At least five people have died after Russian missile strikes in the major port city of Odesa, the head of President Zelensky's office has said.

A three-month-old child was among the dead, Andriy Yermak wrote on the messaging service Telegram.

18 others were wounded, he added.

A block of flats was among the buildings that were hit.

"Nothing is sacred," Yermak wrote of the Russian attack. "The evil will be punished."

Footage has emerged on social media of a building in Odesa that was struck by a Russia missile.

The footage, which has been verified by the BBC, shows thick black smoke billowing into the air.

Russia has not yet commented on the attack.

Caroline Davies
Reporting from Odesa

The 14-storey block of flats is still smoking here in a residential part of Odesa.

The side of the building is blackened after what looks like an impact to the lower floors. The car park opposite is covered in blown-out glass and debris. Several vehicles are severely damaged.

One man we spoke to outside the block said he had been in his parents' apartment on the 12th floor when there was a huge explosion. All the windows were shattered.

To leave, they had to push aside the fragments of a door. He says he and his mother had to jump from the first floor to escape.

Rescue teams are on site, with several fire engines deployed to put out flames several floors up. Firefighters are smashing through flat windows.

The BBC team counted at least five ambulances at the scene, with several victims nursing head wounds. At least one person was taken out on a stretcher.

The bomb disposal unit is also on site, and authorities have pushed the cordon back.

Reaction is coming in after reports of a Russian missile attack on the port city of Odesa.

Anton Herashchenko, an aide to interior minister, said several missiles struck residential blocks and a man died when his car caught fire.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has tweeted to condemn Russia over the alleged attack.

Moscow itself has not yet commented.

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The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has said he hopes the conflict in Ukraine will end soon. But speaking on the eve of Orthodox Easter, he stopped short of condemning the war.

"May the Lord first of all reconcile our people in Ukraine, in Donbas, where blood is still being shed," he said at an outdoor service in Moscow.

The statement echoed President Vladimir Putin's assertion that Russians and Ukrainians are essentially the same nation.

"God grant that this Easter gift helps those who are involved in this difficult conflict to calm their hearts, minds, souls, so that internecine strife ends as soon as possible and the long-awaited peace reigns," the patriarch said.

A close Putin ally, he has previously made statements backing Moscow's offensive in Ukraine and angered some within the Russian Orthodox Church at home and abroad.

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The southern port city of Odesa has been targeted with rocket fire, local Ukrainian officials say.

A multi-storey residential building was damaged, according to Ukraine's UNIAN news agency.

Details of the attack are still emerging.

Odesa has been shelled before by Russian forces, but much less than other cities such as Mariupol, most of which now lies in ruins after heavy Russian bombardment.

Dan Johnson and Jewan Abdi

Image source, Jewan Abdi

Angelina Aksakov is desperate for news about her mother. Instead of colouring Easter egg drawings the 11-year-old has used her purple felt-tip pen to write her mother's name and those of other relatives on a card she holds up to anyone who will look.

Angelina’s family was left behind in Lysychansk, a town in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region. She and her brother Davyd were already separated from them before the war.

Their mother drank a lot and couldn’t properly care for the children, so they were taken by social services and placed in an orphanage.

Angelina hasn’t seen her mother since the Covid pandemic started. She doesn’t know her father. At the start of the war the orphanage was evacuated just before it was bombed.

They thought they were safe at an orphanage in Lviv, in western Ukraine. But this week its windows were smashed when a missile landed close by.

A month ago Angelina’s uncle rang to see how she was doing, but his number wasn’t recorded and she hasn't heard from him since.

Angelina is one of millions of Ukrainian children who have had to leave their home town to escape the fighting. She doesn’t know if she will ever make it back there. She isn’t even sure if anyone is waiting for her.

Image source, Reuters

A veteran pro-Kremlin commentator says Russia's goal in Ukraine is "the gradual dismantling and phased reformatting of this territory".

The Russian analyst, Pyotr Akopov, says "everyone understands now that the military operation will go on a long time".

His commentary, published by state-run RIA Novosti news, is titled "Russia is changing tactics, but not strategy, in Ukraine".

It echoes a speech on Friday by a top Russian general, Rustam Minnekayev, envisaging Russian forces taking control of Ukraine’s entire coastline, from Donbas in the east to Moldova in the west.

Russia has troops in Transnistria, a breakaway pro-Moscow territory in Moldova.

"Withdrawal of our troops from any of the occupied territories is out of the question," Akopov says.

"If we take the goal of the second phase to be establishing control over the south of Ukraine, then we have to realise that a third phase is inevitable too – control over all of Novorossiya," Akopov says.

Russian nationalists see "Novorossiya" (meaning New Russia) as a huge swathe of southern Ukraine that once belonged to imperial Russia. President Vladimir Putin has said "Novorossiya" should also include the Kharkiv region in the north.

Akopov says Russia may not need to capture Kyiv and Lviv, because "after the south falls, Ukraine as an entity will start to collapse".

That "collapse", he says, will happen "even without waiting for the surrender of Kharkiv and control over all of Novorossiya, because loss of the south deprives Ukraine of the chances of existing as a self-sufficient state".

Carrie Davies
BBC Moscow Correspondent

As we've reported, Ukraine's Azov battalion has posted a video appearing to show sheltering women and children.

Weaving deep through what the battalion say is the Azovstal steelwork tunnels, the video shows an underground rabbit warren, filled with families and young children.

It is difficult to verify the video, but if accurate it is a rare glimpse of life in the Azovstal plant and a final push by the Azov regiment to ensure that the situation in Mariupol is at the fore front of the world's mind as the Russian army seal it off.

On Thursday President Putin told the Russian army to block the steelworks "so a fly can’t pass".

The Russian media have portrayed their brutal campaign in Mariupol as a way to 'denazify and demilitarise' Ukraine.

This video has been released to replace that image with one of fear and desperation in the eyes of children who say they’ve not seen the sun in one and a half months, asking to be evacuated. This video is an attempt to control the narrative about what is happening on the ground.

The Azov regiment is controversial; it was originally a far-right group that was later incorporated into Ukraine's National Guard. They are now the last defenders in Mariupol.

This video shows them as the approachable warriors, fist bumping children and bringing them supplies, while other images on social media show Russian soldiers standing outside burning buildings and Russian tanks rolling through the city.

Away from what is going on at the Azovstal steelworks, we have pictures of the destruction in the southern port city of Mariupol which was under siege by Russian forces for nearly two months.

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Thank you for joining our live coverage of events in Ukraine. Here's a roundup of the latest developments.

• An adviser to President Zelensky says the Azovstal metal works has come under renewed attack from Russian soldiers. The complex represents the final pocket of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol
• If verified, the alleged attack would seem to signal another change of direction from Russia. On Thursday, President Putin told his soldiers to stop attacking Azovstal and instead seal the site off
• Ukraine's Azov regiment has released a video appearing to show the desperate conditions for women and children who've been sheltering for weeks inside the metal works
• Civilians were due to get the chance to safely escape Mariupol through a humanitarian corridor at noon local time (09:00 GMT, 10:00 BST). We await confirmation on whether that's going to plan. Previous attempts to operate exit routes have failed
• Russia remains focused on trying to capture territory in Ukraine's east. Towns in Luhansk region are coming under constant fire, says the region's governor
• But Russia's made no significant new gains despite increased activity, according to the latest briefing from the UK government which reflected on the previous 24 hours of fighting

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Away from Mariupol and the fighting in the east, we've had an update from Bucha - near the capital Kyiv.

The city's mayor says the task of collecting and exhuming the bodies of people killed during an occupation by Russian soldiers is almost complete.

Allegations of Russian war crimes provoked global outrage earlier this month. Moscow denied them.

Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said 412 bodies had been recovered so far - many of these in one mass grave.

Among them were the burnt bodies of civilians and those who'd been tortured and shot, he said.

Authorities in Chernihiv, another northern city, earlier told the BBC that more than 700 civilians had been killed during an occupation by Russian troops.

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The Azovstal metal works in Mariupol has come under renewed attack from Russian soldiers, according to an adviser to Ukraine's President Zelensky.

Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video that Moscow had resumed its air strikes and efforts to storm the vast industrial complex, which represents the last holdout of Ukrainian resistance in the embattled port city.

We've not been able to independently verify Arestovych's claim.

If confirmed, though, the attacks would appear to signal another shift in tactics from Russia. On Thursday, President Putin called off the military assault on Azovstal - instead ordering his troops to seal off the site.

Yogita Limaye
Reporting from Chernihiv

More than 700 civilians have been killed in the northern city of Chernihiv, the head of the city council Oleksandr Lomako has told the BBC.

Three weeks after Russian troops lifted their siege of the city, new graves are still being dug in the main graveyard.

Two fields are full of graves, and a third was being dug by earthmovers when we were there.

About a quarter had flowers, lamps, fruit and other items placed beside them, suggesting that they had been visited by the relatives of the deceased. But the rest were marked with plaques on wooden sticks indicating names, as well as dates of birth and death.

We met a woman who was looking for the graves of her sister and husband, who were both killed in shelling. "They were peaceful people, they were dancers," she said. She did not know whether their bodies had been found, or where they were buried.

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The governor of Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region says towns there are coming under constant shelling.

Serhiy Haidai said two people had been killed in Popasna - a town of about 20,000 people - where residential buildings have come under attack and street fighting has taken place.

He wrote on Telegram that the Russians were hitting power lines and substations. Some towns were without water after a Russian shell hit the power plant for a pumping station.

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As we've been reporting, Ukraine's Azov regiment has released a video which appears to show the conditions for civilians sheltering alongside soldiers inside the Azovstal plant. The BBC has not verified the footage.

The huge metal works has become the last bastion of Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol. You can read more about it in our graphic below.

Russia has so far failed to dislodge the defenders from Azovstal. President Putin has now called off the assault - instead ordering his troops to seal off the site.

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Ukraine's Azov regiment has released a video purportedly showing its fighters bringing food and other aid to women and children sheltering in one of underground bunkers at the Azovstal plant - the last part of Mariupol not under Russian control.

In the footage women and children - seen in a crowded room - can be heard saying they are now running out of food and water, and pleading to be evacuated from the besieged southern city.

A number of those filmed say they have been trapped underground for weeks, with one girl saying she hasn't seen the daylight since 27 February - the fourth day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Big signs reading "Children" in red paint are seen on the walls of the bunker. One woman is heard saying more than 15 children - from babies to those aged 14 - are sheltering in the building.

The video - believed to be filmed on 21 April - has not been verified by the BBC.

The Azovstal steelworks - a maze of tunnels and workshops - is a huge industrial site in central Mariupol. It's almost like a city within a city.

Earlier this week, one of the commanders of Azov - who alongside a Ukrainian Marine brigade, border guards and police officers are still defending Mariupol - told the BBC that many civilians, including children, were sheltering at the site. He also said wounded and dead fighters were there.

Much of Mariupol has been destroyed in weeks of heavy Russian bombardment and intense street fighting.

This week, President Vladimir Putin called off a planned Russian assault on the steelworks, and ordered his troops to seal it off instead.

Taking the Sea of Azov port is a key Russian war aim and would release more troops to join a Russian offensive in the eastern Donbas region.

Image source, Reuters

As we've been reporting, more civilians may be able to escape the embattled southern city of Mariupol today if a humanitarian exit corridor operates as hoped.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has now said the evacuations are due to start at noon local time (09:00 GMT, 10:00 BST) - if everything goes to plan.

Multiple previous attempts to run these exit routes have been thwarted, however.

The southern port city has been under Russian siege for weeks.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia says it's shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three Mi-8 helicopters in the Kharkiv region.

In its latest update, the defence ministry claimed a range of successes as its air force targeted multiple Ukrainian military facilities overnight.

The BBC is unable to independently verify the claims. The Ukrainian side has not yet responded.

Earlier, the UK has said that Russia has failed to make any major gains of territory over the past 24 hours, despite increased activity by its forces. It said Russia was still yet to take control of either air or sea.

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining us, welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here are some of the latest headlines.

• Ukrainian troops continue to frustrate the invasion, says the UK in its latest intelligence briefing. It claims that the Russians had made no major gains in the last 24 hours despite increased activity
• The British update adds that Moscow had yet to establish full control of either air or sea
• Fresh efforts will be made to help civilians leave the devastated city of Mariupol on Saturday through a humanitarian corridor - although multiple previous efforts to operate these have failed in the embattled port city
• The Polish border guard says nearly three million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland since the war began
• Earlier, President Zelensky warned that Russia could attack other countries - saying the invasion of Ukraine is only the beginning
• His remarks come after a Russian commander said seizing a swathe of Ukraine would let Moscow access a Russian-backed separatist region in Moldova
• The conflict continues to have a wider impact, with shoppers in the UK now facing a limit on purchase of cooking oil due to disruption to exports from Ukraine

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