Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, Maks Levin, a Ukrainian photographer and documentary filmmaker who was a long-time contributor to Reuters, has become the latest journalist to be killed while covering the war.

Levin's body was found north of the capital city Kyiv on 1 April, according to LB.ua, the news website he had been working for that day.

He leaves behind his wife and four children, according to Reuters.

John Pullman, the global managing editor for visuals at Reuters, said: "Maks has provided compelling photos and video from Ukraine to Reuters since 2013. His death is a huge loss to the world of journalism."

Here are some photos taken by Levin during the war in Ukraine:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Paul Aitchison

A man who drove to Poland to pick up 11 Ukrainian refugees his family was preparing to rehome has hit out at visa delays after returning without them.

Paul Aitchison and his partner Helene Kell spent two weeks helping refugees with paperwork needed for the government's home sponsorship scheme.

A farmhouse in New Brancepeth, County Durham, is ready for them to live in.

The government said it had "simplified" forms and continued to "speed up" visa processing across its two schemes.

Aitchison said the family, who had been staying in a shelter in Poland, are now staying in a hotel in the Netherlands while they await a decision on their fate, after the couple had to travel back without them.

They had submitted their paperwork on 21 March. Aitchison says he was initially told the process would take 72 hours.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Paul Aitchison

Image source, Ukrinform news site

Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravicius was killed in Mariupol with "a camera in his hands", according to Ukrainian media reports. The BBC has been unable to verify this independently.

Local media quoted a Facebook post by Vitaly Mansky, external, an award-winning Russian filmmaker.

Kvedaravicius has long documented Mariupol and his film on the besieged city premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2016.

The southern city has been battered by Russian shells for weeks now, with hundreds feared dead.

On Saturday, another filmmaker and photographer, Ukrainian Maksim Levin, was found dead north of the capital Kyiv. He was a long-time contributor to Reuters.

Jeremy Bowen
BBC News, Kyiv

Two or three weeks into the war the Russian invaders ran out of momentum. On this street in Bucha, near the capital Kyiv, you can see why.

Elite troops from Russia's airborne forces rode into the town in armoured vehicles light enough to be carried by aircraft.

They came from Hostomel airport, a few miles away, which had been attacked and seized by Russian paratroopers landed by helicopter on the first day of the invasion.

Even then, there was fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces.

The lead vehicles and the ones bringing up the rear were knocked out and imprisoned the others. The wreckage has not been touched.

Young conscripts ran away, begging, local people said, not to be turned over to Ukrainian territorial defence.

A man of around 70 who called himself uncle Hrysha, said: "I felt sorry for them. They were so young, 18 to 20, with their whole lives ahead of them."

It looks as if Russians, as they prepared to pull out of Bucha, had no such pity. At least 20 dead men were lying in the street as Ukrainian troops entered the town.

Read more from Jeremy here.

Abdujalil Abdurasulov and Mal Siret, BBC News

Image source, Supplied

Drone footage shows three cars speeding along an empty main road just outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, when they suddenly turn around and race back - all except one.

This white car turns, but then stops. A man steps out and raises his hands. Then his body falls to the ground. Moments later, Russian soldiers approach. An elderly woman and child leave the car, and a soldier walks them away.

The man on the ground was Maksim Iovenko. The 31-year-old was shot dead by Russian forces that were positioned at the roadside. His wife Ksenia, who was in the car, was also killed.

Their six-year-old son and the elderly friend of the family who were with them escaped, although she was wounded and remains in hospital. (Both families asked us not to name them.)

"Until I saw the video, I still had some hope," Maksim's father Sergiy Iovenko tells the BBC in Kyiv, where he lives. "I was hoping that he was alive."

The incident happened on 7 March, when Maksim and his family joined a convoy of about 10 cars of civilians trying to reach Kyiv from the western outskirts of the city, which had become a conflict zone.

It was filmed by a Ukrainian territorial defence group doing aerial reconnaissance, and widely shared.

When a friend of Maksim's, who was part of the convoy, called Sergiy to tell him the news, Sergiy says he immediately knew something was wrong. There was silence when he picked up the phone, and eventually the friend said: "Stay strong, your son and daughter-in-law are gone."

Maksim lived in Kyiv and worked for a travel agency, which is where he and Ksenia met. Sergiy describes his son as a family man with a kind heart who liked to sing karaoke. But his biggest hobby was his family, he says. "He loved his son very much, and this was his passion."

• Read the full BBC story here

Ukrainian prosecutors investigating possible war crimes by Russia say they have found 410 bodies in towns near Kyiv.

After Ukraine said it had recaptured the region surrounding the capital, Prosecutor General Iryna Venedyktova said 140 of the bodies identified had been examined.

It follows global condemnation of scenes in the commuter town of Bucha, where bodies dressed in civilian clothing were found strewn across a road.

On Saturday, Venedyktova said Ukraine's military prosecutor's office would "collect and preserve evidence of Russian aggression, maintain law and order, ensure respect for the rights of servicepersons".

Russia has firmly denied allegations that its forces killed civilians in the town.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned Russia's "despicable attacks" against Ukrainian civilians in Bucha and Irpin, describing them as "war crimes", and adding that "we will not rest until justice is served".

In a statement, he said: "Russia's despicable attacks against innocent civilians in Irpin and Bucha are yet more evidence that Putin and his army are committing war crimes in Ukraine.

"No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth - Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing, and Ukraine's resolve has never been stronger.

"I will do everything in my power to starve Putin's war machine."

Johnson added: "The UK has been at the forefront of supporting the international Criminal Court's investigation into atrocities committed in Ukraine."

The Russian Ministry of Defence has attempted to dismiss accusations of alleged killings of civilians in the commuter town of Bucha, near Kyiv.

Amid widespread condemnation from Western leaders following the discovery of bodies after Russian troops withdrew from the town, Russia's MoD suggested the scenes were "the latest provocation" by Ukraine.

It claimed that no local residents fell victim to violent actions while it occupied the town - and it said Russian forces withdrew on 30 March. It said photographs and video footage were "the latest fake by the Kyiv regime".

The BBC is among the news organisations to have seen distressing scenes in Bucha, including 20 bodies dressed in civilian clothing strewn on a road, some with their hands tied behind their back.

Image source, Reuters

The scenes left in the Ukrainian town of Bucha after the withdrawal of Russian troops are drawing widespread condemnation from world leaders.

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the killings were "a brutality against civilians we haven't seen in Europe for decades."

"It's horrific and it's absolutely unacceptable that civilians are targeted and killed," he told CNN.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said that "indiscriminate attacks" by against Ukrainian civilians in towns such as Bucha and Irpin should be investigated as war crimes.

"We will not allow Russia to cover up their involvement in these atrocities through cynical disinformation and will ensure that the reality of Russia's actions are brought to light," she said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described the images from Bucha as a "punch to the gut".

"This is the reality of what's going on every single day as long as Russia's brutality against Ukraine continues," he told CNN.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has spoken frequently with President Putin since the beginning of the conflict, called the pictures "unbearable".

He said that the "Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes".

Speaking to the Bild newspaper, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck called the killings a "terrible war crime cannot go unanswered".

"I think that a strengthening of sanctions is called for," he added.

Writing on Twitter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing.

"An independent investigation is urgently needed. Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable."

Ukrainian Defense Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Russia was aiming "to eliminate as many Ukrainians as they can".

He called on G7 nations to impose further sanctions to target Russia's oil, gas, and coal industries, goods exports, and financial sector.

Image source, Getty Images

The people of Ukraine do not want to be subdued by Russia and are being destroyed and exterminated as a result, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Speaking to CBS News through a translator on Sunday, Zelensky described the Russian invasion as involving "the torture of the whole nation".

Asked directly whether Russia's actions constituted genocide, he said: "Indeed, this is genocide. The elimination of the whole nation and the people. We are the citizens of Ukraine. We have more than 100 nationalities.

"This is about the destruction and extermination of all these nationalities. We are the citizens of Ukraine and we don't want to be subdued to the policy of Russian Federation.

"This is the reason we are being destroyed and exterminated, and this is happening in the Europe of the 21st Century."

As we've been reporting, there's been strong condemnation of the horrific scenes discovered in the commuter town of Bucha, near Kyiv, since Russian forces retreated from the area.

On Saturday, journalists entering the Ukrainian town found dead bodies of men in civilian clothes on a street.

An AFP news agency reporter in Bucha counted at least 20 bodies. At least one man had his hands tied.

Ukrainian forces regained control of the town this week and photos show widespread devastation.

BBC journalists in another part of Ukraine found the bodies of two civilians killed by Russian forces.

Read more here

Image source, Getty Images

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called civilian deaths in the town of Bucha "unacceptable".

Speaking to CNN, he said the deaths were "a brutality against civilians we haven't seen in Europe for decades" and that this "underlines the importance that this war must end".

Stoltenberg joins world leaders in condemning the scenes in areas left behind by Russian forces following their retreat from several towns surrounding Kyiv.

In the wake of Russia's withdrawal from Bucha, there have been multiple reports of corpses found wearing civilian clothing.

French President Emmanuel Macron has described the images from Bucha as "unbearable".

Macron shared his compassion for Ukrainians and the victims, adding: "The Russian authorities will have to answer for these crimes."

The French leader - who faces a national election this month - has spoken regularly with Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout the build-up to the invasion and subsequently, and has positioned himself as a broker for peace.

The head of a Ukrainian village abducted by Russian soldiers last month has been found dead, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.

The abduction of Olha Sukhenko, head of the village of Motuzhyn in the Kyiv region, and her husband was announced by Ukraine's attorney general, external on 26 March.

Speaking on Sunday, Vereshchuk said that both had been "killed in captivity" by Russian forces, the AFP reported.

It comes after Russian forces withdrew from a number of areas around Kyiv that they have been occupying in recent weeks.

Vereshchuk claimed that 11 local community leaders in the regions of Kyiv, Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Donetsk are also known to have been kidnapped.

"We are informing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN, all possible organisations, just like for the other civilians who have disappeared," she said.

She also urged "everyone to do everything in their power to get them back."

Image source, Reuters

We've been reporting the claims of a deliberate massacre in Bucha, near Kyiv, and now US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described scenes of bodies on the street as a "punch to the gut".

"You can't help but see these images as a punch to the gut," Blinken told CNN.

"This is the reality of what's going on every single day as long as Russia's brutality against Ukraine continues," Blinken said.

Earlier, Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russian forces of killing hundreds of people in the town.

Dmytro Kuleba said in comments , externalposted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "We are still gathering and looking for bodies, but the number has already gone into the hundreds. Dead bodies lie on the streets.

"They killed civilians while staying there and when they were leaving these villages and towns."

He urged the G7 group of wealthy nations to impose "devastating" new sanctions on Russia.

Image source, Getty Images

Boris Johnson has congratulated Volodymyr Zelensky on the pushback of Russian forces from Kyiv.

Speaking over the phone with Ukraine's president, Johnson also acknowledged the "immense suffering being inflicted on civilians", Downing Street said.

Ukraine says its forces have retaken the entire region around Kyiv, as Russia has withdrawn from Hostomel airport and key battleground towns of Irpin and Bucha.

Zelensky called the UK a "powerful ally" in a tweet about his conversation with the UK PM.

You can read more on this here.

Image source, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Two Russian soldiers died and 28 were hospitalised after local people in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine gave them pies laced with poison - according to the Ukraine Ministry of Defence.

In an intelligence update, it described Ukrainians as "resisting the occupiers by all available means" and claimed the affected troops were from Russia's 3rd Motorised Rifle Division.

The ministry also said a further 500 Russian troops were hospitalised with "severe alcohol poisoning of unknown origin".

The BBC has been unable to verify the claims.

Will Vernon
BBC News, Moscow

Image source, Reuters

The official Telegram channel of the Russian Defence Ministry has shared a claim that reports of civilian deaths in the town of Bucha are "fake".

Videos from the city, which was recently retaken by Ukrainian forces, show civilians lying dead in the street, some of them apparently with their hands tied, have shocked the world.

The reposted report claims that Russian forces left the city on 30 March – "where have these pictures been for 4 days? The fact that they were absent only confirms that this is fake".

The post then claimed that one video from Bucha shows signs of being faked. It says that during two points, the corpses in the footage move.

BBC Moscow journalists watched the footage and saw no evidence of movement from the bodies. The BBC also played the footage slowed down, and again no sign of movement was seen.

The Russian Defence Ministry have not yet commented officially on the situation in Bucha. The report mentioned above was reposted by the ministry.

The post then claimed that, after Russian forces left Bucha, "The Ukrainian Armed Forces subjected the city to artillery strikes, which also could have led to civilian deaths." A mass grave found in the city, it says, was created by the Ukrainians.

The Ukrainians accuse Russian forces of war crimes in Bucha, including the killing of civilians.

Image source, AFP

As we've been reporting, world leaders have today been condemning the scenes in areas left behind by Russian forces as they retreat from around Kyiv.

"This terrible war crime cannot go unanswered," German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said in an interview with Bild newspaper.

Habeck added: "I think that a strengthening of sanctions is called for. That's what we are preparing with our EU partners."

Writing on Twitter, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Appalled by reports of unspeakable horrors in areas from which Russia is withdrawing.

"An independent investigation is urgently needed. Perpetrators of war crimes will be held accountable."

Multiple reports of Russian violence against civilians have emerged from Bucha near Kyiv, including an unconfirmed claim by Ukrainian officials that the town has been forced to bury 280 people in mass graves.

Following air strikes by Russian forces on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, we are now receiving reports of an attack on another port city, Mykolaiv.

Anton Herashchenko, an aide to Ukraine's interior minister, said that local authorities had reported several rocket attacks on Mykolaiv, Reuters reports.

Russia's military has been targeting Ukraine's southern ports - including Odesa and Mykolaiv - in an apparent attempt to block Ukraine from the Black Sea and to create a land corridor from Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow took control of in 2014.

Image source, .