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Ukraine's military says it has been continuing to repulse attempts by Russian forces to advance in parts of the eastern Donbas region, which is made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

It said fighting was continuing as Russia was trying to complete the capture of two towns in Luhansk - Rubizhne and Popasna.

Ukraine's army also says Russia is bringing in reinforcements to the area around the city of Izyum - a key battleground in the Kharkiv region n the north-east of the country.

Russia meanwhile says it hit several Ukrainian military sites in missile strikes overnight, including depots for ammunition and fuel.

Image source, Reuters

Russia is doing everything it can to destroy "any life" in the Donbas region in the east, Ukraine's president has said.

In his nightly address, Volodomyr Zelensky accused Russia of constant strikes at infrastructure and residential areas that "show that Russia wants to make this area uninhabited".

He also spoke about the rocket attacks on Kyiv during the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's visit this week.

"Unfortunately, the brutal humiliation of the United Nations by Russia was left without a powerful response," he said.

Separately, he also told Polish media that the chances of peace talks collapsing are "high" because of Russia's "playbook on murdering people".

However he said he was still ready to speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin because "a single man decides everything" in Russia.

Image source, Reuters

Russia's foreign minister has said what the country calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine is "developing strictly according to plan" - despite Western claims to the contrary.

Speaking to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, Sergei Lavrov said its goals would "surely be achieved".

Yesterday a senior US defence official said the Russian campaign to seize control of the Donbas region was "at least several days behind where they wanted to be", with progress "slow and uneven".

On peace talks, although they have not taken place face-to-face for several weeks, Lavrov said discussions of a draft of a possible treaty were being discussed on a daily basis by video conferencing.

"We are in favour of continuing the negotiations, although they are not going well," he said.

Lavrov accused the US and Nato countries of considering Ukraine as a "tool" to contain Russia, and said they had forced Kyiv to make an "artificial, false choice: either with the West or with Moscow".

"If the US and Nato are really interested in resolving the Ukraine crisis, then first of all, they should wake up and stop supplying the Kyiv regime with arms and ammunition," Lavrov said.

Sarah Rainsford
Reporting from Kyiv

Wives, sisters and mothers of Ukrainian fighters trapped in Mariupol have come to Kyiv to plead with the government to do more to get the men out. They say they’re even ready to act as a human shield, if that helps evacuate the men to safety.

The soldiers are under siege on the territory of the Azovstal steel plant, a vast area which Vladimir Putin recently ordered Russian troops to surround so that "a gnat couldn’t get through". It’s still under heavy fire.

The fighters’ relatives say the men are exhausted, dirty and hungry with food and water supplies running out. The families’ big worry is that stop-start talks with Moscow about evacuating the plant are focusing more on the fate of civilians than soldiers.

“When they talk about green corridors or extraction, they talk about civilians not military, and I am really worried. The military are also people," Olga told me.

"They’re in the real hell there, and it’s so much worse than simple war."

She shows me photos of her husband in uniform but doesn’t want me to identify him.

"The [soldiers] have been [defending] the whole Ukraine and even Europe for two months now, and they deserve to come back alive," she says.

She doesn’t trust Russian forces to take the Ukrainian soldiers alive if they surrendered.

Another woman, Natalia, worries about her brother, Artyom, who’s 26.

"We shouldn’t divide soldiers and civilians: they are all our Ukrainians. They should all live. It’s not our fault we were attacked," Natalia says.

The women are urging the authorities to step-up pressure for a humanitarian corridor for all those trapped in Mariupol. But they stress that time is running out.

The number holed-up in Mariupol is unclear but it’s thought to be hundreds, including some children.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has been trying to reassure the population about fuel shortages, which he says have led to queues and rising prices in many regions.

Speaking on Friday evening, he said the Russians had been deliberately destroying fuel production, supply and storage infrastructure, as well as blocking ports.

"There are no immediate solutions to replenish the deficit. But government officials promise that within a week, maximum two, a system of fuel supply to Ukraine will be provided that will be able to prevent a deficit," he said.

He said this was a "difficult task" after a Russian attack on an oil refinery this week at Kremenchuk in central Ukraine.

In a statement, the Ukrainian economy minister said Kyiv had secured contracts with European fuel suppliers.

More than a million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since the start of the invasion of Ukraine - according to Russia's foreign minister.

Sergei Lavrov told Chinese state media thousands of foreigners, as well as people from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, were among those who had been evacuated.

Ukraine has previously accused Russia of taking people across the border against their will and allegedly using them as hostages.

Ukraine's deputy prime minister told the BBC that Moscow has previously attempted to trade civilians for military prisoners - a breach of the Geneva Convention.

Irena Vereshchuk also said some civilians had been tortured... saying "the stories they told us are terrible".

We have been reporting in recent days on increased fighting in the eastern region of the Donbas, which is made up of Donetsk and Luhansk. Part of it was controlled by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion began, and Russia has said it aims to to take control of the whole region.

But the UK Ministry of Defence's latest intelligence report says Russian forces still face "considerable challenges".

"Russia has been forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in north-east Ukraine", it says, and "many of these units are likely suffering from weakened morale".

"Russia hopes to rectify issues that have previously constrained its invasion by geographically concentrating combat power, shortening supply lines and simplifying command and control," the MOD says.

But it adds that Russian forces still faces "shortcomings in tactical co-ordination", a "lack of unit-level skills" and "inconsistent air support".

Image source, .

We're resuming our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. Here's a round-up of the latest developments:

• Russia still faces considerable challenges and has been forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in north-east Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence says
• Fighting continues in the Donbas region in the east. But the Russian campaign to seize it is behind schedule and moving slowly, a senior US defence official has said

• The Pentagon has accused the Russian president of "depravity and brutality" in his invasion of Ukraine

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the chances of peace talks ending are "high" because of Russia's "playbook on murdering people", Interfax reports
• More than a million people have been "evacuated" from Ukraine to Russia since the invasion began, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says
• Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of deporting people against their will – and using them as hostages

• Russia has attempted to exchange Ukrainian civilians for captured Russian soldiers in violation of the Geneva Convention, according to Ukraine's deputy prime minister

Image source, Getty Images

We're back on Saturday morning Ukraine time. We leave you with some of Friday's main developments:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he would be willing to hold peace talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin despite Russian atrocities
• Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country does not consider itself to be at war with Nato, state news agency Ria has reported
• A senior defence official has said the US does not believe Russia will use nuclear weapons, Reuters reports
• The Pentagon has accused the Russian president of "depravity and brutality" in his invasion of Ukraine
• Russia has attempted to exchange Ukrainian civilians for captured Russian soldiers in violation of the Geneva Convention, according to Ukraine's deputy prime minister
• The UK ambassador has returned to Kyiv, joining the 27 foreign diplomatic missions currently operating in the country
• President Biden's proposed massive aid package for Ukraine has been held up by congressional infighting over US domestic priorities

You can read our full round-up of the day's events here.

Image source, handout

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the UK's ambassador for returning to Kyiv on Friday.

Zelensky also thanked the other 27 foreign diplomatic missions currently operating in the capital, saying it is "an extremely important gesture of support for Ukraine".

"Such gestures, together with strong defensive, financial and political support from the free world, mean that the need to end the war is becoming more and more obvious to Russia," he said.

"The defeat of the occupiers is unalterable."

He added that Russians in the occupied city of Kherson are preparing to transition the local monetary system there to Russian roubles and also praised a Ukrainian journalist who died when a missile struck her building on Thursday.

Zelensky also thanked the US Congress for passing a bill that allows the American president to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine.

Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022 is named after the World War II programme that saw the US send weapons to the UK and allied nations. The legislation overwhelmingly passed Congress this month, and is now awaiting President's Biden's signature.

Zelensky said the lend-lease programme "will be very helpful in the fight against Russia," adding that it "helped a lot in the fight against the Nazis during World War II".

Image source, Getty Images

Charities are working to deliver emergency contraception to Ukrainian hospitals amid rising reports of rape.

Nearly 3,000 packets of morning-after pills have been sent to areas of the country most affected by the Russian invasion.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation has provided the pills.

Caroline Hickson, from the group, says: "If you have been a victim of gender-based violence it's important you can take it as soon as possible, because being pregnant as a result of rape is incredibly traumatic."

The organisation has also been sending medical abortion pills, which can be used up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The US defence department's spokesman has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "depravity" in his invasion of Ukraine.

Apparently becoming emotional, John Kirby paused to collect himself during his remarks.

Image source, Reuters

The US says the world cannot deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin as it has before, after Indonesia invited him - as well as Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky - to the G20 summit in November.

President Joe Biden "has expressed publicly his opposition" to Putin attending while the US has "welcomed the Ukrainians attending", White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

She indicated that the invitation to Russia to attend the summit on the island of Bali came before Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Separately, US state department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said it could not be "business as usual" with Russia on the international stage.

She did not say whether the US would still attend the summit.

Unlike Ukraine, Russia is a member of the G20, which is made up of the world's largest economies.

Image source, Getty Images

US lawmakers hope to approve President Joe Biden's request for a whopping $33bn (£27bn) in aid for Ukraine "as soon as possible", top Democrat Nancy Pelosi told reporters on Friday.

It comes as the legislation hits its first roadblocks in Washington, despite overwhelming support for Ukraine.

Democrats want the money to be tied to a deal approving some $10bn in domestic Covid relief funding.

Some Republicans want to tie the money to language that would prevent Biden from lifting a pandemic-related immigration order that drastically reduced the number of asylum seekers entering the US.

Pelosi, the powerful Speaker of the House of Representatives, says officials will need to "come to terms" with how to address both issues.

"We have emergencies here. We need to have the Covid money and time is of the essence because we need the Ukraine money, we need the Covid money, so I would hope that we can do that," Pelosi said.

Earlier on we reported that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had told Polish media that a mass grave containing 900 bodies had been found in the Kyiv region.

But his spokesman, Serhiy Nikiforov, now says that - although a new mass grave was indeed discovered on Friday - the president misspoke, and was in fact referring to the total number of bodies found so far in mass graves near the town of Bucha, Ukraine's Unian news agency reports.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, millions of children across the country have fled their homes.

For some, it’s an even harder journey, because they don’t have their parents with them.

One children’s home on the eastern front had to move all of their children hundreds of miles across the country to keep them safe.

Among them is 11-year-old Angelina, who’s now trying to make a new life in the western city of Lviv.

Joel Gunter
Reporting from Kyiv

Moscow has attempted to trade Ukrainian civilians for Russian military prisoners, according to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister - a move forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

Iryna Vereshchuk told the BBC that her office, which is responsible for negotiating prisoner swaps, declined and instructed Russia to send back Ukrainian civilians it had taken.

There is growing evidence that Russia has forcibly deported large numbers of civilians across the border since it invaded the country in February.

Ms Vereshchuk said they were being used as hostages.“That's why they captured all these hostages - civilians, women, employees of local councils, to try and use them," she said.

“We know there are more than a thousand hostages there - including almost 500 women,” she said. “We know they are in prisons and pre-trial detention centres in Kursk, in Briansk, in Riazan, in Rostov."

She said Russia had also dragged its feet in sending back women civilians. “We are extracting women almost with pliers,” she said. “Now we refuse to hold an exchange with no women in the list. That is how we try to somehow rescue our women and civilians.”

In the most recent exchange, nine civilians were sent back with severe injuries, including amputations performed in Russia.

“There were badly injured people in this exchange - amputated limbs, sepsis, other severe injuries," Ms Vereshchuk said.

“There were clear signs of torture," she said. "The stories they told us are terrible."

If you're just joining us, here are some of today's main developments from the war in Ukraine:

• Another mass grave containing 900 bodies has been found in the Kyiv region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says
• Zelensky also said he would be willing to hold peace talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin despite Russian atrocities
• Meanwhile, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says his country does not consider itself to be at war with Nato, state news agency Ria has reported
• A senior defence official has said the US does not believe Russia will use nuclear weapons, Reuters reports
• The US has accused the Russian president of "depravity and brutality" in his invasion of Ukraine

You can read our full round-up of the day's events here.

Image source, REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine will play German Bundesliga club Borussia Monchengladbach on 11 May in preparation for their football World Cup play-off semi-final against Scotland.

The friendly at Borussia-Park will be Ukraine men's first game since their country was invaded by Russia.

All profits from the match will be donated to Ukrainian charities.

Ukraine last played in November, winning 2-0 away to Bosnia-Herzegovina to secure their place in the World Cup play-offs.

Scotland host Ukraine at Hampden Park in Glasgow on 1 June, with the winner progressing to the final against Wales in Cardiff four days later.

The national team's Ukraine-based players have seen little game time in recent months after their country's domestic league was terminated due to continuing martial law.

Rob Cameron
Reporting from Prague

Slovakia's defence minister Jaroslav Nad says neighbouring Poland is ready to guard Slovak airspace if the country decides to ground its fleet of aging Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets.

His Polish counterpart said Poland's F-16s could provide protection from bases inside Poland.

Polish jets already help to protect the Baltic states as part of Nato's air policing operations.

But the timing of this announcement - following a meeting of the two ministers in Bratislava - is significant.

It was not explicitly stated, but it suggests there are serious moves afoot to send some of Slovakia's MiGs to Ukraine.

To be fair, Slovakia has been looking for some time at ways to protect its airspace until an order of new F-16 fighters arrives from the US.

On paper Slovakia has a total of 12 MiG-29s, based at Sliac air base in Central Slovakia.

However, there have long been questions over their airworthiness.

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In 2018, Bratislava signed a deal with Washington to buy some 18 F-16 fighter jets to replace them, but the global chip shortage has pushed back delivery from 2023 to 2024.

Analysts say Slovakia could either send airworthy planes or aircraft that could be cannibalised by Ukraine for spare parts.

Ukrainian pilots already fly the Soviet-era aircraft, but the Slovak MiGs reportedly contain Nato systems they may not be familiar with, and which would need to be removed to avoid falling into the hands of Russia.

An added complication is the jets are only kept in the air by a team of Russian technicians, who are - it is claimed - still based at Sliac, despite the war.