Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent, Kyiv

"I know what I'm fighting for," declares Dymytro Bilotserkovets as we stand in front of tonnes of potatoes on a railway platform in Kyiv. He's from Sevastopol in the southwestern corner of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.

A member of Kyiv's city council, now he's helping at "humanitarian hubs" across this capital. Volunteers busily pack boxes. There are stacks of everything from cooking oil to chocolate and of course, salo – the very popular pork fat.

Fighting a war means fortifying a city. It's also about feeding it, if Russia lays siege to Kyiv or unleashes the kind of incessant shelling being inflicted elsewhere.

Maps online show which grocery stores are still open – so far, the basics are still for sale. But some shelves empty fast.

More than half of Kyiv's residents have left; there's still more than a million here.

Shelters prepare too. At the Palace Ukraine metro, station master Svitlana tells us if the situation worsens, they can host 1,300 people, even more if necessary. She expects volunteers will provide food.

"In this crisis, everybody knows what to do, to help civilians, to help our army," underlines Bilotserkovets.

Image source, EPA

Earlier we reported that Russia had imposed sanctions on US President Joe Biden and other senior officials.

Russia's foreign ministry says they have been banned from entering the country in response to US sanctions.

The measure "is the consequence of the extremely Russophobic policy pursued by the current US administration", it said in a statement.

In its latest announcement on sanctions, the US has targeted four people and one entity. They are accused of helping to conceal events around the death of whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky, or of being connected to human rights violations against human rights advocate Oyub Titiev.

The US Treasury also said it was adding to its sanctions against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko and was targeting his wife.

Image source, Canadian parliament

More now from President Zelensky's live address before Canadian MPs, where he's asking them to imagine what they would do if Canada was in Ukraine's situation.

"Can you imagine calling other friendly nations, and asking them 'please close the sky, close the air space. stop the bombing'".

"And in turn they express their deep concerns about the situation. We talk to our partners and they say 'please hold on a little longer'".

The Ukrainian president described the situation as dire, "but it's allowed us to see who our true friends are these past 20 days".

Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski has been killed while reporting outside Kyiv, the US network says.

Zakrzewski was killed and his colleague, Benjamin Hall, was injured when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire yesterday in Horenka, around 20km north-west of the capital, says Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott.

"Pierre was a war-zone photographer who covered nearly every international story for Fox News from Iraq to Afghanistan to Syria during his long tenure with us," she says. “His passion and talent as a journalist were unmatched."

Hall, a 39-year-old British correspondent, is still being treated in hospital following the incident.

It follows the death of Brent Renaud, an American filmmaker, on Sunday.

Zakrzewski's former colleagues have been paying tribute to him on Twitter. "I don’t know what to say. Pierre was as good as they come," correspondent Trey Yingst writes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is addressing Canada's Parliament now, where he has been greeted by mass applause.

He describes his feelings and those of the Ukrainian people over the past 20 days of Russia's "full-scale aggression". He says: "Imagine at 4am, each of you, you start hearing bomb explosions, severe explosions, can you imagine hearing you, your children, hearing explosions?"

He says cruise missiles are falling on your country, and your children are asking what has happened and you see from the news the infrastructure that has been targeted and that people have died.

The Ukrainian president adds: "How can you explain to your children that full-scale aggression just happened in your country?"

Russian troops continue to face sustained Ukrainian counterattacks and mounting casualties as they attempt to encircle and cut off the capital Kyiv.

Troops are now moving towards the city of Kyiv from multiple positions. Today - day 20 of the invasion - has seen powerful explosions as Russian bombardment hit residential buildings and a metro station.

Overall, Russia's progress in the north has been slower than in the south, where troops have made rapid gains. Read more here.

Jessica Murphy
BBC News, Toronto

President Volodymyr Zelensky is not the first Ukrainian leader to address Canada's Parliament, nor will he be the first wartime leader.

But his address will be historic in other ways, including the fact he'll be the first world leader to appear virtually, speaking to Canadian politicians from a besieged Kyiv.

The address will be widely watched. Canada is home to one of the world’s largest Ukrainian diaspora - second only to Russia.

The 1.4 million strong Ukrainian-Canadian community has mobilised to help the war efforts - from humanitarian appeals to preparing to welcome refugees and volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

Along with its Western allies, Canada has introduced new immigration measures for Ukrainians fleeing the war and has sanctioned nearly 500 individuals and entities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, including another 15 allies of President Vladimir Putin allies on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be introducing the Ukrainian leader.

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

The air raid siren has been wailing here in Uman most of the morning. There were several sirens overnight, too, sending some residents to their bunkers and basements.

But this pretty city, some 200km directly south of Kyiv, has been spared Russian strikes since the first day of the war.

As one woman in a coffee shop put it: "Our air defences are working well."

So there are now little groups of people out and about near the river bank with prams and puppies, taking in the glorious sunshine, even as the sirens sound non-stop.

These scenes are hard to square with what we’ve witnessed to the east over the past three weeks. The families in Kharkiv, including babies, who have moved under ground to live on metro carriages. In Dnipro, weeping men on a train platform sending their wives, mothers and children to safety. And the children fleeing the siege of Sumy with their parents, who told me about learning to dress in 30 seconds and run for cover whenever they heard Russian planes overhead.

But even in Uman, life is far from normal. There's a curfew, like everywhere. Our hotel serves dinner in the dark and the first three families I spoke to had all been uprooted by fighting elsewhere.

One mum with her young daughter had fled the devastation of Chernihiv, north of Kyiv, a week ago. She does feel safer here, and when I wondered whether she planned to move further west she said she only wanted to go home to Chernihiv, where her mother has stayed, under fire, refusing to evacuate.

There are posters on lampposts around town, as we’ve seen across the east and north. One of them says: "Don’t flee, defend Ukraine." Another swears at Russia and Vladimir Putin, and there’s a third I hadn’t seen before which shows a baby curled up on a Ukrainian military uniform next to the slogan "everything will be ok".

But "ok" feels a long way off.

More now from Jens Stoltenberg's press conference.

The Nato chief says that Russia is "making absurd claims about biological labs and chemical weapons" in Ukraine.

"This is just another lie," he says, noting that Russia had originally said it did not plan to invade Ukraine.

"We are concerned that Moscow could stage a 'false flag' operation, possibly including chemical weapons," Stoltenberg says.

A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it.

Stoltenberg says any use of chemical weapons is "absolutely unacceptable".

The US has previously raised similar worries, with the White House saying nations should be on the lookout for Russia "to possibly use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, or to create a false flag operation using them".

Divisions in Nato and the EU are becoming starkerpublished at 15:02 Greenwich Mean Time 15 March 2022

15:02 GMT 15 March 2022

Katya Adler
Europe Editor

The journey to Kyiv by train today by the prime ministers of Poland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic may seem quirky, counter-intuitive or downright fool-hardy, but the three leaders were determined to deliver three separate messages from the war-torn region:

1. Solidarity with Ukrainians
2. A warning Moscow may also have its sights on other former communist countries like theirs
3. Frustration with the West’s handling of the crisis

Of course, Western powers prefer to show a united front.

They’re mindful of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to divide opponents, in order to weaken them.

But divisions in Nato and, even more, in the EU, are becoming starker.

Countries closer to Russia insist everything should be done to stop Putin.

Most favour a no-fly zone over Ukraine, as the country’s president has repeatedly requested.

But Nato's chief says no, that could bring the whole alliance into direct conflict with nuclear power Russia.

In Brussels, differences between EU leaders are becoming more pronounced.

Eastern and most central Europeans (nicknamed the sanctionistas) favour speedy and tougher sanctions...driven by worry for their own national security.

While Germany, Italy and Austria have finances on their mind.

They want to penalise Russia, but have a more slowly, slowly approach - out of fear of the impact on their own economies.

Russia has imposed sanctions on US President Joe Biden, its foreign ministry says.

Sanctions also apply to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Chief William Burns.

Others will also be affected, the ministry says.

We'll bring you more information when we have it.

Image source, Reuters

We've heard more from Nato's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels, where a Ukrainian journalist has asked him when Nato would intervene in the conflict.

The military chief suggested that Nato would only get directly militarily involved if Russia attacked one of its 30 members, which does not include Ukraine.

"Our responsibility as an alliance is to protect and defend all [Nato] allies. We are sending a clear message that we are ready to do so, while increasing our presence in the eastern part of our alliance," Stoltenberg said.

The military chief also pointed to the support members of the defensive military alliance have given to Ukraine's army in recent years.

He said Kyiv's military is "bigger, stronger, better equipped, and better trained than in 2014" as a result of that help.

Image source, Reuters

Nato's chief Jens Stoltenberg has just been speaking at a press conference, and he says that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a "new security reality" in Europe.

He says Nato's military position must be ready for this new reality.

Tomorrow Nato leaders will start to discuss concrete measures to reinforce security in the longer term, Stoltenberg says.

On land, these measures could include "substantially more forces" in the eastern part of the alliance, he says, at a higher state of readiness.

We will also consider "major increases" to our naval and air deployments, strengthening missile and air defences and also increasing cyber defences, he says.

Stoltenberg points out that beefing up defences in the alliance will require new money, and he welcomes moves by Germany and other Nato allies in this direction.

If you're just joining our coverage, here are the latest developments on day 20 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

• Kyiv's mayor says the capital is entering a "dangerous moment" and has announced a continuous curfew from tonight until Thursday. Authorities say four people were killed this morning in fresh attacks on the city
• Peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow continue today, with Ukraine warning that Russia is likely to renew its offensive if there's no agreement
• The UK is sanctioning 370 Russians as well imposing new trade restrictions on luxury Russian goods and vodka
• The EU has announced a fourth round of sanctions, this time targeting Moscow's ability to finance the invasion
• The Polish, Czech, and Slovenian prime ministers are travelling overland to Kyiv by train, where they plan to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky
• In Russia, the journalist who protested against the war on a live TV news bulletin is currently on trial in a Moscow court

The Russian state TV employee who staged an anti-war protest on a live news programme last night is currently on trial at Moscow's Ostankino Court.

Marina Ovsyannikova is being charged with "organising an unauthorised public event," an administrative charge which could result in a fine of up to 30,000 roubles (£200), community service or up to 10 days in jail.

It suggests that the journalist is not being charged under Moscow's new law on "spreading false information about Russia's armed forces".

Earlier we reported that Ovsyannikova's lawyers were unable to locate her, but a photo circulating on social media appears to show her in court with a lawyer:

Yesterday the UK government announced its new refugee scheme, allowing people in the UK to take in fleeing Ukrainians and in return get a £350 monthly payment.

In the last few minutes, the government said the number of people who have expressed an interest on its website , externalhad reached 100,000.

That's an increase of more than 11,000 from the figure of 88,712 released this morning.

And in the last few hours we've also had updated figures on how many visas have been granted to Ukrainians under the other - and original - scheme for family members. This allows Ukrainians with an immediate or extended family member in the UK to apply for a family visa to join them.

Some 4,600 visas had been granted as of 16:00 GMT on Monday, the UK's Home Office reported.

According to data published on its website, 17,600 applications have been submitted and 10,900 appointments have been made at visa processing centres.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia have resumed after a pause on Monday, and Ukrainian negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak has given a flavour of what is being discussed.

"Consultations on the main negotiation platform renewed. General regulation matters, ceasefire, withdrawal of troops from the territory of the country," he wrote on Twitter, external.

The UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to head to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf for talks about increasing production of oil and gas to compensate for reduced supplies from Russia.

Defending that trip in a pooled clip to reporters, Johnson said it was "vital" to talk to other oil producers around the world so that the West could be less dependent on Russia.

"Vladimir Putin over the last years has been like a pusher feeding an addiction in Western countries to his hydrocarbons, to his oil and gas," he said. "We need to get ourselves off that addiction."

On Saturday Saudi Arabia said it had executed 81 men - more than during the whole of last year.

Asked about whether the UK was now looking to enter a coalition with "unpleasant regimes", also including Iran, Johnson said the UK wanted the "widest possible coalition" to ensure Putin did not succeed.

Johnson added that the UK was also working on plans for long term energy security.

We've been reporting about the situation in the besieged city of Mariupol, and we now hear that some 2,000 cars have been able to leave along a humanitarian evacuation route, according to the city authorities.

A further 2,000 are waiting to leave, the city council says.

On Monday, about 160 cars managed to leave the city, in what seemed to be the first successful evacuation of residents after multiple failed attempts.

Carrie Davies
BBC Moscow Correspondent

The BBC has spoken to two acquaintances of Marina Ovsyannikova - the Russian journalist who has reportedly gone missing after bursting onto a live TV news programme to protest against the war in Ukraine.

Zhdan Tikhonov worked at the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company and remembers Ovsyannikova as a student 25 years ago.

“She was very goal-orientated. She couldn’t do much back then, but she wanted to achieve things,” he told the BBC. “I could see she wants to achieve something, to grow in this profession [journalism].”

“I didn’t know her political position, but it’s a fact that people with such opinions exist. I’m not surprised about it. People are different and have different opinions, they have the right to have different opinion.”

Another acquaintance said that Marina is a “sweet and pleasant girl. I think any of her friends would say this.”