Tom Bateman
BBC Middle East correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The limos swept in separately - the Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytryo Kuleba was greeted by his Turkish counterpart, and then Russia’s Sergei Lavrov arrived.

There’s massive interest in these talks.

The press room at the venue here in Antalya is packed with international reporters and crews.

The discussions themselves have been behind closed doors - both the Russian and Ukrainian delegations are promising press conferences when they finish.

But expectations are low.

Kuleba has said so himself, arguing that any success will depend on what he calls the "instructions" that Lavrov gets from Moscow.

There’s been much speculation about signals put out by the Kremlin a few days ago, which some interpret as a potential softening of the Russian position.

However, that may be wishful thinking.

The UK government has imposed sanctions on Chelsea football club's owner, Roman Abramovich.

The Russian billionaire is one of seven Russian oligarchs whose assets have been frozen.

In a UK Treasury document, external posted online, Abramovich is described as a "pro-Kremlin oligarch" who has close associations to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Abramovich has previously denied having close financial ties with Putin or the Kremlin.

Image source, Getty Images

Yesterday we told you that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant's electricity had been cut off, after Russian forces took control of the plant last month.

Although no longer a working power station, Chernobyl - the site of the world's worst nuclear accident - was never fully abandoned, and still requires constant management. Spent nuclear fuel is cooled at the site.

Now it has emerged that Belarus' authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko - a close ally of Russia - has instructed Belarusian specialists to ensure that power is supplied to the Ukrainian plant, according to Reuters news agency citing Belarusian state-owned news agency BelTA.

Chernobyl is situated near the border with Belarus.

Ukraine had warned yesterday there was a danger radiation from the plant could leak due to the power cut. But the UN nuclear watchdog said the outage wouldn't impact safety.

BBC Breakfast

The UK Home Office is looking at ways of expanding the visa programme for Ukrainian refugees trying to enter the UK, armed forces minister James Heappey says.

The government has resisted calls to eliminate all visa rules for refugees, citing security concerns.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Heappey said the Home Office was "looking at a number of policy checks that they currently have in place in order to make the process easier."

But he added that the real issue was the speed at which people can get through the process, which he said was "a matter of capacity".

In order to speed things up, he said, the armed forces had offered to send troops who are on stand-by for humanitarian tasks to visa application centres in Europe.

The Home Office has accepted the offer, he says, but they now needed to get the go-ahead from the countries where the visa centres are located.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine is opening seven "humanitarian corridors" on Thursday to help civilians leave cities besieged by Russian forces, including the southern port of Mariupol, the country's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.

Humanitarian corridors are zones where military activity is temporarily paused to allow the safe passage of civilians.

Evacuees have already started leaving the north-eastern cityof Sumy under a local ceasefire, the regional governor says.

Ukraine and Russia have both agreed on establishing humanitarian corridors and are to hold talks in Turkey later today.

It comes after Ukraine accused Russia of bombing a children's hospital in Mariupol - an attack Kyiv said was a "war crime".

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are meeting for the first time since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began, Reuters news agency reports.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, are in Antalya, Turkey.

BBC Breakfast

The UK's armed forces minister has called yesterday's bombing of a maternity and a children's ward in Mariupol, south-eastern Ukraine, a war crime.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, James Heappey described the attack as "utterly despicable".

He said that whether it was a targeted or an indiscriminate attack, both amounted to a war crime.

He added that it was the responsibility of the international community "to make sure that the evidence is gathered, recorded, so that when the time comes, and I promise you that the time will come, there is an opportunity to prosecute these people in international criminal courts".

The deputy mayor of the besieged city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine has told the BBC, three people - including one child - were killed when Russia bombed a maternity hospital on Wednesday.

At least seventeen others were reportedly injured, some of whom included pregnant women.

"I'm absolutely sure they know about this facility and this is their third hospital that they are destroying in this city," Sergei Orlov told the BBC.

He said a 300-bed hospital dedicated to treating Covid patients had been destroyed by artillery shelling the previous day, along with a blood-collection centre in Mariupol.

"I'm absolutely sure (these are their) targets," Orlov added.

The World Health Organization says it's verified at least 18 different attacks on health facilities in Ukraine since the invasion began.

Russia insists Ukrainian fighters had moved staff and patients out of the hospital and set up firing positions there.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has accused Russia of committing a war crime.

Image source, Reuters

Hello, to those of you just joining us. Here's a recap of the latest developments from Ukraine:

• The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine are to hold peace talks in Antalya, Turkey later today
• US Vice-President Kamala Harris is in Poland, a day after her administration rejected the country's proposal to transfer its jet fleet to the US, rather than directly to Ukraine
• The UK says Moscow has had to deploy conscript troops to Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's assurances, even this week, that it wouldn't happen
• Four people were reportedly killed - of which two were children - after a residential building near the city of Kharkiv was shelled during the night by Russian forces, said Ukraine's State Emergency Services
• White House officials have warned that Russia is growing increasingly desperate, and could resort to chemical weapons attacks against civilians in the coming days
• US officials estimate that between 5,000 to 6,000 Russian troops have died so far in Ukraine
• Ukraine's President Zelensky says that Russia's bombing of a hospital in the besieged city of Mariupol - which destroyed the maternity and children's wards - is a war crime
• More private companies are pledging to end business in Russia, as the country's economic isolation continues

Over the last few days we've been reporting on the difficulties some refugees are having applying for visas granting them entry to the UK.

This morning, a sign outside the UK visa office in Brussels - where Ukrainian refugees trying to enter the UK are being sent - says it is "overwhelmed" by "unprecedented circumstances".

It adds, "we sincerely apologise if we're unable to assist all of you quickly."

About 500 visas have been granted to the UK so far, with more than 10,000 people having applied to join relatives in the UK. A second visa route, requiring a British sponsor, is also being set up.

Image source, EPA

It will be "very difficult" for brands to remain in Russia as the conflict in Ukraine continues, a leading figure in advertising has said.

Consumer giants including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Starbucks have this week joined the list of firms halting business in Russia due to the country's invasion of Ukraine.

S4Capital's Sir Martin Sorrell, who was previously the longest-serving chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, says it will be hard for others to remain.

He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think given what we're seeing in Ukraine and the barbaric acts we're seeing, and the atrocities we're seeing, I think it's very difficult for brands to remain in Russia."

As the Ukraine crisis drags on, Larissa Bondarenko in Odesa tells the BBC how she is trying to keep her neon gas business afloat and support her employees.

Ukraine produces around 70% of global exports of neon gas. A purified version of that gas is critical to chips that power mobile phones and other electric devices.

Some worry that the ongoing conflict will affect the global production and supply of smartphones.

Britain has just released its latest military intelligence brief, external on the war.

The UK says Moscow has had to deploy conscript troops to Ukraine despite Russian President Putin's assurances, even this week, that it wouldn't happen.

The UK briefing says: "As casulaties mount, President Putin will be forced to draw from across the Russian Armed Forces and other sources to replace his losses."

The UK also notes a "notable decrease" in Russian air activity over Ukraine in recent days, and says the Russian convoy north-west of Kyiv has made little progress and is "suffering continued losses at the hands of the Ukrainian Armed Forces".

About 5,000 Russian troops have been killed so far, reports had earlier estimated.

Four people were reportedly killed - of which two were children - after a residential building near the city of Kharkiv was shelled during the night by Russian forces, said Ukraine's State Emergency Services (SES).

The attack reportedly took place in the village of Slobozhanske, in the south-east of Ukraine.

The SES added that a five-year-old girl who was injured has been rushed to hospital for treatment.

Rescuers are expected to continue search operations today to pull bodies from the rubble, they added.

Separately, a shopping mall was also set ablaze from bombardment in the heart of Kharkiv - however no casualties have been reported.

Image source, Ukraine State Emergency Services

The Ukrainian military launched a counterattack against Russian forces to defend the capital city of Kyiv, said Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspline quoting an adviser to the Interior Minister.

"The night was quite difficult, but in general we can say that the Ukrainian army counterattacked near Kyiv," Vadym Denysenko was quoted as saying.

"We lined up five tanks. In the morning artillery battles were heard in Kyiv on the western outskirts. Now there are battles. There is no further detailed information yet," he added.

The BBC has not been able to verify this claim but we'll bring you more information on this when we have it.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has posted its daily morning update, saying the Russian advance into parts of Ukraine has slowed.

Here's what else it said:

• Russia's advance in the direction of Kyiv has been restrained
• In eastern Ukraine, defence forces continue to deter the Russian offensive in Donetsk, Slobozhansky and parts of the Tavriya operational districts. They are defending the cities of Kharkiv and Okhtyrka

• In the south, the defence of the port city of Mariupol continues

• Ukrainian forces have also fended off the Russian offensive in the directions of the cities of Kryvyi Rih, Mykolayiv, Voznesensk and the settlement of Novovorontsovka (Kherson region)
• Over the past two days, Ukrainian fighter jets and anti-aircraft missile units have destroyed four Su-25 attack aircraft and two Russian helicopters
• The pace of the Russian offensive has slowed. The number of cases of desertion and looting has significantly increased

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the statement.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the bombing of a children's hospital and maternity ward in Mariupol, calling it "horrific".

Ukraine accused Russia of carrying out the bombardment on the medical facility when a ceasefire was meant to be in place.

The attacks wounded at least 17 people and trapped children and others under the rubble.

Taiwan's defence minister Chiu Kuo-cheng has said that both China and Taiwan would pay a heavy price if Beijing tried to stage an invasion similar to Russia's.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a Taiwanese parliament session to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mr Chiu said that "if there's a war, to be frank, everyone will be miserable, even for the victors."

He added: "We are calmly watching developments and we are preparing accordingly."

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has renewed alarm in Taiwan that they could face a similar scenario.

Taiwan sees itself as an independent nation with its own government. But China has long regarded the island democracy as a breakaway province, and has vowed one day to reclaim it.

Last week, the phrase ‘Ukraine today, Taiwan tomorrow!” populated Taiwan’s social media. But Taiwan’s government has emphatically downplayed comparisons with Ukraine.

While authorities stepped up their alert level, President Tsai Ing-wen stated there were “fundamental differences” in the geopolitical conflicts, including the geographical barrier of the Taiwan Strait between the island and China.

Image source, SE Ranking

A Ukrainian man has described learning that his wife and two children were killed by a Russian shell by seeing a post showing their dead bodies on Twitter.

“I recognised the luggage and that is how I knew,” Serhiy Perebyinis told the New York Times, external.

Tetiana Perebyinis and their two children - Mykyta, 18, and Alisa, 9 - died in the town of Irpin while escaping. In 2014, they fled eastern Ukraine to settle in Kyiv amid fighting there between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed separatists.

A photo of the dead family lying beside a monument for World War Two victims made the front page of the New York Times.

"The whole world should know what is happening here,” said Serhiy, who had travelled to take care of his sick mother before the war broke out.

He told the newspaper that to return to Kyiv, he was forced to enter Russia then fly to the city of Kaliningrad to cross into Poland.

He said he told the Russian troops at the Poland border: "My whole family died in what you call a special operation and we call a war.

"You can do what you want with me. I have nothing left to lose.’"

Serhiy posted on Facebook, external a few hours ago in Russian that his ordeal was "like a horror movie".

"This is all hard to watch when your beloved wife is lying in a black bag on the floor," he wrote.

He also vowed for justice for his family: “I will be fighting for them to the end. I’ll make sure there is a court verdict.”

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN published a few hours ago, external, Donetsk’s leader Denis Pushilin – who is aligned with Putin - claims he wants the fighting to end. He also says it is Ukraine’s armed operations that have led to civilian deaths, despite Russia launching the miltiary assault first.

CGTN is one of two Chinese news outlets which in the past week have broadcast “exclusive” interviews with Pushilin.

It's worth noting that throughout the invasion, China's media has consistently provided a platform for Russian or pro-Russian forces to speak.

The BBC's China media analyst Kerry Allen has also been noting the coverage of Ukraine in Chinese media which appears to often include pro-Russian details.