Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Russia is making "slow but steady" gains in Donbas, a Western official has said.

In some frontline areas, its forces have been advancing on average only between 500 metres and a kilometre a day over the last month when they would hope to be moving much faster, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told a briefing.

In some other areas like around Kherson, Ukrainian forces have been able to go on the offensive and make gains in areas lightly held by Russia. This highlights the risks for Russia on its flanks, the official said.

Overall, more than 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in action, although they are taking casualties in smaller numbers now than previously, the official said. More than 40,000 have been wounded. The numbers are high partly due to the lack of medical support in the field.

Some units deployed "without anything remotely like adequate medical support", the official said. They said that the Ukrainian figure of taking roughly 60-100 casualties a day seemed "pretty accurate".

Russia continued to have morale problems among its troops, the official said.

“We're seeing sort of disillusionment with the nature of the campaign, not just amongst junior soldiers, but we're seeing reflections amongst senior officers, that they're disillusioned with the campaign as well."

Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

Image source, EPA

A meeting of EU ambassadors broke off this afternoon without final endorsement of the bloc’s sixth sanctions package.

Diplomats have told the BBC that Hungary raised objections about putting the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and Putin ally, Patriarch Kirill, on the sanctions list.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously spoken out against targeting Patriarch Kirill saying his country:

Diplomats also report some technical issues on the oil ban but say they’re relatively minor and not unusual when thrashing out legal texts.

EU leaders clinched a late night deal on the bloc’s latest sanctions package at a summit earlier this week, after weeks of wrangling.

Hungary won a major concession - with pipeline oil exempted - but it’s not clear that leaders discussed the listing of Patriarch Kirill.

Even with high level political agreement, sanctions packages still have to be worked into a legal text and get final sign off by member states.

Ambassadors may reconvene tomorrow in Luxembourg.

Diplomats are confident they’ll get the package over the line - with or without Patriarch Kirill on the list.

Image source, Reuters

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russia of waging a war in the east of the country designed to wipe out any opposition and flatten civilisation.

"First the missiles, then the planes with artillery, then the warplanes with artillery, and then, when everything is flattened, the tanks roll in," she told the German parliament.

"This is a new wave of destruction. And that means that it is also a strategy of depopulation, to extinguish the civilisation in the Donbas."

And she criticised opposition parties who are calling for a diplomatic solution via talks with Russia's President Putin.

"We have seen from Ukraine's neighbouring countries that an end to violence does not automatically mean freedom, but rather the exact opposite."

It follows an announcement earlier on Wednesday by Chancellor Olaf Scholz in which Germany committed to sending a range of weapons to support Ukraine, including medium-range surface-to-air defence systems and multiple rocket launchers.

George Wright
BBC News

Image source, Dallas Anthony Casey

More now on Severodonetsk - the strategically vital city in the eastern Donbas region that Russian forces now control large parts of.

Dallas Anthony Casey is an American combat medic who has been volunteering in Ukraine for more than two months. He has been carrying out various roles including giving medical training to Ukrainian forces.

He left Severodonetsk last week, where he had been helping evacuate people remaining in the besieged city.

Shelling of the city is "constant", he told me.

"Never a moment where there wasn’t. We’d be driving down the road to one location and watch a building get hit. We'd stop and run into the building and see if anyone could be saved," Casey said.

"Two days ago one of the volunteer ladies was hit when going door to door. She lost the lower half of her leg and lost a lot of blood before we could get to her. We had to do CPR, but we were unsuccessful," he added.

Despite the constant shelling and complete devastation of the city, many civilians remain.

"When we’d drive through you’d see people on their bikes or on a stroll while the building right next to them gets blown up. No rush or hurry, they’d just carry on with what they were doing."

The people remaining roughly fall into two groups, Casey said.

"Some think the Russians will come and take over and their life will be much better," he says.

"We convinced some people to come with us and they’d be shamed on their way out of the shelter."

"Then the other group of people are in complete shock. You go to their door, ask them if they want to be evacuated and they’d be too scared to leave their homes," he said.

"They’d tell you: 'This is all I have, where am I going to go?'"

Image source, EPA

Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, who was co-awarded the Nobel peace prize last year, will auction off his medal to raise money for Ukrainian children.

"We have understood that in order to help the children of Ukraine you can and you must give away the most precious and important thing you have. And we have decided to auction off the gold Nobel medal," he tweeted, external.

The editor of the Novaya Gazeta liberal newspaper was awarded the prize jointly with fellow journalist Maria Ressa for "their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace".

Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, which is known for being highly critical of the Russian authorities, suspended its print and online operations in March after a warning from Moscow over its Russia-Ukraine war coverage.

The decision to auction his medal comes days after Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra revealed they had auctioned the 2022 trophy to raise funds for the Ukrainian army.

The glass microphone, awarded to the band at the contest in Turin earlier this month, raised $900,000 (£712,000; €838,000), with frontman Oleh Psiuk's iconic pink bucket hat fetching a further $370,000 (£297,000).

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Lviv

There will be an odd mood tonight in this football mad nation.

People here are undoubtedly excited about the match, but many that we have spoken to aren't in too celebratory a mood, given what their compatriots are going through elsewhere.

Also, with restaurants and bars closed due to the curfew, people will only be able to watch in their homes.

There may also be a reluctance to get too excited, given the difficult build-up the Ukrainian side have faced. Only a few of their players are thought to be fully match fit and they face a Scotland side in fine form.

But, if there is one thing Ukraine has demonstrated over the three months of this war, it's that they should never be written off.

Here are some images from Glasgow, as fans gathered before the match.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

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Image source, Reuters

George Wright
BBC News

Image source, Dmytro Gabsaliamov

Russia is now in control of around 70% of the key eastern city of Severodonetsk, according to the governor of the Luhansk 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 told me last week 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 said.

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 said, adding there was a sense of disbelief as to what was happening.

Image source, Puzo Pub

Gabsaliamov said 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 said. "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

Russia's foreign minister has accused Ukraine of provoking further Western involvement in the current military action with its "unapologetic" demands for more powerful missiles.

Sergei Lavrov suggested the "risks existed" of involving a third party in the conflict, following the news that Washington plans to provide Ukraine with precision-guided missiles that could strike with precision at long-range Russian targets.

"The things that the Kyiv regime unapologetically demands from its Western patrons, firstly, overstep all bounds of decency and diplomatic relations and, secondly, are a direct provocation aimed at drawing the West into combat," Lavrov told Russian media, at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.

"We have set out our position several times via diplomatic channels between Russia and Western nations. They know our position perfectly well."

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Image source, US Military

Ukraine's about to acquire its most powerful ground combat weapons yet.

The US-supplied high mobility artillery rocket system (HIMARS) has a range of around 50 miles (80km).

That’s enough to allow Ukraine to match Russia’s long-range artillery, which has wreaked such devastation in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in recent weeks.

But the system is arriving very late in the day, with Russian forces having already driven the defending Ukrainians out of much of the east of the country.

If Ukraine's to retake that territory it will need to go on the offensive, which would require a major shift in strategy.

There's an added problem here and that’s the risk of escalation. Washington was initially wary of sending any heavy weapons for fear of provoking Moscow.

But apparent atrocities carried out by Russian forces, coupled with their recent advances on the battlefield, have brought about a change in US policy.

Ukraine has promised Washington this artillery system won't be used to hit targets inside Russia.

But the Kremlin has still reacted angrily and pointedly - it has begun a series of strategic nuclear drills near Moscow to remind the West what's at stake here.

Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News

“We're looking at a conflict which has got the potential to run at least to the end of this year,” a Western official said in a briefing to journalists on the Ukraine war.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said it was hard to see any path to a negotiated settlement any time soon and absent one, the conflict would run to "at least" the end of the year and "possibly longer".

“The operation will endure for a long period of time and that means it comes then down to commitment and ensuring we have got the commitment to support the Ukrainians through that very long fight,” the official said.

Will Vernon
Reporting from Moscow

The Russian Defence Ministry has announced the start of military exercises of its so-called Strategic Missile Forces – in other words, its nuclear missile troops.

The drills involve the Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are the new generation of missile first tested in 2007.

The Russian military says the drills, which are taking place in the Ivanovo Region near Moscow, involve about 1,000 service personnel and more than 100 vehicles.

Missiles will not be launched. The exercises consist of patrols, setting up missile systems and protecting them from attacks.

The manoeuvres were announced several hours after the US said it would supply the Ukrainians with advanced rocket systems, although the Russian military’s press release did not refer to the news from Washington.

Image source, EPA

Paul Adams
BBC Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The US announcement of more advanced rocket systems for Ukraine has been a long time coming and represents one of the most significant military commitments so far.

As they face overwhelming Russian firepower in a grinding, attritional battle for the Donbas, Ukrainian forces complain that they lack firepower.

The HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) could change that.

Its GPS-guided rockets are much more accurate than the equivalent Russian systems. It's also much quicker to reload and, as the name suggests, the launch vehicles can move quickly from one location to another.

US and Ukrainian officials will already be having detailed conversations about how and where to use the HIMARS when they arrive.

Ukraine will be looking to hit targets well beyond its current reach - command and control centres, logistics hubs, and the Russian batteries that have Ukrainian troops pinned down in the Donbas.

Ukrainian forces are now holding just a fifth of the eastern city of Severodonetsk, but there is still hope that they can prevent Russia taking full control, according to the head of the city administration.

Oleksandr Stryuk told the Reuters news agency that Russian forces now control 60% of the city and Ukraine holds 20% while the rest has become "no-man's land".

"The 20% is being fiercely defended by our armed forces," he said.

"Our troops are holding defensive lines. Attempts are being made to drive out the Russian troops.

"We have hope that despite everything we will free the city and not allow it to be completely occupied," he said.

Stryuk said that around 12-13,000 people remain in the city but that all essential infrastructure had been destroyed and that access to the city to deliver food or other aid was impossible.

"They are living in conditions of constant shelling, and now street battles are going on too, which has heightened the danger to the civilian population."

Image source, .

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said he will convene a meeting in Brussels in the coming days with senior officials from Sweden, Finland and Turkey to discuss Turkey's opposition to Sweden and Finland joining the alliance.

"I'm in close contact with President Erdogan of Turkey and with the leaders of Finland and Sweden," Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Mr Blinken said that there was a "strong consensus within Nato, broadly, to support the rapid accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance" and he was confident it would happen.

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated the war in Ukraine "could be over tomorrow" if Russia chose to end its aggression.

"But we don't see any signs of that right now," he added.

Instead, Mr Blinken said it was likely there would still be "many months of conflict" as Russia continues its onslaught in the east of Ukraine.

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has just given a press conference with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington DC.

Blinken said that Ukraine had given assurances that it will not use long-range weapons systems provided by Washington against targets on Russian territory.

He was responding to a question about what could be done to reduce the risks of escalation as the United States provides long-range weapons systems to Ukraine.

Image source, Reuters

Scottish football fans will be invited to sing the Ukrainian anthem at Glasgow's Hampden Park later today in a show of support for their World Cup play-off opponents.

Leaflets containing a phonetic version of the national song will be handed out and Scotland's Tartan Army will be asked to sing along in solidarity.

It is Ukraine's first competitive football match since the Russian invasion in February.

The ongoing conflict has dominated the build-up to the match, which was postponed in March.

The winners will face Wales in Cardiff on Sunday for a place in the World Cup later this year in Qatar.

Scotland's national pipers have also been learning the Ukrainian national anthem.

Read more on this story here.

Image source, EPA/BFM TV HANDOUT

French journalist Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff was killed by shrapnel on Monday while reporting on civilians being evacuated by bus from Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.

Now his partner Sam has paid a powerful tribute to a man who he said was passionate about his job reporting for news channel BMFTV and passionate and supportive in his private life too.

"When he left for Ukraine we told each other that a month without seeing each other was really too long. One month has become the rest of my life," he said on Instagram, external. They had been together for a year and "Fred knew me before I came out", he added, beside a picture of the couple kissing.

Imhoff's mother has also spoken out about his death, after Russian-backed forces in Luhansk suggested he was a foreign mercenary "delivering weapons and munitions" to Ukrainian forces.

"Your press release makes me feel sick," she said., external "Everyone here knows his professional and personal commitment to democracy, human respect and especially free, impartial and honest information".

One day, she vowed, those behind this "criminal absurdity" would be held to account.

The Kremlin has accused the US of "adding fuel to the fire deliberately" after Washington said it would supply Ukraine with advanced missile systems.

"Such supplies" do not encourage Kyiv to resume peace talks, Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Washington wanted to "fight Russia to the last Ukrainian".

The US agreed to provide the precision-guided missiles, which can reach targets as far as 70km (45 miles), after gaining assurances that the weapons would not be used to attack targets inside Russia.

Ukraine's President Zelensky has said his country has "no intention" of doing so.

Earlier, Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said the planned delivery of these new weapons to Ukraine increased the risk of drawing the US into direct conflict with Russia.

"Any arms supplies that continue... increase the risks of such a development," the state news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying.

"This is unprecedented, this is dangerous," he added.

Image source, AFP

Thank you for all your questions about the war in Ukraine - our correspondents tried to answer as many as possible. You can scroll down to catch up on the Q&A below.

For now, here's a reminder of the latest developments:

• US President Joe Biden has pledged to send more advanced rocket artillery systems to Ukraine. The weapons, long requested by Kyiv, are to help it strike enemy forces more precisely from a longer distance
• Biden announced the move in a guest essay in the New York Times in which he stressed the US would not seek to remove Vladimir Putin from power The president also indicated he would not pressure Ukraine to cede territory in order to bring an end to the war
• Russia's deputy foreign minister says the US decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions would increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Moscow and Nato
• The head of the Severodonetsk administration says Ukrainian fighters now only hold around 20% of the city, but are putting up a strong defence of the areas in their control
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned Russia's strike on a chemical plant in the key eastern city, calling it "madness"