Summary

  • The police chief of the Kyiv region says the bodies of 900 civilians have been found in towns around the capital, more than a week after Russian troops left

  • Russia says it has hit a plant making anti-aircraft and anti-ship missiles outside the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv

  • It came hours after it admitted that the Moskva warship had sunk following an explosion on Wednesday

  • Ukraine says it hit the Russian cruiser in the Black Sea with missiles - Russia has said a fire on board caused the sinking

  • Russia's defence ministry said attacks on Kyiv would be intensified if Ukraine targeted Russian territory

  • The UN says more than five million Ukrainians have been forced out of their homes during the conflict

Live Reporting

Edited by Jude Sheerin

  1. Russian cruiser was hit by missiles - Ukraine

    A cannon fires from the Moskva missile cruiser. File photoEPA

    The Moskva is the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet

    More on Russia's Moskva missile cruiser, which Moscow says has been badly damaged by a fire.

    Ukraine earlier claimed the warship was hit by Ukraine-made Neptune missiles.

    Ukrainian presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych said Russian rescuers were unable to reach the vessel, which could have had as many as 510 crew members on board.

    "It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moskva today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!" Odesa regional governor Maksym Marchenko wrote in his Telegram post.

    He was referring to an incident that reportedly happened on the first day of the Russian invasion on 24 February.

    The Moskva cruiser back then approached Ukraine's Snake Island, a rocky outcrop in the Black Sea, demanding that a small border guard garrison immediately surrender.

    But the border guards refused to do so, with one of them telling the warship: "Go to hell!"

    Ukrainian officials initially said all the border guards died - but later reports suggested they were taken prisoner to Russia-annexed Crimea.

    The incident has since become a famous war meme in Ukraine.

  2. France and Jersey freeze Abramovich assets

    Roman AbramovichEPA

    France has seized £20bn of Russian assets, including a villa on the French Riviera and 11 other properties belonging to Roman Abramovich, France 24 News reports.

    Jersey in the Channel Islands has also frozen £5bn of assets belonging to Chelsea Football Club owner Abramovich.

    Jersey police have been searching properties on the island linked to the billionaire, law officers said.

    Abramovich was named as the island's most wealthy resident in 2018.

    He was also sanctioned by the UK government last month as part of its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

  3. Ukraine attention shows bias against black lives - WHO

    The head of the World Health Organization says the world does not give equal attention to emergencies affecting black and white people.

    Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said only a fraction of the help given to Ukraine went to other humanitarian crises.

    Assisting Ukraine is "very important" because it "impacts the whole world", he said.

    But Tigray province in Ethiopia, or Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria are not receiving the same attention, he added.

    "I don't know if the world really gives equal attention to black and white lives," Mr Tedros told a news conference.

    Read more here.

    Tedros Adhanom GhebreyesusEPA

  4. How European security is being reshaped

    James Landale
    Diplomatic correspondent

    Finland"s Prime Minister Sanna MarinEPA

    Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin

    Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is transforming European security. The Nato military alliance has been given new purpose and now – potentially – could get new members too.

    Voters in Finland and Sweden have long cherished their non-aligned status. But now the mood is changing. A Finnish government report says Russia’s aggression has “fundamentally changed” the security environment.

    And Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin says her government will decide within weeks whether to join the defensive umbrella that Nato provides. Her predecessor, Alexander Stubb, says the decision is a foregone conclusion.

    Sweden is also looking at Nato in a new light. The country’s ruling Social Democrat Party is reviewing its long-standing opposition to joining the alliance.

    Decisions by both countries are expected before a Nato summit in June. Russia has said repeatedly that any expansion of Nato would be considered a provocation and has warned there would be consequences.

  5. Why arm shipments to Ukraine are increasing

    Retired US four-star general Curtis Scaparrotti says the West is accelerating arms shipments to Ukraine.

    Although the US and Nato previously hesitated to send armoured vehicles to avoid escalation, Scaparrotti says their thinking has changed in the past week.

    'Give Ukraine everything they say they need'

  6. Russia says ammo aboard famed warship detonated
    Breaking

    Moskva missile cruiser. File photoGetty Images

    Ammunition stockpiles aboard a Russian ship that was famously defied by Ukrainian troops early in the war have detonated, according to a statement from the Russian defence ministry.

    A fire caused the explosion on the Moskva, the statement in Russian media said, adding that all sailors had evacuated beforehand.

    The statement said: "The cruiser Moskva's ammunition has detonated as a result of a fire on the warship.

    "The vessel is seriously damaged. The entire crew have been evacuated. The cause of the blaze is being investigated."

    It did not specify the cause of the fire.

    But earlier on Wednesday, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet was hit by Ukrainian rockets, according to the governor of Odesa.

    Ukrainian officials said Russia was struggling to rescue the estimated 510 crew members on board.

    The Moskva warship rose to fame early in the war when Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island refused calls to surrender and told the Russian ship to "go to hell", before they were ultimately taken prisoner.