Image source, Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

We've been hearing some new lines from the Kremlin this morning.

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov talked about a number of issues - including the role sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich had to play in peace talks.

He said the Chelsea Football Club owner "took part in the initial stage" but that the process is now in the hands of the two country's negotiating teams.

The Kremlin also spoke about Moscow's latest expulsion of US diplomats. It said it was forced to expel them after 12 Russian diplomats were expelled from the country's UN mission in New York last month.

Steve Swann
BBC Home Affairs

Image source, EPA

A close business associate of Roman Abramovich is also among the 65 individuals and organisations targeted by new UK sanctions.

Billionaire oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler has had his UK assets frozen. Earlier this month a private jet believed to be his was impounded at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire.

He was chairman of Millhouse LLC, Mr Abramovich's Moscow-based investment company, but stepped down after sanctions were imposed on the Chelsea owner.

Also sanctioned today are Herman Gref, the chief executive of Russia’s largest bank Sberbank, and Polina Kovaleva, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s step-daughter. She reportedly bought a London apartment in Kensington for £4.4m when she was a 21-year-old student.

Announcing the new sanctions UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: "Putin should be under no illusions – we are united with our allies and will keep tightening the screw on the Russian economy to help ensure he fails in Ukraine. There will be no let-up."

As we've been reporting, the UK has announced it will be sanctioning the Wagner Group.

The organisation is a group of mercenaries that was first identified in 2014 when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Since then, it has been involved in other regions too, including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. The paramilitary group has been described as Vladimir Putin's private army.

It's been warned that the group has been tasked with assassinating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss described the group as "hired thugs" in her statement on the new sanctions - saying they, alongside oligarchs and businesses, are "complicit in the murder of innocent civilians and it is right they pay the price".

Officially there are no ties between the Wagner Group and the Russian government - it denies any state involvement with the group, while also maintaining it does not legally exist because private military contractors are illegal in Russia.

It is believed to be funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a rich businessman with links to Putin. But Prigozhin has always denied any connection with Wagner.

You can find out more about the Wagner Group from the BBC World Service.

More now on the new sanctions that the UK has announced following Russia's invasion of Ukraine., external

Among the individuals targeted is Galina Danilchenko – who was installed by the Russians as mayor of Melitopol in the south-east of Ukraine.

This is the first time an individual has been sanctioned by the UK for collaboration with Russian forces currently in Ukraine, the government says.

The British government says it is targeting key industries that "support Russia's illegal invasion", including Russian Railways and defence company Kronshtadt – which produces Russian drones.

As mentioned earlier by the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the paramilitary Wagner Group - seen as Putin's private army - will also be sanctioned.

Six more banks face sanctions, including Alfa Bank whose co-founders include previously sanctioned oligarchs.

The UK says it has now sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and businesses since the invasion began.

Read more here about the sanctions that have already been imposed on Russia

A month into invasion Ukraine is pushing Russians backpublished at 09:55 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2022

09:55 GMT 24 March 2022

Lyse Doucet
Chief International Correspondent

Image source, EPA

You could just feel it palpably, hour after hour into 24 February - bomb shelters were packed, people had to be turned away and there were explosions here in Kyiv.

I remember that first day of this invasion, we heard that the airport in Hostomel - a very important military airfield - had already been attacked and taken by Russian forces.

Here in the capital, it just seemed to be a matter of time - we heard that Russian convoys were already making their way to Kyiv.

But a month on, Hostomel airport is still contested, and there are reports that Ukrainians have taken it back.

When we see the word "encircled" in military analyses today, the only place it's mentioned is with the town of Irpin, which has been the focus of incessant Russian shelling. But it's encircled by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine is pushing the Russians back.

A month on, the Russians are not in the capital, they're not moving forward, in the east they have reportedly been pushed back by many miles.

We should, however, be under no illusions. The Russian forces are digging in, they are still on the ground in large numbers across the country and they have taken swathes of land in the east.

Image source, Volodymyr Matsokin/Reuters

Russia says it has gained control of the city of Izyum in the Kharkiv Region of eastern Ukraine, Russia's state-owned Rossiya 24 news channel reports.

"The Russian armed forces continue to carry out the missions of a special military operation. By the morning of 24 March, units of the Russian army had taken full control of the town of Izyum in the Kharkiv region," Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

The Ukrainian administration of the city, however, says the fighting continues.

Earlier this week, a senior Pentagon official, speaking on grounds of anonymity, said the Ukrainian army had launched a counter-attack in the small city south-east of Kharkiv.

"What we're seeing today is some significant fighting there by the Ukrainians, and an effort to take it back," the official is quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Izyum is on a key route to the eastern Donbas region that would potentially allow Russian forces in the north-east and south-east to link up. It is a regional centre in the Kharkiv region with a population of about 50,000 people, and an important railway junction.

The UK government has announced it is sanctioning a further 65 individuals and entities in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

This comes on top of the existing sanctions on hundreds of members of the Russian regime, and wealthy business leaders known as oligarchs, imposed by the UK, as well as other countries.

Read more about the raft of sanctions against Russia here

More now from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who says Vladimir Putin will end up with the opposite of what he wanted – more Nato, not less, on Russia's western flank - following his invasion of Ukraine.

Nato's secretary general has already said that four new battlegroups will be sent to Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

On President Zelensky, who Johnson spoke with yesterday, the PM describes him as "one of the most extraordinary war leaders of recent times". He says Ukraine's president "has marshalled world opinion and mobilised his country".

What Zelensky wants is tighter economic sanctions on the Putin regime and specific defensive military support, Johnson says. "And that we are determined to provide."

Nato leaders have arrived in Brussels to consider their next steps in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The group assembled for a traditional "family photo" ahead of their meeting, which has been described as one of the most important in the history of the alliance, as the war enters its second month.

You can read more about Nato and how it has responded to the Russian invasion so far here.

Boris Johnson says President Putin is "plainly determined to double down on his path of violence and aggression" in Ukraine.

The UK PM says allies have to "step up" their support for Ukraine and "tighten the economic vice around Putin, sanctioning more people today as we are".

He says we must look at what we can do to "stop Putin using his gold reserves".

The UK is also sanctioning the Wagner Group, a paramilitary organisation seen as Vladimir Putin's private army, Johnson says.

Image source, Reuters

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has just been speaking as he arrives for the Nato summit. He says leaders must be able to rise to the challenge of helping Ukraine defend itself.

He says the Ukrainians have proved how much they love and believe in their country, and are willing to fight street by street to defend it. Now world leaders must be prepared to help them meet that defence of their country, Johnson says.

The PM highlights the UK's plans, which were announced last night, to send 6,000 extra missiles to Ukraine to help in their defence.

Image source, Getty Images

Fresh US-led sanctions against Russia are expected as President Joe Biden joins Western leaders in Brussels for a host of summits.

Here's a quick recap of some of the biggest sanctions that have been imposed on Russia so far:

• The US is banning all Russian oil and gas imports, the UK say it will phase out Russian oil by the end of 2022 and the EU says it will make Europe independent from Russian energy "well before 2030".
• Western countries have frozen the assets Russia central bank - some $630bn (£470bn) of foreign currency reserves. It has also been suspended from the Bank for International Settlements- "the central bank for central banks"
• Some Russian banks are also being removed from the international financial messaging system Swift, which is used to transfer money across borders
• The UK, US and EU have sanctioned hundreds of members of the Russian regime, and oligarchs considered close to the Kremlin - this inlcudes former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, defence minister Sergei Shoigu, 386 members of the Russian parliament
• All Russian flights have been banned fromUS, UK, EU and Canadian airspace. The UK has also banned private jets chartered by Russians
• The UK and EU have banned the sale of high-end luxury goods, which include vehicles, high-end fashion and art, to Russia

Zelensky aims to reach broad audience in call to 'support life'published at 08:27 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2022

08:27 GMT 24 March 2022

James Waterhouse
Kyiv correspondent, BBC News

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has made a direct appeal to citizens around the world to take to the streets in protest against Russia's invasion of his country - "to support freedom, to support life".

The thing that leaps out about his address is that he speaks in English for a large chunk of it. Whenever the BBC has tried to speak to him in the past he has always insisted on speaking Ukrainian.

It is very important to the leader of this country that he not only remains in Kyiv, but puts on a patriotic, defiant front for his people in the face of Russian aggression.

Once again last night he stood outside the presidential residence, where he urged people to take to their streets and squares in support of Ukraine. He essentially called for a global rally.

He also spoke in Russian, urging people to leave Russia and stop paying taxes, which were directly contributing to this war.

One month in to this invasion, Zelensky is using this milestone to try to continue to get people to publicly condemn what is happening to his country.

Image source, Ukrainian Navy/Facebook

The Ukrainian military says a large Russian ship has been destroyed near the southern port city of Berdyansk.

In a post on Facebook, Ukraine's Navy says a large landing vessel - the "Orsk" - was hit, external and set ablaze in the Sea of Azov this morning.

"The Orsk large landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the occupiers has been destroyed in the port of Berdyansk captured by Russia," the post says.

Ukrainian media report that one Russian ship has sunk and two others are on fire, and that an ammunition depot and a fuel warehouse were hit.

It is not possible to confirm this information from other sources.

Russia captured Berdyansk weeks ago and has been using the port for refuelling. It lies between Crimea and the besieged city of Mariupol.

More now from Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, who describes the war in Ukraine as the "most serious security crisis in a generation".

Stoltenberg says Ukraine's President Zelensky will be addressing Nato leaders today. He stresses the need for alliance members to address the crisis together.

Allies will need to do more, Stoltenberg says, adding that he expects Nato leaders to agree "to accelerate investment in defence".

"The meeting today will demonstrate the importance of North America and Europe standing together facing this crisis," he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, here's a quick recap of the main developments so far this morning:

• European leaders are meeting later today for G7, Nato and European Union summits, one month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• US President Joe Biden will be joining them and is expected to announce a raft of new sanctions against Russia
• Nato leaders are also expected to approve increases in the alliance's forces in Eastern Europe at the summit
• Ahead of the meetings, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky switched to English for the first time in his nightly address - and called for global protests as a show of support for Ukraine
• The southern port city of Mariupol continues to be shelled with some 100,000 people trapped with no food, water or power
• Other cities such as Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv are also being bombed
• But Western intelligence agencies say Russian troops are growing increasingly demoralised and risk becoming encircled outside Kyiv

This is Aparna Alluri and Andrew Clarence in New Delhi, and Zubaidah Abdujalil in Singapore signing off and handing over to our colleagues Becky Morton, Mal Siret and Nathan Williams in London.

What can we expect from the Nato summit?published at 07:42 Greenwich Mean Time 24 March 2022

07:42 GMT 24 March 2022

Nick Beake
BBC News, Brussels

As European leaders and the US gear up to meet for the first time since the start of the conflict, it is going to be a day heavy on the symbolism - this projection that the trans-Atlantic alliance is strong and standing up to Putin.

The main thing President Zelensky wants is a no fly zone, but that hasn’t happened because the risk of the conflict with Russians will be too great.

We are also likely to hear more about what support will be given to Ukraine to combat a chemical or biological attack, as the US has raised its concerns that Russia might resort to that possibility,

The secretary general of Nato has called on Putin to stop this “nuclear sabre rattling”, pointing out that Russia simply couldn’t win if there were to be nuclear warfare.

The one thing Putin said he didn’t want was Nato expansion on his doorstep and that he would like to see that go.

But we are told there will be a doubling of Nato battlegroups in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

Nato says it will have forces in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia – all part of this message the Nato-Western alliance wants to send out that if Putin is going to do this to a non-Nato member like Ukraine, he is certainly not going to do it in the club of 30.

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has just been speaking ahead of today's summit.

He says that allies have provided support for Ukraine to help its "fundamental right to defence", but again underlines that the military alliance's core task is the defence and protection of Nato members.

Because Ukraine is not a member the alliance is not sending troops into the country, although it is increasing its military presence in neighbouring Nato countries.

Stoltenberg says Nato leaders will talk today about a "reset for our deterrence and defence in the longer term".

"The first step is the establishment of four new battlegroups in the eastern part of the alliance, in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia," he says.

Image source, Reuters

While numerous attempts to create corridors and agree to temporary ceasefires that allow Ukrainians to evacuate Mariupol have failed, some aid and supplies reached part of the city controlled by Russian forces yesterday.

More than 100 people waited patiently in line for boxes of food and humanitarian supplies being distributed from a lorry, Reuters news agency reported.

A young mother of two, Angelina, said she had received bread and food, adding that she felt lucky to reach the supplies in time. "You don't always find out... and then you arrive too late," she said.

"It's difficult to leave by bus now. We hope the number of people trying to get out will go down and it will get easier for us to leave," she added.

Image source, Reuters

French car manufacturer Renault will suspend operations at its Moscow factory after coming under criticism from Kyiv from remaining in Russia.

In a statement, it said that it was also considering "the possible options" for its Russian affiliate AvtoVAZ - it owns a 69% stake in AvtoVAZ.

This comes after Ukraine's foreign minister called for a boycotting the company for its earlier refusal to leave Russia.

"I call on customers and businesses around the globe to boycott Renault," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Wednesday. He welcomed Thursday's announcement.

Reports say Renault had suspended production at its plants in Russia last month after the invasion but soon restarted production.