Russia has banned dozens of British journalists and defence industry figures from entering the country, its foreign ministry says.

Some 29 journalists have been banned, including the BBC's Clive Myrie, Orla Guerin and Paul Adams, all of whom have reported from Ukraine since the war began.

The list also includes the BBC's director general Tim Davie, the editors of the Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail, and Independent newspapers, as well as journalists from Sky, Channel 4 and ITV.

Moscow said the move was in response to western sanctions and pressure put on its state-run media outlets.

In April, Russia said it was not planning on banning foreign journalists, saying it was only tightening visa rules from unfriendly countries.

Read more here.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've been reporting, Russia has said it will establish a humanitarian corridor to evacuate civilians trapped in the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk tomorrow.

However, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have held a number of ceasefire talks over the course of the war to agree on humanitarian corridors for civilians - but not all have been successful.

Successes:

• On 14 March, a humanitarian corridor was agreed with Russia and a convoy of at least 160 private cars managed to leave the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was encircled by Russian forces at the start of March. Two days later, 2,000 cars had left
• On 2 May, the long-awaited evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal steel plant began. More than 100 evacuees from Mariupol made it to relative safety in Zaporizhzhia, after a journey which took several days. Three days later it was reported another 300 civilians had been evacuated
• By 7 May it was announced all remaining women, children and elderly people had left the plant
• Fighting continued until 17 May, when it was announced more than 260 fighters - some of whom were badly wounded - had been evacuated, marking the end of the Ukrainian military operation to defend the site

Failures:

• Weeks of relentless Russian shelling had reduced Mariupol to ruins by late March and attempts to establish a ceasefire in the city to allow evacuations had collapsed amid accusations of bad faith on both sides. Ukraine claimed Russian troops had carried on shelling the evacuation routes and accused Russia of blocking a bus convoy on its way to evacuate Mariupol
• Volunteers helping locals evacuate Kherson said they had seen increased demand from people wanting to leave the city at the end of May as Russia tightened its grip on occupied territory. Evacuating the city has been difficult and the UN and the Red Cross said they had not run any evacuation routes as they'd been unable to get safety guarantees from both sides

Image source, EPA

If you're just joining us, here are the latest developments in Ukraine today:

• Russia says it will give Ukrainian troops holed up in the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk a chance to surrender on Wednesday if they lay down their arms from 08:00 Moscow time (06:00 BST)
• Ukraine says its troops are still holding out in Severodonetsk after the last bridge between the encircled city and Ukrainian-held territory was destroyed by Russians
• Russia also says it will establish a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to evacuate civilians trapped in the plant - adding that civilians would be transported to the separatist region of Luhansk
• UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss says the British government will do "whatever is necessary" to secure the release of two Britons given a death sentence by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says London has not asked Russia to intervene and the UK should speak to the self-proclaimed Donestsk People's Republic - which is not recognised by the West - about the men
• Peskov adds that Moscow was willing to listen if Britain were to approach Russia with enquiries

Six people have been injured by shelling in a Russian town on the border with Ukraine, the Russian regional governor has said.

The incident occurred in Klintsy, some 50km (30 miles) from the Ukrainian border, in the western Bryansk region of Russia.

"Those injured have shrapnel wounds," Alexander Bogomaz wrote on the Telegram messaging app, external. "They were all admitted to a local hospital. Their condition is stable."

The BBC is unable to independently verify this report.

Image source, Getty Images

As we've just reported, Ukraine's food production - a major source of revenue for its people and government - is way down this year. It's yet another blow to the national finances.

Ukraine's government collected 101 billion hryvnias ($3.42bn, £2.83bn) in taxes in May - but had to spend more than double that on the war, the head of its parliament's financial committee says.

Danylo Hetmantsev says they spent 250 billion hryvnias ($8.46bn, £7.01bn) financing the army and supporting people who had been forced to leave their homes, or whose homes had been destroyed.

Ukraine needs to borrow $5bn monthly or cut spending sharply, he tells local TV.

The US, the European Commission and some other countries had provided financial support, he says, but the amount is far below the $5bn needed each month.

Image source, Getty Images

Ukraine has reduced this year's sowing area by around a quarter due to the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry has said.

Wheat, corn, sunflower and barley are among the crops whose growing area has had to be cut.

And on Monday, a senior government official said Ukraine's grain harvest was likely to drop to about 48.5 million tonnes this year, from 86 million tonnes last year.

International negotiations continue to try to break Russia's blockade of Ukraine's ports on the Black Sea to allow the export of Ukraine's grain - as farmers begin to gather this year's harvest.

Some grain continues to be exported by road, rail and river, but the volume of exports has been severely reduced by the blockade.

On Tuesday, a grain shipment arrived in Spain after successfully circumventing the blockade of Black Sea ports, Spanish food association Agafac said.

The grain was transported overland to Poland and then shipped to Spain via the Baltic Sea, the first time the northern sea passage has been used for Ukrainian grain, AFP reports.

We've been reporting that all bridges to Severodonetsk have been destroyed.

Satellite images, recorded on 11 June, show the extent of the damage to the city's bridges and surrounding roads.

Some of the bridges are visibly damaged, while others do not appear to be fully collapsed at the time the photo was taken.

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Image source, Maxar Technologies

Approximately 15,000 civilians remain in Severodonetsk and the nearby city of Lysychansk, says governor Serhiy Haidai.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the fight for the city of Severodonetsk may decide the outcome of the war in the east of the country and the human cost there is "very high".

Image source, .

Will a Severodonetsk humanitarian corridor work?published at 14:45 British Summer Time 14 June 2022

14:45 BST 14 June 2022

Joe Inwood
Reporting from Kyiv

In this war, humanitarian corridors have a habit of failing.

This will be the first time one has been tried in Severodonetsk, offering a route out for the hundreds of civilians thought to be trapped in a huge chemical plant in the industrial heart of the city.

They are sheltering there with Ukrainian soldiers, attempting to hold off the Russian advance.

With all three bridges to the Donbas city now destroyed, the only way out is into occupied territory.

But for any humanitarian corridor to work, trust is needed on both sides. In Severodonetsk, that is in short supply.

Russia has told Ukrainian troops holed up in the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk to put down their weapons from 08:00 Moscow time on Wednesday, after it announced earlier that it would give the fighters a chance to surrender.

The fighters were told to "stop their senseless resistance and lay down their arms" at that time, Interfax news agency quoted ​Mikhail Mizintsev, head of Russia's National Defence Management Centre, as saying.

Ukraine says its troops are still holding out in Severodonetsk after the last bridge between the city and Ukrainian-held territory was destroyed by Russian forces.

Earlier, we reported that Russia has offered to set up a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to evacuate civilians trapped in the chemical plant.

Image source, .

Catherine Evans
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Earlier we reported on the Pope’s criticism of Russia's “ferocious and cruel” troops - and Ukraine's President Zelensky denouncing the Russian army’s actions as “absolute evil”.

But we’ve also been hearing claims that Russian soldiers are refusing to go back for a second deployment – or not going to fight in the first place.

The Soldiers’ Mothers Committee, which works to “protect the rights of soldiers,” says it has been helping Russian families who are against the war.

In an interview with Russian media outlet Meduza, the NGO’s executive secretary Valentina Melnikova said some servicemen leaving Ukraine had asked for the committee’s advice to avoid returning to the front line.

Dr Jenny Mathers, an academic at Aberystwyth University who's studying Ukraine, said an increase in troops unwilling to wage war could have a significant impact.

“Russia’s capabilities are not infinite,” she said.

“We’re having more and more cases of Russian troops who have served in Ukraine and gone back to Russia refusing to go back again for another deployment.

“We have more and more examples of Russian military recruiting offices being attacked, burning down… more and more stories of families willing to support their sons who are hiding from conscription.”

While the BBC cannot verify all of Mathers' claims, we recently reported on the Russian soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine.

Image source, Getty Images

Russia has said the UK should speak to the DPR - the self-proclaimed Donestsk People's Republic - about the fate of two British fighters who've been sentenced to death.

But that could be seen as a form of recognition for a state that's not recognised by the West. To help explain, here's a bit more about the DPR:

• It's a breakaway state formed by pro-Russian separatists who declared it independent from Kyiv in April 2014

• It's one of two breakaway states that border Russia, the other being the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR). They are home to about two million people
• On 21 February this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the DPR - and the LPR - as independent states. At the time, Nato saw the move as a "pretext" to invade Ukraine. That happened three days later. All other UN members continue to consider the territories legally part of Ukraine.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

More now from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said earlier that London had not asked Russia to intervene in helping the two Britons sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine.

Peskov reiterated Russia's stance that the UK government should discuss the release of the two men with the so-called Donetsk People's Republic directly - a self-proclaimed state that the West does not recognise.

"One ought to of course approach the authorities of the country whose court delivered the verdict, and that was not the Russian Federation," he said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.

He added, however, that Russia would discuss the issue if Britain were to approach Moscow.

"Everything will of course depend on enquiries from London - and I am sure that the Russian side will be ready to hear it out," Peskov said.

In a BBC interview this morning, the UK Foreign Secretary insisted she had always been clear about advising people not to travel to Ukraine.

"Our travel advice is not to go to Ukraine and I was clear about that at the time," Liz Truss told the Today programme on Tuesday.

Back in February, she told the BBC it was up to people to make their own decisions, but argued the war in Ukraine was a battle "for democracy", and she did support people who wanted to travel to fight.

Image source, Reuters

The Russian army has said it will establish a humanitarian corridor on Wednesday to evacuate civilians trapped in the Azot chemical plant in the encircled Ukrainian city of Severodonetsk.

"Guided by the principles of humanity, the Russian armed forces and the formations of the Luhansk People's Republic are ready to organise a humanitarian operation to evacuate civilians," the Russian defence ministry said today.

It added that civilians would be transported to the separatist region of Luhansk.

Russia's Defence Ministry also said it had offered Ukrainian fighters sheltering in the Azot plant the chance to surrender tomorrow, the Interfax news agency reported.

The ministry said Ukraine had asked Russia to set up an evacuation corridor to help civilians leave the plant, now that Russian forces have destroyed all the bridges linking Severodonetsk to Ukrainian-held territory.

Image source, .

Laura Gozzi
BBC Monitoring

The two British men sentenced to death by a court in Donetsk should not bank on London, Russia's Channel One reported last night, describing the verdict as "likely to sober up anyone who thinks that colluding with the Ukrainian nationalists is worthwhile and lucrative".

There was much fury in the British press, "but the question remains of just what does the Kingdom intend to do to help its nationals," it said.

"From statements by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, the answer is - nothing."

Truss contacted her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba who, according to Channel One, is "obviously about the last person with whom there is any point discussing efforts to free the Britons convicted in Donetsk".

"There is no point in guessing how things will end for the three condemned men. They have a month to appeal the verdict and a slim chance of a pardon," the report concluded.

"From home, they can expect nothing more than a storm of contrived indignation."

The fate of the three soldiers was also discussed on a talk show on the official state Rossiya 1 TV at the weekend.

The foreign minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Natalya Nikonorova, said there was "absolute indifference, absolute nonchalance to the fate of their own citizens in the West" following the death sentences.

Image source, .

How the UK might try to release the fighters sentenced to deathpublished at 12:49 British Summer Time 14 June 2022

12:49 BST 14 June 2022

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

The British government appears to have decided not to negotiate directly with Russia to try to secure the release of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner.

The Kremlin says UK diplomats have not been in contact with Moscow. Russia’s ambassador in London has not been summoned to the Foreign Office.

That is because the Foreign Office fears a bilateral confrontation between London and Moscow might fuel the false claims that the two men are British mercenaries. Instead, the UK strategy appears to be aimed at doing what it can to help the authorities in Ukraine protect Aslin and Pinner - who are two of their own servicemen.

The best hope may be for the two men to be swapped for Russian prisoners of war. But that would depend on Russia no longer wanting to use Aslin and Pinner to put political pressure on the UK.

Their release is more likely to depend on that calculation, than on how hard the Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is working.

Image source, Reuters

Ukraine has received the bodies of 64 servicemen as a result of a swap with Russia, the Ukrainian ZN.ua news website has reported.

The exchange of the bodies of men killed as they defended the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol was carried out in Zaporizhzhia, in south-eastern Ukraine.

In a statement, the Ministry for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories said Ukraine's defence ministry and intelligence services were involved in the swap.

Some say it could take several months to identify the remains.

Earlier this month, Russia and Ukraine swapped some 160 bodies, as we reported here.

Image source, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Reuters

We just reported Dr Jenny Mathers arguing "a big push" from the West could "turn the tide" in Ukraine.

Now, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for more long-range weapons to counter Russian forces.

"We have enough weapons," Zelensky told Danish journalists in an online press briefing.

"What we don't have enough of are the weapons that really hits the range that we need to reduce the advantage of the Russian Federation's equipment."

Earlier this month, the UK confirmed it was sending long-range missiles to Ukraine for the first time since the Russian invasion began.

Catherine Evans
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

As Russia continues its assault on Ukraine, there is a risk of Western interest waning, according to an international relations expert.

This period of the war in Ukraine is critical in disproving Putin’s accusations of the West’s short attention span, says Dr Jenny Mathers, a senior lecturer at Aberystwyth University.

Despite “impassioned pleas” from Zelensky for more ammunition, western countries are still not doing enough, she argues.

The UK government says it is spending £1.3bn ($1.6bn) on military support for Ukraine, including multiple-launch rocket systems, while the US Senate recently approved a $40bn package of military and economic aid.

But even more could be done - and a “a big push” from the West could “turn the tide,” says Mathers, who has been researching the Ukraine crisis.

“How long are Western governments willing to sustain efforts to help Ukraine?

“We’re getting into a period where there isn’t a lot of exciting news – it’s not a thrill-a-minute kind of story to cover. It’s grinding, it’s repetitive, it’s slow, it’s quite depressing.

“There is a danger that collectively, the public, the media and the government will get bored with this, other things will turn up and we will turn our attention elsewhere.”

Earlier, we reported UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss saying she would do "whatever it takes" to save two Britons who've been sentenced to death by a Russian proxy court in Ukraine.

She was not drawn on what steps that had involved, although suggested the best route was "through the Ukrainians".

The Kremlin now says London has not asked Russia to intervene.

"They have not asked," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He said such a request should be lodged with the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, which tried Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner for fighting with the Ukrainian army.

But the DPR - which covers Ukrainian territory - is not recognised by the West, and dealing with the DPR could be seen as a form of recognition.