Image source, EPA

Ukraine says there will be no humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians trapped in conflict areas for a third consecutive day because there has been no agreement with Russia.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk says intensive shelling continues in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where officials say Russia has launched a major offensive after being thwarted in efforts to capture the capital, Kyiv.

Vereshchuk says Russians "refuse to open a corridor" to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol towards Berdyansk.

She says "difficult negotiations" have been taking place to try to arrange humanitarian corridors in the southern region of Kherson and in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine.

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

More now on Russia's large-scale offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

The Institute for the Study of War says the offensive "is unlikely to be dramatically more successful than previous Russian offensives", but Russian forces could "achieve limited gains".

Russian forces did not take an "operational pause" necessary to "reconstitute" and properly integrate damaged units withdrawn from north-eastern Ukraine, the US-based think tank says in an assessment., external

"Frequent reports of disastrously low Russian morale and continuing logistics challenges indicate the effective combat power of Russian units in eastern Ukraine is a fraction of their on-paper strength in numbers," the institute says.

While Russian forces may be able to wear down Ukrainian positions through "heavy concentration of firepower and sheer weight of numbers", a dramatic Russian offensive success "remains highly unlikely", it adds.

UK government minister Brandon Lewis has given more reaction about the two British men reportedly captured by Russian forces. Shaun Pinner, 48, and Aiden Aslin, 28, have appeared on Russian state TV asking to be exchanged with a pro-Russian politician held in Ukraine.

Lewis was asked on Sky News if a swap was something the government would consider. "We're actually going through the process of sanctioning people who are close to the Putin regime, we're not going to be looking at how we can help Russia," said Lewis.

He later told the BBC he did not want to comment further on the case of the two British individuals.

Lewis said people from the UK should not go out to Ukraine. He said: "People should not be taking what is in reality an illegal route through into a very dangerous situation."

He added: "We really should be very clear with people, that isn't what they should be doing."

Both of the men in this case had been living in Ukraine before it was invaded and both have Ukrainian partners.

They had both been serving as marines in Ukraine's military.

We have more from Gen Sir Richard Barrons on what the Russian offensive in the Donbas might look like.

On the question of whether Russian forces might operate more successfully in this phase, he says they may have learnt some lessons from the first 54 days of the war, they now try to do one thing at once rather than many things at once, and they're focused behind the Donbas operation (firepower, logistics, command and control, as well as reinforcements are lined up under a single general).

But they have not had enough time to restore their state of training, and many of the reinforcements brought from further across Russia might not be better trained, and definitely their morale will not be any stronger "from the battering they've had over the last 50 days", he adds.

Image source, .

Gen Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of UK Joint Forces Command, explains how this phase of the conflict will be different from previous phases.

There is more open ground in the Donbas region, and as the weather improves, there will be more opportunity for Russian armour - tanks supporting infantry and armoured artillery - to get off the roads (unlike in Kyiv) to "manoeuvre faster and harder across bigger batches of country", giving the Ukrainian military a stiffer problem, he tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

As the weather improves it also gets wetter, and he says this is not the ideal time for off-road tank manoeuvres - winter or the height of summer would have been better as the ground is harder, he says.

But in this particular battle, the Russians will be approaching Ukrainians from the east, and also from the north and the south to try to get behind them, so this is a more complex military problem for the Ukrainians.

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Some 2.838 million people have fled Ukraine to Poland since the war began, the Polish Border Guard says.

The number of people crossing the border into Poland has fallen significantly in recent weeks and numbers going into Ukraine have risen. During Friday-Sunday, more people left Poland for Ukraine than vice versa.

On Monday, the numbers entering Poland rose 16% from Sunday, with 20,000 crossing the border, the agency wrote on Twitter.

At the height of the refugee crisis on 6 March, 142,300 people fled Ukraine to Poland. Before the war, the average daily number of people crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland was 16,800.

On Monday, 14,400 people crossed into Ukraine from Poland.

In total, 738,000 people have entered Ukraine from Poland since the war began.

Some of the refugees have already left Poland. Warsaw University migration research Prof Maciej Duszczyk estimates about 1.2-1.4 million remain.

Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP, has been appealing for more arms from the West:

"Compared to [the] Afghani military, which received $80bn (£61.5bn) of equipment, weapons and ammunition, the last package from the United States is $800m.

"The world should realise that we are fighting with Russia, the biggest army in continental Europe, with a country with a budget for weapons many times higher than Ukraine’s, so we need more weapons."

Image source, .

The BBC's Yogita Limaye has been speaking to families whose children have been caught up in the conflict. Their children have physical and psychological scars, and some have died.

Elisei Ryabukon, 13, died in March when the convoy of cars he was in came under fire. His three-year-old brother survived.

Their mother Inna says she wants justice for her son: "I want the world to know about the crimes of Russia. I want every victim to be counted. I want Russia to be held accountable for the people, children and women, they have killed on our land."

Another child caught in the conflict is 13-year-old Ilya Bobkov. He escaped along with his family from Bucha, just outside Kyiv.

Ilya says: "On 24 February when the fighting started, I was shocked. I had expected it to be a regular day, I'd go to school, do my homework and play games."

Ilya and his family left Bucha through a humanitarian corridor. On the journey they saw destroyed tanks and corpses. "I dream about my family being killed or taken hostage by the Russians. I wake up in cold sweat," he says.

The UN estimates about two thirds of Ukraine's 7.8 million children have been displaced.

You can read more about their stories here.

Ukrainian forces have struck a village near Russia's border with Ukraine, wounding one resident, the governor of the Russian province of Belgorod is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The strike on the village of Golovchino was reported by Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on messaging app Telegram, Reuters reports.

It was not clear what the nature of the strike was - artillery, mortars, missiles or air attack.

Image source, Getty Images

In case you're just joining us or need a quick catch up, here's a round-up of the latest from Ukraine.

• Earlier today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says a large-scale Russian offensive is under way in the eastern Donbas region. Read more about the Donbas towns preparing for invasion
• The bombardment has left former tourist towns in the east bracing for a military onslaught
• The Ukrainian military says the main focus of Russian troops is to break through Ukrainian army defences in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions
• The governor of Russian province Belgorod reportedly said that Ukrainian forces struck a village near Russia's border, wounding one resident

• Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Russia had begun "shaping" Ukraine's east - setting conditions for larger and more aggressive attacks

• Meanwhile, officials in the city of Lviv said an attack early on Monday morning killed at least seven civilians and injured 11
• A Russian plane took a massive 15,000km detour due to a EU flight ban, when it left Moscow to pick up expelled Russian diplomats from Greece and Spain, reports Flightradar24
• The World Bank has cut it forecast for global growth from 4.1% to 3.2%, led by declines in growth in Europe and Central Asia as Russia's invasion of Ukraine enters day 55

This is Vikas Pandey and Andrew Clarance in Delhi handing over to our colleagues James Clarke, James Harness and Alexandra Fouché in London, as they bring you the latest.

Image source, Getty Images

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will reportedly skip sessions of this week's G20 finance meeting in protest of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Yellen is also expected to lobby International Monetary Fund and World Bank members to ramp up financial pressure on Moscow as retaliation for their ongoing aggression.

In remarks last week, Yellen decried "Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine".

"Until Putin ends his heinous war of choice, the Biden administration will work with our partners to push Russia further towards economic, financial, and strategic isolation," she said.

Her remarks echo that of President Joe Biden who has said Russia should be kicked out of the G20 and international financial institutions.

Yellen will convene a panel on Tuesday to discuss the international response to a food security crisis exacerbated by Russia's invasion, the Treasury Department said.

Image source, Ukraine military

The Ukrainian military has said that Russian forces are carrying out "aggressive actions" to establish full control over the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, in an update on the 55th day of the war.

• Russian forces continue the movement of weapons and military equipment to Ukraine from the central and eastern regions of Russia.
• Russian troops continue to partially block Kharkiv city in northeast Ukraine.
• The main focus of the Russian military is to break through Ukrainian army defences in the Luhansk and Donetsk region, as well as to establish full control over the southern port city of Mariupol.
• Russia continues to use Belarusian territory to launch air strikes and carry out air reconnaissance in Ukraine.

• The 810th separate marine brigade of the Black Sea Navy lost 158 soldiers, with about 500 injured, and 70 people missing.
• Ukrainian troops have destroyed 10 tanks, 18 units of armoured and eight units of automotive equipment in the past 24 hours.
• Ukraine's air force hit seven targets - one plane, four UAVs and two winged missiles on Monday.

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

A plane sent from Moscow to pick up expelled Russian diplomats from Greece and then Spain was forced to make a 15,000km detour due to a EU flight ban, flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 reports., external

"While Spain and Greece made a one-time exception for the aircraft to enter their airspace, the flights navigated around other countries that maintain bans on Russian flights," the website said.

It added that the total length of the flight was 15,163 km, "just shy of the current world’s longest flight between Singapore and New York".

Ukrainian forces defending the besieged port city of Mariupol will fight to the end against Russian troops, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal says.

In an interview, Shmyhal said that Russia's deadline for Ukrainian forces in Mariupol to surrender by Sunday had been ignored.

"The city still has not fallen," he said. "There are still our military forces, our soldiers, so they will fight until the end. And as for now, they still are in Mariupol," he told the US network, ABC.

Russia's military says it controls almost all of Mariupol, while Ukraine's Azov Battalion is still holding out in Azovstal, a huge steel plant overlooking the Azov Sea.

Image source, Getty Images

The World Bank has cut its forecast for global growth due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In a media call on Monday, external, President David Malpass said that the bank had lowered its growth estimate in 2022 from from 4.1% to 3.2%, led by slowdowns in growth in Europe and Central Asia.

Earlier this month, the institution said that Ukraine's economy was set to shrink by almost half this year as a result of the war.

It forecasts Russia's invasion will cause more economic damage across eastern Europe and parts of Asia than the coronavirus pandemic.

The conflict in Ukraine has shut half of the country's businesses and slashed exports, the World Bank said.

The bank has sent almost $1bn of assistance to Ukraine so far and has promised a further $2bn in the coming months.

Read more here on the affect of the war on Ukraine's economy.

Ukrainian President Zelensky has said that Russia has launched an assault to seize the eastern Donbas region.

Throughout Monday, Russia unleashed a barrage of rocket and artillery fire on a number of eastern areas, with eight civilians killed in the city of Kreminna in Luhansk and in the Donetsk area.

Seven people were killed and 11 more were injured in four Russian strikes in western Lviv, a city that was largely spared the attacks seen elsewhere in Ukraine.

All photos are from 18 April.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

In case you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the latest from Ukraine.

• Earlier today, as we reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a "battle for the Donbas" had begun, after Russia launched its anticipated assault on the eastern region
• The bombardment has left former tourist towns in the east bracing for a military onslaught. Read more about the Donbas towns preparing for invasion.
• Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Russia had begin "shaping" Ukraine's east - setting conditions for larger and more aggressive attacks

• Meanwhile, officials in the city of Lviv said Monday that the early morning attack killed at least seven civilians and injured 11.
• The UN has reported that more than 4.9 million Ukrainians have fled the country since Russia invaded. According to US border patrol, thousands have arrived at the US-Mexico border. Some 3,724 Ukrainian citizens arrived at the southern border in March - a twelvefold jump over the month before.

This is Jude Sheerin and Holly Honderich in Washington handing over to our colleagues Vikas Pandey and Andrew Clarence in Delhi as they bring you the latest.

Image source, Getty Images

President Joe Biden will hold a call with US allies on Tuesday to discuss the war, including plans to further isolate Russia, the White House said.

"The president will convene a secure video call with allies and partners to discuss our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable as part of our close coordination," it said in a statement.

The White House said earlier on Monday that there were "no plans" for Biden to travel to Kyiv. A high-ranking official, like the US secretary of state, may be sent instead.

Soutik Biswas
India Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Russia's invasion of Ukraine is threatening the global food supply as the war disrupts two of the world's major wheat exporters. Ukraine and Russia account for about a third of global annual wheat sales.

Last week, Indian PM Narendra Modi told US President Joe Biden that India was ready to ship food to the rest of the world following supply shocks and rising prices due to the war.

India is the second biggest producer of rice and wheat in the world. As of early April, it had 74 million tonnes of the two staples in stock. And it's also one of the cheapest global suppliers of the cereals.

But it's not a sure thing that India can come to the world's rescue. There are concerns over an under-performing harvest this year and a shortage of fertilisers.

Read more about India's challenge

Image source, Getty Images

US border patrol encountered 3,274 Ukrainian citizens at the US-Mexico border in March - a twelvefold jump since the month before, the US Customs and Border Patrol said on Monday.

The majority - about 62% - travelled with a family member.

The surge of Ukrainian migrants comes amid an overall increase in attempted crossings along the United States' southern boarder.

And an even more dramatic uptick is expected after the Biden administration overturned a pandemic-era policy that allowed migrants to be immediately expelled from the country.

Also on Monday, the Biden administration said it would expand eligibility for a programme that allows Ukrainians who have been living in the US without documentation to temporarily stay and work. Under the new rules, any Ukrainian who has been in the US since 11 April or earlier may apply.