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Russia's alleged use of its hypersonic missile is probably intended to "detract from a lack of progress" in its ground campaign, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in a tweet.

Over the last several days, Russia has claimed to have fired hypersonic missiles - for the first time ever in combat - at targets in western Ukraine.

Russian officials claim the missile - known as the Kinzhal - can hit targets up to 2,000km (1,240 miles) away at speeds over 6,000 km/h.

The UK's MoD, however, assesses the missiles are unlikely to "materially affect the outcome" of Russia's campaign in Ukraine.

Read more about the Kinzhal missile here.

Jessica Parker
BBC News, Brussels

“We don’t want to create a European army,” the EU’s foreign affairs chief has said.

Josep Borrell was speaking after foreign and defence ministers approved a document known as the Strategic Compass, external.

It includes plans to develop “EU Rapid Deployment Capacity” that could allow the bloc to “swiftly deploy up to 5,000 troops” for different types of crises.

“We’ll conduct live exercises together,” he said, which has never happened before.

Borrell emphasised member states have, and will still have, their own armies but said countries must work more closely together.

He added Nato was still "the cornerstone of the territorial defence of Europe”.

Analysispublished at 23:21 Greenwich Mean Time 21 March 2022

23:21 GMT 21 March 2022

White House warns of possible Russian cyber-attacks

Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

The White House has issued a fresh warning to US businesses of possible cyber-attacks from Russia.

In a statement, President Biden said his administration was reiterating previous warnings "based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks".

The White House said it was a "critical" moment to boost defences.

This is the latest in a series of warnings about possible fall-out in cyberspace from the conflict.

In particular, there have been concerns that Russia might retaliate for sanctions by hitting back at the US and Western economies through cyber-attacks.

So far these attacks have not materialised.

But this latest warning does suggest US intelligence has seen some indications of Russian activity on computer networks that could be the prelude for some kind of attack – however, they acknowledge that this does not mean that such an attack will definitely take place.

The public warning may be designed to act as a deterrent.

US and UK cyber officials have both been briefing executives of major organisations over a period of months, especially those within critical infrastructure, to warn them of the risks and encourage them to ensure they have the best possible defences in place.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK branch of Russian gas giant Gazprom could be placed under administration soon, according to reports.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the UK's government is preparing to step in and run Gazprom Marketing & Trading Retail Ltd.

The firm's clients include McDonald's and Siemens, as well as councils and hospitals around the country. It does not, however, sell gas from its parent company in Russia.

The BBC understands that the UK government is looking at a number of options and monitoring the situation closely.

The government, however, has not commented on the possible administration procedure, with a spokesperson noting only that the UK us in "no way" dependent on Russian gas.

Earlier in March, several councils in England told the BBC they were seeking to end their contracts with Gazprom. Both McDonald's and Siemens have also said they were looking at trying to exit deals or cancelling supply contracts.

Gazprom has yet to comment.

Read more here

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The most bombarded city in Ukraine’s war with Russia is key to Moscow’s military campaign. But why?

Securing a land corridor between Crimea and Donbas: Mariupol stands obstinately in the way of Russian forces who have burst out of the Crimean peninsula. They are pushing north-east to try to link up with their comrades and Ukrainian-separatist allies in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Strangling Ukraine's economy: In normal times, Mariupol is a key export hub for Ukraine's steel, coal and corn going to customers in the Middle East and beyond. Losing Mariupol would be a major blow to what is left of Ukraine's economy.

Propaganda opportunity: Mariupol is home to a Ukrainian militia unit called the Azov Brigade, which contains far-right extremists including neo-Nazis. Although they form only the tiniest fraction of Ukraine's fighting forces, this has given Moscow a pretext for telling Russia's population that the young men it has sent to fight in Ukraine are there to rid their neighbour of neo-Nazis.

Major morale boost: A Russian victory in Mariupol would enable the Kremlin to show its population - through state-controlled media - that Russia was achieving its aims and making progress. But to Ukrainians, the loss of Mariupol would be a major blow.

Read Frank Gardner's report in full

Wyre Davies
BBC News, Dnipro

Some of the internal refugees arriving at centres like the one we visited today in Dnipro will stay here in central Ukraine, perhaps hoping one day to return to Mariupol.

But with much of the city destroyed and as many as 40% of those damaged structures said to be irreparable, returning any time soon will not be an option for many.

Among those is Olga, who we met while she was picking up food, some clothes, and bedding. For the time being her immediate family is staying in a small flat here in the city after a harrowing journey out of Mariupol.

"We were driving out under fire," Olga tells me. "Shells were exploding. They were bombing us and there were dead bodies everywhere, but we managed to join the larger convoy and eventually get out."

Olga says she’d like to return to the broken city she calls home, especially as she has extended family members still trapped there, unable to escape.

But, Olga told me, she received an ominous warning from a Russian soldier at one of the last checkpoints out of Mariupol.

"Don’t bother staying in Dnipro," the soldier said to her, "because we'll soon be attacking that city as well."

Footage has emerged of Russian forces using gunfire to disperse demonstrators in the occupied southern city of Kherson.

The footage - which was shared on social media and verified by the BBC - also shows explosions, which were reported to be from stun grenades.

Demonstrators were reportedly injured during the incident.

Protests have taken place in the city of Kherson since the city fell to Russian forces on 3 March.

Read more about the protests here.

We told you earlier about the bombastic warning Russia issued that its relations with the US were near breaking point. It comes days after President Joe Biden called his Russian counterpart "a war criminal".

Since Biden made the statement on 16 March, the label has been heard more often in connection with Vladimir Putin. Former UK prime ministers Gordon Brown and Sir John Major have called for the creation of a new international tribunal to investigate Putin and those who helped plan his invasion of Ukraine.

And the Pentagon has indicated the US is actively engaged in the investigation of the Russian leader.

"We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that," spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is spearheading the legal process - after 39 nations called for an inquiry to be opened.

Read more about war crimes and whether Putin may be prosecuted

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby says the US is in "ongoing discussions" with other countries to provide long-range air defence systems to Ukraine.

To date, the US has provided Stinger man-portable anti-aircraft weapons to Ukraine. These systems, however, are primarily effective against helicopters and low-flying aircraft, rather than higher altitude combat aircraft.

It has been reported a number of countries - including Slovakia - have expressed a willingness to give Ukraine S-300 anti-aircraft systems, provided they receive something to replace them.

Ukraine already uses the S-300 and has personnel trained in its use.

While Kirby does not comment directly on Slovakia or the S-300, he says the US is in "active consultations" about “the kinds of defence capabilities to include long-range air defences, that we know that they’re [Ukraine] comfortable using."

Wyre Davies
BBC News, Dnipro

At what is usually a middle school in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, a makeshift reception centre for refuges of fighting from the east has been set up.

Many of the people queueing patiently in the schoolyard are from the besieged city of Mariupol – others have come here from Kharkiv and Mykolaiv. They all have another thing in common – they’re without possessions.

Families crammed into cars, they fled through mined roads and numerous Russian checkpoints to safety and need all the basics to survive; food, clothes, and medicine.

All of the things being collected here are donations from residents of Dnipro and local charities. So, while children get hand-me-down toys, their mothers line up for the basics. In the school canteen, volunteers package together food parcels that will feed a family for a couple of days.

Among those working here is Vadym, normally a teacher at the school but now doing his "civic duty to help other Ukrainians".

The UN says there are six and a half million displaced people inside Ukraine alone. This city and this community are doing their part to make that transition less traumatic.

Image source, Ukrainian Armed Forces / Reuters

If you're just joining us, or want a recap, here's a short summary of what's been happening in the war in Ukraine:

• Ukraine's resistance to Russian forces has made Moscow "more adequately assess the reality" of how its invasion is progressing, a Ukrainian negotiator has told the BBC
• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine will never bow to ultimatums from Russia and cities such as Kyiv, Mariupol or Kharkiv will not accept Russian occupation

• Russian forces have shelled the southern port city Odesa, Ukrainian officials have said

• Earlier in the day, Ukraine refused to surrender Mariupol, rejecting a demand from Russia to give up the city by the deadline of 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT)
• In the capital Kyiv, eight people are reported to have died in shelling on a residential area and shopping centre
• And the editor of pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) says their website was hacked after it published an article saying 9,861 Russian servicemen had died

Russia's foreign ministry has summoned the US ambassador John Sullivan in to protest about recent statements by President Biden, who labelled President Putin a "war criminal" over the conflict in Ukraine.

In a statement, the ministry said the comments were unworthy of a statesman of such a high rank and pushed Russian-American relations to breaking point.

Hostile actions taken against Russia would receive a "decisive and firm response," it warned.

The State Department confirmed that the meeting between Sullivan and Russian officials took place, adding that Sullivan demanded that US citizens in custody be given access to consular services.

The department says that one US citizen, basketball player Brittany Griner, has still not been given access to consular services after being detained for possession of vape cartridges last month.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said it is "awfully rich" for Russia to "speak about 'inappropriate comments' when that same country is engaged in mass slaughter".

Jessica Parker
BBC News, Brussels

The EU’s foreign affairs chief has suggested there won’t be a further package of EU sanctions against Russia adopted this week.

Josep Borrell was speaking at a press conference, following meetings of the bloc’s foreign and defence ministers in Brussels.

“Formal adoption of sanctions requires procedure and I don’t think during this week it will be formal adoption of sanctions, according with our procedures.”

But he said when EU leaders meet later this week, for a summit in Brussels, they’ll likely consider “what else can be done".

He said the issue of energy had been raised by some ministers - but today wasn’t a day for such decisions, rather one for “analysing” possible future actions.

Borrell said there needs to be an “effective response which won’t lead to an unbearable cost for member states".

Five cases of Russian forces detaining local officials have been recorded in the northern city of Chernihiv, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency is reporting.

Quoting the Ukrainian parliament website, it says Russian forces have detained the heads of two villages and a local councillor, while two local government officials have also been abducted.

Meanwhile, in eastern Ukraine, Russians have abducted the head of a village in Kharkiv, according to UNIAN news agency.

We reported earlier that our colleagues at BBC Russian had compiled a list of 557 confirmed Russian military deaths in the Ukraine invasion, mentioning that Russia's defence ministry has so far only once provided fatality figures - 498 deaths as of 2 March.

All that suddenly changed in the last few hours, or so it seemed...

The staunchly pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) published an article quoting the ministry as saying 9,861 Russian servicemen had died, a figure which exceeds even US intelligence estimates of Russian fatalities.

It gave the number of wounded as 16,153.

Minutes later, this part of the article disappeared from the page, but we were able to take screen grabs of the relevant paragraphs.

KP editor Vladimir Sungorkin subsequently told the BBC the information had been the result of a hack, and said the paper will post an explanation later.

Image source, Getty Images

US President Joe Biden has held a phone call with European leaders to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine, the White House has announced.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was on the call, as was Italian PM Mario Draghi, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

In a statement, the White House said that the leaders "discussed their serious concerns about Russia’s brutal tactics in Ukraine, including its attacks on civilians".

"They underscored their continued support for Ukraine, including by providing security assistance to the brave Ukrainians who are defending their country from Russian aggression, and humanitarian assistance to the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the violence," the statement added.

Biden is scheduled to travel to Europe later this week for meetings with Nato, EU, and G7 allies in Brussels, followed by a bilateral meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Friday.

Image source, Pavel Gomzyakov

Pavel Gomzyakov usually photographs the happiest days of people’s lives. He is an award-winning wedding photographer from Mariupol, southern Ukraine.

But, recently, he has been documenting life in the city as it has come under heavy Russian attack.

“Before the start of the war, Mariupol was a peaceful Ukrainian city, a city in which 95% of people were Russian speaking, like me. My daughter used to study at a Russian school,” he tells BBC Panorama.

At the end of last week, he escaped, along with his wife and nine-year-old son. His elderly parents stayed behind and he hasn’t been able to contact them for days, as electricity has been cut.

He is now trying work out how he can unite with his eldest daughter, 17, who is alone in Germany. She was in the north-eastern Ukrainian city Kharkiv at ballet school when the war started.

Pavel says it is if they have all woken up to a new, terrible reality.

More on Panorama Ukraine's Resistance: Standing Up to Putin on BBC One at 20:00 GMT

Image source, Getty Images

Russia says it is abandoning talks with Japan aimed at signing a formal peace treaty, because Japan has joined in sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

They did not formally end World War Two hostilities because of a dispute over small islands known in Russia as the Southern Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories. They lie just off Japan's northern island of Hokkaido and were occupied by Soviet forces in 1945.

Russia's foreign ministry says its move freezes discussions on joint economic projects for the islands and halts visa-free visits to them by Japanese citizens.

"All responsibility for the harm to bilateral co-operation and to the interests of Japan itself lies with official Tokyo, which deliberately chose to pursue an anti-Russian course," the ministry said.

Image source, EPA

Ukrainian negotiator Mykhaylo Podolyak has told the BBC his country's resilience has made Russia "more adequately assess the reality" of how its invasion is progressing - leading, he says, to a change in the talks between the two countries.

Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine on 24 February, several rounds of negotiations have taken place between delegates from Kyiv and Moscow but it's been hard to gauge the progress so far. Here's what we know from recent days:

• Russia isn't serious about peace, Ukrainian President Zelensky's adviser told the BBC's Newshour today
• Ukraine also today ignored Russia's demand to give up its city Mariupol by 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT), saying Russian promises to allow people out of the siege couldn't be trusted

• Jerusalem could be the "right place" for future top-level peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Zelensky told Israel's parliament by video link yesterday
• He also said to CNN yesterday that a failure to negotiate the end of Russia's invasion will mean "a third world war"
• Turkey's foreign minister has been mediating peace talks between the two sides and suggested yesterday they are "close to an agreement" but refused to speak about details
• Peace talks could be a Russian "smokescreen", according to UK foreign secretary Liz Truss
• Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the US of restraining Kyiv from agreeing to Russian demands but did not appear to provide evidence
• Ukraine's President Zelensky has urged Russia's President Putin to join him for peace talks "without delay", saying it's "the only chance for Russia to reduce the damage of its own mistakes"