Image source, Reuters

More than 80,000 people have been evacuated from areas around the Ukraine capital Kyiv and city of Sumy, in the north east, over the past two days, the Ukrainian government has said.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app that more than 60,000 people had been evacuated from Sumy and nearby places.

And some 20,000 people have been evacuated from areas to the northwest of Kyiv, she added, while another 3,000 were taken "with difficulty" from Izyum, a city in eastern Ukraine.

In the two weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, some 2.3 million people have fled the country, according to the United Nations.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

The EU should stop using Russian fuels in half a decade, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has told a summit of the bloc's leaders.

"We are too dependent on Russian fossil fuels," she tweets, as EU leaders meet in Versailles to discuss the issue.

Von der Leyen says she'll propose a plan in mid-May to "phase out" Russian oil, gas and coal by 2027.

That's quicker than a plan the EU announced on Tuesday to make Europe independent of Russian fossil fuels by 2030.

Read more: How reliant is the world on Russia for oil and gas?

Image source, EPA

Arriving earlier at an EU summit in Versailles, French President Emmanuel Macron told the BBC he remains optimistic about talks but doesn't see ceasefire as realistic in the coming hours.

Asked by BBC Europe Editor Katya Adler if he saw signs of hope after his earlier conversation with the Russian president, Macron said he was "definitely optimistic - but I try to be a realist as well".

He dismissed the conditions that President Putin had put on the table as "not acceptable to anybody".

It was now a question of whether Putin was "ready to reengage honestly and propose something and we will work genuinely, collectively".

He said he would speak to Putin in the coming hours again, and try to get "what seems to be realistic".

"I don't see the ceasefire realistic in the coming hours, to be honest with you," he said.

Jessica Parker
Europe correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The brutal realities of the Russian invasion mean leaders want to show their support to Ukraine rather than be seen to outright reject its membership aspirations. And some EU countries - such as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania - have publicly called for Ukraine to quickly get what’s known as ‘candidate status’.

But others are more cautious. The Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, this evening pointedly said that there was no such thing as a ‘fast track’ process for joining the EU. It may sound like a harsh message but the truth is that accession, at the best of times, tends to take years. There are countries, notably in the Western Balkans, who can testify to that.

So the EU is trying to balance the need to sound supportive towards Ukraine without giving what would appear to be false hope.

It’s an awkward balancing act. So expect to hear more about how Ukraine belongs to the ‘European family’ without any firm commitments from the EU bloc on future membership.

The Russian defence ministry has told the Interfax news agency that it will open a number of humanitarian corridors into Russia for Ukrainian citizens without Kyiv's approval.

Officials said the corridors will open at 10:00 Moscow time (07:00 GMT) every day for the duration of the conflict.

Offers to open up humanitarian corridors to Russia have previously been criticised as "cynical". Ukraine turned down a similar offer earlier and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called such proposals "absurd".

These pictures show the extent of the damage in towns on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv, where residents are fleeing as areas fall under the control of Russian forces.

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Jonathan Josephs
BBC business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The Russian economy will shrink by at least 15% this year, according to an assessment from the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a financial services trade group.

The IIF had previously predicted that Moscow's economy would grow by 3% in 2022, but now says that sanctions imposed following Russia's invasion of Ukraine "have led to a drastic and unprecedented tightening in financial conditions, which signals a deep recession".

Experts warned that the decline could be even sharper should there be additional Western boycotts of Russian energy supplies.

Such a move "would drastically impair Russia's ability to import goods and services, deepening the recession," the IIF said.

With more sanctions against Russia on the agenda as EU leaders meet in Versailles, and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich facing UK sanctions, we've been keeping tabs on what's been announced so far by Western powers seeking to ramp up the pressure on Vladimir Putin.

• Energy: The US and UK are banning Russian oil, and the EU has pledged to end its reliance on Russian gas.

• Banking: Western countries have frozen the assets of Russia's central bank. The US, EU and UK have banned people and businesses from dealings with Russia's central bank, its finance ministry and its wealth fund. Selected Russian banks are also being removed from the Swift system, which enables the smooth transfer of money across borders.

• Individuals: The UK, EU, and US governments have imposed sanctions on several of the billionaire business leaders, known as oligarchs, who are perceived to be close to the Kremlin. Assets belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held in the US, EU, UK and Canada will also be frozen.

Read more here

Phil Mackie
In Calais

The French authorities have announced where the UK's “pop-up” visa processing centre for Ukrainian refugees will be. It’s in Arras, which is one hour from Calais, two from Brussels and three from Paris.

Although the UK government has promised that it would be open for several days, it still isn’t. But the French authorities say it will be by Friday.

Many of the hundreds of Ukrainians who are in northern France have spent the past week travelling to the French and Belgian capitals to submit biometric information and documentation.

Many have already been processed and it’s thought most will be by next Tuesday when the process becomes simpler and will move online.

However, the new process will still exclude anyone who fled without their passport or identity document, so many will still need to attend a processing centre in person.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accused Vladimir Putin of a "cynical" attempt to make up a pretext for using chemical weapons in Ukraine.

Johnson said he feared the "barbaric" Kremlin regime may be ready to use the banned weapons as its forces have failed to make the progress expected.

Speaking to Sky News, Johnson said: "The stuff that you're hearing about chemical weapons, this is straight out of their [Russia's] playbook.

"They start saying that there are chemical weapons that have been stored by their opponents or by the Americans, and so when they themselves deploy chemical weapons, as I fear they may, they have a sort of fake story, ready to go".

He added: "It is a cynical, barbaric government, I'm afraid".

Earlier, the US issued a similar warning on possible Russian chemical or biological weapons use.

Russian claims about US biological weapons labs, and chemical weapon development in Ukraine, were an "obvious ploy" to try to justify further premeditated attacks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

BBC Monitoring

Image source, Mariupol city council

More from Russia's claims about the bombing of a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol - they are now saying the incident was staged by Ukraine.

Three people - two adults and a girl - were killed and 17 were wounded in the devastating strike.

Speaking on Rossiya 24 news channel, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said "absolutely no missions to hit targets on the ground by Russian aviation in the Mariupol area were carried out".

He then claimed: "The alleged airstrike that took place is a completely orchestrated provocation to maintain anti-Russian excitement among the Western audience."

But earlier today (see our post just before 11:00GMT) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the hospital was a legitimate military target because it had been "taken over" by Ukrainian radicals and "all the mothers and nurses were chased out of there".

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Lavrov's claim was a lie and called the strike a war crime.

Quentin Somerville
Kharkiv

In a frozen landscape on Kharkiv's north-eastern edge, 21-year-old Lieutenant Yevgen Gromadsky stands with hands outstretched.

There are trenches dug in nearby. "Outgoing," he says, lifting his right hand to accompany the thump of fire from his positions. "Incoming," he says, and his left hand ticks up.

With a crump, Russian shells are fired from their positions 900m away across snow-covered fields.

The shelling continues like clockwork at the edge of this bombed-out village - "Incoming, outgoing, incoming, outgoing," Lt Gromadsky flicks his hands with each report.

We met only this afternoon, but already I know that just last week, his father Oleg was killed defending the city, and Lt Gromadsky is the seventh generation of military in his family. He plans for an eighth, in a free Ukraine.

He describes the fight so far, "Sabotage groups are probing our lines out, we have direct tank battles. They shoot with mortar shells at first, and then tanks fire at our positions."

The BBC's Quentin Sommerville and cameraman Darren Conway have spent the week with Ukrainian forces. Read their full report here.

Footage has emerged showing Russian tanks being destroyed in a barrage of Ukrainian artillery fire.

The footage, which you can view below, appears to have been taken by a drone and has been verified and geo-located by the BBC to a town north-east of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Allegedly accompanying the video is a conversation between a Russian officer, who identified himself by the codename Nitro, reporting the ambush to his superiors.

He reports that “there are very many casualties" and that "the regiment commander has died" in the strike.

The convoy was targeted by "artillery, tanks, drones and Bayraktar (a Turkish made drone)", he adds.

You may find the images in this video distressing.

Mike Wendling
BBC Trending

Image source, Mariupol city council

The Russian Embassy in London denied that forces were targeting civilians by bombing a maternity hospital in Mariupol. But officials offered no proof to back up their claims, and the BBC's disinformation team has found evidence that contradicts the allegations.

In tweets which were later removed by Twitter, the embassy said the hospital wasn’t operational, had been taken over by the far-right Ukrainian Azov battalion, and that a woman pictured at the scene was faking being involved.

The embassy claimed the hospital had been "long non-operational". But a week-old post on the hospital’s Facebook page, external asked for fuel to keep operations going.

Reports from Mariupol last week – from the Associated Press, external news agency and Sky News, external – note that the hospital was taking in bombing victims, and that the maternity ward had been moved to the basement.

The embassy also alleged that a beauty blogger was used to fake photos of a pregnant woman from the scene. But the blogger in question, who lives in the city, is heavily pregnant in Instagram posts, external dating from last month.

The confusing claims from the embassy, a day after the bombing, may be a sign that Russian information efforts are struggling under the strain of war. On Twitter, the allegations found little traction and were roundly criticised.

We contacted the embassy for comment.

Image source, Twitter

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent, Poltava

At Lycée Number 3 in Poltava, central Ukraine, school stopped over two weeks ago. There are now mattresses rolled out on the classroom floors, for families from Sumy and Kharkiv to rest as they flee south from the fighting.

Among the women and children I saw a toddler flat on his back - the most peaceful sleep he’ll have had for days.

All around, the school was abuzz with activity.

Teachers, their partners and local residents peel vegetables in the canteen; in the kitchen, they were making soup, bread and cutlets for 800 Ukrainian soldiers as well as up to 100 displaced people a night. In the library, other staff sew bedsheets for the local hospital, beneath giant murals of Big Ben and London Bridge.

Almost 60,000 people have been evacuated from Sumy so far - that’s more than one in five residents. And many more probably fled before anyone started counting.

Poltava, an oasis of peace for now, has become a hub for them. Alina, a young mum who arrived last night, told me she and her son spent days running back and forth from their basement, in fear of Russian war planes flying overhead.

"We saw the ruins as we ran, the bombing, the roofs blown off. It was scary," she tells me. "Now we are fleeing as far as we can from the shooting, to save our lives."

There is no safe corridor from Kharkiv, where the shelling has been constant - including in residential areas of the city. So this week the Dudko family gathered their nerves, grabbed a bag each – and Richie the kitten – and drove as fast as they could, in their car.

In Poltava, they are in limbo. They don't want to leave Ukraine – and they have nowhere else to go.

For them, for now, the Lycée is home – warm, safe and welcoming.

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

• The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that food and water supplies in besieged Mariupol are running dangerously low. Ukrainian officials say 1,207 bodies have been collected from the streets there in recent days, and that attacks are continuing on the port city
• Half the population of Ukraine's capital Kyiv have fled since the invasion began, its mayor says
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the government could take over the assets of foreigncompanies pulling out of Russia, and told Russians “there’s nothing we can’t resolve” in the face of Western sanctions
• Ukraine is set to dominate the EU summit getting under way in Versailles, where member states will discuss ramping up sanctions and moving away from dependency on Russian energy
• Little progress was made during peace talks between Russia and Ukraine's foreign ministers in Turkey this morning

• In the UK, the government has imposed financial sanctions on Chelsea football clubowner Roman Abramovich. His assets - which include the club - have been frozen, but the team will be able to continue playing under a special license
• And the UK government has removed a layer of red tape for Ukrainians wanting to come to the UK, by introducing online visa applications from next Tuesday

Image source, Jen Savaris

It was both heart-breaking and heart-warming, said UK restaurant owner Jamie Whittaker, who has just helped to evacuate two seriously ill girls from Ukraine.

The 41-year-old, from Manchester, flew to Poland with his friend, Jen Savaris, then travelled on to Lviv, in the west of Ukraine.

From there they helped the sick teenage girls who have liver failure, and their families, cross the border into Poland. "They're safe now and being treated. It was emotional but rewarding," he said.

He was following his father's example, he said, after seeing him fill trucks with food and medical supplies for war-torn Bosnia when he was 10.

More arrivals now at the Versailles summit, which is being hosted by French President Macron.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tells waiting reporters: “We are more united than ever. I’ve never seen the member states more united and together with our transatlantic partners.

"Putin believed that he was going to conquer Ukraine - he failed. He believed he was going to divide us - he failed. He believed he was going to weaken the transatlantic alliance and he failed.

"Now he has to stop the war."

Jessica Parker
Europe correspondent

Image source, European Commission

EU leaders are beginning to arrive at the Palace of Versailles in Paris, France, for a summit where they will discuss how to reduce their reliance on Russian energy and bolster political and moral support for Ukraine.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, told waiting reporters Putin's war was a defining moment for Europe.

"At this summit we will rethink European defence with strong capabilities. We will rethink energy.

"We have to get rid of the dependency of Russian fossil fuels and for that we need massive investment in renewables. This is also a strategic investment in our security and independence.

"We will also certainly discuss Ukraine as part of our European family. We want a free and democratic Ukraine with whom we share a common destiny."

Image source, EPA

The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, tells the BBC Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Speaking to the World Service Newshour programme, she says: "We’re working with others in the international community to document crimes that Russia are committing against the Ukrainian people.

"They constitute war crimes - they are attacks on civilians that cannot be justified in any way whatsoever."

Asked about the warning from White House earlier that Russia could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in Ukraine, she says: "Nothing is off the table for them [Russia]."

"We just have to make sure we’re prepared to respond and call them out on this and we’re willing to do that at every possible level."

She says there is evidence the Russians have used "some of the same methods they used in Syria, in Aleppo," so the US is watching the situation closely.

Read more on what constitutes a war crime, here.