Image source, Getty Images

German-based defence equipment manufacturer Rheinmetall is preparing to supply 50 used Leopard 1 battle tanks to Ukraine, according to Handelsblatt newspaper.

CEO Armin Papperger tells the newspaper the first tanks could be delivered in six weeks' time, with more to follow over the next three months through a subsidiary - Rheinmetall Italia - if the move is approved by the German government.

The Leopard 1, which first entered service in 1965, is the predecessor to the more modern Leopard 2 currently being fielded by Germany's armed forces.

The tanks have been returned to the company by the countries using them for upgrades.

Papperger says he believes Ukrainian soldiers could be trained to use the tanks in just a few days if they have previous military training.

Mark Lowen
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said tens of thousands of people are likely to have been killed in Mariupol, in southern Ukraine.

Speaking to lawmakers in South Korea over a video call, he said the southern city had been "burned to ashes", and conditions in the city were desperate as Russian forces concentrated troops for a new offensive in the area.

There's no way of independently verifying the number of people killed, but Ukrainian marines there say their ammunition is running out and speak of their “final battle”, adding “it’s death for some of us and captivity for the rest”.

The besieged city is one of nine areas where new humanitarian corridors have been set up, although authorities say Russian troops are slowing down evacuations.

Image source, .

The UK's Ministry of Defence has released a new map outlining what its intelligence says is happening on the ground in Ukraine.

The map once again points to Russia having refocussed its operations on the east.

However, it also shows there are still at least two groups to the north of Kyiv - including in neighbouring Belarus.

We reported earlier how a pro-Ukrainian Telegram group noted the movement of substantial amounts of Russian equipment across Belarus on Sunday. It is unclear exactly where it was heading.

Another Russian senior officer has reportedly been killed in Ukraine, becoming the latest in a string of high-ranking Russian personnel to fall since the war began 46 days ago.

According to media reports, Colonel Alexander Bespalov was commander of the 59th Guards Tank Regiment. It is unclear where or how he was killed.

News of his death was shared on a local message board - 'Overheard Novogorny' in the city of Ozersk, where Bespalov was given a funeral on Friday. The message has since been deleted.

One post, purported to be from Bespalov's sister, said that "it is impossible to put into words what pain you feel when you lose a close and dear person."

The BBC is unable to independently verify Bespalov's death.

On Friday, Ukraine claimed that about 19,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the fighting. On 25 March, Russia put its own casualty figure at 1,351.

A journalist who staged an anti-war protest during Russia's most-watched news programme has been hired by German newspaper Die Welt.

Marina Ovsyannikova hit the headlines after she ran on to the set of Channel One's Vremya holding a sign reading: "No war, stop the war, don't believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here."

She was detained for 14 hours and eventually fined 30,000 rouble (£214; $280).

But despite the potential risk of further prosecution, the 43-year-old editor decided to stay in Russia, where she will now be a freelance correspondent for Die Welt "reporting from Ukraine and Russia, among other places".

In a statement, Ovsyannikova said she had taken the new role because the newspaper "stands for what is being defended so vehemently by the courageous people on the ground in Ukraine right now: for freedom".

Image source, EPA

A French team has arrived in Ukraine to help local investigators look into allegations of war crimes around the capital Kyiv.

The news was announced on Twitter by French ambassador Etienne de Poncins, who said this was the first foreign unit to offer such support.

Claims of civilian killings in Bucha caused global outrage last week. Ukraine claims some 1,222 bodies were found in areas near Kyiv recently left by Russian soldiers.

Russia denies its soldiers were to blame.

Ukraine's President says that he's "not ready to give away" any part of Ukraine, in return for peace in the country.

Speaking to CBS' Scott Pelley, Volodymyr Zelensky also says he would never recognise Crimea as Russian territory, despite the peninsula being annexed by Russia in 2014.

Image source, EPA

If you’re just joining us or want a recap, here’s the latest from Ukraine.

• President Zelensky has said that Russia was gathering tens of thousands of soldiers as it looked to focus its operations in eastern Ukraine
• Speaking to the South Korean parliament, Zelensky also claimed that tens of thousands of people have likely been killed in the southern city of Mariupol since Russia invaded in February
• Ukraine and Russia have agreed nine new humanitarian corridors for Monday, which are designed to allow citizens to leave besieged cities which include Mariupol
• As part of today’s evacuation efforts, an additional six trains have been scheduled to take people out of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions
• An airport in the central city of Dnipro was reportedly destroyed on Sunday - with the regional governor saying the facility and surrounding infrastructure were hit by missiles
• Slovakia has denied claims that an air defence system it donated to Ukraine has already been destroyed by Russian troops
• Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer is due to hold talks with Vladimir Putin in Moscow today and will become the EU's first leader to meet the Russian president since the start of the war

Rob Cameron
BBC Prague Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The Slovak government has categorically denied claims by Russia that the S-300 air defence system it supplied to Ukraine recently has already been destroyed.

Prime Minister Eduard Heger described the claim on Twitter as a hoax, adding that Ukraine had confirmed as such.

Yesterday, Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad told a TV discussion programme that Slovakia was in talks with Ukraine on selling some of its Zuzana self-propelled howitzers - Slovak-built, truck-mounted artillery guns.

He also confirmed reports the two countries were discussing the possibility of damaged Ukrainian tanks and infantry fighting vehicles being sent to Slovakia for repairs.

Separatists in eastern Ukraine – who are backed by Russia – say they’re stepping up their fight against Ukrainian government soldiers.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, is quoted as saying he would “intensify” operations because civilians were being “held hostage by the situation” there.

Rebel-held areas in the east have witnessed fighting since 2014.

Before ordering his February invasion, Russia’s President Putin formally recognised the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states.

Image source, Russian Defence Ministry

A pro-Ukrainian Belarusian online intelligence Telegram channel, Belaruski Hayun, says it has spotted substantial movement of Russian armed forces equipment by train across Belarus on Sunday.

It says trains loaded with military equipment have been seen at railway stations in the capital Minsk and also south-eastern Belarus, including Kalinkavichy, Khoyniki and Homel North stations.

Trucks and tanks were also seen on a train at Rechytsa railway station in the south east. Anti-aircraft missile systems and amphibious armoured vehicles were spotted waiting to be loaded nearby.

Six fighter jets and transport aircraft took off from Baranavichy airfield in the west of Belarus and several Russian helicopters took off from Machulishchy near Minsk.

The Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has been an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout the Ukraine war.

Russia has pulled troops away from Kyiv and is shifting most of the focus of its war to eastern Ukraine.

Image source, .

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

An airport in the city of Dnipro, in central Ukraine, was destroyed on Sunday, according to the regional governor.

Writing on Telegram, external, Valentyn Reznichenko said missiles had hit the airport and surrounding infrastructure.

In a separate incident, the Russian defence ministry said it had destroyed four S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems yesterday which were reportedly concealed in a hangar on the outskirts of the city.

25 troops were caught up in the attack, Russia said.

The BBC can't verify these claims, but if true, it would be a significant blow to Ukraine, which would have hoped to use such a system to bolster its air defences.

Dnipro has become a logistics hub for supplies and medical care. It bridges eastern and western Ukraine, with multiple links over the Dnieper River, meaning that it could be a potential target for Russian forces as they turn their attention on the east.

Image source, EPA

"We have massive indications of war crimes," Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock has told reporters before a meeting of European ministers in Luxembourg.

"In the end, the courts will have to decide, but for us, it is central to secure all evidence," she says.

Germany has been heavily reliant on imports of Russian energy but has drawn up plans to find alternative energy supplies.

"As the German federal government, we have already made it clear that there will be a complete phase-out of fossil fuels, starting with coal, then oil and gas."

"So that this can be implemented jointly in the European Union, we need a joint, coordinated plan to completely phase out fossil fuels to be able to withdraw as a European Union," Baerbock has said.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

Tens of thousands of people have likely been killed in the southern city of Mariupol since Russia invaded, according to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

In a video meeting with South Korean lawmakers, he said: "Mariupol has been destroyed, there are tens of thousands of dead, but even despite this, the Russians are not stopping their offensive".

The BBC cannot verify Zelensky's claim, but what we do know is that refugees who have fled the besieged city have described the situation there as desperate; with bodies buried in shallow graves, looting by Chechen fighters, and starving residents being killed when they venture out of shelters to find water.

Image source, EPA

It will be a tough month for Kharkiv, according to a Ukrainian security analyst who lives in Ukraine's second-largest city.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Maria Avdeeva said there had been intense shelling in the north-eastern city and surrounding towns for the last three days, with 11 people killed so far, including a seven-year-old child, according to official reports.

"They're using new types of bombs, these are the bombs that will be dropped down with parachute at midnight, that mean that you will not hear the sound of the bomb coming down, so that makes it especially dangerous," she said.

She fears that Russian troops will advance from the city of Izyum - which is under Russian control - in the south east and take Kharkiv.

But she added that Russian troops are struggling with shortages of resources and military personnel, and so it is uncertain whether they will attempt to take the city.

However, even if troops decide not to take the city on the ground, she said they will continue attacking the city from the air, "attacking civilians deliberately."

Image source, Reuters

More Ukrainians are set to leave besieged eastern regions today after nine humanitarian corridors were agreed between Ukrainian and Russian officials.

The routes will be used to evacuate people from Mariupol and other south-eastern cities to Zaporizhzhia, and from multiple cities in the Luhansk region to Bakhmut.

A further six trains have been scheduled to move people out of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukrainian authorities have stepped up their efforts to evacuate residents in the Donbas, as Russia's military offensive shifts to the east of the country.

Earlier, a hospital train run by the medical charity Doctors Without Borders evacuated 48 wounded patients to Lviv in the west.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia is concentrating tens of thousands of soldiers for the next offensive, according to Reuters.

Speaking to South Korean lawmakers, he said Russia will not stop until it is forced to stop.

Military analysts believe Russia is now concentrating its offensive on Ukraine's eastern region.

Russia has shot down two Ukrainian aircraft near the city of Izyum, the Russian defence ministry is quoted as saying.

And missile systems provided to Ukraine by an unnamed European country have been destroyed near Dnipro, with 25 Ukrainian soldiers hit as well, according to the Interfax news agency.

Four Ukrainian drones and a helicopter are said to have been taken out in other eastern areas of the country as well.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claims.

Image source, Getty Images

Further support for Ukraine will arrive from afar – after New Zealand said it was sending a defence force plane and 58 personnel to Europe.

The team planned to transport equipment and supplies throughout the continent, but would not enter Ukraine itself, a government statement said.

Referring to the Russian invasion, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said: “Such a blatant attack on a country’s sovereignty is a threat to all of us.”

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

2,657,000 million people have fled Ukraine to Poland since the war began, the Polish Border Guard said on Monday.

The number of people crossing the border into Poland has fallen significantly in recent weeks and numbers going into Ukraine have risen.

On Sunday 28,500 crossed into Poland, down 2% from Saturday, the agency wrote on Twitter, external. It was also well below the record of 142,300 set on 6 March.

The average daily number of people crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland before the war started was 16,800. On Sunday, 19,400 people crossed into Ukraine from Poland.

Warsaw University migration research professor Maciej Duszczyk estimates around 1.2-1.4 million remain.

More than 800,000 Ukrainian refugees have registered for a Polish ID number.