Russia's Ministry of Defence claims to have carried out four missile strikes on Ukrainian military targets overnight, destroying two missile and ammunition depots near the settlements of Barvinkove and Ivanivka in eastern Ukraine

It says Russian air defence also shot down a Ukrainian Su-24 aircraft near Luhansk, a city in eastern Ukraine, writing on Telegram.

It also claims to have neutralised 67 Ukrainian military facilities overnight and up to 40 armoured and motor vehicles.

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

Image source, Reuters

Russian government hackers have carried out at least 37 cyber-attacks against Ukraine since the invasion began, Microsoft has said in a report, external.

The tech giant's researchers said digital attacks on Ukraine began a year in advance of the invasion and may have laid the groundwork for military missions.

It also found that hacking and military operations worked in tandem, focusing on the same targets, but Microsoft said it wasn't clear whether there was a co-ordinated plan or they were just driven by shared goals.

On 1 March, the day a missile was fired at Kyiv's TV tower, media companies were hit by destructive hacks and cyber-espionage, the report found.

While Russian forces laid siege to the city of Mariupol, Microsoft said Ukrainians began receiving emails from a Russian organisation pretending to be a Ukrainian resident, falsely accusing the government of "abandoning" its citizens.

Victor Zhora, a Ukrainian cyber-security official, said he continues to see Russian hackers target telecoms companies and energy grid operators on a daily basis, Reuters reported.

"I believe that they can organise more attacks on these sectors. We shouldn't underestimate Russian hackers but we probably should not over-estimate their potential," he said.

Sarah Rainsford
Reporting from Bucha

In Bucha at the site of the mass grave behind a church, Antonio Guterres was told about the killing of civilians.

The UN secretary-general said: “Here, you feel how important it is for a thorough investigation and accountability.

"I fully support the international criminal court and appeal to the Russian federation to accept to cooperate with the ICC (the International Criminal Court). But when we talk of war crimes we cannot forget that the worst of crimes is war itself."

Should we be worried about a gas supply crisis?published at 09:07 British Summer Time 28 April 2022

09:07 BST 28 April 2022

Image source, Getty Images

How worried should we be about Gazprom's decision to halt gas exports to Poland and Bulgaria over the countries' refusal to pay for supplies in roubles?

Both Poland and Bulgaria were already planning not to renew their contracts with the Russian energy giant, which expire at the end of the year.

In Poland's case, it had been filling its stores of gas ahead of time, which provides some cushion, especially as we approach the summer lull in use of gas.

This escalation is real, and justified by the Kremlin on the basis of a refusal to pay for gas by changing money into roubles in Russian bank accounts.

But the additional impact of Wednesday's news should be containable and the actions of the Kremlin through Gazprom need to be put in perspective.

Read Faisal's full analysis

Sarah Rainsford
Reporting from Borodyanka, Ukraine

Antonio Guterres, the UN chief, is visiting sites around Ukraine’s capital that were occupied by Russian troops for several weeks in March.

The first stop was Borodyanka, to the north west of Kyiv, where the damage from air strikes and shelling is breathtaking.

Standing beside the wreckage of residential apartment blocks on Central Street, Mr Guterres was clearly moved by the sight.

“When I see those destroyed buildings, I imagine my family in one of those houses now destroyed and black. I see my granddaughters running in panic," he said.

"The war is an absurdity in the 21st century – the war is evil and when you see these situations our heart of course stays with the victims, our condolences to their families. But our emotions - there is no way a war can be acceptable in the 21st century. Look at that”

Some more now from BBC Breakfast's interview with the UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, where he's been defending Ukraine's right to use its weapons however it wishes within the laws of war.

"If Ukraine did choose to target the logistics structure of the Russian army, that would be legitimate under international law," he says.

But Mr Wallace adds that any strikes on Russian infrastructure are unlikely to have been targeted with UK-supplied weapons.

"They currently don't have British weapons that could do that, so it is unlikely that it is our weapons. We don't really have many long range weapons that are delivered in the way their army does."

The comments come after a different UK minister earlier this week said it would be legitimate for Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons on Russian soil.

Image source, .

The UK Foreign Secretary's comments last night that Russia should be pushed out of "all" of Ukraine are consistent with the UK's longstanding strategy in the region, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says.

There was speculation after the comments that the UK would now be supporting offensive operations by Ukrainian forces to retake Crimea, which has been under Russian control for eight years.

The international community has "always refused to recognise Russia's invasion in 2014 of Crimea", Mr Wallace tells BBC Breakfast, "so I think this is consistent".

He also defended the UK's decision to become increasingly involved in the conflict by sending military aid to Ukraine.

"It's really important to send a message to Putin that he will always get an escalation of certain behaviours when he behaves like he does. It's always calibrated to make sure that it doesn't broaden the conflict and to make sure that we are viewed as being defenders".

Some more reaction this morning to comments last night by the UK's Foreign Secretary that Russia should be pushed out of the whole of Ukraine.

The apparent escalation in military goals has been welcomed as "absolutely the right approach" by former Nato deputy Supreme Commander Europe General Sir Richard Shirreff.

"It's got to be followed through with significant resources, and it's got to be done right across the alliance, as a whole," Sir Shirreff tells BBC Radio 4's Today.

The former military commander cautioned that Putin may respond aggressively, but argued that this escalation was necessary to show that the West was serious.

"The worst case is war with Russia. By gearing itself up for the worst case it is most likely to deter Putin, because ultimately Putin respects strength."

Image source, Reuters

If you're just joining our live coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine - welcome! Here's a recap of what you've missed so far:

• Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria in a retaliatory move after both countries refused to pay in roubles
• The move was condemned widely by political leaders - including Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky - as blackmail, which the Kremlin denied. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it showed Russia was "unreliable" as an energy partner, and the White House said Russia was almost weaponising energy supplies
• Vladimir Putin issued a new threat to the West, saying any country that sets out to intervene in Ukraine will face a 'lightning-fast' military response. It comes after Western countries have ramped up support for Ukraine in the past days

• In the clearest indication yet of the UK's aims for the conflict, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russian forces must be pushed out of the whole of Ukraine. Speaking in London, she said a victory for Ukraine would be a strategic imperative for the West
• Zelensky claimed Russian special services were behind a series of explosions in Transnistria - a breakaway territory in Moldova bordering Ukraine and controlled by Russia. The region has seen a number of apparent attacks in the last few days
• UN Secretary General António Guterres is in Kyiv to meet President Zelensky for talks. He's been in Moscow already this week for a meeting with President Putin

With that, this is Vikas Pandey in Delhi and Zubaidah Abdul Jalil in Singapore handing over the Live Page to our colleagues Jeremy Gahagan and Leo Sands in London.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

No one is seriously expecting this visit to bring peace to Ukraine. But, it’s hoped Antonio Guterres might find a solution to one of its most difficult problems.

There are hundreds of civilians and Ukrainian fighters still trapped in the giant Azovstal Steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol.

Repeated efforts to create a humanitarian corridor have failed. The United Nations secretary general says he will try to change that.

He told journalists that finding a solution was particularly difficult as “we are not dealing with people who are in their homes, or in public places… but inside a bunker in truly dramatic conditions".

He also said President Putin had agreed to the evacuation of civilians “in principle”.

What isn’t clear is whether any deal would include the Ukrainian fighters who are there with them.

President Zelensky has previously said that if Mariupol’s defenders are killed, all negotiations will be called off.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

US President Joe Biden is set to address Ukraine's fight against Russia on Thursday, days after his administration sent two top-ranking officials to Ukraine.

The president will deliver remarks on support for Ukrainians defending their country and their freedom against Russia’s brutal war,” a White House spokesperson told US media outlet The Hill.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to Kyiv over the weekend to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian officials.

Austin said on Monday said that one of the US objectives in aiding Ukraine is to “see Russia weakened” so that it cannot “do the kinds of things that it has done.”

The visit comes as Biden announced an $800 million (£636m) military aid package last week to help Ukraine fight off invading Russian forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, just a week after announcing a separate $800 million package.

An update just now from the UK's Ministry of Defence says that Russia's Black Sea fleet still has the capacity to strike Ukrainian targets.

According to British intelligence, Russia's naval strength in the Black Sea includes around 20 vessels, with submarines also as part of the fleet.

However, the closing of the Bosphorus Strait to non-Turkish warships has meant the Russian navy has been unable to replace its downed flagship cruiser, the Moskva, the update adds.

Image source, President's Office of Ukraine

In his nightly address, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia's was using energy to blackmail Europe.

He said Russia's decision to cut off gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday showed "no one in Europe can hope to maintain any normal economic cooperation with Russia".

"Russia considers not only gas, but any trade as a weapon. It is just waiting for the moment when one or another trade area can be used," he said.

Zelensky added that Russia "sees a united Europe as a target" and the sooner everyone in the continent agrees that they cannot depend on Russia for trade, the sooner there will be stability.

He also welcomed a deal with the EU to suspend duties and quotas on Ukraine's exports, saying Russia wanted to create chaos in global markets - especially for food.

"Ukrainian exports would help stabilise markets and support the country's economy during the crisis," he added.

Kherson city in southern Ukraine, which Russia claims to have captured, will transition to using the rouble from 1 May, Russian state-run media Ria Novosti reported, external.

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy chairman of the military-civilian administration of the region, told Ria Novosti that the transition would take place over a period of four months, during which the Russian rouble and the Ukrainian hryvnia will be in circulation.

After this period, the region will fully transition to using Russian currency, he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA

There's a day of diplomacy ahead as António Guterres, the UN secretary general, is meeting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv later for talks.

Guterres has already travelled to Moscow earlier this week to make an appeal to Vladimir Putin about the war. At the Moscow talks, Guterres made clear the UN considered Russia's actions an invasion - and repeated calls for Russia and Ukraine to work together to set up safe humanitarian corridors.

In a tweet yesterday after he landed in Ukraine,, external Guterres promised to "continue our work to expand humanitarian support and secure the evacuation of civilians from conflict zones".

And he told Portuguese media that Putin had agreed in principle to help evacuate the hundreds of civilians trapped in a steelworks in Mariupol. But he said the operation was complicated and "particularly delicate".

Welcome to our live coverage for Thursday - and good morning if you're in the UK. If you're just joining our live coverage, here’s a quick catch up of yesterday’s stories, and what to look out for today:

• In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was using gas and trade as weapons against Europe.
• This comes after Russia's state-owned energy company Gazprom cut off supplies to Poland and Bulgaria on Wednesday. Moscow said it took the decision because the two countries refused to pay in roubles.
• Russia's move has been widely condemned: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it showed Russia was "unreliable" as an energy partner. The White House said Russia was almost weaponising energy supplies. Read more: Can Europe wean itself off Russian oil and gas?
• President Zelensky also claimed Russian special services were behind a series of explosions in Transnistria - which is a breakaway territory in Moldova which borders Ukraine and is controlled by Russia. The region has seen a number of apparent attacks in the last few days. Russia says it was concerned and was watching developments closely. For more on the situation there, and what it might mean, read our piece -Transnistria and Ukraine conflict: Is war spreading?
• In his nightly address, Zelensky also said the European Commission has agreed to remove all duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports for a year.
• He accused Russia of trying to provoke a global price crisis, "to start chaos in all basic markets and especially in the food market".
• He said that the fighting remains focused to eastern Ukraine in the besieged port city of Mariupol, and Marinka, Popasna, Severodonetsk, Izyum, Rubizhne, Dniprorudne and Melitopol regions.
• Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin issued a new threat to the West, saying any country that sets out to intervene in Ukraine will face a "lightning-fast" military response.

• Also in the news, Trevor Reed, a US citizen and former marine, who has been in a Russian jail since 2019, has been freed in a prisoner swap with Russia. He was traded for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian jailed on drug-smuggling charges.

• In the clearest indication yet of the UK's policy on the conflict, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Russian forces must be pushed out of the whole of Ukraine. Speaking in London, she said a victory for Ukraine would be a strategic imperative for the West

• And finally, the UN Secretary General António Guterres is in Kyiv today to meet Zelensky for talks. He's been in Moscow already this week for a meeting with Putin.