Andre Rhoden-Paul
BBC News

Image source, Hazel Kirwin

Among the nearly 100,000 people in the UK who have registered an interest in hosting Ukrainian refugees is Hazel Kirwin.

The 30-year-old, from Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, says she signed up after watching a news clip featuring a young displaced woman.

She says: "She said she had a nice flat and met up with friends before the war, and it resonated with me."

The pharmacist, her husband Joe and their greyhound Connie will be offering their spare room to a single refugee.

Image source, Franklin Steves

Franklin Steves, from Greenwich, south-east London, says he signed up to offer two spare rooms in his family home after being left devastated by the war.

The father-of-three says: "It is heartbreaking that the men are remaining behind, and their wives and children are having to flee and seek sanctuary.”

The think-tank worker, who previously worked in Ukraine, has registered with three charities to find a match.

He added: “I hope we can provide some comfort and security for whoever we end up taking in.”

Image source, Facebook/ Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says peace talks with Russia are beginning to "sound more realistic, but time is still needed" to reach a breakthrough.

In his latest Facebook video address, he said victory over Russia would require the work of all Ukrainian citizens, including the negotiating team currently holding ongoing talks via Zoom.

Russia has continued to press Ukraine to formally renounce any intention of ever joining Nato, and formally recognise the breakaway provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea.

The talks are due to continue on Wednesday.

As we reported earlier, Zelensky on Tuesday appeared to concede Ukraine would not join Nato.

Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak said there were "fundamental contradictions" during the talks, but "certainly room for compromise".

Image source, Getty Images

President Joe Biden will announce an additional $1bn (£777m) in US military assistance to Ukraine as soon as Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reports, external, citing unnamed US officials.

The money will go towards anti-armour and anti-aircraft weapons, such as Stingers and Javelins, the newspaper reports. The funding will come from the nearly $14bn that Congress voted to give to Ukraine last week.

According to Reuters news agency, quoting a White House official, the figure will be $800m in security assistance.

Since 2014, the US has provided more than $2.5bn in military aid to Ukraine. The most recent arms shipment was approved on 26 February and is worth about $350m.

New York City's famed Metropolitan Opera has held an emergency fundraiser for the people of Ukraine.

"We have to fight to make the world free. And the arts are going to help that," says general manager Peter Gelb.

Vladyslav Buialskyi, 24, sang the Ukrainian national anthem at the event.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia may be about to default on its debts after Western sanctions were imposed following the invasion of Ukraine.

It's due to make $117m in interest payments to investors on Wednesday.

But sanctions mean Russia has been frozen out of its access to $630bn (£470bn) of foreign currency reserves.

Credit ratings agencies have warned that a debt default is now "imminent". If it does happen it will be Russia's first debt default since 1998.

What could this mean for the world economy? The International Monetary Fund has said while it is concerned about the impact of any Russian debt default, it does not believe this would trigger a global financial crisis.

Helen Briggs
Science and environment correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is threatening scientific collaborations across the world, from the polar regions to the edge of space.

Collaborations on space exploration and cross-border science projects are unravelling – and, according to one professor, Russia risks being scientifically isolated.

Some UK universities have announced they are cutting ties with Russian research institutions, with the government expected to release formal guidance this week.

Prof Robin Grimes, a nuclear physicist who is foreign secretary at the Royal Society, says the damage to science will take a long time for Russia to repair.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

Russian prosecutors have called for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to serve 13 years in prison for the new fraud charges he is facing.

The opposition politician is currently on trial at the prison colony outside Moscow where he is already serving a two-and-a-half year sentence.

Navalny was jailed last year after surviving a nerve agent attack that he blames on the Russian government.

In this latest trial, prosecutors have requested that the Putin critic be sent to a "strict regime" prison which would mean harsher conditions than he is in currently.

"You can't put everyone in prison. Even if you ask for 113 years, you won't scare me or others like me," Navalny said in court according to his team.

Read more on Navalny's background here.

Image source, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

An international peacekeeping mission with military capability should be sent to Ukraine, the leader of Poland's ruling party has suggested while on a symbolic trip to Kyiv.

"I think that it is necessary to have a peace mission - Nato, possibly some wider international structure - but a mission that will be able to defend itself, which will operate on Ukrainian territory," Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

He made the suggestion at a press conference in Ukraine's capital, where he appeared tonight alongside the country's president Volodymyr Zelensky and the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia.

The central European leaders have made the risky trip to Kyiv by train in a show of support for Ukraine.

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent

Image source, Getty

As a 35-hour curfew came into force in Kyiv, there were loud explosions on the western edge of the capital.

The blasts, which are continuing, could be heard across this city as prime ministers from Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia held talks here after a train journey through this dangerous war zone to show what they called “unequivocal support” for Ukraine.

Russian artillery and warplanes continue to pound cities and towns across Ukraine.

In the besieged city of Mariupol, local officials say around 400 patients and doctors are being held hostage in a hospital.

Russia also claims to have seized control of the southern region of Kherson.

But according to Western officials, Russia’s overall advance on the ground, including around Kyiv, is said to be stalled.

Jessica Parker
BBC News, Brussels

Image source, AFP

Economic growth in Europe will be “severely impacted” in the wake of sanctions against Russia, the EU’s trade chief has warned.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Trade, warned of higher inflation, pressure on energy and food prices, market volatility and disruption to supply chains.

But, speaking after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, Dombrovskis added it was “impossible” to assess the exact economic impact at this stage.

Finance ministers today discussed proposals to help the worst hit businesses, including grants and loans.

But Dombrovskis insisted that the fundamentals of the EU economy were “solid” - and that the bloc can “withstand” the crisis.

“We have already several tools at our disposal,” he said, pointing to financial flexibilities handed to member states during the pandemic.

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, EPA

It is “risky” for the Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers to visit Kyiv, a Polish deputy foreign minister has said - but the trip is “worth taking for the sake of values”.

The leaders, along with the head of Poland’s governing Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, took a train to Kyiv for talks with the Ukrainian president and prime minister.

They are said to be representing the European Union.

Polish deputy foreign minister, Marcin Przydacz, pointed out that the leaders of Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states flew to Tbilisi in 2008 in a show of support after Russia’s invasion of Georgia.

The Polish president at the time was Jaroslaw Kaczynski's late twin brother, Lech - and Jaroslaw accompanied him on the trip.

“At that time neither the Polish president nor his Ukrainian colleague lacked the courage to stand on the side of the attacked nation,” Przydacz told Polish TV.

He said the trip “is obviously risky”, describing the Russian leadership as “barbarians”. But he said Poland had flagged the visit to both Belarus and Russia beforehand.

“Nevertheless, the prime ministers decided that this risk is worth taking for the sake of values, for the sake of our common security and for the sake of solidarity with the (Ukrainian) nation,” he said.

Hanna Chornous
BBC News, Kyiv

Tetyana looks lost. She is cleaning her flat after a missile blast smashed the windows in her apartment block in a sleepy Kyiv neighbourhood. No glass is left to protect her home from the early spring wind. Her balcony is reduced to rubble.

She tells us she woke up to the air raid alert about 4am today and saw missiles “flying in the sky”.

“I walked away from the window and then – boom! Shattered glass hit my back,” she says. “I was shocked!”

She lives in one of three multi-storeyed residential buildings damaged by a shell in Kyiv this morning. In one of them, five people were killed.

Now Tetyana plans to temporarily move out of the flat where she's lived for 33 years and where her granddaughter grew up.

“I only saw the war in the films, remembered it only from TV,” she adds. “Now I’ve experienced it myself.”

Image source, Getty Images

More than 120,000 people in the UK have registered an interest in giving a home to some of those fleeing the violence in Ukraine, since a new government scheme launched yesterday.

If you're thinking about signing up, here are some tips from people across the UK who have hosted refugees or asylum seekers in their own homes in the past.

1. Be prepared for the mental impact. Lucy Stevens, near Colchester: It is likely people will be very traumatised. Our foster son was highly traumatised and required a lot of input with regards to mental health [which] also has an impact on your own family.
2. Find people who match your stage of life. Ruth Elphinston, Birmingham: If you've got young kids, bring in families with young kids. Or if your kids have left home, think about hosting a young adult. It makes things easier as they'll fit in with the way you're living your life already.
3. Think about ground rules. Alison Baxter, Oxford. Sharing the sitting room, smoking and if you will cook for them are all points to consider. It's better to set down clear guidance because your guest is going to be anxious if you just say "make yourself at home".
4. Get the GP sorted early. Karina Litvack, London: I've never found access to the NHS to be a problem for the refugees I've helped, but you sometimes have to book an interpreter which takes longer.
5. Don't feel bad about saying no. Justyna Bell, Belfast: Have a conversation with your entire household before you decide for sure about taking someone in. Really open up and don't think it's not very humanitarian if you have some objections.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Reuters

Nigerian students trapped near the frontline in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson have requested help following the occupation of the city by Russian forces.

Reports say more than 100 African students, many of them from Nigeria are stuck in the city.

The students are calling on the Nigerian government to quickly evacuate them before anything happens to them.

They described their current situation as traumatising, saying that they have been living in the city’s underground shelters for over two weeks, since Russian forces took over the city.

One of the students, Jerry Kenny, who spoke to the BBC, said six of his friends have fallen sick due to the poor conditions where they live. He said that they are currently cut off from food and other essential supplies.

Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffery Onyeama said at the weekend that he was in contact with Nigeria’s Ambassadors to Ukraine and Russia, as they engage the Russian and Indian governments as well as NGOs in a bid to safely evacuate the students in Kherson.

So far, more than 1,400 Nigerians have been evacuated from Ukraine since the country was invaded by Russia three weeks ago.

Many of them were moved to neighbouring Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia before being airlifted to Nigeria.

The number of Ukrainian refugees to have fled the country since the beginning of the war is now 3,000,381, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

They include 1.8 million Ukrainians now in Poland, the UN refugee agency has said, with 300,000 moving on to Western Europe.

Refugees have been fleeing cities under attack from Russian forces. Twenty days into the conflict, the UN says the invasion of Ukraine has resulted in 691 confirmed civilian deaths and 1,143 injured.

Image source, Reuters

Some more details now on President Biden's planned visit to Brussels next week, where the White House says he'll be meeting with Nato and EU leaders to discuss the response to the invasion.

On 24 March the US president will join a special Nato summit where he will reaffirm the US's "ironclad" commitment to the defensive alliance, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

Biden will also meet with EU leaders the same day at a scheduled European Council summit to coordinate the transatlantic response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Reacting to the news that the Kremlin had today added Biden to a list of individuals banned from entering Russia, Jen Psaki said this wouldn't have an impact on the president's schedule.

"It won’t surprise many of you that none of us are planning tourist trips to Russia, none of us have bank accounts we won’t be able to access so we will forge ahead," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

Around 29,000 people were able to flee besieged Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Tuesday, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.

Some civilians were able to leave the southern port city of Mariupol, where 20,000 people have fled the city in the past day in 4,000 private cars. Local authorities say that Russian forces are preventing buses from evacuating civilians from the city, which is facing intense Russian bombardment.

In the north-eastern city of Sumy, the Red Cross says it was able to evacuate thousands of civilians in 100 buses after Russia gave the greenlight for a humanitarian corridor out of the city today.

Ukraine presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has tweeted to say that negotiations with Russian officials "will continue tomorrow".

He said that "there is certainly room for compromise".

"A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise. During the break, work in subgroups will be continued," he said.

Vitaliy Shevchenko
BBC Monitoring

Russian state TV's Channel One plays a crucial part in the Kremlin's media messaging.

It is Russia's second most popular channel, and its flagship news programme Vremya (Time) is watched by millions.

Normally, there is no room for deviation from the party line.

So when Marina Ovsyannikova ran on to the set behind the news anchor in prime time, brandishing a poster saying "Stop the War!", it was an unprecedented moment of dissent against the Kremlin that reached into living rooms across the country.

Ovsyannikova, who has a Ukrainian father and Russian mother, has been fined 30,000 roubles (£214, $280) for an anti-war video she had also released.

Read more on Monday's extraordinary moment of protest.

On Monday night, Marina Ovsyannikova staged an anti-war protest during a live news bulletin in Moscow.

As she was leaving the courtroom, the state TV employee - who claims she was questioned about the incident for over 14 hours - told reporters the protest was entirely her own decision.

"I made this decision by myself because I don't like that Russia started this invasion," she said.