Image source, Reuters

As we've been covering today, European Union countries are struggling to agree on a future ban on Russian oil imports, with Hungary the main opponent.

Hungary is a major importer of Russian oil, and as it is facing a cost-of-living crisis. It said the sanction would amount to an "atomic bomb" being dropped on Hungary's economy.

PM Viktor Orban is also a long-term ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The proposed measure is part of a sixth package of sanctions being discussed by EU leaders at a two-day summit in Brussels, and requires the agreement of all 27 member states.

Addressing the meeting, Ukrainian's President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the assembled leaders to end internal rows.

"It is time for you to be not separate, not fragments, but one whole," he said.

Read more on this story here.

Quentin Somerville
Reporting from Lysychansk

We've reported extensively about Russia's assault on Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine, and now our correspondent Quentin Sommerville shares what he's seen from a neighbouring city:

Just days ago, I watched from a rooftop in Lysychansk as, on the horizon, its twin city of Severodonetsk was being bombed indiscriminately. Shells were landing every minute on its length and breath. Severodonetsk was burning.

Lysychansk itself has been drained of life. Artillery fire is a regular threat. The air carried on the summer breeze is gritty with dust from smoke and pulverised buildings.

Having failed to conquer all of Ukraine, Russian forces are now targeting Donbas - made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. If Severodonetsk and Lysychansk fall, the whole of Luhansk would be occupied.

Here, Russia isn't fighting a campaign of attrition, it's waging a war of oblivion. And, for the moment on this front, it is winning.

Read the rest of Quentin's report here.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that he sees "value" in helping to create "a secure sea route for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products", Reuters has reported his office as saying.

Erdogan's office has also said it welcomes in principle the idea of making Istanbul a headquarters for "observation" between Moscow, Kyiv and the UN.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in co-ordination with Turkey, Reuters reported.

Ukraine has been unable to export millions of tonnes of grain because of a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

The governor of Ukraine's Luhansk region has warned Russian troops have entered the strategically important city of Severodonetsk, as intense fighting continues in the east of the country.

Serhiy Haidai says Moscow's forces are nearing the centre of the city - the largest and easternmost of those still under Ukrainian control - after almost surrounding it.

The region’s governor says the battle for Severodonetsk is incredibly intense - with the bombardment so fierce officials have given up counting the casualties.

Among those killed today was a French journalist working for BFM TV. Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was with an official evacuation convoy when his vehicle was hit with shrapnel, piercing his neck.

Photos from the scene show him seemingly lifeless by the side of the road.

It comes as Ukraine continues its calls for more heavy weaponry from abroad. In particular, powerful multiple launch rocket systems that are able to strike much further than the traditional artillery the Ukrainians are currently using.

According to Yuri Sak - an advisor to Ukraine's Minister of Defence – they could turn the tide of the war.

He says: “For us to be able to liberate our territories and expel the enemy, in particular the most pressing need at the moment are the so-called multi launch rocket systems – because they have a longer fire range than what we have at the moment. And they will allow us to redress the imbalance of firepower in the east. And this will indeed be a game-changer.”

But it seems like there may be some limitations… President Biden said today that the US wouldn't provide systems that could be used to attack Russia itself - for fear of escalating the conflict.

(Read more on that here.)

It is a war that – according to Professor Michael Clarke of the Department of War Studies at King’s College London – shows no sign of coming to an immediate end.

He says: “The Ukrainians have shown they can fight the Russians to a standstill in various places. Russians can’t actually make any big breakthroughs. On the other hand, Ukrainians at the moment certainly can’t throw the Russians out. So, what we’re looking at is the prospect of a static war in which both sides make small gains, but nothing decisive.”

As the battle for the Donbas continues, it is worth looking not just at the gains the Russians are making – but at the price they are paying in blood and equipment.

Russia may be advancing – but at what price?

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Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has addressed EU leaders in Brussels via video-link, saying that Europe must show “greater unity”.

"It is time for you to be not separate, not fragments, but [be] one whole," he said, calling for a new set of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on Russian oil.

Zelensky used his own country as an example, saying that by working together, Ukrainians have held back Russian troops more than most world leaders – including Putin – expected.

"If someone torpedoes a ship, it's impossible for one or more cabins to have hope to stay afloat when others drown," Zelensky said.

Zelensky also said Europe must stop internal "quarrels" on the sanctions, saying they only spur Russia on.

The EU leaders are meeting for an extraordinary summit to try to reach an agreement on a sixth set of sanctions against Russia, which would involve a ban on Russian oil. But Hungary, which is heavily reliant on Russian gas – says it will not back the plan.

Paul Adams
BBC Diplomatic correspondent

Washington does seem poised to supply potentially game-changing weapons to Ukraine.

President Biden says the US will not send rocket systems that can reach into Russia, but that still leaves plenty of scope for the supply of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) with shorter range munitions.

Officials say no decision has yet been taken, but the introduction of the MLRS could give Ukrainian forces the sort of firepower they’ve been demanding.

Even with its most basic rocket, it has double the range of the M777 artillery pieces already supplied by Washington and can be fired over 40 miles.

The MLRS is also much more technologically advanced than the Grad and Smerch systems being used by Russian forces.

It’s much more accurate and quicker to reload. Where Russian forces use their rocket systems as a weapon of indiscriminate fear over a wide area, the American MLRS can be used with much greater precision, even in support of advancing troops.

It’s been called “the 70km (43mile) sniper rifle”.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we heard US President Joe Biden say the US will not send to Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia.

Now, a Russian former president has called that view "sensible".

Dmitry Medvedev, who led Russia between 2008 and 2012, warned if the country's cities were "attacked", Moscow would have to follow through on its "threat to strike the centres taking these criminal decisions".

"Some of them are not in Kyiv at all," he added, signalling the message was intended for nations further afield than Ukraine. "There is no need to explain what would happen next," he says.

The back-and-forth follows reports that the Biden administration is considering sending advanced long-range rocket systems to Kyiv.

Image source, EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

As Hungary holds out against an EU Russian oil ban, Poland has proposed introducing a price equalisation system in the European Union so the fellow EU member can no longer benefit from continuing to import Russian oil.

Polish news agency PAP reports a "special tool for levelling the price" could be introduced so any EU country resisting Russian oil sanctions would not be able to use imports "as an advantage in competition with other countries", Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said.

But Morawiecki remains optimistic EU leaders will be able to agree on an oil embargo against Russia at the summit currently under way.

Hungary has been resisting a proposed EU plan to ban Russian oil imports, with its Prime Minister Viktor Orban saying solutions need to be found to guarantee his country's energy supply.

Katya Adler
Europe Editor

It’s more than awkward for the EU that a month after the European Commission announced a plan to ban Russian oil imports, member states have failed to muster the required unanimous support for the embargo.

A watered-down compromise is being worked on, along with an alternative proposal to impose tariffs on Russian energy instead.

Hungary’s freshly re-elected, Putin-friendly prime minister Victor Orban is the main spoke in the wheel of the oil sanctions, which he’s likened to dropping a nuclear bomb on the economy.

The cost of living crisis, largely linked to spiralling fuel prices, is already a growing challenge across the EU. It's becoming increasingly difficult for Brussels to introduce new sanctions against Russia without incurring big costs for EU countries too.

But an impatient Ukraine insists tough economic measures and military aid must continue regardless. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to address EU leaders by video-link this evening.

Leaders are also discussing whether confiscated Russian assets can or should be used to help Ukraine’s eventual reconstruction and an up to 9 billion euro EU pledge to help Ukraine stay afloat economically this year.

Though whether Brussels plans to finance that through loans or grants - is still unclear.

Image source, EPA

Away from the specific talks within the EU on a Russian oil ban, on the outside, Ukraine is fed up with "special solutions" and separate models for its integration into the European Union, the country's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has said and Reuters reports.

His country needs "a clear legal affirmation" that it's part of the European integration project, such as the granting of candidate status, he says.

Ukraine began the process of applying to join the EU in February this year, four days after Russia's invasion.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said it could take decades for Ukraine to join the EU but has suggested it could join a "parallel European community" while awaiting a decision.

Macron has suggested this sort of scheme would allow non-EU members to join Europe's security architecture.

Image source, Reuters

As the EU struggles to agree on an oil ban, Latvia’s Prime Minister says member countries must not get “bogged down” in their own personal interests.

Krisjanis Karins, who arrived earlier at the European Council, said it was important to remember the “big picture”.

Ukrainians were fighting for their independence and European values, he said.

The West, he suggested, must “starve Russia” of the funds to continue its war.

Latvia has been heavily dependent on Russian energy but it’s moving away from that, Mr Karins added.

“It’s going to cost us more. But it’s only money. The Ukrainians are paying with their lives.

“I also think we should sanction gas,” he told reporters.

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

Watching the EU’s efforts to get a watered-down oil ban over the line in the last 24 hours has been dizzying. Hopes have edged up and down. Today, in particular, there have been some very mixed messages.

The European Council President, Charles Michel, is among those projecting relative confidence that a deal’s on the verge of being sealed. Mr Michel might, of course, be anxious to salvage a summit that he is responsible for calling.

But the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said her expectations were "low" that an agreement would be reached within the next 48 hours.

Then there’s Hungary’s Viktor Orban – whose resistance to the oil embargo has antagonised some other member states. Talking to reporters, the Prime Minister dismissed accusations that he was “Putin’s puppet” as “fake news”. And while he appeared to think a compromise plan – to exempt pipelines from the ban – wasn’t “bad”, he wanted more guarantees.

His overall line was that there was no agreement yet and that this was the commission’s fault, not his.

The European Commission are to blame for a lack of progress on Russia oil sanctions, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has told reporters at a European Council summit in Brussels.

Orban also said he would only agree to the European Union's latest proposals for sanctions against Russia if solutions are found to guarantee his country's energy supply first.

Orban said he needed guarantees that his country could purchase oil by sea if Russian shipments stopped.

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

Image source, EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

The EU's foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell says he’s “fully confident” the bloc will reach an agreement on its sixth sanctions package.

He suggested this could come at the summit in Brussels, taking place today and tomorrow.

European Council President Charles Michel also said the time was now to decide on a Russian oil embargo.

“It’s not easy,” he conceded, saying “I hope we’ll be able to take a decision on that important question”.

They were speaking (separately) as they arrived for the summit of EU leaders.

A compromise proposal would see seaborne imports targeted first and pipelines later.

But earlier the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said her expectations were low that the outstanding issues could be solved in the next 48 hours.

And Hungary’s PM Viktor Orban said he had seen the latest text on sanctions and there was “no agreement”.

Image source, Reuters

We reported earlier that a French journalist was killed in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, after the armoured evacuation vehicle he was travelling in was hit by a Russian shell.

French President Emmanuel Macron has now named the journalist as Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff.

The 32-year-old was in Ukraine "to show the reality of the war", Macron said, adding Leclerc-Imhoff was "fatally shot" while on board a humanitarian bus, "alongside civilians forced to flee to escape Russian bombs".

Echoing Macron's sentiments, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said her country condemned the journalist's "deeply shocking" death. She added:

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The US will not send Ukraine rocket systems that can reach into Russia, President Joe Biden says.

He was asked by a reporter if he was going to send long range rocket systems to Ukraine.

His comments follow reports that the Biden administration had been considering sending advanced long-range rocket systems to Kyiv.

You can read our story on it here.

Russia had said it saw any deliveries of heavy weapons as a provocative escalation.

Earlier Ukrainian defence adviser Yuriy Sak told the BBC his country needed so-called multi-launch rocket systems which have a longer range than what Ukraine has at the moment, "to redress the imbalance in artillery in the east".

Image source, Reuters

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has criticised the European Commission for what he called “irresponsible” behaviour over the way it’s handled a proposed Russian oil ban.

Arriving at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, he suggested the Commission - which develops laws for member states - had failed to properly negotiate the embargo with member countries.

He said the oil ban had come “out of the blue” – without answering questions on Hungary’s energy security. “Energy is a serious issue. We need solutions and then the sanctions," he said.

However, he also sounded a positive note about a proposed compromise that would exempt pipeline oil from any ban - describing that idea as “not bad.”

“It’s a good approach but we need a guarantee that in the case of an accident with the pipeline... we have to have the right to get Russian oil from other sources," he said.

James Waterhouse
Reporting from Kyiv

Luhansk's regional governor Serhiy Haidai has posted graphic images showing a badly damaged lorry with a smashed windscreen and blood on the interior.

On the pavement is the body of a man, believed to be the French journalist Haidai says was killed by a Russian shell.

Officials say he suffered a fatal wound to the neck after shrapnel pierced the vehicle's armour.

The evacuation of civilians has always been a fragile operation in this war, with Moscow continually being accused of both breaking agreed ceasefires and deliberately targeting civilians, which it's always denied.

The Luhansk region is continuing to see some of the heaviest fighting, as the Russians move in on the city of Severodonetsk.

Image source, .

The evacuation of civilians in Ukraine's Luhansk region has been suspended after a French journalist was killed, according to the regional governor.

Serhiy Haidai wrote on the messaging app Telegram that the journalist was killed when an armoured evacuation vehicle was hit by a Russian shell.

He said the car had been on its way to pick 10 people up.

We'll bring you more details on this as we get them.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is "not there yet" with regards to an agreement on a sixth package of sanctions, including a potential ban on Russian oil imports.

"It's never been easy. It's the same now with the sixth package," she told reporters as she arrived ahead of a summit of the 27 EU leaders.

"It is very important to have fairness for all, we haven't found a solution for that yet.

"My expectations are low that it will be solved in the next 48 hours. But I'm confident that thereafter there will be a possibility," she said.

The EU requires the approval of all member states to introduce the sanctions, despite announcing them nearly a month ago.

As we've been reporting, Hungary, which relies heavily on Russian oil, is the main opponent of a ban in imports.