Image source, Reuters

People living in the north-eastern city Kharkiv have been telling the BBC about what it's like living under Russian aerial bombardment.

Glib Mazepas, who lives downtown in Ukraine's second city, says there was "heavy bombing" overnight from an airplane that circled three times before striking around 1km (0.6 miles) from his home.

He also described the moment he heard yesterday's rocket attack on Kharkiv's Freedom Square.

"There was a whistling sound over our heads... then boom. I remember our house wasn't trembling so much as shaking from left to right, for about five seconds. It was a very strange feeling."

He says every noise he now hears he assumes could be a Russian strike.

"Yesterday my wife was heating something up with the microwave. And I freaked out because I thought it was some kind of attack," he says.

"You get used to the war very quickly, believe me. It's a matter of a day or two. I never thought it would be like this."

Mazepas says he is grateful for international support, but wants Nato to go further by enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

"Please close the skies for Russian missiles and for Russian airplanes. Because they will just bomb the whole city to the ashes."

Ukraine is claiming it has killed 5,840 Russian troops.

Its armed forces say the preliminary figures, external represent all losses inflicted on Russian forces since the beginning of the invasion.

The BBC cannot independently verify these claims, but the UK defence ministry believes that Moscow's forces have suffered heavy losses during its invasion of Ukraine.

The total Russian losses being claimed by Ukraine so far include:

• 5,840 troops
• 30 aircraft
• 31 helicopters
• Up to 211 tanks
• 862 armoured patrol vehicles (APVs)
• 85 artillery systems

• 9 anti-aircraft systems
• 60 fuel tanks
• 355 vehicles
• 40 MLRS rocket launchers (captured)

James Waterhouse
Kyiv correspondent, BBC News

Image source, bbc

The air raid went off again but it’s been a relatively calm night.

This morning it's so quiet in the city centre you can even hear the wind blowing between buildings, a world away from a week ago.

At St Sophia’s cathedral behind me there is a service at midday hosted by church leaders across the city, a real stand of defiance.

President Zelensky has given an address talking about Ukraine being pulled together closer in the past seven days than it has been in 30 years since independence.

He talked about that missile strike on the TV and radio tower which actually hit a prominent Holocaust memorial. Zelensky is Jewish and he questioned why anyone would do that and accused Vladimir Putin of trying to erase him, his people and his country’s history.

But it is a very uncomfortable calm here, given what we are seeing in Kharkiv and advancing Russian troops to the south.

But as things stand, and we have to take this hour by hour, Ukraine’s key cities - with the exception of Kherson - are being increasingly engulfed by the Russian advance but are holding for now.

As fighting continues in Ukraine, the conflict is also continuing to push up global oil prices - despite new measures aimed at calming markets.

Brent crude - the international benchmark for oil prices - has hit $113 (£85) a barrel, marking the highest level since June 2014.

It rose even after the International Energy Agency's members agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles.

Russia is one of the biggest energy producers in the world and investors are worried that oil or gas supplies could be affected.

Read more here

Image source, Reuters

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says Russia faces a "big challenge" entering the major cities of Ukraine, with both armed forces and civilians likely to repel approaching enemy forces by any means available.

He says it was part of Russian military doctrine to surround major urban centres and bombard "indiscriminately" eventually closing in on "a population that they hope to have broken, and taking over what's left".

But he says, the geographical size of Ukraine and its large population of 44m, would make occupation by Russia "very hard".

"That is when the real casualties start to pile up," he tells BBC Breakfast, citing Russia's experience in Chechnya, the Soviet Union in Afghanistan - and the West in Iraq.

"Invading a country with overwhelming force is one thing, occupying a people of 44 million, who don't want you in it, is a very different thing."

He rules out the option of Nato enforcing a no-fly zone, saying any clash arising from a breach of the zone by Russia "could lead to a war right across Europe".

If it is confirmed, and so far we only have Russia's defence ministry to say it is, then capturing this southern city of almost 300,000 people would be a major victory for the Russian military.

It would be the biggest city to fall into Russian hands and strategically it would be a vital base for the military as it seeks to push further inland and west along the coast to the big port city of Odesa. Kherson is itself an important Black Sea port and an industrial centre.

Controlling Kherson means controlling a major water source too. Ukraine dammed the North Crimean canal after Russia seized the Crimean peninsula, so most of the fresh water supply into Crimea was cut off, causing water shortages in the annexed region.

One of the first targets of Russia's military invasion was in unblocking that waterway and restoring water supplies to Crimea.

We know Russian vehicles entered Kherson's city centre overnight. Mayor Igor Kolyikhayev said this morning the city needed a miracle.

We're awaiting confirmation of Russia's claim to have captured the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson.

Earlier Moscow said it was now in "full control" of the city, making it the largest in Ukraine to fall since the beginning of the invasion.

But the region's governor has said Kherson is completely surrounded by Russian forces, appearing to contradict the claim.

The city's mayor has also posted on Facebook: "We are still Ukraine. Still firm."

We will bring you more updates as they come.

Image source, INSTITUTE FOR STUDY OF WAR

Military analysts at the US-based Institute for Study of War have pushed out their latest assessment of Russia's campaign, external. Here are the latest key takeaways:

Kyiv: The Ukraine capital remains Moscow's main war operation. Russia is setting up conditions to encircle the capital with advances from the west and east of the city. Analysts believe the 64km-long convoy still north of the city is there to support an attack from the west.

Kharkiv: Shelling and aerial bombardments continue. Analysts believe Russia is launching an aerial attack first before it goes in with a renewed ground attack on either Wednesday or Thursday.

In the south, Russian forces are aiming to shore up their seizure of Kherson, which could clear the way for renewed drives onto Odesa and Mykolaiv - which would knock out Ukraine's port access.

They are also lining up troops to encircle Mariupol to the east - which would create a "land bridge" for Russian forces to travel freely between the Russian mainland and Crimea.

Russia 'will not hold back'published at 07:49 Greenwich Mean Time 2 March 2022

07:49 GMT 2 March 2022

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

President Putin "would rather decimate Ukraine than have it in the Western camp" says the BBC's Frank Gardner.

He told BBC Breakfast, the Russians had so far held back some of their worst weapons but "the gloves are going to come off" in the "second phase" of the invasion.

"The difficult balancing act for the West is how to push Putin far enough to punish him for this, to stop this war, but not push him so far that he lashes out and does something really horrendous."

Gardner said it was unlikely there was anyone close to Putin advising caution.

He said Putin had spent the past two years during the pandemic closeted with advisors planning this attack.

Putin "has concentrated power in his hands. No-one is talking to him," Gardner warned.

Ukrainians are waking up to the familiar sounds of air raid sirens across several cities.

Russia has launched its attack on Ukraine from three main directions: north, south and east.

Here are the latest developments.

In the north-eastern city of Kharkiv:

• Russian paratroopers have landed and are fighting for control of the city, according to Ukraine's military
• There are reports a rocket attack has struck the building of the regional police department and part of Karazin University

• At least 21 people have been killed and 112 wounded in shelling, according to the city's mayor
• Kharkiv is Ukraine's second most populous city. It is just 30 miles from the border and largely Russian speaking

In the south:

• Russian military forces seem to be making more concrete gains in Ukraine's south, and Russia's defence ministry claims it has taken the southern city of Kherson
• The city's mayor says it's still under Ukrainian control but local authorities say Kherson is completely surrounded by Russian troops
• The mayor of the strategic port city of Mariupol says it is under constant shelling

In Kyiv:

• A huge convoy of Russian armoured vehicles is about 15 miles from the capital in the north of the country
• Russian missiles targeted a TV tower in the city on Tuesday, killing five people and leaving five others injured. Broadcasts were briefly disrupted

Russia's defence ministry says its troops have now captured the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.

If the city has fallen, it would make it the largest in Ukraine to be captured by Russian forces so far.

Overnight we reported that Russian troops had been seen on the city's streets and that its mayor said Kherson's train station and port had been captured.

The UNIAN news agency is reporting that a rocket attack in Kharkiv has struck the building of the regional police department in the city.

A video posted on the Telegram channel, external of a Ukrainian government adviser appears to show a building engulfed in flames.

Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Interior Minister, says a building belonging to Karazin National University across the street is also alight following the attack.

The BBC has not yet been able to independently verify the video.

Image source, EPA

At least 21 people were killed and 112 wounded in the shelling of Ukraine's second most populous city Kharkiv, the city’s mayor has said.

However, the governor of Kharkiv Regional State Administration said all Russian attacks "were repulsed" and positions held, despite heavy bombardment of Kharkiv on Tuesday and overnight.

Governor Oleh Synegubov said "the Russian enemy suffered significant losses".

It is understood Russian troops entered the northeastern and northern sectors of the city as Kharkiv was pummelled overhead by jet artilllery.

Ukraine says a Russian missile strike overnight has killed at least two people in the city of Zhytomyr, which lies 120km (75 miles) west of Kyiv.

The strike, aimed at an air base in the city, hit nearby residential homes.

Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs tweeted that at least two people were killed while 16 people were injured. A government official, Anton Gerashchenko, had earlier said on his Telegram account that the death toll was even higher.

"So far, four people have died. Including a child," he said.

Ukraine government accounts on Facebook and Telegraph have shared video which they said was of the explosion's aftermath. Vision showed rescuers scrambling to dig out survivors from the rubble.

Ukraine's foreign ministry has tweeted, external saying one of the buildings hit was a "maternity home".

Image source, Ukrainian State Emergency Service

Image source, Ukrainian State Emergency Service

Low-cost European airline Wizz Air has announced it will be offering 100,000 free seats on short-haul flights for Ukrainian refugees.

The Hungary-based airline said on social media that it was "committed" to helping Ukrainian refugees reach their destination.

The seats will be available on Wizz Air flights departing from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania during the month of March, the airline said.

More than 660,000 people have already fled abroad, according to the UN's refugee agency, with Poland bearing the brunt of the migration.

An estimated 450,000 Ukrainian refugees - half the total refugee numbers so far- have arrived in Poland, the country's Deputy Interior Minister Pawel Szefernaker told private Radio Zet on Wednesday.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, has announced that it is leaving the European market as its subsidiaries there face large cash outflows.

The bank said it was no longer able to supply liquidity to its European subsidiary banks but that its capital level and asset quality were sufficient to make payments to all depositors.

On Tuesday, Sberbank's European arm was ordered to close by the European Central Bank, which had warned it faced failure due to a run on deposits after Russia invaded Ukraine.

Image source, PA

Oil prices have surged on international energy markets despite new measures aimed at calming concerns about the impact of the Ukraine invasion.

Brent crude - the international benchmark for oil prices - has topped $110 (£82) a barrel, marking the highest level seen in more than seven years.

The rise came even after the International Energy Agency's members agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from emergency stockpiles.

Read more about the soaring cost of oil here

Image source, Getty Images

The United Nations says at least 136 civilians have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last Thursday.

Thirteen children are believed to be among the dead.

But Liz Throssell, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the real death toll is likely to be much higher.

Throssell said most of the casualties came as a result of heavy artillery shelling, airstrikes and other wide-impact explosives.

The UN also said that about 400 people have been injured in the fighting so far.

However, figures released by Ukraine's government suggest as many as 352 civilians are dead and 1,684 injured.

Image source, Getty Images

Stock market trading on the Moscow Exchange will be suspended for a third day in a row on Wednesday, Russia's central bank has said in a statement, external.

However, it also said it would allow a limited range of operations for the first time this week.

It comes after the rouble slumped to a record low and Russian companies listed overseas saw their share prices slide.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

US President Joe Biden's annual State of the Union speech is billed as a message to Congress setting out his agenda.

But in the shadow of war in Ukraine, the president spent the first 15 minutes on his biggest foreign policy challenge to date. And his comments on the invasion were tailored to four distinct audiences - Vladimir Putin, EU allies, Ukrainians and the American people.

The most emotional moment came early in his speech, when Mr Biden thanked Ukrainian ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova, who was seated in the balcony next to Jill Biden and other distinguished guests.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said.

But for Vladmir Putin, Mr Biden’s message was blunt - the Russian president had “badly miscalculated” and his nation’s economic pain was just beginning.

And he added that the US would fight for “every inch” of Nato territory were the Russians to expand their attack.

Read more from Anthony on his four messages from Biden