A spokesperson for jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has welcomed a Russian diplomat's decision to leave his role as counsellor to the UN over the war in Ukraine.

Posting a copy of Boris Bondarev's resignation statement to her Twitter account,, external Kira Yarmysh commended the diplomat for being the "only honest person at the Foreign Ministry".

She is a spokesperson for Russia's most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to nine years in a "strict regime penal colony" in Russia earlier this year.

We've been reporting on the conviction of Russian soldier Vadim Shishimarin, who admitted to killing a 62-year-old civilian in the war's early stages, and now Ukraine's prosecutor-general says thousands of additional crimes are being looked at.

Iryna Venediktova told The Washington Post that, as of Monday, "more than 13,000 cases of Russian alleged war crimes" alone are being probed. Earlier today, the most recent estimate of such cases under review was around 11,000, suggesting the list is growing fast.

Kyiv has consistently accused Russia of atrocities against civilians during the invasion, but the Kremlin denies its troops have targeted innocent bystanders.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us, here are some of the key happenings in Ukraine and beyond:

Russian diplomat resigns over war: Boris Bondarev, Moscow's counsellor to the UN in Geneva, resigned earlier over what he called the "absolutely needless" and "criminal" conflict in Ukraine. Bondarev - now Russia's most senior diplomat to defect over the war - accused "those who conceived this war" of wanting nothing more than "to remain in power forever".

Harsher sanctions: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy told global business and political leaders at a summit in Davos that "maximum" sanctions must be used against Russia. The measures he wants to see put in place, he said, are: a full embargo on Russian oil, all Russian banks barred from global systems, and all trade with with Russia abandoned

Russian soldier guilty of war crime: A Ukrainian court sentenced Russian tank commander Sgt Vadim Shishimarin, 21, to life in prison after he admitted to fatally shooting Oleksandr Shelipov, a 62-year-old civilian. Moscow still denies its troops have targeted innocent bystanders during the invasion.

Ukraine and Russia butt heads over ports: Ukraine's deputy PM, Yuliia Svyrydenko, has called on world leaders to help lift the current blockade on its Black Sea ports so the country can resume its vital export of grain. Kremlin officials have said they will only consider the move if sanctions imposed on Moscow are reviewed, according to the Interfax news agency.

Image source, Reuters

Starbucks will exit the Russian market after nearly 15 years, the corporation announced today.

The coffee chain has 130 stores in Russia and nearly 2,000 employees - who will continue to be paid over the next six months, as the corporation stated it will continue supporting its Russian staff.

All Starbucks stores in Russia were temporarily closed in March as all of its business activity was suspended due to the invasion of Ukraine.

The move follows fast-food giant McDonald's permanently leaving Russia after 30 years and selling all of its 850 outlets to a local buyer, marking the exit of some of the biggest Western brands from Russian markets.

Starbucks, which opened its first Russian branch in 2007, did not provide any details on the financial impact of the exit on the company.

Image source, Getty Images

Last week, the UN asked Russia to open access to Ukraine's Black Sea ports – to allow grain exports to resume.

The head of the UN's World Food Programme, David Beasley, suggested that keeping them shut was worsening a global food crisis.

Now, Russia's saying that if it opens those ports, the sanctions imposed on Moscow will have to be reviewed, according to the Interfax news agency.

Ukraine, one of the world's largest grain producers, used to use its sea ports for most of its exports. Now it's using trains and its small Danube River ports.

The World Food Programme reaches 125 million people and buys 50% of its grain from Ukraine.

The Kremlin on Monday accused Ukrainian nationalists of carrying out a "terror attack" against an official installed by Russia in southern Ukraine, AFP news agency reports.

Andrey Shevchik was appointed as mayor of Energodar, in the Zaporizhzhia region, after Russian troops took control of the town. It's the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

On Sunday, Shevchik and his two guards were wounded in an explosion as they were entering a building. Ukrainian "nationalist elements are using such methods", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

A local police official, Alexei Selivanov, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that Shevchik had "suffered burns and injuries" but the lives of him and his bodyguards were not in danger.

He said the pro-Moscow official had been targeted by an explosive device planted in an electrical switchboard cupboard.

A city of nearly 50,000 inhabitants, Energodar was built in the 1970s around the nuclear power plant, located on the Dnipro river.

Image source, .

More now on Russia’s counsellor to the UN in Geneva resigning over the war in Ukraine.

Boris Bondarev has spoken to the BBC's Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg about why he became the country's most senior diplomat to defect over the war.

"The reason is that I strongly disagree and disapprove of what my government is doing and has been doing at least since February, and I don’t want to be associated with that any longer," he said.

Bondarev said it was a case of when, not if, he was going to quit. "I don’t see any alternative."

Despite being shocked by the Russian invasion, he said he does not believe his feelings are widespread in the foreign ministry.

"I think most people, the majority of them, are following the propaganda and what their superiors tell them.

"When you work in the ministry you work in a hierarchy, so you must obey what your superior tells you. And for many years any critical approach has been erased from the ministry mostly," he said.

Although he said his decision to leave would not likely change things, he said "it may be one little brick into the bigger wall which would eventually be built".

Asked if he believes he will be considered a traitor, Bondarev said: "I think they are already considering me as such."

Faisal Islam & Ben King
BBC economics editor & BBC business reporter

The international community should help lift the blockade of Ukraine’s sea ports to allow it to export the millions of tons of grain stuck in its silos, the country’s deputy prime minister has told the BBC.

“We need the assistance of our international partners, to secure our exports through the sea ports,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

She hinted that military means might be necessary to achieve this.

“We need a guarantee from partners, of course it’s a defence guarantee, a security guarantee, to be able to export [using] these vessels. And to make it, not once but on a regular basis. That is most important.”

Ukraine’s inability to export its grain has led to food prices rising around the world, and raised the prospect of famines in countries which depend on its exports.

Read more on this story here.

James Waterhouse
Reporting from Kyiv

Image source, EPA

In a conflict where the deliberate targeting of civilians has become one of the defining features, today’s outcome sets a significant legal precedent.

Russia’s always insisted it hasn’t carried out war crimes, but Ukraine is going to bring more cases like this to unpick Moscow’s blanket denials.

It’s not likely this result will immediately lead to a change in tactics from invading forces, but it does bring Oleksandr Shelipov’s widow Kateryna Shelipova justice.

The Kremlin’s response though, is already in motion.

In Russia laws are being drafted and courts are being set up to try some Ukrainian prisoners as war criminals.

Suggesting both countries could soon find themselves in a legal tit-for-tat, while this war rages on.

Image source, Reuters

New Zealand will send a small number of troops from its defence force to the UK to train Ukrainian soldiers in using field artillery guns, the government announced on Monday.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said 30 personnel will be deployed to the UK until the end of July to train Ukrainian forces in the use of L119 105mm howitzer guns.

Around 230 Ukrainian soldiers will be trained in groups of 30, with each crew taking around a week to be fully competent in using the guns.

"Our response has not only included the condemnation of Russia, but practical support for Ukraine," Ardern said.

On the ground in Ukraine, forces will soon be receiving a shipment of the artillery guns from the UK – though it's not yet clear how many.

The UK is among a number of allies that will be providing the weapons, the BBC understands.

These howitzers have been used by the British Army since the late 1970s and sold to more than a dozen countries.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia’s counsellor to the UN in Geneva has resigned over the "bloody, witless and absolutely needless" fighting in Ukraine, making him the country's most senior diplomat to defect over the war.

In a resignation letter, external, Boris Bondarev said he had seen "different turns" of his country's foreign policy over his 20-year career "but never have I been so ashamed of my country as on 24 February", when Russia launched its attack.

Calling the level of "lies and unprofessionalism" in Russia's Foreign Ministry "catastrophic", he said Vladimir Putin's war was "not only a crime against the Ukrainian people, but also, perhaps, the most serious crime against the people of Russia".

In March, Anatoly Chubais became the most prominent Kremlin official to quit over the war. Chubais, who was Putin's special envoy for relations with international organisations for sustainable development, not only left his post, but Russia too.

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."

From tomorrow, Ukrainian refugees in Germany will be able to convert cash they have brought from home into euros, without exchange fees, the German finance ministry says.

Each refugee will be able to exchange up to 10,000 Ukrainian hryvnia (£270; $340) at participating German banks at current exchange rates.

It's part of an exchange programme agreed jointly by the finance ministry in Berlin, the central banks of Germany and Ukraine and the German Banking Industry Committee.

The total amount of cash that can be exchanged has initially been set at 1.5bn hryvnia (£40.4m; $50.8m). The scheme will last for three months.

Banknotes of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 hryvnia will be accepted.

The Ukrainian fighters who surrendered at the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol are to be put on trial, the head of the separatist Donetsk region (DNR) told Russian state media.

"The captives from Azovstal are kept in DNR territory. There are plans to organise an international tribunal in the republic's territory, too," the leader of the breakaway region Denis Pushilin is quoted as saying.

"The tribunal's statute is being worked out now," he said.

It was not clear from the report what charges the soldiers would face.

Image source, Reuters

More than 80 people were killed in a Russian attack on a military base in Desna, northern Ukraine, earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during an address to the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The attack, on 17 May, killed 87 people. Desna is a village in the Chernihiv region and is home to a military base which was reclaimed by Ukrainian forces following a drawback of Russian troops.

"Today, under the rubble in Desna, there are 87 victims. Eighty-seven corpses, victims who were killed," Zelensky said during the Davos summit.

"Ukraine's future will be without these people," Zelensky added.

Image source, Getty Images

Over to Sochi, Russia, now, where President Vladimir Putin and his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko have been giving a joint press conference.

Lukashenko used the briefing to raise concerns over what he described as the West's attempts to "dismember" Ukraine, accusing Poland of trying to seize the nation's western region.

He also appeared to suggest Kyiv would eventually need to ask for help - from Belarus and Russia - to prevent this seizure happening.

The Belarusian leader provided no evidence for his assertions.

Putin, on the other hand, chose to focus on Russia's bid to force foreign companies to pay in roubles when buying Russian exports. He said this would strengthen his country's currency.

Russian forces are focusing their efforts on Severodonetsk.

The city had a pre-war population of around 100,000 and is in Luhansk, in the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow has re-focused its war effort.

There are concerns the city could suffer the same fate as the port city of Mariupol, which was surrounded and pounded into submission.

Severodonetsk is strategically hugely important as if it falls under Russian control, this would mean Moscow's forces will control almost all of Luhansk.

Russia's ministry of defence last week said it would take the whole of Luhansk.

Donbas is made up of two regions - Luhansk and Donetsk - and many believe Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold up taking control of most of Donbas as a victory in the war.

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

First war crimes trial: Russian Sergeant Vadim Shishimarin has been sentenced to life in prison in the conflict's first war crimes trial. The 21-year-old, from Siberia, had admitted killing a 62-year-old civilian in the early stages of the invasion, but his lawyer had argued he was carrying out what he perceived to be a direct order

Turning point: Ukraine's President Zelenksy has told global business and political leaders at a summit in Davos that maximum sanctions must be used against Russia as a warning to other countries. "History is at a turning point... when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world," he saud

Battle for Severodonetsk: Russia has turned its focus on Severodonetsk, a city in the eastern Donbas region. Regional governor Serhiy Haidai has said Putin's troops are "using scorched-earth tactics, deliberately destroying" the city. There are also reports of a strike on a school basement, where people were sheltering

Troop losses: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says up to 100 of his troops are dying every day in the battle in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile, the UK's Ministry of Defence (MOD) says in the first three months of the war, Russia is likely to have suffered a similar death toll, external to that seen by the Soviet Union during its nine-year war in Afghanistan

Image source, EPA

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been speaking remotely to the World Economic Forum, telling business leaders what more needs to be done to support his country during the war with Russia.

Here are the key actions he called for:

Stronger sanctions on Russia

• A key theme of Zelensky's speech was his desire that countries should go further in crippling Russia economically. He said he didn't believe any "maximum" measures were currently in place, but "there should be"
• The main sanctions he said he wanted to see are: a full embargo on Russian oil, all Russian banks barred from global systems, and all trade with with Russia abandoned

More weapons

• As with many of his video speeches, President Zelensky called for more artillery, saying Ukraine needs "all the weapons that we ask for, not just the ones that have been provided"
• He added that tens of thousands of lives would have been saved if Kyiv had received "100% of our needs at once back in February" when the war began

An agreement to ensure 'brute force' won't rule the world

• Pointing to the WEF's theme for this year - history at a turning point - Zelensky said this was a vital moment for attendees to decide whether "brute force will rule the world"

Businesses to quit Russia and invest in Ukraine

• Zelensky said it was vital for any businesses still in Russia to cease operations immediately, and insisted they should instead put their money into rebuilding Ukraine
• He said this was vital for any company that wanted to be sure it hadn't unwittingly funded the "blood interests" of Russia

A Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison for war crimes in Ukraine intends to appeal, his lawyer says.

"This is the most severe sentence and any level-headed person would challenge it," Viktor Ovsyannikov said, according to AFP.

"I will ask for the cancellation of the court's verdict," Ovsyannikov added.

Vadim Shishimarin admitted fatally shooting a 62-year-old man in the north-eastern village of Chupakhivka on 28 February. His lawyer maintains he was following direct orders.