Image source, Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the Australian parliament by video on Thursday, Australia's Employment Minister Stuart Robert said.

"Ukraine is showing remarkable courage and resilience as it endures Russia’s unprovoked war," he added.

Australia has supplied emergency humanitarian aid worth $65m to Ukraine. It has also pledged defence equipment worth $91m, saying "it's clear that Ukraine’s need for military assistance remains urgent and ongoing".

Zelensky has been addressing both domestic and international gatherings of politcial leaders, from the UN and the US Congress to Japan's parliament.

His speeches, which have often ended in standing ovations for him, have been described as an "informaiton war" to muster support for Ukraine in the West and elsewhere.

"He knows how to embody the spirit of the nation - not only in speech, but also in the way he appears, in his backdrop, where he speaks," one expert told the BBC recently.

Although there is no immediate threat from Russia, young people in Finland are concerned about their own safety, asking if the war could spread to Finland.

Russia and Finland share a land border, and this geographical proximity has increased anxiety for some.

Image source, EPA

"Ukrainians aren't naive," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, reacting to Russia's promise that it would scale down military operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

The pledge came after peace talks began on Tuesday between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul.

But a sceptical Zelensky said that while initial signs from the talks were "positive", they do not "drown out" the explosions of Russian shells.

Other countries also reacted with caution.

US President Joe Biden said, "I don't read anything into it until I see what their actions are." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was a difference between what Russia says and does.

Leaders from UK, France, Germany and Italy too have urged the West not to drop its guard against Russia.

"They agreed there could be no relaxation of Western resolve until the horror inflicted on Ukraine is over," they said, according to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's office.

We continue to see Russian missiles and bombardments of Ukrainian cities while peace talks and negotiations are under way.

On Tuesday, surveillance footage caught the moment a Russian missile hit an administrative building in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.

At least seven people died in the attack, local authorities have confirmed.

The US has issued a new travel warning for Russia which says the authorities "may single out and detain" Americans in the country.

Citing the potential for harassment of US citizens, the warning repeats calls for Americans not to travel to Russia or to leave "immediately".

It also warned Americans about the "arbitrary enforcement of local law".

The advisory also said there were continued reports of US citizens "being singled out and detained by the Russian military" when they're either in Ukraine, or when they are evacuating by land through Russia-occupied territory.

"If you wish to depart Russia, you should make arrangements on your own as soon as possible," it reads.

The US suspended its embassy and consulate in Ukraine days after President Putin announced his invasion.

Russia may be turning away from Kyiv now, after weeks of failed advances.

But the maps below show just how close the forces got to Ukrainian capital.

Ukrainian counter-attacks too have increased around the country this week - as their forces seize opportunities to go on the offensive.

Image source, Getty Images

An astronaut from the US and two cosmonauts from Russia will return to earth together despite rising tensions between the two countries over Ukraine.

A Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Nasa astronaut Mark Vande Hei and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov is expected to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) at 0645 GMT and land in Kazakhstan four hours later.

The joint trip home comes amid rising uncertainty about the fate of US-Russian cooperation in space.

On 25 February - the day after Russia invaded Ukraine - Dmitry Rogozin, the director-general of Russia's space agency, accused the US of trying to "destroy" cooperation at the ISS.

"If you block cooperation with us, then who is going to save the ISS from an uncontrolled descent from orbit and then falling onto the territory of the United States or Europe?" he said.

Nasa, however, said that it would continue to work with all its international partners - including Russia - and that export sanctions continue to allow it to work with Russia.

Image source, Getty Images

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces says the Russian withdrawal pledge is designed to mislead.

In a daily operational update posted to Facebook, the general staff said Russian units were continuing to move away from both Kyiv and Chernihiv. Russia has already said it will now focus on operations in the eastern Donbas region.

Ukraine's military believes the withdrawals "are probably a rotation of individual units" aimed at misleading Ukraine's military leadership and creating a "misconception" about the meaning of their deployment.

The update echoes statements made by Pentagon spokesman John Kirby, who said the threat to Kyiv remained despite Russian troop movements away from the city.

Additionally, the update noted that the enemy continued to "fire and storm" near Donetsk, in the east.

The key word - scepticismpublished at 03:20 British Summer Time 30 March 2022

03:20 BST 30 March 2022

Tom Bateman
in Istanbul, Turkey

Many are sceptical about what Russia's announcement about reducing military operations actually means; whether it's a pledge to pull back or merely an acceptance it has already failed in those areas and will instead turn its full force further east.

Western countries, therefore, are saying they will judge Russia by its actions and not its words.

This is far from a ceasefire or the end of the conflict, but Ukraine says the talks will go on.

It wants to bring in other countries as part of proposals for "security guarantees", while Moscow called the talks "constructive".

What happens on the ground will remain critical.

Read more here.

If you're just joining us, here are the latest headlines from Ukraine.

In peace talks:

• There are some signs of optimism from peace talks held in Istanbul, after Russia said it would "drastically reduce combat operations" in two key areas "to boost mutual trust"

• But Ukrainian and US officials are sceptical, and warn that Russia still poses a military threat to Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine
• The general staff of the Ukrainian military said Russia's promise to curtail military operations around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv is "probably a rotation of individual units and aims to mislead"
• Experts have expressed varying opinions about whether the talks can succeed, with some noting that they don't address the underlying causes of the conflict

On the ground:

• Even as the talks progressed, fighting continued to rage on in Ukraine. A Russian strike on a government office in Mykolaiv has killed at least 12 people
• The Pentagon says US soldiers are "liaising" with Ukrainian troops in Poland, but not training them
• US and Ukrainian officials say that Russia is continuing to reposition forces away from Kyiv, probably as part of an effort to refocus on the separatist breakaway regions in the east
• Despite this, heavy shelling has been reported on the outskirts of the capital