Belarus, a close Russian ally and Ukraine's neighbour to its north, has started large-scale military drills - a potential cause for alarm in Ukraine.

The Belarusian defence ministry said the drills involved testing its army vehicles for combat readiness, but added that the exercise didn't pose a threat to neighbours.

However, Ukraine will be watching Belarus closely.

When Russia was striking Ukraine's north, including the capital Kyiv, a few weeks ago, Ukrainian officials alleged that some of the missiles appeared to come from the Belarusian side of the border.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Lviv

Image source, EPA

The strikes shattered the calm of a spring evening.

At least three Russian missiles hit electrical substations around the western city of Lviv, close to the Polish border late on Tuesday.

Parts of the city are without power and water in the wake of what was thought to be an attack on Ukraine’s rail network. People ran onto the streets as the news spread.

These were the first Russian missile strikes in western Ukraine in more than a week.

Russia has targeted the rail networks before. They are crucial for keeping the supplies of western weaponry flowing to the east.

It's on the frontlines - in places like Avdiivka - that equipment is badly needed. Last night Ukraine accused Russia of shelling workers at a factory in the city, just north of the separatist-held Donestk.

There has also been an intensification of the bombardment of the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol where 200 people are still sheltering.

Ukrainian authorities are considering setting up a new humanitarian corridor after successfully bringing some 100 civilians out of the city yesterday.

Image source, Getty Images

The EU is expected to outline fresh sanctions against Russia later today, including a plan for potentially phasing out Russian oil.

This is a big move given how many member states are reliant on this source. Overall, the bloc relies on Russia for 26% of its oil imports.

They've already paid more than £47 billion euros ($47.43bn) to Russia for the country's gas and oil since the war began.

Germany has indicated that it would be able to manage without Russian oil by the end of 2022. EU nations have been tussling this week on how to wind down their dependence on Russia.

But some nations - like Hungary and Slovakia - are much more heavily exposed to Russian oil and gas. Hungary, especially, has opposed stronger energy sanctions against Russia.

Read more here.

The UK Defence Ministry's morning briefing says Russia has deployed 22 battalion groups near Izyum, an eastern city, in a bid to push into the Donbas region.

"Despite struggling to break through Ukrainian defences and build momentum, Russia highly likely intends to proceed beyond Izyum to capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Severodonetsk," the ministry said., external

"Capturing these locations would consolidate Russian military control of the north-eastern Donbas and provide a staging point for their efforts to cut-off Ukrainian forces in the region," the statement added.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It's past 07:30 in Kyiv.

• Fighting continues to be heaviest in the east where Russian forces are pounding targets
• On Wednesday, the European Union is expected to unveil plans for new sanctions on Russia's oil industry, adding further economic pressure to Putin's regime. However, there is some disagreement between members over how far these sanctions should go
• Germany's opposition leader Friedrich Merz met Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday - the first senior German politician to do so. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has refrained so far

• Meanwhile, at least 156 evacuees finally managed to flee a steel plant in the battered city of Mariupol to relative safety in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday
• Humanitarian rescue groups have celebrated the effort but say many more people are still left in "hell" in Mariupol
• Russia also launched fresh attacks on Ukraine's west on Tuesday, striking power stations in the city of Lviv which is seen as relatively safe. Six railway stations were also struck

See you again on Wednesday morning, Kyiv time. We leave you with the key developments from Tuesday, the 69th day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

On the ground:

• Ukraine's president says 156 evacuees have arrived on buses in the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. Many of them had been sheltering for months beneath the Azovstal steel plant in the shattered city of Mariupol
• The Red Cross said it was pleased the evacuation was a success but was frustrated many more people were left in "hell"
• Hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children, are still trapped under the rubble of Azovstal, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said
• At least 10 people have been killed and 15 wounded after an attack on a coke plant in eastern Ukraine. Russian shelling began as workers waited to catch the bus home, local officials said
• Russian missile strikes in the relatively safe western city of Lviv have hit several power stations, causing electrical blackouts
• Attacks also targeted six railways stations, according to a Ukrainian railroad official, causing "severe" damage to infrastructure
• Attacks were also reported in Vinnytsia, the Kyiv region, the Dnipropetrovsk region, Odesa and Kharkiv

Among world leaders:

• French President Emmanuel Macron called on Russia to end its "devastating aggression" in a call with President Vladimir Putin, French officials said
• Meanwhile, Moscow said Putin told Macron the West was "ignoring Ukrainian war crimes"
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a ceasefire and urged both sides to engage in peace talks. It comes after India faced criticism for its neutral stance on the war
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the West had been "too slow to grasp what was really happening" in Ukraine, in an address to Ukrainian MPs
• In his nightly speech to his people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Johnson for his "warm, friendly, powerful… sincere gesture"

Want to know more? Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine's eastern regions -here's why.

Image source, Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelensky began his nightly address by praising the 156 civilians that were evacuated to the central Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday.

The group had been sheltering in the surrounded Azovstal factory in Mariupol for the past two months, he said, adding that their rescue "took a lot of effort, long negotiations and various mediations".

"Finally, these people are completely safe. They will get help," he said, celebrating the nearly three days of quasi-"ceasefire" and all those who "ensured the physical transportation of people through the humanitarian corridor".

"Currently, Russian troops are not adhering to the agreements," he continued. "They continue massive strikes at Azovstal. They are trying to storm the complex."

According to local reports, Russian bombs have continued to fall throughout the evacuation, which has been happening sporadically since Sunday. The BBC has not been able to independently confirm the situation in Mariupol.

Zelensky also praised foreign allies, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who addressed Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday.

"These were very important words, warm, friendly, powerful. This is a very sincere gesture," he said of Johnsons speech, adding his gratitude to the British public for their support.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia has wrongfully detained WNBA star Brittney Griner, after the US citizen was seized at Moscow airport on 17 February on drug charges, the US Department of State said.

Phoenix Mercury centre Griner, 31, has played for a Russian team during the WNBA off-season since 2015.

A two-time Olympic gold medallist, WNBA champion and seven-time WNBA All-Star, Griner is widely regarded as the best female basketballer of all time.

The White House's finding represents a step-up in efforts to free Griner more than two months after she was detained in the Russian capital.

Russian attacks in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region have killed 21 civilians and injured 27 on Tuesday, according to a Ukrainian official.

The BBC is not able to independently verify this figure.

Regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the figure included 10 dead at a coking plant in the town of Avdiivka, which we reported on earlier.

In a Facebook post, Kyrylenko said it was the highest daily death toll in the region since an assault on a railway station in the town of Kramatorsk, which killed 50 people last month.

Image source, .

We've been hearing about missile strikes on Lviv over the last few hours, but authorities have also reported strikes in the central region of Kirovograd and the southwestern region of Vinnytsia.

Transcarpathia, a mountainous region which borders Hungary and Slovakia and which has so far been spared attacks, was also hit according to officials.

"Services are working on the spot, we are clarifying information about injuries and possible victims," the head of the region's military administration Viktor Mykyta said on Telegram.

Russia is currently focusing its invasion on Ukraine's eastern regions, but it has also hit other areas, with Moscow warning it will target flows of Western weapons into the country.

Laura Bicker
Reporting from Zaporizhzhia

Image source, Reuters

Katarina stepped off the bus into the sun with everything she now owns stuffed in a small backpack. Her two children, aged six and 11, rubbed their eyes. They are exhausted.

For two months they’ve lived in a bunker under the Azovstal steel plant as Russian bombs pounded the site and their city of Mariupol.

"How we were living – to be honest it was horrible," she says. "From the morning and during the night we were bombarded. Artillery, rockets, air strikes."

"Our children couldn’t sleep. They were crying. They were scared. And us as well. There were several times when we were losing hope that we would ever get out."

They lived in the dark on rations handed to them by a group of Ukrainian fighters using the steel plant to make a last stand as most Mariupol was reduced to smouldering ruins.

At the weekend the family got their first glimpse of daylight in more than 60 days. A complex rescue effort managed to free about 100 people from the site including Inna Babush who was sheltering with her 17-year-old daughter.

“We lived in hope that every day would be the last day in this hell," she says. "That we would go home to a peaceful Mariupol, but now it is non-existent.”

Image source, EPA

We're getting some more detail about today's evacuation of several civilians from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the UN's team leader for the evacuation, said it was a complicated operation.

"You are trying to get people out in an active conflict zone where there are women and children who’ve been living underground for two months and you’re trying to lure them out to safety into an environment they don’t understand."

Several mines had to be cleared before the evacuation could begin, he says.

"There was then some mortar fire, I don’t know where it came from. I don’t know who fired it. It stopped fairly quickly.

"They were horrified. They’ve been underground for two months and they haven’t seen news," he says.

"There was a six-month-old baby there who had never seen grass, he’d been born during the winter and he was astonished how green the grass was."

Stampa says the UN is prepared to work with both sides to evacuate civilians, adding that he hopes today's operation is the first of many.

Image source, Andriy Sadovyi

A little more now from the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, who is giving an update after missile strikes landed on the western city a few hours ago.

He says the impact of the strikes is still being determined, but three electrical substations were hit causing power outages, and two people are being given medical treatment after being injured.

Power outages are also affecting some medical facilities, he says in an update on Telegram, and the strikes have done "serious damage" to communal infrastructure, with many broken windows and interruptions in the water supply.

Image source, .

A fire that broke out at an electrical substation in Lviv after it was hit by missiles is being extinguished, the city's mayor Andriy Sadovyi says.

One person was injured in the attack, he says.

Russian missiles also struck six railway stations in central and western Ukraine, the head of the board of Ukrainian Railways, Oleksandr Kamyshin, says

He says there are no casualties among the railway workers and passengers but damage to the infrastructure is "severe".

Kamyshin adds that 14 trains were delayed due to the shelling, but the first of them had already started moving.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Lviv

Image source, Reuters

From our rooftop position in the centre of the city, smoke can be seen rising in multiple directions.

We counted three different points. Under local security laws it is illegal to give more specific details. There is currently no word on casualties.

The city's mayor Andriy Sadovyi said part of the city had been left without power - while the regional governor said work was already under way to repair three electrical substations.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian Railway service posted on social media that services would be disrupted by damage to their power infrastructure.

There have been a number of missile strikes around Lviv since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mostly they have hit military or logistical targets. Lviv has felt relatively safe in recent days.

There have been sporadic alarms but this has often seemed like a city a long way from the war. Although the sirens are now over, tonight that no longer felt the case.

Sophie Williams
Reporting from Lviv

We’ve just come out of the bunker here in Lviv.

There have been a number of strikes on targets.

According to the mayor, three electrical substations have been damaged by the strikes. He says people are working on repairing them.

There is currently no official information about any injuries to people.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Lviv

In the warm spring sun, Lviv often feels like a city a long way removed from the war in the east of Ukraine.

As we sat having dinner in a central restaurant, you could suddenly feel the mood change. It was like someone had sucked all the life from the room.

Everyone stopped talking and stared at their phones.

Word had started to spread - there had been a number of explosions. Our team searched for information as to whether it was safe to leave the relative safely of the underground restaurant.

As we stepped out a couple minutes later, smoke could be seen rising in the distance. The mayor had confirmed it; Lviv - or somewhere nearby - under attack.

However it had felt before, tonight we were reminded, this a city still at war.

More now on the explosions reported in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv.

The city is experiencing power outages following a Russian air strike, Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi says on Telegram.

"Two power substations were damaged as a result of the missile strike - there is no electricity in part of the city," he says.

Sadovy urged people to stay in bomb shelters, in a social media post.

Trains have stopped at the entrance to Lviv and Russian military have shelled railway substations, causing delays, according to a Ukrainian railways statement.

"Due to enemy shelling of railway substations, a number of trains will run with a delay," it says, asking people not to leave shelters during air raid alarms.

Image source, Reuters

As the sun sets in Ukraine on day 69 of Russia's invasion, let's look at the day's key developments:

On the ground:

• More than 100 evacuees have arrived on buses in the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia. Many of them had been sheltering for months beneath the Azovstal steel plant in the shattered city of Mariupol
• The Red Cross said it was pleased the evacuation was a success but was frustrated many more people were left in "hell"
• Hundreds of civilians, including more than a dozen children, are still trapped under the rubble of Azovstal, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said
• At least ten people have been killed and 15 wounded after an attack on a coke plant in eastern Ukraine. Russian shelling began as workers waited to catch the bus home, local officials said
• We're just getting reports of explosions in the western city of Lviv

Among world leaders:

• French President Emmanuel Macron called on Russia to end its "devastating aggression" in a call with President Vladimir Putin, French officials said
• Meanwhile, Moscow said Putin told Macron the West was "ignoring Ukrainian war crimes"
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a ceasefire and urged both sides to engage in peace talks. It comes after India faced criticism for its neutral stance on the war
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the West had been "too slow to grasp what was really happening" in Ukraine, in an address to Ukrainian MPs

Want to know more? Russia is trying to encircle Ukraine's eastern regions - here's why.

Image source, .

There have been explosions in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, confirmed by the city's mayor, Andriy Sadovyi.

We will bring you more updates as we have them.