Speaking at the start of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stresses the need to do everything possible to end the war in Ukraine.

Guterres - who will also meet with President Vladimir Putin today - says he wants to help create the conditions for dialogue, a ceasefire and ultimately, peace.

We need a ceasefire "as soon as possible", he says.

He also says the priority must be to minimise human suffering in the country.

The talks are now going on behind closed doors, but we'll return with updates when Lavrov and Guterres hold a press conference later.

Image source, EPA

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has welcomed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to Moscow saying has "expeditiously responded" to Guterres's initiative "to have another contact on a number of issues including definitely the situation around Ukraine which has become a catalyst for a number of problems".

Lavrov says "we appreciate your desire to have another round of talks at this hard time" saying that the "multilateral principles" of the UN "have been flaunted by the West".

Lavrov adds that there's no doubt they'll talk about "any issue" Guterres deems important.

Image source, Reuters

United Nations' Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Moscow for meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Guterres is currently meeting Lavrov and the pair are scheduled to hold a press conference at 11:30 BST (10:30 GMT).

Guterres will then meet Putin.

Talks are expected to focus on humanitarian corridors out of the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Yesterday, Russia's first deputy envoy to the UN, Dmitry Polyanski, said he saw no point in a ceasefire in Ukraine.

We'll bring you updates from those meetings in Moscow when we get them.

Little optimism over today's UN peace talks in Moscowpublished at 10:33 British Summer Time 26 April 2022

10:33 BST 26 April 2022

Jenny Hill
Reporting from Moscow

Few foster any illusions that a great deal will come out of the talks between UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow today.

We don't even know how long Putin will speak with Guterres, who has already tried in vain to secure a ceasefire during the weekend just gone, when both Russians and Ukrainians celebrated Orthodox Easter.

But it’s important to recognise that Putin and his Kremlin propaganda machine are preparing Russians for the long haul, accusing the West of deliberately prolonging the conflict by supplying weapons and, in effect, transforming Putin’s "special military operation" into a full-blown war.

Putin - for whom Ukraine is the enemy, but the West is the real villain - is defiant, unrepentant, and seems absolutely convinced he's in the right. He appears to be determined to continue in his mission.

It's likely today’s talks will focus on the southern port city of Mariupol and the potential for humanitarian corridors for civilians - particularly those sheltering in the besieged Azovstal steel plant.

But given Russia's continued aggression and its belligerent tone, there is little optimism that we'll see any significant developments today.

Yesterday we brought you reports of several explosions in the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria, which borders western Ukraine and is backed by Russia.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu is now convening a meeting of the country's Supreme Security Council over the incidents.

The president's press office said the council would meet from 13:00 (10:00 GMT), after which Sandu will hold a press briefing.

Blasts hit the state security ministry in Transnistria on Monday, according to the interior ministry. The building appeared to have been hit with rocket-propelled grenades, but no-one was injured, it said.

Two explosions also hit a radio tower re-broadcasting Russian stations near the Ukrainian border early on Tuesday, the interior ministry said.

The BBC has not been able to verify these reports.

It comes days after a Russian general suggested Moscow wanted to take full control of southern Ukraine, giving Russia access to the separatist region of Moldova which it supports.

The small Russian-speaking area of Transnistria claimed independence after the fall of the Soviet Union but is not recognised internationally and officially remains part of Moldova.

Image source, Bundeswehr-Fotos

Among the countries expected to announce an increase in military support for Ukraine at the meeting of Nato and EU defence ministers today is Germany.

According to reports, the German government is set to back sending mobile anti-aircraft guns to Ukraine.

The Gepard twin-cannon system has been in service with the German army since the 1970s and is based on the chassis of the Leopard tank.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht is expected to give details at the meeting of Western defence ministers on Tuesday, at the US Ramstein airbase in Germany.

It is not clear how many will be delivered but it would be the first direct delivery of a German heavy weapon to Ukraine.

The German government has been accused of delaying arms supplies to Ukraine, in contrast with the US, UK and Ukraine’s east European neighbours.

German media say there are also plans to deliver about 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine and some old Leopard battle tanks.

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany is boosting its defence budget this year by €100bn (£84bn; $113bn) - a major policy change.

Image source, EPA

More now on the meeting that is taking place among defence ministers of Nato and European Union countries on providing more military assistance to Ukraine.

Speaking as the meeting was about to begin, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin praised the "valour and skill" of Ukraine's armed forces and said their defence of their country against Russia's invasion would go down in history.

Gen Austin said the strength of the Ukrainian resistance had bought Nato time to provide equipment and support.

He also said Russia was committing "indefensible atrocities" and the war was a "challenge to free people everywhere".

Gen Austin said the meeting would work to develop a framework to help Ukraine win the conflict, and support the country when the war was over.

The Russian defence ministry claims it killed 500 Ukrainian soldiers overnight after its air force hit 87 military targets in Ukraine.

Two arms depots in the Kharkiv region are said to be among the targets hit.

The ministry also posted a video on their website of reportedly showing a storage and repair base for the Ukrainian armed forces that they claim to have taken.

Military tanks and other vehicles can be seen in the clip.

It is said to contain ammunition, weapons, documentation and other equipment belonging to the Ukrainian military.

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

Defence ministers from Nato and European Union countries are meeting in Germany to discuss further military assistance for Ukraine.

The meeting is taking place at the US Air Force base at Ramstein.

On Monday, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who is chairing the meeting, said Washington wanted to see Russia weakened to the point where it would no longer be capable of an invasion like in Ukraine.

Ahead of the meeting, reports suggested that Germany would pledge to supply anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine. The Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported that Germany's defence minister was set to offer the weapons at Tuesday's meeting.

For months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking Western allies for more weapons - saying his forces can turn the tide of the war with more firepower.

Nato countries have pledged support including defensive weapons, but western powers have been reluctant to deepen their involvement, for fear of sparking a wider conflict against nuclear-armed Russia.

UK Armed Forces Minister James Heappey has said it is "entirely legitimate" for Ukraine to carry out strikes within Russia to disrupt its supply lines.

He was speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme following warnings from Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about Nato supplying weapons to Ukraine.

Heappey says the West has been very careful about the donation of military aid, saying it was not a "purely Nato endeavour".

Asked about reports that Ukraine has targeted a fuel depot in Russian territory, Heappey continues: "The question is, is it acceptable for our weapons to be used against legitimate Russian military targets by the Ukrainians?

"Firstly, it's Ukrainians that take the targeting decision, not the people who manufacture or export the kit in the first place. And secondly, it is entirely legitimate to go after targets in the depth of your opponents to disrupt their logistics and supply lines."

He adds that it is also "perfectly legitimate for the Russians to be striking targets in western Ukraine to disrupt Ukrainian supply lines. That is very much a part of war".

Russian soldiers have continued blocking Ukrainian units at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol, Ukraine's Armed Forces have said in a daily update.

The plant is the last part of Mariupol that is not under Russian control.

Here's what else was said in the update:

• An ammunition warehouse and a "large number of enemy personnel warehouses" have been reportedly destroyed by Ukrainian soldiers, with an estimated 70 people killed in the attack
• Ukraine said it has repelled six enemy attacks in the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk in the past 24 hours.
• Russian troops were moving their control points closer to the line of combat in the regions of Donetsk in the east and Tavrian in the south, the update said.

The BBC could not independently verify these claims.

Moscow's claims that Western allies could be provoking a wider conflict by supplying Ukraine with weapons have been dismissed as "utter nonsense" by a UK defence minister.

Responding to the suggestion from Russia's foreign minister that the shipments meant Nato was "in essence engaged in war", armed forces minister James Heappey maintained the organisation was not donating arms.

He told Sky News: "Sergei Lavrov might also reflect that the reason there is a war in Ukraine right now is because Russia rolled over the borders of a sovereign country and started to invade their territory.

"All of this noise from Moscow about somehow their attack on Ukraine being a response to Nato aggression is just utter, utter nonsense."

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

Ukrainian forces have been holding the line in Donbas since 2014 against Russian-backed separatists. They're still holding the line, but what was sporadic fighting has now turned into a full-blown war.

"It's become much harder," says Lieutenant Denys Gordeev.

"We have bomb attacks, rocket attacks every day, all the time, every hour." Though he has spent eight years battling Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas, now he and his men are facing the full might of the Russian army.

Ukrainian forces are struggling to hold a 300-mile front in the Donbas. They've already lost ground to the Russians and are likely to lose more in the days ahead. Russian forces have been conducting probing attacks to find weak points in Ukraine's defences.

Western experts say Ukrainians are already outnumbered three to one. They also concede that Ukraine will probably have to trade space and ground in open areas to defend key cities where the Russians will find it more difficult to fight.

The Russians "are coming and coming and coming into territory of Ukraine. And we don't know when they will stop. We don't know when their journey ends," says Lt Gordeev.

Read more here.

Image source, European Pressphoto Agency

Russia "senses" its defeat in Ukraine and is therefore trying to intimidate the West against supporting Kyiv by warning of the threat of World War III breaking out, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has tweeted., external

"Russia loses last hope to scare the world off supporting Ukraine. Thus the talk of a 'real' danger of WWIII. This only means Moscow senses defeat in Ukraine.

"Therefore, the world must double down on supporting Ukraine so that we prevail and safeguard European and global security."

Kuleba's tweet, written in English, came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western arms shipments to Ukraine meant Nato was "in essence engaged in war with Russia" and there was "considerable" risk of the conflict escalating.

Russian rhetoric ramping uppublished at 07:44 British Summer Time 26 April 2022

07:44 BST 26 April 2022

Jenny Hill
Reporting from Moscow

We've heard overnight from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who has repeated what is actually a fairly consistent narrative here - that peace talks are failing or not doing well, and that this is the fault of the Ukrainian side.

But when you look at what is coming out of Moscow, and what Russian people are now being told, the narrative is really ramping up in terms of putting across that this isn't just about Ukraine - the West is wading in and turning this into a full-blown conflict.

Lavrov himself has said this could turn into World War Three.

None of this is shocking or surprising to Russians, who are being prepared for the long haul by Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin media machine.

The fact that Ukrainians will be blamed for any failure in peace talks is simply part and parcel of that narrative.

If you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the latest on Ukraine:

• UN chief Antonio Guterres is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later today. The talks are expected to focus on the besieged city of Mariupol. Ukraine has asked Guterres to guarantee a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians
• The US will kick off Ukraine-related defence talks with more than 40 countries today. Hosted by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Germany, the talks will focus on providing more arms Kyiv
• The US wants to see "Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine," Austin told reporters after meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky
• The UK Ministry of Defence said that the city of Kreminna in Luhansk has reportedly fallen. The MoD's daily update also said Russian forces are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east of Ukraine
• Meanwhile, the British government announced it has dropped tariffs on all goods from Ukraine. It has also imposed a ban on the export of products and technology to Russia that could be used to repress Ukrainians

This is Yvette Tan in Singapore and Meryl Sebastian in Delhi handing over to our colleagues Holly Wallis and Alex Therrien in London who will bring you all the latest updates as they emerge.

The village of Senkivka in Ukraine is situated at the nexus of the border crossing between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. Once the site of festivals that celebrated the friendship between the three countries, it's now a war front line, and its residents tell of families separated across borders living in fear.

With rare access to the village, the BBC's Yogita Limaye has seen first-hand the impact of a community torn apart by war.

Wedged into the yard of Nina Malenok's home is the tail of a rocket fired in the early hours of the 24 February - the day the war started.

"I heard it land in my yard. There was fire and smoke everywhere. My lights went off. I jumped out of bed and ran out my house," said Nina.

In the days that followed, hidden in a cellar, she heard planes flying overhead, heavy vehicles driving in and whistles being frequently blown.

Read more here.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later today but expectations from the meeting are said to be low after several failed diplomatic efforts so far.

The talks between Putin and Guterres are expected to focus on the besieged city of Mariupol where, despite declaring a victory, Russian forces have failed to take the Azovstal steelworks.

Ukraine forces said earlier on Tuesday that Russia continued to blockade its units at the plant.

Ukraine has asked Guterres to guarantee a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians sheltering inside Azovstal.

The UN chief is also expected to travel on to Kyiv on Thursday where he will meet President Volodomyr Zelensky.

The US is also set to kick off Ukraine-related defense talks with dozens of countries today, with US defense secretary Lloyd Austin playing host in Germany.

These talks come as Moscow's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the risk of a World War III "is serious" and criticised Kyiv's approach to floundering peace talks

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, however, responded that Lavrov was trying to "scare the world off" from supporting the country.

The city of Kreminna in Luhansk has reportedly fallen, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its daily update, though it did not give any more details on this.

Earlier reports had already suggested that Russian forces were in control of Kreminna, a town of around 18,000.

The MoD added that heavy fighting was reported in the south of the city of Izyum, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east, it said.

The update also said Russian forces are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east of Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces have been preparing defences in Zaporizhzhia in preparation for a potential Russian attack from the south, it added.

The BBC could not independently verify this information.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has said he hopes Russian losses in Ukraine will deter its leadership from repeating its actions elsewhere.

Ukraine can still win the war if given the right support, he said.

He also announced the US would allocate an extra $713m (£559m) of military aid to Ukraine and other European nations.

At a news conference in Poland after the visit, Mr Austin told reporters the US wants to see "Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine".

Mr Austin, a retired four-star general, was speaking after meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. Also involving Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the visit marked the highest-level trip to Ukraine by US officials since the invasion began over two months ago.

The meeting between the US and Ukrainian parties, which ran for over three hours, comes as Russia escalates its military campaign in the south and east of the country.

Read more here.