Barbara Plett Usher
State Department Correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has called the human cost of Russia’s “unjustified” war against Ukraine “staggering.”

He says the Biden administration is documenting what’s happening to civilians and wants to make sure Russia’s held accountable for it.

He stopped short of saying the Kremlin was deliberately targeting civilians, but noted that at the very least indiscriminate targeting has been one of Russia’s methods of war in the past.

President Biden has also told journalists it’s too early to say if Russia is committing war crimes but that US officials are “watching closely”.

Blinken was speaking before leaving on a trip to Europe. He will be visiting six countries, including the Baltic states and Moldova, which are particularly on edge as the violence in nearby Ukraine escalates.

The Secretary of State addressed Russians directly, calling the conflict “Putin’s war, not the Russian peoples war.” He told them that economic sanctions were aimed at the Kremlin’s “unprovoked aggression,” not at them, and said the US would stand with those Russian citizens demanding an end to the invasion.

He also described today’s sweeping UN General Assembly vote condemning Russia as “overwhelming and historic.” And he said Putin’s recent declaration of a nuclear alert was “the height of irresponsibility,” but that the US had seen no reason to change its level of nuclear readiness.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia has been reported to the International Criminal Court at the Hague in the largest ever referral, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said.

Johnson wrote that 38 countries have referred Vladimir Putin's regime to the court over alleged war crimes committed during Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"We are crystal clear that Putin cannot commit these horrific acts with impunity," Johnson wrote".

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss tweeted that Russian troops are "targeting civilians indiscriminately and tearing through towns across Ukraine".

"An investigation by the International Criminal Court into Russia's barbaric acts is urgently needed and it is right that those responsible are held to account. The UK will work closely with allies to ensure justice is done," she said.

An explosion near Kyiv's central railway station earlier this evening was caused by wreckage from a cruise missile shot down by Ukraine's air defences, an interior ministry advisor says.

Anton Herashchenko posts on Facebook, external that the debris hit a heating pipe, causing the blast.

But he says if the missile had hit the centre of Kyiv, the casualties and damage would have been appalling.

Herashchenko does not say whether there had been injuries as a result of the explosion.

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will begin a six-nation tour through Europe over the next six days as the conflict in Ukraine intensifies.

The trip will see him visit Nato and EU leaders in Brussels, as well as officials from Poland, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In remarks on Wednesday, Blinken said the crisis was fast becoming "a threat to stability in Europe and to the entire rules-based order" of the world.

He expressed concern over "indiscriminate" attacks by Russian forces and "provocative rhetoric about nuclear weapons".

"This is President Putin's war. It's not the Russian people's war," he said.

"My message to Russians, if they’re even able to hear it... we know many of you want no part in this war."

Image source, Reuters

France's President Emmanuel Macron has been giving a televised address to the nation, denouncing Russia's "lie" that it is fighting Nazism in Ukraine and condemning it as the "aggressor".

He says that while Nato is not in conflict with Russia, Europe has entered a "change of era". In response, Macron says France will increase spending on defence while he advocates for greater European energy independence.

"The war in Europe no longer belongs to our history books: it is there, in front of our eyes," Macron says.

He praises the unity of the European response, adding: "It must now agree to pay the price for peace, freedom and democracy."

Image source, Getty Images

The US Department of Defence says Russian forces have achieved little progress in the past 24 to 36 hours.

In particular, a 60 km (40 mile) convoy of troops pushing south into the capital Kyiv has been slowed by Ukrainian fighters and "remains stalled", spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

"We believe the Russians are regrouping themselves and reassessing the progress they have not made," he told reporters.

Kirby noted the invading troops are generally facing less resistance in the south of the country than in the north.

But he said the Pentagon could not confirm that the southern city of Kherson has fallen, as the Russians have claimed.

In spite of their slowed momentum, he cautioned, Russia retains additional power at its disposal that is yet to be used.

The mayor of Kherson has appeared to suggest that the southern Ukrainian city has fallen to Russian forces.

In a message posted to Facebook on Wednesday, Igor Kolykhaev wrote that "there were armed visitors in the city council today" and that he had told the troops "we don't have Ukrainian Armed Forces in the city, only civilians and people who want to LIVE here!".

Kolykhaev wrote that Moscow's forces have imposed a curfew from 20:00 to 06:00 local time (22:00 - 08:00 GMT), and said cars with food, medicines and some other supplies will be allowed to enter the city.

He added that cars within the city must drive at "minimum" speed and pedestrians are banned from moving in groups of more than two people.

"So far this is how it is. Ukrainian flag above us. And to keep it the same, these requirements must be met. I have nothing else to offer yet", Kolykhaev said.

The BBC cannot independently verify this statement and earlier today US defence officials said that Kherson "remains very much a contested city".

Rayhan Demytrie
BBC News Tbilisi

Image source, Getty Images

Georgia's governing party chairman Irakli Kobakhidze says the government is urgently preparing an application for EU candidate status to be submitted to Brussels tomorrow.

He says a decision has been made because of the general political situation and a new reality.

Since the Russian invasion started there have been nightly street rallies held in solidarity with Ukraine - but also in anger at the Georgian government's decision not to join international sanctions against Russia.

On Monday, the government refused to allow a group of Georgian volunteer fighters to depart from Tbilisi International Airport and join the war in Ukraine.

In protest, President Zelensky recalled Ukraine's ambassador to Georgia.

Georgia's government is anxious not to provoke Russia, which has military bases in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

But the Georgian government is under pressure from within the country to show that it remains committed to joining Nato and the EU.

Barbara Plett Usher
State Department Correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Antony Blinken with Mikhail and his teddy bear Xoxo

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has visited a key Ukrainian institution in Washington DC - the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family. Both Catholic and Orthodox priests participated in a special service in the cavernous chapel.

Many parishioners are first and second-generation immigrants with relatives now under Russian attack. Mr Blinken heard about a baptism held earlier this week during which the godmother had to join via Zoom from a bomb shelter.

He told those gathered that “President Putin made a horrific, terrible mistake,” that Ukraine was inspiring the world and that “good will triumph over evil”.

Several dignitaries were present, including the Ukrainian ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova, who was First Lady Jill Biden’s guest at the State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

“You’re our star,” Mr Blinken told her. He also met a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, Andrii Chornopyskyi, who’d come to the US recently with his family to work on a thesis.

He and his wife Ivanna Chornopyska both have parents in Ukraine trying to stay safe. Mr Blinken greeted their three-year-old son Mikhail and his teddy bear Xoxo, and said he would try to get more visas for Ukrainians to come to America.

Image source, PA Media

The proposed sale of Chelsea FC will bring to an end the most high-profile example of Russian influence and wealth in London.

Roman Abramovich bought the west London club 19 years ago for £140m, transforming its fortunes with a huge investment, leading to two Champions League titles and five Premier League trophies.

But earlier today tycoon Hansjoerg Wyss gave the first firm indication that Abramovich was looking to cut his ties with the UK.

Wyss told the Swiss newspaper Blick that he and three others had been sounded out about buying the club, adding that Abramovich was "currently trying to sell all his villas in England".

Abramovich, who is 55 and has Israeli and Portuguese citizenship, built a fortune estimated by Forbes at $13.3bn through the oil industry, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union in the 1990s

There have been growing calls in the UK to include him in sanctions against Russia for his alleged ties to Vladimir Putin, which he denies.

In his statement, he was uncertain if he would return to the Chelsea director's box. "I hope that I will be able to visit Stamford Bridge one last time to say goodbye to all of you in person," he said.

Philippa Roxby
BBC News Health reporter

The World Health Organization says it's "deeply concerned by the humanitarian emergency" in Ukraine and by attacks on healthcare workers and hospitals.

It says a first shipment of medical supplies is arriving in Poland on Thursday containing enough trauma and emergency supplies for 1,000 patients.

In a briefing, WHO director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stresses the need for a humanitarian corridor to ensure the safe transport of supplies to people most in need in Ukraine.

Dr Mike Ryan, also from the WHO, says: "People’s bodies and bones are being broken. People’s lives are being lost and there isn’t a health service available to supply that life-saving care."

Dr Ryan says healthcare workers are carrying children into hospital basements to put them on ventilation, and they need more oxygen to help keep people alive.

"You can't be put on a waiting list for oxygen," he says.

The WHO also worries that the mass movement of around 870,000 people from their homes in Ukraine could lead to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, here are all the latest developments from Ukraine after a sixth day of intense fighting:

• A special meeting of the UN General Assembly has voted to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine by a massive margin of 141 votes to five
• The Administrator of US Aid, Samantha Power, said the vote marks a "global rebuke of historic proportions"
• Moscow's defence ministry says 498 Russian soldiers have been killed and thousands more injured during its invasion of Ukraine. The BBC cannot independently verify this figure, and Kyiv claims the true number is 10 times higher
• Russia says negotiations between its officials and a Ukrainian delegation will resume on Thursday near the Polish-Belarusian border, where they will attempt to broker a ceasefire
• The mayor of Mariupol says scores of civilians have been killed in Russian rocket and artillery attacks on residential areas
• Elsewhere, Vladimir Putin's forces have been heavily shelling the cities of Kharkiv in the east and Kherson in the south, while an enormous military convoy near Kyiv has remained stationary
• The UN says almost 900,000 people have now fled intense fighting in the country

Image source, Getty Images

The US ambassador to the UN has called Wednesday's vote to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine "historic".

Linda Thomas-Greenfield tweeted the resolution, which was supported by 141 nations, represented an "overwhelming vote in defence of Ukraine and the UN Charter".

She had earlier called on delegates to vote in favour of the motion if they believed countries "have a right to sovereignty and territorial integrity".

Meanwhile, Samantha Power, director of US Aid and a former UN ambassador under Barack Obama, tweeted the vote marks a "global rebuke of historic proportions".

"Putin is isolated to an unprecedented degree," she wrote. "Even his longstanding partners are condemning this invasion."

Just five countries - Russia, Belarus, Syria, North Korea and Eritrea - voted against the resolution at the General Assembly's first emergency meeting since 1997.

Billionaire Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich says he will sell Chelsea FC, promising to donate the net proceeds to a charitable foundation for the benefit of "all victims of the war in Ukraine".

"This includes providing critical funds towards the urgent and immediate needs of victims, as well as supporting the long-term work of recovery," he said in a statement.

Abramovich, who has denied close financial links to Russian President Vladimir Putin or the Kremlin but has come under increasing scrutiny in recent days, says the sale will not be fast-tracked.

He says he will not be asking for the loans of £1.5bn he has made to the club to be repaid.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called today for the 55-year-old to face sanctions, saying he is a "person of interest to the Home Office because of his links to the Russian state".

Five countries voted against condemning Russia's invasion at the emergency UN General Assembly in New York. Unsurprisingly, one was the Russian Federation itself. But who were the others?

Equally unsurprisingly, Belarus also opposed the motion. A long-time Russian ally, the small country is described by analysts as Moscow's "client state". Some Russian troops invaded Ukraine from Belarusian territory.

Another to oppose was Syria - whose leader Bashar al-Assad relied on large-scale Russian military assistance to stay in power during Syria's civil war.

Eritrea in the Horn of Africa also opposed, as did North Korea in Asia.

However China - which earlier this year joined Russia in opposing further Nato expansion - abstained. Last week it abstained during a similar vote in the UN Security Council.

Read more - The Ukraine crisis is a major challenge for China.

One challenge in this conflict has been to independently confirm an accurate number of victims.

Russia and Ukraine both say they have killed thousands of opposing troops. Now Moscow says nearly 500 of its soldiers have been killed, while Ukraine has not yet given an updated figure for military casualties but says at least 2,000 civilians have died.

Why should we be sceptical about claims?

In a war, countries use information as part of their strategy. It helps galvanise support for a cause or, in the case of losses, opposition to it. So there can be a lot of disinformation around.

Ukraine, which has enjoyed widespread support from countries around the world, is keen to show the scale of the destruction and human suffering caused by Russia's unprovoked aggression.

For Russia, news of mass casualties among Russian troops, and the Ukrainian population, could potentially spread the anti-war sentiment even further and turn into an existential threat to President Vladimir Putin's rule.

So who is a reliable source?

The UN and human rights groups are often the go-to sources for accurate estimates. But they too have been struggling.

Many of their teams have had to relocate and the security situation means that in many cases they are unable to visit places attacked to investigate them.

Numbers are released only after workers corroborate information from multiple sources, including survivors, witnesses, open source investigation, and reports from authorities or other organisations.

That takes time, and that is why UN figures are often below other estimates, including those from governments.

On Tuesday, the agency estimated that at least 136 civilians had been killed so far. But the real number, spokeswoman Liz Throssell warned, was "likely to be much higher".

Georgia - a former Soviet state on the eastern shore of the Black Sea - will "immediately" apply for EU membership, its ruling party Georgian Dream says.

It comes a day after the European Parliament backed Ukraine's bid to apply for EU membership.

Georgian Dream's Chairman Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters he was calling on the EU "to review our application in an urgent manner and to make the decision to grant Georgia the status of an EU membership candidate".

Georgia has seen big demonstrations against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has controlled two Georgian regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - since 2008, when Russian forces ousted Georgian troops from them.

It followed a Georgian attempt to recapture South Ossetia, which had fought a separatist war against Georgia in the 1990s.

Read more about Georgia.

The mayor of the besieged eastern city of Kharkiv says Russian shelling is inflicting heavy casualties on the civilian population, but he's vowing that the city will not fall to Vladimir Putin's invasion force.

Igor Terekhov tells the BBC that intense fighting is taking place on all sides of the city and says the situation is "very dangerous".

He says Russian troops are shelling and firing cruise missiles at residential areas "constantly", and adds that he's received reports Moscow's forces have detonated a so-called "vacuum bomb" in the city.

"They [Russia] threw against Kharkiv all the imaginable forces and a colossal number of tanks are approaching Kharkiv," he says.

He adds, the Russian attack "never stops" and says Ukrainian troops are engaged in running battles with what he calls "saboteur groups" and is calling on the outside world "to do everything possible to stop the aggressor".

Terekhov says Kharkiv's citizens remain defiant, adding there have been no reports of casualties in the city's bomb shelters, where many have retreated.

"The city of Kharkiv will hold and today Kharkiv is unified like never before. The mood in the city is serious and everybody is focused, but the city is united and will stand-fast," he says.

The UN General Assembly has voted in favour of a resolution condemning Russia's invasion and calling for it immediately to pull all of its forces out of Ukraine.

The resolution was supported by 141 of the body's 193 members at a rare emergency General Assembly session called by the UN Security Council.

Ahead of the vote, Ukraine's UN ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya said Russia had "come to deprive Ukraine of the very right to exist".

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Russia wanted to stop a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine and accused the West of using "open and cynical threats" to get countries to vote for the resolution.

It is the assembly’s first emergency meeting since 1997.

Russian officials say they expect Ukrainian negotiators to arrive on the Polish-Belarusian border for the next round of peace talks on Thursday morning, where a ceasefire is set to be discussed.

Moscow's chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, told Russian media the Ukrainian delegation has left the capital city of Kyiv and that Russian troops are providing a security corridor for the delegates.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Wednesday that Moscow remains committed to the "demilitarisation" of Ukraine and added there should be a list of specified weapons that can never be deployed on Ukrainian territory.

But he said that Vladimir Putin's regime recognised the Ukrainian people's right to chose their own leader and that Russia accepts Volodymyr Zelensky as the legitimate president.