Image source, Getty Images

More than 4,000 civilians were successfully evacuated from Ukrainian cities on the frontlines of the conflict on Monday, according to Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

In a video statement, Vereshchuk said that the evacuations were conducted through seven humanitarian corridors.

Three other such corridors, however, were unable to operate successfully, she added.

Vereshchuk also accused Russian forces of firing at civilian evacuees in the Kyiv region.

Russia has repeatedly denied Ukrainian claims that its forces have shot at civilian evacuees.

On Saturday, Ukraine accused Russian forces of killing seven civilians in an attack on women and children attempting to flee the fighting in the village of Peremoha near Kyiv.

Downing Street is looking at the possibility of housing Ukrainian refugees in the empty properties of sanctioned Russian oligarchs.

"We are open to all options," said the prime minister's official spokesman, confirming that the hotel belonging to Chelsea Football Club was among the properties being considered.

However, he cautioned that there were "some challenges around the special licence that has been created in relation to the sanctions" - with new legislation likely to be required.

Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned last week over his ties to President Putin - one of 18 oligarchs sanctioned by the UK government since the invasion of Ukraine began.

It comes after members of an anarchist group occupied a central London property linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska on Monday morning.

"Squatting in residential buildings is illegal," said the spokesman. "But we are working to identify the appropriate use for seized properties while owners are subject to sanctions."

Image source, Reuters

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has told the BBC that he plans to host a Ukrainian refugee family under the new aid scheme announced earlier on Monday.

Earlier, he tweeted that his family have been "discussing the devastating situation in Ukraine" for weeks.

The Tory MP for Welwyn Hatfield - north of London - added that his family will "join other UK households in offering our home to provide refuge to Ukrainians until it is safe for them to return to their country".

BBC Panorama
Reporting team

A BBC investigation has uncovered new evidence about the corrupt deals that made Roman Abramovich's fortune.

The Chelsea owner made billions after buying an oil company from the Russian government in a rigged auction in 1995.

Mr Abramovich paid around $250m (£190m) for Sibneft, before selling it back to the Russian government for $13bn in 2005.

His lawyers say there is no basis for alleging he has amassed very substantial wealth through criminality.

The Russian billionaire was sanctioned by the UK government last week because of his links to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

• Read more on the BBC's Panorama investigation here

Jessica Parker
BBC News, Brussels

Image source, Reuters

EU ambassadors have agreed a fourth package of sanctions in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Diplomatic sources have told the BBC that, as part of the latest package, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich will be added to the list of sanctioned individuals. While details have not been officially announced, the EU is also expected to:

• ban the export of luxury goods to Russia
• prohibit the import of key goods in the iron and steel sector from Russia

A ban on new European investment in Russian energy is also expected - but sources say there are some exceptions.

An EU diplomat told the BBC an increasingly evident "rift" was developing between some member states, saying that Poland and the Baltic states want more and stronger sanctions, while countries like Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria favour a more "conservative" approach.

The new sanctions will come into force when what's known as the EU's "official journal" is published.

More details are expected to be announced on Tuesday.

Do you have a child that has questions about the war in Ukraine, that you as a parent may find hard to answer?

The BBC's Kyiv Correspondent James Waterhouse is in Ukraine, and is happy to answer questions for BBC Newsround.

Submit your questions by posting a comment here, or through the link in the tweet below.

Footage posted online shows the moment a missile explodes on a street in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv - in front of a person walking through a park.

The BBC has verified and geolocated this footage.

Military analysts warn of dangers for Ukrainepublished at 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time 14 March 2022

19:30 GMT 14 March 2022

Paul Adams
BBC diplomatic correspondent

Russia’s advance seems almost glacial, with numerous reports of convoys being stalled or attacked.

But after only two and a half weeks, military analysts say there are plenty of places worth watching closely.

The situation around Kyiv, is obviously critical. Russian artillery units are almost certainly within range of the city centre. If the order comes to open fire, Kyiv will start to experience what other cities – Kharkiv, Sumy and Mariupol – have already faced.

But there’s another danger for Ukraine.

When western officials laid out what they said were Russia’s invasion plans, in a series of alarming briefings in mid-February, they spoke of a likely effort by Moscow to “encircle and fix” some of Ukraine’s best military units currently facing Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country.

“There will be a need to encircle those forces to prevent them from interfering with any military operation in Kyiv,” one official said on 14 February.

If Russian forces in the south are able to push towards Zaporizhia and Dnipro, to meet up with other units currently in the north around Kharkiv, then this could still happen.

“There is still a risk of Ukrainian forces, some of their best forces being trapped in the eastern side of the country,” The Economist’s Defence Editor, Shashank Joshi, told Radio 4’s World At One.

Image source, Channel One

A protester has interrupted a live broadcast on Russian state TV waving a placard reading: "No war, stop the war."

In footage widely shared in Russia, including on the social media app Telegram, the woman enters the frame behind the female presenter on the Channel One news programme Vremya.

"Don't believe the propaganda, here they are lying to you, Russians against war," her sign reads.

The protester, named as Marina Ovsyannikova, is reportedly an employee at the broadcaster.

Ukraine's economy is set to contract by 10% this year as a result of Russia's invasion, but the outlook could worsen sharply if the conflict continues, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says in a newly-released staff report.

The report, prepared ahead of the IMF's approval of $1.4bn (£1.1bn) in emergency financing for Ukraine, warns the country's economic output could shrink by 25% to 35%, based on GDP data from Iraq, Lebanon and other countries at war.

Ivanna Vladkova Hollar, IMF mission chief for Ukraine, said Ukrainian authorities were making "a remarkable effort" to keep the country's economy and financial system running in the face of the war.

Also on Monday, the World Bank announced it would allocate almost $200m in extra funding to boost social services for vulnerable people in Ukraine - in addition to the $723m approved last week.

It comes as part of a $3bn support package the World Bank previously announced it was preparing for Ukraine over the coming months.

Read more:

IMF: Ukraine economy could shrink as much as 35%

Image source, Reuters

Washington says it has warned China that no country will be able to get away with trying to bail out Russia as the Kremlin struggles with the sanctions imposed over its attack on Ukraine.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan "raised directly and very clearly" with Beijing his concerns during talks with a leading Chinese diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Rome, Italy.

He said America was watching very closely the extent to which China was providing any support to President Putin's invasion.

Before the meeting in Rome, US officials said Russia had already asked China for military assistance. Beijing described that US statement as disinformation.

Image source, Reuters

Russia has not yet received a request for President Vladimir Putin to take part in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Kremlin says.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that a possible meeting between the two leaders had not been ruled out.

Zelensky has previously called for one-on-one talks with Putin, saying this would be the only way to end the war.

Peskov also said today that no discussions had been taking place about a possible meeting between Putin and US President Joe Biden, according to Russian media.

Days before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, the White House indicated that any such summit would first require a de-escalation on Putin's part.

A journalist for America's Fox News has been injured while reporting outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Announcing the news live on air, John Roberts, co-anchor of America Reports, says there are "very few details but teams on the the ground are working as hard as they can to try and gather more information" on what has happened".

Ukraine Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova had said earlier that a western journalist had been injured today and was being cared for by Ukrainian doctors.

It comes after US journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud, 50, was shot and killed in the Ukrainian town of Irpin while working in the region.

Two other journalists were injured and taken to hospital.

Image source, EPA

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky will address US politicians directly via video link on Wednesday morning, Washington officials say.

In a joint letter seen by the BBC, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi say they "look forward" to welcoming the president and conveying "our support to the people of Ukraine as they bravely defend democracy".

"The Congress remains unwavering in our commitment to supporting Ukraine as they face Putin's cruel and diabolical aggression," they add.

The letter goes on to say they will discuss introducing further legislation to "cripple and isolate" Russia, as well as deliver humanitarian and security assistance to Ukraine.

Last week, Zelensky received a standing ovation when he delivered a video address to UK MPs in the House of Commons.

He will also address Canadian parliamentarians on Tuesday.

Nearly all of Russia's advances on Ukraine have stalled, with the lack of progress largely due to Ukrainian resistance, according to a senior US defence official.

There has been no appreciable change to Russia's advance on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, with forces still stuck around Hostomel airport, the official said. The airport is northwest of the city.

The official added that there is a convoy of between 50 and 60 vehicles heading towards Izyum, south-east of Kharkiv.

But there are no signs so far that Russia is boosting its forces with munitions or troops from within Russia, they said.

Meanwhile, the official said no US military personnel, contractors or US civilian government workers were at Ukraine's Yavoriv military base near the Polish border - where at least 35 people were killed in a Russian attack at the weekend.

More of assistance from the US's $350m (£268m) military aid package entered the Ukraine over the weekend, the official said, but the new $200m defence drawdown has not started being sent yet.

Image source, Reuters

Michael Gove has unveiled a new scheme to allow UK households to sponsor and take in refugees who are fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Speaking in the House of Commons, the Housing and Communities Secretary said he hoped many Britons would choose to welcome Ukrainian refugees into their homes.

The government says there will be no cap on the number of Ukrainians who will be eligible to come to the UK under the scheme.

Image source, TV Zvezda screenshot

Russian state TV has shown what it says are Ukrainian navy boats being disarmed in the captured port of Berdyansk.

The fast patrol boats Akkerman and Vyshhorod were abandoned along with a tug called Korets, the defence ministry channel Zvezda reported.

Russian forces captured Berdyansk two weeks ago, on the Sea of Azov. It lies between Crimea and the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

A reporter touring one of the vessels showed ammunition and "personal belongings" allegedly left behind by Ukrainian crew members as they fled the Russian assault.

As we reported earlier, one person has been killed and six more injured after missile fragments fell on a road in the Kurenivka area of Kyiv today.

The capital's mayor Vitaliy Klitschko says the debris was from a missile that had been destroyed by Ukrainian air defences.

The BBC has now been at the scene where the fragments hit, capturing these photographs:

Image source, Reuters

The mayor of Irpin has spoken to the BBC about the ongoing plight of his city, which lies on the outskirts of the capital of Kyiv and has suffered heavy bombardment by Russian forces.

Speaking via a translator, Oleksandr Markushyn described the "heavy, heavy shelling and bombardment going on" throughout the city, with Russian forces hitting schools, residential areas and private homes - as well as the city's palace of culture.

He said daily evacuations were ongoing, but fraught with risk: "I was participating in the evacuation of a column of around 100 people; it was the only safe place where we could evacuate people," he recalled, "fifty metres in front of me there was a family - two kids, a husband and wife - and they were killed by a mine.

"Unfortunately these things are happening all the time, they are shooting at peaceful civilians. We were taking people out in vehicles and buses - it's not possible [allowed] to shoot civilians but they are doing that. This is barbaric, they are barbarous."

He said there was no heating, mobile communications or water in the city currently. "People are hiding in cellars, they use improvised stoves to warm themselves" and rely on volunteers to help supply them with food.

"We continue evacuating people - we have been doing this today, we do this on a daily basis - but there are 5,000 -7,000 residents who want to stay. It's day 19 and we are holding on - and so the situation continues."

Reality Check

Earlier today UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid was asked on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme if a Ukrainian with a visa working in the health service, for example, would be able to bring their family members to the UK.

He replied: “In the situation that you just gave, of a Ukrainian living and working here, you will be able to bring your family here into the UK under the extended family scheme.”

We checked with the Home Office and the Department of Health.

The Home Office confirmed that to qualify for the family scheme, external you have to be someone with settled status or indefinite leave to remain.

That means the health secretary was wrong and having a working visa is not enough.

You can read more about the schemes for Ukrainian refugees here.