David Brown
BBC News

The conflict in Ukraine has shifted to the east of the country where Ukrainian forces are battle-hardened and well-prepared.

Analysts believe Ukraine's best units are in the east, and that they are dug into trench systems and other fortified positions.

So far, Ukrainian troops have strongly resisted the Russian advance, but they could be heavily outnumbered by Russian forces who are inching forwards in some areas.

Russian officials have said that the focus of its forces is now the "complete liberation" of the Donbas, broadly referring to Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

The terrain in the east will pose big challenges for the Russians as they attack.

With less wooded land than the north of the country, analysts say open areas may favour the Ukrainian defenders.

Read more for a look at the new front lines of Russia's Ukraine offensive.

Image source, Reuters

Eastern Ukraine's biggest football club, Shakhtar Donetsk, have opened what they're calling their "Football for Peace" tour with a friendly match in Greece against league leaders Olympiakos.

Each Shakhtar outfield player wore a shirt bearing the name of one of 10 cities that have been besieged by the Russian military offensive.

Shakhtar Donetsk and Olympiakos played in front of 5,000 fans at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiakos won 1-0.

In all, 176 toys were placed in the seats at the stadium in memory of the 176 children who have died since the conflict began on 24 February.

The charity tour is raising money to provide aid for people in Ukraine affected by the war.

Shakhtar Donetsk's manager said: "We want to talk about war and peace in Ukraine in these matches. The need to end this madness and return to normal life and to rebuild the country,"

The football club will continue their tour in Gdansk, Poland, against Lehya on 14 April.

Image source, Reuters

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that he was "deeply disappointed and saddened" by the behaviour of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

When he was in power, Berlusconi had a close friendship with Putin, and invited him on vacation to his villa in Sardinia.

"I've known him about 20 years ago and he always seemed to me to be a democrat and a man of peace," the 85-year-old billionaire said, addressing a convention of his conservative Forza Italia party in Rome.

Berlusconi, who served as head of the Italian government three times between 1994 and 2011, had previously refrained from publicly criticising Putin.

"Faced with the horror of the massacres of civilians in Bucha and other places, real war crimes, Russia can not deny its responsibilities," he said on Saturday.

Boris Johnson has said the UK will continue to intensify pressure on Russia week by week to support Ukraine.

"Together with our partners, we are going to ratchet up the economic pressure," the UK prime minister said after a surprise visit to Ukraune's capital, Kyiv.

"I have no doubt at all that an independent sovereign Ukraine will rise again, thanks above all to the heroism, the courage of the people of Ukraine," he added.

The Ministry of Defence has provided an intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine, including evidence that Russia has been targeting civilians.

As of Saturday evening, the ministry said that Russia's withdrawal from the north revealed mass graves and the use of human shields.

They also found evidence that Russia had been using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to "inflict casualities, lower morale and restrict Ukrainian freedom of movement".

The update also said Russian forces continued to attack infrastructure targets with a "high risk" of harming civilians, including an attack on a nitrate acid tank in Rubizhne.

The EU has reopened its embassy in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, having temporarily moved it to Poland after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell announced the plans during a visit to Ukraine on Friday.

After speaking with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Mr Borrell said they agreed to accelerate preparations for the next EU-Ukraine Association Council, to take place in the near future.

Matti Maasikas, head of the EU delegation in Ukraine, posted a photo earlier of the EU flag outside the delegation in Kyiv, signalling the return of the diplomatic mission.

Italy also intends to reopen its embassy in Kyiv immediately after Easter, its Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Saturday, the Italian news service Ansa reported.

The governor of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Pavlo Kyrylenko, says five people have been killed in shelling in the region - he said four were killed in Vuhledar and one in Novomykhailivka.

He added that another five were injured in the region - four in Vuhledar and one in Krasnohorivka.

"Russia kills civilians!", he said in a social media post, external on Saturday.

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

Image source, Getty Images

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor has downgraded its assessment of Russia's ability to pay its foreign debt.

Analysts say this makes a default, which would be a first for the nation since the 1917 revolution, extremely likely.

On Saturday, the agency lowered its assessment to “selective default”, after Russia made arrangements to pay one of its debts in roubles instead of dollars.

The agency said further sanctions were likely and would hamper "Russia's willingness and technical abilities to honour the terms and conditions of its obligations to foreign debtholders".

The lower rating means the chance of not getting repaid is considered to be high, so an investor will charge more to lend to that country.

Image source, .

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko has spoken to the BBC live from Sumy, in the north-east of Ukraine, about how unsafe humanitarian escape routes in the region are.

"The whole world saw yesterday how these corridors are working," he said, referring to a deadly rocket attack at a railway station in the city of Kramatorsk on Friday.

"Russians very cynically first bombed railways so that people could not leave these cities.

"When it became very crowded there, because people were waiting for trains, they attacked the railway station itself... And we've had 52 killed, including five children."

"So we see how humanitarian corridors work when we're speaking of Vladimir Putin."

Russia's defence ministry has blamed Ukraine's armed forces for the attack.

Image source, .

The bodies of 10 civilians were recovered from under rubble in the destroyed city of Borodyanka, near Kyiv on Saturday, the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian emergency service in the Kyiv region, Bogdan Danilyuk said.

On 7 April, Ukraine's Prosecutor General, Irina Venediktova, said 26 bodies had been discovered in the rubble in the city which lies about 90 km (55 miles) to the north-west of Ukrainian capital Kyiv, but the final number is thought to be much higher.

BBC correspondent Jeremy Bowen recently wrote about the destruction he saw in Borodyanka, where entire streets have been reduced to rubble.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Borodyanka may have suffered more than others and that the worst atrocities committed by Russian troops departing from the north of the country are yet to be discovered.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his "leadership, assistance and weapons" during his visit to Kyiv on Saturday.

BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

Following the meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Boris Johnson in Kyiv, Ukraine's President stressed that the West must increase sanctions against Russia.

"There is one conclusion, it is common: we must pressure Russia even more, pressure it through effective aid for the people of Ukraine in their defence against Russia, pressure with sanctions," he said at a briefing after the meeting, as quoted by the UNIAN news agency.

"It is time to impose a full embargo on Russian energy and increase arms deliveries to us," Zelensky added.

The president said he briefed Johnson about the ongoing peace talks with Russia and Ukraine's conviction that any peace agreement should include firm security guarantees for Ukraine.

"We expect London to play a key part in this process," he said.

Ukraine has carried out a prisoner exchange with Russia, the third such swap since the start of the war, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in an online post.

It means 12 Ukrainian soldiers that had been taken prisoner will return home, Vereshchuk said.

She added that 14 civilians were also returning to Ukraine as part of the deal.

However no details were given of how many Russians had been released.

Image source, Reuters

Following UK PM Boris Johnson's surprise visit to Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, we're getting more information on additional pledges his government has made to support Ukraine.

The UK will guarantee an additional $500m (£384m) in World Bank lending to Ukraine - subject to parliamentary approval - taking its total loan guarantee to $1bn, a Downing Street statement said.

The UK will also relax tariffs on most imports from Ukraine to free up trade.

This is in addition to the 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems that the UK will provide to Ukraine.

The aid is in addition to £100m worth of high-grade military equipment announced on Friday, Downing Street said.

In a statement released after the visit, Johnson praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's "resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people" for thwarting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s "monstrous aims".

"Ukraine has defied the odds and pushed back Russian forces from the gates of Kyiv, achieving the greatest feat of arms of the 21st Century," Johnson said.

"I made clear today that the United Kingdom stands unwaveringly with them in this ongoing fight, and we are in it for the long run."

Image source, EPA/Telegram/V_Zelenskiy_official

The UK is to send 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to support Ukraine, Downing Street has said following talks between PM Boris Johnson and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

"It is because of President (Volodymyr) Zelensky's resolute leadership and the invincible heroism and courage of the Ukrainian people that (Vladimir) Putin's monstrous aims are being thwarted," Boris Johnson said after meeting Zelensky, according to a Downing Street statement.

Earlier, a No 10 spokesman said the prime minister travelled to Kyiv to set out "a new package of financial and military aid".

These are the first specific details to emerge - we'll keep you updated as we find out more.

Jonathan Beale
reporting from Kramatorsk

Image source, EPA

People injured in a missile strike on a train station at Kramatorsk have been moved to hospitals away from the fighting.

More than 50 people were killed and many more wounded in yesterday's attack.

Russia has denied responsibility but Ukraine’s President has described it as a war crime.

Medical staff at Kramatorsk hospital worked throughout the day and night trying to save those injured in the attack on the city’s train station.

This morning some were being transported to hospitals further west for surgery to remove shrapnel. A child was among those who died at the hospital.

At the train station, weapons experts were examining the remains of a missile fired. It’s not clear whether it was shot down.

Ukrainian authorities believe several missiles might have been fired at the station while thousands of people were waiting to catch a train to safety.

Though Russia insists it didn't carry out the strike, many here believe it was a deliberate attack to target civilians fleeing the area as Russia steps up its offensive in the east.

The UK's prime minister has been holding talks in Ukraine's capital Kyiv with the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Boris Johnson tweeted "today I met my friend... as a show of our unwavering support for the people of Ukraine".

Image source, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Image source, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Image source, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service

Image source, EPA

Boris Johnson isn’t the only world leader Volodymyr Zelensky met today - earlier the president also held talks with Austria’s Chancellor Karl Nehammer.

The chancellor visited the city of Bucha, near Kyiv, where reports of atrocities emerged last week. Ukraine says more than 300 civilians were killed by Russian forces in Bucha - Moscow denies any involvement.

Speaking afterwards, Zelensky said his country was "ready for negotiations" with Russia and "looking for any way to stop this war".

"Sadly, in parallel we see the preparations for important battles, some people say decisive ones, in the east," referring to Russia's increased offensive there.

"We are ready to fight," he added, and look "to end this war through diplomacy".

"In the east and in the south, we have seen a concentration of arms, equipment and troops who are getting ready to occupy another part of our territory," Zelensky said.

Adam Easton
Reporting from Warsaw

Image source, EPA/Piotr Nowak

Global government and business leaders as well as banks have pledged 10.1 billion euro (£8.4bn; $11bn) to provide humanitarian support for Ukraine.

The pledges were made during the ‘Stand Up For Ukraine’ event organised by the European Commission, Canada and the international advocacy organisation Global Citizen.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who co-hosted the event in the Polish capital Warsaw, announced the Commission itself pledged 1 billion euro.

Of this, 600m euro would go to the Ukrainian government and United Nations, and 400m euros would provide assistance to countries neighbouring Ukraine that have taken in refugees.

In a videotaped message, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia, the largest country in the world by area, had attacked his nation, Ukraine, the largest country in the world by courage.

He made a call for further sanctions against all of Russia’s banks and a ban on buying Russian oil to starve the Kremlin’s war machine of funds.

Appearing on one of the event’s panels, Arina Bilai, a 16-year-old Ukrainian, urged European countries to stop buying Russian energy, saying they had sent 35 billion euro to the Kremlin since the war began.

Around 10 million Ukrainians have been displaced since the war began, six million of them inside Ukraine and 4 million of them have fled the fighting to other countries.

The event was held in the Polish capital in recognition of Poland’s leading role in accepting 2.6 million refugees from Ukraine - more than 60% of the total who have fled the country.

Image source, EPA/Piotr Nowak

The European Commission will pledge 1 billion euro (£835m; $1.08bn) to support Ukraine and countries receiving refugees fleeing the war, its President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

"Six hundred million... will go to Ukraine, to the Ukrainian authorities and partially to the United Nations," von der Leyen said at a fundraising event for Ukraine in Poland's capital Warsaw.

"And 400 million euros will go to the frontline states that are doing such an outstanding job and helping the refugees that are coming," she said.