Image source, Getty Images

Speaking with the BBC's Turkish Service, a Turkish official has denied claims that one of their country's ships helped to recover crew members from the Russian cruiser Moskva.

The allegation was made earlier today by Lithuania's defence minister, Arvydas Anušauskas. He also said Turkish and Romanian authorities had confirmed the ship had been sunk. The Turkish official did not comment on this alleged confirmation.

Russia's defence ministry insists the ship is still afloat, and has continually denied claims that the Moskva was struck by Ukrainian forces.

Ukraine's foreign ministry says it is concerned that children taken to Russia, including those orphaned during the conflict, could be given up for adoption by Russian families, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reports.

It says the ministry claims there are reports that authorities in the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk are planning to sign deals with Russia's education ministry to traffic children from those regions.

In a letter to the UNHCR, UNICEF, the Red Cross and other agencies, the foreign ministry describes such actions as kidnapping.

Jenny Hill
Reporting from Moscow

Russian investigators say that Ukraine carried out air strikes on a residential area in Russia earlier today.

Officials say two low-flying military helicopters equipped with heavy arms attacked the town of Klimovo, injuring seven people including a child and damaging six houses.

Reports of the attack – which has not been independently verified – came after Moscow announced it would bomb targets in Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine if Ukrainian forces continued to attack its territory.

Image source, EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the diversification of Russia's energy exports towards Asia.

Putin warned that European countries were destabilising the market by moving away from Russian gas and oil. "Attempts to push out Russian suppliers, replace our energy resources with alternative deliveries, will inevitably affect the whole global economy," he said.

Speaking earlier today, he said Russia would shift the direction of its exports "step by step" to the "fast-growing markets of the south and east".

Last year, soaring prices meant oil and gas revenues accounted for 36% of Russia's government spending.

Much of that income comes from the European Union, which imports about 40% of its gas and 27% of its oil from the country.

We've heard two claims about damage to the Russian warship Moskva today: Ukraine says it carried out a strike on the vessel using Neptune missiles, while Russia claims ammunition on board blew up.

Shashank Joshi, defence editor at the Economist, says it's possible that a missile struck the ship and then ammunition exploded.

"And of course, when magazines on ships explode, the results tend to be absolutely devastating for the ships concerned. This is huge amounts of explosives that can completely destroy a ship - they can certainly render it combat-ineffective for a long period.

"On balance, I'm more inclined to believe the Ukrainians did strike the ship."

He notes that Ukraine has in total hit four Russian warships so far.

Asked about the significance of the incident, Joshi explains that Moskva was providing air cover for other ships which may now be more at risk of aerial attack.

He said it also had missiles that could "strike quite far inland in Ukraine".

Image source, Getty Images

Russia would have to bolster its defences if Sweden and Finland joined Nato, Deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev says.

He adds that if the two countries joined the alliance, then there could be no more talk of a "nuclear free" Baltic, as "the balance must be restored".

"Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to," Medvedev says.

Both Finland and Sweden have expressed their eagerness to join Nato, and US officials have said the two countries could become part of the alliance as soon as summer.

Wladimir Klitschko, the brother of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, has been speaking to the BBC and says the capital is slowly coming back to life.

The former boxing champion says traffic is increasing, more people are on the streets and fewer air-raid sirens are going off.

But he warns that the rate of people returning needs to slow down, saying that if everyone comes back at once it's going to "cause complications".

Klitschko says the situation in Kyiv is difficult due to damaged infrastructure and issues with food and water supplies. Roads are still blocked to prevent Russian forces from invading.

He also warned that there is still a danger of Russian rockets landing in the capital.

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine claims to have fired missiles at the cruiser, Russia says the damage was caused by a fire. So what do we know for sure?

Catch up here.

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editor

We filmed the Moskva three years ago off the coast of Crimea, the peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine.

That day the missile cruiser was leading Navy Day celebrations. Among the Russian warships assembled there, the 12,500-tonne Moskva was an imposing sight.

Now the Russian military has admitted that the Moskva has been seriously damaged by a fire that caused ammunition to detonate.

No word about the cause, and the ministry later reported that the fire had been brought under control.

The incident has not been dominating news bulletins here. Russian TV’s Channel 1 led its lunchtime news with claims of more Ukrainian soldiers surrendering to Russian forces. The programme devoted just a few seconds to what happened to the Moskva.

Whatever the cause, the damage to the Moskva is bad news for Moscow. It is the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. And, as such, a symbol of Russia’s military power.

Ukrainian military officials say they struck the Moskva with a Neptune missile.

The Neptune cruise missile system was designed by Kyiv military engineers in response to the growing naval threat posed by Russia in the Black Sea, following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

According to the Kyiv Post, external, the Ukrainian navy only received its first delivery of the 300km-range (186 miles) missiles in March last year.

Since the invasion began Ukraine has received an influx of military aid from Western allies, including £100m worth of anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles that the UK announced it would be sending last week.

A short while ago we heard from the Russian military, who say the Moskva is still afloat.

Now the Ukrainian military claims the Russian flagship started sinking after it was hit with Neptune missiles.

Posting on its Facebook page, the southern military command says the vessel suffered significant damage and a fire started after the strike.

Russian rescue ships were then hampered by ammunition exploding on board as well as bad weather that "overturned the cruiser and it began to sink", it adds.

Russia's defence ministry has just released a statement on the Moskva. It says:

"The fire on the cruiser Moskva is under control. There are no flames visible. Ammunition supplies are no longer exploding.

"The cruiser Moskva is still afloat. The main missile armoury has not been damaged.

"The crew of the cruiser were evacuated to Black Sea Fleet vessels nearby. Measures are being taken to tow the cruiser into port.

"The causes of the fire are currently being established."

Some of the most active battles are currently taking place in the Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions, according to Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainian Pravda, external.

It says it's collected data from the heads of administration in those regions, and that Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, has been subjected to periodic shelling. Four people were killed and 10 were injured in the city overnight, the region's governor says.

The report goes on to say that there is no change in Mariupol, as the besieged city continues to be hit with shelling by Russian aircraft and artillery.

The newspaper adds: "The Russians do not let people out of the city".

The BBC has not been able to confirm this independently.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

The deputy head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's office has stressed the need for more weapons to be sent from the West to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian attacks in the south and east of the country.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today Programme, Ihor Zovka said a lot of military equipment is needed in cities like Odesa and Mariupol, which are situated on the Black Sea and are strategically important gains for Russia.

He added that though some parts of Mariupol - a city which has been under siege for weeks - are controlled by Russian forces, it should be emphasised that other areas remain under Ukrainian control.

He also refuted the idea that it was only a matter of time before Russia took full control of the city, and that more weapons were needed for Ukraine to be able to defend it.

Yesterday US President Joe Biden promised an extra $800m (£609m) in military assistance to Ukraine. Mr Zovka welcomed the assistance, but said that they definitely needed more.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

If you are just joining us, here's a recap of our top story about a Russian warship that's been badly damaged in the Black Sea:

• According to Russia's defence ministry, ammunition on board the Moskva flagship missile cruiser exploded after a fire. It said the original cause of the damage wasn't known.
• Ukraine, however, claims that it struck the vessel with two of its own Neptune missiles.
• The 510-crew warship has led Russia's naval assault on Ukraine, making it an important symbolic and military target for Ukraine.
• Analysts say the damage done to the ship will not only materially impact Russia's naval capabilities, but will also affect Russian morale, while boosting Ukraine's.

Image source, Reuters

A flagship is described as the most important boat in its fleet, and carries the commanding officer. It also tends to be seen as the group's fastest or strongest vessel.

Russia’s Moskva (Moscow) cruiser, which Russia says has been badly damaged by fire, has led the Black Sea fleet since 2000.

It's a symbol of Russian naval power, Michael Petersen of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute told the BBC. He said it had been a "thorn in the side" for Ukraine since the start of the invasion.

The 186m-long ship entered service in the early 1980s. It was actually built in what is now Ukraine – then part of the Soviet Union.

It’s played a key role in multiple Russian military campaigns – including in Syria.

The 510-crew ship was involved in an infamous incident in the early days of the Ukraine war – when it called on Ukrainians troops defending the strategic Snake Island to surrender, only to be refused.

You can read more of what we know about the ship here.

Frank Gardner
BBC Security Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

This is a significant setback for Russia’s war effort, for both military and morale reasons. The Moskva is an old, Soviet-era missile cruiser but it has been the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet since 2000.

The 12,500-tonne warship has been part of a Russian fleet loitering offshore and menacing the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

Ukrainians know it as the ship that ordered their defenders of Snake Island to surrender and were told by them to “go to hell”.

So whatever caused the major fire onboard - and Ukraine says it was two missiles fired by its forces - the demise of the once mighty Moskva will be seen as poetic justice in Ukraine.

In more practical terms, this incident is likely to result in Russian warships having to move further offshore for their own safety.

It follows an earlier explosion onboard a Russian amphibious landing ship, believed to be the result of a covert Ukrainian attack.

197 children have died since the war in Ukraine started, according to Ukraine's prosecutor general's office.

In a press release, external, it added that 351 children had also been injured.

It said the highest child death rates were in the regions of Donetsk, Kyiv and Kharkiv.

It added that the numbers were not final.

Image source, PA Media

Ireland's foreign and defence minister Simon Coveney will become the latest official to visit Kyiv today, as nations continue to show support for Ukraine.

Coveney will visit areas in the Ukrainian capital directly affected by the Russian invasion, and he'll meet his counterparts - Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and defence minister Oleksii Reznikov.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Coveney's discussions with the Ukrainian government would focus on how Ireland can continue to "provide political, security and humanitarian support to Ukraine; assist Ukraine in its application for EU candidate status; take forward further EU sanctions on Russia; and hold Russia to account for its brutal and unjustified invasion".

Ireland has provided Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees with 20 million euro in humanitarian aid, as well as 33 million euro in non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military.