Hugo Bachega
BBC News, Lviv

Kate, a 38-year-old Mariupol native, and her son, 17, spent 10 days in the basement of Mariupol's Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama.

Their own home, like many others in the besieged city, had been destroyed by Russian attacks, and they thought they would find safety there.

Mother and son were squeezed in the building's dark rooms, corridors and halls with dozens of other families. Some women, Kate said, carried babies less than six months old.

They slept on improvised beds made with the soft parts of the auditorium seats put together on the floor. The wooden parts of the seats, she said, were cut up and used as firewood for cooking.

As Russia's relentless assault continued, Kate said the buildings around the theatre were all gradually damaged or destroyed: "We knew we had to run away because something terrible would happen soon," she said.

A day before the attack, Kate and her son fled the site. "We jumped in a car while the theatre and the area were being shelled" - this, despite the site being clearly marked as a civilian shelter, with the Russian word for "children" marked on the ground in large letters.

"The first day after we managed to get out, I couldn't talk. We all just cried," she said.

"But now it feels like there are no tears left. I don't think this pain will ever disappear."

Read their full story here

Image source, Telegram/Zelensky Official

More now on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's latest address to the nation.

Zelensky says he's spoken to EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, and he expects quick progress on Ukraine's application for fast-track EU membership.

Zelensky says von der Leyen "promised that she would do everything possible to speed up Ukraine joining the EU".

"We will become a fully fledged member of the EU," he says.

"Bureaucratic processes that normally take years will be speeded up and cut down by months and weeks."

A video call between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping has now finished, the White House says.

The American president was hoping to persuade his Chinese counterpart to join Western pressure on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine.

The two leaders spoke for an hour and 50 minutes, their first conversation since November.

The White House has not yet released any information about the call, but the US said beforehand that Biden would urge China not to provide Russia with military equipment for its war in Ukraine.

Chinese state media reported Xi as saying on the call that "the Ukraine crisis is something that we don't want to see".

We're hearing reports of mass casualties following a missile attack on a Ukrainian army barracks in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

One report says at least 45 people have died.

Our correspondent Andrew Harding, in Odesa, says at least two missiles are reported to have hit army barracks in the northern suburbs of the city.

Rescue efforts are under way.

Harding says the barracks were being used to train local soldiers in the city that has been holding back a major Russian offensive along the Black Sea coast.

"Mykolaiv has experienced weeks of intense bombardments, after Russian troops were pushed back from the city," he says.

"Russian forces then tried to bypass the city to the north but were again thwarted by the Ukrainians.

"Many civilians have already fled west."

Wyre Davies
BBC News, Dnipro, Ukraine

Air raid sirens rang out all night across the city of Dnipro, although there were no reports of any strikes in the area.

Similar reports came from Zaporizhzhia to the south, where hundreds of refugees from the attacks in Mariupol are heading.

Centres are being set up in warehouses and office spaces, as well as hospitals, to cope with the refugees.

Meanwhile, unverified reports from inside Mariupol say around 130 people have been rescued from underneath the rubble of the theatre which Ukraine says was attacked in a Russian air strike, even though it was clearly marked as having children sheltered inside.

With long lines and queues of people trying to leave the besieged city, civilians are having to navigate through at least a dozen Russian checkpoints to flee.

There are thought to still be more than 300,000 civilians trapped inside Mariupol, with much of the city in ruins. Unverified pictures are circulating on local social media showing images what are purported to be Russian armoured vehicles inside the city limits.

Image source, Telegram/Zelensky Official

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian shelling is preventing authorities in the besieged southern city of Mariupol to effectively establish humanitarian corridors.

The Russian military says fighting has reached the centre of the city, where thousands of people remain trapped.

In his latest address to the nation, Zelensky says hundreds of people are still trapped beneath the rubble of a theatre there that was bombed on Thursday.

Zelensky also says Western deliveries of arms to Ukraine are too slow.

"We again remind certain Western leaders that it will be a moral defeat for them... if Ukraine does not receive advanced weapons," he says.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN says that at least 816 civilians have been killed and 1,333 wounded in Ukraine through to 17 March.

Most of the casualties were from explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes, according to the UN rights office (OHCHR).

It said the real toll is likely a lot higher as the OHCHR has been unable to collect information from some of the worst-hit cities, including Mariupol.

Fergal Keane
BBC News, Lviv

The first refugees from the besieged southern port city of Mariupol have arrived in Lviv in western Ukraine.

The evacuees describe scenes of terror in the city which is under sustained Russian bombardment.

"The city is being wiped off the face of the earth," says 28-year-old Yulia Yashenko.

Yulia and her elderly parents are among a group of several hundred people who arrived in Lviv this morning.

"Our house was burned by artillery. They fire everything at the city, every weapon is used," she tells me.

"There is black smoke everywhere. There are bodies everywhere and there is nobody to collect them."

Yulia says after their home was burned, she and her parents sought safety in the city's theatre for nine days - leaving the day before it was bombed.

"It is only fate that we are alive," she says.

"We could have been killed any time. People took us in their car out of the city on the green corridor [humanitarian corridor].

"It should not be like this. Tell the world what is happening.”

Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of the Ukrainian Railways Passenger Company says 350 people have been evacuated from Mariupol to Lviv.

“We’ve been hellbent on saving as many unprotected children as possible so that the defenders could concentrate on their job,” he says.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, .

We're hearing the first reports about what China's President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden are talking about on their video call.

Prior to them talking, the US said Biden would urge China not to provide Russia with military equipment for its war in Ukraine.

In their call Xi told Biden conflicts between states are "in no-one's interest", Chinese state TV reports.

"State-to-state relations cannot go to the stage of military hostilities," state broadcaster CCTV reported Xi as saying.

"Peace and security are the most valued treasures of the international community."

Xi also reportedly told Biden that the US must shoulder its international responsibilities and make efforts for world peace.

We've not yet heard the US's account of what the leaders spoke about.

Former PM of Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov, does not believe President Vladimir Putin is "serious" about peace talks, and is unlikely to offer any solution to the conflict "that will be comfortable for Ukrainian people".

Beyond the promise of neutrality - which means Ukraine not applying to be part of Nato or the EU - Kasyanov believes Putin will insist upon "official recognition" that Crimea is part of Russia.

"That is absolutely crucial, Mr Putin is crazy about Crimea," he told BBC World News.

Kasyanov - who was prime minister between 2000-2004 - said he doubted any deal would be stuck as a result of current negotiations between the two sides, suggesting it was merely affording the Russians "time to regroup".

He said Putin and his closest political allies were "nervous" about the extent of the "devastating" economic sanctions imposed by the West, suggesting the Russian leader "didn't expect the sanctions would be so harsh".

But he said any decision to stop the military operations in Ukraine "would be the beginning of his [Putin's] end".

"I think he will continue to oppress and increase the invasion," said Kasyanov, adding that he was "very worried... that something awful could happen in the battlefield".

Image source, Reuters

In a puzzling moment at the end of Vladimir Putin's address to tens of thousands of Russians, state TV suddenly cut away from the speech mid-sentence and started playing a patriotic song.

Putin was hailing the eighth anniversary of the Russian annexation of Crimea, to chants and screams of patriotic fervour.

But while he was talking, the broadcast turned to different images.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov subsequently said the speech was interrupted due to a "technical failure on the server".

The Russian president had been praising his troops, who he said continued to "heroically fight" in Ukraine.

James Reynolds
BBC News, Lviv

Image source, Reuters

The air raid sirens in Lviv sounded at 6:09am – just as first light was emerging. Some headed to their shelters. Others tried to doze through it.

“Nobody moved,” says Nastya, a worker in a Japanese food restaurant, “because sirens are quite common here.”

“We heard the air raid sirens,” says product designer Anton, “and we started to go back to sleep.”

Sixteen minutes later, there were four explosions on the western outskirts of the city. Those who heard the blasts reacted quickly.

“We ran to the basement,” says Nastya.

At this point, from shelters, people began to message each other.

“My husband was on night duty at a supermarket,” says Olya, a florist, “I called him immediately and found out he was ok.”

“My friends from Dnipro and Kyiv messaged me about the explosions,” says Anton.

The city was now wide awake. Anyone drawing back their curtains will have seen a black plume of smoke rising from the west in the direction of the airport.

Image source, Getty Images

A few minutes later, the authorities confirmed an aircraft repair plant had been hit.

By now, it was time for people to go to work.

Nastya put on her uniform and turned up for her shift at the restaurant. The menus advertising ramen dishes were on the counter.

Olya sat in her florists’ shop, ready to sell bunches of tulips.

Anton continued his unhurried morning routine.

“My wife and I had coffee,” he says, “and took our dog for a walk.”

Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium - the venue of the 2018 World Cup final - hosts a rally to celebrate the annexation of Crimea, eight years ago.

Image source, Reuters

In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin has just been speaking to tens of thousands of Russians who are packed inside Luzhiniki Stadium, at an event celebrating eight years since the annexation of Crimea.

The stadium is awash with Russian flags and the letter "Z", which has come to symbolise the invasion.

Putin hails Russia's "special operation" in Ukraine, claiming its objective is to save locals "from suffering from genocide".

To cheers, he tells the crowd: "Russia forward!"

Image source, Getty Images

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Poland will submit a proposal to create a peacekeeping mission in Ukraine at the next Nato summit, prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki says.

The head of Poland’s governing Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, announced the idea during his visit to Kyiv earlier this week.

“We are now communicating this proposal where it belongs, at the upcoming Nato summit,” Morawiecki tells a news conference in Warsaw.

The prime minister says Polish defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak has already raised the idea at a meeting of Nato defence ministers and Denmark has already responded positively.

Following Kaczynski’s announcement of the idea on Tuesday, the head of the prime minister’s office, Michal Dworczyk, said the proposal does not mean Nato would intervene militarily in the war.

Stephen McDonell
BBC News, China correspondent, Beijing

Image source, Getty Images

US President Joe Biden is due to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by phone about now to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine, among other subjects.

Xi is expected to reiterate Beijing’s line that all sides should be exercising restraint in Ukraine, while Biden could be looking for assurances that China will not support Russia militarily.

Beijing and Washington are fighting a proxy information war over the conflict in Ukraine.

This could prove to be the biggest point of tension between Xi and Biden.

The US has been the source of reports that Russia has asked China for military help. Biden will likely ask for a guarantee that Beijing does not supply it.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has been repeating conspiracy theories that the US has bioweapons facilities in Ukraine. Xi could ask for a guarantee it has no such weapons there.

China says it is neutral, but state media here has been spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda about the war.

The Biden administration would like China to put more pressure on Russia over the situation in Ukraine but there has been no indication so far that Beijing is considering such a move.

As we've been reporting this morning, Russian state-backed TV channel RT has had its UK broadcasting licence revoked by British television regulator, Ofcom.

Ofcom says RT's parent body ANO TV Novosti is not "fit and proper to hold a UK broadcast licence" and is revoking its licence with immediate effect.

Below you can watch the BBC's Media Editor Amol Rajan explaining the decision, and the difference between state and public broadcasting.

Hugo Bachega
BBC News, Lviv

In the historic centre of Lviv, 109 strollers have been placed in front of the city hall on Rynok Square, to represent the children who have been killed during the war in Ukraine.

The prosecutor general’s office says more than 130 others have been wounded. It says the number could be higher because of the inability to reach areas where fighting is taking place.

The office also says 439 schools have been hit by shelling and bombing, of which 63 are completely destroyed.

Russia denies attacking civilian buildings, although a number of non-military facilities have been hit across the country, including countless apartment blocks.

Image source, Getty Images

The first civilians who were sheltering in a bombed theatre in Mariupol have emerged from the rubble, says human rights commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova.

So far 130 people, who were sheltering in the basement of the theatre, have been rescued - but that is just a tenth of those still trapped inside, according to Ukrainian authorities who are working to get them out.

An estimated 80% of buildings in the strategic port city have been damaged or destroyed. These are the latest images of the destroyed theatre, which the Italian government has offered to rebuild "as soon as possible".

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Russia's military targets appear to be expanding to west of Ukrainepublished at 12:23 Greenwich Mean Time 18 March 2022

12:23 GMT 18 March 2022

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Unlike its indiscriminate shelling of Ukrainian cities, Russia appears to be using its long-range precision weapons - such as cruise missiles - to hit specific military sites.

And the target list appears to be expanding to the west of the country.

On Sunday, Russia fired multiple salvos of cruise missiles, probably launched from outside Ukrainian air space, to destroy Yaroviv military base, close to the Polish border.

Today the target has been described as an aircraft maintenance facility in Lviv, in western Ukraine.

It's likely that the facility has been used to maintain Ukraine's dwindling number of older fighter jets.

The fact that Russia is using long-range missiles illustrates another important fact - one that's surprised many military analysts. So far Russia has failed to gain supremacy in the air. Western officials say Ukraine's air defences have been a key reason for that.

As this attack shows, Russia knows it needs to degrade those - not just by targeting Ukraine's air force and facilities, but also by destroying ground-based missiles batteries. Those are being used every day of this war and Ukraine needs more supplies.

A Western intelligence official told the BBC that Ukraine has been "very specific" in requesting more air defence ammunition - including for its older long-range air defence systems. The official said "they need those in large quantities, because of the number of Russian aircraft available".