Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

British defence sources have told the BBC that Russian troops had been ill-prepared for the war in Ukraine. "They really did think they were conducting military exercises not preparing for an invasion," one said.

One source said President Putin thought he had the army he had seen at Moscow's annual Victory Day Parade, but "the army on parade ground has not turned out to be an army made for battle".

Earlier this week the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, accused President Putin of betraying his troops "by sticking them down roads to be killed and abandoned in the cold".

Russian troops, he said, had been left in a place where "potentially thousands could be killed".

Vladimir Putin has told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call that Russia will only halt its military operation if Ukraine stops fighting and Moscow's demands are met, the Kremlin says.

Russia insists its invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea is a special military operation, which Putin claims, without any evidence, is needed to "denazify" the country.

The Russian leader reiterated that the assault is going according to plan and on schedule.

He has made similar comments in recent days, amid verdicts from Western defence analysts that the Russian military campaign was going less well than expected.

According to the Kremlin statement, Putin says he hopes Ukrainian negotiators will take a more "constructive" approach.

Erdogan's office said the Turkish leader had appealed for an urgent general ceasefire.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe correspondent, in Zaporizhzhia

Image source, .

With frontlines to the east and south, Zaporizhzhia feels edgy. There are multiple layers of heavily fortified checkpoints at all the entrance and exit points.

On Saturday, with only an hour to go until a strict curfew, we were taken for questioning at the local police headquarters, held in a pitch-dark corridor behind heaps of sandbags until the security services could confirm our identity.

We were released with an apology. "We need to be extra careful," the officer told us. "I ask you to understand." Outside, there were no streetlights and all the buildings around were in darkness. No-one is allowed out after 19:00 in this city except to run to a bomb shelter.

This morning, local residents emerged to form queues at the few shops that were open. A passing car slowed down to check whether we were "svoi", one of them. Shortly afterwards, we were pulled over by police with a sudden shout, ordered to raise our hands. Three armed officers surrounded the van, pointing their weapons directly at us until I could explain who we were.

But the city remains defiant.

All along the main roads in and out of town, billboards that might have advertised soap or real estate before the war are now pasted with blunt messages for Vladimir Putin and his troops. Some are addressed to "Russian occupiers", calling on soldiers to wave the white flag and surrender, or "lay down your arms and live". Many tell Russia or Putin himself to "F*** off!", only without the asterisks.

If the Russian president expected his troops and tanks to be met as liberators, he miscalculated.

Image source, .

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of what's been happening on day 11 of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• For a second day, there are attempts to evacuate trapped civilians from the besieged southern city of Mariupol. Ukrainian officials said a new route had been agreed with Russian forces that was meant to open at 12:00 local time (10:00 GMT). It's not clear yet how this is unfolding on the ground
• Yesterday a planned evacuation corridor was aborted due to Russian attacks
• Ukraine's president warns that Russian forces are preparing to shell the port city of Odesa, predicting a "historic crime"
• There are signs Russia's war command is focusing on the southern front, aiming to cut Ukraine off from the Black Sea, Ukraine's top security official says
• But there has also been intense fighting to the north-west of Kyiv. The small town of Irpin - which lies at the head of the huge Russian convoy near the capital - has come under artillery fire and air strikes
• In the east, Kharkiv and Sumy have also suffered renewed bombardment
• More than 1.5m people fleeing Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in the last 10 days, according to the UN
• UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab says the conflict could last for months, if not years

• The UK's chief of defence staff says the government has a direct line to Moscow's operational HQ, and he has asked to meet his Russian counterpart

Yalda Hakim
BBC World News presenter, in Lviv

On the surface, everyday life continues in Lviv, a city near the Polish border in western Ukraine that has become a way station for refugees fleeing bombing in other cities.

Coffees are drunk and cakes are eaten in cafes, the trams rumble around the cobbled streets and shops have full shelves.

But the atmosphere is tense. ID documents and passports are scrutinised, and on shop and cafe doors, signs display the list of casualties that Ukraine's armed forces say they have inflicted on Russia so far.

And then once or twice a day the sirens go off, soldiers suddenly emerge and everyone files down to the nearest shelter. Make no mistake, this is a country at war.

Pope Francis has said the Ukraine conflict is "not a military operation but a war", and called Ukraine a "martyred country" where "rivers of tears and blood flow".

His comments are a rebuke to the official Russian narrative being pushed by the Kremlin, which insists its invasion of Ukraine is a "special military operation" launched to "demilitarise" Ukraine.

Last week the Pope appealed for an end to the conflict, calling for humanitarian corridors to be opened to allow civilians to flee.

Image source, PA Media

As we've been reporting, Russian authorities have restricted access to a large number of media outlets, including the BBC.

BBC World News, the broadcaster's global television news channel, has also been taken off air in Russia.

Here's a reminder of how to get around restrictions on BBC services in Russia:

• Download the Psiphon app from the AppStore or Google Play Store
• Look for the dedicated BBC site on the Tor Browser, external which 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

As we've been reporting, authorities in Mariupol, the south-eastern port city, say that a fresh ceasefire is coming into effect to allow trapped civilians to evacuate.

The effort began about an hour ago, but we're unable to confirm at this point if buses and cars have begun to move.

Here's a map of the route:

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

The town of Irpin, 20km (12 miles) north-west of Kyiv, has found itself on the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian forces in recent days.

It stands near the strategic Hostomel airfield, and the head of the huge Russian convoy assembled near the capital.

Residential buildings and roads have been heavily damaged by artillery and air strikes. Ukrainian forces have also blown up bridges to curb the Russian advance, reports suggest.

Images from Saturday show people crossing one bridge amid shattered girders as they try to flee.

Trains are the main escape route, according to Reuters news agency, but the town is under constant bombardment. Ukrainian officials said on Saturday that Russian troops had blown up part of the railway track along the evacuation route from Irpin.

Image source, Jedrzej Nowicki/Agencja Wyborcza.pl via Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine's President Zelensky has invited tech entrepreneur Elon Musk to visit Ukraine after the war - with the SpaceX boss saying he looked forward to visiting.

Musk has sent Ukraine a truckload of Starlink internet terminals, which connect to his company's satellite-based service, and has pledged to send more this week.

The government is working to secure Ukraine's internet access amid Russian attacks on communications infrastructure.

You can read more here on how Starlink will work.

More now from UK deputy prime minister Dominic Raab. Asked whether a new ceasefire around Mariupol will hold, he says he’s very sceptical about any assurance Russia’s president makes.

He tells the BBC that Putin’s “initial gambit has stuttered” and the right strategy for the UK is to “keep putting the squeeze on those bankrolling Putin’s war machine”.

Anyone who thinks the war will be resolved in days “is deluding themselves”, he adds.

He denied the UK was letting Ukrainian refugees down, saying while you could always question if more can be done, the UK is giving £220m of humanitarian assistance.

British nationals and anyone who has settled in the UK can bring immediate family, parents, grandparents and siblings to safety from Ukraine on a visa that will last three years.

But some Ukrainians without "settled status" in the UK complain this means they can't help family members.

The EU is giving all Ukrainian refugees the right to live and work in member states for three years.

As we've been reporting, the number of people fleeing the country has now hit 1.5m and is expected to continue to grow.

More than 600 demonstrators have been arrested in 21 Russian cities, according to the monitoring group OVD-Info, after jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny called for Russians to protest against the war in Ukraine.

The monitoring group, citing local media sources, said more than 200 people were detained in a Siberian city - Novosibirsk.

Navalny called for demonstrations in the main squares of Russian cities at 14:00 local time - in Moscow and St Petersburg that is 11:00 GMT.

Mass detentions have become the norm at anti-government protests in Russia. OVD-Info says at least 8,000 protesters have been detained or arrested in Russia since the war in Ukraine began 11 days ago.

Sunday's protests follow a day of global demonstrations against Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Saturday.

Image source, EPA

The UK and allies have to be very cautious about Russia's threats, says the UK's chief of defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

"We've got to maintain a calmness and responsibility so we don't just react rashly to whatever is the latest, frankly at times, bizarre or ridiculous comment from President Putin," he tells the BBC.

He stresses that the UK is part of the world's largest military alliance, Nato, and has a nuclear deterrent.

"We are prepared... we will also be incredibly confident in our ability to face down President Putin."

Asked if we would know if Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, he said he didn't want to go into details but there would be "warning signs" if nuclear escalation was possible.

And asked if the UK was still communicating with Russia, he said the government had a direct line to Moscow’s operational headquarters, which was tested every day.

He says he recently used the line to request a meeting with his Russian counterpart, army chief Valery Gerasimov, and is waiting to hear back.

In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, the BBC's Jeremy Bowen met a young couple who are staying put in the city, though a lot of their friends have left.

Their message: "Don't fear Putin - he's very afraid himself right now."

The UK owes it to the people of Ukraine, Europe and the world to make sure the war in Ukraine doesn't escalate, the UK's chief of defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin tells the BBC.

He says "the last thing we want" is a war between Nato and Russia, while acknowledging Ukrainians are facing an "awful" situation.

The country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has expressed anger that Nato - the Western defence alliance of which the UK is part - is refusing to impose a no-fly zone over Ukrainian airspace that would prevent Russia from carrying out air strikes. That would put the alliance into direct fighting with Russian forces.

But Sir Tony says the invasion is not going well for Russia and he has confidence the UK's response is right.

Another wave of Russia's "terroristic plan" has started, one of Ukraine's deputy prime ministers says.

Olha Stefanishyna tells the BBC the situation is getting more severe and that hospitals and kindergartens have been shelled in Ukrainian cities.

She says despite Ukraine's determination to resist the invasion, it's not the end of the war by far.

Russia's "enormous losses", including of its soldiers' lives, are not deterring Vladimir Putin but only encouraging further aggression, she says.

Joel Gunter
BBC News, in Lviv

Image source, .

Fresh attempts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol come a day after a ceasefire and humanitarian escape corridor was announced before falling apart due to fresh Russian shelling. An estimated 200,000 people have been trapped for days under heavy bombardment.

Maxim, a 27-year-old IT developer who is caring for his grandparents in their sixth-floor apartment, told the BBC that Saturday began with hope and ended in desperation:

"As fast as I could, I packed four bags for me and my grandparents with warm clothes and food and all of our remaining water and I packed them into my car.

"Right when I was ready to drive, the shelling started again. I heard explosions near to us. I carried everything back upstairs as fast as I could to the apartment. From there, I could see smoke rising from the city and smoke rising from the highway to Zaporizhzhia, where people were supposed to escape.

"Many people came into the city centre because they heard there was a ceasefire and buses to take them out and to flee the shelling there. Then they could not get back to their shelters when it started again.

"So we have taken many people into the apartment. They are from the left side of the city, they say it is destroyed. All the houses are burning and no one can put out the fires. There are many dead bodies lying in the streets and no one can carry them

"We have run out of bottled water and we are down to the water that I filled in the bath before the taps went off. The gas is the only thing still working, we can use it to boil the bath water to drink.

"Today the police opened the stores and told people to take everything because the people here have no food and drink. Our neighbours manged to take some candy, some fish and some fizzy drinks.

"The ceasefire was a lie, one side never planned to stop firing. If they say there is [another ceasefire] we will have to try go but we don’t know if it will be real. Maybe now we are better to hide."

Image source, .

One of Ukraine's deputy prime ministers, Olha Stefanishnya, is speaking to Sophie Raworth on Sunday Morning on BBC One.

She says the Ukrainian army is "as strong as it has ever been".

You can watch by clicking the play button at the top of the page.

We'll also bring you more of what she - and Sophie's other guests, including Britain's chief of the defence staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin and deputy prime minister Dominic Raab - have to say.

Image source, .

More than 1.5m people fleeing Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in the last 10 days, the UN high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi says.

It has become the fasting-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two.

Safety systems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are intact and radiation remains at normal levels, Ukraine's nuclear regulator says.

The largest nuclear plant in Europe was seized by Russia during a dramatic attack earlier this week, with buildings damaged by shelling.

Ukraine's regulator has told the UN it has managed to keep in contact with staff at the plant and two out of the six reactors were now operating.

• How close was nuclear plant attack to catastrophe?

Ukraine’s three other nuclear power plants are working safely, the UN's International Atomic Energy Authority said in an update, citing information it had received from the Ukrainian regulator. But it warned staff had to be allowed to rest and change shifts to be able to work safely.

Workers at Chernobyl - which Russia seized last week - are said to have been on site for 11 days, without being able to change shift. The decommissioned plant was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986.

Image source, .