Imogen Foulkes
Reporting from Geneva

Image source, EPA

How does a European country stay neutral when war rages in Europe? Switzerland managed it during the first and second world wars, but now, watching Russia's attack on Ukraine, many Swiss are rethinking their long-established position.

During World War Two, Swiss neutrality - in place since 1815 - was more pragmatic than heroic. Switzerland mobilised all its able-bodied men to defend its borders, but it also banked gold looted by the Nazis and, in a shameful move designed to keep Germany at bay, turned away thousands of Jewish refugees - a policy it finally apologised for in the 1990s.

For decades, neutrality has enjoyed almost universal support among the Swiss - opinion polls have shown approval ratings of well over 90%. But now, many Swiss are soul-searching, asking if it is right to stay neutral.

Read more from Imogen here.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Lviv

Kharkiv has been under constant shelling since the start of the war. No-one knows how many people have died in the battle for Ukraine's second city – civilians as well as soldiers from both sides.

But, according to an assessment from a respected military think-tank in the US, the battle for Kharkiv could be in a decisive phase.

The Institute for the Study of War says Ukrainian forces could soon have freed Kharkiv from the threat of Russian artillery – and secured a strategically crucial city in the fight for the Donbas.

Further east, Moscow’s forces are said to have made small but costly advances around the eastern city of Severodonetsk – with the head of the local Ukrainian military administration saying his forces are almost encircled.

Jenny Hill
Reporting from Moscow

Image source, Reuters

The annual military parade in Moscow's Red Square has a new significance this year, as Russian forces continue their two-month assault in Ukraine. As tanks roll through the city streets, speculation is intensifying over President Vladimir Putin's next move.

Fighter jets and bombers roared over Moscow earlier this week.

It was just a rehearsal - for a grand military parade and flypast to mark Victory Day.

The ninth of May is one of the most important holidays in the Russian calendar and on Monday there'll be military processions all over the country to commemorate the Soviet Victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. As always, flags flutter from almost every building and shop windows are decorated with golden stars.

But this year will be different. Russia is at war once again - this time with its neighbour.

Read more from Jenny here.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. We'll be bringing you all the latest updates from around the country, as the Ukrainian military continues a counter-offensive against Russian forces who've been bombarding the city of Kharkiv.

On Friday, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said any peace deal with Russia would depend on Russian forces pulling back to their pre-invasion positions.

Image source, .

We'll be back on Saturday morning. Here's a recap of what happened on Friday:

In Mariupol...

• A convoy of buses has evacuated 50 women, children and elderly people out of the city's besieged Azovstal steel plant where they'd been sheltering for months. Around 150 more civilians could still be trapped
• It's taken almost a week of intense negotiations by the UN and Red Cross to get to this point, and it's hoped that more civilians will get out tomorrow
• Ukraine accused Russia of delaying the operation by breaking a local ceasefire and firing on a car travelling to help civilians get out

Elsewhere in Ukraine...

• President Zelensky tells the BBC that Ukraine would accept a peace deal in which Russian troops return to positions held prior to February's invasion

• Amnesty International has accused Russia of doing nothing to stop its troops from committing human rights abuses in the country

Internationally...

• President Biden says the US is sending radars, artillery and munitions as part of a new 150m (£122m) package of military aid to Ukraine
• EU member states are locked in fierce negotiations over the bloc's latest sanctions package against Russia - with Hungary opposing a proposed embargo on Russian oil
• Russia has summoned the UK's ambassador to Moscow in protest over fresh British sanctions
• Global food prices will increase and people around the world will starve unless Ukraine's Black Sea ports reopen to allow grain and wheat out of the country, the UN's World Food Programme says

The UN Security Council has adopted its first statement on Ukraine, but it does not use the words “war”, “conflict” or “invasion”.

The unanimous statement instead “expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine”.

It voiced “strong support” for Secretary General Antonio Guterres in seeking a peaceful solution to the 10-week “dispute”.

Wielding veto power in the council, Russia has stymied all prior bids to adopt a statement on Ukraine.

Mexico’s UN ambassador, whose country helped draft the statement, was asked about criticism that it took two months to draft and merely supports the UN secretary general.

The envoy, Juan Ramon De La Fuente, told the Associated Press there has to be a start somewhere.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Alexander Nemenov/AFP

Days before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin formally recognised self-proclaimed independent republics in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.

The pro-separatist Donetsk News Agency now reports that the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) has its own ambassador to Russia.

DPR leader Denis Pushylin appointed Olha Makeyeva, a vice-speaker of the DPR parliament, as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in Russia.

Makeyeva was said to be a member of the DPR people's council at its inaugural convocation.

Image source, Getty Images

Ukrainian officials are warning that Russian forces may escalate missile and air strikes over the weekend, ahead of Russia's planned Victory Day celebrations on Monday.

In his daily late-night address, President Volodymyr Zelensky called on citizens to "strictly follow the public order and curfew regulations" in their communities.

"I ask all our citizens - especially these days - not to ignore the air raid sirens," he said. "Please, this is your life, the life of your children."

Residents are also currently banned from visiting forests in formerly occupied territory because "a great threat of mines and tripwire mines left after the Russian military remains there".

"Be sure to comply with the ban," Zelensky reminded Ukrainians.

Image source, Getty Images

US First Lady Jill Biden has arrived in Eastern Europe on a four-day trip intended to reaffirm the US commitment to Ukraine.

Biden will meet national leaders and US troops, as well as displaced Ukrainian parents, children, educators and aid workers in Romania and Slovakia.

She began her visit on Friday by greeting and serving food to troops stationed at a Romanian air base.

On Sunday, she is expected to spend Mother's Day with refugee mothers and their children in Kosice, a border city in eastern Slovakia.

The visit marks another high-profile diplomatic engagement by the US in the region, following House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Ukraine last week.

President Biden visited Poland in March.

Pets rescued from Kharkiv in the north-east and Mykolaiv in the south have found shelter in a home for rescued animals in the western city of Lviv.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

The White House has announced a new package of security assistance for Ukraine that will include artillery, munitions, radars and other equipment.

"The United States is continuing our strong support for the brave people of Ukraine as they defend their country against Russia's ongoing aggression," President Joe Biden said.

"We are sending the weapons and equipment that Congress has authorized directly to the front lines of freedom," he added.

Biden said existing funding for Ukraine was "nearly exhausted" and urged the US Congress to pass his proposed $33bn (£26.8bn) assistance package to "strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table."

A US official said the latest arms package was worth $150m (£121.6m), Reuters news agency reports.

Military officials in Ukraine's Odesa region claim Russia fired two missiles into the area this afternoon.

"Fortunately there were no casualties," the local military governor Maxim Marchenko said, providing no further details about any damage.

Authorities in Odesa have also announced plans to introduce a curfew for both the port city and its surrounding area from 22:00 local (19:00 GMT) 8 May lasting until 05:00 local (02:00 GMT) 10 May.

"It is forbidden for people to stay on the streets and other public places during the specified period of time without specially issued passes and certificates," Interfax news agency quotes a military spokesperson as saying.

Ukraine's third-largest city has so far avoided the worst of the war's devastation but is still vulnerable to air attacks.

Image source, .

Diana Kuryshko
BBC News Ukrainian

A 15-year-old girl managed to save the lives of four adults after their car was attacked by Russian forces while fleeing Popasna in April.

Lisa Chernyshenko took the wheel when the driver and other passengers were hit by Russian fire on the road to Bakhmut.

The car came under fire again and Lisa was wounded in her legs, but she managed to continue driving and until they were taken to safety by the Ukrainian military. Everyone in the car survived.

She is now receiving treatment for her injuries at a hospital in Lviv.

Image source, Getty Images

The US Department of Defence continues to push back on domestic media reports that US intelligence helped Ukraine kill top Russian generals and sink the Moskva missile cruiser.

At a news briefing on Friday, spokesman John Kirby said Ukraine "makes the decisions" when it comes to how they use US intel.

"The kind of intelligence that we provide them – it’s legitimate, it’s lawful, and it’s limited," he said.

Kirby also stressed that Ukraine combines intelligence from many countries and the US is "not the sole source of intelligence and information to the Ukrainians".

Also on Friday, the Pentagon said it could not confirm that a Russian frigate [warship] was on fire in the Black Sea.

"We’ve been looking at this all day and we have no information to corroborate those reports."

Image source, Reuters

After sanctions were imposed against President Putin’s two adult daughters, could the woman rumoured to be his girlfriend be next?

The EU has put Alina Kabaeva on a proposed list of individuals to be sanctioned in their latest measures imposed against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. It is yet to be signed off.

Kabaeva is a gold medal-winning former Olympic gymnast turned politician. She currently heads a media holding company that holds stakes in several state media outlets – the EU is targeting her in part for her role in putting out Kremlin propaganda, reports say.

The EU does not name her as Putin’s partner, just that they are closely associated. But there have long been rumours they are romantically involved. Putin denied they were in a relationship when the story emerged back in 2008.

Here’s what we know about her

Paul Kirby
Digital Europe editor

Image source, Getty Images

Victory Day has become a big national event in Russia marking the end of war with Nazi Germany in 1945. But it's only under Vladimir Putin that the day has featured an annual parade complete with military hardware and flypasts.

This year, it's taken on a significance of its own because, far from liberating Europe, Russia has waged the biggest war the continent has seen since World War Two.

Putin used Victory Day in 2014 to celebrate Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, attending the parade in Red Square and then travelling to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to deliver address to thousands of onlookers.

This year there's no obvious victory to celebrate, so the Kremlin may have to settle for capturing most of Mariupol and claiming defeat of the Azov battalion, which Russia has falsely portrayed as Nazi. That would resonate on Victory Day and warplanes have been rehearsing over Red Square in Z-formation - the symbol of Russia's war.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million lives in World War Two, so Victory Day is also a solemn occasion. But Ukraine saw some of the biggest losses and one opinion poll this week suggested most Ukrainians now see 9 May as a day of remembrance not victory.

Read more about the importance of Victory Day here.

Image source, Telegram/Andrey Turchak

Russia will occupy Kherson "forever," a Russian MP has said while on a visit to the city in Ukraine's south.

"Russia is here forever. There should be no doubt about this. There will be no return to the past," Andrey Turchak said according to a statement from his ruling United Russia party.

Kherson became the first Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces two months ago and last week authorities announced that the Russian rouble would soon be introduced as they attempt to normalise Moscow's control.

In a separate Telegram post , externalTurchak pictured himself laying flowers at a city war memorial and said that preparations were underway in the city for celebrations of Russia's annual Victory Day in three days' time.

"For the first time in many years, the people of Kherson will celebrate this great holiday with us again," he said. "People have been waiting for this for a long time."

The public holiday is a significant date in the Russian calendar marking the country's World War Two victory over Nazi Germany.

Image source, .

Laura Bicker
Reporting from Dnipro

The families of Ukrainian fighters still holding out against the Russian bombardment of a vast steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol say they are prepared to act as a human shield if it helps get them out alive.

Yaroslava, whose husband and two sons-in-law are all with the Azov regiment, said they will never give up.

“They are holding on. They are doing the impossible,” she said.

She struggles to watch the latest images of the Azovstal steel works which shows the site is under constant Russian bombardment.

“Every image is a wound in my heart and in my soul. My wish is that they will survive this.”

In the depths of the plant, there is a video showing the small remaining Ukrainian force singing to keep spirits high.

They may never surrender, but their families are praying they will at least get a chance to leave alive.

Image source, Reuters

A humanitarian convoy carrying 50 women, children, and elderly people made it out of Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant on Friday, Ukraine's deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said.

She described the evacuation as "extremely slow" and accused Russia of delaying efforts by violating a local ceasefire allowing the civilians to leave.

"Tomorrow morning we will continue the evacuation operation," Vereshchuk added.

Moscow's defence ministry has separately confirmed that 50 civilians were evacuated on Friday and that the operation will continue tomorrow.

This confirmed number of total evacuees is slightly higher than the 48 civilians Russian media reported earlier as having been evacuated today.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN World Food Programme says that people around the world will starve if Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea aren't reopened soon.

"We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said.

"Right now Ukraine's grain silos are full."

The WFP is concerned that if the silos aren't emptied soon there will be nowhere to store this summer's harvest, causing massive waste and further driving up global food prices.

As we reported in our earlier post at 15:56 (BST), the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 25 million tonnes of grain are currently stuck in Ukraine while its Black Sea ports are closed.

Since February the country, one of the world's top maize and wheat producers, has been limited to exporting grain by train.