Russia's Defence Ministry has said the UK is "provoking" Ukraine into launching an attack in Russia.

Both Interfax and RIA news agencies have quoted the defence ministry saying that Russia would give "a proportional response if there are such attempts".

It said the Russian army "is ready to deliver retaliatory strikes against decision making centres in Kyiv using high accuracy weaponry".

Earlier on, UK Armed Forces minister James Heappey said it was "entirely legitimate" that Ukrainian forces should target supply lines in Russian territory.

Heappey acknowledged that the weapons provided to Ukraine by the international community had the range to be used in Russia.

Adam Easton
Warsaw Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

As European countries move to limit or ban supplies of Russian natural gas, there are reports from Poland that Moscow has halted deliveries to the country.

The Onet.pl website says the move has been unofficially confirmed by sources in the Polish government and the country’s state gas company PGNiG.

There has been no official confirmation of the news yet.

PGNiG buys about 60% of Poland’s natural gas imports from Gazprom via the Yamal pipeline.

If supplies have indeed been deliberately suspended by Gazprom, it would not be an immediate problem for Poland because underground storage is about 70% full and stocks can be drawn down. Also, natural gas demand is fairly low now because of the upcoming summer season.

Poland plans to stop importing Russian gas by the end of the year when its long-term supply contract with Gazprom expires and a new pipeline delivering gas from Norway comes online.

The Baltic Pipe project has the capacity to replace Russian deliveries via the Yamal pipeline.

Germany's Scholz forced off the fence with tanks decisionpublished at 17:00 British Summer Time 26 April 2022

17:00 BST 26 April 2022

Damien McGuinness
Reporting from Berlin

The decision to send German anti-aircraft tanks directly to Ukraine is a major shift in policy.

As recently as Monday leading figures in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left SPD party were still rejecting the idea. But after growing pressure, both from opposition politicians and coalition allies, Scholz has backed down.

Germany supplies more weapons to Ukraine than is often acknowledged. Some of the confusion comes from the chancellor’s statements on arms exports, which are often unclear on purpose, suspect critics, to keep on side those SPD politicians who believe that heavy weapons escalate the war.

With each new taboo-breaking decision on arms, Scholz is being forced off the fence.

Image source, EPA

We've just been hearing from US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin from the Ramstein air base in Germany.

Here are the key points from the news conference:

• Ministers from 40 countries - both Nato and non-Nato members - have met in Germany to discuss Ukraine's defence amid Russia's invasion
• They have been discussing a package of military and financial aid to Ukraine
• The most significant development was a major policy shift from Germany, which will now supply heavy weaponry to a conflict zone. During the news conference, Austin said Germany's decision to supply Ukraine with Gepard anti-aircraft systems and provide training was a "significant move"
• Asked about the nuclear threat from Russia, Austin said it was unhelpful and dangerous to speculate about nuclear weapons
• The US defence secretary also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the conflict
• The US pledged to move "heaven and earth" to make sure Ukraine defeats Russia. Austin said "Ukraine clearly believes that it can win and so does everyone here"
• The US defence secretary said they "want to make it harder for Russia to threaten its neighbours"
• Austin said the US is looking at the cause of recent attacks in Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-controlled territory in Moldova.

Austin is asked again about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's reported comments yesterday that there was a "serious" and "real" risk of World War Three - although Lavrov also said that we must not "elevate those risks artificially".

Austin says the US and international community "will do everything within our power to make sure it doesn’t spin out of control".

But he repeated that "bluster" about the use of nuclear weapons was "dangerous and unhelpful".

“Nobody wants to see a nuclear war, nobody can win that,” he said.

There was "always a possibility that things can happen", but it was wrong "speculate about the use of nuclear weapons".

The US defence secretary expanded on comments he made yesterday about wanting to see Russia weakened.

Lloyd Austin told reporters that he wanted Russia to be less able to threaten its neighbours and said they had already suffered significant loses to its land forces and "substantial casualities".

Gen Austin said that sanctions and trade restrictions would make it more difficult for Russian forces to re-equip and return military capability to the point where it could "bully its neighbours".

Image source, EPA

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked about the German decision to supply Ukraine with 50 Gepard anti-aircraft tanks - a major policy shift for Berlin.

Austin said it was a "significant move" as "those systems will provide real capability for Ukraine".

He predicted Germany will look for ways to continue to be "relevant" and provide "good capability" to the Ukrainians as they continue to fight Russian forces.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is asked about the explosions in Moldova and whether he is concerned that the conflict might spill over beyond Ukraine.

Austin says the US is still examining the cause of the blasts, but said "certainly we don’t want to see any spillover".

He's also asked about whether he is concerned there will be threats from Russia about nuclear weapons as a result of the allies providing heavy weapons to Ukraine.

The defence secretary says that kind of rhetoric is "very dangerous and unhelpful" and "all sides lose" in nuclear war.

"We won't engage in rattling of sabres," he says.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin is holding a news conference following a meeting of the US and its allies at an airbase in Germany to pledge more weapons for Ukraine.

He says the group will meet once a month to discuss Ukraine's defence needs to battle invading Russian troops.

"Today's gathering will become a monthly Contact Group on Ukraine's self-defence," he said following the first session of a weapons summit.

Stay with us for the latest updates

Image source, EPA

Moldova has stepped up security measures after a series of explosions in the breakaway Russia-backed region of Transnistria.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu urged citizens to remain calm after a series of explosions in the area bordering Ukraine raised fears of a spill over from the conflict with Russia.

Speaking after a meeting of Moldova's Supreme Security Council, Sandu attributed the explosions to "internal differences between various groups in Transnistria that have an interest in destabilising the situation".

The council recommended that state agencies step up patrols near the buffer zone with Transnistria, and security checks on critical infrastructure.

Image source, Getty Images

As we reported earler, Germany's announcement that it will send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine is a major shift for a country which had a policy against sending heavy weaponry to conflict zones.

Coming after weeks of pressure on the German government to meet Kyiv's demands, it is the most significant development so far to emerge while a meeting organised by the US between Nato and EU allies takes place.

Ministers from 40 countries are gathering at the US Ramstein air base in south-west Germany to try to speed up shipments to help Ukraine's defend itself against Russia.

It comes despite warnings from Russia that the countries' support for Kyiv could escalate the conflict with "unpredictable consequences".

"Nations from around the world stand united in our resolve to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's imperial aggression," said US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.

"Ukraine clearly believes that it can win, and so does everyone here."

Laurence Peter
BBC News Europe analyst

Image source, Reuters/Transnistria Interior Ministry

Mysterious explosions in Transnistria, a breakaway Russian-controlled territory in Moldova, have raised fears that the Ukraine conflict may be spreading.

Russia has about 1,500 troops based in Transnistria, which borders on Ukraine and broke away from Moldova in a brief war in 1992.

If Russia reinforces Transnistria it could enable its forces to move on Odesa - a strategically important port city - from the west. Its push on the city from the east was blocked by Ukrainian troops.

On Friday, a top Russian general, Rustam Minnekayev, said "control over the south of Ukraine is another way out to Transnistria, where there are also cases of oppression of the Russian-speaking population".

President Vladimir Putin has pledged to “protect” ethnic Russians in ex-Soviet republics. That was his argument for invading Ukraine. Moldova was formerly Soviet Moldavia.

Moldova is not in Nato or the EU. It is one of Europe’s poorest countries and home to many ethnic Ukrainians.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

For 40 years, two figures have stood on a hillside overlooking Kyiv.

Eight metres tall and cast in bronze, they depict two soviet workers - one bare chested, both with impossibly chiselled features, holding aloft a symbol of the USSR.

They were erected here under a titanium “Friendship Arch” to symbolise cooperation and brotherhood between the people of Russia and Ukraine.

Well, after years of fighting and two months of all-out war, that relationship is in tatters.

As a consequence, the city authorities have decided the statues must come down.

Mayor of Kyiv, former heavyweight world champion boxer Vitali Klitschko, told me that it was Russia’s actions that had destroyed the relationship and that this soviet-era monument had no place in the city.

Removing them is no easy task.

Four hours in and the statues still stand. But the people here are determined they will come down, to be replaced with a monument to an independent Ukraine.

Image source, Hans-Hermann Bühling

As we've been reporting, defence ministers from Nato and European Union countries have been meeting today at the United States' airbase in Ramstein, south-west Germany, to discuss providing more support to Ukraine.

A major policy shift was announced by the German government, which has authorised the supply of about 50 Gepard Flakpanzer anti-aircraft tanks.

Held in storage for the past decade, they will get technical upgrades before being shipped to Ukraine.

Germany has long had a policy of not shipping heavy weaponry to conflict zones, but its government has come under increasing pressure to provide more help to Kyiv.

Making the announcement, the country's defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, said Germany would "look into all possibilities how we can further support Ukraine in its courageous and important fight for freedom and for peace".

An official in Transnistria, the pro-Russian breakaway territory in Moldova, has accused three unidentified infiltrators from Ukraine over the grenade attack which damaged a security headquarters in the territory.

The unnamed official, quoted by Russia’s RIA and Interfax news agencies, said they entered from Novovladimirovka, 8km (five miles) north of Tiraspol, fired at the building in Tiraspol, then returned to Ukraine. No casualties were reported.

The official called it a “terrorist act” and accused Ukraine of “provoking a spreading of the conflict to Transnistria’s territory”.

There is no independent evidence to support that claim.

Ukraine was not mentioned in connection with the other two reported attacks in Transnistria – on radio masts and a Russian military unit.

Here's a clip from that joint news conference we've been reporting on between UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Guterres said Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a violation of the United Nations charter, and he said he was concerned about reports of war crimes.

But he stressed that his own "objective and my agenda is strictly linked to save lives and to reduce suffering" in Ukraine.

Here's how Guterres explained the UN's stance:

Guterres is now due to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for their first face-to-face meeting since the invasion.

UN needs to show it can helppublished at 14:26 British Summer Time 26 April 2022

14:26 BST 26 April 2022

Imogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva

When Russia invaded Ukraine, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres immediately told Moscow it had violated the UN Charter, and demanded that President Vladimir Putin withdraw his troops.

Since then, we haven’t heard much from the world’s top diplomat.

The UN is supposed to be able to resolve conflicts and punish aggressors. Other invasions, such as Iraq’s of Kuwait, have led to UN sanctions. Not this time.

Russia is a permanent, veto-holding member of the UN Security Council – which means no big decisions can be taken without its agreement.

So what can the UN's chief achieve in Moscow? Realistically, as he says himself, it’s about saving lives.

UN diplomacy may not be working, but the UN’s humanitarian side is.

Access for aid agencies to cities like Mariupol would be a meaningful success for the UN – and a huge relief to people living in cellars with little food or medical help.

A UN-negotiated ceasefire appears unlikely – neither side seems ready for that.

But if the UN’s humanitarian workers could do their job, it would change conditions on the ground for civilians and be an important signal that the UN still exists and can still be useful.

Toby Luckhurst and Olga Pona
Reporting from Lviv

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister has called on the UN secretary general to help those in Mariupol.

The Ukrainian defenders now control just one part of the city – the Azovstal steel works, a huge complex in the south-east of Mariupol.

The fighters have frustrated Russian attempts to seize the site, leading Vladimir Putin to publicly order his troops last week to abandon their assault and instead seal in the defenders to starve them out.

But Ukrainian officials say the Russian attacks continue.

“No one is allowed to leave Azovstal. It is a lie that the attack has stopped,” deputy mayor of Mariupol Serhiy Orlov tells us.

“There are still people there, civilians, military, families. The plant is constantly being bombarded.”

He adds that they have tried repeatedly to organise humanitarian corridors, but accuses the invaders of deporting people to their own country.

“We think that Russia has deported 40,000 people from Mariupol to their country,” he alleges – a claim the BBC cannot independently confirm.

Iryna Vereschuk, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, tells us there are about 1,000 civilians sheltering in the Azovstal works, and they are in desperate need of aid.

“They need immediate medical assistance,” she says. “Some of them have had amputations. It's not only about armed forces, it's about civilians as well.”

She also accuses the Russians of bad faith in negotiations over humanitarian corridors.

The Russians say they will protect the corridors but then insist anyone who uses them must walk out with their hands up, she says.

The deputy prime minister also accuses Russians of deporting people to their own country, “cynically” using planned humanitarian corridors to get people onto buses that then take them abroad.

Vereschuk says UN Secretary-General António Guterres should use his time in Moscow today to save the people of Mariupol and guarantee true humanitarian corridors. Ukrainian authorities are ready to go if this is confirmed, she adds.

“If this doesn’t happen, then there's no point to the UN,” she says.

Back now to Moscow and the talks between Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Speaking about the UN's proposals for the besieged city of Mariupol, Guterres said the organisation was "ready to fully mobilise its human and logistical resources" to help save lives and evacuate people.

Guterres said "thousands of civilians are in dire need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance" in the city.

He also proposed work with the Red Cross to enable people holed up inside the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol to leave.

Image source, Getty Images

We've got a bit more from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which sent a mission to Chernobyl to check on the site of the former nuclear power station after Russian forces occupied it for weeks.

Describing radiation levels as "normal", the agency's director general Rafael Grossi said: "There have been some moments when the levels have gone up because of the movement of the heavy equipment that Russian forces were bringing here and when they left. We are following that day by day."

But he said of the occupation by Russian forces: "The situation was absolutely abnormal and very, very dangerous,"

AFP reported he was speaking just as he arrived at the "sarcophagus" that was intended to limit radiactive contamination from reactor number four of the former nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster.

The IAEA said its mission to Chernobyl was intended to deliver equipment, check radiation levels and restore safeguards and monitoring systems at the site.

Russian troops took over the former power plant on 24 February, the first day of the invasion of Ukraine, and stayed there for several weeks.

Workers told the BBC they were forced to steal fuel to keep generators working and prevent a dangerous leak of radioactive material.

This post has been corrected, as the original AFP report said Grossi had described radiation levels as "abnormal". AFP later corrected the quote to say "at normal".