makes it impossible to open humanitarian corridors for the safe evacuation of civilians, the delivery of medicines [and] food,” the foreign ministry tweeted, external.

Image source, .

And here's the view from Mariupol - which, like Volnovakha (see previous post), had an evacuation postponed this morning.

An employee of the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been describing the situation there.

"This night the shelling was harder and closer," MSF quotes them as saying, external.

"We collected snow and rain water yesterday to have some utility water. We tried to get free water today but the queue was huge.

"According to [other] people, multiple grocery stores were destroyed by missiles and the remaining things were taken by people in desperate need.

"Still no power, water, heating and mobile connection. No-one heard about any evacuation yet. Pharmacies are out of medicine."

Image source, MSF

Image source, .

Only 400 people were evacuated from Volnovakha and nearby settlements during today's short-lived ceasefire, according to Ukrainian officials.

The initial plan was to evacuate more than 15,000 civilians from the region during the temporary ceasefire, which began at 07:00 GMT.

But regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said: "Although we had the intention and necessary transport to evacuate a lot more people, we had to stop the movement of the column, because the Russians once again started shelling Volnovakha mercilessly, and it was very dangerous to move there."

Another evacuation, due to take place from the larger city of Mariupol, was also halted.

Image source, Getty Images

And here's a bit more on Vladimir Putin's televised remarks: he says any country which imposes a no-fly zone over Ukraine will be considered to have joined the war in Ukraine.

"Any movement in this direction will be considered by us as participation in an armed conflict by that country," the Russian president says.

In a military context, a no-fly zone is an area where aircraft are banned from entering to prevent attacks or surveillance. But it has to be enforced by military means - that is, by potentially shooting down planes.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has blamed the refusal to impose a no-fly zone on Nato "weakness" and "disunity".

Nato has said it would lead to a dangerous escalation of the war to many more countries.

Vladimir Putin has said he has no plans to declare martial law in Russia.

At a meeting with flight attendants working for Aeroflot, shown on national TV, the Russian president said that step would only be taken in "instances of external aggression, in defined areas of military activity".

"But we don't have such a situation and I hope we won't have one," he said.

There have been rumours that Putin was planning to declare martial law - which is when normal civil law is suspended or the military takes control of government functions.

He said there are other special emergency states which can be used in the case of a "large-scale external threat" - but that he has no plans to introduce these either.

Image source, Reuters

Russia's national airline, Aeroflot, has cancelled nearly all international flights from 8 March, because of what it called "additional circumstances" impeding its operations.

Domestic routes and flights to neighbouring Belarus will continue unchanged, the airline said.

The EU, UK, US and Canada have all banned Russian airlines from their airspace - severely restricting the number of destinations available, and making other routes more difficult.

Russia has reciprocated with airspace bans of its own.

International sanctions have also been directed at Russia's airline industry, making it difficult for Aeroflot and other Russian airlines to operate normally.

Image source, .

Image source, .

And while anti-war protests are taking place across the world (see previous post), one is also taking place in Kherson - a Ukrainian city occupied by Russia.

Around 2,000 people came onto the streets to protest this morning. They marched through the city centre, waving flags and singing the Ukrainian national anthem as they shouted "Russians go home" and "Kherson is Ukraine".

Russian military checkpoints have been set up all over the city and stop every driver as they go past.

And locals have told the BBC that Russian soldiers have a list of Ukrainian activists they want to capture.

Thousands of people have gathered in cities across the world to protest against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

These pictures are from Switzerland, Croatia, Thailand, and London and Bath in the UK.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

The Russian authorities have restricted access to BBC websites in Russian and English, as well as other international and independent media, accusing them of circulating "false information" about what is happening in Ukraine.

In response, the BBC said "access to accurate, independent information is a fundamental human right which should not be denied to the people of Russia, millions of whom rely on BBC News every week".

Record numbers of people have read the BBC's Russian language news website since the invasion.

To get around the BBC ban in Russia:

• download the Psiphon app from the AppStore or Google Play Store
• look for the dedicated BBC site on the Tor Browser , externalwhich can be found using this URL, external. Note that this URL only works using the Tor Browser or the Onion Browser (on iPhones)
• if access to the apps is restricted then send a blank email to get@psiphon3.com or gettor@torproject.org. An email will be sent in response with a direct and safe download link

The BBC has also launched two new shortwave frequencies broadcasting World Service English news for four hours a day to Ukraine and parts of Russia:

• 15735 kHz from 14:00 GMT to 16:00 GMT
• 5875 kHz from 20:00 GMT to 22:00 GMT

Image source, .

A ceasefire agreed between Russia and Ukraine - to allow civilians to evacuate two south-eastern Ukrainian cities - has fallen apart, just hours after it was announced.

The major port city of Mariupol and the smaller city of Volnovakha have been under extremely heavy shelling for several days.

But Saturday began on a more positive note - with the announcement that civilians would be allowed to leave along agreed routes between the hours of 09:00 - 16:00 local time (07:00 - 14:00 GMT). A ceasefire was to be in force at the same time.

However, not long after it began, the Ukrainian side accused Russian troops of taking advantage of the ceasefire to advance their positions.

Then we got reports of fighting around the city of Orikhiv, which is on the route out of Mariupol (see map).

Next, the BBC heard from Mariupol's deputy mayor and from a resident in the city that Russian forces were still shelling the area.

Finally, Mariupol's city council announced that the evacuation of civilians had been postponed because their safety could no longer be guaranteed.

Russia's ministry of defence says the ceasefire was broken when Ukrainian "nationalists" fired on its troops.