Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

In handing down the harshest possible sentence to the two Britons and a Moroccan captured while fighting for Ukraine, the judge of the unrecognised court of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) was unequivocal. He saying it was the “principle of justice” which allowed him to make the “complex and difficult decision to apply an exceptional measure of punishment in the form of the death penalty".

But, things may not be as final as they initially appear.

For a start, there is the possibility of an appeal, according to the Russian state outlet RIA Novosti, which reported that they have a month to challenge the sentence and ask for clemency. If the head of the DNR shows leniency, “the death penalty can be changed to life imprisonment or 25 years in prison”.

How that appeal would work is very much an unknown at this point. This is an unrecognised court in a state with which the British government has no formal links.

It is possible, however, that there is something else taking place here.

Speaking on the BBC’s PM programme, the chair of the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Tom Tugendhat, called it “a form of hostage-taking, a form of revenge...".

"The idea that this is being done by a separate breakaway republic is rubbish, this is being done by Vladimir Putin.”

The idea is that, whatever the DNR judge says, these three men are being used as pawns in a much bigger game, and that by threatening their lives their value as bargaining chips is significantly increased.

Before the trial, there had been talk of a prisoner swap, including for the detained pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a close friend of President Putin.

That thought may offer some crumb of comfort for the men and their families, but it is far from certain.

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The UK government has condemned the sentencing to death of two Britons, saying they have "absolutely no legitimacy".

Both the Foreign Office and Downing Street said they would do what they could to support the two Britons’ release.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is expected to discuss the situation with her Ukrainian counterpart on the telephone tomorrow.

But it is difficult to see what diplomatic pressure could meaningfully be brought to bear.

Some officials fear that if London were to escalate this into a bilateral dispute with Moscow - rather than leave it to Kyiv - that could fuel the false Russian claims that the two Britons were mercenaries.

It is possible the two men could be released as part of a prisoner swap.

But previous discussions about that did not make any progress.

Image source, European Council

The secret to the superpower of the Ukrainian women lies in their resilience, says Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Speaking via videolink to the European Council's Women in Conflicts conference earlier, the Ukrainian first lady says: "Every life in our country is broken, every life is divided into before and after."

"Of course our war has got a woman's face because there are two million more women than men in Ukraine. But I am absolutely sure Ukrainian women cannot be called victims, we all have our own stories of resistance," she says.

"Most of our doctors and nurses are women, they are fighting, they are treating those who are wounded, they are looking after women in labour, they are teachers, delivering lessons from shelters or sometimes from abroad."

The majority of social workers and civil servants are women and are continuing to work, she says, while female volunteers are still working on the front line. Half of the country's entrepreneurs are women, keeping the economy afloat, Zelenska says, and "our Ukrainian mothers managed to cross thousands of kilometres to save their children".

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Russia is "now likely in control" of the city of Severodonetsk and will eventually surround Ukrainian forces in the area, a senior Western official says.

The official, who does not want to be named, denies that heavy weaponry being provided by the West (such as UK and US rocket launchers) will arrive too late and in too few numbers to influence the outcome of the war.

He says there are plenty more fights to come in the Donbas.

Russia, he says, is still not making the rate of advances Moscow hoped for.

Image source, .

Image source, Telegram

We've been bringing you the news this afternoon that three men who had been fighting in Ukraine's military - two Britons and one Moroccan - have been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine's foreign ministry has said all the men were "servicemen" of the armed forces of Ukraine and should have the rights of prisoners of war.

"Under international humanitarian law, they are subject to the legal status of combatants", said Oleh Nikolenko, a foreign ministry spokesperson.

"The enemy is forbidden to abuse, intimidate them or behave inhumanely with them.

"The so-called 'trial' of Ukrainian servicemen on occupied Ukrainian territories is worthless."

Nikolenko said the trial places "the interests of propaganda above law and morality", Nikolenko said.

"The Ukrainian government will continue to make every effort to release all defenders of Ukraine."

The Russian state news agency, RIA Novosti, has reported that none of the death sentences issued in the Donetsk People's Republic have so far been carried out, quoting the Donetsk "supreme court".

• Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner sentenced to death

The UK government is pressuring Moscow over the death sentences handed to two Britons captured by Russian forces, a minister says.

"I know we are making the strongest representations possible to the Russian government," Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, tells BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss branded the sentences given to Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, along with Brahim Saaudun from Morocco, as a "sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy", adding the government was doing everything it could to support the two British men's families.

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

The number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine could now be as high as 20,000 - according to the latest assessment by a senior Western official.

Previous estimates, given several weeks ago, were about 15,000. That official estimate has increased to “between 15,000 and 20,000”.

The Western official, who does not want to be named, does not speculate on the numbers of Ukrainians killed. However, he acknowledges Ukrainian forces are “facing morale issues” after more than 100 days of fighting.

But while Ukrainian armed forces are “taking very heavy casualties”, he says the Russian offensive continues “to be deeply troubled on many levels”.

He claims Russian forces are running short of some ammunition – specifically precision weapons such as cruise missiles. But he adds Russia still has large stocks of “dumb bombs”.

Image source, .

Image source, Supreme Court of Donetsk People's Republic via Reuters

If you need a reminder of what's been happening in Ukraine today, or if you're just joining us, here are some of the key Thursday headlines:

• Two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Brahim Saaudun from Morocco, are sentenced to death by a court in the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, having been found guilty of being mercenaries and "taking action towards violent seizure of power" while fighting for Ukraine
• The UK government says it is "deeply concerned", with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss denouncing it as a "sham judgement with absolutely no legitimacy". The court is not internationally recognised and is run by pro-Russian rebels. Russian news agency Tass has reported the men's lawyer as saying they intend to appeal against the sentence
• Intense street fighting has continued in the eastern Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk. President Volodymyr Zelensky says the fate of his country's eastern Donbas region may be decided in the battle

• Ukrainian military casualties are now between 100 and 200 a day across the country, according to a senior adviser to President Zelensky
• Russia should be expelled from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, President Zelensky says, amid the ongoing concerns over global food supplies being affected by blockades of Black Sea ports that are stopping exports from Ukraine - a major producer of grain and sunflower oil

Image source, .

The battle for Severodonetsk is being waged house to house, says a Ukrainian commander.

Petro Kuzyk, commander of the Svoboda [Freedom] National Guard battalion said soldiers are hoping for a delivery of heavy weapons that might "turn the tide".

He added that street fighting in the small industrial eastern city was at times raging under heavy Russian artillery barrages, endangered troops on both sides, Reuters reported.

Kuzyk said: "We fight for every house and every street.

"Yesterday was successful for us. We went on a counterattack and in some areas we managed to push them [Russian soldiers] back by one or two blocks. In others we pushed them back literally by one or two houses."

The commander said Ukraine's forces had a "catastrophic" lack of systems to counter Russian artillery and needed "serious technology", or heavy weapons, to strike back.

Image source, Reuters

Ukrainian military casualties are now between 100 and 200 a day, according to a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky - the highest estimated total to have been made public so far.

Speaking to BBC World Service's Newshour programme, Mykhaylo Podolyak says one of the main reasons for the high casualty numbers is the lack of parity between Ukrainian and Russian military capabilities.

According to Zelensky's senior adviser, Ukraine needs hundreds, not a handful, of the most powerful artillery systems the West can provide.

He tells the BBC that Ukraine needs as many as 300 launch rocket systems to be able to reach parity with Russia's firepower and liberate occupied territory.

Podolyak adds that "until Russia suffers a serious military defeat, no form of dialogue will be possible and they will continue to try to take parts of our country".

Image source, EPA

The UK government is "deeply concerned" by the death sentences handed to Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, Downing Street says.

"We have said continually that prisoners of war shouldn't be exploited for political purposes," a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson says.

"Under the Geneva Convention prisoners of war are entitled to combatant immunity and they should not be prosecuted for participation in hostilities.

"So we will continue to work with the Ukrainian authorities to try to secure the release of any British nationals who were serving in the Ukrainian armed forces and who are being held as prisoners of war."

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the court verdict was a "sham judgment with absolutely no legitimacy".

Aslin, 28, and Pinner, 48, and Moroccan national Brahim Saaudun, have been found guilty of being mercenaries and taking action towards violent seizure of power. They were sentenced in a court in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic that is not internationally recognised.

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

A Russian proxy court in eastern Ukraine has handed down death sentences to two Britons, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, and a Moroccan man, Brahim Saaudun, who were captured while fighting for Ukraine.

All dressed in black, the three men stood in a cage in a separatist courtroom as their sentence was read out.

The British men – Mr Pinner and Mr Aslin - stood motionless with their heads bowed.

In between them, Sauud Brahim rocked nervously from side to side.

They listened intently as they were told they would be put to death.

All three had been captured in the battle for Mariupol – fighting alongside Ukrainian forces.

They were charged with being foreign mercenaries, trying to seize power and terrorist offenses.

The Donetsk People’s Republic is not internationally recognised – neither is the court that convicted them, except by Russia. It is thought all three will appeal the sentence.

We've been bringing you the news this afternoon that three men who had been fighting in Ukraine's military - two Britons and one Moroccan - have been sentenced to death by a court.

The court is in part of the eastern Donetsk region, which pro-Russian separatists declared as the "Donetsk People's Republic" back in 2014.

Russia recognised that breakaway region - and the neighbouring separatist "Luhansk People's Republic" - days before the February invasion.

The eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions make up Donbas.

Russia's military has been focusing its efforts in this area in recent months, pushing forward in Luhansk and Donetsk.

Read more on the region here.

We've got a bit more from the court in Donetsk where two British men and a Moroccan have just been sentenced to the death penalty. They are foreign fighters with the Ukrainian military but they were accused of being mercenaries.

The chair of the panel of judges who gave the death penalty has described sentence as just.

Alexander Nikulin, said the court had been guided by "not only the prescribed norms and riles, but the main, inviolable principle of justice," according to the Interfax news agency.

Interfax said the three men were tried for "mercenarism" and activities "aimed at seizing power and toppling the constitutional order" of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic.

Tass news agency quoted a lawyer acting on behalf of the defendants saying that all three "wished to" appeal against the sentence.

According to Pavel Kosovan, "they were not ready to hear" they were being given the death penalty.

Image source, Facebook

Two Britons and a Moroccan captured by Russian forces in Ukraine have been found guilty and sentenced to death in an un-recognised court in Donetsk, the territory held by pro-Russian rebels.

They are all former fighters in the Ukrainian military who were captured in Mariupol by Russian forces.

Aiden Aslin

One of the British men is Aiden Aslin, 28, whose story the BBC has been following in the past.

Aslin is from Newark in Nottinghamshire, and his family said he moved to Mykolaiv in Ukraine in 2018. He became a marine with the Ukrainian military in 2018, was engaged to marry a Ukrainian, and had made the country his home.

The former care worker had also previously fought with Kurdish armed units in Syria against so-called Islamic State.

Since his capture, he has appeared in photos and video footage on Russian television in which he looked bruised and swollen as he was questioned.

Shaun Pinner

The other British man, Shaun Pinner, is 48-years-old and originally from Bedfordshire. His family said he was a "well-respected" soldier in the British Army before he moved to Ukraine four years ago to use his previous experience and training with the Ukrainian military.

"Shaun enjoyed the Ukrainian way of life and considered Ukraine as his adopted country over the last four years. During this time, he met his Ukrainian wife who is very focussed on the humanitarian needs of the country," they said.

Pinner's three-year contract was due to expire at the end of the year and he was planning to enter a humanitarian role in the country, according to his family.

"Shaun is a funny, much-loved, well-intentioned husband, son, father, brother and friend to many," they said.

Image source, Telegram

Two Britons and a Moroccan man captured by Russian forces in Ukraine have been sentenced to death, the Russian-owned news agency RIA Novosti is reporting.

Aiden Aslin, 28, from Nottinghamshire, Shaun Pinner, 48, from Bedfordshire, and a third man, Moroccan national Brahim Saaudun, appeared in a court in the Donetsk People's Republic, which is held by pro-Russian rebels.

The court is not internationally recognised.

They are reportedly charged with being mercenaries. But the British men's families say they were in Ukraine's military.

Both British men are serving members of Ukraine’s armed forces and the UK has made clear they are prisoners of war entitled to immunity and should not face prosecution for taking part in hostilities.

On Telegram RIA News said: "The Supreme Court of the DPR passed the first sentence on mercenaries- the British Aiden Aslin and Sean Pinner and the Moroccan Saadun Brahim were sentenced to death, RIA Novosti correspondent reports from the courtroom."

Image source, PA Media

Over in Blackpool, north-west England, UK PM Boris Johnson has wrapped up a speech focused on housing and the cost of living crisis.

The PM made multiple references to the war in Ukraine, saying the conflict was largely to blame for a significant spike in energy prices that is fuelling rising costs in Britain. Here are the key points he made:

• Slow recovery from Covid is a contributing factor to financial woes in the UK but Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion "brutally interrupted" any chance of a full recovery
• In an appeal to Britons, the PM said he was aware there may be some who argue that the price of supporting Ukrainians is now "too high, and they should be encouraged to accept whatever terms Putin may ask" - but he added this wasn't an option
• He compared the Russian leader to a crocodile who would "simply come back for more" if allowed to take what he wants from Ukraine
• On the question of imposing a "bad peace" on Ukraine, by granting Russia territorial concessions, Johnson denounced this as "morally repugnant"

Chris Partridge
BBC News

A new miniature missile has gone into mass production for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) extensively used by Ukraine against Russian forces.

The "Bozok" munition is compatible with the Bayraktar TB2 UAV - from which many videos have been released of it attacking and destroying Russian tanks and armoured vehicles.

One particular video - from May - also showed the Bayraktar destroying a fast-moving small Russian boat near Snake Island in the Black Sea.

The Turkish-made drone already carries laser-guided missiles for precision strikes. This new missile is also laser-guided, but is said to have a more effective warhead - and longer range - for its size.

Here is the video from May showing the Bayraktar destroying a Russian boat:

Image source, Getty Images

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a phone call with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg earlier today.

Scholz and Stoltenberg discussed updating Nato's strategic aims in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said on Thursday.

In the call, laying the ground for Nato's Madrid summit at the end of June, Scholz reaffirmed the German government's commitment to contribute to the alliance to help it achieve its aims in the next decade, the spokesperson said.

The two were set to meet in person in Berlin, Germany, but had to switch to speaking remotely after Stoltenberg was diagnosed with shingles.

Image source, Getty Images

Some football-related news now. The Premier League has suspended its £43m six-year deal with Russian broadcaster Match TV over the country's invasion of Ukraine.

A previous deal with Russian media group Rambler was suspended in March after the war began - and a new contract with Match TV was set up in its place.

But with the conflict in Ukraine showing no signs of easing, the Premier League announced at its annual general meeting today that the new deal has been put on hold.

Read more here.