Phil Mackie
In Calais

There’s a lot more movement here today. At least half a dozen Ukrainian families have left for Paris to get their visas processed.

Others have arrived here from Paris or Brussels after submitting their paperwork, and are now waiting for their visas to be approved.

Some have cars packed with as much as they could bring from Ukraine, others carry their belongings in backpacks and shopping bags.

They are all tired and have been frustrated at the complex process they’ve been through.

Today’s announcement by the UK government is unlikely to make much difference to the hundreds of people who’ve already spent most of the week here - most hope their visas will be approved before the new system is up and running next Tuesday.

Vira Pitchuk, 29, is from the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk. She and her husband have visas already and live in London.

She drove to the Polish border to pick up her mother and two sons, aged five and nine, and is now waiting for their visas to be approved.

She says no-one from the UK government has spoken to her about how to make their application. "No help," she says.

Ukraine and Russia ministers came to size each other uppublished at 12:12 Greenwich Mean Time 10 March 2022

12:12 GMT 10 March 2022

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent, James Landale, who is in Turkey where the foreign ministers' talks took place, said there had been limited progress.

"I don't think we've moved much further forward," he said, adding it was as though they'd both come to "size each other up".

He described the Russian foreign minister's language as aggressive, saying he was robust in his defence of Moscow's moves.

On the question of further talks, he said Ukraine was willing to engage and Russia's Sergei Lavrov did not rule them out, but did make clear these talks did not supersede the official negotiations in Belarus.

Joel Gunter
BBC News, in Lviv, Ukraine

Image source, Reuters

People with loved ones trapped inside the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol were trying desperately on Thursday to connect to phones inside the city, which has been virtually cut off from the outside world.

Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP who grew up in Mariupol and whose parents are trapped there, says he last managed to connect to their neighbours four days ago.

"We spoke for 30 seconds after they went to a spot with signal - there are a couple of these spots people know about," Gurin says.

"They said my parents were alive, living in the basement under their apartment building.

"Please understand me that this is not a shelter with light, water and a toilet. It is a basement with nothing."

Gurin says his parents are having to melt snow to drink water and are trying to cook food on an open fire outside.

"This is not war anymore," Gurin adds.

"This is not army against army. It is carpet bombing. It is Russia against humanity."

Read more

Bombs are reportedly falling on homes in the Black Sea port city of Mariupol again, according to a Telegram post from the city council.

A humanitarian convoy trying to reach the south-eastern city has also had to turn back because of the fighting, according to a social media post from Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Reuters reported.

A Ukrainian presidential advisor has said on social media that Russia is deliberately blocking the evacuation of civilians from the city because it has failed to seize the strategically-important port, Reuters said.

The south-eastern city has been the site of fierce fighting. Yesterday, a maternity hospital was bombed, killing three people, including a child, say Ukrainian officials.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, MARIUPOL CITY COUNCIL

If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments from Ukraine:

• No progress has been made on a ceasefire following peace talks between the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine in Antalya, Turkey
• After the meeting, Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba said the demands his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov made amounted to a surrender. Lavrov said his country's military operation was going to plan
• Ukraine is opening seven "humanitarian corridors" to help civilians leave cities besieged by Russian forces, including Mariupol, says the country's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk
• Three people including a child were killed in a Russian strike on a maternity and children's hospital in the southern port city of Mariupol, officials say

• Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government.
• A new streamlined approach for Ukrainians to come to the UK will be in operation from next Tuesday, Home Secretary Priti Patel has told MPs

Mark Easton
Home editor

The decision to allow Ukrainians with an identity document to apply online for a visa to join family members in the UK is significant.

Allowing people to complete biometric tests in the UK after they arrive will reduce the pressure on stretched facilities in Poland, Hungary and elsewhere in Europe.

However, the new rules will still exclude anyone who fled Ukraine without their passport or identity document. They will have to go to an application centre in person.

The rules also exclude Ukrainian residents who are not citizens of Ukraine. A substantial minority of those turning up at the UK border have other nationalities and will not be able to use the virtual visa system.

The changes also apply only to those refugees looking to access the Ukraine Family Scheme , external- the government website lists specific relationships that it applies to.

Those refugees who are hoping to join friends or more distant relatives are not eligible and will have to apply under a points-based system.

Image source, HoC

Back to the UK's efforts to accommodate Ukrainian refugees, and the shadow home secretary, Labour's Yvette Cooper, has criticised the government's handling of the crisis.

While she welcomed the introduction of an online application process, she questioned why people needed to wait until next week for it to take effect.

She said Priti Patel had known "for weeks, if not months" that she needed to prepare for a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"If we've still got to wait until Tuesday for this new system to come in, what is to happen to everybody else in the meantime? Why is she not bringing in the armed forces?"

Cooper called for troops to be used to help set up the emergency centres and to get people through as "rapidly as possible".

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier this week we told you that retailer Uniqlo was remaining open in Russia. Now it's made a U-turn and decided to suspend operations there.

Uniqlo's owner, Fast Retailing, said it faced "operational challenges" due to the "worsening of the conflict situation" in Ukraine.

It's the latest in a long line global brands halting operations in Russia - consumer giants including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks announced they would do so on Tuesday.

Russia's foreign minister says President Putin is taking care of Russia's economy.

Speaking at his press conference, Sergei Lavrov says of Russia's economic problems: "We will cope with them - we have coped with difficulties at all junctures of our history."

He says Russia will "come out of the crisis with a better psychology and conscience".

"We have no illusions the West can be a reliable partner," he continues, saying it will "betray whoever, and will betray its own values".

"I assure you we will cope and will do everything not to rely on the West ever, in any areas of our lives."

Lavrov says Russia "drew attention" to the fact that Ukraine was "turning into anti-Russian" over many years, adding: "Ukraine was being turned into a pro-Western experimental tool."

Image source, EPA

Returning to the Russian foreign minister's press conference, Sergei Lavrov is asked how Russia can justify the bombing of a maternity ward and children's hospital.

Lavrov says it is "not the first time we see pathetic outcries concerning the so-called atrocities perpetrated by the Russian military".

He says the Russian delegation told the UN security council three days ago that the hospital had been "taken over" by Ukrainian radicals and "all the mothers and nurses were chased out of there".

He says public opinion is being manipulated worldwide.

Lavrov describes reports on western media channels as "very emotional" and says the other side of the situation is not being considered.

Image source, Reuters

Back to the Ukrainian foreign minister's press conference - which is taking place in a separate room to the Russian foreign minister's - Ukraine's Dmytro Kuleba says Russian troops must leave the country's gas and nuclear facilities.

Reuters news agency reports Kuleba saying he told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Ukraine had no issues with nuclear security before Russia invaded.

Russian troops have taken control of both the decommissioned Chernobyl nuclear power plant - the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster - and the still-active Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant - the largest in Europe.

Image source, EPA

A new streamlined approach for Ukrainians to come to the UK will be in operation from next Tuesday, Home Secretary Priti Patel has told MPs.

Refugees won't need to go to a visa application centre. Instead they will be able to apply digitally, and give their biometric data when they get to the UK, she said.

"Ukrainians with passports will be able go get permission to come here fully online, from wherever they are", Patel said.

Returning to the Russian foreign minister's press conference and Sergei Lavrov goes on to say that "no one listened to us" about Russia's security concerns.

He claims that "new facts" have been uncovered in the "liberated territories" - that is the two Russian-held regions in eastern Ukraine - that attacks had been prepared against these areas for months.

He says the Pentagon is using Ukrainian territory to develop pathogens that could be used to create biological weapons - a claim the US has called "preposterous".

Lavrov says it is "no surprise" that the White House has denied this and that the EU and UN have said there is no evidence of this happening, because the Americans did it in "deep secrecy".

Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

The UK's Ukraine visa system is to go virtual.

From Tuesday, Ukrainian nationals with a passport or ID card will be able to apply for a visa entirely virtually, without having to visit a visa application centre.

This has been agreed following advice from the security services.

Eligible Ukrainians will receive an email confirmation to allow them to board a plane, train or boat, then will receive a stamp in their passports on arrival in the UK, before giving their biometric details.

It means the visa application centres in Europe are now reserved for vulnerable or complex cases.

After talking at a press conference Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov takes questions.

Asked about how the war is developing from Russia's perspective, he says, through an interpreter, that it is a "special operation" and it is "proceeding to plan overall".

Lavrov accuses the West of "acting dangerously" by supplying weapons to Ukraine, saying this amounts to a breach of "all of their so-called principles and values".

Asked if Russia has any plans to attack other countries, Lavrov says they do not and repeats the Russian position that it has not attacked Ukraine.

After a press conference between Ukraine and Russia's foreign ministers in Turkey, Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba says there are two tasks that need to be prioritised; organising a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol and reaching a 24-hour ceasefire.

He says he hopes Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will communicate with decision-makers in the Kremlin to enable the humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to start working.

He adds that the war can't be stopped if Russia has no desire to stop it.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has been speaking following talks with his Ukrainian counterpart in Turkey.

He says they "mostly discussed the initiative of our Turkish friends regarding humanitarian issues".

He repeated Russian claims that "civilians are being used as hostages" by what he described as "so-called territorial defence forces". They are being used "as human shields", he asserts.

Lavrov says Russia was continuing to operate humanitarian corridors for civilians.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has been speaking at a press conference following the latest round of talks today between Ukraine and Russia in Antalya, Turkey.

Kuleba says the two sides agreed to continue efforts to seek a solution to the humanitarian issues on the ground in Ukraine.

He says he would be ready to meet again "in this format if there are prospects for a substantial discussion and seeking solutions".

He adds that he believes that when two foreign ministers meet they have the mandate to negotiate issues of peace and security.

Kuleba adds: "I'm ready to continue this engagement with the purpose of ending the war in Ukraine, stopping the suffering of Ukrainian civilians and liberating our territories from the Russian occupying force."

Image source, Reuters

More now on the UK government's move to sanction Chelsea football club's owner Roman Abramovich.

Announcing the move on Twitter, the UK's Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the football club will be given a special licence so that it can continue playing matches, paying staff and ensuring ticket-holders can go to matches while ensuring Abramovich makes no money through his ownership of the club.

She added that the government is "working hard to ensure the club and the national game are not unnecessarily harmed by these important sanctions".

Abramovich had put the club up for sale, but the asset freeze announced today means this will no longer be possible.

The government says the licence will be kept under review.

Follow the latest on this story here.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Russia has left the Council of Europe, the continent's leading human rights organisation, the country's ministry of foreign affairs has said.

In a statement, the ministry said European Union and Nato states were "unfriendly towards Russia", accusing them of misusing their majority on the council's committee of ministers.

The Russian ministry claimed these states "continue their policy of destroying the Council of Europe and the shared humanitarian and legal space in Europe".

"Russia has no intention of tolerating these undermining actions performed by the collective West in order to impose a 'rules-based order' to replace international legislation violated by the US and its satellites," the statement continued.

The Council of Europe is Europe's oldest political body and aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent.

It emerged in 1949 from the ashes of World War II.