James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Finland has been told by Nato chiefs it could take up to a year for the country to join the military alliance.

The government in Helsinki had been promised the process of joining Nato would be “smooth and swift”.

But Finland’s Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, told journalists that Nato’s Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, had said the ratification process could take between four and 12 months.

This is the period during which the legislatures of Nato’s 30 member states would give their formal support for Finland’s application.

This matters because during the period between application and accession – known as the "grey zone" - Finland would not enjoy the full security guarantees that Nato provides.

Mr Haavisto said Boris Johnson had given a “very clear statement how the UK - during the ‘grey zone’ - could help us in many ways, including military means”.

He revealed Finland had been holding bilateral talks with France, Spain, Germany and Turkey to try to secure similar military support during the application process.

The border between Nato countries and Russia looks set to increase in length after Finland announced its intention to join the Nato defence alliance, much to Russia's annoyance.

But at one of the current crossings where Nato meets Russia, in Estonia, people move freely, even if there is a frosty relationship between the two sets of border guards.

The BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner reports from Narva in eastern Estonia.

A baseball signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sold at auction in the US for $50,000 (£41,000), the Associated Press reports.

The ball belonged to Randy Kaplan, a well-known collector of baseballs signed by world leaders.

Auctioneers RR Auction will donate $15,000 from the sale to help Ukrainians displaced by the war, while seller Randy Kaplan will also donate an undisclosed portion of his proceeds.

The winning bidder wished to remain anonymous.

More now from that letter sent by four US Democrat lawmakers to social media companies asking them to "preserve and archive" content that may be used as evidence of Russian war crimes.

“Social media platforms routinely remove graphic content that glorifies violence or human suffering or could lead to further perpetrations of violence, and have rightfully implemented graphic content policies to protect their users,” the members of Congress write to the CEOs of Meta, Tiktok, Twitter and YouTube.

But deleting this particular content may "result in the unintentional removal and permanent deletion of content that could be used as evidence of potential human rights violations such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide”.

Flagging or otherwise marking the content instead would help the US government and international human rights investigators, they say.

"If verified as authentic, this content could... help substantiate allegations of war crimes and other atrocities committed by Russian forces against the people of Ukraine."

Ukrainian forces have damaged a Russian navy logistics ship in the Black Sea, setting it on fire, Reuters has reported a spokesman for Odesa's military as saying.

Spokesman Serhiy Bratchuk says the Vsevolod Bobrov has been struck near Snake Island, according to Reuters.

The tiny island is located near Ukraine's sea border with Romania.

There are also reports of a Russian Mi-24 helicopter gunship being shot down in Luhansk Region.

"Ukraine detected a group of four enemy helicopters and shot down the leader of the second pair," a Ukrainian air assault forces commander said on Facebook.

The BBC has not verified the claims.

Image source, .

Sophie Williams
Reporting from Lviv

Image source, Getty Images

Sergiy Stakhovsky, a former tennis star, was in Dubai on holiday when he got the phone call from his parents that he had been dreading.

They could hear explosions outside their house in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Russia had invaded.

He told me about his decision to return to his home country and enlist in the military, and his experiences on the front line.

"We all basically slept with the Kalashnikov next to us. When there's a strike, we need to be ready," he said.

During his military service, he spent time in Bucha. The town outside Kyiv, was occupied by the Russians for a month at the beginning of the war. There is evidence of civilians being tortured, raped and murdered.

"The things they did and the way they did it are honestly inhuman," he says. "You cannot describe the hatred you feel towards the Russian army," he told me.

Read more about Sergiy here

Image source, Ukrainian Airborne Forces Command/Reuters

Russian troops have failed to establish a foothold on the bank of the Siverskyi Donets river, the Ukrainian armed forces general staff has said on Facebook.

They have tried to secure an area near Oleksandrivka in Donetsk and have made attacks near Novoselivka in Luhansk "but had no success," the general staff says.

What's happening in other areas?

• In Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, Russians are continuing attacks near Voyevodivka, close to Severodonetsk in Luhansk, and also around Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Kurakhove in Donetsk, but without success, the report says
• Russian troops are continuing their bombardment of Mariupol's Azovstal steel plant - the last part of the city not under Russian control
• Around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv, Russian troops are shelling Ukrainian positions near Pytomnyk and Ruski Tyshky to halt their attempts to counter-attack
• Near the southern city of Kherson, Russian troops are bringing in reserves and preparing to build bridges with the aim of taking control of the region, Ukrainian news agency Unian reports the operational command south as saying

The BBC has not been able to verify this information independently.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

We've been getting reaction from Europe and the US to the Finnish President and PM's call for the country to join Nato.

• French President Emmanuel Macron "fully supports Finland's sovereign choice to rapidly join Nato," the Elysee Palace said after phone talks between Macron and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in a tweet , externalthat he had "assured Finland of the full support" of his government in a call with Niinisto

• In the US, Senator Bob Menendez, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told a hearing that the panel was "already working to ensure swift consideration" for both Finland and Sweden if either applies
• The committee's top Republican, Jim Risch, called the announcement "a tremendous step forward in the future of transatlantic security" and said he would support Finland through the application process
• Earlier, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the move and said the accession process would be "smooth and swift"
• Russia's foreign ministry, however, said Finland's accession to Nato would "cause serious damage" to stability in northern Euope and said Russia would take "retaliatory steps", including steps of a "military-technical" nature

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has resulted in the opposite of President Putin's goal of increasing his influence on his western border, a spokesman for President Zelensky says.

Sergiy Nykyforov told BBC World News that the war had forced Finland and Sweden to rethink their security positions and consider joining Nato.

He also said that before the invasion a significant number of Ukrainians wanted stronger ties with Russia, but now the vast majority would prefer integration with Europe.

Four US Democrats are reported to have sent formal requests to the CEOs of YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, asking them to “preserve and archive content” that could be used as evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine - according to NBC News.

It says it’s seen a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg encouraging his company to help out “as the US government and international human rights and accountability monitors investigate Russian war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities in Ukraine”.

NBC says the letters were signed by Rep Carolyn Maloney, Rep Gregory Meeks, Rep Stephen Lynch and Rep William Keating.

NBC says they specifically asked the social media companies “to flag or mark content as containing potential evidence of war crimes and other atrocities”.

It adds that YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook did not immediately respond to their requests for comment.

To the south-west of Ukraine, President Maia Sandu has sought to reassure Moldovans that they need not fear Russian aggression towards their country in the near future.

"I believe we are safe; for now, Russia has no clear plans for that," she told the TVR Moldova channel.

She did however admit "apparently, any scenarios are possible" and added she would let people know if the situation changed.

On Tuesday the US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the US Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia aimed to make a land bridge from Crimea to the breakaway Moldovan region of Transnistria. But, she said, Russia would not be able to do this without further military mobilisation.

Explosions in Transnistria last month - a breakaway Russian-controlled territory in Moldova bordering on Ukraine - have raised fears about the Ukraine conflict's potential for spreading.

Separatist authorities said Ukrainian "infiltrators" were responsible but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russian special services.

Image source, .

Katya Adler
BBC Europe Editor reporting from Helsinki

Image source, EPA

Finland says applying to join Nato is all about defence. But Vladimir Putin doesn’t see it that way. He’s always viewed Nato’s eastern expansion as a threat.

Finland shares a 1,300km (800 miles) border with Russia, bringing the alliance’s military might that much closer Moscow.

Finnish and Swedish membership will make Nato more robust too - boosting its Eastern flank and presence in the Baltic Sea. And the Kremlin has threatened retaliation. Some fear it might deploy targeted nuclear weapons.

But Finnish diplomats I’ve spoken to believe Russia has its military hands full in Ukraine and that it will instead focus on cyber and disinformation campaigns.

They say President Putin has himself to blame that Nato is expanding. Before Russia invaded Ukraine most Finns and Swedes preferred to work alongside but not inside Nato. Russian aggression, its expansionist zeal, changed all that.

Image source, .

Image source, AFP

Antonina Samoilova has become the only Ukrainian climber to make it to the top of Mount Everest this season.

The 33-year-old reached the summit with her country’s flag, according to expedition company 14 Peaks Expedition.

Before she left, she told reporters: "I climb Everest to support all the people of Ukraine, to support every warrior, every volunteer and all the people who were affected by this cruel war and to give strength to fight until we win."

Nepal has issued 317 permits to foreign mountaineers for this year's Everest spring climbing season, which runs until the end of May.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian officials say talks are taking place to evacuate 38 seriously wounded fighters from the Azovstal steelworks in the southern port city of Mariupol - the steelworks is the only part of the city not under Russian control.

Fighters inside the plant say conditions are deteriorating amid continued Russian attempts to take control of the complex and they have run out of medical supplies and cannot treat the wounded.

Deputy PM Iryna Vereschuk said some media reports suggesting a swap involving 500 or 600 people were wrong.

"I'm really asking. It's about people's lives. Refrain from making public comments about what you don't know. If everything works out and we get people out, then do what you want,” she wrote on Telegram.

Image source, Getty Images

The number of people who’ve fled Ukraine to escape Russia's invasion has passed six million, according to the UN refugee agency.

More than eight million more have been displaced within the country according to the latest International Organization for Migration report.

It says the majority of those fleeing the war have entered Poland, with others travelling to Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

Ukraine has also accused Russia of deporting people against their will.

James Landale
Reporting from Helsinki

There has been some discussion about why Finland is likely to apply for Nato membership ahead of Sweden. Some of this is neighbourly rivalry.

There is also a desire among some in Finland’s government to be seen to take a unilateral decision. But less appreciated are the cultural differences between both countries.

According to diplomats in Helsinki, Finns are less attached to their non-aligned status. It dates back only to the 1940s. It was a historic construct, shaped by Finland’s relationship with the USSR.

And Finns push back against the idea they are “neutral”. They are members of the EU, they are as close to Nato as can be without actually being a member, sending troops on Nato operations, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Switzerland they ain’t.

In contrast, diplomats say, Sweden’s neutrality is more hard-baked into the country’s psyche. It dates from Napoleonic times and survived - just about - two world wars. Shedding that, they say, is a bigger ask for some in Sweden.

Image source, Reuters

Following Finland's move to join the alliance, Sweden is due to announce its own decision on Sunday.

If the Scandinavian country decides to join, it would end 200 years of military non-alignment.

In Finland, since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Nato popularity has shot up to a record high of 76%, external, according to the latest opinion poll.

In Sweden the situation is different, with polls suggesting that 57% of the population want to join the defensive alliance. This proportion is far higher than before the war, but Sweden's Social Democrats have been split on the issue, and are currently holding an internal consultation.

But Finland's decision will have an impact.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said: "Finland is Sweden's closest security and defence partner, and we need to take Finland's assessments into account."

Sarah Rainsford
Reporting from Kyiv

When Leonid Pliats and his boss were shot in the back by Russian soldiers, the killing was captured on CCTV cameras in clear and terrible detail. The footage, which was obtained by the BBC, is now being investigated by Ukrainian prosecutors as a suspected war crime.

It happened at the height of the fighting around Kyiv, when the main roads into the capital were a battlefield, including around the bicycle shop where Leonid worked as a security guard.

But this was no firefight: the video clearly shows heavily armed Russian soldiers shooting the two unarmed Ukrainians and then looting the business.

We have pieced together the full sequence of events, matching what was recorded on multiple CCTV cameras around the site with the testimony of people Leonid phoned that day, as well as the Ukrainian volunteer fighters who tried to rescue him.

You can read Sarah Rainsford's full report here.

Image source, Getty Images

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

• Finland's leaders have said the country should apply to join the Nato defence alliance "without delay" and the country's parliament is expected to approve the plans next week

• Russia's invasion of Ukraine "changed the mindset of many Finnish people," Finland's foreign minister has told the BBC
• Russia says it will be forced to take "retaliatory steps" over its neighbour Finland's move to join Nato

In other developments

• Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of harming its own national interests and "provoking a global crisis" by imposing sanctions on Russia
• The UN's human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has said 1,000 civilian bodies have been recovered in the Kyiv region in recent weeks and the scale of unlawful killings is "shocking"
• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he cannot see how there could be a normalisation of relations with Vladimir Putin

• Ukrainian forces have been pushing Russia's army further back around the second city of Kharkiv

Image source, .