With strikes continuing across Ukraine, the UN is reporting that more than 4.9 million Ukrainians have now fled the country as a result of the war.

Some 4,934,415 people - mostly women and children - have left since Russia invaded on 24 February, the AFP news agency quotes refugee agency the UNHCR as saying.

The UN's International Organization for Migration says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals - largely students and migrant workers - have also escaped to neighbouring countries.

It means that more than five million people in total have fled Ukraine since the war began, one of the fastest-growing displacement and humanitarian crises ever.

As we've been reporting, seven people have been killed and several wounded after Russian missiles struck military facilities and a car tyre service point in Lviv.

Photos are now appearing of the blast sites around the area.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Russia taking revenge for sinking of warshippublished at 12:51 British Summer Time 18 April 2022

12:51 BST 18 April 2022

Mark Lowen
Reporting from Kyiv

It turned out that the sense of security creeping back into Kyiv and the west of Ukraine, thanks to Russia’s retreat, was false.

Yes the occupying troops aren’t here anymore - but Kyiv and Lviv have learned again that the threat from afar can be just as deadly.

Long-range missiles, thought to have been fired from the Black Sea, have now struck both cities, killing and injuring.

And more than a fortnight after Russia said it would shift the focus of its offensive to the east, these are warning shots that it does not see its work elsewhere in the country as done.

The daily strikes are clearly Russian revenge for the sinking of its Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, last week - by its missiles, says Ukraine; by a fire, insists Russia.

It was a humiliation for Moscow - the biggest loss of a Russian warship since World War Two. And while it attempted a show of resilience by releasing pictures of the surviving crew, it’s a bitter loss, which Russia was not going to leave unanswered.

When we visited an area in Kyiv hit by Russian missiles over the weekend, we found growing anxiety that the capital will be dragged back into the war. “Now every sound of explosion will trigger me," Maxim told us.

Small pockets of Ukraine were starting to feel the worst of the nightmare was over. Now they’ve realised it’s too soon to tell.

Ukraine's pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, who was arrested last week, has asked the Russian and Ukrainian presidents to use him in a swap with Ukrainian defenders and residents in the besieged southern city of Mariupol.

He made such an appeal in a short video address published by Ukraine's state security service SBU.

However, it's unclear whether Medvedchuk was speaking under duress.

Medvedchuk, 67, is seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest ally in Ukraine.

Announcing his arrest, the SBU said it had foiled an attempt by Moscow to get him out of the country.

He had been under house arrest in the capital Kyiv - but escaped soon after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February.

Medvedchuk, whose daughter has Putin as a godfather, is suspected by Ukraine of treason. He denies wrongdoing.

Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC Monitoring

A credible video alleging to show the Russian warship Moskva on fire has appeared online, hours after two pictures of the sunken ship were first shared.

The video and two images all match the shape and design of the Moskva.

Likely taken from a rescue boat, the three-second clip shows the Moskva in the distance listing heavily on her port side. A tug, likely a Russian Shakhter, is on its right.

Smoke can be seen billowing out of the ship, with a section of the freeboard heavily damaged.

Holes are also visible in other parts of the freeboard in one picture, suggesting the warship had taken in a substantial amount of water.

It also appears all of the vessel’s lifeboats had been deployed.

Ukraine says it successfully struck the Moskva with two Neptune missiles, while Moscow alleges it was damaged after an explosion and subsequently sank because of “stormy seas”.

While conditions can vary at different times, there’s nothing in the video to confirm the Kremlin’s initial assertion that the Moskva sank due to stormy conditions.

Image source, Getty Images

Russian-flagged ships are now barred from entering ports in Belgium, Bulgaria and Italy under EU sanctions, but there are many exceptions.

The fifth round of EU sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine includes the port ban, but the EU statement on 8 April said “exemptions apply for medical, food, energy and humanitarian purposes, amongst others”.

Belgian and Italian media say Russian ships can still to deliver to the EU: oil, gas, petroleum products, various metals, wheat and other grains, fertiliser, pharmaceuticals and nuclear fuel for civilian atomic energy.

Russian ships will also be allowed into EU ports in emergency cases, such as for urgent repairs.

Belgian broadcaster RTBF said that of a dozen Russian ships heading for Belgian ports on Sunday only three would face an entry ban.

Russia continues to export huge quantities of energy to the EU daily, with Germany and many other EU members heavily reliant on it. Ukraine and many of its supporters in Europe deplore the EU’s failure to put Russian energy under sanctions.

Some Russian oligarchs' yachts and other Russian vessels have been seized in France, Italy and elsewhere in the EU under the sanctions.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us or need a catch-up, here are the latest developments today in Ukraine:

• Seven people have been killed after four rockets hit military facilities and a car tyre service point in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, officials say
• It comes as Russian forces bombard several Ukrainian cities and blasts have also been reported in the capital Kyiv
• Russian state media is reporting that its military struck a total of 315 targets in Ukraine overnight

• Four civilians have been shot dead and one injured as they tried to flee the eastern town of Kreminna, according to Ukrainian officials
• There will be no humanitarian corridors for evacuations of civilians for the second day in a row after Ukrainian and Russian officials failed to agree a plan

We've been reporting on our colleague's Vitaly Shevchenko's efforts to get his mother and disabled aunt out of Ukraine over the last few weeks.

They were helped in doing so by two BBC audience members, including Richard O’Doherty, who offered to drive them from Poland to the UK, and it was not clear how the journey would go.

But on the Easter weekend, Alla and Irena arrived in Reading in the UK, and were greeted by Vitaly and other members of the family.

Toby Luckhurst
Reporting from Lviv

We're still at the site of one of the strikes here in Lviv.

Valya has lived in a house near the blast site since she was born. The 70-year-old didn't react when she heard the air raid siren, assuming she would be safe.

Then she heard the explosion, which shattered her front window.

"I fell down, everything was shaking," she said. "I was so scared."

She went outside in her pyjamas in a daze until a neighbour ordered her down into the basement.

"I’m lucky this was just the wave not a rocket," she said.

Authorities said at least seven people are known to have died in the strikes.

"The enemy wants to destroy us as a nation," Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi says.

"We only have one option - to fight," he stresses, adding that the "army of Ukraine is 40 million" - in a reference to the country's entire population.

Sadovyi also says that Ukraine is now defending the world, describing the war as a clash between democracies and totalitarianism.

Image source, Ukraine Media Center

Meanwhile, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi again accuses Russia of committing genocide against Ukrainians.

"There is nothing sacred for them," he says at the joint briefing with Maksym Kozytsky.

We've looked at the issue of genocide here, following similar accusations - although there is no international legal consensus on whether Russia is guilty of such a crime.

Maksym Kozytsky also says that according to preliminary information the rockets were fired from aircraft from the direction of the Caspian Sea.

The death toll in Monday's strikes on Lviv has risen to seven, Lviv regional head Maksym Kozytsky says at a briefing.

He says that four rockets were fired: three hitting warehouses, and another one striking a garage, which was providing maintenance for cars.

We're hearing from officials in Lviv following the attack on the city this morning.

Maksym Kozytsky, the head of Lviv Oblast Military Administration, and Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi are holding a briefing after missiles struck military facilities and a car tyre service point, killing at least six people and wounding eight.

We'll bring you details as we get them.

Toby Luckhurst
Reporting from Lviv

We’ve reached the site of one of the blasts here in Lviv. This is the tyre fitting service the government confirmed was hit in the strikes.

We’re not allowed into the area by the emergency services or to give you the exact location.

Smoke still pours from the building. Dozens of firefighters are on the scene training hoses onto the roof. Wrecked cars and debris litter the area.

"It felt like an earthquake," says Yaroslav, who lives nearby. Another man says the doors of his house - 10km (6 miles) away – shook in the blast.

They are angry and ask how much more destruction the West is willing to witness before providing more weapons to help Ukraine’s military.

Myroslava, who was also nearby at the time of the strike, says it sounded like an aeroplane.

"We’re anxious, we’re empty inside. Why us? We don’t understand what it’s all for.”

Four civilians have been shot dead and one injured as they tried to flee the town of Kreminna, according to preliminary information from Luhansk regional head Serhiy Haidai.

He said Russian military opened fire on a civilians who were trying to leave in a car on their own.

There will be no humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian civilians fleeing the war for a second day in a row, after Ukraine and Russia failed to agree on plans.

Haidai warned people in a statement: "Do not come out of hiding. Do not try to leave Kreminna on your own! It is dangerous!"

He said Russians "took control" of the town and fighting was continuing, adding that "evacuation from the town is no longer possible".

We've got more information from Lviv's Mayor Andriy Sadovyi - who has accused of Russia of deliberately targeting civilians.

"This is genocide, this is the deliberate destruction of Ukrainians," he told Ukraine's 1+1 TV channel.

He said that six people were killed and 11 injured - including a child - in Monday's attack on Lviv. We'd initially heard from the regional governor that a child was among the dead.

Two of the wounded were in a critical state. About 40 vehicles were damaged, he added.

Genocide is widely seen as the most serious crime against humanity and is defined under international law as a mass extermination of a particular group of people.

While US President Joe Biden has accused Russian forces of committing acts of genocide in Ukraine, many countries have stopped short of doing the same, and there is no legal consensus on whether Russia is guilty of the crime.

The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, says a Russian missile strike in the city this morning shattered the windows of a nearby hotel where Ukrainians who have been evacuated from conflict areas are living.

Six people were killed and 11 were injured after Russian military struck Ukrainian military facilities and a car tyre service point in Lviv this morning, Sadovyi said.

About 40 cars were damaged and destroyed in the strike he said, posting a photo of a damaged vehicle on social media.

Image source, Reuters

There will be no evacuations of Ukrainian civilians from war-affected areas for the second consecutive day after Ukrainian and Russian officials failed to agree on humanitarian corridors, Ukraine's deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"For security reasons, it was decided not to open humanitarian corridors today," Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

She accused Russian forces of blocking and shelling escape routes.

"In violation of international humanitarian law, the Russian occupiers have not stopped blocking and shelling humanitarian routes," she added.

Image source, Reuters

Russian state media is reporting that its military struck a total of 315 targets in Ukraine overnight, with several cities bombarded on Monday.

Russia's defence ministry said it had destroyed four arms and military equipment warehouses in Ukraine overnight with Iskander missiles, a short-range ballistic missile, the TASS news agency is reporting.

"High-precision air-launched missiles destroyed 16 Ukrainian military facilities during the night," Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

He added that Russian air defence systems shot down two Ukrainian fighters.

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