Russia has banned 154 members of the House of Lords from entering the country in response to the UK's decision to sanction Russian officials.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that these 154 people "made a direct contribution to the development of London's anti-Russian sanctions" aimed at creating conditions for the "political isolation of Russia and the destruction of its economy".

The ministry said they "used their authority to whip up anti-Russian hysteria in the UK" and "pandered to the Russophobic political course of the British Conservative government".

Last month, Russia banned Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other senior ministers from entering the country over the UK's "hostile" stance on the war in Ukraine.

The bodies of 200 people have been found in the rubble of a high-rise building in the Russian-controlled city of Mariupol in Ukraine, an adviser to the city's mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, said on Telegram.

The bodies were found with a "high degree of decomposition", Andryushchenko said, adding that locals had refused to collect them and Russian authorities had abandoned the site, leaving a stench across the district.

Andryushchenko added that a large number of corpses are packed in a makeshift morgue in Mariupol and "the city has turned into a continuous cemetery".

Much of the city was destroyed in weeks of heavy Russian bombardment and intense street fighting.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims.

In Moscow, a blogger and cookbook author has been arrested for breaking Vladimir Putin's laws banning "disrespect" of Russia's government and military - but there's a catch.

Veronika Belotserkovskaya, 51, no longer lives in the Russian capital, or in the country at all. She lives in France, meaning she has been arrested in absentia and faces prosecution if she ever returns to Russia.

The social media star, who has almost 950,000 followers on Instagram, was previously put on Russia's federal wanted list after sharing a series of posts in which she accused President Putin of turning “boys aged 18 to 20 … into the mincemeat of [his] imperial ambitions” by sending them to war with Ukraine.

Born in Odesa, Belotserkovskaya is well known in Moscow high society, counting many socialites as her close friends.

In March, she became one of three Russians charged under new laws carrying a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, marking an escalation in the Kremlin's crackdown on anti-war rhetoric.

Olga Malchevska
Reporting from Kharkiv

Liudmyla Oleksandrivna is carrying shopping bags into her house. She's hurrying though no-one is around.

"Darling, what happened here was a horror," she tells me. "We were sitting in our cellars, waiting for the Ukrainian army to help. There were mines everywhere."

The village of Tsyrkuny, outside the major city of Kharkiv, was liberated from the Russian occupation on 7 May.

Liudmyla addresses me in perfect Ukrainian but the words written on her door in chalk are Russian.

It reads "people" and "children" - her desperate attempt to stop her house from being shelled.

Her village used to be home to 6,000 people - now it's just a handful.

Liudmyla's neighbour Volodymyr shows me his cellar where he survived the occupation with more than a dozen other neighbours.

"This is where we all slept," he tells me. "Fifteen people, two dogs and three cats. Every day after five in the morning, we were bombed."

Any time Russians would enter the village, there was no shelling. Volodymyr would use this lull to check their movements through his window.

"I couldn't step outside of my yard because the Russians were outside, swinging their guns. Who knew what was in their heads?," he says. "They could just shoot, and that's it."

Russian shelling killed one person and injured three others in the days after we left. Life here is precious and precarious.

Image source, .

Russian forces have taken control of the city of Svitlodarsk in the Bakhmut district of Ukraine's Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials and the Donetsk People's Republic - a rebel-held area of eastern Ukraine, formed by pro-Russian separatists.

Russian military entered the city earlier this morning, the head of Ukraine's Svetlodar military administration, Sergei Goshko, told a Ukrainian radio station.

"They are currently hanging out their rag on the administrative building," Goshko said, referring to the Russian flag.

Before the war began, Svitlodarsk had a population of 11,000 people.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims.

Image source, Reuters

The UK has no plans to send British warships to help get food exports such as grain out of the blockaded Ukrainian port of Odesa, news agency Reuters reports a government spokesperson as saying.

The idea of a "protective corridor" from Odesa was raised by Lithuania's foreign minister and UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, according to the Times, with the potential for a "coalition of the willing" to provide ships.

The spokesperson said the UK would continue working "intensively" with international partners to resume the export of grain amid Putin's "despicable" blockade. But they said the UK is not deploying warships to the Black Sea.

Earlier, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned food shortages could cause more deaths than the war.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

More now on the issue of Ukraine's grain supplies, and the potential consequences of the difficulties getting them out of the country.

Poland's president says that the war could cause food shortages in North Africa that will in turn lead to mass migration to Europe.

"If it turns out that there is hunger in North Africa... both Spain and the whole of southern Europe will have a huge migration problem," Andrzej Duda told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"Today we should focus on Ukraine being able to export its grain."

Chicken is the UK's meat of choice for the dinner table, but consumers might have noticed the numbers ticking up on their receipts.

With the cost of chicken feed, energy and transport increasing, fast food chains like Nando's and KFC have already put some prices up.

This is partly down to the war in Ukraine.

UK hatcheries have come under pressure as costs for feed, electricity and heating for the chick incubation period have gone up, and those are being passed on to farms.

Some of the sheds also have LPG gas containers for heating. Prices for the fuel now top 40p per litre, up from 15p two years ago - driven higher by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and worries about the impact the conflict could have on supplies from one of the world's biggest gas exporters.

Chicken feed is often made up of wheat or soya, which have seen prices spike due to failed harvests last summer and the conflict in Ukraine.

"Russia and Ukraine are responsible for a quarter of wheat exported around the world," said Kynan Massey, managing director of Massey Bros feed firm.

"If conflict continues we could see prices carrying on rising, and in Europe the dry weather is affecting costs as well."

Read in full: Why chicken is getting more and more expensive

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, Getty Images

"If we don't open those ports, you're talking about a declaration of war on global food security… we're looking at a hell storm on earth”.

David Beasley, from the World Food Programme (WFP), does not pull his punches. His suggestion that Russia is deliberately blocking food exports from Odesa is something that Moscow denies, but it is undoubtedly the case that millions on tonnes of grain is stuck, waiting to be shipped around the world.

Ukraine is often called the breadbasket of Europe, but in reality it is actually the developing world that is sustained by the fertile black soil of the south of this vast land.

The WFP is responsible for feeding some of the world’s poorest people; it is a task they are finding increasingly difficult. They have tried bringing diplomatic and moral pressure to bear, but have had no luck in changing Russia’s position.

A solution to the problem may come from a somewhat unlikely source. Lithuania’s foreign minister is proposing a flotilla of ships to break the blockade of Odesa, with their security guaranteed by the countries who most need the grain.

This could mean that it was not Nato members but, for example, nations like Egypt who would take the lead.

They would essentially be challenging the Russians through peaceful passage, daring that they will not maintain their blockade. It would be a dangerous game. Add to that the threat of the sea mines that dot the approach to Odesa’s port, and you have a real gamble.

But, as David Beasley pointed out, the stakes for inaction are getting increasingly high, with the world’s poorest currently looking like the ones who will lose.

If you're just joining us, here's a round-up of the main events in Ukraine and beyond:

Fighting in the east: Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai says Russian troops are continuing to bombard the adjacent cities of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in Ukraine's east, as part of a bid to control the wider Donbas area. Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, described the battle as being the largest on European soil since World War Two.

Image source, .

Food blockades: Grain and food shortages due to the war could cause more deaths than the conflict itself, the UK has warned amid lagging exports and soaring global prices. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen blamed Russia for the crisis, saying Moscow was using food as a weapon by confiscating grain and blockading ships in the territory it controls.

Russia looks to China: Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, says the Kremlin is planning to develop closer ties to China in the absence of any support in the West. Accusing Western nations of spreading "Russiaphobia", the staunch ally of Vladimir Putin said Russia would now look to count "only" on itself - and "on countries which have proved themselves reliable and do not 'dance to some other piper's music'".

Biden in Tokyo: On his first visit to Asia as US president, Joe Biden called the war in Ukraine a "global issue" and said the world is "navigating a dark hour in our shared history". Biden is meeting the leaders of Japan, Australia and India to discuss security and economic concerns, including their differences over the Russian invasion.

Image source, EPA

Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, claims that "Russian thieves" are stealing Ukrainian grain, external to sell it abroad, saying grain is being loaded onto ships, which will then pass through the Bosphorus - the narrow waterway which splits the European and Asian sides of Turkey - to be sold on abroad.

"I call on all states to stay vigilant and refuse any such proposals. Don’t buy the stolen. Don’t become accomplices to Russian crimes," Kuleba said on Twitter.

The BBC has not verified the claims. Russia on Tuesday dismissed as "fake" images appearing to show ships being filled with grain in Crimea.

Separately. the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, accused Russia of using food as a weapon in the war in Ukraine, adding that it was confiscating grain and blockading ships in the territory it controls.

She said the consequences were already being seen in increased global prices for food, fertiliser and energy - leading to more suffering for those in most need.

George Wright
BBC News

Image source, Puzo Pub

Russian forces are focusing their bombardment on Severodonetsk, a strategically important city in the eastern Donbas region.

Dmytro Gabsaliamov owns the popular Puzo Pub in the city. He was then forced to shut down his business and spend more than a week in a shelter beneath his apartment after the Russian invasion in February.

"You cannot understand what it’s like. You can’t go anywhere because it’s just bombing all the time. It’s not safe anywhere. We heard someone died, someone was attacked in his house or flat," he tells me from the central Ukrainian city of Uman, where he's now staying,

Gabsaliamov fled his home city on 4 March. Just over a month later he was sent photos of his destroyed apartment.

"When we left our apartment a bomb shattered our flat. I had a good apartment, I put a lot of money into it. I've lost it all," he says.

Image source, Dmytro Gabsaliamov

Gabsaliamov speaks fondly of his pre-war life in Severodonetsk. His bar could hold 200 people and was one of the few venues in town to put on rock shows and stand-up comedy nights.

"It was a crazy atmosphere."

The bar was pulling pints until 23 February - the day before the invasion.

"We were still working because people always came," he says, adding there was a sense of disbelief as to what was happening.

Image source, Puzo Pub

Gabsaliamov says he has a couple of friends left in Severodonetsk who are looking after their elderly parents and cannot leave. He likens the situation to Mariupol, the port city destroyed by Russian forces.

"It’s all burning, it’s all damaged. Now in the city you have no electricity, no internet, no water, no gas."

He dreams of one day returning to his city.

"I’d play football three times a week. We had many football fields," he says. "In the morning you drink coffee, in the evening you drink craft beer. It was a good time."

"I hope I can return. It’s like a dream, but it’s looking very bad."

Image source, Getty Images

Colombia will deploy a team of its soldiers to Europe to train Ukrainian troops on mine clearance, the defence ministry announced on their website, external.

Defence Minister Diego Molano Aponte said in a Tweet, external that eleven Colombian military engineers will travel to an undisclosed, neighbouring European country - which is a Nato member - to train some of Ukraine's soldiers on how to perfect tactical procedures to remove landmines and other explosives.

Colombia is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. Fatalities and injuries are still commonplace, a consequence of decades of fighting between the government and armed groups.

Image source, EPA

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has condemned President Vladimir Putin in a live court hearing, calling him a "madman" who started a "stupid war" in Ukraine.

"This is a stupid war which your Putin started," Navalny told an appeal court in Moscow via video link from a corrective penal colony.

"This war was built on lies. One madman has got his claws into Ukraine and I do not know what he wants to do with it - this crazy thief," Navalny said of Putin.

Navalny was previously sentenced by a court to nine years in a strict regime colony for fraud and contempt of court.

The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed Navalny's accusations about Putin, who it says has won numerous fair elections in Russia since 2000 and remains by far the country's most popular politician.

The Russian offensive in the Donbas region of Ukraine is "the largest one on European soil since World War Two," according to Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

Kuleba urged Ukraine's allies to speed up the supply of weapons and ammunition to the country, especially multiple rocket launch systems (MLRS), long-range artillery, and armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

"[The] Russian offensive in the Donbas is a ruthless battle," Kuleba said on Twitter, adding that it's too early to conclude that Ukraine already has all the arms it needs.

Earlier, Russia's defence ministry said it had carried out air strikes on an arms depot in the eastern Donbas region, used to store shells for US M777 howitzers, a type of artillery weapon that fires shells at targets on high trajectories.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify these claims.

Image source, .

Image source, Serhiy Haidai/Telegram

Severodonetsk in the eastern Donbas region is still under the control of Ukraine despite Russian forces bombarding the city, the regional governor says.

Russia has refocused its war effort on Donbas - made up of the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk - and many believe President Putin could claim victory in the war if Moscow takes control of the region.

If Russia takes Severodonetsk it will control almost all of Luhansk.

Regional governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on Telegram that "the Russians concentrated almost all their forces, namely 25 battalion tactical groups to take the city".

Russian forces are shelling the centre of the city "chaotically and uninterruptedly", while battles are taking place in the surrounding villages, he said.

Four civilians were killed in a high-rise block as a result of the shelling on Monday, he said. The BBC has been unable to verify this.

"It is very difficult to evacuate people," he added.

Image source, EPA

High-level delegations from Sweden and Finland are due to arrive in Turkey on Tuesday evening for talks with the foreign ministry about their applications to join Nato, the NTV news channel reports.

The visit follows the host's objection to the two countries joining Nato.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan previously said neither countries should bother visiting to try to convince Turkey of their bids.

Without the support of all Nato members - including Turkey - Sweden and Finland cannot join the military alliance.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia's foreign minister says that Moscow would consider offers from the West to re-establish ties, but for now will focus on developing relations with China.

Sergei Lavrov accused Western countries of espousing "Russophobia" since Moscow launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine, which is how the Kremlin defines its invasion.

"If [the West] want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not," Lavrov said at an event, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry's website last night.

Russia "must cease being dependent in any way on supplies" coming from the West, he added.

Moscow's goal now is to further develop ties with China, he said.

Russia would count on "only ourselves and on countries which have proved themselves reliable and do not 'dance to some other piper's music'", he said.

"If Western countries change their minds and propose some form of cooperation, we can then decide."

Image source, EPA

Grain and food shortages due to the invasion of Ukraine could have dire consequences globally, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned.

"There could be a lot of hunger and indeed even famine that could dwarf the numbers involved in the war itself," he told Sky News.

The transport secretary met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Infrastructure Minister Oleksander Kubrakov, to discuss ways of getting grain out of the country after Russia blocked Ukraine's main sea ports.

Difficulties around food exports have sent global prices soaring since the start of the war, as Russia and Ukraine produced around 30% of the world's wheat supply before the conflict.

"It's hard to overestimate how much Ukraine was and is the breadbasket of the world," Mr Shapps added.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko asked for help in creating a "safe passage" to enable grains stuck in Ukraine to leave the country, warning that the blockade may soon lead to world hunger.

Image source, Getty Images

The world is "navigating a dark hour in our shared history" with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US President Joe Biden told Asian allies.

The war is a "global issue", underscoring the importance of defending international order, he said.

Biden is meeting the leaders of Japan, Australia and India in Tokyo in his first visit to Asia as president.

The four countries known collectively as the Quad are discussing security and economic concerns including China's growing influence in the region, as well as their differences over the Russian invasion.

Japanese PM Fumio Kishida echoed Biden's comments, saying that a similar invasion should not happen in Asia.

Biden promised the US would work with allies to lead the global response, reiterating their commitment to defend international order and sovereignty "regardless of where they were violated in the world".

India is the only Quad member so far that has refused to directly criticise Russia for the invasion. In his opening remarks at Tuesday's summit, Indian PM Narendra Modi did not mention the issue.

Read more here.