Ukrainian troops have retaken over 30 towns and settlements from Russian forces in the Kyiv region, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Saturday.

But while Ukrainian forces may have reclaimed more territory near the capital, more intense fighting would take place in other areas of the country, he told local television.

"Let's have no illusions - there are still heavy battles ahead for the south, for Mariupol, for the east of Ukraine," Arestovych said.

It's now been one week since Russian military officials announced their plan to refocus the invasion on "liberating" the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Image source, .

More now on the protest rally in occupied Enerhodar that was violently dispersed by Russian troops.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Lyudmila Denisova, has said four people were injured, some with severe burns, in the incident.

Writing in an update, external, Denisova said Russian forces used light explosives and opened fire on residents.

She said some residents had also been detained. The BBC has not been able to verify Denisova's claims.

It comes after video from Enerhodar, home to Europe's largest nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, showed people running away from explosions in a square.

Some more now on what's left of the Antonov An-225 - known as Mriya (Dream) - the aircraft that was once the largest in the world by several measures.

The Ukrainian cargo plane was being housed in a hangar at Kyiv's Hostomel Airport, which became a fiercely contested site of intense fighting after the invasion was launched.

The Ukrainian state defence company put the cost of rebuilding the craft at $3bn., external

Russian forces are now reported to have withdrawn from the airport, and today the BBC has visited where they captured some of these images:

Image source, Babylon"13/

Image source, Perth Airport

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen reports from Hostomel airport, some 10 miles from Kyiv, which holds the wreckage of the world's biggest cargo plane.

There had been fighting around the strategic airport since the start of the invasion, but Russian troops have now abandoned the area.

The huge plane - called the "Mriya" (Dream) - was destroyed in the first days of the war.

Image source, Reuters

A former chief prosecutor for UN war crimes tribunals has called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to be arrested over the invasion of Ukraine.

Switzerland's Carla Del Ponte said international arrest warrants should be issued against Putin and other senior Russian officials.

"Putin is a war criminal," she told Swiss newspaper Le Temps (in French), external.

Del Ponte served as chief prosecutor on the UN international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

An investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine was launched last month after Russia was accused of bombing civilians. The International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor, the UK's Karim Khan, said evidence was being collected on alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

But there are practical limitations to the ICC's power: Russia is not a member of the court and theoretically does not extradite its own citizens to stand trial abroad.

When US President Joe Biden referred to Putin as a "war criminal" last month, the Kremlin said his words were "unforgivable".

Read more about the potential for a war crimes prosecution against Putin.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Energoatom / Telegram

The Ukrainian national flag was raised above the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Saturday morning at 11:00 local (08:00 GMT), as workers sung the national anthem and celebrated the departure of Russian troops who had occupied the site for weeks.

"The flag-raising ceremony was attended by the station's operational personnel, who have been ensuring and continue to ensure the nuclear and radiation safety of the facilities during the difficult conditions of the occupation," Energoatom posted on its Telegram channel, external.

The state nuclear company said all Russian forces had now left. Russian troops first occupied the decommissioned station north of Kyiv last month after the invasion was launched.

Ukraine says it is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to find out what happened at the site while Russian forces were in control of it.

"Russia behaved irresponsibly in Chernobyl on all accounts, from not allowing personnel of the station to perform their functions to digging trenches in the contaminated areas," Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday.

Image source, Evgeniy Datsenko

Some more now on the news that the Ukrainian war photographer Maksim Levin has been found dead outside of Kyiv, two weeks after he went missing while documenting the conflict.

Ukrainian prosecutors have accused Russian soldiers of being responsible for Levin's death.

"According to preliminary information, unarmed Maksim Levin was killed by servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces with two shots from small fire arms," Ukraine's General Prosecutor's Office said.

Anastasia Stanko, who knew Levin for a decade as both a friend and colleague, described the 40-year-old father of four as caring and committed.

"Even after other journalists had left a conflict, he would be there," she said.

"He saved lives as a journalist - he drove a car with three fellow journalists inside away from heavy shelling during the Battle of Ilovaysk in 2014, and without that they wouldn't have survived".

Levin is now the eighth journalist reported to have been killed in Ukraine since the invasion began.

As we've been reporting, Russian troops have violently dispersed a pro-Ukraine rally taking place in the occupied southern town of Enerhodar.

This video, which has been verified by the BBC, shows explosions going off in the centre of the town. They appear to be caused by multiple stun grenades landing in a square next to the town's main cultural centre.

The Ukrainian authorities also said that there had been shelling in the town, but the BBC can't independently verify this.

More now on Enerhodar, the southern town where explosions disrupted a pro-Ukraine protest rally today against Russian occupation.

Russian forces took control of the city’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on 4 March, and during the battle in the area an administrative building at the plant caught fire. It caused international alarm – and Ukraine blamed Russian shelling. Russia denied responsibility.

No radiation was released, but the incident reminded the world of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, which sent radiation across Europe.

It is Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, providing half of Ukraine’s nuclear power. The southern city has a population of some 53,000, and has had peaceful protests before against the Russian occupation.

There have been large pro-Ukraine protests too in the Russian-occupied southern cities of Kherson and Melitopol.

While we await further information from what appears to be an attack on protesters in occupied Enerhodar, here's a bit more on Mariupol.

We've been telling you about today's renewed attempt by the Red Cross to reach the devastated city. But why does Russia consider the southern port so important?

If Mariupol falls, it would give Russia control of one of Ukraine's biggest ports and create a land corridor between Crimea and areas in Luhansk and Donetsk held by Russian-backed separatists.

Connecting Crimea with mainland Russia via the rebel-held areas would make it much easier for Russia to move goods and people to and from Crimea. Russia has wanted this since 2014, when the conflict in the east began.

Currently, the peninsula is connected to Russia via a single bridge, built at great expense after the Russian annexation.

Image source, .

Image source, Energoatom/Telegram

Ukraine's state nuclear agency accuses Russian troops of shelling a pro-Ukraine rally by residents of Enerhodar, a southern town that houses Europe's biggest nuclear plant.

The agency, Energoatom, posted video, external on the Telegram messaging service, showing explosions in a square where a crowd had gathered.

Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Enerhodar on 4 March.

Energoatom says, "This morning, town residents gathered for a peaceful rally in support of Ukraine. They sang the hymn and talked to each other... as the Enerhodar people began to disperse, police vans pulled up and the invaders began packing locals in.

"Within minutes, the city was shaken by the sounds of explosions and massive shelling. Terrified residents began to flee."

Four people were reported injured.

Image source, LB.ua

The Ukrainian war photographer Maksym Levin has been found dead near a village north of Kyiv by police, his employer LB.ua has said.

According to reports from his colleagues, 40-year-old Levin had not been heard from since March 13 when he was documenting the conflict in the Vishgorod district north of Kyiv where intense fighting later broke out.

Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak confirmed in a Telegram post that Levin's "body was found near the village of Guta Mezhygirska on April 1".

Levin had worked for Ukrainian news site LB.ua for more than ten years, and his photographs and videos documenting the war have been seen around the world. As well as his work for LB.ua, he contributed pictures to international news agencies and broadcasters, including the BBC.

At least eight journalists are now known to have been killed in Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion of the country more than one month ago.

Image source, Reuters / Maks Levin

Image source, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi

Russian troops have kidnapped a local deputy mayor in the Sumy region of northern Ukraine, the region's head Dmytro Zhyvytskyi told BBC Ukrainian.

The official was named as Oleksiy Shibayev, deputy mayor of Nova Sloboda district. He was accompanying an aid delivery stopped by Russian troops at a checkpoint on Friday in the Putyvl area, about 80km (50 miles) northwest of Sumy.

The area is near the Russian border. Sumy is still in Ukrainian hands, but has been battered by surrounding Russian artillery.

A number of other local Ukrainian officials have been taken captive by Russian occupation forces, and in some cases replaced by collaborators.

Image source, Roberta Metsola

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola visited Kyiv unexpectedly on Friday and pledged more EU assistance in defence of Ukraine.

She tweeted, external a photo of her meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the slogan "courage, strength, resolve".

She also addressed MPs in the Ukrainian parliament. "The Ukrainian people are heroes; you are fighting for what we all believe in: freedom, democracy, the rule of law. Without these values, there is nothing else,” she said. "We need more and harder sanctions [on Russia]," she added.

Last month the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia - Mateusz Morawiecki, Petr Fiala and Janez Jansa, respectively - visited Kyiv together to show solidarity with Ukraine.

Image source, Reuters

It's a complicated situation – here are three key issues:

Safety

Alyona Synenko, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross currently working in Kyiv, told the BBC the ICRC "can only work as intermediary".

"We cannot stop the bullets," Ms Synenko said, explaining that it was up to the warring sides "to reach agreement and respect them for us to be our work".

"The stumbling block is the lack of very precise and very concrete agreements and respect for these agreements.

"We can facilitate safe passage for civilians once both parties come to an agreement and, unfortunately, until now this has not materialised."

Allegations against the ICRC

The organisation has been accused in recent days of facilitating the deportation of civilians from Mariupol to Russia - an allegation it vehemently denies, external.

But it is not clear if these allegations have contributed to the inability of the parties to reach agreement on evacuation routes.

Read more on the allegations here.

Azov Regiment

Mariupol serves as headquarters of the regiment, which was originally a far-right group that was later incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard and is defending the city. Russia says they are Nazis and one of Vladimir Putin's justifications for launching the invasion has been his claim to "de-Nazify" Ukraine. So Russia continues to bomb the major city into rubble to kill its defenders and bring it under control.

Controlling Mariupol would enable Putin to establish a land corridor from Crimea - the peninsula he annexed from Ukraine in 2014 - to Donbas, the region parts of which have also been under the control of Russian-backed rebels since then and where Russia is now focusing the might of its military power.

Image source, Reuters

After weeks of Russian bombardment the civilians of the southern port city of Mariupol are reduced to a primitive struggle for survival, as these Reuters pictures show.

An estimated 160,000 people are still trapped in the besieged port city, short of food, water and medicines. They are sheltering in cold cellars and bombed-out ruins.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, or want a recap, here's a quick roundup of the latest developments in Ukraine.

Humanitarian corridors

• Ukraine's deputy PM Iryna Vereshchuk has announced plans to evacuate civilians through seven humanitarian corridors today
• The Red Cross is making a new attempt to reach civilians in besieged Mariupol. A team is heading there from Zaporizhzhia. An attempt failed on Friday because of Russia's continuous bombardment
• Thousands more civilians who fled Mariupol are expected to travel in a convoy of buses from Russian-held Berdyansk, on the coast
• About 160,000 people remain trapped in Mariupol, Ukraine says - short of food, water and medicines

Shift to the east

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian forces are massing in the Donbas region in the east, for a push north towards Kharkiv, a city already battered by Russian shelling
• Ukraine's military says Russian forces now control Izyum, a city about 115km (70 miles) southeast of Kharkiv
• Some Russian forces have been pulling back from areas in the north, especially around Kyiv, but Zelensky says the situation in the east is looking "extremely difficult"
• Russian troops and separatists backed by them in Donbas are trying to push Ukrainian forces out of the parts of Luhansk and Donetsk not yet occupied by Russia

Image source, .

UK authorities have stopped a jet linked to Russia from flying, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has tweeted.

The aircraft was prevented from taking off from London Luton Airport, where it remains while the Department for Transport investigates whether it breaches recent UK sanctions banning aircraft connected with Russia.

Officials wouldn't give any information on the name of its owner while the investigation is ongoing.

The Department for Transport has recently detained two private jets belonging to Eugene Shvidler, an associate of Roman Abramovich, in addition to a private helicopter owned by HeliCo Group LLC.

Ukraine officials say that 33 people are now known to have died in Tuesday's rocket attack on a government building in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv, injuring a further 34 people.

Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble and removing corpses from the scene, Ukrainian emergency services said four days on from the attack.

The Russian strike blew a hole through the middle of the Mykolaiv regional state government's offices on Tuesday morning.

Governor Vitaliy Kim, whose office was in the building, said he wasn't there when the rocket hit because he had "overslept".

Wyre Davies
BBC News, Zaporizhzhia

Image source, Reuters

Russia is unlikely to allow a proper humanitarian corridor into the besieged city of Mariupol while they're still fighting for control of the city.

Yesterday, only the smallest Red Cross convoy of three vehicles was allowed in. The Red Cross were refused permission to take in two large trucks full of vital equipment despite the humanitarian crisis there worsening by the day. There's no food or water, bodies are lying in the streets.

Until Russia defeats what remains of the Ukrainian army inside Mariupol - many of whom are members of the far-right Azov battalion - I cannot see them allowing a proper humanitarian corridor into Mariupol for the Red Cross or for any other agencies.

This is the area that Russia really wants to hold on to.

It forms part of the Donbas region - and there's very little sign of Russian troops withdrawing from any of the towns and cities in the area. If Russian troops do retreat from the north, it may be to concentrate on trying to hang on to parts of the Donbas.

The war here may drag on for some time.