Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko tells the BBC fighting has reached the city centre, confirming earlier Russian reports
Ukraine's President Zelensky says Russian shelling is still preventing the establishment of effective humanitarian corridors from Mariupol
People who have managed to escape in recent days describe scenes of terror in the city, which is under sustained Russian bombardment
In the strategic southern city Mykolaiv, dozens have been killed in a Russian attack on an army barracks, a Ukrainian MP says
Vladimir Putin has spoken to tens of thousands of Russians at an event celebrating eight years since the annexation of Crimea
US President Joe Biden has warned China not to provide Russia with military equipment in a call with President Xi Jinping
Here are some pictures from the scene of a new missile blast in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv this morning.
One person was killed and 19 injured when parts of a downed Russian missile crash-landed in a residential district in the north of the city, local authorities say.
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, Getty Images
Image source, ReutersIt's coming up to 14:00 in Kyiv. Here's a round-up of the latest developments.
Image source, ReutersThe humanitarian needs in Ukraine are "increasing exponentially", the United Nations refugee agency has warned.
Matthew Saltmarsh, from the agency, says the situation will continue to worsen if there is no end to the fighting.
Many people remain trapped in areas of escalating conflict, unable to meet their basic needs, including food, water and medicines because of disruption to essential services.
He says the situation is particularly dire in southern Ukrainian cities besieged by Russian troops, with "horrifying" reports emerging from these areas.
"The humanitarian situation in cities such as Mariupol and Sumy is extremely dire, with residents facing critical and potentially fatal shortages of food, water and medicine," he says.
Saltmarsh says the UN is closely tracking negotiations for safe passage and is ready to send critical supplies to Sumy "as soon as conditions allow".
He adds that in Odessa authorities have appealed for food and medicine for some 450,000 people who remain in the city.
Image source, Getty ImagesUS president Joe Biden will urge China not to provide Russia with military equipment for its war in Ukraine, when he speaks to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by phone later today.
US officials have criticised Beijing for failing to denounce the invasion.
Biden yesterday called Russian President Vladimir Putin "a pure thug" and "a murderous dictator" who was waging an "immoral war" against the people of Ukraine, during an address at a lunch to celebrate Irish heritage on St Patrick's Day on Capitol Hill.
Those remarks came after Biden labelled Putin as a "war criminal" on Wednesday, signalling a significant escalation in rhetoric.
In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Biden's comments were "absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable".
One hundred and thirty people have been rescued so far from the rubble of a theatre hit by an airstrike in Mariupol, Ukraine's human rights commissioner says.
Hundreds of people were sheltering underground when the theatre was bombed by Russia, ripping the building apart, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
In a televised address, human rights commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said rescue work is ongoing at the site and there are still 1,300 people in the basement.
Image source, Azov/ReutersRemains of the drama theatre which was hit by a bomb
Joel Gunter
BBC News
Three families who escaped the horror of Mariupol yesterday were last night reflecting on their "beautiful" city in ruins.
"Mariupol was growing and becoming more and more beautiful," said Oleksii Pekariev, a software developer who grew up in the city and sheltered the families in his basement.
"Restaurants and bars were opening, the centre was renovated, buildings were painted," the 29-year-old said.
Alina Salikova, 30, an English translator, bought two apartments in the city last year - both now badly damaged.
"Mariupol was growing so fast, I believed in it and wanted to invest," she said.
When Liudmyla Chernik, 33, returned from Pekariev's basement to her bombed-out family home to get clothes, she found people inside it scavenging for food, she said.
"Russia is making an example of Mariupol, punishing it," she said. "They want to show what happens to a city that resists."
An estimated 80% of buildings in the strategic port city have been damaged or destroyed.
Chernik's husband Oleksii said he feared there will be nothing to go home to.
"We lived normal lives in Mariupol. We went to work, to dinner, we saw our families," he said.
"All we want is to go back and help rebuild, but we know it is impossible."
Image source, .
Image source, Getty ImagesSome 6,500 visas had been issued by the UK to Ukrainian refugees under the Ukraine family scheme as of 17:00 GMT on Thursday, the country's Home Office has reported.
This is 400 more than the previous total on Wednesday of 6,100 visas granted.
Some 2,000 applications have been submitted in that time, taking the total so far to 27,000, according to provisional data published on its website.
The UK government is also running a separate sponsorship visa scheme - Homes for Ukraine, external - for people wanting to host a refugee, On the day it was launched, 100,000 signed up.
The UK government has faced criticism - including from its own MPs - over the speed and scale of its response to the refugee crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
As we've been reporting, Russian cruise missiles this morning hit an aircraft repair plant in Lviv, western Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force.
The plant wasn't in operation at the time and no casualties have been reported so far, Lviv's mayor says.
As our map above shows, the plant is only a short distance from the Danylo Halytskyi International Airport of Lviv.
Located about 5km from the city centre, the airport used to offer flights to more than 50 international destinations, including Madrid, London and Paris.
Image source, GoogleA Google Street View image from 2015 of the aircraft repair plant that was reportedly hit by a cruise missile strike
Mark Lowen
BBC News, Jaroslaw
Image source, ReutersOver the past three weeks here, I’ve seen an outpouring of solidarity from Poland towards the arrival of Ukrainian refugees.
There have been the small gestures, like a café donating its tips to refugees, or restaurants that have stopped serving the public and now only cook for those in the shelters.
There has been an army of volunteers helping out at reception centres and border crossings - and there are the countless Poles taking people into their own homes.
But there is also a sense of growing fatigue in some places.
Smaller border towns are running out of accommodation, urging refugees to move to bigger cities further west, which are in turn feeling huge strain.
The refugees talk of returning home soon but with the war escalating, Poland is planning for long-term shelter and integration. Nearly 70,000 Ukrainian children are now enrolled in Polish schools.
Poland’s government has passed an 8bn zloty ($1.75bn/£1.3bn) bill to allow them to work here for at least 18 months and help with social security, education and accommodation.
The fear is that when weeks turn into months, and maybe even longer, the warm welcome they have received could begin to cool.
The UK could act as a guarantor to ensure the terms of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia are honoured, the armed forces minister is hinting.
James Heappey is asked on BBC Breakfast whether or not the UK would consider offering to act as a "backstop" to protect Ukraine in the event of any future Russian military action, if Ukraine accepted Russia's demand for Ukraine to undergo a disarmament process.
Disarmament is one of several demands set out by President Putin in a call to Turkish leaders yesterday.
"I don't think anything is off the table in terms of what the UK and our allies would be willing to do in order to facilitate a peace deal, and what part we might play in guaranteeing that peace deal in the future," Heappey says.
He adds it is essential the Russian government first stops being "belligerent" so that a peace deal can actually be agreed on by the two countries.
A bit more now on the news that Ofcom has revoked Russian-backed TV channel Russia Today's licence to broadcast in the UK.
The Kremlin has called the decision "madness", Reuters news agency reports.
Ofcom said earlier in a statement that it was not satisfied RT could be a responsible broadcaster.
See our previous post from this morning for more.
Hugo Bachega
BBC News, Lviv
Image source, .Rescue workers continue to dig the rubble of Mariupol's drama theatre that officials say was hit by a Russian air strike on Wednesday.
Hundreds of civilians were believed to be in the building, which had been clearly marked as a civilian shelter.
Communications with the besieged city are difficult, and the authorities still don't have an estimate on survivors or possible casualties.
Mariupol's mayor Vadym Boychenko tells me: "Right now a rescue operation is in progress.
"So we need more time [to give an estimate on survivors and casualties]. The city is still being bombed, and that's interfering in the rescue operation."
Dmytro Gurin, a Ukrainian MP from Mariupol whose parents are trapped in the city, tells me some people had managed to leave the area.
"But everything is in rubble. The bomb shelter has three zones and we don't know exactly what's going on with every zone.
"It looks like the bomb shelters weren't damaged but people cannot get out because we cannot clear the rubble because of artillery fire and it's very, very dangerous."
Image source, .
Image source, State Emergency ServiceOne person has been killed and 11 injured after shelling hit a higher education institution and residential buildings in Kharkiv, emergency services say.
The attack severely damaged the six-storey "educational building", along with two neighbouring apartment blocks, the services say.
Emergency workers have managed to put out a fire, and are working through the rubble to free one person who is still trapped inside.
Image source, State Emergency ServiceThe shelling hit two neighbouring residential buildings, authorities say
Image source, Pavlo Kyrylenko/TelegramWe're hearing reports two people have been killed in shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city Kramatorsk.
Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko says six people were also wounded in the attack on a residential block and an administrative building.
He has shared unverified footage showing a huge fireball exploding in the city as a rocket strikes, followed by a large plume of black smoke.
Image source, Pavlo Kyrylenko/Telegram
We've been updating you on an attack near Lviv airport that reportedly hit an aircraft repair plant.
UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey says the missile strike is a cause for concern.
He tells BBC Breakfast: "It is very much a part of war that you go after each other's supply lines. But the reality is this development will be a concern for people living in the west of Ukraine."
Heappey adds the UK is now in the process of training up Ukrainians to use Starstreak anti-aircraft missile systems, which should arrive in the country "imminently".
Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent
A group of young refugees from Ukraine take part in a karate class in eastern Poland
In the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, most of the Ukrainians fleeing the war went to stay with family and friends already living in Poland. As time has passed, the proportion of refugees with nowhere to stay has grown.
The number of refugees fleeing Ukraine for Poland has now reached two million and at least 1.1 million of them have stayed. And although thousands of Poles have opened their own homes to them, large Polish cities including Warsaw and Krakow that are attracting the most are saying they have reached their capacity to accommodate them.
Temporary accommodation centres set up in sports halls and conference centres across the country are designed to cater to people for a few days only. Authorities urgently need to make housing available that can accommodate the refugees for several months. Both the government and President Andrzej Duda are calling for greater international assistance, recognising the response to the crisis will not be a sprint but a marathon.
There’s still broad support across the political spectrum for the refugees. Only the small far-right Confederation party is complaining about Ukrainians receiving benefits that Poles do not, such as free travel on the trains. Journalists boycotted their most recent news conference in disgust.
Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent
Two million people have fled Ukraine to Poland since the war began, the Polish Border Guard agency says.
The number was reached on Friday at 08:00 GMT, the agency wrote on Twitter.
They are predominately women and children, it said.
More than half a million people have already left Poland, according to Warsaw University migration research professor Maciej Duszczyk.
Most have gone to stay in large cities including Warsaw and Krakow, whose officials are complaining that they have reached their capacity to accommodate them.
Image source, Getty ImagesMore now on news that Ofcom has revoked Russian-backed television channel Russia Today's licence to broadcast in the UK.
It comes after the UK's media regulator launched an investigation into the impartiality of the channel's coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A statement released by the regulator says: "We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern - especially given RT's compliance history, which has seen the channel fined £200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.
"In this context, we launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast."
Ofcom chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes says: "Freedom of expression is something we guard fiercely in this country, and the bar for action on broadcasters is rightly set very high."
RT is responding by saying the regulator has shown it is "nothing more than a tool of the British government", according to Reuters.
The channel had already disappeared from all broadcast platforms in the UK earlier this month as a result of a ban imposed by the European Union.
Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent
Image source, ReutersJust a few hundred short of two million people have fled Ukraine to Poland since the war began, the Polish Border Guard agency said on Friday.
On Thursday, 52,500 people crossed the frontier, the agency wrote on Twitter, down 11% from Wednesday. That brings the total to 1,999,500.
As of 06:00 GMT, 7,100 people have crossed on Friday, down 41% from the same period on Thursday, the agency says.
More than half a million people have already left Poland, according to Warsaw University migration research professor Maciej Duszczyk.
Image source, Getty ImagesA Ukrainian Ministry of Defence image shows a Russian helicopter being shot down by its forces in early March
Ukraine is "humiliating" Russia on the battlefield and "wiping the floor with them in terms of world opinion", says a UK military expert.
Prof Michael Clarke, former director of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank, says: "The Russians are making almost every tactical mistake it is possible to make."
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he explains: "They [Russian troops] look like forces that were completely unprepared, that hadn’t thought through what a major campaign might look like.
"The Ukrainians are stalling the Russian advance in all areas and even operating now quite effective counter attacks. The Russians are losing a lot of equipment and troops."
Prof Clarke says Ukraine has a "Nato standard" battlefield command and control system, built with help from Nato countries since 2014.
The attack on an plane maintenance plant in Lviv this morning makes it "clear the Russians are going for the infrastructure that is keeping Ukrainian aircraft in the air", he says.
Striking the western city just 70km from the Polish border is also "an attempt to frighten the West out of helping Ukrainians as much as they have been", he adds.