As we've heard, President Biden has asked Congress for $33bn (£27bn) in military, economic and humanitarian assistance to support Ukraine "for the next five months".

Biden said it was "critical" for US lawmakers to approve the package and America could not "stand by" after the invasion.

He said Putin could never succeed in dominating Ukraine, but he insisted his country was not "attacking" Russia.

Paul Adams
BBC News

Russia’s war on Ukraine began with an attempt to capture the capital, Kyiv, and replace the government of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

That failed, but in areas now under Russian control in the south and east, America says the purging of local government is well under way.

According to Ambassador Michael Carpenter, Washington has information that Russia is planning to dissolve municipal governments.

New structures, complete with new constitutions, are envisaged.

Anyone who supports Ukraine’s legitimate government is to be banned.

Image source, .

The ambassador wouldn’t say where his information came from, but insisted it was credible and drawn from a variety of sources.

There’s already plenty of circumstantial evidence.

Images of a mayor being abducted in March, plans for referendums being discussed in Moscow and the introduction of the Russian currency, the rouble, point to the Kremlin’s desire to remove all trace of Kyiv’s authority.

Ambassador Carpenter said the forced transfer of civilians continues and that locally elected leaders are being abducted, tortured and in some cases murdered.

Image source, Reuters

One of the rockets that struck Kyiv on Thursday landed near the hotel where the visiting UN secretary general is staying, according to his spokesman.

The rocket hit barely an hour after Antonio Guterres held a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Guterres and his team are safe, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US.

He added that the UN delegation was meeting the prime minister in his office and were not in the hotel at the time.

"I am in Kyiv today. Two rockets have exploded in Kyiv, I was shocked to be informed that two rockets had exploded in the city where I am," Guterres told BBC News during his visit.

"So this is a dramatic war, and we absolutely need to end this war, and we absolutely need to have a solution for this war."

Lucy Manning
BBC News Special Correspondent

A British woman who signed up to sponsor a Ukrainian woman and her baby to come to the UK has criticised the Home Office for delays in issuing their visas - after the mother was injured in a missile strike in Odesa before she could travel.

The Homes for Ukraine scheme lets people in the UK host Ukrainian refugees who are known to them, but who do not have family ties in the UK.

After an initial delay, Glenys Ozanne-Turk, from Warminster, Wiltshire, wrote to the Home Office and her MP, and the visas were issued after three weeks.

But the following day, 23 April, as the Ukrainian pair left the shelter to pack their belongings, the building was hit by Russian missiles. The mother, who has asked not to be named, was injured and taken to hospital. Her baby was unharmed.

Ozanne-Turk told BBC News: “If she could have come two weeks ago, she would have been safe, alive and well in the UK, rather than in a hospital bed in Odesa.”

But she added she was hopeful her guests would make it to the UK.

The injured woman is still grateful the UK gave them visas and believes only Russia can be blamed for her injuries.

The Home Office says more than 86,000 visas have been issued in one of the fastest and biggest visa schemes in UK history.

Image source, Getty Images

The world nuclear regulatory watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Thursday it is investigating reports that a missile passed directly over a nuclear power plant in Ukraine.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said Ukraine had informed it that a missile flew over a plant in the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk on 16 April.

The allegation would be "extremely serious" if true, he said.

"Had such a missile gone astray, it could have had a severe impact on the physical integrity of the plant, potentially leading to a nuclear accident," he added.

The IAEA did not say who had fired the missile. Ukraine has accused Russia of sending missiles over nuclear plants in the country.

Image source, Ukrainian government

The massive $33bn aid package for Ukraine that is expected to be authorised by the US later on Thursday will make a big difference in Ukraine's fighting capabilities, President Volodymyr Zelensky says in his nightly address to the nation.

At the beginning of his remarks, he thanks the American people and President Biden, and agrees with Biden's comment earlier today that the package is "not cheap", but is necessary to stop Russian aggression.

Zelensky also repeats his vow to hold accountable any Russian troops found to have committed war crimes in Ukraine. He adds that 10 Russian motorised rifle troops have been identified as "suspects" of atrocities.

He says the "thugs who killed and tortured Ukrainians" will be brought to trial, but cautions that many may not survive the war.

"This Russian brigade was relocated to the Kharkiv region. There they will get retribution from our military," Zelensky says.

He adds that he met in Kyiv today with the Bulgarian prime minister and the UN secretary general, and told him that Russia's actions violated everything the UN was set up to do.

"And today, immediately after the end of our talks in Kyiv, Russian missiles flew into the city. Five missiles," he says.

"This says a lot about Russia's true attitude to global institutions. About the efforts of the Russian leadership to humiliate the UN."

He adds that missiles also struck Odesa, Fastiv and other cities.

Zelensky sends his personal gratitude "to each of our defenders who are holding positions".

"We are doing everything to help our army, to provide the military with all the necessary weapons."

Image source, Ukraine's State Emergency Service

More news now on the missile strikes in Kyiv, a city that has been relatively calm in the past few weeks as Russia focuses its efforts on taking Ukraine's east.

According to a Telegram message from Ukraine's State Emergency Service, a residential building was "partially destroyed as a result of enemy shelling" on Kyiv.

Fires sparked by the bombing were reported at 20:13 local time in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital.

The fire in the 25-storey building was extinguished by 21:25 after burning a total area of 100 square meters and causing the "partial destruction" of the 1st and 2nd floors.

"According to preliminary data, five people were rescued and ten were injured," the government agency reported, adding that the figures were still being verified.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The death of a UK citizen in Ukraine is the first time since the Russian invasion that it's been confirmed a Briton has died in the country.

Officials refused to confirm the identity of the dead man. But sources in Ukraine named him as Scott Sibley who is understood to have been a former member of the British armed forces.

The Foreign Office also said it was aware of a second British national who was missing in Ukraine and it was urgently seeking further information. Again, the ministry said it was supporting the missing person's family.

Diplomatic sources said it was most likely the two individuals were foreign volunteers serving with Ukrainian armed forces in either Mariupol or elsewhere in Donbas.

The authorities in Ukraine have estimated that at least 20,000 people have come from overseas to join the fight against Russia.

There've been suggestions before that Britons have died in Ukraine. Three former members of UK special forces were reportedly killed in March during a Russian missile attack on a military training centre near the border with Poland. But this was never confirmed.

Last week two British fighters - Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin - were captured by Russian forces and paraded on state television.

Toby Luckhurst and Mariana Maglych in Lviv

Image source, Reuters

On Wednesday people held a pro-Ukraine demonstration in the southern city of Kherson, currently occupied by the Russians.

It came after reports that Russia planned to hold a referendum in the region on forming an independent republic. Russian state media has quoted a local official saying the area would start using the Russian rouble on 1 May.

Olga (not her real name) was one of those who took part in the demonstration. Her family decided to join after hearing about the planned referendum.

"It was broken up quickly, because we were attacked by stun grenades and tear gas grenades," she said. "We were forced to fall back."

She said she saw one woman wounded at the scene. "The side of her body was burned," she said. The mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev later announced that four people were injured.

Olga said the mood in the city is tense after the occupation began. At night Russian armoured vehicles sometimes drive by shining lights in people's windows.

"People experience it differently, some try to face it with the smile, some get sad. It's hard to live normally while the enemy is walking by your window."

But she says Kherson remains Ukrainian.

"That's why we went to demonstrate, even though we knew there would be shooting. Because we needed to show ourselves that we still exist, that there's a resistance," she said.

"We have no doubts there will be a [Ukrainian] victory."

We've been reporting today on the UN's Antonio Guterres' visit to Kyiv, where he met President Zelensky.

Later the Secretary General spoke to the BBC.

Guterres was asked if he is concerned about the war escalating into World War Three, following Russia's recent comment that Nato is fighting a "proxy war".

Here's his answer.

Image source, Reuters

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

• Two blasts have hit the capital Kyiv - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in the city for talks with Ukraine's President Zelensky.
• Missiles hit the central Shevchenkivskyi district and the authorities say at least three people have been injured. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called it a "heinous act of barbarism".

• Earlier, Guterres criticised the UN's security council for failing to prevent or end the war, saying it was a source of great frustration.
• He said the UN was trying to ensure the evacuation of civilians trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol.

• US President Joe Biden is asking Congress for $33bn (£27bn) in military, economic and humanitarian aid to support Ukraine.

• A British national - believed to have been fighting for Ukrainian forces - has been killed, while another is still missing.
• Nato says it's ready to support Ukraine for years to come as it warns the war could "drag on".

Image source, Getty Images

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has condemned the missile strikes on Kyiv, which happened as the country's leadership was hosting visiting foreign dignitaries.

"Russia [struck] Kyiv with cruise missiles right when UN Secretary General @antonioguterres and Bulgarian PM @KirilPetkov visit our capital," he tweeted.

"By this heinous act of barbarism Russia demonstrates once again its attitude towards Ukraine, Europe and the world."

As we've been reporting, two missile blasts hit Ukraine's capital Kyiv a short while ago.

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said the blasts hit the central Shevchenkivskyi district.

One missile is reported to have hit the lower floors of a residential building. Klitshko said three people have been taken to hospital.

Press secretary for the State Emergency Service, Svetlana Vodolaga, said the second missile hit an unnamed facility close to the residential building.

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Image source, EPA

President Putin is clearly frustrated that Nato’s supply of lethal weaponry to Ukraine, coupled with his own army’s patchy performance, is hindering his plans to bring Ukraine back under Moscow’s control.

His warnings to the West are becoming increasingly strident.

But Nato isn’t backing down and, if anything, it is stepping up its long-term military support for Ukraine.

So what are Putin's options?

They include, in ascending order of seriousness, the following:

• Intensify Russian precision missile strikes on western arms supplies coming into Ukraine
• Targeting Ukraine’s command and government centres in the heart of Kyiv, even when western officials are present
• Targeting western embassies in Kyiv or their consulates in Lviv
• Carrying out a chemical attack in a built-up area in Ukraine, most likely blaming it on the Ukrainians
• Targeting an airbase or depot supplying arms to Ukraine across the border in a Nato country - this would be a major escalation
• Launching a major cyber attack on western nations most actively helping Ukraine, especially Britain
• Firing a "tactical" nuclear warhead inside Ukraine - this could destroy something the size of a football stadium but its strategic effect would be huge, breaking the 77-year-long global nuclear embargo and generating a mushroom cloud and radioactive fallout

And what about the elephant in the room – a full-scale nuclear exchange?

British defence and intelligence officers currently assess Putin’s veiled nuclear threats to be rhetoric aimed at scaring Nato off helping Ukraine defend itself.

That said, they also believe that if the battles for the Donbas do not go his way then Putin will be tempted to escalate this war in some form.

He cannot afford a long drawn-out stalemate.

Meanwhile, the BBC has been talking to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres says the United Nations won't give up and he wants peace in Ukraine, "in line with UN charter".

He says "Ukraine needs and deserves our full commitment and full support".

Russia continuous to warn the West that it is provoking a proxy war by providing Ukraine with military equipment. Asked about a potential World War Three, Guterres says a "nuclear war is unthinkable".

He adds: "We need to do everything possible to make it impossible."

Ukraine's presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak says missile strikes hit Kyiv during the official visit of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Podolyak adds: "The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, and today explosions are above his head. Postcard from Moscow?"

Earlier on, Guterres said Russia's invasion of Ukraine violated the UN charter.

We are getting more information about the two explosions heard in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

On its Telegram channel, Kyiv city council says Russia caused two explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district.

Officials say that all emergency services are responding, and information about potential victims is still being clarified.

The two explosions come as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is visiting Kyiv for talks, and has been giving a joint news conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Earlier today, the Russian foreign ministry's spokesperson Maria Zakharova warned the West against encouraging Ukraine to attack Russian territory.

Two explosions have been heard in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, Reuters reports.

The news agency says eyewitnesses were able to confirm the blasts but there are no further details of what caused the explosions.

The BBC has not been able to independently confirm this.

We'll bring you updates when we know more.

Image source, .

Addressing the media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's "violation of human rights" is one of the main things he's been discussing with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

He says they've also spoken about how to save people from the steel plant in Mariupol.

"I trust and believe - just as many relatives of those people who are blocked in Azovstal do - that the secretary general and we will be able to have a successful result."

Zelensky also calls for more humanitarian assistance, and says he's urged Guterres to take steps to prevent what he calls the deportation of Ukrainian civilians to Russia.

Speaking in Kyiv, Guterres restates that Russia's invasion is "a violation" of both Ukrainian territory and the UN charter.

He says the UN continues to strive for a complete ceasefire.

And he adds UN food aid has reached more than two million Ukrainians already.