Image source, Reuters

Fresh attempts to evacuate civilians from cities under siege in Ukraine are being complicated by constant Russian shelling, Ukrainian officials say.

Humanitarian corridors are being set up from Mariupol, Sumy and towns and villages outside the capital Kyiv.

The situation in Mariupol is particularly desperate after two weeks of bombardment, the UN says, with little access to food, water and power.

The evacuations come as fighting continues around Kyiv.

The BBC's Abdujalil Abdurasulov in Irpin, one of the towns outside the capital being evacuated, says it is not possible to say that the humanitarian ceasefire is holding because explosions and artillery fire, including from the Ukrainian side, can still be heard.

Read more.

Image source, Samuel Otunla

Nigerian student Samuel Otunla sounds exhausted in the voice note he sent the BBC after managing to leave Ukraine.

He recorded the message after getting his first decent sleep in three days, following some 60 hours of travelling as he made it from the eastern city of Sumy across the border in the west to Hungary.

He began the evacuation journey, which involved a bus, a train and then another bus, on Tuesday with other international students.

Otunla had previously told the BBC about how traumatised he was after spending much of the previous 10 days in a basement.

In the latest voice message he says that on the night before he left there was an explosion a kilometre away from his university campus.

"It was so loud that we actually thought it was our building that was hit. We heard the swooshing sound of the rocket as it went past and the building was just shaking.

"It is sad, it is crazy what is happening."

But the veterinary student wants to emphasis how much he enjoyed being in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has been home for us... we really loved this country and we didn't want to leave it. It was a peaceful place to live in and we had a very nice studying environment."

BBC News Channel

Valeriy Novak is a Ukrainian grain exporter who has now become a humanitarian aid worker.

He's been describing to us the situation in the southern port city of Odesa.

He tells the BBC News Channel that although the city is quiet and not under immediate threat “all the men are in full readiness to protect the country and to protect our land. We hope that it will remain quiet”.

Many women and children have left and crossed the border into nearby Moldova, he adds.

“I wouldn’t want to speculate on what happens if Odesa falls.

"Maybe I’m keeping myself positive because I was born and raised in Odesa and I love this city so much. Even in my wildest dreams I would never imagine that someone can take over this beautiful city of ours.”

In the meantime, he is part of a charity called Odesa in Our Hearts which is distributing food and other items to residents in need.

“There are a lot of elderly people who require daily assistance and everyone in the city who has the ability is trying to assist those people and get what is needed,” Novak says.

Jeremy Bowen
BBC Middle East Editor, in Kyiv

The centre of Kyiv is deceptively calm, and hard from there to gauge the level of fighting around the city. So reporters have to drive out to the suburbs to take a look.

In Kyiv’s north-western approaches, where Russian airborne troops landed at the cargo airport at Hostomel on the first day, there are fairly continuous exchanges.

As of today, it feels as if there is either a stalemate or this is part of a relative lull during which the Russians are being resupplied and the Ukrainians are building up their defences.

Also in the area is the stalled 40 mile-long Russian convoy. US military reports say it’s now more dispersed.

This morning I drove out to the north-east, to Brovary, where on Thursday Ukrainians stopped a crude attempt by Russian tanks to drive towards Kyiv.

The area was quiet, but soldiers on the final checkpoint before the front were tense, refusing to let local people through to take possessions from their homes.

The soldiers said that during the night they had been shelled.

The English Premier League has disqualified Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich from being a director of the club after the oligarch was sanctioned by the UK government as part of its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The club has been given a special licence to operate despite Abramovich having his assets frozen.

The Premier League said Abramovich's disqualification would "not impact on the club's ability to train and play".

Read more from BBC Sport

It's almost 14:30 in Kyiv. If you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the latest developments.

Clashes outside Kyiv: Intense fighting is raging on the outskirts of the capital as Moscow attempts to seize its key target. British intelligence says the bulk of Russian forces are within 25km of the centre. Ukrainian officials fear the Russians may be preparing to launch a large-scale assault.

Key cities encircled: Sirens and explosions have been heard in many other cities across Ukraine, as Russian troops try to encircle key targets. The besieged cities of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Mykolaiv and Sumy have been enduring relentless shelling as well as freezing temperatures, with no power and little food or water.

Fury at mayor's abduction: Hundreds of residents have taken to the streets of the south-eastern city of Melitopol to protest against the abduction of its mayor by Russian forces. Ukraine's President Zelensky demanded his immediate release and accused the Russians of "moving to a new stage of terror".

Fresh talks: The leaders of France and Germany have been holding another round of phone talks with Russia's President Putin. They were previously in contact on Thursday, when Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz demanded an immediate ceasefire from Russia. Moscow has rejected such calls.

Exodus mounts: The conflict has now sent 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing to neighbouring countries. Poland says more than 1.6 million people have fled there, while Moldova says it has reached a "breaking point" in its ability to cope with refugees.

The leaders of France and Germany are holding another round of phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They were previously in contact on Thursday, when President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz demanded an immediate ceasefire from Russia.

Moscow has rejected such calls.

President Macron has throughout the crisis stressed the need to keep channels of communication to Russia open, and has held nine phone conversations with the Kremlin leader.

If you are just catching up, these are the latest developments on day 17 of the invasion:

• Intense fighting to the north-west of the capital Kyiv
• Russian forces are now 25km (15 miles) from the city
• Mykolaiv in the south-west of Ukraine is under heavy bombardment
• Southern city of Mariupol continues to be besieged and is without power
• New artillery and air attacks on the cities of Nikolaev, Dnipro and Kropyvnytskyi

You can see in detail how far Russian troops have advanced, and the state of the offensive around Kyiv and in different areas of Ukraine in our visual guide here.

Image source, Volodymyr Zelensky/Facebook

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has just released a new video address to the nation, external on social media.

Zelensky says the Russian army has suffered its largest losses in decades - claiming 31 Russian batallion tactical groups have now been rendered incapable of combat.

He demands the immediate release of the mayor of Melitopol who has reportedly been abducted by Russian forces, saying he has discussed this with French and German leaders.

Zelensky also says Ukraine is working with the European Commission to fast-track its EU membership.

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the steps other countries are taking against Russia and its wealthy citizens.

Italian authorities have seized a €530 million (£443m) superyacht owned by Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.

The 143-metre (470-ft) vessel - believed to be the world’s biggest sailing yacht - was seized in the port of Trieste in northern Italy, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said.

The EU has placed sanctions on many Russian billionaires and countries have begun seizing their assets.

Last week, French authorities grabbed a 88-metre (240ft) yacht owned by oligarch Igor Sechin.

Melnichenko, an industrialist with big stakes in Russia's fertiliser, coal and energy sectors, was named on a European Union sanctions blacklist earlier this week.

Image source, EPA

Israeli officials have denied media reports Israel asked Ukraine to "surrender" to Russian demands during talks.

Israel has been involved in efforts to try to end the war in Ukraine. Its Prime Minister Naftali Bennett travelled to Moscow for face-to-face talks with President Putin last Saturday, and also spoke to Ukraine's President Zelensky by phone.

Media reports had suggested Bennett tried to push Ukraine to heed Russian conditions to end the war.

But a senior Israeli official has called the report "patently false".

"Bennett has at no point told Zelensky how to act, nor does he have any intention to," the official told Reuters news agency.

In fact, "Israel is suggesting that Russia should assess events more adequately" an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, has tweeted.

Dan Johnson
BBC News, Kraków, Poland

Image source, Gett

More now on the flow of people who are fleeing the violence in Ukraine.

At Krakow train station, Poland, I'm three hours from Ukraine's border, but this is a real focus point of the pressure. There are people coming through here the whole time.

And the message now is that places like this - not just this city but others in Poland, and in other countries too - are becoming overwhelmed, that space is running out.

There's a poster on the wall with other smaller cities listed - and a suggestion to refugees that they try to move on to smaller places they maybe haven't have heard of.

The turnover of people here is phenomenal. There are people offering lifts - not just to other parts of Poland but to other countries too.

Rico says he can take 45 people on a bus to Lüdenscheid in western Germany. But he says many people are unsure whether to go to a new city where they don't know what they'll find.

The authorities are also trying to spread the pressure. Because although they've dealt with this very well for two weeks now, the feeling is that it cannot carry on - they cannot cope with the sheer numbers of people that keep coming every day.

Russian attacks continue in places where civilian evacuations had been planned, the governors of both Kyiv and Donetsk regions have said, Reuters news agency reports.

Plans had been made to open up humanitarian corridors and get people out from cities under Russian attack - including Mariupol, which is in Donetsk region.

"Humanitarian cargo is moving towards Mariupol, we will inform you how it develops... The situation is complicated, there is constant shelling," Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko is quoted as telling local media.

"The situation is extremely difficult."

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk set out her hope that the day might go well and "Russia will fulfil its obligations to guarantee the ceasefire regime".

Previous attempts to get people out of Mariupol, where people have been living without food, water or power, have failed.

Elsewhere, there have been reports evacuation buses and two lorries carrying humanitarian aid were heading for the eastern city of Sumy.

Image source, Elena Coventry

As the situation intensifies for people on the ground in Ukraine, there is an agonising wait for news for their family and friends overseas. One primary school teacher tells us she fears her family is "slowly and silently dying" in a cellar there.

Elena Coventry, 48, who lives in the Scottish town of Penicuik, in Midlothian, lost communication with her mother and brother, who live in Mariupol, almost two weeks ago.

She says it's unbearable not knowing if they are alive or dead.

They are thought to be among tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the southern port city, which is encircled by Russian forces and under heavy bombardment.

Read her story here.

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

Putin is clearly impatient. And there's no doubt about it, Russia is moving into a new phase of this conflict.

They have massed their artillery, their rocket launchers, their drones, their missiles, close to Ukraine's cities, including the capital, Kyiv.

Perhaps the best indication of how Russia is going to fight the final battles for the city is if you look at how they fought in Grozny, in Chechnya, and in Aleppo, in Syria - street-to-street fighting, but absolutely decimating the cities in the process.

Will Putin do that to Kyiv? It's difficult to say.

Kyiv is historic - it was the capital of the Kyivan Rus Empire, long before Moscow even existed. And if he destroys Kyiv, and news of that gets back to Russia, that won't be popular.

But I think Putin will stop at nothing to subjugate Ukraine to his will. He would rather have the smouldering ruin of Ukraine next to him than have Ukraine join the West and Europe, by joining the EU and Nato.

James Waterhouse
Kyiv correspondent, BBC News

There are contrasting noises here in Kyiv, we’ve got workers repairing road surfaces using drills nearby and then there are the continual sounds of explosions to the north of where we are – which is where Russian forces are said to be the most concentrated.

The estimate from UK defence officials is that the majority of Russian forces are now on the outskirts of the capital.

The concern from army chiefs here is that they are preparing to mount a much fuller-scale attack on the city – and will try to encircle it as well, like we are seeing in other locations across Ukraine.

It’s not clear whether Russian forces yet have the capacity to do that.

Here – along with other cities – they’re being met with stiff resistance as they try to penetrate the city.

But for now, in this central area, as the sound of road repairers tells you, there are some elements of normality despite all the chaos that is happening around it.

A Ukrainian military airfield south of Kyiv has been hit by Russian missiles.

The mayor of Vasylkiv said the attack destroyed the runway and a fuel depot, as well as causing explosions at an ammunition store.

Video posted on social media showed thick black smoke billowing from the airfield.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, the besieged northern city of Chernihiv has seen intensive shelling.

There's no water supply in the city, and parts of it have no electricity.

The southern port of Mykolaiv, which lies between the Russian-occupied city of Kherson and Ukraine's third largest city, Odessa, has also seen further shelling.

A cancer hospital there has been hit, although initial reports suggest it hasn't been seriously damaged.

Image source, Reuters/Handout

Residents in the Ukrainian city of Melitopol have come out to protest against the alleged abduction of the mayor by Russian forces.

Ukrainian officials have posted video saying it shows Ivan Fedorov being led away , externalblindfolded on Friday.

In a message, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of "moving to a new stage of terror".

Melitopol, a small city in south-eastern Ukraine, was one of the first to fall to the Russians.

Read more about the abduction and its fallout here.

Russian forces have shelled a mosque in the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where more than 80 adults and children, including Turkish citizens, have taken refuge, Ukraine's foreign ministry says.

Ukraine has accused Russia of refusing to allow people out of Mariupol, where a blockade has left hundreds of thousands of people trapped.

Russia blames Ukraine for the failure to evacuate.

Ukraine's foreign ministry tweets the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent mosque in Mariupol has been shelled by Russian "invaders".

"More than 80 adults and children are hiding there from the shelling, including citizens of Turkey," it says.

There are no details of any people killed or wounded.

Moscow has denied targeting civilian areas.

Image source, Sergei Orlov

The UK has sent six more plane-loads of medical aid and equipment to Ukraine as Health Secretary Sajid Javid accused Russia of war crimes in attacking medical facilities.

Mr Javid said there had been more than 25 attacks on health centres and hospitals since the invasion began.

"This is a war crime and Russia will pay for the crimes it's carrying out," he said.

Russia has claimed, without evidence, that hospital bombings were faked.

One attack on a maternity and children's hospital in Mariupol on Thursday killed three people, including a child.

Speaking on a visit to Birmingham Children's Hospital, Mr Javid said that "Russia needs to stop its aggression".

Read more here.